Monday, November 28, 2016

Discover The Incredible Vocal Range and Profile of Ariana Grande

This article will explore the incredible vocal range and profile of Ariana Grande. For your reading delight, I thought to publish a compilation of some rather interesting observations from critics of music, that highlight enlightening elements on the Vocal Range of Ariana Grande. I’m sure you will enjoy this!

With a light-lyric Soprano in the 4 octave range and a note, Ariana Grande’s vocal rating is said to be an A-List. Recommended listening in this regard therefore, are her songs Emotions and The Way. I think it is safe to consider Ariana as a vocal actress, being able to mimic the tones and voices of Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion. Her lower register, however, is  often weak and inconsistent, due to—according to one critic—her high tessitura and breath support issues, yet she is relatively strong for a soprano, supporting down to F#3 and extending to D3.

She achieves her belts, as it were, through mixing, stretched up to Bb5's successfully. Grande also has no issue staying in the soprano tessitura for extended periods of time. If you watch her live performances of Break Free, Dangerous Woman and Focus you’ll get the picture. She has an extensive belting register as a whole and reaches up to an impressive B5, capable of complex, fast melismas as clearly evident in Hands on Me and Problem. She also has a rolling vibrato that can be heard in belts up to G#5 and as low as Bb3.

Her falsetto area is light and sweet, and is also where Ariana’s voice finds its ring, as it were, with a bright and healthy tone up to Eb6.

Ariana Grande’s whistle tone is undoubtedly piercing, and her whistles don't have disconnected tones attached to them. If you listen to her song Emotions, you’ll note that she is able to sing vocal runs in this register.

As you’d probably be well aware, there are no positives without the negatives. Of her own admission, her mixed belts generally lack power and the whistle register is not controlled. Her slightly nasal and feminine tone is also polarizing. Her diction, noted in 2013 as being unpolished, left her lyrics incomprehensible at points as you’ll see in the bridge of Break Free, and this is mainly due to tongue tension. Another thing about Grande, according to a music critic, is that she also over activates muscles in her jaw – mostly while singing runs – thereby furthering this tongue tension, which in turn changes the positioning of the larynx. That being said, again, according to a music critic, intonation live has proven to be a problem at points (around 2013), and the lower register sounded unsupported in most instances. Her support—it has been said, is also inconsistent, ranging from around G3-C#5. Above C#5 she raises her larynx.

I hope you enjoyed this interesting piece on Ariana Grande's AMAZING vocal range.


JOETT -- Author: "Letters from a Vocal Coach"

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Jifunze Kuimba na Joett Mkito.com Vol. 1: Madhumuni ya Lip Rolls

Kwenye mazoezi ya Joett Vocal Drills Vol. 1 utakutana na Lip Rolls na Tongue Trills. Zote nimeelekeza jinsi ya kufanya na kutoa mifano kwenye mp3 kabla ya kuanza mazoezi hayo.

Hapa ningependa tu kutoa maelekezo kuhusu malengo ya haya mazoezi mawili.

Kwa ufupi, yana ondoa tabia ya kuimbia kooni. Unapofanya haya mazoezi misuli ilioko nje ya koromelo lako haishtuki na kukaza. Hapo basi sauti inapata urahisi wakutembea kwenda juu na chini bila ya shiriksho hilo la misuli ya kooni katika utengenezaji wa sauti.

Ukizoea hili zoezi, baada ya muda, hii tabia ya utulivu wa misuli ya nje ya koromelo lako linakufuata katika kuimba nyimbo. Kama unashindwa kufanya Lip Rolls au Tongue Trills, jaribu kufanya mazoezi haya kwa kutamka “Mmm” badala yake (yaani humming).

Muongozo wa Mazoezi

  • Download mazoezi Mkito.com
  • Weka kwenye CD au Flash Disk
  • Tumia chombo cha muziki cha kupigia CD/Flash au kama unatumia simu yako ya mkononi, hakikisha unaunganisha na speaker kupata sauti kubwa kulingana na sauti yako ukiimba. 
  • Fanya mazoezi ndani ya chumba na sio kwenye maeneo ya wazi, wala sio kwa kutumia simu yako ya mkononi na headset zake masikioni. 
  • Ku-Download PDF yenye maelekezo ya Volume 1, 2, 3 & 4 Bofya hapa!
  • Kusoma Press Release bofya hapa!

Ukiwa na maswali, jiskie huru kuniuliza, au soma nakala kadhaa nilizo andika:
Jifunze Kuimba: Umuhimu wa Kuelewa Madhumuni Ya Mazoezi
Jifunze Kuimba: Tatizo La Pumzi na Jinsi Ya Kulitatua

Wewe ndie chombo halisi, jifunze kuimba kama pro!


JOETT
Vocal Coach
Madarasa ya Studio

Understand the Importance of Focusing Your Tone

Singing is SO much fun. I’ve seen the joy that it brings to people. When their faces light up! Electrified and overwhelmed with joy when they’re hitting those notes nice and clean. It makes me feel like a miracle worker of sorts. Bringing so much joy to so many people couldn’t be more rewarding than this. What I want to talk about today is the importance of focusing your tone. You see, at the end of the day you’re going to be singing songs, and every word you project out of your mouth needs focus. So here’s your ‘quick tips’ article on how to maintain focus in tone production.

I love using the narrow vowels in training. They help focus the voice. Something like UIU is particularly good for narrowing down that focus to precisely what you want—focus. And a quick three tone scale is definitely one of the best for maintaining that tightness and focus as you scale your notes, however, with practice you can achieve the same results with longer five and even seven tone scales. Let’s take a look at the progression into more open type vowels and how best you can handle, or trick yourself into handling such vowels.

I love the open EEE vowel. When you’ve mastered the narrower vowels as above, it is quite easy to still maintain that focus with a more open vowel such as this without splatting—or losing focus. The key thing is to learn to discover your own anatomy a bit more. When in training, you should experiment by making slight adjustments. You’ll learn to fine tune that focus that keeps your voice spinning in top form and articulating each note to calculated precision. Running with an EEE whilst allowing the right amount of space in your mouth to do that can go a really long way towards sharpening your focus. The same applies with an open vowel like AAA.  Now here’s the thing. If this transition isn’t working, then the best way is to apply the narrower vowel up the scale, and then switch to a wider vowel on the way down. You’ll be amazed how easy and fluid this is, and how it helps you hold the note in on the wider vowels.

So, whatever you do, work your way into the broader vowels by first sharpening the projection of your narrower vowel. You’ll be glad you did as you begin to discover your voice and what you can do with it a bit more. I have created a special four-volume training module that is now available on Mkito.com. This brand new program will set the tone for focusing your notes as explained in this article.

SUBSCRIBE to My YouTube Channel TODAY... Click Here!

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!


JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author "Letters from a Vocal Coach"
Private Singing Lessons
BUY Online Singing Lessons Course

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Jifunze Kuimba na Joett Mkito.com: Vocal Drills Volume 1

Kwa awamu nyingine tena, na tena safari hii kwa maboresho yalio fuata mahitaji muhimu katika kujifunza kuimba kupitia mtandao, ninawaletea toleo mpya kabisa Jifunze Kuimba na Joett Mkito Volume 1. Hili toleo ni muhimu katika kukuwezesha kuingia katika mstari wa mafunzo ambayo bila shaka, yatakuletea mafanikio ya haraka.

Kabla ya kuanza, hakikisha una download na kufanya zoezi langu la pumzi Mkito.com

Bila ya kuzungumza maneno mengi, nataka niwaachie toleo hili la kwanza (Vol. 1) msikilize mifano nakuendelea na mchanganyiko wa mazoezi ya sauti kwa takriban dakika 8. Mifano ipo. Nikusikiliza tu na kufuata hiyo mifano, na la msingi kabisa nikuachia sauti ifuate mkondo wake. Usilazimishe sauti. Iachie ifuate kinanda na maelekezo mwanana.

Muongozo wa Mazoezi

  • Download mazoezi Mkito.com
  • Weka kwenye CD au Flash Disk
  • Tumia chombo cha muziki cha kupigia CD/Flash au kama unatumia simu yako ya mkononi, hakikisha unaunganisha na speaker kupata sauti kubwa kulingana na sauti yako ukiimba. 
  • Fanya mazoezi ndani ya chumba na sio kwenye maeneo ya wazi, wala sio kwa kutumia simu yako ya mkononi na headset zake masikioni. 
  • Ku-Download PDF yenye maelekezo ya Volume 1, 2, 3 & 4 Bofya hapa!
  • Kusoma Press Release bofya hapa!

Ukiwa na maswali, jiskie huru kuniuliza, au soma nakala kadhaa nilizo andika:
Jifunze Kuimba: Umuhimu wa Kuelewa Madhumuni Ya Mazoezi
Jifunze Kuimba: Tatizo La Pumzi na Jinsi Ya Kulitatua
Jifunze Kuimba na Joett Mkito.com Vol. 1: Madhumuni ya Lip Rolls

Wewe ndie chombo halisi, jifunze kuimba kama pro!


JOETT
Vocal Coach
Madarasa ya Studio

Jifunze Kuimba na Joett Kupitia Mkito.com Yazinduliwa Rasmi

== PRESS RELEASE 24.11.2016 == Kwa mara ya kwanza kabisa, mtandao wa ku-download mziki wakitanzania Mkito.com, unajiunga na mwalimu mahiri wa sauti Tony Joett, kuwaletea watanzania huduma ya mafunzo ya sauti kwa wale ambao wangependa kujifunza kuimba kupitia mtandao na kwa gharama nafuu, nakupokea mafunzo yalio andaliwa kitaalamu kwa lugha ya Kiswahili na ambayo yataweletea mafanikio ya haraka na ya uhakika.

Joett ameandaa programu hizo za mafunzo ya sauti kwenye studio ya producer Lucci wa Transformax Records, ambae pamoja nae walikua majaji wa Airtel Trace Music Star Season 2 mwaka 2016. “Madhumuni ya kuandaa mazoezi haya maalum,” alisema Joett “nikuwawezesha watanzania kujifunza kuimba kwa urahisi, ili kutatua hili tatizo la vijana kuto jua pakugeukia kupata mafunzo haya ya kitaalamu na ambayo yanakuza vipaji kwa viwango vile vya kimataifa.”

Maandalizi ya programu hizi yamegawanywa katika volume ama toleo 4, ambazo toleo la kwanza ndio msingi; toleo la pili ni muendelezo; na toleo la 3 na la 4 zinaelekea kwenye viwango vya juu zaidi vya mafunzo ya kuimba, kwahivyo ili kupata mafanikio mwanafunzi atahitaji kuanzia tole la kwanza hadi kufikia la 4 na kwa mpangilio huo maalum, alafu hatimae kufanya mazoezi yote manne kwa pamoja. Kwa ujumula, mazoezi yote manne kwa pamoja yanachukua takriban dakika 30. Vile vile kuna zoezi stahiki la pumzi lililoandaliwa na Joett.

Watu wanaopenda kujifunza kuimba wataweza ku-download kila toleo kwa shilingi 250 tu, na kupata ushauri na muongozo kutoka kwa Joett kupitia Mkito.com na blog la JoettMusic.com.

Joett ambae pia hutoa mafunzo ya sauti ya ana kwa ana katika studio yake jijini Dar es salaam, ni mwalimu alie bobea kwa kipindi kirefu na anao uzoefu na utaalamu katika fani ya kufundisha sauti. Mafunzo anayotoa Joett yanasaidia kurekebisha matumizi ya sauti ili kuondoa tatizo sugu la kuimbia kooni; kupiga makelele wakati wakuimba; kuumia kooni na kukauka kwa sauti; na hujenga uwezo wa sauti ya mwimbaji kwenda juu na kwenda chini kwa urahisi na bila ya maumivu wala mateso ya aina yeyote.

Download Joett Vocal Drills Vol. 1 kuanzia alhasiri ya tarehe 24.11.2016 Mkito.com

Wewe ndie chombo halisi, jifunze kuimba kama pro!


JOETT
Vocal Coach
Madarasa ya Studio

Friday, November 18, 2016

Taking Voice Lessons? How to Loosen Up A Little So As to Help You Tie It All In

For those of you currently taking voice lessons, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to loosen up. The less rigid and stiff you are in training, the easier it will be to ease yourself into the flow of singing with a lot more freedom than you’d ever imagined possible. I know for some of you this may sound a little farfetched, but believe me, I’ve seen visible signs of tension in my studio to even want to write about it to forewarn some of you facing a similar state of rigid limbo. In this article, I want to show you a couple of simple tips to help you release the tension when you’re vocal training from home without the presence of a vocal coach.

I’ve seen pupils tense up when they breathe to do the scales; I’ve seen them squeeze their tone instead of simply releasing it; I’ve seen them withholding their tone; I’ve experienced the shouting instead of them working up the scales… I’ve witnessed the lot!

When I’m with a pupil in my studio, no-matter what they throw at me, I’ll know how to rein them in so that I find them a clearer path to performing their exercises with good form. I am constantly tuned in to the inner workings of their voice while I’m training them. And so I will detect immediately when something isn’t right.

I’ve said this before. Everybody is different. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for the next individual trying to perform the vocal exercises. So here’s the quickest way to figure a way out of a vocal conundrum, as it were. First and foremost, you need to release your tone so you’re using your fuller voice. Inadvertently, getting this right will help you loosen up. If your tone is squeezed, withheld, breaking up and causing you any kind of discomfort, stop and change your exercise. Something as simple as replacing an open vowel like ‘AA’ with a narrow vowel like ‘EE’; OR opening your mouth a little wider for a narrow vowel, can make a world of difference. So, if it isn’t happening for you, try working with ONLY the exercises that deliver that fuller sound, and stick with them until your vocals are developed enough to revisit the exercises that were previously challenging.

SUBSCRIBE to My YouTube Channel TODAY... Click Here!

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!


JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author "Letters from a Vocal Coach"

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Why the Less You Think of the Theory and Technical Aspect of Singing, the Better off You Are

In this—my one hundredth, published article in Business Times Newspaper, I begin to realize how much information I have dispensed in my column. Michael Jackson’s longtime vocal coach… who trained The King of Pop for 36 years once said, ‘you can’t learn to sing from a book!’ And I agree with him completely. However, having said that, he went on to write a book—albeit ghostwritten whilst shadowed by the writer for a while—and the book, in my view, offers valuable technical details on singing, which I find very informative and extremely handy. The purpose of this article is not to reiterate the importance of knowing why we do certain things in training—which I tend to want to explain as I run my classes—although it doesn’t always stick. No-matter how many times I try to drum it into some of my pupils. Well, in this article I want to say, it doesn’t really matter.

Singing being a practical business, I would probably relegate the mechanics of singing to teachers to decipher, understand and use as part of their weaponry whence passing on this knowledge to you as a pupil. Maybe the last thing you want is to crowd your brain with all of the technicalities of learning to sing. If it gets too heavy for you, I fear you may well give up on the idea of learning to sing all together. And I wouldn’t want that for anyone. So let me reassure you that, if some of this information is a wee bit too much for you, you don’t have to cram it all in. Absorb what you can, and let the voice do the rest of the work for you.

Typically, we tend to forget that nobody ever really showed us how to use our voice at birth. The first thing a baby does when they’re born is scream, is it not? So we have it in us already. You don’t have to know HOW your vocal chords function; nor HOW exactly speech level posture works FOR you when you use your voice to sing. If you do specific vocal exercises to develop your range and pitch accuracy, for example, the voice WILL find its path AND take care of itself without any additional input from you. So in essence, do the training and just allow for the rest to happen. It’s that simple. I wouldn’t dare insist that you also know the technical details. In fact, the less you dwell on it, the better off you are and the quicker you’ll grow as a singer. In my next article, I want to address the importance of loosening up a little to help you tie it all in.

SUBSCRIBE to My YouTube Channel TODAY... Click Here!

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!


JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author "Letters from a Vocal Coach"

Saturday, November 5, 2016

HMV Overtake Amazon in Physical Music Sales

Not only is HMV the ONLY store I go to for physical products--I guess I was so used to stepping into their London stores to buy records, now I buy online from the same store and the products are shipped to me in Tanzania. When they went into receivership three years ago, their online sales was discontinued. I was so gutted when this happened.

Well, not only are they back in business full swing now, it looks like they’re overtaking their competitors Amazon. Which reminds me: I’ll also be talking about the just revealed counterfeit products report regarding Amazon CDs.

According to an article published in Retail Gazette, HMV has reestablished itself in the physical entertainment market, overtaking Amazon to become the UK’s largest music retailer.

New data from Kantar Worldpanel has revealed that HMV, which went into administration just three years ago, has rebuilt its retail operation and is proving to rival the market leaders.

In the 12 weeks to September 25 HMV attracted 41,000 new customers and growing its share of the physical entertainment market by 3.1 per cent.

Big titles like the debut album from Christine and the Queens, which sold two thirds of its total copies in HMV, along with Adele’s 25 which sold 29 per cent of all copies in store, were responsible for the success of the retailer’s music department.

Read the full article on Retail Gazette!

And now for that sneaky report on Amazon: As much as 23% of all CD's sold on Amazon are counterfeit, according to multiple investigations.  We first reported on the problem two weeks ago after an alert was sent out by indie music trade group A2IM.

Two weeks ago the The Association of Independent Music has issued a strong warning regarding a "serious counterfeit operation selling large numbers of CDs" using Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) system.

Read the full article on HypeBot.com

Well, that's your lot from the world of music from my end. I hope it helps you make an informed decision as to which store you buy from the next time you're on the market for CDs.

JOETT