Studying Music in SA – whats the point?

After a few years of trying my hand at other things not music, I inevitably landed up studying music. It was what I had been born to do & therefore there was no reason I study something else. Following that I became a lecturer & have since been in music education for 10 years now. I’ve always encouraged people with talent to study music. The value you gain is taking that talent to another level the same way a good sports coach would.

It’s always been to my advantage being a music teacher & being in the industry at the same time. I’m seen as a teacher who can do. The flip side of that is I have seen over the last 8 years, being in the music industry how its changing & sadly, is becoming harder & harder for musicians to make a living. In defining what a musician is, this is someone who plays a musical instrument or sings with proficiency. They have to, to some degree have mastered their craft.

Right now as the SA music industry stands, DJs are taking over to such a degree that the mindset of the average person on the street is – live music (real instrument playing the music is boring). Being an artist who performs in clubs to house music, I see the reaction to that & then I see the reaction to live music with my band…not all the time but there is a mindset out there that live = boring. 

There are many factors contributing to this. More music on radio & airwaves over the past 3 decades has become less real so people’s ears have adapted & gotten used to a specific sound. I don’t know how to change the perceptions out there but something…especially in South Africa has to be done because if we are not careful, we will become musically & culturally bankrupt!

In order to learn & master an instrument it can take decades…even a lifetime. Surely then when you see someone pouring their soul out through an instrument, you realize you are seeing something that takes skill, discapline & ultimately talent. There are DJs out there with true skill & talent, but to beat mix one song to another, in my mind doesn’t constitute as talent. Moreso, a DJ mixing songs out of key & my worst, accapellas out of key cannot be called talented. For the most part a DJ is a compiler.

Yet it is DJ’s that are for the most taking a large cut of what once would’ve been how a musician would make a living. Its all about what people want & yes, what you want are DJ’s, playing largely House & Hip-Hop.

Let me use this as an appeal to the minister of Arts & Culture & to the minister of Education to begin addressing the issue of a Country in threat of becoming culturally bankrupt. 

How do I write songs?

The question I get asked most frequently in my life is "How do write songs?". Obviously, that is not an easy question to answer because as a songwriter, you often develop your craft from the time you can speak, possibly even before that. A comment was made to me though, that was just very presumptuous & pretty damn silly. 


Publicly in South Africa it was often a talking point that I had studied music & was a music teacher myself, primarily a vocal coach. However, I only studied in my early twenties & way before that, probably from around 5 years of age I was creating music. 

The comment I received was that my music sounded rigid & lacked feel, "soul", dare I say it. Following that, this person told me it was because I was a studied musician & that me studying had caused that. 


Now granted being a musician, primarily a singer I am a rather sensitive soul but I took his words well as I have learnt to do in my medium age. I thought about it a lot, as would be expected. It bothered me because I seldom hear comments like that about my music but I did need to see where he was coming from. Some weeks later, someone on Facebook sent me a message. He told me he was a student in Canada studying music & he wanted to know how I wrote songs & asked for any tips & pointers. 


This got me thinking. As I started writing, it was like I was answering the very questions I was asking myself. How much theory do I put into my writing or for that matter, my music. Here's what I said:

"I've always been writing music, as far back as re-creating the theme's of my favourite cartoon show's like He-man, Thundercats, Transformers etc in the early 80's. In those days there was no musical instrument in my home so really the only way I could create the music was vocally & the rest remained in my imagination. I know it sounds strange, but i used to grind my teeth in various ways to create drum patterns. of course no-one could hear that but me because I'm the only one who can hear my teeth grinding through my bone structure. sorry for veering off, I guess its hard to explain & it probably wasn't great for my teeth in the long term although no major dental issues as yet! LOL. 

From there I obviously gained influence from the pop artists of the time & various old LP's my dad had: Al Jarruea, Lou Rawls, Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin etc as well as I guess what every kid was into back then, Michael Jackson. 

Music started to become my way of dealing with stressful times & this came about when money became a huge bone of contention between my mom & dad. Every time they fought, i would go outside & almost in blocking out the noise, i would let my imagination run wild & sing away creating my first real songs. I still know them remember each & every one of those songs. 

Towards the end of my primary school years, my aunt gave us her piano. i was on it straight away trying to put what I had in my mind for all the years onto the piano. music was still a very private thing for me but I had a feeling that one day it wouldn't be. 

An approach I adopted from the 1st time I wrote a song was how I would know that it was a good song? If I remebered the song the nexy day or many days afterwards, Almost as if it was proof that what I had written was memorable, I knew that it was a good song worth banking my mental file cabinet of songs. I still use this approachto this day. Whether or not this really works, I dont really know but to me its my way of separating the good idea's from the bad. 

in my teen years, the 1st intersting change in developing my voice & my songwriting skillz was a Hi-fi my parents bought me for my 13th birthday. you know, the big thing in those days was "THE DOUBLE TAPE DECK" with super speed recording of course! they bought me a microphone with it. I figured out that i could record myslef into the hi-fi, then put that tape into the other deck, record that tape onto another tape plus record my vocal again. what this in turn created was multiple harmony. i started to expermiment with various harmonic ideas, rhythms & vocal sounds. It also helped me get used to the sound of my voice & mould it to how i wanted to sound. Those tapes are hiding somewhere in my old boxes. 

At this point i had basic piano training & I frustrated most of my teachers because I relied too heavily on my ear. 

A big change in my musical mind was being introduced to Prince in my 1st year of high school. Aside from the fact that he played many instruments & very well, I truly appreciated his willingness to experiment with sounds & the way he expressed himself through virtually every musical style. i wanted know why he was like this & in researching this, i discovered it was very much due to his openess in listening to all styles of music whether that be a piece by Bach, his many funk influences such as Earth, wind & Fire, Sly & the family Stone & James Brown as well as his folk & rock influences such as Joni Mitchel, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santa. There's no doubt Stevie Wonder had an influence on him too. I think it really taught me to listen & expand my music horizons which i still do to this day. The Neo-soul & Acid jazz movements were my favourites of the time in the 90's. While the other kids were into The Offspring, The Cranberries, Green day & Nirvana I was in my on world as a white boy listening to D'angelo, Maxwell, Eryka Badu & from the UK, loving Jamiroquai & the Brand new Heavies. Of course later on, I discovered many others such as Incognito, omar & the neo-soul movement - as many people will know I wave that flag in SA more than anyone else! 

After school i decided to study music. I found jazz became a major influence on me. starting with vocalists because that was my 1st instrument. Artists like Bobby Mcferrin played a huge part early on. Crooners such as Frank Sinatra & emulators such Harry Connick Jr who of course is a great pianist & genuis arranger in my mind also influenced me. of course it was the research of the songs they were singing that made a big impression. Cole Porters songs still inspire to this day & the many other great songwriters of that time. Ella Fitzgerald became my next love & found myself becoming quite obsessed! I've always loved to scat as many of my colleagues in South Africa would tell you. Ella is a true queen of that art-form. I love the way she just enjoys what she's doin. She always seems so happy when she sings. her interpretations of songs are spellbinding at times. as instrumentalists go, I love Miles & Herbie as they played a big part in creating the funk movement & were so willing to try new things. Thelonius Monk was a beautiful soul for me & you could feel that through his music. Currently loving Peter Cincotti. I think he is a brilliant pianist! I just hope they dont try commercialise him the way they are trying now. 

i think my approach to music has changed over the years. 

after studying music & graduating in 2000, I found my approach to composition became fairly analytical. i have gone back to where i was as a child. Letting my imagination run wild & hand in hand with that using the theoretcial & analytical knowledge I have learnt to finetune those Ideas. 

In my new album "Swimming in the soul of music", my production style has matured a lot. i wanted to apply something Miles davis used to say. "Music is all about space". Every instrument has its place. A lot of music tends to put all instruments in a small space & often songs come accross as sounding cluttered! i wanted to ensure that when a listener played my album, they could pick out an instrument clearly without having to strain to find it. I wasn't going to create tension either where tension was not neccessary & rather place it only in moments where it needed. Sometimes as arrangers & producers, we tend to place complex rhythms or chords in places, simply to impress ourselves. Listeners often hear the same thing cringing! 

i hope this helps, i know its a lot. i think i got carried away. i think essentially, my point here is music is best when we create like a child, we have fun with it & let our imaginations run wild! the theory you learn is merely to finetune your imagination, they should work hand in hand!"

& there was my answer, in that last phrase I said it. i still write like I did when I was 5 years old. I let my imagination run wild, I "play" music & the theory is there just in case I need it.

The official top 20 greatest albums of all time…Oh please!

Over the years, there have been many lists drawn up of “THE GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME”. Many albums repeating on the lists but not always in the same order & always highly scrutinized by all who read them. It seems like the world had become obsessed with “The top of all time lists”. With respect to music it makes sense these lists exist. Certainly from the onset of Rock n’ roll they’ve existed & music never looked back. 

Now, after 60 odd years & a myriad of mega-stars, the great debates begin & the one that always fascinates me, “THE GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME”. The internet’s a perfect one for these sort of lists & I ignore them consistently like ignoring spam because without fail, personal opinion gets in the way & then the comments rage on & people get ugly. A few weeks back, in front of me as one of the headlines of a legitimate news website – “THE OFFICIAL TOP 20 GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME”. I was too curios not to look, I mean this was “official”! I clicked & there, before my very eyes was yet another list with flawed criteria & as hard as the compiler of the list may have tried, personal bias filtered through. This top 20 based its figures on sales & the amount of Grammy’s won. Clearly, the compiler was a big Led Zeppelin fan with 5 of the 20 albums being Zeppelin albums. I cannot argue that Zeppelin don’t deserve to be their but 5 albums seemed to be a clue to me of bias. 

It’s had me thinking for weeks now, can you really compile a list like this? The answer is no. the only way we could ever compile a legitimate list would be to base it on sales & even there when I looked into that it has only been in recent times that we have seen international sales being calculated as opposed to sales figures from the US. Furthermore, technology must have an influence on these figures with the advent of the LP, the cassette tape, the decline of these 2 & the introduction of the compact disc & now its demise affecting sales figures worldwide. You cannot officially have a “G.O.A.T” list. 

Looking at this list did one good thing. It made me think of what my top 20 albums of all time would be & what I realized is that we all have our greatest & does it really matter what other people think? As I read through all the comments & reading comments you would see on Youtube for example, it seems like people the world over need other people to affirm that their opinion is right! That’s crazy in itself because our opinions are what make us unique. So, think about your lists, based on albums that really had an impact on your lives. They may not have been the biggest selling, they may not have won 5 Grammy’s but they meant something in your life & surely that's far more important than whether or not other people think it’s “THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME”. 

Here’s mine, I based it on the impact it had on my life. Surprisingly no Prince albums made my list but he does remain my favourite artist of all time:

1. D’angelo – Voodoo 
2. Michael Jackson – Dangerous 
3. India Arie – Acoustic soul 
4. Eric Benet – A day in the life 
5. Amel Larieux – Infinite Possibilities 
6. John Mayer – Room for Squares 
7. Damien Rice – O 
8. Eryka Badu – Baduism 
9. Incognito – No time like the future 
10. Jeff Buckley – Grace 
11. Jill Scott – Experience
12. Nikka Costa – Everybody Got their something
13. P.M. Dawn – The Bliss Album 
14. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the key of life
15. Terrence Trent D’arby – Vibrator
16. The Brand New Heavies – Brother Sister
17. George Michael – Older
18. Alana Davis – Blame it on me
19. Lenny Kravitz – Mama Said
20. Van Morrison - His band & The street choir

Tone verses Range, what do you think?

I’ve spoken about my thoughts on tone in blogs gone by but I’ve always been curious about what other people think is more important for a vocalist. The reason why I got thinking is because a vocal student brought me a singing program by a guy named Brett Manning from the US. Nothing wrong with the course at all other than it possibly being too advanced for people ordering it over the internet. What did bother me was the massive focus on range. Yes it is important but in my opinion not as important as tone quality. I’d go as far as saying they go hand in hand but what good is a singer with 7 octaves if they sound like “crap”? 

I started researching singers with large ranges & it’s quite amazing how high some women & men have gone! Off the piano in fact, wow! But looking at some of the greatest recording artists they certainly don’t have the biggest ranges of all time. For the most part 3, pushing 4 octaves. The odd few aka the Mariah’s have 5 I would hazard to guess but when last did you hear Mariah going that high…or low? 

So my question to you is what do you think is more important for a singer, a big range or great tone? If you’re unclear on what tone is it’s simply the sound quality of the voice. 

My moments with MJ

Like so many of you, Michael Jackson was the 1st influence & the one that made me believe I could live music. Here are some moments in my life that instantly popped into my head when the news came of his passing. Rest in Peace dude!

- Sitting with my sis in front of the giant speakers my dad had waiting for Alex Jay to play MJ's new single Scream for the 1st time on SA radio. My parents let us bunk school that day so we could hear it!

- Every Sunday morning when I was about 12 yrs old, I would go to the single seater couch in my parents lounge & sit with giant headphones on, my eyes closed & listen to the dangerous album from beginning to end. 

- Attempting to teach my music students Thriller for harmony class. Year after year it would go smoothly up until the "killer, chiller, thriller, here tonight...!" part and then it was curtains. Dont think any group ever got it right!

- Being inspired by Man In The Mirror to write my 1st pop song entitled Life In A Mirror.

- Playing Earth Song for my mom one day after school, when it got to the "what about us" part, I just remember looking back to her at the end of the song & she was in tears!

- playing Just Good Friends featuring Stevie Wonder from the Bad album on my dad's record player so many times it wouldn't play anymore. In fact, it was doomed from the bridge where it says "see the signs", it would just repeat "see the signs, see the signs see the signs..." LOL

- Going to the MJ concert in JHB. I gotta be honest I was disappointed he mimed most of the songs but as a show it was spectacular!

- Tearing up my sisters Bad tour book to stick the pictures on my wall without asking her. You can just imagine the trouble I got into for that! I still dont think my sister has forgiven me for that one! 

- Going with my dad to some record store in some alley way in JHB town because we had found out they had copies of the new MJ album Bad album. It hadn't been released in SA yet & we couldn't wait!

- Going to some camp when I was in standard 5 (grade 7), it was raining & we all had to stay in this big cold hall. They asked if anyone had some music they could play. I had brought my Dangerous CD. I remember them blasting Jam on their system & thinking I was Mr Cool cuz they were playing my music!!

Do Operatic vocal coach’s have a place in the modern world?

I’ve often thought about this question, particularly as a vocal coach that has trained in many different singing styles. As a vocalist trying to find my place in the SA music industry, I started by performing in various groups, choirs & cover bands covering songs from genre’s spanning several centuries. 

No doubt the majority of wanna-be singers who have come to me for training over the years have wanted to sing songs that are current. With Michael Buble reigniting the Swing tunes from the century before & some of the great timeless musicals of the 1900’s, I would add that to the list of demands of students. Very few students ever ask for operatic training. It seems logical. It is not the music of our era & that is not to take away from it as there are certainly reasons to preserve it but my concern is with teachers out there who have trained operatically trying to justify why a contemporary student should train with them.

Yes, certainly the basis of this technique is what I would teach anyone wanting to sing but there many aspects that just do not apply to modern singing. A few hundred years ago, there were no microphones & therefore vocalists had to create a technique that would “self-amplify”. Technology has certainly changed that, meaning singers do not have to create a “false” sound to project over the instrumentation but rather a natural sound that simply is amplified by the system being used. Naturally this started happening. The jazz singers of the last century prove this & thus a new era of singing began. Often not the safest but it certainly did offer a way of expression to singers singing behind multiple musicians. 

Another difference has been the vowels we use. Music, whether we like or not has been severely influenced in the modern world by the dominance of America & so the way we sing words has changed. As apposed to the “rounder” sounds, people started using vowels like “ee”, “A” as in “hat”, “uh” as in “luck” etc. We cannot runaway from this but you have to ask yourself, why are operatic trainers still forcing students who are trying to sing in a contemporary fashion to use vowels & place these sounds in a way that simply does not fit in our world?

The human race has evolved, things change, technology changes the world. Do we just stubbornly sit on a high horse & not accept that? Is it a fear that like some languages, a historical musical art form will die & in order to preserve it we must preach that it is the only method in which to sing? Personally, I think that’s just ignorant…what do you think? 

A Nation That Has Forgotten How To Enjoy New Music

I know many reading this will wonder what on earth I mean. In short, I think most people enjoy a song simply because it is something they recognize as apposed to something they actually enjoy.

In our World filled with so much media we have not had much choice in the matter. After hearing the same songs on constant rotation it is hard to assess whether you like something simply because in your heart of hearts you actually like it or because its been drummed in your head so much, the recognition outweighs the personal opinion. 

I am in an interesting position. As an artist, I appeal to a largely mixed audience, often times performing to the black masses. I also, from working with artists as a producer & recently playing piano on occasion with Louise Carver have seen the other side of the spectrum. 1) Obviously people love the popular songs, that’s natural. 2) People completely blank out when something they don’t know is playing. Not for a second is there a glimmer of hope for the song they don’t recognize. Its that that concerns me the most. 

I think part of the reason we are seeing “The Death of the Album” is due to this mentality. I think sometimes I am in the same position. Yes, a hit can have a catchy melody or words that just stick in your head but I certainly think we are hearing non-hits that take a while & many plays on radio until we supposedly like it. I love the feeling of buying a new album & finding songs that would never play on radio that touch me. Just recently, I got into the band Coldplay. I’m a Neo-Soulja but I needed some new inspiration & as I listened through their albums I found gems that were certainly not the big radio hits like “Clocks” or “Viva La Vida” but lesser known songs like “Warning Sign” & “Death & all His Friends”. 

It’s a great question to ask yourself because you wouldn’t really know if you had been brainwashed. So, next time you’re watching a music vid on TV or listening to the radio, think about about it…do you really enjoy what’s being served to you or would you like another look at the menu???

You Cant sing…or can you?

My official profession will always be that of a Vocal coach & therefore the question I’ve probably most often been asked in my adult life is “can I sing?”. I’ll elaborate further on this later but what concerns me more is how the general public defines this.

With shows such as Idols, SA’s Got Talent & Pop Stars out there, my observation is that like a couch commentator would spurt out expertise on a sports match, we, the public love to do much the same with the poor saps singing their lungs out on the tv.

For many, its simple. Either you can sing...or you can’t. As a vocal coach it just is not that simple. Before we look at who CANT sing, lets 1st define who CAN sing. In reality, most of us can sing. It requires 2 simple things: singing in tune (singing all the right notes) & singing in time. What separates those who can sing from those who are great singers is tone, style, control & that unexplainable thing people often refer to as “the X-Factor”. My point is that most of us can sing. Very few of us can SING! If someone, a potential student comes to me with the “can I sing” question, the chances are I will say “yes you can sing”. From there it’s a case of do you have potential to be a great singer & then working on all the extra technical & musical bits & effectively polish a rough diamond.

My point is we cant always just simply say “you cant sing” to someone who can sing in tune. Chances are we’re depriving our country of great future stars potentially by being so black & white.

So who CANT sing? We’ve all heard these people. If we take the 2 main requirements, the 1st singing IN tune, someone who cant sing would sing OUT of tune. This means that the note they were supposed to hit is something completely different. They literally clash with the music when singing & often the effect on our ears is that of pain, a horror movie scene that we wish would end! Yes, I now you know this feeling. The 2nd requirement, singing in time. If you take someone who can keep a beat when they dance compared to someone whose steps do not coincide with the music, its a similar a thing when a person sings out of time. The person cannot sing in time with music. Though not as painful as an off tune singer, it would qualify that person as someone who CANT sing. 

I’d love for South Africans to change the culture we’ve become so accustomed to & instead of looking to rip apart someone who could, with work become our next big thing rather encourage practice to be the best you can be & a culture of never giving up!!

Know Your Range

Have you ever watched a singer who tried to hit a high or low note butfailed miserably & suffered severe embarrassment from doing so? Haveyou ever been the singer who failed to hit that high or low note?

The truth is, it never ever happens to a professional singer. The artof being a good singer is that of deception. The goal, to make thelistener believe you can do no wrong, that your voice has no flaws.

As far range goes, its just the tip of the iceberg but for now we focus on that.

A singer should always be aware of their range & what their generalrange is first & foremost. Simply by knowing how high or low you cango, you curb any chance of mistakes & embarrament. People listeningare not aware of how high you can sing & ensuring you're alwayshitting notes within your range, they'll always be impressed. For me,there is nothing worse than oversinging & listeing to someone whoclearly does not know who they are vocally.

Even when it comes to a vocalist showing off, knowing your range limitations makes it easier to show off without blowing it!

So how do you find out what your range is? Sure, you could get to apiano or guitar or another instrument & work that out or go to a vocalcoach or music teacher who could help you figure it out. The best forme would be trusting your instincts & your muscle memory. Knowing thatyou can only hit Low E & High B will not help you when you're out onstage or in an audition. With practise & experience you instinctivelyknow from bar 1 of a song what your limits are. To ensure you get thatright, its sheer hard work & learning to be aware of what your voiceis doing at any given time. Don't forget you could be sick or tiredwhich would limit your singing range too.

Seems like a lot, I know but as I said earlier just the tip of theiceberg for a singer. Its our job though to create the illusion thereis nothing wrong with us when we're on stage or even auditioning. Asthe saying goes...the show must go on!

Diaphragmatic Breathing – Grasping The Concept

Through the world over, it is accepted that the best method of breathing for singers is diaphragmatic breathing. A lot of you may ask, what’s so hard about breathing…you breathe in…you breathe out? It is in fact one of the most important aspects of singing. After all, its air that passes through your vocal chords which convert that air into sound or tone.

1stly, if you were to take a deep breath in right now…do it…chances are you lifted your shoulders & your chest area was expanded. That is an expected response BUT not diaphragmatic breathing. Lets call that “chest” breathing.

So where is the diaphragm? Well, instead of me describing where it is, click on this link:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TxL3Y0_WaIawCjfjlkaE4JpIGTZATX0R1gy4qapQe2jzqEMkBH8OCqs8gdVO-MbUkPPYbZnc_pPZZ_rvf1FeoC5GCtK7lnGYpcgLcquqEWv6hNhkNbJB9W0BdZsjrMbUHGFIdeYO75re/s400/223681_diaphragm.jpg

Now, understand that when you breathe correctly, the diaphragm which, when relaxed looks something like an up-side down salad bowl flattens & creates space for the lungs to expand.

Sure! The lungs expand when you “chest’ breathe but there are 2 factors that become a clear advantage to a singer when breathing diaphragmatically:

1) You have far more control over the air coming out of the lungs. To use a simple visual, think of a balloon as your lungs. If you blow up the balloon & just simply let it go, the air in a second or less escapes the balloon (chest breathing) but when blowing up the balloon, taking your hands & controlling the air flow from the balloon at the tip, you can control how much or little air escapes (diaphragmatic breathing).

2) Eliminating any added pressure on the neck. Think about it, when you “chest” breathe, your shoulders lift up, restricting your neck area. Also, think about when you’re stressed out or angry. Your breathing becomes very “chesty” & the 1st thing to feel that stress is your neck & shoulders. Those neck muscles play a huge part in assisting the vocal chords with singing & by creating tension in the neck you’re effectively creating unnecessary pressure for the vocal chords.

Grasping the concept is simple because in reality you are doing it all the time. Probably while you’re reading this. Think about when you’re sitting watching TV. You don’t sit there puffing out your chest every time you breathe in. You would look insane. So what’s moving? In simple terms, your stomach…put a hand there. That is your diaphragm functioning on a sub-conscious level & it does that in most occasions when you’re not thinking about breathing. That’s the difference. When you do think “breathe in” your shoulders lift & chest puffs out. You need to learn to change this.

How? Just use various scenarios where you already breathe diaphragmatically to spark the concept. In other words, while your watching TV, every now & then put a hand on your upper abdominals so you can feel it moving or while your lying in bed, when you wake up…lying on your back, again place a hand their & feel how its working. You are teaching yourself how to do this.

The aim is to show yourself 1) you can “chest” breathe & 2) you can breathe “Diaphragmatically”.

This is just the beginning. Once you have grasped the concept, you need to master it which takes practice & use of muscles you may not know even existed but if want to become a professional singer this is an essential piece of the puzzle.

Taking Care Of The One Voice You Have

This year marks the tenth year of my teaching career. Over the years

I've taught young & old, talented & not-so-talented, the not so

famous, the not yet famous & the now very famous as far as SA

celebrities go. I've observed the singing careers of every major SA

artist thats come onto the scene in the last 10 years & I've noticed

that most do NOT take care of their voices.

Its a reflection of the SA music industry as a whole & in comparing it

to the SA sports industry, a clear picture is painted. The Arts in SA

is not as well supported as is sports. I'd be the 1st to raise my

concerns about this. I can only speak for the music industry but from

that perspective, if we are not taking ourselves seriously as singers,

why should government or anyone else take us seriously?

Here's what I know. The majority of top SA singers do not warm up

their voices before performances among other lifestyle choices that

cause damage to the voice. Many of you may be asking well why should

they?

Here's why: the voice, like any other part of the body needs to be

warmed up before it is used. It may seem to the listener that its an

effortless exercise but performing solidly for an hour or more is as

taxing on the voice of a professional singer as any professional sport

would be taxing on the body of a sports-person. What do we know about

the professional sports world? We know they stretch & warm up before

every game, some even warm down. We also know they go through rigorous

training daily. For the most part, our SA singers are not doing this &

to argue they can't afford coaches on a daily basis is fair but for

singers, it is easy to find singing exercises at the click of a

button. At the very least all professional SA singers should be

warming up. If you need exercise, contact me, I will gladly help!

What could be the effect of not warming before every performance? In

the short term, none of us will notice a difference however its a long

term problem. Many of you can go through your SA music collection,

pick an artist & listen to their body of work. I have noticed that

some artists voices have audibly changed over a 10 year period, 10

years??? Considering this is supposed to be a life long career 10

years should just be the start of a career & the harsh reality is

without the voice that made you famous in the 1st place, you have no

career as a singer...unless you're planning on miming for the rest of

your life.

Finding YOUR instrument

I’m a vocalist who has always loved musical instruments. I play the piano more so because it was the instrument that was at my disposal from a young age. Vocally I would be classed as a bass/baritone & I’ve always loved the bass guitar, yet I don’t play it & I’ll always wonder if, had I been a young boy with the opportunity to learn bass guitar, that would have been MY instrument.

Its been said before that every person out there can find THEIR instrument. An instrument that they resonate towards & simply by picking it up, they realize that this is the one for them. I often wonder in South Africa with immense amount of musicality I see in the less affluent area’s, how many great musicians there could be if they had the opportunity to discover what musical instrument fits them the best. Most will never play an instrument in their lives. It is my great hope that in the future years, this will change.

I spoke to my right hand man, multi-instrumentalist, producer & musical director Chad Alexander about finding YOUR Instrument. Considering how it seems like he has found the ability to play not just piano competently but sing & play guitar & bass too (& he could be a drummer & a trumpet player too with a little work), I thought his insights into this would be best.

Chad began by saying “I don't think everyone is born with that ability, however I do strongly believe that even if you’re not born with the ability, if you put your mind to it, you certainly can find the instrument that fits your personality”. Based on my experience I asked him how one would go about finding their instrument. He said “listen to all types of music, feel which genre moves you. Purchase yourself a few CD's, take risks, don't go for the conventional Then I would advise going to see live shows of the music you've purchased so as to bring to life the music you've now grown accustomed to & believe me live music will change your life!”. I was curious about his ability to play many instruments unlike us mere mortals. “I discovered that how I taught myself to play the very first instrument, piano, I could simply use the

same principles & discipline to play any instrument!” says Chad. It takes great discipline to play an instrument on singers not being able to play an instrument, Chad went said “playing an instrument will help the singer decipher music much better, especially when having to adapt to many genres. Singers have a bad rep when it comes to instrumentalists because they tend to ignore all the hard work of having to compose, play & arrange music. By playing an instrument, it will allow you to understand how music functions as a whole. Singers often find they can do more vocally & understand when to do less & they can communicate better with instrumentalists. Lastly I asked asked about new technology in music “Anything that can be used to make sound could be used as an instrument, but simply because the person uses the instrument, doesn't necessarily make them musicians. As long as there's sound music will prevail, whether its good or bad!”

Creating a culture of Music exploration

Its fair to say that 1st world countries have had a head start. With so many people having easy access to computers and fast internet, it made it easy for people living in 1st world countries to literally surf the web. With the rise of websites like Myspace, suddenly  independant & unsigned artists had a platform to showcase their music, even sell it, often times without having had a single shred of radio airplay. It became so easy for people to explore the web & find new, undiscovered music. It wasn't the popularity contest of "we all need to listen to this music that everybodies listening to because if we don't, we won't be cool" but instead "I'm unique because I've discovered something wonderful, new & fresh that you've never heard before".

My question would then be, did this culture only start with the advent of fast internet? In my opinion, no. Spending time in countries around the world I've always been amazed at the amount of options, musically available to the public. & beyond the consumption of this music, its the exposure of it. Every genre you can imagine & many more you've never heard before are available on a multitude of radio stations & tv channels. There quite literally is something for everyone. On a performance level, you're bound to find a jazz band playing while around the corner, an indie rock band is jamming & a few roads down from there, a hiphop club where not so far from there you can dance the night away at a house club. Even these sort of clubs would cater to a specific sub genre's.

Bringing it back to South Africa, its my observation that we don't have much variety as far as music is concerned on our radio stations. I'm going to focus on radio in particular because it still remains such a powerful medium in our country. I believe there's an assumption that this is what white people listen to, this is what black people listen to, this is what indian people listen to & so on & so fourth. The problem is, not all white people listen to pop music & not every black person listens to house music. It does though, feel like a lot of people place all their trust in these stations with the notion of, this is it. This is what's out there, both locally & abroad. My fear is, are we not losing our uniqueness as a people by all listening to the same music & to a larger degree by not thinking for ourselves?  Maybe you're reading this, thinking maybe you'd love to listen to something you don't hear on the radio.

True, In South Africa we still aren't in a situation where every citizen has easy access to computers & even adequately fast internet but we do have phones & pretty much every phone out there is now a smart phone & thanks to our cellphone service providers, these "mini computers" we hold in ourhands everyday can access the internet, sometimes at lightning speed, anywhere in the world. This means that any of us can access any music, in the world at the click of a finger. I can guarantee you will find a station that fits YOU. I can also guarantee that once you realise how much amazing music is out there, radio (fill in your name) will be the best station you've ever heard.