Team in Training Update

This update is from last week:

April 18, 2009. We finished our 11th week of training at Lake Del Valle in Livermore, long one of my family's favorite places to hike and swim with the dogs. This time despite it being 8 am, brutal for a musician, the water was in the low 60 degrees, unlike our first open water experience, where it had been 10 degrees colder. In a wetsuit, it felt positively balmy. I swam about 40 minutes, and during the last half managed to find some rhythm. Afterwards I did my usual lamenting about being slow and got some more tips from other swimmers. One thing I can't duplicate is that many of the swimmers started in High School. Parents, put your kids on swim team so when they decide to take up triathlons in their 30s they're ready!

However, I kicked ass on the bike. Another woman and I paired up and rode 13 miles out on Mines Road. Beautiful! It was great to accomplish a 26-mile bike ride with a modicum of speed, and I knew it would be our last chance to get that distance in before we began tapering (reducing intensity/mileage to conserve energy for the race).

After we had a great honoree picnic in which several cancer survivors and family members spoke about their experiences, and the meaning of our support. The pain of cancer lingers, but it's deep. Cancer is not a disease you eliminate quickly, it's a process. These people and their families have been so challenged. It's depressing and scary. You want to look away. You want not to think about mortality. You want to crack a joke, lighten the mood, not catch what they caught.

But it's just as human to want to find meaning. To know that you survived cancer, beat it, only to go on to better things. Or to know that you got a few years you wouldn't have had before new chemotherapies were invented, and you use those years to do the very thing you have always known you were meant to do. Or that after coming back from the brink of death you met the woman of your dreams, a woman whose heart beats with enough strength for the two of you and everyone you know.

At the honoree picnic, I realized that these were stories of true love. Sometimes love seems fictional. The stuff of movies and pop songs and department stores. Yet there it was, catching unexpectedly in our throats. We can't live without you.

Team in Training: Bad Transition Area, Good Swim

Team in Training: Swimming in Lake Del Valle

Team in Training: Swimming in Lake Del Valle

Team in Training: How to Get to Inspiration Point

Team in Training: Running at Inspiration Point

Donations by Midnight Please! Dollars Against Blood Cancer!

I read somewhere that the ladder of career success goes like this: student, employee, independent contractor, business owner, entrepreneur, philanthropist. I had never thought of that order, and in the past I'd only seen entrepreneur as the ultimate goal -- which I personally didn't find very inspiring. But philanthropist? Who doesn't want to be a philanthropist? Well, aside from the misanthropes. I think I'll skip the entrepreneur step and just jump straight into philanthropy! Won't you join me?

I've raised $1300 to cure cancer! Can you donate by midnight? On Monday I must personally provide the outstanding amount of my goal, though I can still fundraise (my triathlon is on May 3). It's been hard this year, but your generosity astounds! Any amount helps! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/wildtri09/awebermorales

I've also got a special offer running through May: All sales of my 2 CDs on CDBaby (ONLY CDBaby, not other retailers) will go 100% after shipping and handling to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Buy now! (No promotional code needed, just buy them, and I'll deposit the money into the LLS fundraising site.) http://budurl.com/eq6s

To a Mother Concerned About File-Sharing

The editors of Musicianswages.com have invited musicians and bloggers to answer a mother's question to them about her teenage son's propensity for online file-sharing:

I have a teenage son who tells me his pirating music is no big deal. Since he is a musician himself, I point out to him that someday that’s going to be his money people are stealing. But he remains unphased.

He tells me the record sales make money for the record label, not the artist. He says that the artists make all their money from touring and live concerts. He thinks the pirated music promotes the concerts and therefore helps the artist make more money. I still don’t allow pirating in my house.

But tell me what you think - as artists out there having your work “shared,” are you just glad to have it being enjoyed, or does it bother you? Admittedly, he is stealing music that is recorded by major record labels, so maybe its different than the independent musician working for his living. But I’d still like to hear what you think.

First off, the concept of exposure is completely bogus and overused as an excuse to exploit artists. Your son needs to drop that argument out of his arsenal.

Beyond that, I think sharing music isn't black and white. Aside from concerns of legal and computer safety (Limewire's a great way to pick up a virus), the occasional use of file-sharing sites doesn't strike me as awful. When I buy an MP3 off iTunes, it annoys me that digital rights protections prevent me from sharing that tune via email with two or three musicians who might need to hear it for an upcoming gig. I think making a reasonable number of copies of music you have purchased is OK. Unless, of course, we are talking about my music.

If we are talking about my music, aside from the MP3s I have made available for free on my website, I would like you to purchase it. Inconsistent? Slightly. But honest. Look, I have no control over what you do in your home, with your computer. But I realized things were changing when, at a gig, a fan stood in line to buy a CD from me. "Which one should I get?" she asked, looking at both my indie releases. Her friend was standing there with her. "I'll get one, and you get the other, and we'll burn them for each other," she announced to her friend, right in front of me. I was a bit shocked and not sure what to say. I can't recall if I reminded them that I earn my living by selling my recordings.

But it bothered me (and it wasn't the first time the words "burn a copy" had come up at a gig). I asked around for a good comeback, and this is what someone suggested: "Every time a fan burns a copy of my CDs, it burns a hole in my pocket."

I agree that at an indie level (and as musicians) we aren't really in the record business, we're in the performing business. However, music recordings have become so commoditized that fans often forget what may have gone into a quality production. Of course, spending $25,000 or $50,000 doesn't turn a so-so musician into a great one, and no amount of money will purchase soul and creativity. One hopes that the details of arranging, session musicians, and professional engineering, editing, mixing and mastering don't go unnoticed, however.

Copyright protection has waxed and waned over the course of history. We have relatively high compliance with anti-piracy laws in our country, but many others don't. Personally I fall slightly more on the side of the copyright holders than the freedom seekers (as in free software). However, I've benefited from the contributions of both.

I've also travelled to other countries and been showered with gifts of pirated, poor-quality CDs and DVDs made by filming movie screens. I agree the rules seem different when we're talking about major labels. It feels like taking pens and stationery home from the office. But if it were me being pirated -- unless I was very, very rich -- I'd feel differently.

Ultimately, I think it should come down to the publishing concept of fair use (as opposed to commercial use). I can print a paragraph or two from a book I am reviewing in a magazine. I cannot print an entire chapter without permission from the publisher and author. I can make a few copies of music I purchase. I cannot enable that commercially available music to be shared by millions. (I can also go to the library and check out the album.) That seems fair.

Latin Jazz Meets Cuban Circle Dancing, Saturday April 25!

Join the Alexa Weber Morales Band with special guests Sidney Weaverling and Ryan Mead of Rueda Con Ritmo for our third show of an ongoing series.

The fun starts Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm at Senzala, a delicious, spacious Brazilian eatery and cultural center located at 250 E. Java Dr. in Sunnyvale, Calif. Tickets are $12 and include a Cuban circle dance class, two sets by the Alexa Weber Morales Band, and an Afro-Cuban dance performance by Rueda Con Ritmo! Senzala is an all-ages venue and children are welcome.

Senzala is fast becoming a hot-spot for Latin American and Brazilian dance and music events, and has expanded their event schedule to a new night: Thursdays! Peninsula residents are urged to spread the word that affordable, high-energy and family-friendly fun is now in the neighborhood!

ABOUT RUEDA CON RITMO

Ryan and Sidney have made it their life's work to explore, perform and educate in the field of Afro-Cuban music. But why collaborate with a band when there's so much Cuban music on CD?

"I definitely prefer to dance to live music. There's such great potential for interaction and synergy between the musicians and the dancers," says Ryan. "I've experienced this as both a dancer and a musician -- the two groups feed off of each other, and the energy really grows."

"Listening to latin dance music, particularly the contemporary Cuban dance music called Timba, is very inspiring for both of us. The music is fresh and vibrant and the arrangements are truly masterful," explains Sidney.

"Many Timba songs are like musical stories. They take you on a journey. Some of my favorite songs begin with the flavor of an older style such as Cuban Son or Rumba and build the energy gradually until the musicians have riled the dancers into a frenetic ectasy with a more contemorary Timba sound, mixing Salsa, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Jazz, Funk and R&B. The music gives us so much inspiration as choreographers. It allows us to take the audience on a visual journey so that they can see how each of the musical styles might be interpreted physically. Hopefully then the audience members will be inspired to get up and dance, too!"

ABOUT THE ALEXA WEBER MORALES BAND

Since 2004, multilingual singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales has made six studio recordings, including her two solo albums, Jazzmérica and Vagabundeo. The latter, named “one of the greatest Bay Area recordings in recent times” by Latin Beat magazine, made top-20 airplay nationwide and received acclaim from around the world. Rio de Janeiro–based producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro (João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá) calls her original compositions “rhythmically captivating and entrancing.” A June 2008 DownBeat review of Vagabundeo enthuses, “Her large-scale skill and talent encourages her all-inclusive dreams” and praises her “gorgeous articulation, flowing time sense and warm tone.”

Murray Low is a 30-year veteran pianist on the Bay Area jazz scene. Though he is a tireless performer, recording artist, and arranger, he is best known for his work with Pete Escovedo (since 1994); Grammy-nominated John Santos and the Machete Ensemble (since 2000); and Andy Narell, the pioneering steel pan player. His multifaceted career has also included international performances with Tito Puente, Bob Mintzer, Sheila E, Benny Golson, John Patitucci, George Duke, and many others.

Born in Uruguay in 1960, Edgardo Cambon moved to Europe in 1982 where he toured and performed with well known Swedish group, "Latin Lover." In Amsterdam, Holland, he began studying the difficult coordination of drumming and singing simultaneously, performing with the local bands "Evolution 2000", "Rubén Salas Orquestra", "Salsa Charanga" and his own group "Bululú". Traveling to Cuba, he studied with master drummers Jose Luis "Changuito" Quintana, Justo Pelladito and Vizcaino Guillot and has participated in the Havana Jazz Festival and the Benny Moré Festival. He has taught at several University of California campuses and given workshops throughout the US, South America and Europe.

David Pinto is a Peruvian native probably best-known for his work as musical director, arranger and bassist with Grammy-winner Susana Baca, champion of Afro-Peruvian song. Other credits include Olga Guillot, Alex Acuña and Bay Area band leaders Edgardo Cambón and producer Wayne Wallace. He has played more than 800 festivals around the world.

A Banner Day! Wanna Banner?

If you'd like a banner, well, hey, here's one, courtesy of JazzWest.com! Click banner to see/download full-size image. Feel free to post it wherever, ASAP! Peace out!

Only Three Weeks Left To Go!

I can't believe how quickly this year's TNT experience has gone by, yet when I think back to all the wonderful moments we have had as a team working toward this triathlon goal I realize how much we have accomplished.

A few weeks ago we swam for 45 minutes in the 51-degree San Francisco Bay at 8 am, then ran an hour to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The next day, we ran the Rhodes Race 5K at Lake Merritt, where I was the 4th woman and 3rd in my age group. While my time was virtually the same as last year (24:56), my pace was much more consistent, so I think I am learning how to be a more efficient runner rather than starting out too fast, dying in the middle and kicking it at the end.

Last weekend, for our big brick workout we rode our bikes 15 miles in Danville, through verdant hills past red farmhouses off Camino Tassajara. Then we ran 15 minutes. Then repeat. I had planned to do three of these in a row, but coach Paul told me quality was better than quantity, and to push myself hard on the second rep. I did, and I was totally spent!

I appreciate the support of everyone thus far. Now it's near the deadline for fundraising -- please make your donations soon and help me spread the word! My race is looming... May 3 here we come!

You can make a donation online and receive your tax receipt immediately via email. Please click here and make a donation now!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/wildtri09/awebermorales

Thank you and race on!

Good news from WEMU in Michigan

Linda Yohn, Music Director for WEMU in Ann Arbor, Michigan, reports they have achieved their spring fundraising goal of $135,000.00 in pledges. She explained how they did it in a recent letter to latin jazz musicians:

As everyone knows, we are in challenging times and Michigan is the hardest hit with the nation's highest unemployment figures and the dicey situation for the automobile companies. But, despite the situation, WEMU listeners stepped up to keep us on the air pumping out great jazz, blues, Latin and roots music along with in-depth local news.

Perhaps the announcement that the Ann Arbor News will only deliver on Thursdays and Sundays starting in July had something to do with it. Perhaps the fact that the Detroit Free Press and News are down to three days a week of delivery influenced our listeners decision to give to support our excellent and inclusive local news.

We also think our message of uplifting, real, soulful, touching music to help people cope with tough times had something to do with the success. Perhaps our move to program our music more progressively and aggressively has something to do with it. The record reps know the sound we're working on, and I think it is the right direction for WEMU.

A final message we conveyed to listeners was that we are a real "community station". We reinforced that message by taking daytime music shows (me, Michael Jewett, Jeremy Baldwin and Dr. Arwulf along with a few morning news/talk shows) down to the lobby of the historic Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor for a 9 day remote broadcast. This was tons of work, but it was worth it. Rather than sit in our studios and wail "woe is me, the economy", we put our Sunday best on and went out in strength and unity. People ran in to the lobby and dropped pledges off. They came by for coffee and donuts with us. Local businesses volunteered to answer phones. It was totally chaotic with Michigan Theater events going on at the same time as our broadcast, but we got through it. We ARE "the little station that can".

Emotional Singing: I'll Take You There

In part one, I spoke about the technical things that I listen to in a singer's voice. They're nearly valueless without meaning, however. And a beautiful voice, while as irresistible to our ears as birdsong is to birds, isn't as powerful as one packed with emotional content. Here are some expressive things I listen to in a singer, not necessarily in order:

1. Emotion. We start with the lyric, most of the time. A good one evokes all sorts of back stories, allowing us, like an actor, to imagine myriad scenarios that might have led to the singing of this song in this moment. Sometimes the lyric isn't great. I often have changed a single word that bothered me, or dropped a verse or chorus I didn't feel, especially when singing religious music. The strength of a lyric depends not on erudition but emotional potential. For years I listened mainly to singers' voices, and almost never to lyrics. I came around. I adore the technical beauty of singing so much, but ultimately success arrived when I embraced the emotional side of it. That said, pure emotion without musical technique isn't entirely effective either.

2. Wisdom. There are no shortcuts. One must sing with the wisdom one has earned. A virgin isn't convincing as a siren, not usually anyway.

3. Humor. If you can find some humor, share it. Some singers are naturally effervescent, others serious. Even the saddest ones, who break your heart with every note, find something to laugh at. And the best moment to hit the audience with a message is after they've loosened up with a laugh. Madeline Eastman is damn funny, sometimes in song, sometimes between songs.

4. Energy. Whatever your natural energy level is, make sure it matches the song's intention. It can be fun to transmogrify a rollicking tune by doing it with a quiet intensity, or vice versa. I love to watch those Judy Garland TV specials. She seems drunk to me. She was so expressive, so irrepressible in her gestures, that apparently some TV executives said she made audiences uncomfortable. But that was her, inescapably her. See below, truth and creativity.

5. Wit. Some singers take a word or phrase you've never noticed before, say in a standard, and infuse it with a whole new meaning or double entendre. That's nice.

6. Sensuality. I could have called this sexuality, as perhaps it's mainly seen in pop music. But sensuality is more than that, it's the physical expressiveness, the body and sense intelligence, that a performer brings to a song. Some acting classes, or even religious and cultural philosophies, talk about learning to listen to where emotions register in the body. Do you feel it on the top of your head? In the middle of your forehead (third eye), or behind your eyes (seeing red, as in anger)? The heart, the chest, the back (a heavy load), the arms (strength), the stomach (butterflies, desire), the groin, the gut, the butt... Hmmm. Does one feel emotion below the torso? Hands are expressive. For dancers, all of the body is. I wonder as I write ... feet make us dance. Legs make us leap, or run away or toward something. I guess the answer is yes.

7. Knowledge and truth. Singing is not the same as lecturing. But one's knowledge can be an ingredient in what an audience hears. When you know yourself well, or you know the message of the song well, you testify. You tell your truth.

8. Assurance. Years ago in an acting for singers class our teacher had us stand up alone on stage in front of the rest of the class, doing nothing. She asked us how we felt. "Nervous," or "awkward" or "uncomfortable" we answered. Then she had us stand there and count all the floor boards in front and behind us. With this task as our purpose, we all reported no more discomfort. When you have fully understood the purpose of singing each song by creating an emotional context for it, your assurance will be obvious -- and comforting -- to the audience. It's not just emotional assurance either. On FaceBook, the luscious and witty singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway posted a 1979 video of Carmen McCrae singing "I'm Glad There Is You." McCrae owns the song in so many ways, from the lyric to her modal phrases which reveal her deep jazz skill. The confidence is beautiful.

9. Creativity. I love it when I hear something I've never heard before. We're social animals, so we're wired to ape each other, but occasionally someone does something extraordinarily different. They're often ostracized for it. Then when they die we say how great they were. However, originality isn't for everyone. Indeed, it may not be the most profitable course. An audience facing an original artist isn't sure what to think. An audience facing a star or someone covering their hits doesn't have to think. Even in tiny musical niches, there are originals and copies, influencers and influencees. Sometimes it's debatable. It can be annoying when you've just seen someone you think is fabulous and your cynical friend says, "Oh, he's just a second-rate version of so-and-so."

10. Soul. Mavis Staples is the first name that comes to mind, mainly because of the title of this essay. Soul is love, pain, honesty, injustice, dirt, salt, sugar and carbon. It's something extra and forbidden and inspiring. You can't fake it. You can only feel it.

11. Freedom. Certain performers are so free that we can't help but be drawn to them. Rhiannon. Kellye Gray. Bobby McFerrin. Frank Sinatra. Judy Garland. Sammy Davis Jr. Bjork. Sometimes they seem to be mere vessels for beautiful, expressive voices, and one wonders if they think much at all about the points I've listed above. Cecilia Bartoli, or Pavarotti. Freedom without mastery can be a train wreck. Mastery without freedom isn't much better.

My Brilliant Illegal Invention

After the 5K this Sunday, various athletes were showing me their Garmin satellite watches, which show pace, past performance, mileage, heart rate, etc. You can set them to beep at certain points, or to compare your current race performance to a past performance so that you can set a new personal record. I got to thinking that essentially it's a pace setter, which is an illegal advantage in a professional race. You can't have a person on the sidelines who is helping you maintain a specific pace. So why should you have a watch that does it?

For years people have written split times on their arms so they can gauge their pace (e.g. 7:35/15:10/22:45 to show how long each mile should take). Now you can buy audio programs for your iPod that contain motivational speaking as well as music to train to (although these are banned in racing). Imagine if your watch not only held your pace and performance information, but it spoke to you in the voice of your coach, giving you advice designed for specific transitions in the race? With wireless bluetooth you could have an invisible ear bud.

We all eat and hydrate along the way in long-distance races. What if the watch activated transdermal caffeine exposure at certain points?

Everyone tells me how fun these watches are. You start to race yourself at the track. But you also can get dependent on them. Pretty soon you feel dejected if you don't have the heart rate monitor and the pace information right there.

You don't need any of it, of course. It's a low-tech sport. But if you want to market my idea...

Strange Dream

I had a dream this morning. I was out riding my bike at dusk. I approached my house and saw my dog barking at a disheveled homeless woman who was just coming out of my front gate, carrying stuff she'd stolen from our house. I decided to pursue her on my bike. Suddenly we were in an urban alley and I pulled out my camera to get a picture of her face and she attacked me. It was a struggle between the two of us for my camera and my bicycle. I lost both. I ran into a building and was dashing through endless corridors trying to find help or escape from her, not sure which. I made it to a top floor and burst through a door and there in an attic-like space I planned to hide out, until I realized the lumps on the floor were dozens of men sleeping under blankets. They woke up one by one and were leering at me dangerously so I ran back out and made my way down to the first floor, where I found a loading dock. A van was backed up and dark-suited people were loading packages of drugs and guns into it. Just then I woke up!

Today's Rhodes Race 5K for LLS

Today I ran the Rhodes Race 5K at Lake Merritt in Oakland for the second year. Matt and Claire are the inspiring, super nice and funny couple who launched this race last year to raise money for their perennial cause, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Claire is, in addition to being a blazing-fast runner, a dynamo at organizing such things. There were age group medals, post-race baggies and three tents promoting various causes. There was also a larger group, proof that even in a down economy people will come to be a part of what you have built. I am truly impressed because dealing with bureaucracy and paperwork is one of my absolute peeves (I can't seem to drag myself to the post office even), and I know this event required permits galore.

While I wasn't able to beat my time last year, I did more or less adhere to it: My official time was 24:56, or 7 seconds slower than last year.

Anyway, the cool thing about it was that I started fast, but probably not too fast, and then settled in a 8-minute/mile pace and stayed there. I was talking to myself in my head the whole time, telling myself to loosen my shoulders, pick up my feet, quick feet, quick turnover, stay focused, look we're halfway done, etc. The last mile made me want to puke but I didn't do what I have done recently a lot, which is to give up 3/4 of the way through and slow down drastically, then kick it in at the end.

Once that was over, it was fun chatting with all the people I now know through last year's and this year's Team in Training experiences, as well as through other races.

The most moving moment came when one of our honorees, Ben, ran across the finish line. He's only just off chemo, a little boy with straw-blond hair and cherub cheeks who has been going to the hospital for blood draws and spinal taps and chemo and steroids to treat leukemia for the last three years. Only a week before, his dad told me, he wouldn't have been able to do this, but today he biked nearly three miles and ran up the last hill to the finish line. He looks perfectly healthy. But his parents and older brother have been through hell, almost losing him three times, according to his dad. The steroids he takes give him "'roid rage" -- they dose him with "the same quantity Jose Canseco would take, in his tiny body." Apparently leukemia doesn't like steroids, for reasons unknown.

I thought of my healthy boys and felt so blessed. There, but for the grace of God ... I also prayed Ben would be one of the lucky ones whose chances for health are all the better thanks to research funded in part by LLS. My grandmother lost her life to leukemia as a young mother. When LLS was founded in 1949, a diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma was almost always fatal. Today, survival rates have doubled and tripled for some blood cancers. Now, 88 percent of children with the most common form of leukemia will be cured.

I am slowly making my way toward raising $2500 for LLS for the second year in a row (last year I raised over $3000). But I don't have much time left -- only until the end of this month! You can make a donation online and receive your tax receipt immediately via email. Please click here and make a donation now!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/wildtri09/awebermorales

Thank you and race on!

Swimming in the SF Bay with TYT, Year 2!

What Lovely Vowels You Have!

Here are some technical things I listen to in a singer, not necessarily in order:

1. Tone. This is perhaps the hardest thing to describe. Adjectives: warm, harsh, pure, dark, light, clear. It probably has to do with wave forms, and if I were a sound engineer I might be able to say something more impressive about it. Basically, it's your vocal fingerprint. This is what separates us from instrumentalists. No two voices can sound exactly the same. Two electronic keyboards can.

2. Intonation. There is some cultural variation for pitch -- some cultures tend to be sharp or flat according to American ears. These days there is the AutoTune phenomenon which, when abused, results in recordings that are impossibly flawless. Studio recordings magnify your pitch problems, and while it's good to fix them, it's also good to realize that live performance is less about the accuracy of every single note and more about the accuracy of the important ones.

3. Breath control. Oft-ignored. Those who have a flair for endlessly holding notes and even growing from piano to forte on them (or vice versa) flaunt it: Rachelle Ferrell, Kurt Elling.

4. Rhythm. Again, depending on style, are you behind the beat (jazz, funk), on top of it (salsa) or even at the leading edge of it (samba)? Do you have a sense of the ground beats (2 and 4, or 1 and 3, for example) that are key to the groove you are singing to? Is your rhythm consistent?

5. Articulation. I have been complimented on my articulation. To be honest, I wasn't sure what that meant, vocally speaking. Upon investigation, it means how clearly you can be understood. It does not mean enunciating things in an unnatural or exaggerated way. But do test your vocals on others to make sure they are hearing most of what you are singing about. To be sure, a listener is not going to grasp an entire complex lyric in one sitting, but if they can't pick out a single word or don't get the words to the chorus or hook, you're not articulating. (I like this essay I found on the topic.)

6. Pronunciation. Similar to articulation in that it has to do with being understood, pronuciation is different in that it adds emotional and locational content to the song's message. Think country twang, urban rap, Irish brogue. Consistency and authenticity are critical. Don't switch characters mid-song, either by making sure you have practiced consistent regional pronunciation or by staying true to your native accent. When singing in foreign languages, you may unknowingly adopt a specific regionalism. That's not always a problem, but it's something to be aware of.

7. Vowels. Think back to school or church choir -- this was one area your choir director was right about. Rounded vowels are beautiful. Flat, nasal ones, less so. The A sound in apple is one of the hardest. We all have a vowel or two that cause us problems. Experiment with vowels to find the most beautiful ones, if the song needs to be beautiful.

8. Vibrato. It should be natural. Some have a very wide vibrato, others have none at all. Varying use of vibrato is one of the aspects that most defines musical genre (opera, pop, gospel, R&B). It's good to be able to turn it on or off for effect. Over the years it can become more noticeable. If you get lazy or bad vocal habits form, widening vibrato can interfere with tone production and obscure pitch.

9. Connected voice. The holy grail of singing is no clear demarcation between falsetto, middle voice and chest voice -- yodeling in country music being one exception. Well, there's also the gospel wail and the Eastern European high chest voice. Speech-level vocal technique aims to keep all tones connected without altering the level of the larynx or involving the muscles of the neck, jaw and tongue. I can't say I'm an expert here, but I have read some books on the technique.

10. Range. To some extent, you can increase your range through proper techique, "freeing" your voice to go lower or higher. However, we all lose range (especially high range) as we age. Also, our repertoire may affect and define our range. If you begin singing jazz tunes all in an alto range, you may lose your soprano tones and have to redeploy them through exercises if you need them. However, you also have to choose your songs and keys carefully. Limited range is not the worst thing in the world. What's more important is how you use what you have.

11. Style. I'm going to say too little about this. Style relates to the musical genre, the famous singers whose unique approaches have defined music (jazz, gospel, pop, R&B, country, classical), personal taste and inventiveness. Too few of us are unique. Think of Bjork. No one else sounds like her. Then think of all the cliches we mindlessly employ: growls, crying tones, runs on a blues scale, certain pronunciations. The effects can be useful where appropriate, but there needs to be something beneath them that makes the singer not just a copycat but a vessel for song unlike any other.

These are all technical points. They are all meaningless without emotional content and expression. I'll cover those in a separate post.

Do you agree with these? Have I missed some? Who are you reading online about vocal technique? Please comment and post links below.

Story of My Life Optioned by Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group!

For the past 18 months, since the release of my last album, I have secretly been doing something I always dreamed of: writing my autobiography. Those of you who know me are aware of the many fantastical and often tragic twists my life has taken thus far. This process has been extremely profound and has involved countless hours of navel gazing, journal reading, deep meditative thinking, interviews with my most heinous relatives and even encounters with paranormal experts. There is nothing I like better than to contemplate my past, sifting through dusty photographs, cassette tapes and videos. As much as I adore 1970s and 80s nostalgia, I didn't stop there. I have reached so far back that I have unearthed previous lives -- the soul experiences that have made me who I am today and who I will be in future lives as well.

Never could I have imagined that my tale would spark so much interest that I would be able to boast what I am about to reveal: Today, I signed a contract with Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group giving them the option to produce a feature film about MY LIFE!!!!!

It's very early to say who might play me, but my jaw dropped when I heard my agent and the Columbia casting executive throwing out the big names.

This is highly unofficial and probably stupid of me but given that this is the greatest achievement of my life thus far I have to tell you what they proposed: One thought was they could get Jaden Smith (yes, son of Will Smith) to play me as a young, gender-confused black child born of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother. In an incredible feat of computer-generated special effects, I would morph into Beyonce Knowles, playing me as a pre-op transgendered jazz singer.
Then in a tour de force performance that forever breaks the age barrier, Halle Berry would play me as a 20-year-old post-op opera singer who questions her racial identity and begins a course of skin-lightening treatments. Natalie Portman would play me in my late 20s, beginning to define my musical style and mastering the kazoo while wandering as a troubador in my VW van. Jennifer Lopez would play me as I am today, happily married to Marc Anthony and a mother of two struggling with a costly addiction to spray-tanning. Felicity Huffman would play me 10 years from now, after I have finished my term as the first gender-modified, skin-lightened and fiscally responsible jazz singer to become president of the United States. She would sensitively portray how I begin to question my transexuality and wonder if I should return to my male incarnation. Finally, George Clooney would play me as I become a crooner of Sinatra hits in 2050, thrilling New Las Vegas with an all-robot band.

They say that an option to create a film is no guarantee of it actually happening, or of the finished product bearing much resemblance to one's initial story. Such is the case here: Apparently, they summarily discarded my painstaking research into my past lives, including three separate vivid memories as a zygote of three different species!!! Truth IS stranger than fiction! Most incredibly, I have managed to trace myself back 600 years to being an upwardly mobile gecko living in an Egyptian temple. However, I realize how lucky I am to be receiving this recognition, so I'm not complaining.

This is all happening so quickly. The funding will be coming from a Nigerian prince who has found a bank account containing $36 million pounds sterling. I've sent him a cashier's check to open the escrow account and everything looks legit. And they say there is no support for the arts!