Today I performed for a wedding ceremony at Alexander House Hotel in Turners Hill, West Sussex. Being a dry, sunny day for the first time in what seems like ages, the decision was made last minute to conduct the ceremony outdoors on the lawn by the pagoda. The location was great for the guests, being seated in the sunshine and it looked very pretty. Unfortunately, I was on the terrace that was in the shade of the building and the breeze was cool to say the least. This particular wedding gig turned out to be tricky for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it was cold to the point where my legs were actually shaking and my fingers were turning blue. Secondly, the toastmaster, whilst being very friendly, spoke to me quite often when I was singing to keep me up to speed with the bride’s timings. Whilst this is important and doesn’t worry me, it does keep me on my toes, and I often have to extend a verse or chorus instrumentally on the fly until I can resume singing! By the end of the gig, I was ‘freezing’, but had at least some respite when I got changed out of my performance outfit, as the changing room had under floor heating!

Prior to the wedding, the bride expressed some concern about the PA system being too loud. This issue comes up occasionally and it’s understandable when so often at events there is a PA system set up that is, how shall I say… obnoxious? Too often it’s either too loud or badly ‘equalised’, sometimes with screeching feedback, and ends up being an offensive sound. It can be difficult explaining to clients, without getting too technical, that my PA system is there to provide a rich, full sound rather than just make me louder, adding just the right amount of reverb and EQ for an atmospheric sound that compliments the space. My “roadie” Chris (a live sound engineer for many years) and I, have put a lot of thought into the equipment I use at weddings and how it should sound. Sourcing some of our favourite gear such as Shure microphones, Roland digital pianos, and Mackie mixers and amplification, we’re both very pleased with the sound quality of the current set up. Whether I’m playing in a dining hall or outside, we make sure the sound is just right for the event.

This gig also saw a couple new additions. Firstly, a new mixer – it’s another Mackie – the ProFX 8 which worked a treat. Secondly, I’ve invested in a solid flight case for my digital stage piano (which Chris says is hernia inducing) but protects my Roland from all the knocks and scrapes it’s likely to get from regular gigging. Thirdly, I added a couple of new songs to the set – ‘Kiss From a Rose’ by Seal, a classic in itself and ‘At Last’ by Etta James, recently performed by Jaz Ellington on BBC1′s The Voice.

All in all, a great gig, if a little…. actually, no – very chilly. Here’s hoping for some scorchers for the next few months!

When you think learning piano, you’re perhaps most likely to think about classical composers such as Mozart, Chopin or Bach. Whilst these composers created some wonderful music, I do enjoy taking my students a little off the beaten path and introducing them to more modern composers that perhaps aren’t quite so thought about when it comes to piano.

I’ve had a lot of success teaching students music from the Final Fantasy series of video games (composed by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu) such as Aerith’s Theme and Tifa’s Theme (from Final Fantasy 7) and To Zanarkand (from Final Fantasy 10).

There is also a wealth of beautiful music from the movies such as The Farm (from The Road to Perdition soundtrack by Thomas Newman).

….and not forgetting one of the most popular TV shows ever – Lost, with the track Thinking Clairely by Michael Giacchino.

Whilst performing some of these pieces sometimes doesn’t require the same sort of technical skill required for some classical works, there is value to be gained by playing something beautiful and emotional, with feeling and also, to some extent, to be able to play something that has relevance in popular culture.

Last week a couple of my students exclaimed that their singing sounded so much better when they rehearse in their conservatory than when they have lessons in my vocal studio.

A conservatory (and also a bathroom), with it’s many hard, smooth surfaces creates lots of small echoes which is referred to as reverberation (or reverb). The sound reflects against all these hard surfaces while you’re singing, which increases the volume of your voice and can make it seem more powerful. With the soundwaves bouncing all over the place at different times, the effect of reverb can blend your singing together to an extent, giving your notes a certain amount of sustain and creating a fuller sound. This reverb also has the benefit of helping to mask variations in your pitching – if you bend into notes, it’s much less obvious with a fair bit of reverb present.

Without acoustic treatment, many rooms also can give emphaisis to a particular frequency range (pitch) when the sound’s wavelength is exactly the length or width of the room, causing certain soundwaves to ‘double up’ when they reflect, resulting in an increase in volume. For certain songs, this can have a real advantage.

With the JC Vocals vocal studio, we’ve applied acoustic foam panels to the walls. Whilst this doesn’t soundproof the room, it cuts down hugely on the reflections that you would normally get from the hard surfaces of a normal room that create reverb. This helps towards providing an acoustically ‘dead’ environment to work in. Whilst it may not sound great for the singer, the important thing is that it provides an accurate environment in which to learn to sing. It allows me to identify issues with pitch, power and tone much better than in an acoustically ‘bright’ room. Students who can get it right in a ‘dead’ environment will then sound even better when singing with reverb!

Jo herself sang an Adele song, Set Fire to the Rain at the end, an interesting upbeat departure from the selection of ballads she has sung on previous years. Awards were presented to Helena Clarke (Effort Award), Ellie Macdonald (Achievement Award and Long Note Award) and to Milly McCarron for Student of the Year 2011. Special mentions were also given to Paige Hackworth, Mae Frischauer & Harry Lacey for exceptional progress this year.

The show takes an unbelievable amount of preparation to put on but I think we can all agree it’s worth it. One of the great things about the shows is, for me, as a relative outsider to Jo’s students, I get to see the progress they make over the years. This year, there were several students who were in last year’s show who have either grown up that bit more or grown as performers. The shows are also a great oppotunity for new students who attend the show to see some sort of end result to singing lessons and it helps them visualise themselves performing on that stage someday and it was a great feeling to see those who attended last year’s show show as an audience member to be giving their all on stage as a performer this year.

Next year, as part of out continuous improvements to the show, we’re thinking of a change from the Angel Centre but will let you know details as and when we know them.

The venue was the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells and the room was easy enough to load in to and had good acoustics too. It also made the afternoon more fun when the staff were friendly too. This particular time, not only did a waiter help me out with my equipment,  I also received the compliment “You sing lovely, much better than last night’s one” from him!

http://www.spahotel.co.uk/