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POPULAR SINGING AND STYLE

Welcome to the webpage for Popular Singing and Style.  You’ll find a lot of resources here, including many sound files for your own practice and quick links to YouTube performances referenced throughout the book. 

This second edition of the highly successful Popular Singing serves as a practical guide to exploring the singing voice while helping to enhance vocal confidence in a range of popular styles. The book provides effective alternatives to traditional voice training methods, and demonstrates how these methods can be used to create a flexible and unique sound.

This updated and thoroughly revised edition will feature a new chapter on training for popular singing, which incorporates recent movements in teaching the discipline across the globe, taking into account recent developments in the area. The book also features a new section on 'bridging' - ie. using all the technical elements outlined in the book to help the singer find their own particular expressive style to inspire more playfulness and creativity, both for the individual singer and for the teacher in practice and performance.

Recorded Examples

The following examples match references in the book Popular Singing.  I’ve done my best to make these examples ‘style neutral’ – although one critic accused me of being a ‘cabaret’ singer when I did this last time!  Maybe that says more about cabaret style than my own.  In any case, these sound files are just to help you understand the sound I’m writing about.   

Remember that many of these sounds in their sort of ‘pure’ state AREN’T pretty  –  everything depends on the way that you mix them with other sounds to create something expressive.

Example 1: Aspirate (p. 54)

1. Asperate

Example 2: Cry quality (p. 56)

2. Cry Quality

Example 3: Twang quality (p. 58)

3. Hard Twang

Example 4: Baby twang quality (p. 58)

4. Baby Twang

Example 5: Belt (p. 61)

5. Belt

Example 6: Back phrase (p. 102)

6. Backphrasing

Example 7: Pushed or forward phrase (p. 102)

7. Forward phrasing

Example 8: Practice accompaniment for phrase placement (p. 102)

8. Solo Piano

Ex. 9: Different ‘widths’ of note bend -- none, mild, strong (p. 103)

9. Note Bend

Example 10: Practice accompaniment for note bend (p. 103)

10. Accompaniment

Example 11: Practice accompaniment for Summary Practice, (p. 114)

11. Swing Low Straight

Example 12: Practice accompaniment for Summary Practice (p. 115)

12. Swing Low Jazzy

Example 13: Practice accompaniment for Gospel (p. 145)

13. Swing Low Gospel

Example 14: Jazz practice accompaniment (p. 162)

14. Jazz Accompaniment

YouTube links

Below are all the YouTube references in the book, so that you can click through to them with ease.  From time to time, YouTube links change, and I’ll keep checking these to make sure they’re still ‘live’.  If for any reason I find that something’s changed or been removed, I’ll make sure to put something up here to replace it.

Nathan James Sweet Child O' Mine - Superstar

Tina Turner, Proud Mary (p. 79)

Tina Turner Proud Mary Live 2009

Mahalia Jackson, Amazing Grace (p. 143)

Mahalia Jackson - Amazing Grace

Don’t Let me Down (Isolated vocal) ( p. 182)

The Beatles-Don't Let Me Down isolated vocal track, vocals only

Don’t Let Me Down (as released) (p. 183)

The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down

Don’t Let Me Down (on Let it Be. . .Naked) (p. 183)

Jon Bon Jovi, Livin’ on a Prayer, Isolated vocal (p. 184)

Rob  Halford, Painkiller, isolated vocal (p. 187)

Compilation of Rob Halford vocal range examples (p. 187)

Deap Vally, Walk of Shame (p. 190)

Nirvana, Where Did you Sleep Last Night, unplugged (p. 190)

Susan Tedeschi, Angel from Montgomery/Sugaree (p. 220)

kd Lang, Hallelujah (p. 220)

Christina Aguilera, National Anthem (p. 228)

Whitney Houston, National Anthem (p. 228)

Miley Cyrus, Smells Like Teen Spirit (p. 231)

Judy Garland, Somewhere Over the Rainbow (p. 234)