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Riffing Apr 29, 2022

Context is key. In music, the key gives you your context.

How cool is that?

I get asked to make videos about riffing frequently. While I’m happy to do them, I have to arbitrarily choose a context for the video. If, for example, I did a video with a bunch of smoking blues riffs, those would...

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Singing High Notes Apr 22, 2022

If you wanted to go somewhere, and you didn’t know how to get there, you wouldn’t look up directions once you arrived, right?

You’d look up the directions before you left, check that the route looked correct, and then set out. Along the way, you’d be aware of obstacles and...

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Time Keeps On Ticking Apr 11, 2022

Whenever I get to teach, or I am personally working on counting music, I feel like I’m really doing the good work of teaching. Counting seems to be avoided or maligned despite it being one of the most powerful tools available to us as artists. Here are a few considerations as well as a...

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How is More Important Than What Apr 03, 2022

…but what is important too.

The gold standard is for them to work together.

When we sing exercises, how we sing them matters as much or more than what we’re singing. The right exercise for a particular skill or passage done poorly or incorrectly will do more harm than good. Doing our...

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How to Apply Vocal Technique to Songs warm up technique Mar 25, 2022

I’m going to be short and straight to the point today, or at least, as short and straight to the point as I can be.

 

Question:

Do I have to warm up?

What are warm ups good for?

How does warming up help my singing?

Why do singing teachers always make us make all these weird noises?

...

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Phrasing for Singing phrasing for singing Mar 14, 2022

 The word 'phrasing' gets thrown around a lot, but what is it, and what does it mean for us as vocalists? How do we work with it? What do we work on it with? What effects change in phrasing?

Allow me to explain.

The example below is the beginning melody of the song 'Every Breath You Take'...

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Welcome to the New Jeff Rolka Website general musing Mar 04, 2022

Hello and Welcome!

For those of you who have been members of the newsletter for a long time, thank you for being around to witness these transitions. This, I hope, will be a major upgrade.

The new website, and your credentials, was fully switched to yesterday, and as I type this today, everything...

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