Melodies are essentially composed of only two parts: pitch and rhythm. However, singers often infuse their own stamp on melodies with their unique vocal deliveries. While vocal delivery isn’t technically part of a melody, it’s an important part of infusing any melody with your own vocal sound. Vocal delivery can give any given melody [...]

  Performing a cover song can be an art in itself. If you’re looking to fill out your set when you’re performing, you may throw in a couple of covers played almost identically to the original version. We’ve all played cover songs like that. They’re fun, and easy for the crowd to get into because [...]

A lot of performing songwriters share the fear of forgetting their lyrics when they’re playing in front of an audience. Even though you probably thought that’s an incurable problem, there are things you can do to help keep those lyrics flowing. “What’s the Next Line?” A lot of times we start to think “okay, what’s [...]

I recently sat down to watch the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. As the opening credits rolled, I found myself completely intrigued with the song accompanying the movie’s intro. It was oddly familiar, yet totally fresh. At the same time, it was setting a great mood for the movie.   Then it hit me [...]

  Ridding yourself of stage fright is almost entirely about mindset. The situation you’re in will never change, but HOW you look at it is up to you.   A very effective thing to do to melt away your stage fright is to wrap your emotions with other emotions. It sounds crazy, I know, but [...]

  The holidays are wrapping up, kids, and if you’re like me, you’re recapping 2011 in your mind — taking stock of what went right and what went wrong, and how to make things better in 2012.   I recently took a snow day in the mountains with the fam, and as I watched the [...]

  One of the most important jobs a singer has is to attach emotion to his lyrics. The lyric should not be separated from the actual delivery of the words. If you’ve ever seen a local performer reading his lyrics off a sheet to a cover song he’s playing, I can guarantee you’ve seen a [...]