Coming to think of it, I've been taking proper vocal classes for 6 months already!
In March, It was to my delight when I was invited to sit in one of Ocean Butterflies' vocal class with their grooming artistes, Irwin, HuiXian and Vee!
The guy in a black tee is none other than our vocal instructor, Liu Zhi Wen.
Zhi Wen Lao Shi has composed songs for international singer-celebrities like Na Ying, Sun Yan Zi, Rong Zu-er & Jolin Tsai.
Listen to two of the songs which he has composed for Mandarin Pop-singers, Na Ying and Jolin Tsai. Na Ying's mandarin song, Yi Xiao Er Guo, is still a hit popularly sang at KTVs by mandopop lovers.
Alright back to vocal class!
Diligent students should prepare these when you attend classes.
Hui Xian has set a role example..
#1 PLAIN water.
Not sweetened water but PLAIN room temperature water.
I don't know about you but honey water, herbal tea etc actually makes my throat even more hoarse due to its sweetened content. I don't mind having it to soothe my throat once in a while but during my singing classes and performances, I'll strictly stick to drinking plain room temperature water to avoid my throat from 'getting stuck'.
#2 Voice recorder.
Yes, all phones have this function, the voice recorder.
Be it record your own voice, teacher's voice, your classmate's voice...
Record and play back the clips to remind yourself what u've learnt during class.
In my opinion, I think recording YOUR voice and then later evaluate it, you'll be able to to gauge how your vocal fare and where to improve. You may not know how to correct a mistake but at least by listening, you'll know instinctively whether you're singing your chosen song with the right vibes and feel or whether the song is suitable for you.
Some of my friends are afraid to listen to their own vocals but you have to!
It's a good way of improving and feel more confident of your singing.
We kickstart the class with some vocal warm up exercises(videos below!) and then move on to learning how to read a song sheet like this:
*Instructor Zhi Wen has handwritten this song sheet himself.
I was always telling Zhi Wen Lao Shi how his '不' character looks like the digit '5' and his 7 looks like an arrow pointing to the right ->.
Warm up exercises : Lip Drill & Pitching warm up.
This is the first time I've heard of the song titled "Cheng Ren" but Instructor Zhi Wen's song sheet definitely makes the learning much easier. Hanrey helped recorded my 2nd try on the song. More importantly, you should take note of Zhi Wen Lao Shi's SINGING in the next video!
He's damn good can;
singing the song in a female's original key yet still able to interpret the song so well by putting the right emotions & techniques into the song.
有唱到点.
I really hope to be able to sing well on stage in future and I am extremely thankful to Zhi Wen Lao Shi for his guidance to correct more of my bad vocal habits.
I'm impressed at how even though there were 5 students in class, Zhi Wen Lao Shi can immediately spot & correct each individual's singing habits. I like how encouraging he is towards his students and how he can make us feel more confident of our vocals.
I'm seriously not bootlicking him.
I REALLY LIKE HIM as my vocal instructor.
REALLY REALLY LIKE HIM.
That was the only one time I sat in for the Artistes-grooming vocal class.
Right now I'm going through my 4th fortnightly-vocal lesson with the Vocal Ambassadors and this is even cooler because all my classmates come from different woks of life yet everyone is learning how to sing in the same class because we possess the same passion in music. :):
Left to right: Yitian, Abby, Me, Silver, Hanrey, Jacqualine, Fenny & Rachel.
Hanrey, being the only male ambassador in class, has to sing all the female songs but he's handling it really well!
The class is much bigger now as compare to 5 in the other class. The warm up practices remains similar to those done at the artiste-grooming classes but this time round, the lessons are more focus. They are broken down into sessions where we learnt how to handle different genres of songs from slow ballads to rock songs.
Zhiwen laoshi, being the best as he always has been, is STILL able to point out & correct our mistakes despite us all singing at the same time!
During our 2nd lesson, we had to perform and sing a song of our choice so that Zhi Wen Lao Shi can understand our vocals a little better at the same time, know what kind of songs we usually like to sing.
This was Hanrey's choice of song that day and I must say that I was so impressed with him! As compared to the auditions and videos he did during V Singer 2012, he has become a PRO~
Shots taken during our warm up:
Hanrey's signature rooster call practice during warm up sessions never fail to make the girls laugh like madness:
I'll be back with more youtube videos & updates on our vocal classes, it's so much FUN I tell you!
So much laughter and passion filled up the classroom, taking away all my Monday Blues.
I'm so excited going to class EVERYTIME.
Please be patient and most importantly, be here to grow up with me as I make baby steps in music.
I'm really new to all these even though I'm already 27. I've always dreamt to be taking vocal classes, to be able to sing and perform for people, to write songs, to meet like-minded friends who are supportive.
I can't believe I'm living in this dream right now.
Life's never been so fulfilling: The vocal classes, keyboard lesson, song writing course...
I'm so happy to be learning music, learning how to sing and make music.
Music, I'm so in love with you.
I'm really new to all these even though I'm already 27. I've always dreamt to be taking vocal classes, to be able to sing and perform for people, to write songs, to meet like-minded friends who are supportive.
I can't believe I'm living in this dream right now.
Life's never been so fulfilling: The vocal classes, keyboard lesson, song writing course...
I'm so happy to be learning music, learning how to sing and make music.
Music, I'm so in love with you.
Call Ocean Butterflies to take up your vocal classes now!
海蝶森林 Music Forest Pte Ltd
*SCAPE
2 Orchard Link, #03-08
Singapore 237978
Telephone: +65 6223 1311
Fax: +65 6223 8588
Email: musicforest@ob-i.net
LIKE Ocean Butterflies on Facebook here for updates on their LATEST activities.
Off to my 4th Vocal class now!
We're learning how to sing slow ballads songs & this is the song I have to prepare for the upcoming lesson:
Sing and be happy everybodeh~
