Sunday, January 11, 2009

Lessons with Jane Sharp

Jane Sharp from lisabmusic.blogspot.com
One day I had a lesson with my vocal coach Jane Sharp (yes, that really is her name). She was teaching me the song "The Very Thought of You." "Jazz is constant variation," Jane said, and we were working on the possible variations in this charming, sincere, rather straightforward tune written in 1934.

To be a jazz singer means exploring one's unique interpretation of a song, playing not only with melody, but also with the rhythms of phrases and their timing too  pushing them ahead or laying them back as the count of the song ticks on.

But meanwhile, as Jane has reminded me many times, we also have to sing the meaning of the words  say the sentences, tell the story. We emphasize certain words, we pronounce some more crisply than others, we are actors. The meaning of the lyrics influences our other musical choices. The possibilities can seem overwhelming. But if I'm guided by how I would truly speak the lyrics to someone, I find the right path: Make music, be inventive, but in the end, tell the story from my mind and heart.

Jane is an amazing teacher. Once I came into a lesson close to tears and attempted to sing a sad ballad. Jane was full of empathy, but she remained the wise and helpful coach. She said something I've never forgotten: "In life, we're destroyed. Then we sing. But not in the same instant."

Today we kept looking at a little bird outside the window. It had flown right up against the window of the lesson room, and then it hopped stunned to the roof of a shed just a couple of feet away. It was a baby. It sat silent as we worked on the new song. Finally, we were done, and my (and Jane's) singing subsided.

Then the baby bird started to sing  or call for its mother. In life, we may be destroyed. But then we sing.

copyright 2009 Lisa Bernstein

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10 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa,

    Just read your blog - and I'm wondering what the comedy value in the name Jane Sharp is, could you explain......??? - i'm intrigued!

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  2. Hi Bonus - Well, notes can be sharp (a bit too high) or flat (a bit too low)...so "Sharp" is funny as part of the name of a vocal coach with an incredible ear for pitch as well as for how subtle vowel pronunciation changes it. In another sense, though, she's sharp. Thanks for writing, Lisa B

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  3. What a poignant post. I read it at the perfect time, for me.

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  4. I know Jane from many, many years ago! She is an excellent teacher! Does she still teach?

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  5. I knew Jane as a friend, over four decades ago, and also took a group singing course which she taught back then. If you still see her, say hi from "Lennie" (Grace Hodges Clark). I still use some of the voice techniques and relaxation techniques she taught, and singing has become very important to me....

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  6. Hi Grace (hope you see this), I'll forward your remarks to Jane. She's pretty much retired these days. On another note, I have an occasional newsletter, and if you'd like to get it, please email me your address at lisabmusic at hotmail dot com. No worries if not interested. All best!

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  7. In 1975 after 10 years of vocal lessons with various good singers, I finally found Jane, who where's the first one to help me get past some of my vocal problems and gave me the courage to become a voice teacher myself which I've been doing ever since. I wish I could talk to Jay and again now that I'm 70 years old and just reminisce and see how much we've grown over the years. I hope she will get in touch with me now that my name is Abby Greenwald-Waterland. If you're reading this Jane please look me up on Facebook so we can chat sometime oh, okay?

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Thanks for adding your voice!