You will be taken through a variety of stylistic embellishments – aka licks, riffs and runs – with increasing levels of complexity and taken from a range of sources. Some are generic patterns and others are “harvested” directly from pop repertoire, but all serve the purpose of building good vocal agility (technique) and a good ear (musicianship).
Knowledge of music theory is NOT required for this webinar.
The vast majority of riffs & runs in pop music are based on the Pentatonic scales. Here’s a clear explanation of some things we’re going to explore playfully during the webinar. This video starts slowly… Prepare to speed up in class 😉
Here’s a video where Kim Chandler herself explains beautifully where all those beautiful licks, riffs and runs originate from – classical melismas – and how black gospel singers have perfected this technique for more contemporary singing like soul, R&B, funk,… No, we’re not going to sing Händel during this webinar 😬
Kim has written a great article on Ad libbing for the now defunct Voice Council Magazine. ‘Ad lib’ is short for ‘ad libitum’, being Latin for at one’s liberty. So now you know yet another term for licks, riffs and runs 🙂
As with every field, there are people who are just naturally good at ad- libbing and don’t need to work on it. However, for others, practicing ad-libbing can form part of a regular vocal practice program and also be included in vocal coaching sessions.
Click here to read the whole article!
Kim Chandler is a renowned CCM vocal coach & session singer based in Spain. Considered one of the “go to” industry coaches, she has a busy online studio in Marbella where she coaches a worldwide clientele of elite singers including high-profile touring artists, several of whom have won Brit Awards, been Grammy-nominated and headlined main stages at Glastonbury, Leeds/Reading and Download Festivals to audiences of over 100,000 and televised.
Kim created a.o. the popular “Funky ‘n Fun” vocal training series and her written work appears in resources such as “Teaching Singing in the 21st Century” (Springer), “The Ultimate Guide to Singing” (TC Helicon) and “Training Contemporary Commercial Singers” (Compton).
Kim is a regular presenter at voice conferences, training days, masterclasses & workshops and held leadership positions in the British Voice Association, including being President and a Director. She was also as a Principal/Senior lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire & London College of Music respectively and Head of Vocals at Vocaltech (now BIMM London).
As a performer, Kim has over three decades of high-end performing experience in live performance and studio singing. Aside from her voice being heard on films, albums, cruise shows and thousands of jingles worldwide, she has done backing vocals for The Bee Gees, Natalie Cole, Michael McDonald, Bjork, Michael Bolton & Susan Boyle and opened for The Jacksons & Sister Sledge. Kim has also performed at many of London’s most iconic locations such as Abbey Road Studios, Royal Albert Hall, Downing Street, Wembley Arena & Stadium, the O2 Arena and Buckingham Palace.