Album Notes

Singing With Style is a versatile program for developing and maintaining good singing technique and vocal stylizing skills. Part One is a song-based vocal warm up of eleven jazz standards and detailed technique instruction. Part Two uses the same songs to teach many aspects of vocal style including ornamentation (licks and riffs), phrasing, pentatonic runs, interpretation, improvisation, scat singing and much more.

Singing With Style includes: Three CDs of almost four hours of material, including eleven jazz standards played by a jazz trio (piano, bass and drums). The vocal warm up & singing lessons section includes these songs with example vocals and instructional tracks. The vocal style section includes the songs with stylized example vocals and instructional tracks. Also included are the songs minus the vocals so singers can work “without the training wheels”. These tracks without vocals can be used as a jazz vocal warm up or for vocal style practice.

In the Vocal Warm Up Section you’ll learn: breathing and posture, how to warm up correctly, how to increase your range, improve your intonation (pitch), build control, build resonance, improve your tone, volume and vocal endurance. Singers diction, the mix register, safe belting, articulation and vibrato development and/or control are also covered.

In the Vocal Style Section you’ll learn phrasing, improvising, ornaments (licks and fills), pentatonic runs, scat-singing, interpretation, melodic variation, vocal texture variations, and all the other vocal tricks you’ve heard singers do but couldn’t figure out. Though jazz songs are used to teach these elements, they are essential for all contemporary styles including pop, rock, R&B, country, and blues.

Beginning singers can sing through the warm up section at their own pace to learn how to sing correctly and to develop good vocal technique and strength. Experienced singers can skip the instructional intros and use this section to maintain their vocal technique and strength. Once they’ve learned the songs, singers can also skip the warm up section and move directly to working with the vocal style section.

Songs on Singing with Style:

It Don't Mean A Thing
Stormy Monday
Baby Baby All the Time
Honeysuckle Rose
Good Morning Heartache
Ain't Misbehavin’
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
Our Love is Here To Stay
Cry Me a River
Lullaby of Birdland
So Nice (Summer Samba)

Susan Anders: narration & vocals
John Deaderick: piano
Dave Francis: bass
Rick Reed: drums

Vocal Range: Eb to D (almost two octaves) alto/high tenor/bass range--bass singers will sing an octave below Susan. You can get an idea of the vocal range of the songs by listening to the audio samples at left. Baby Baby All the Time (Track 10) has the lowest notes of all the songs. So Nice (Track 38) has the highest notes. Sopranos and baritones can also use Singing With Style by singing a few note substitutions to add or subract low or high notes: note substitutions are explained in the vocal style section.

Susan Anders has been teaching singers how to sing correctly and develop their stylizing skills for over twenty years. She is the creator of the "No Scales, Just Songs Vocal Workout" Vols. 1 and 2, and “Harmony Singing By Ear”, methods that are being used by singers worldwide. Susan's articles on singing have appeared in Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Musician and Drama-logue. Susan is also a singer-songwriter: her two most recent CD releases are "Release" and "You Can Close Your Eyes Lullabies". Susan was born and raised in Berkeley, California and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.