Take a look at this amazing
video from last year’s attendee, Brooke Borg (click on the poster below).

Brooke Borg made
the final night of open mic performances and met a video producer and
music producers in the green room.  This song and video are the
finished product from those encounters.

Jasmine is Frontwoman to Toronto rock band Polarity.  Here’s what she had to say about the only place she knows to go: Up.

Where are you at in your musical career?

My band Polarity and I just finished recording our first album, which we are pumped about! It’s in the hands of the mixer now and goes for mastering soon, we should have the album released by end of June. We are playing frequent shows around Toronto and GTA, just had a show in North Bay which was our first on the road experience. Once the album is out we’ll give it to anyone and everyone who wants to listen, hopefully get picked up and start life on the road!!! We’re getting our website up and running, and have lots to do, overall we’re still climbing a lot of little hills but we’re almost at the point where we can see the crest, lots of hard work and big dreams are starting to pay off.

How do you balance your creative life, with the demands of the real world?

It’s tough when you work 9-5 and once you leave you start your other full time job, which is getting a music career off the ground. Taking time to myself to regroup is very important. We also schedule regular practices and even if I don’t feel like going beforehand, as soon as we start playing I get a rush of energy and know I’m right where I’m suppose to be! Playing show’s always makes the ‘real world’ a lot more fun too!!!!

What do you think is your biggest strength as an artist?

Writing from raw emotion and singing from my heart.

What are you working on improving with your own voice?

Transitioning into the mix and feeling comfortable there. Knowing I can be in a mix confidently and have a pure sound, lets me focus more on the emotional connection as opposed to worrying about how the song is sung, it’s a great feeling when your all lined up! I’m also still finding my voice and my style…with every new song I write my voice changes a little which is always exciting!

Who are your influences?

A lot of my influences are male. Maynard from Aperfect Circle/Tool. Brandon Boyd from Incubus and Chino Moreno from Deftones. I’ve recently been loving SIA, she’s amazing! I grew up on Kelly Carpenter and Broadway tunes, so they played a big part in shaping my voice at a young age!

Where can we find your music?

At a live show!!!! www.polaritymusic.com Is where you can find all our upcoming dates, live video and its where we will be posting the tunes once they are ready in a month or so. Myspace, sonicbids and Facebook are where you can keep in touch with us, Polarity being the key word of course!!!

When is your next gig?

June 12th at Blue Moon Café in Toronto. We are in the process of finding a drummer, so it will either be an acoustic show, or some sort of experimental no drums electric, whatever it turns out to be it promises to be a great time, shows are always a party!!!!

Owner / Instructor

Brandon Brophy

It often happens that some people aren’t always sure about the best way to practice and develop their voices.  Here are some things you can bear in mind, to get you to your goals faster:

1. Invest early; retire young. The quality of your investment on vocal practice brings a proportionate return on that investment. Retire your vocal limitations asap by investing consistently now, and enjoy the early years (and beyond) of your vocal life in youthful liberation.

2. Always practice with your latest recorded lesson.

It can be tempting to throw caution out the window and just sing out random sounds and pitches to get your voice moving.  Resist!  The fastest way to get your voice to shimmer is systematically, so do the exercises along with your most recent recorded lesson.  The exercises and the manner they have been given are prescribed and catered very carefully for your voice and personality.

3. Limit your practice to short periods. As you get used to new coordination, don’t practice for more than 20 mins a stretch, and don’t practice for more than 1-3 times a day.  Be very careful about overdoing it.  Doing so will only serve to strengthen old cumbersome habits. **A fantastic way to learn about your voice is just to listen back to your lesson without doing the exercises at all, and hear for yourself how you demonstrate your vocal tendency.**

4. Be Deliberate!

This is by far the most important, and it’s why you should always be rested and alert when you sing: You MUST be consise with your practicing in order to gain the fastest.  When you sing, you are using an instrument the size of your fingernail, which means it is already too easy to overdo it, and dramatically slow your progress towards your goal.  At all times, try and remember your primary vocal tendency as a singer, and what your objective should be to counter-balance it.  And as you practice, try and keep that objective at the forefront of your concentration, so you don’t get sidetracked.

5. Be Fearless! While you should always be cautious about not overworking your voice, you should never be fearful about how you sound.  In the beginning of training accept that you will be making some strange noises.  Remember: you are a NOISE MAKER, and an instrumentalist, just like any other.  Even more so than other instruments – you MUST learn how, and continue to tune your voice.  Also, don’t be afraid to practice at home.  Healthy singing requires energy, and trying to be quiet when you sing can create it’s own problems.  Besides, your neighbours and flatmats don’t care nearly as much as you think they do.  And soon after they get used to you making noise, they’ll be jealous they are not brave enough to be doing it too!

Studio News In Brief

Fritz Helder & The Phantoms have become Nelly Furtado’s first signing to her new label Nelstar. Congratulations kids!  Visit their website and keep fresh on how the band stays fabulous!

Renita Reitz returns from an intensive Opera workshop abroad, and other intense international adventures while 13 year old Glenn Montera continues his bombshell performances: Check one out on Youtube.

Opportunities

If you think you might be ready for the next level, there
are a number of wonderful opportunities to consult with industry
professionals at very reasonable rates around the studio for
professional or career related advice such as: Performance Coaching,
Songwriting Assistance, Artistic Development, Artist Managers, Hot
Producers, as well as a multi instrumentalist to help you lay down your
acoustic bed tracks.  Ask for more details about any of these resources
or to book a consultation.