Vocal Blog – all about vocal and A cappella music

by Florian Städtler

I could hardly believe it when I realized it a few days ago: Vocal Blog just turned ONE. One year ago we launched this blog, the Facebook group and our Twitter account.

Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine what a few blog posts, the occasional Facebook chat, a list of links and small but steadily growing number of fans, followers, readers and (best of all!) people joining the a cappella conversation can do to your life.

I want to thank my team, Fabian Fehrenbach (he.da.techie), Andrea Kühn (greatest communicator ever) and Deniz Dönmez (bazaar in her veins + subcontralto phone voice) for supporting a boss seemingly gone mad 2.0. All these girls and guys are (way) younger than I am and quite often when I turned up with another “amazingly innovative concept of marketing” they rolled their eyes, looked at each other and finally surrendered to my desire to not only dip a foot into the water of the social a cappella web, but jump right into it.

Not all the things we planned worked out as planned. But Vocal Blog is a rewarding experiment and hopefully the whole community of singers, agents, managers, arrangers, promoters, choir conductors and fans will have lots of fun and the occasional learning when checking out the blog, the Facebook group or what we contribute to the Twitterverse.

And to all of you out there, doing the good thing = the a cappella/vocal/ choir thing: Thank you so much for joining us and keep following what lies ahead. You made time fly.

If you could make a wish – what would you like to read, listen, watch or learn about in year #2 of Vocal Blog?

Do you have something to contribute yourself, something that the community could be interested in? Feel free to send us your ideas, or post a comment – this is a multi-author blog which longs for your contribution.

Follow us at Twitter: www.twitter.com/vocalblog Join the Facebook Group: search for Vocal Blog

Not only did we receive this interview which was done by Unduzo at this year’s vokal.total festival in Graz, Austria, but also some footage obviously taken backstage from some strange looking dudes doing strange … but anyway, that’s not the reason for this post. It’s something else, something else we’d like to present in honor to the great master Till together with his mates in deep soul who sing for the spirit of comedy, so to say: A nicely done interview with Vocado, who won awards in several categories at the festival. You guys rock! And Unduzo too, of course :-D

Roger Treece, musical director and composer with Bobby McFerrin talking to Swingle Singer Tobias Hug.

Can you imagine working on an album for a total of six years? Recording more than 400 tracks for every song on that album? Working with singers from all over the world who contribute to this one album?

Now, Bobby McFerrin seems to be the one who really can do the unimaginable, but even King Bobby needs someone who does a bit of legwork. So when Linda Goldstein, Bobby’s manager had the idea of making his music available to choirs all over the world, she found Roger Treece. Based in NYC, Roger is a composer, arranger and sound engineer whose talent perfectly matches Bobby’s genius. And he made it become reality: “VOCabuLarieS“, an epic masterpiece of voices, a symphonic work of art based on music and musical fragments by Bobby McFerrin.

Currently, Bobby and Roger tour the world and do concerts with local choirs. However, as you might have imagined, the music composed by Roger is not exactly regular choir repertoire. It’s amazingly complex stuff. That’s why the choirs that were chosen to work with Roger and Bobby are the top rhythmic choirs of the world.

The Jazzchor Freiburg (conductor: Bertrand Gröger) is one of Europe’s leading jazz choirs and was among the “chosen few” – meeting Bobby “The Voice” McFerrin in Vienna in June and in Lörrach/Germany (www.stimmen.com) on the 15th of July.

We are happy and honoured to have Tobi Hug, bass singer with the London based Swingle Singers (and also singing those two “VOCabuLarieS” gigs with Bobby) interviewing Roger Treece after the first of the two shows.

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Did you see a “VOCabuLarieS” show? How do you like the album? Post your comments now and join the a cappella conversation!

by Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson, The Swingle Singers

When we heard that the amazing Naturally 7 would be in good ol’ London town supporting Michael Bublé at the O2 (May 23) – we thought it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Having seen them twice before at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank and Fairfield Halls in Croydon we can safely say that you will have a night to remember.

Going to the O2 itself was an experience as none of us had actually been there before. It turned out to be a little like Disneyland for adults! Little ’streets’ lined with planted trees and too many bars and restaurants to count. We even joked that we felt a little bit smug and important being in there for free as the lovely N7 guys had given us complimentary tickets! As we found our seats (in prime position no less!) we noticed the incredible range of ages around us from the young children behind us to the elderly couple in front of us. I personally don’t know Mr Bublé as well as I could so it was lovely to see the variety of audience he attracts.

When N7 came out they were of course as fantastic as ever. The sound was crystal clear – something we had wondered about as the venue was so huge. But they were completely at home in front of so many thousands of people. They were so humble and gracious and just a pleasure to watch. They even managed to get EVERYONE on their feet and dancing along – I have never seen warm-up/support group ever manage to get more than just polite clapping out of the crowds let alone people up out of their seats and grooving (young children and elderly couple included!).

The most wonderful moment for me was when they sang The Beatles classic ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. I am still in shock about Jamal’s incredible range and very jealous that he can sing a good 5th higher than I can! (When you’re a soprano it hurts that a man can beat you at what you supposedly do best!)

As for Mr. Bublé, he was very entertaining; a real showman who could probably be a stand-up comedian if he tried! His Michael Jackson impression and Ferris Buller moments were particular highlights. We were very impressed by his banter with the audience, very charming! And of course his chocolatey voice isn’t half bad…

Since the show, Naturally 7’s latest album Vocal Play has been given a good few runs on all our iPods – if you haven’t heard N7 yet you should definitely make it your mission to catch them as soon as you can. These guys are GOOD. VERY GOOD! ’nuff said.

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Did you like this article? Something you want to add to Joanna’s post? We want you to let us know, so feel free to post your comments. If you want to share ideas with more a cappella and vocal activists and recommend the site via facebook, twitter or at your blog – thank you!

by Florian Städtler

Touring internationally is far from glamorous. It’s a neverending fight against jet-lag and other obstacles unseen, unheard and unheard of by the a cappella fan.

Rockapella, including their new member Steven “Iron Man” Dorian, finished their longest tour of Germany about two weeks ago before heading to Japan for eight more shows. They’re probably still relaxing from that around-the-world trip, which left audiences from Hamburg to Munich to Tokyo to Sapporo enthusiastic and happy.

I came to see the group at their final gig of the two-weeks German tour in Vellmar and had the opportunity to do three short interviews about the most spectacular events of the tour: First mentioned was the ashcloud which almost prevented three of the guys making it to the first concert in time. Secondly the performance in Göttingen was cancelled just two hours before the show due to a World War II bomb found in the city center. Finally George Baldi III told us his catering secret while touring “Deutschland”: It’s German “Weizenbier” (wheat beer), especially the dark one ;-)

Have fun watching the videos and thanks for your comments. By the way: Rockapella will be back in Europe in October, coming to Espoo, Finland and Bucharest, Romania. Check out www.rockapella.com for details and contact info@spielplanvier.com if you are a promoter and want to present Rockapella on your stage.

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Did you like this article? Do you agree or (even better) disagree? We want you to let us know, so feel free to post your comments. If you want to share ideas with more a cappella and vocal activists and recommend the site via facebook, twitter or at your blog – thank you!