QUOTE OF THE MONTH “There’s nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.” Carson McCullers
No unfinished business here at The Premises as we rang in the New Year, the younger staff swinging from our crystal chandeliers, dancing with Glo sticks and setting off minor explosives, the older ones sipping Horlicks and drifting off to the bongs of Big Ben on Radio 4. Before then we celebrated the year with a staff night out at the Panto (see above). It was our first full-blown crazy busy year since lockdown, with all rehearsal and recording studios booked way in advance, and our courses in full swing. So if you have a list of resolutions, break ‘em all, except two: 1) Finish that song and 2) Rehearse and record it here.
RHYTHM SECTION MASTERCLASS On February 11th, we’re thrilled to be hosting an intensive one-day Masterclass by bass player extraordinaire Yolanda Charles MBE. The full day session will be focussed on musical development for bassists and drummers. Yolanda, who has played for and/or toured with Robbie Williams, Paul Weller, Squeeze and Hans Zimmer amongst others, will help you develop a nuanced approach to style, influence, feel and groove. Not suitable for beginners, but aimed at drummers and bass players at intermediate level and above, who have some experience playing within a band or group setting. If you are in a band and want to come as a pair (bass and drums), that’d be even better! But move fast, as we go to press there are only five places left. Early Bird price of £75. More information here.
Also filling up fast is our three-day course for Backing Vocalists on Feb 16/17/18. If you want to become a top-notch backing singer then you need to join Gospel star and MOBO winner Lurine Cato MBE, who has worked as a professional BV for all the top names in the business. Learn all you need to know about timing, harmonies, movement, professionalism and winning that audition. Aimed at good singers who want the inside track on how to get the BV gigs. £195 for all three sessions. Click here for more info.
And, for the very advanced planners amongst you, we are running Janette Mason’s popular Art of Arranging course again, which went down a storm last year. Janette will teach you how to arrange your song for a pro session band, and the final day will be a master recording of you, the band and your song and vocals in our state-of-the-art recording studio. We’d ask you to submit a recording (nothing fancy, Mp3 will do) prior to the course. There will be a vocal coach on hand too and Janette will accompany on piano. We got some dynamic recordings last time round. Check out Stephanie’s Unlovable to The Bone here. Early Bird price for the three days is £345. For more information.
VOICE JAMS FOR YOUNGERS Our October half term Voice Jam was a great success, with our young choir laying down soaring versions of Lean on Me and Stand Up under the expert tuition and enthusiastic guidance of voice coach Clive Brown. Here’s a sample of what they recorded. And we’re doing it all AGAIN, so if you know anyone in secondary school who’d like to jam with other singers over the February half term (13th-16th Feb) and record some songs in our state-of-the-art recording studio, please contact: michele@premiseseducation.org The course is FREE and open to those with a keen interest in singing. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q7yJUuDHO0q2yDHSNrSOIIPFnyiLKqc1KjoRK93U8gc/edit?ts=63c01098
WHO’S BEEN IN?
December was busy with visits from, amongst others…
Dirty Rumour, Liberty Church, Grand Union Orchestra, Hannah Brine, Trinity Laban, Tommy LaFoy, Music For Youth, Slow Thai, Shiva Nova, Quaye, Ben Marc, Art Terry, Nokomis, Yazz Ahmed, Flower Of Love, Young Gun Silver Fox, Ezra Collective, Bryn Christopher, Joy Anonymous, Horrifix, Ash, Anoushka Shankar, Snowman and Snowdog Orchestra, Superfly, Sarah Tandy, James Ford, Omar, Caity Baiser, United Freedom Collective, Black Country New Road, China Moses, Miss Baby Sol, Nathan Ware, Robert Fleming, Tsunainia, Loyle Carner, Joss Stone, Moving Mirrors, Engines Orchestra, Self Esteem, Elephant Kind, Tom Burke and Daisy Loving
BAND ON THE RUN… In the first of a new feature in the newsletter, we catch up with bands that have been working here and are doing stuff you should know about. We bring you a short on the road feature with Jealous Nostril, Johnny Borrell’s (of Razorlight) new outfit, who were out on the road late last year, touring intimate clubs to rapturous audiences. We managed to catch them in the tour van (not literally, we can’t run that fast) and hear about Johnny’s new venture, what he did in lockdown and some stuff about chalk and sanding window frames down. Rock and roll, eh? Here’s a Link to their new video, and here’s a link to our exclusive interview.
GET THAT SONG DOWN! Got a song in your head and run out of paper napkins and bits of paper to write it down on, or do you sing it on some not very good phone recorder thing? We feel your pain and here’s the solution: recently we’ve been testing out a new iPhone recording app called Tape It, invented by an old friend of the Premises, Thomas Walther, and the audio quality is vastly superior to Apple’s Voice Memos. The perfect tool for songwriters and musicians wanting to quickly record ideas and demos. Super easy to use and exporting recordings is a doddle. Great for recording interviews too. Get the app FREE here: https://tape.it/ or search for Tape It in the App Store.
AND FINALLY…
