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David Berkman

Vocal Coach

David Berkman

Since moving to New York in 1985, David Berkman has been an important part of the jazz community. He is an award-winning composer/bandleader (2000 Doris Duke/Chamber Music America New Works Creation and Presentation Grant), a recording artist whose 4 Palmetto recordings have appeared on numerous best records of the year critic's lists (the New York Times, the Village Voice, Downbeat, JazzIz, Jazz Times and others) and an award-winning jazz clinician who has performed and taught at numerous jazz camps, universities and conservatories around the United States, South America and Europe. He has played in countless bands including those of Cecil McBee, Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra and has performed with and/or recorded and/or arranged for numerous jazz luminaries, including: Sonny Stitt,, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Ray Drummond, Billy Hart, Dick Oatts, Tony Malaby, Chris Potter, Scott Wendholt, Lenny White, Scott Colley, Craig Handy, Steven Bernstein, Bill Stewart, Dave Stryker, Fathead Newman, Hank Crawford, and Jane Monheit. He has published two books with Sher Music Publishing, "The Jazz Musician's Guide to Creative Practicing" (2007) and "The Jazz Singer's Guidebook" (2009). Now appearing more and more often as a bandleader, David Berkman has performed solo and with his quartet, quintet and sextet at festivals and clubs in the United States, Europe and Japan, most recently at the North Sea Festival, the Edinburgh festival, the Belfast festival and the Cork Festival. Recent tours include: clubs and concert performances in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and around the United States. Recent projects include the New York Standards Quartet (featuring Tim Armacost, Yosuke Inoue and Gene Jackson) and piano/trumpet duo performances with Dave Douglas (2005 International Trumpet Guild Convention in Bangkok) and Tom Harrell (around Italy).

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David Berkman : The Jazz Singer's Guidebook : Book & 1 CD : 

David Berkman : The Jazz Singer's Guidebook

Review: Finally, a clear, step-by-step approach for serious singers who want to improve their grasp of jazz harmony and gain a deeper understanding of music fundamentals. Learn to accompany yourself, write lead sheets, understand the structure of the music, and improve your scatting. The Jazz Singer's Guidebook covers all the instrumental, theoretical and ear training requirements that you need in order to gain control of the music you are singing! The Jazz Singer's Guidebook will change how you hear music and make you a better singer, as well as give you the tools to develop your singing in directions you may not have thought possible. Subjects covered include:- The harmonic basis of the melody of songs, How to vary melodies, How to develop a greater awareness of the important harmonic details of songs, How to write a lead sheet and how to evaluate the chord changes that are on a lead sheet, How to hear tensions and chord tones on chords, How to know and hear the appropriate chord scale for each chord change, How to improvise from chord scales, Ways to improve your intonation for scatting. Plus hundreds of suggestions and exercises for scatting, composing, transcribing, understanding jazz vocabulary and increasing what you have to say as an improvising musician.

Chapters: Introduction, Becoming A Functional Pianist, Lead Sheet Basics, The Harmonic Basis of the Melody of Songs , Chord Tones and the Tensions of Progressions, Chord Scales, Friend or Foe?, Applying Chord Scales to a Tune, A Tetrachord Approach to Chord Scales, Chromatic Approach Note Patterns and Bebop Vocabulary, Guide Tone Lines, The Blues, Technical Drill of Intervals, Practicing Scat, Conclusion

More details
7084b | Book & 1 CD $24.95 | Scat Vocal Jazz Instructional

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