Kirby keeps busy writing arrangements for Hal Leonard. Somehow, he still finds time to sing and tour with the jazz quartet, Just 4 Kicks, and do side projects, like this video, produced under the auspices of the newly inaugurated A Cappella Foundation. His delightful presence is a great complement to his years of experience as a music educator, and helps the medicine of knowledge go down as sweet as sugar. With an introduction reflecting back to his youth listening to the radio, Kirby vividly illustrates the difference between the white music he first heard, and the black radio he then fell in love with: soul! Along with the studio audience, who demonstrate each example, we are shown how to "mess with the melody," using vocal ornaments such as the appoggiatura, upper and lower neighbor et cetera. In that context, Kirby also imparts information about chord structure, picking out notes within a chord and commenting on their function, right on the fly. All along he reassures us that taking risks is what it's all about. Sixty minutes of fun! |
