The Work Diary

More long notes - this time with lots of other notes happening on the keys below.  It reminds me of how hard I used to think it was just to sing and play guitar at the same time.  Of all the instruments I've tried, voice is far and away the hardest with all the things you have to manage while trying to make it sound natural and effortless at the same time.

This new electro voice mic is so much more clear and really helps with placing notes and trying to uncover new places to resonate in your throat and mouth and face, but I think I'm starting to get that feeling of finding the microphone that really gels with your individual voice...

I'm a pretty big Billy Joel fan but have never tried to learn one of his songs.  You seem like a real nice guy, but Jesus man give me a break here!

3 hard parts about singing are: long notes, high notes, quiet notes because they all take a certain kind of physical preparation and "placement" of the note that has to be just right else you go flat or strain the tone which doesn't sound good.  And this song has all three happening at the same time in the chorus.  Plus the melody is real relentless.  And although the melody has a slowish to moderate tempo, the pulse of the harmony is quite frequent which runs you the risk of rushing.  In other words, its wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it'd be.  Its pretty remarkable how he sounds so relaxed in the recording despite all these challenges he made for himself.  Good job Billy.