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Ep. 71 – Riffs, Runs, and Melismata – Blue Notes and Articulation

In Episode 71, Sara teaches you both how to sing “blue notes”, or bend pitches into one another, as well as giving you exercises for composing and articulating your own riffs, runs, and melismata.  While it will take time to begin these exercises at a slow tempo and speed them up, as well as time to design your own ascending and descending exercises, you should find that your own riffs and runs will improve in clarity and that your note articulation will improve with practice.

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Ep. 70 – Riffs, Runs, and Melismata – The Blues Scale

In Episode 70, Sara starts at the very beginning. R & B Riffs and runs are based in blues, so in order to be good at them, one must know the blues scale, inside and out. Check it out!

Ep. 53

Ep. 53 Riffs, runs, and melismas with guest Matt Cusson!

In Episode 53 Sara invites her friend, Spectra Jazz recording artist Matt Cusson to sing some songs and talk about riffs, runs and melismas in the R & B/gospel tradition. Matt is well known as a singer, songwriter, and keyboard player, and won the 2009 Maxell Song Of The Year John Lennon Songwriting Competition for his original song “One Of Those Nights”. Matt Cusson has a wealth of touring credits including Brian McKnight and Christina Aguilera.  Learn more about Matt’s music at http://www.mattcusson.com and buy Matt’s awesome music on iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/matt-cusson/id388203148.

Ep. 7

How to practice singing runs, melismas, riffs…

In this episode Sara gives you a little taste into how to sing vocal runs, or melismas.