Street Team Missions on ReverbNation

I am still quite in awe of some of the tools the music website ReverbNation has on offer.

One cool feature is the Street Team where you can get your fans to help spread your music through their own social channels by pasting widgets of your music or whatever into their blog posts or comments.

The music player below is a request for a street team mission I got from Christchurch band Radius Kink. I quite like their songwriting so no problem blogging about them.

If you listen to their music via my blog post, it registers with their profile. If I get them heaps of plays through my post, I can win a T-Shirt. There are probably more exciting prizes but I like the concept.

I only have two street team members amongst my RN fans so far, and for this reason I haven't felt inclined to use the feature, but if you want to become an Electric Era fan and street teamer, head on over to ReverbNation and join our mailing list. I might just hit you up one day for a Street Team Mission.

Vocal lessons or therapy?

Recently I started taking vocal lessons, and it's been an interesting journey so far. I realize that I am just at the beginning, but I am seeing some immediate effects. And they remind me very much of therapy.

For example, I noticed that in an attempt to create volume I have a habit of pushing my voice. Not necessary! There is an effortless way of creating volume, and it sounds heaps better too. Now I have started applying this lesson to other areas of my life. Why would I push sh*t uphill when there most likely is an effortless way of doing it? Sh*t doesn't belong on hills anyway.

In another example I noticed that I am not using my facial muscles enough to control the sound coming out of my mouth. In other words, my face remains expressionless while I sing causing the delivery to be a bit flat. Ever since realizing this I keep checking whether I am wearing my mask or whether I am allowing emotions to show on my face and elsewhere in my body. In other words, am I communicating for real or am I posing? Songs are about communication and taking risks. So is everything else!

A third great example is about trusting my voice. If I am on pitch it is because I am trusting my ears to guide me. If I wander off-pitch, it's because I try to control the voice with my mind. Again, this is the old struggle between following my intuition and second-guessing myself, between 'I can do anything' and 'I will suck if I don't try hard enough'.

I had already realised that if I want to write great music I had to be in this effortless, openly communicating and intuitive space. Or at least as close as I manage to get to it. It's reassuring to see that the same principles also apply for great singing and, of course, a great life in general.

On another note, I think price-wise singing lessons and therapy are on a par too. That's why singing lessons are better bang for your buck: They come with therapy built-in. I haven't heard many therapists singing...

Peace out