AUCKLAND GUITAR SCHOOL
DEPOT ARTSPACE
Auckland Guitar School with Dylan Kay
Singing and playing songs
Depot Artspace with Amy Saunders
Dylan Kay
Many of our students love to sing and play their favourite songs, but aspiring guitarists often struggle with this, so here are some pointers. If you’re looking to sing and play songs, there are three distinct parts to the process. The first is pretty obvious – learn to play the guitar part. In your lessons, develop the skills needed to play the guitar part to the song, and learn how to put it all together. Next, learn to sing the song (again, obvious). Memorise the lyrics and learn the melody (lots of repeated listening and singing along). You may need to play the song in a different key to suit your voice? The third and final part is where most people become unstuck – putting the guitar part and singing together. It’s not as simple as just playing guitar on autopilot and singing along! Combining voice and guitar is a whole separate skill which can seem incredibly daunting.
It’s not as simple as just playing guitar on autopilot and singing along! Combining voice and guitar is a whole separate skill which can seem incredibly daunting. Take small sections and sing/play them slowly – out of time if needed and simplified if that’s the only way you can do it (eg. you might just strum once per bar). It can help to write out how the vocals and guitar part fit together e.g. maybe the guitar is playing on every beat, but the vocal starts in between beats 1 and 2 and then continues in a particular rhythm to beat 4 – seeing that written down can really help. Many times, it’s a gradual process, but at a certain point you’ll find the penny drops, and all the hard work that you’ve put in suddenly clicks. Check out the blog for more detail on this: https://www.aucklandguitarschool.co.nz/blog/singing-andplaying/ As ever, if you’d like help with any of this, just get in touch with us. See you next month!
Depot Artspace, Devonport
Amy Saunders
We’re excited to welcome in the month of June and celebrate Matariki. As part of our Matariki celebrations we’re thrilled to be hosting the stunning exhibition Matariki Tuhono ki te Taiao that looks to Māori conceptualisations of time, being guided by subtle changes and patterns in the environment. The early winter skies signal a shift in the seasons traditionally prompting harvests, hākari (feasts), kai preservation, and crop planting. Matariki Tuhono ki te Taiao showcases the work of seven multidisciplinary artists and will run throughout June with a special closing ceremony featuring live music, performance, hāngī and refreshments on Saturday 25th June at 4pm, so please come and join us! Depot Sound Hamilton Boys High School was in the house! We were super excited to host music and film students from HBHS in our space recently. A huge thanks to inspiring teachers Mr Galbraith and Mr West as well as all the students for making it such a special day. The students loved seeing Noah (HBHS alumni) give them some real life studio experience and we loved having everyone here. www.depotsound.co.nz Creative Careers Need business & marketing guidance for your creative practice? Want to get first hand mentoring from industry professionals as well as network amongst other like minded creatives? Check out our creative career programmes at Depot Artspace! www. depotartspace.co.nz/creative-careers Depot Galleries Depot Artspace’s Puanga – Matariki exhibition and associated events will take place as part of the Indigenous Ecology and Arts Wānanga, co-curated by Natanahira Te Pona of local ecology group Restoring Takarunga Hauraki. This year we are joined by a range of multi-disciplinary ringatoi (artists) who each engage with te taiao and Te Ao Māori through raranga (weaving), whakairo or carved objects, paintings, and more. We’re also thrilled to host ‘Wrung and Misshapen’, a photographic exhibition curated by Hayley Theyers as part of Auckland Festival of Photography. This exhibition features a selection of artists from Depot Artspace’s Wayfind Creative and ArtsLab programmes. Full exhibition details here: depotartspace.co.nz/events
Dylan Kay, Auckland Guitar School, Howick and Takapuna, Auckland "Transform your playing." 09 533 5246 www.aucklandguitarschool.co.nz
www.channelmag.co.nz Issue 131 - June 2022
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