SINGERS’ BOOTCAMP at Alcorn Music Studios

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SINGERS' BOOTCAMP
Hello singers! I am very excited to announce that I will be taking part in Alcorn Music Studios’ Singers’ Bootcamp as an instructor! Hooray! Under the direction of Elise Letourneau and alongside my fellow instructor Nicole Ratté we will lead singers (ages high school through adult) through the most fundamental and universal aspects of singing including technique, theory and musicianship. The bootcamp runs from July  7 – 12. Here is a typical day at Singers’ Bootcamp:

9a – warm-ups and voice-building/technique
9:30a – sight reading
10a – repertoire
11a – break
11:15a-12:15p – harmony singing
12:15-12:45p – genre discussion – (topics change daily)
12:45-1:45p – lunch
1:45-2:30p – theory & ear training
2:30-3:15p – elective
3:15-4p – break
4-4:30p – voice-building/technique
4:30-5:30p – repertoire
5:30-7p – dinner/break
7-9p – performances, working with a rhythm section

Sounds exciting, right? If you are in the Ottawa area and you are interested in enrolling please click here for more details. The bootcamp has limited enrolment and admission is on a first come, first served basis, so act fast! Registration deadline is Friday, June 21, 2013.

If you know some who may be interested in this camp you can send them a link to this post or invite them to our facebook event here.

My Week In Pictures: Pianos, polish, and pretty red notebooks

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My Week In Pictures: 2013_05_12-19

This last week was a lot of quiet time punctuated by small pleasures. I started writing in a new red journal, I drank a lot of tea, I painted my nails this nice fossil colour, I drank a bunch of tea, I saw some great Ottawa-local jazz musicians in concert, I played a brunch gig with my friend Marie-Claire Durand, I practiced piano, I taught some lessons, and I watched a ton of Portlandia on Netflix.

Wow, I can’t believe that’s it! Some weeks you just need to lay low and do the little things that make you happy.

Also, due to the long weekend there will be no Live Jazz Monday tonight at Mercury Lounge, but we’re back next week so see you then!

CD bundle giveaway: vocalists Kristin Fung, Ori Dagan, & Andrea Wolper ***closed***

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CD bundle giveaway: Kristin Fung, Ori Dagan, Andrea WolperWe have quote the CD bundle giveaway for you this month! Thanks to the generosity of Toronto-based funk vocalist, Kristin Fung, Toronto-based jazz vocalist Ori Dagan, and New York-based jazz vocalist, Andrea Wolper, I have three amazing CDs to give away to one lucky reader. Hooray!

TO ENTER:

1. Follow the vocalists on facebook or twitter:

Kristin Fung: facebook | twitter
Ori Dagan: facebook | twitter
Andrea Wolper: facebook | twitter

2. Leave a comment below.

And that’s it! giveaway will close at 11:59pm on Tuesday, My 21st and the draw winner will be required to answer a skill testing question. Good luck!

003-cdbundle-1

This contest is now closed. Congrats to Betty Ann Bryanton! Stay tuned for more amazing CD bundle giveaways!

My Week In Pictures: I can go outside again! Hooray!

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My Week In PicturesI have been enjoying the spring so much I could have summarized this whole week with one photo of my patio set. I think we barbecued every meal of the day this week, including breakfast. But seriously, it’s been a really fun week. Craig and I had musical visitors from Montreal, Joel Kerr and Marie-Claire Durant, staying with us. Craig and Joel rehearsed and recorded for a very special project called It’s A Free Country. They will be releasing the album at IMOO on June 16. I highly recommend checking the show out.

In other news, I started taking some rudimentary piano lesson now that we have an excellent instrument to practice on, I had a wonderful concert on Friday with Mark Ferguson and Joel Kerr. There may be some other news related to that concert but I’m not at liberty to say at the moment… it’s a secret… And also, Craig and I spent time rehearsing with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative for their inaugural show Collected Soles: A Rhythm Tap & Jazz Music Show.

I wish I had more to report at this time but I’m basically going through the planning phase of my life as we move swiftly through May and closer and closer to the summer. More updates will come though! Stay tuned this week for an awesome CD bundle giveaway :)

Tomorrow night: Renée Yoxon / Mark Ferguson / Joel Kerr at GIGSPACE

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gigspacedposterJoin me, Mark Ferguson and Joel Kerr at GIGSPACE in Ottawa tomorrow night for an evening of jazz standards and original songs. Mark and I will be debuting new compositions as well as playing material from our album, Here We Go Again.

Tickets are still available so reserve yours now!

When: Friday, May 10, 2013, 7:30 pm
Where: GIGSPACE, 953 Gladstone Avenue, Ottawa, ON
Tickets: $20, cash at the door or for advance purchase by credit card call 613-729-0693
Accessibility: There are 4 concrete steps up to two doors that open out. Once in the space, venue and washrooms are accessibility. Contact GIGSPACE for more info.

Click here to RSVP on facebook and let me know you’re coming!

Here We Go Again review round up!

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Here We Go AgainOver the last couple of months there have been some great reviews of Here We Go Again around the jazz blogosphere, my press page has pretty much exploded! So many nice things have been said that I wanted to share some of my favourite quotes with you. If you want to read the entire review, just click on the name and publication. Here we go (again!)

C. Michael Bailey, all about jazz:

“Intimate may best describe [Here We Go Again]. Yoxon’s writing and voice are clearly out there with no net. Even on the more up-tempo ‘Just As We Are,’ Yoxon sings as if telling a humorous secret.”

John Book, This Is Book’s Music:

“In songs like ‘There’s Only You’, ‘Have We Been In Love Before?’ and the passionate ‘Drinking Coffee’, you hear someone who sings from personal experience, as if each song is a small note meant to be put up on the wall before its adhesiveness fades and becomes another not-so-distant memory”

John Peters, The Borderland:

“Ms Yoxon has a fine voice – intense and full of clarity and resolve. This is matched by Mr Ferguson’s piano and trombone and together they have certainly created something very special as a debut album.”

Brian Arsenault, The International Review of Music:

“Something [from Here We Go Again] may enter the Great American Songbook, maybe more than one.”

Susan Frances, Yahoo! Voices:

“A collection of original jazz compositions that explore the themes of love and loss, Here We Go Again has torch song clarity with fissures of folk, blues, and Judy Garland-tinged soul.”

That’s it for now! Thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to Here We Go Again and write such thoughtful reviews. If you are interested in reviewing Here We Go Again please contact Kari Gaffney from Kari-On Productions.

My Week In Pictures: blue skies and red lipstick

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My Week In Pictures: April 22 - 28, 2013This was a nice week. There was just the right amount of everything. After last week’s post about being down on the artist life, it was nice to have a fun art-filled week.

I taught a dozen students, I performed at Live Jazz Monday and at the Brookstreet Hotel and at the Herb & Spice, I blogged three whole times (which is a big step forward from wanting to quit last week),I attended two concerts, I went to a music store and invested in some long-needed equipment, I had a fun writing/rehearsing session with Mark Ferguson, I attended my brother’s animation grad fair, and I had an amazing photo shoot with Claude Brazeau.

I also spent an entire day of my work week prepping for the photo shoot.

Confession time: I love makeup and clothes. There I said it. I think for awhile I resisted the urge to indulge in makeup and clothes (and nails and accessories) and I have a feeling that resistance stems from a weird sort of femme-shame, where things that are associated with femininity are considered frivolous and inferior. Anyway, I’m over that now and I’m glad I am too because I’m discovering an awesome world of amazing, creative women doing incredible things with clothes and makeup and accessories and nails (I’m leaving out hair because I don’t really have much hair). On Friday I visited viens avec moi and borrowed eight pieces from them for the photo shoot with Claude including this crazy amazing floral print dress you can see in the top left photo. The shoot will also contain custom earrings by Katie Hurdon which you can also get a preview of in the top left photo. I did my own makeup (thanks to some great tutorials from Lisa Eldridge) but if there are any aspiring makeup artists out there who would like to collaborate with me on future projects, please contact me!

So that’s it for my week, how was your week? Do you wear makeup or do your nails? What are some of your favourite makeup/clothes/nails/accessories resources? I’m voraciously devouring blogs and youtube videos so please share in the comments!

Mixtape: Jazz for riding a bicycle

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mixtape: jazz for riding a bicycleIt’s finally bicycle weather! Woohoo! Today’s mixtape celebrate’s that fact. It’s a fun, funky, swinging mix for riding your bicycle around on a sunny day. Alright, I’m going to keep this short so we can get out and ride!! Stick it in your ear-holes!

1. The Trolley Song – Betty Carter
2. Nice Work If You Can Get It – Chris Connor
3. Gentleman Friend – The George Shearing Quintet & Nancy Wilson
4. Among Friends – Art Pepper
5. Broadway – Greta Matassa
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You – Jamie Cullum
7. Play It, Momma – Dave Douglas
8. Samba De Orfeu – Champian Fulton
9. What Is So – Rachel Therrien

♫ 8tracks

(photo)