makin-puppets

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flans i NEED to know your opinion on Hatsune Miku if you know who she is,,

This is the ONLY thing I know...

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John Linnell

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Hi Flans! I’ve been wondering, you’ve got an extremely impressive vocal range, falsetto and all; did this always come somewhat naturally for you, or was there a concerted effort to train your voice to hit all those notes? Especially the higher ones; I’m still new to having a deeper voice, and it’s been disconcerting not being able to sing as high as I used to… Thanks for your time as always!

JF: I... I... I feel a little anxiety about this. First thank you for the compliment. I do appreciate it. For many years I was really frustrated by the shortcomings of my singing voice, and because I wasn't interested in singing with a traditionally "trained" style, it became a big challenge figuring out how to improve. And very very late in my professional life-like 20 years in I started having breakthroughs and found a much more consistent way to perform.

I tried going to a pretty traditional pair of coaches in the mid-90s (they were a couple) but I realize in retrospect they were really only capable of training Broadway people to belt and opera singers to maximize their projection which was an aesthetic I didn't really relate to. They couldn't address my big issues in a head on way (basically singing flat, scooping up to notes in a goofy, amateurish way, difficulty hitting smaller intervals precisely, and, the big one-- losing my voice). Why couldn't they help me? Because they couldn't really give me the tools in an efficient way (recording vocal lessons was a real-time disaster with just fragments of useful stuff to review--After a year I realized I would have had to go to daily lessons to really get anywhere, and I could barely afford it once a week.)

I really started addressing things in a successful way post-2000, going to a coach who gave me some really simple but informed moves in a more natural way, and using YouTube instruction to do warm ups in a systematic way.

This is my take, and I am sure other people might disagree or are just more naturally good at this than me, but I found there was something a little basic about how to improve my voice--dedicating a half hour every day and just putting in the time with YouTube videos. I wish it was more fun! But if you drill basic stuff all the time you'll find some stuff coming together in months, and some bigger stuff coming together in a year or two. But just living in the world of always singing was really my path to basic improvement. It also helped me hold on to my voice, and through weirder conditions.

Finding a 15 minute warm up of scales and arpeggios, and then add in videos of intervals small and large (very helpful for flexibility) I bet you will find you sing more consistently in tune and expand your range in an organic way. I even dream of being able to sing riffs/runs but, man, it does not come naturally to me!

One series of warm ups I can easily recommend is Jeff Rolka. He has tons of videos for all different kinds of voices (and as a tenor, dipping in to baritone and alto warm ups is a great way to expand your range without public embarrassment!) And his interval and chromatic videos are super-useful for focusing up on pitchiness.

I have even sent money to him in the past just because I lean on his stuff so much. I even requested a small interval video and he made one! (I should probably PayPal him some more dough--he has a solid library now. Very useful!)

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Does Linnell have any advice for someone who wants to play the keyboard and accordion?

JL: My possibly unhelpful advice for aspiring accordionists is to find your own path. I’m mostly self taught but if you can find a good teacher you’ll have a leg up. There are piano accordions and button accordions. I started on the piano so the piano accordion was a natural choice. I play standing up and as I entered middle age the weight of the instrument became a consideration; I now play a fairly light instrument, your mileage may vary. For cowboys and seafaring musicians there’s the very portable concertina, a bold style choice with a confusing arrangement of keys. For Argentine tangos you’ll need to play a bandoneon.

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When you were in Cincinnati did you like skyline

JF: I actually love the flavors of Skyline chili, and I have 2 lb.s of hamburger meat frozen so I can make a big ol' batch of it for home consumption. (Not exactly sure if my wife will like it--might be an acquired taste, but the cinnamon, etc. is all cool with me!)

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Hey Flans!! Do you finally know what sigma means?

JF: just looked it up!

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Thank you for the recipe! The FlansPanCakes were delicious!

JF: YES!

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Do you recall what particular parade was recorded for the Nevada state song? Or even just what kind of parade it was, like for a certain holiday?

JL: I lived and worked at 18 Havemeyer street in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn for many years, and we had lots of marching bands coming down our street, especially in July when the annual giglio festival (which has to be seen to be believed - check it out here: https://www.olmcfeast.com/) was held right outside our window. I think the Nevada song was recorded during one of the smaller parades, maybe even just a band practice.

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A TMBG design I made using a picture I took of a dog. Kismet.

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any plans to come to denver? i got all of my college friends into tmbg and they are goosin to see you guys! these are the friends in question (ignore me, the purple haired girl with a flood necklace and tmbg shoes and tmbg pins and tmbg everything)

JF: yes! tickets on sale for three different Denver/Ft Collins shows this Friday!

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greetings Flantasia and Lightbulb! :) I present this thing to you

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i love you tmbg...

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referring back to that Silvagunner post, Silvagunner's channel soley based on "rips" on video game music, but the music is edited to be comedic. in this case, youre expecting to hear the K.K Ballad, but the punchline is that its actually a completely different song. its not made with bad intent or trying to copy anyones stuff, its just for a laugh

JF Not saying it isn't hilarious to some. But folks giving themselves writing and publishing credit on YouTube videos/TikTok videos etc for songs that they did not write or publish is, um, kind of lying and also an epidemic right now. The music is our work, and our livelihood, and it's not for others to steal even if they say it's just for laughs.

No bad intent here either--just saying don't take credit/publishing for our stuff. Not trying to be uptight about it. Just take this as a very polite "no thank you" from us and leave us and our songs alone. It's not for you to take writing/publishing credit on.