I've never done any kind of drug, but I completely understand why many entertainers start. I just finished a show for about a thousand people tonight. It rocked!!! When you have a great show and the audience is really going crazy for you there's such an intense amount of love/adrenaline/energy …and even right after the show when people are lining up to say hi, shake your hand, get an autograph, buy a CD …etc. The whole process is sort of surreal. I used to try and act normal when all of that was happening …and sometimes I still do, but oddly enough the more "normal" I try to act the more weird it all feels because it's not normal really. So when I just let go and accept it strangely it all starts to feel slightly more normal. …Then the show ends and the people leave. …I'm sure it's the "after the show" feeling that makes many entertainers start do drugs. They want the feeling to continue. Sometimes I do to. Suddenly all the love/adrenaline …etc. seems to just disappear. It hasn't disappeared, but it has dissipated for a while. I'm lucky I guess that my dad's substance abuse throughout my childhood completely scared me into never touching any substance that would alter the way I felt. Well, writing this blog has been a good way to come off the "high" for me tonight. Now I'm gonna watch my favorite TV show Dexter and fall asleep :)
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
NEW ALBUM: Introduction
I've announced that I'll be putting out a new album on Star Records next year, but I haven't given any details about it yet. Well, here are a couple… :)
Most of you have probably heard the "I'm By Your Side" English version of "Hawak Kamay" that I wrote the lyrics to. Star Records heard it as well, and they loved it! They like it because it maybe for the first time gives a new voice to a now modern Tagalog/OPM classic, and even people who don't speak a word of Tagalog or aren't necessarily Filipino can now enjoy a "Filipino Song", and the melody and message of a great Filipino/Tagalog songwriter (Yeng). I'm also very proud of the song for the same reason.
I have to commend Star for their forward thinking regarding this concept, and for seeing the potential to bring Filipino music into the international mainstream, the same way K-pop has managed to do so with their music and videos. My goal over the past two years has been to break traditions within OPM and yet at the same time incorporate the languages and the feelings of Filipino music into my own music and collaborations. With this project I think we have a better chance than ever to do that.
So if you haven't guessed it by now my upcoming album on Star Records will be an "English Versions" album. I'm going to take my favorite classic Tagalog songs (songs that almost every Filipino knows by heart), and give them a complete makeover both lyrically (in English) and production wise (so that they feel progressive and modern). I hope at the same time to do justice to the original meaning & feeling of the songs, and I will use every bit of heart and talent within me to do so.
My goal for this album is that a young Filipino-American or Filipino-Canadian …etc. can drive in their car with their American friends and to proudly play an album of classic "Filipino Songs" yet every person in the car will be able to instantly enjoy the songs and start singing along. Or for an overseas Filipino mom to be able to share this album with her children that are growing up in a foreign country, and hearing these songs will encourage and get them excited about hearing the original versions in Tagalog and exploring their Filipino roots in a deeper way.
I thank you all for giving me this amazing opportunity to re-interpret classic songs that means so much to so many Filipinos, and I hope you're just as excited to hear these re-interpreted versions as I am to write them.
Love,
David
Most of you have probably heard the "I'm By Your Side" English version of "Hawak Kamay" that I wrote the lyrics to. Star Records heard it as well, and they loved it! They like it because it maybe for the first time gives a new voice to a now modern Tagalog/OPM classic, and even people who don't speak a word of Tagalog or aren't necessarily Filipino can now enjoy a "Filipino Song", and the melody and message of a great Filipino/Tagalog songwriter (Yeng). I'm also very proud of the song for the same reason.
I have to commend Star for their forward thinking regarding this concept, and for seeing the potential to bring Filipino music into the international mainstream, the same way K-pop has managed to do so with their music and videos. My goal over the past two years has been to break traditions within OPM and yet at the same time incorporate the languages and the feelings of Filipino music into my own music and collaborations. With this project I think we have a better chance than ever to do that.
So if you haven't guessed it by now my upcoming album on Star Records will be an "English Versions" album. I'm going to take my favorite classic Tagalog songs (songs that almost every Filipino knows by heart), and give them a complete makeover both lyrically (in English) and production wise (so that they feel progressive and modern). I hope at the same time to do justice to the original meaning & feeling of the songs, and I will use every bit of heart and talent within me to do so.
My goal for this album is that a young Filipino-American or Filipino-Canadian …etc. can drive in their car with their American friends and to proudly play an album of classic "Filipino Songs" yet every person in the car will be able to instantly enjoy the songs and start singing along. Or for an overseas Filipino mom to be able to share this album with her children that are growing up in a foreign country, and hearing these songs will encourage and get them excited about hearing the original versions in Tagalog and exploring their Filipino roots in a deeper way.
I thank you all for giving me this amazing opportunity to re-interpret classic songs that means so much to so many Filipinos, and I hope you're just as excited to hear these re-interpreted versions as I am to write them.
Love,
David
Thursday, May 24, 2012
If I can sing you can sing...
When I was around 15 years old I decided that I wanted to sing. My goal up to that point had always been that I just wanted to be a songwriter. I'd had no intention of singing my own songs. I wanted to find "singers" to sing them. Like most things though I realized that if you want it done you have to do it yourself…
My mom heard me start to sing around the house, and she told me point blank "you have no chance of ever being a singer". Looking back I don't blame her much …I was HORRIBLE. My tone wasn't pretty, my notes were off pitch. There wasn't much of a starting point to encourage me from. Never the less I sang all the time.
Over about 6 years I became a little better; at least up to the point where some people might find my voice charming, but looking back I wasn't good enough that I really deserved to be singing for large audiences, and for that reason I rarely got to.
When I was 21 I moved to Nashville and decided I wanted to record my first album. Not because I wanted to showcase my singing, but because I was really proud of my original songs (which I do think were very good). A friend suggested I get a vocal coach …that moment CHANGED MY LIFE. I was lucky enough to find a very good vocal coach named Jamie Wigginton, and I suddenly realized two things: One, that almost everything about the way I had been singing up to that point was wrong, and two (and most importantly) that by practicing CORRECTLY I could dramatically improve. I practiced at least an hour a day five days a week that year while I made my first album, and I never would've been able to actually sing that material on the album if it wasn't for the coaching Jamie had given me.
Even though I improved a lot with Jamie's help I was still coming basically from zero talent, and though I thought that someday I could be a good singer I never really thought I had the ability to be a great singer …like my idols Jon Bon Jovi, Richard Marx, and Darren Hayes.
Here I am six years later. I've continued to practice almost daily doing vocal excercises in hopes to continue improving my voice and every 6 months or so I seem to have a "vocal breakthrough" moment when I find a new place in my voice that I didn't know existed before. A couple weeks ago I had one of those moments. The biggest one that's come in a long time. I was doing a audio vocal lesson by another popular vocal coach Brett Manning, and I finally found "my mix voice" which when developed is what allows male singer to hit that belting high notes ala "Journey". For the first time I now have hope that with enough further practice I can a truly "great singer" (like my idols) as well as a great songwriter. I've been so excited ever since, and I hope that God allows me the good health to reach my personal goals in singing.
I'm writing this though for all the people who just like me love to sing, but maybe if you're willing to admit it to yourself you're not yet a GREAT singer. Singing isn't JUST something that you're born with and either able to do well or not …it's something that IF you're willing to find a great coach, and practice thousands and thousands of hours doing seemingly meaningless exercises to strengthen your voice and find the correct coordination of your vocal chords YOU can be great at! We often think "I can't sing" or "I can sing", but singing isn't just a can or can't skill …it's something that takes practice just like basketball, guitar, ping pong, open heart surgery or any other skill. I'm here to admit that I'm not naturally a very good singer. I'm "naturally" a very awful singer. The way that I sing today is the culmination of thousands of hours of learning & practice. The skills you possess aren't the ones that you were born with, but the ones that you choose to learn …even with singing ;)
My mom heard me start to sing around the house, and she told me point blank "you have no chance of ever being a singer". Looking back I don't blame her much …I was HORRIBLE. My tone wasn't pretty, my notes were off pitch. There wasn't much of a starting point to encourage me from. Never the less I sang all the time.
Over about 6 years I became a little better; at least up to the point where some people might find my voice charming, but looking back I wasn't good enough that I really deserved to be singing for large audiences, and for that reason I rarely got to.
When I was 21 I moved to Nashville and decided I wanted to record my first album. Not because I wanted to showcase my singing, but because I was really proud of my original songs (which I do think were very good). A friend suggested I get a vocal coach …that moment CHANGED MY LIFE. I was lucky enough to find a very good vocal coach named Jamie Wigginton, and I suddenly realized two things: One, that almost everything about the way I had been singing up to that point was wrong, and two (and most importantly) that by practicing CORRECTLY I could dramatically improve. I practiced at least an hour a day five days a week that year while I made my first album, and I never would've been able to actually sing that material on the album if it wasn't for the coaching Jamie had given me.
Even though I improved a lot with Jamie's help I was still coming basically from zero talent, and though I thought that someday I could be a good singer I never really thought I had the ability to be a great singer …like my idols Jon Bon Jovi, Richard Marx, and Darren Hayes.
Here I am six years later. I've continued to practice almost daily doing vocal excercises in hopes to continue improving my voice and every 6 months or so I seem to have a "vocal breakthrough" moment when I find a new place in my voice that I didn't know existed before. A couple weeks ago I had one of those moments. The biggest one that's come in a long time. I was doing a audio vocal lesson by another popular vocal coach Brett Manning, and I finally found "my mix voice" which when developed is what allows male singer to hit that belting high notes ala "Journey". For the first time I now have hope that with enough further practice I can a truly "great singer" (like my idols) as well as a great songwriter. I've been so excited ever since, and I hope that God allows me the good health to reach my personal goals in singing.
I'm writing this though for all the people who just like me love to sing, but maybe if you're willing to admit it to yourself you're not yet a GREAT singer. Singing isn't JUST something that you're born with and either able to do well or not …it's something that IF you're willing to find a great coach, and practice thousands and thousands of hours doing seemingly meaningless exercises to strengthen your voice and find the correct coordination of your vocal chords YOU can be great at! We often think "I can't sing" or "I can sing", but singing isn't just a can or can't skill …it's something that takes practice just like basketball, guitar, ping pong, open heart surgery or any other skill. I'm here to admit that I'm not naturally a very good singer. I'm "naturally" a very awful singer. The way that I sing today is the culmination of thousands of hours of learning & practice. The skills you possess aren't the ones that you were born with, but the ones that you choose to learn …even with singing ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
