It should be mentioned that the art form of jazz is a noble pursuit to have, because of its culture and history. It is sometimes a difficult music to learn because of its techniques that feel obscure and strange, but it is a beautiful music. However, just enjoying the music and loving it won’t be enough.
Make A Choice
Most singers have to make a choice between pop and jazz because they just can’t do both. While it is not impossible, pop-stars have a different appearance and feeling for their music than jazzy counterparts, which rarely go together. A singer must know how to sing in different keys and understand rhythm, but the jazz-age musical numbers require so much more.
Popstars are typically in the limelight and demand such with their performances. They want praise to rain down on them and be the center of attention. While this, in itself, is not a bad thing, it isn’t the same with jazzy music. That type of music doesn’t want limelight and a big ego. It only wishes to be heard and felt. Therefore, to do both well, you’ll have to make a choice not to care about the limelight.
Groove
All music is about feeling, and if you don’t feel passionately about the musical genre, in general, you won’t find the right groove in which to sing it. Listen to the greats and hear what they sing about and try to figure out why. Learning how to sing the genre is also important, because there are a lot of different techniques, but listening is also important.
You wouldn’t consider jumping on the opera bandwagon without hearing a few pieces and practicing, and you must also listen and practice before considering jazzy renditions.
Improv
All types of jazz, including pop requires a lot of improvisation. This is where you make things up as you go along. Most people can’t handle the difficulty of doing something great that hasn’t been written or planned. However, planning everything out in a jazzy song just doesn’t work. The feeling and groove isn’t there, making it appear to be lacking something.
Find Yourself
Jazzy music is considered a very personal journey for most people, and as such, cannot be bottled or canned. While you can listen to a record or CD and hear it exactly the same every time, the same isn’t true of live shows because each show has something new and different behind it.
