URBAN METHOD

A little recap on the show…

So, we get to the Beverly Hilton (thank you Arnold, Jane, and Judy for the kind greeting and transport) and head to the restaurant for a little lunch. We’re eating among the celebs gathered there for the Grammys and after finishing up, we head back to our rooms. As we’re heading up, we notice a bunch of security guards up to something…little did we know that Whitney Houston had just passed away right upstairs! Incredible to be in the vicinity of such a momentous and sad occasion in music.

The hotel was buzzing with the news and that night, the cameras, paparazzi, and some of the most famous musicians around filed through the doors of the hotel. We thought about traveling around the city of Hollywood but found ourselves drinking at the bar watching the A-listers see and be seen.

The next morning we enjoyed a little breakfast in the rooms and some fantastic weather as we were led up to their outdoor patio where we performed for the Hilton’s VIPs. We finished up and enjoyed food and drinks in the beautiful epicenter of the Grammys.

A quick escort to the airport and a short flight home—great trip and a huge thanks to Kieran for bringing us in for the event.

Hey all!! Katie here from Urban Method! So my voice has been a little tired lately and not quite feeling the way it usually does. My voice teacher at my school recommened I go get my voice scoped to make sure everything is looking good. They first numbed my nose and throat then took this small wire with a camera and light at the end of it, put it through my nose then to the back of my throat (sorry if that was graphic). It was a little bit painful and felt pretty weird but it had to be done. He asked me to breathe in, clear my throat, and hold out and “E” sound. After he looked at my vocal chords for a bit he took the wire out then showed me the video. I had always had an idea of how your vocal chords work but I never got to see my own actually working! I learned that they open from bottom to top then top to bottom, it was very wave like.

Everything turned out to be just fine. Just a little vocal fatigue and some reflux. Sure glad I went in, better safe then sorry!

BTW, we have a contestant page on NBC’s site! It has a bunch of official pictures, videos, and more from the band…Check it out here: http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/contestants/urban-method

Hello A cappella Folks,

Welcome to Fro-Hawk Tips entry Number 2.

So many a cappella artists consume themselves with the “are we ending sharp or flat” or “are you singing bowapadeedooway or bowopodaaadoway. Because it sounded like you were singing bowopodaaadoway instead of bowapadeedooway’s.” Sound familiar to any of you fellow aca heads? Well let me share a little tip with all of you out there in a cappella world land.

You like that “A Cappella World Land”? I coined it right here. T-Ho’s Fro-Hawk tips new phrase “A Cappella World Land” Anywhoo. Let me let you in on a little secret. The audience, those wonderful people that paid to see you sing and perform, those awesome folks that make it possible for you to make a living as an artist, don’t know, and honestly don’t really care if you are singing different bowadoo-whatever’s 98% of the time. But they do know if you are not singing with emotion. They do know if you are not connected to the song that you are singing and most of the time, their perception on wether you are doing well or sucking is based on that emotion that is pouring out of your voice box. True story!

T-Ho's Fro-Hawk Tips

I am a singer too (at least I like to think that I am), and I have had the age-old singer conversations that go something like this. “She isn’t really all that good. I mean all of her songs are mediocre at best.” or “I can’t stand to listen to him because he is almost always out of tune.” Well, my friends, the one thing that those chart-topping out-of-tune folks have over many of us in tune folks is an emotional connection to their music that transcends all of the rest of that stuff, an emotional connection to the music, to their message, and to their art. (And a multi-million dollar contract, but that is besides the point.) They don’t argue about da tica da tica’s or aahh versus UH. They focus on the feeling. The way the music makes them and their audience feel.

The point is learn how to emotionally connect to your music first and the rest will follow. Emotional connection is priceless.  Besides you spent hours of college rehearsal time and thousands of your folks’ dollars to learn the other stuff. So while your out there in wait for it… wait for it… A CAPPELLA WORLD LAND practicing for your next concert, don’t forget to put down the music for a minute so that you can focus on the EMOTION!

Peace,

Troy

Free Troy Horne Music Downloads at Troyhorne.com

Hey, everyone!

This is Kim from Urban Method. First off, I want to say thank you for the mad support you’ve been giving us. We really appreciate it. You guys are what gets us through the day to day grind. So, thank you.

Okay, I’m quite the music nerd, and love all the stories, history, and crazy trivia behind it. So, that’s what I’ll be bringing to you every week. Tidbits, fun facts, stories, videos, quotes about the thing I love most in the world.

I remember that I was very young when I learned that a lot of singers didn’t write the songs that they sang. My dad did, so I guess I just figured so did everyone else. That’s what started my adoration for singer-songwriters. The first of these was Roberta Flack. While everyone knows one of her biggest hits, “Killing Me Softly,” my favorite was always “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Imagine my surprise to learn that she didn’t write it! It was written by British folk singer Ewan MacColl in 1957. Still Roberta Flack’s version is the most famous one. She sings with such genuine emotion, such quiet passion. It’s hard not to feel moved when you hear her sing this. That makes it all the more poignant that she says of performing, “That’s a wonderful thing, because one of the primary qualities of a good performance is honesty.” Love it. Hope you love it, too.

Stepping off the plane in LA was so exciting! I could not wait to jump in and get started. I did not know what to expect, we got picked up by a wrangler after we got our bags and headed to our new home, the Double Tree hotel. Our schedule consisted of about 12 hour days with breaks for meals. There were individual rehearsals, choreo rehearsals for our group, all  group choreo reheasals, wardrobe fittings, camera blocking, and interviews all packed into one week! By the first week I knew that this would be the most amazing, stressful, hard-working, exciting experience I have gone through so far.

With such long hours and not enough sleep I found myself sometimes getting tired during rehearsals. I try not to drink coffee, unlike Richard( I think he might be addicted :p) because caffeine dries out your vocal chords. As the week went on I discovered that doing laps around the room during rehearsals made me wake up a bit! I have to admit I did have to turn to coffee a few times. But when you feel your self getting tired in rehearsal, get up and do a few laps around the room and grab a quick cup of coffee

Wow! It is so crazy that we made it through Episode 1! If you had told me a year ago that I would be singing on national television, I never would have believed it. I was working as a manager at a store in Colorado, and had pretty much given up on doing music as a career. I owe my presence here in large part to a book called The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. My dear friend recommended it to me, and I read it at a time when I was searching for inspiration. It’s all about following your heart’s desire and overcoming the obstacles that cause you to lose faith in yourself in pursuit of your dreams. And most importantly to me, it’s about why you should pursue those dreams.

The day after I finished The Alchemist, I decided to put my whole heart into pursuing music. I told myself that within three months, I would be at a place where I could pursue music full time. And guess what? That’s exactly what happened. (It still seems like a dream!)

It sounds cheesy when I write about it, but it’s really not. If you are in a place where you need some inspiration, or are just losing faith in your ability to make your dreams come true, this book is the perfect thing to read.

What about everyone else out there? Have you read The Alchemist, or do you have any other suggestions for books I should read?

Hi everyone,

This is Ozzi Troiano. I am the tenor of Urban Method. Hopefully this is the first of many blogs. Cameras are in our face 24/7 and keeping in touch would really help us stay sane. So keep reading and commenting.

This first week was crazy. I didn’t really have any expectations, but was glad to jump into the deep end as they like say. As soon as we got to the hotel they put us to work. We had to rework our first tune so that choreography could start planning our dance moves.

The week, over all, was pretty stressful…especially when we started learning the opening number. No one in our group had ever really “danced”. It was great to meet and start working will all of the other groups too. There is such an amazing camaraderie among all of the groups, I think because we all love music so much. It’s also because all the groups are getting worked to bone, and we can commiserate. After all of the late night rehersals, I hope the work pays off.

Enough about business…I’m a health nut so I’ll be writing about how we are staying healthy.

S.O.3 health tip #1: Airports/airplanes are breeding grounds for germs. Don’t forget to take your Vitamin C the morning of a flight.

Episode 1 Season 3

Wow! I think that the first time that set foot on the Sing Off Stage we knew that we were in a special place. What a blessing it is to be able to share your music with the world! A cappella is bringing the beats tonight. I can’t tell you how nervous we were and how fast it all seemed to go. It was kind of like everything was moving in slow motion. After hearing all of those amazing groups perform we knew that this was going to be an amazing show! I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did. For those of you who didn’t notice Richard added a scratch sound to his vocal percussion right over all of the f-bombs so that it would sound like a radio edit.

Let me say this again! RICHARD ADDED A SCRATCH SOUND TO HIS VOCAL PERCUSSION WHILE KEEPING THE BEAT TO COVER ALL OF THE F-BOMBS TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A RADIO EDIT!! DO… sorry for shouting… Do you know how amazingly f($*ing difficult that is. In case you missed it. Take a look and a listen. See you soon!

Troy Horne

So we are about to watch the first episode of the Sing-Off on NBC. This is the 3rd season of the increasingly popular show and compared to the normal process of performing music, it has been a whirlwind. Of course, we can’t reveal anything about the outcome of the episodes, but we did want to show you a bit of the first week of taping leading up to the first episode!

We had arrived in Los Angeles knowing pretty little about what path was in front of us. The whole show is produced with a ton of people, a ton of choreographed work from different people and resources, and a ton of high expectations. Beyond the obvious pressure of trying to perform well for a TV audience in a competition, we found that the environment was strongly supported by a cappella minds in the effort to create not only a great show but great music. This is thanks in great part to the a cappella star-studded dream team: Deke Sharon, Christopher Diaz, Ben Bram, Robert Dietz, Laura Sweeney, and Ed Boyer. The Vocal team is very supportive and encouraging and make this whole thing very do-able, so thank you VERY VERY VERY much to each one of you guys!

Urban Method loves you guys!! Thank you so much.