October 8, 2021 - Issue #17 - Past Issues

Welcome to the Uncaged Bird newsletter. This issue is a roundup of some of my favorite recent recordings and some music-related news I found interesting. Uncaged Bird also offers in-depth articles on singing, which you can find here.

Can anyone introduce me to Sting?

I count it as a sign of tasteful restraint that I have managed to avoid writing about my favorite rock artist so far. Well, this breaks the seal. Just days after his 70th birthday, Sting has released a video for his latest single, “If it’s love.” He’s written songs about doctor’s advice at least twice before, but this tune features whistling, so there’s that. The highlight for me is dancing by the company of “Message in a Bottle.”  

“I’ve been waiting for someone to take me away”

Singer-songwriter Adriana Gandarias has recently recorded some of her original material for the first time. “Waiting” is a charming pop-rock tune with clean and clear vocals that are very forward in the mix, which is a plus, because this is a singer who uses a very balanced approach. Listening to her, I get the impression that she’s “singing on her interest, not her capital,” as many of my own teachers have said.

Sing it yourself!

Don’t have three other singers for your quartet? You can always just record all the parts and mix them together beautifully, like Kendall Kent has done.

Folk songs from around the world

A relatively new YouTube channel features a different folk song with each new episode.

“Innate talents are, we think, a fiction, not a fact.”

This statement, from a landmark paper published in 1998, set off a firestorm of discussion in the behavioral and brain science community on the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. The next long-form piece on Uncaged Bird will summarize the latest science for all you aspiring singers out there who think that talent is the only thing that matters.

Have a lovely weekend!

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