Arts & Entertainment, Music

Singing It Live

Christina Aguilera

Lesson time 15:55 min

Christina teaches you her approach to turning a studio performance into an engaging live performance. Watch her let loose on 'Fighter' and learn her tricks for pumping up an audience.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Studio vs Live • Case Study: Fighter • Adapting a performance

Preview

You tried to hide your lies, disguise yourself through living in denial. But in the end you'll see you won't stop me. I am a fighter. I ain't going to stop. I ain't going to stop. There's such a difference in executing a song from focusing and honing in on all the little details when you're recording it, and you're getting it prepped and ready to be heard and repeated 1,000 times, either on the radio or on your album, where it's going to set and live for life in that area, when you set the tone for what you're trying to record. So that is a different feeling than when you're going to take that same song and represent it in a live format. The fine tuning and details are a lot more intricate, and need a lot more time and attention when you're recording than when you're actually singing live and performing it on stage. I actually don't prefer being in a studio and recording at all. I feel claustrophobic. I feel confined. I feel condensed, which is just the opposite of my original inspiration of freedom, and feeling like Julie Andrews in the hills, and open, and airy, and the acoustics, and the sound is just reverberating off the walls and bouncing back at me and it feels good. And I think that's where I prefer and I best live. As a singer, as a performer, it's just a freedom that's fun. But for consistency in the studio, for example, you have to know your spots and where you want to directly make your choices. OK, do I growl on this line or do I want to put the feeling of the growl in the next line? So maybe according to the lyrics, it's listening to yourself sing it back in the recording studio, different things like that to allow you to choose your moments to be more impactful. But yeah, it's all a playground. It is about experimentation I always say to singers that I coach on the show, this is the moment during rehearsal and in the studio to sort of throw things against the wall, see what sticks, digest it, listen to it and figure out how you're feeling about it, and what moves you, what resonates. Sometimes, unexpected things happen and you keep that vocal. And you're like, oh, I didn't mean to do that, but that had a really great feel on it. And maybe the note wasn't perfect, but it had a really great twist on it. In a live performance situation, you want to take into the size of audience you're performing for. Is it an intimate setting in maybe a nightclub or something like this setup? Maybe I have a cello player, and a pianist and a soft drum thing, and we're just doing this mellow jazzy thing, or even stripped down versions of my songs. There's a different way to make you feel comfortable in the environment so it all works together. It's again, it's an instinct thing and a collaboration with your band or just a conversation with yourself. And OK, how do I assess this situation? I'm taking in if it's an intimate setting, a little bi...

About the Instructor

Christina Aguilera teaches you how to expand your range, find your voice, and master the techniques that have earned her five Grammy Awards. In her first-ever online singing class, you’ll learn warm-up exercises, breath control, vibrato, her signature growls, and hear Christina break down her biggest hits. You’ve never had vocal lessons like this before.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Christina Aguilera

Christina teaches you her unique vocal techniques in over 3.5 hours of voice lessons and exercises.

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