Sky KID`s SKYNET

Eres mi héroe is a nice Spanish coming of age film in which the story is told trough the view point of the 13 year old Ramón. His dad changes frequently jobs and Ramón often have to face the situation of being the new kid in the school. Ramón has trouble fitting in which is probably why he tells us : ” I felt like a soldier pushed into a dead end ambush.”

One day he makes a life changing choice :

... to become invisible.
Then he defines his own three vital rules of survival and swears to himself to obey by them or die. His rules does not make his life easier , but come handy at times. As he comes of age and gains understanding of the life and his own self following these rules becomes a harsh if not an impossible task.

Rule number 1
Not to fight.
Everyone’s stronger than you.A punch hurts, but not as much as a kicking.
Rule number 2
Not to snitch.Snitching will not be forgiven.Snitching can have deadly consequences.
And rule number 3
Not to cry.They want you to cry,that’s why they hit you.

Not to fight, not to snitch,and not to cry.

Eres mi héroe feels like an autobiographical film and if you enjoy coming of age movies you are guaranteed to adore this one. The young Manuel Lozano does a respectable job in the role of Ramón and his acting is so good that many of you may re-experience their first kiss or wonder as a teenagers . The soundtrack is exceptionally good and if you are found of Spanish music ( like I am ) you would truly appreciate it.

IMDB page (link)

During the recent trip across Europe I spent a day in Andorra. Most of you may have never heard of this small West European country situated high in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain. The landscape there is breath taking and the ski tracks seemed huge and well developed. Actually that was one of the things I know about Andorra before going there myself - there are no taxes there, the most amazing ski tracks are located there and there are no patent laws or anything remotely similar to them. Few months ago when I went skiing in one East European country I met a boy from Ireland who highly recommended Andorra to me - saying that he had a blast skiing there with his family .

Road sign on the road to Andorra ( click here for more photos)

Andorra is not a big country - information about it is available in Wikipedia and according to it its current population is only about 71,822 people. If you plan to head to Andorra for your next winter vacation - check out the travel guide of WikiTravel and be aware that you have to be an experienced driver to get to the country

Did you know about Andorra before reading this post ? Have you been there yourself ?

What they probably forgot to tell you or weren’t sure how to tell you.

This is very important. Your voice plate has thickened because your body is now producing massive amounts of testosterone. You’re becoming a young man. Because testosterone thickens the voice plate, it also changes the shape and the audio dynamics of it. Just like taking a guitar and adding another 2 inches to the neck length would change all the dynamics of the guitar, so does changing the thickness of the vocal plate. You would have to learn to play the modified guitar all over again.

Your voice plate is no different. The reason a boy squeaks when he speaks or tries to sing is his minds say to the body, “On my cue, tighten these muscles to shape the throat and position the larynx thus, lungs - push this amount of air out, mouth make this shape and tongue just get the hell out of the way.” The problem is that the mind is playing the old guitar. It needs to reprogram the body for each note.

If you go too fast it can’t keep up. (At least until the mind reprograms.) Once the new program is in place you can scream, rap or do just about anything. For now though until your mind is solid on its new commands, you need to sing very slow songs. And sing them softly. You can add volume later. That will make the programming more precise. Learn sloppy and you will sing sloppy. Take the time to learn properly and it will pay off.

My sensei once told me, *“It is better to practice one time correctly, than a thousand times wrong.”( * Sensei Katsutaka Tanaka, Alaska , a long time ago.) * http://www.tanakasmartialartsacademy.com/

Learning is learning. Karate or Singing or anything else worthwhile in life. Learn correctly. Don’t try to sing in the voice you had before. That time is over and now you need to focus on the new you; your new sound. Keep in mind that as beautiful as your treble voice was, so too will be your new voice. Whether it is alto, tenor baritone or bass, it is yours. It is still uniquely yours and you need to devote time to making it yours and making it right. Start where it is comfortable. If they all squeak then you’re probably still trying to sing too high.

Just like a child learning to speak. As he focuses the words will get better. You however have a more difficult time because your mind has already been trained one way, so you have to unlearn.

Think about each note and slowly deliver it and you will find a whole voice lacking nothing. And before long, you will have retrained your mind and body. All that you have learned will come into play, so none of it was wasted. It will all add to who your are today. You may be the youngest of men, but today you are man training a man’s voice. Just like when you were a treble, it will take time to get that richness and depth in your new voice. Be patient, I know it’s tough, but you were a treble. That was tough and you made it then too. You can do this also.

Sing a lot, it gives you something else to do in the shower and the moisture is good for the throat. But remember that rushing it is what confuses the voice plate. The mind and the body must synchronize for harmony to be restored once again. If it remains confused because you rushed it, you may never relearn properly.

So for a while, work on retraining. Do the scales and start at a comfortable level. When you get one you squeak on, take a breath relax the throat and focus on the note. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come right away or if your mind can’t identify or co-ordinate all the muscles perfectly right now. Move on to the next note. As your mind learns adjacent notes which are easier to oscillate, it will learn to step in the same fashion as your previous voice. Remember that it is still growing too so sing slowly and your mind will compensate. Soon it will find the missing note simply by taking the shape of the previous note and stepping the same way it has learned previously, going not to note.

If you had a beautiful voice before, you will probably have one again; different but beautiful nonetheless. Work at it and you will be pleased with what you end up with.

I hope this make sense. I’ve tried to lay it out in a way that is easier to understand. It’s all so ambiguous when the say your voice broke and they are always willing to tell you what happened but few are able to explain the “whys” and more importantly the “what do I do nows?” And it’s frustrating because you not only had control but if was special and put you in the limelight. Remember that your hormones make you crazy during this time and your mind and body are also learning new things. Moving is even different because your muscle mass is different. Overnight you stretch out.

The bottom line for you is to do what you can do and be patient. Some guys need to give it some time for the body to quit changing things overnight, before they start to retrain. So go play some sports, exercise helps the body normalize and helps the muscles stretch and fit your new frame. Now is when you will build your new muscle mass. If you want to have that six pack, now is the time to start building it. Remember, you’ll want to look good up on that stage when you get up there to sing next.

It would also be a great time to take up a form of martial arts. It may help you to have, “A sound mind, in a sound body.”

Cheers

Please note that The motto of Sensei Tanaka’s Dojo is, “A sound Mind, in a Sound Body.” And although I have taken the wisdom of his teachings with me and have shared them with you here, this should in no way be construed as to infer, directly or indirectly, any type of endorsement or affirmation By Sensi Tanaka or Tanaka’s Martial Arts Academy. But I will always remain grateful for his wisdom.

Noa Johannesson of Jonkoping Sweden born 29 May 1992

Noa is every father’s dream of a child made to order and his father speaks proudly of him.

I can honestly say that it gives me great pleasure, when something comes up that gives me cause to contact this wonderfully musical family. I know it is going to be a pleasant experience no matter what it is.

Noa is an incredibly gifted young man, although he thinks himself just like every other kid. And he is. He is just like every other kid who plays multiple instruments and sings with a voice of subtle beauty, full of richness and depth not to mention his great stage presence. His interaction with the camera is natural and the lens likes him a lot. Much of the credit for that goes to his Dad’s incredible editing skills.

He began playing guitar when he was ten and he says he has been singing all his life. The number of videos that Noa has counts to only three, but the three he has done speak for themselves in their quality and their following.

In his Roxanne video he plays Lead Guitar, bass Guitar, Drums and has lain down audio tracks. That is a lot of studio time but Noa enjoys it and so does his Dad. Tommy is his videographer, audio technician, band and friend, when he isn’t playing the Dad role or working his regular daily job. They both count it as quality time spent with the other.

Noa Johannesson - Roxanne

The process of creating a quality video product is extensive, especially when one person is doing all the parts. So Noa is no stranger to hard work and when I asked him how he keeps motivated he responded that he thinks about the finished product and how it will sound when he is done with it. That keeps him going.

His video, “Time After Time” showcases this young artist’s subtle inflection beauty and style, as well as his wonderful treble range. He exhibits gentle control as he navigates through the notes, in this most beautiful well known piece. His attention and absolute pure tone is unique to this fine young man.

Noa Johannesson - Time After Time

When he’s not singing, he does all the things a normal kid does; TV, hanging out with friends, riding his mini-bike, video games and YouTube.

I asked him if his friends had an opinion about his music. He said they like it and he’s never heard any bad comments and his friends watch his videos on YouTube. I asked him what it was like having people recognized because of his videos. He said it has only happened a few time and although it is a little weird having someone know you when you don’t know them, he says it’s a still a pretty cool feeling.

Noa has just tested and has been accepted as music major for his next three years. For the admission testing, Noa has written some music and hopes to be able to share it with us in the near future. We certainly look forward to it, as we have for every new installment. Having been penned with his own hand we are even more intrigued to see the genre and flavor of his new piece. Until it is ready for broadcast, his fans wait with great anticipation.

When it will be ready he won’t say, but one thing remains certain. Noa and his music will be around for a while to come. And so will his fans.

While Noa is ready for his voice to change as he is anxious to start music towards a little rougher rock genre, we will miss this treble when he finally does break. And at 16 he is on borrowed time. I for one am grateful that he has been blessed with it a little longer. The world would have missed out on a very special and unique voice, if he had broken earlier. I send this message to you Noa.

“Do not be in a hurry, it will come in time. Meanwhile, make hay while the sun shines. SING!

For more information please see Noa’s BCSD profile where you will find links to his other sites.

http://www.boysoloist.com/artist.asp?vid=3395

At the end of this week I am going to travel with my dad and a friend of ours across Europe. We are going to be driving through at least 6 countries amongst which France, Italy , Hungary , Austria and Spain. This trip will happen in the course of one week and during that time I will be off line. Two day ago following the advice of an American friend of mine I got a Power inverter which would allow me to use my notebook while on the road. I intend to use if for charging my batteries for the digital camera and the video camera - which means that if everything goes as expected I will have a bunch of photos to share. In any case - even without internet I will keep a log of the journey on my computer and its likely that this log in going to appear in my blog as soon as I am able to get a decent Internet connection. We don`t own a GPS receiver - but I have installed a copy of Microsoft Autoroute Euro 2007 and hopefully it will turn to be useful  - my dad is very skeptical about it trough.

I am very excited about this trip ….hopefully it will go as smooth as I want it to be. Wish me bon voyage !

Hello and thank you for visiting my post here on Skykid’s Blog.

I have been informed that as a guest writer here, I have been remiss in making an introduction. Be it far from me to be the least bit mysterious so let me straighten things out now, for those that are indeed interested.

I live in the Grand state of Virginia in the US. My current occupation is doing corporate theater all over the world. I love my job even after nearly 20 years doing it. I am a well rounded technician who can do most any part of the show from Audio to Graphics to Video. I started my career in theater and at first worked both sides of the curtain. Although I loved acting and was fairly good at it, the pay was steadier backstage. From there I moved into a Hotel and stayed there learning the audio visual industry for the next nine years.

After eight years in the hotel I had an opportunity to learn something completely new. I was offered a job learning to be a Private Detective. I worked my apprenticeship and learned from an old gumshoe who taught me the ways of the street detective, as opposed to the modern day PI who parks their posteriors behind a computer and then complains that they can’t find anything.

After nearly twenty years of doing both AV and PI work I closed my agency and moved back to snow country.

The one constant in my life the entire time was my love for treble music. I was a treble singer for a very short time when I was a child and unfortunately had to give it up because my mother raised the four of us by her self. She worked a menial job at minimum wage without a raise for eighteen years. My singing, for all the joy it gave me, took too much time and too much money to continue.

For the short time I enjoyed it, I remember it as one of the most enjoyable times of my childhood. Once a treble, always a fan.

So I have been very fortunate to have been in on Youtube since it’s early stages and have followed the careers of many trebles. I mentor new trebles on Stage behavior, lens technique and maintaining a fanbase. Many of the trebles I have had the pleasure of associating with have gone on to reach wonderful goals. I am certainly not taking credit for any part of their successes, I will say that it has been wonderful to see them grow and exceed their dreams. If I can delude myself into thinking that I did something, wrote something or said has helped them to be or exhibit their talents better, then so be it. And as I accept no fees for anything I do then I will claim my delusions as payment in happiness.

One of the things that I do with a small group of others is to document, preserve and sometimes restore treble recordings. We archive videos, audio tracks and even artwork so that it will be available for decades to come in the original quality in which it was recorded. The talent has been most co-operative in making this happen and a by product of this relationship is that I get to meet a lot of trebles and their families.

Most of my mentoring is done through the parents or in conjunction with a vocal coach. Parents are pivotal in a treble’s success in any setting outside a cathedral. In the cathedral setting the choirmasters are the parents. And yes, although they know a great deal about voice, they know little about the technical end of it and even less about internet marketing. And make no mistake, Choir sites are popping up all over the internet as this treble explosion takes off and they find another source for funds in an ever and always struggling music department.

So this advantage of having access to trebles and their families has worked well to fulfill another passion of mine. Writing. I have been asked to write articles about trebles so that we can see a little bit more into the lives of the new or contemporary trebles. They aren’t always in a cassock anymore. They come in all genre’s of music and every walk of life. They are also popping up so fast that they can be a star and no one even saw them walk up to a microphone until stardom propelled them into our homes. Then we wonder where the little tyke with the great lungs came from.

My job is to try and stay on top of it and give you an insight into their lives.
Many of my trebles come from referrals from people just like you. If you come across one who is new and has a nice sound to his voice I invite you to email me with a link to them. Even if they don’t sing but they have that crisp sweetness to their voice and might be a treble if nudged that way. Send me a link. I have a couple of video bloggers that are thinking about the possibility of taking up voice because of leads given to me and a letter or email to the parents.

A great resource for information on trebles is The BCSD (Boys Choir Soloist DIrector) I halp out there by adding my kids to their database. (And yes, they all become my kids when we start an association.) I operate on the golden rule. Encourage, praise or shut up. If you are a parent and want to know more about your youngster becoming a treble just drop me a note.

Thanks to skykid for this guest spot. I am truly humbled to have been invited here.
Cheers,

Send your treble leads to: bagofrats1414@yahoo.com