We will be learning a couple songs but mostly focusing on songs you as students already know and sing. We will take these songs and then talk about all the information in order to communicate what exactly we want our “band” to do, such as…what key? Where do we want the solos? Who will take these solos? Etc. We will also talk about having confidence as a band leader and do some confidence building singing exercises, and on top of all that we’re going to have lots of fun!
Instructor Bio
Kelli Jones moves so effortlessly between genres, traditions, and musical concepts that it’s clear she was born with an insatiable artistic curiosity. As a teenager, she emerged from a deeply musical Appalachian family to become an amazingly apt singer, guitarist, and dancer in old-time music. Moving to Southwest Louisiana, she quickly learned Cajun French and began writing preternaturally gifted original songs in dual languages with progressive Cajun bands like GRAMMY-nominated Feufollet, T’Monde, and as a duo with Joel Savoy. Both of these jumping off points, what she casually refers to as “obsessions,” have fueled the music on her debut solo record, Queen of the In Between, recently released on June 18, 2021, but she also seamlessly references so much more, everything from classic country to psychedelic rock to contemporary indie roots singer-songwriters. Jones is a fearless bandleader, weaving together an opus that sounds remarkably cohesive. She’s roaming the halls of 20th century Americana synthesizing a century’s worth of music with ease. It’s not simply a meld of seemingly disparate influences; every one of her projects dazzle in their ability to speak to the universality of human emotion.