Singing | Karen Collins | Beginning | Period 1 | Week 1 (July 7-12, 2024)
If you enjoy singing and would like to learn to sing harmony, this class is for you. The emphasis in this class will be to help you learn how to hear a harmony part. No music theory background is needed, just the ability to carry a tune. You’ll be learning by ear as I explain, demonstrate and have you practice basic two-
part harmony singing in groups. We’ll work on finding and singing harmonies above and below the melody of familiar country songs.
About the Instructor
Karen Collins grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia in a coal mining community. She spent a lot of time listening to country music on the radio and singing in the local Baptist Church. The echoes of those early country sounds stand out in her singing and her song writing. Her songs are written and delivered in a traditional country style on topics ranging from love and heartbreak to modern issues such as being stuck in traffic.
Karen is lead singer with the honky tonk country band, The Backroads Band, and the Cajun/Zydeco band, Squeeze Bayou. She also sings with an acoustic country quartet The Blue Moon Cowgirls and plays solo shows. In the summer she teaches vocal classes at Augusta Classic Country Music week. Karen & the Backroads Band have recently released a new CD, “Daddy Can I Use the Car”
In a 2012 CD review, New Classic Music described Karen : “With a voice that would have fit perfectly in the 50’s and 60’s era of country music, Karen Collins has a lot in common with artists like Loretta Lynn and especially Rose Maddox. You can tell this lady loved Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and probably both Loretta and Rose. Her voice is a quirky mix of country charm and offbeat humor. ”