By Marilyn Lester****With a promise of a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere––the Master of the piano and of a vast repertoire of song, “the Crown Prince of New York Cabaret,” Steve Ross, recently has been sharing decades worth of wisdom in a Master Class entitled The Song in You and You in the Song – an intimate song study and performance workshop. Although Ross has been teaching for years, this venture over the last few weeks is the first time he’s been working in a group setting to guide singers, professional and amateur, to a deeper understanding of the material they choose to perform. With a little guidance on the types of music Ross knows best, namely the Great American Songbook and Broadway/Off-Broadway, plus classics from the 1960s and 1970s, participants choose two songs to work on, and then enjoy individual attention as well as collective support from enthusiastic and encouraging classmates.
The intimate and informal setting of the class, Ross’s cozy living room with its charming decor and memorabilia, plus, the limited size of the group (under a dozen souls) works well within the intent to awaken the singers’ inner actor. For ultimately, this is what this workshop is about. Like Ross, what many great singers know is that a song lyric is a play in miniature, with a plot and dramatic arc. It’s one thing to sing the words. It’s another to be able to interpret them, feel them and deliver them to listening ears with authenticity. This Master Class is as much about the actor’s craft as it i
s about the vocalist’s technique. And so the Master engages his students in tried-and-true thespian exercises, such as role playing, speed reading lines (or conversely, slow-reading them) and silent singing (mouthing the words of a song). In role playing, the student becomes the lyricist explaining what she/he’s just written to the tunesmith partner, played by Ross. Imagine Fred Ebb explaining his lyrics to John Kander, or Marcy Heisler to Zina Goldrich, or Ira to brother George Gershwin. In some instances Ross asks the singer to read the lyric as a poem or speak it as a monologue or say the words as if writing a letter. The revelations that come forth are often quite amazing and profound.
For good measure there’s a little method acting thrown in––the linking of moments from the student’s own emotional life to the lyric. “We’re looking for honesty here,” Ross notes. “This is what makes the song you.” Lyrics, like any effective piece of writing, have a hook to bring the listener into the song. “The first line is a statement,” he notes. (There’s an exception to the rule Ross advises, some songs being internal monologues.) Generally, though, he says, the task is to reach out to bring the audience in. He encourages having a personal back story in the process. “If you don’t have one, make it up,” he states emphatically. “Apply mood in your song. Remember your feelings,” he coaches.
If Ross had not become a singer-pianist he would certainly have made a crackerjack stage director. His innate intelligence and vast, encyclopedic knowledge of the repertoire not only informs his approach, but gives him a boost in deconstructing and analyzing the lyric to get at the heart of the story. The Master also has the facility to find the story beneath the story and sometimes at the side of it, searching deeply for levels and possible hidden doors. The singer’s friend is contrast,” he says by way of example. The search for key words and connectors, such as “and,” “if,” “though” and especially “but” are gold in finding dramatic tension in a work. He addresses the abstract, noting pauses are important––which are not only brief moments of thought, but also moments of silent singing. With these techniques there’s plenty of interaction between Ross and singer. It’s a dynamic process in which the Master can be frequently heard saying, “I’m learning too.” The sum total of these exercises inevitably raises consciousness about the song as a journey, and the singing of it storytelling. Having been gently drilled, the ability to phrase and modulate come almost naturally to the singer. To put a point on it, he says, “Volume isn’t necessarily connected to intensity.” In a day and age in which many young singers are enthralled with power singing, and where indiscriminate belting at Mach ten is rewarded with applause, Ross’ statement is worth the price of admission alone.
At the end of the session, with the group happily singing “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” in unison, an amazing amount of ground has been covered. Ross had noted that the late and legendary cabaret singer, Julie Wilson, never wasted a word. The same can be said of Steve Ross, who filled three hours of instructional wisdom with nary a wasted moment, and with a great deal of embracing, delightful and joyful learning.
The Song in You and You in the Song – an intimate song study and performance workshop. continues for several more weeks:
Saturday Jan. 20 (1-4 pm)
Thursday, Jan. 25 (7-10 pm)
Tuesday, Jan. 30 (7 -10 pm)
Saturday, Jan. 27 (1-4 pm)
Saturday, Feb. 3 (1-4 pm)
Saturday, Feb. l0 (1-4 pm)
Sign-up is through Ross’able assistant Dena Kaufman. Contact her at denakaufman7@gmail.com or 917.848.4797 (call/text). Classes are $75 in cash, payable on arrival.
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