Rock Your English! newsletter

OOH LA LA!!

You rock so hard, my dearest! I know I’m probably the zillionth person to tell you that today, but still…I’m very happy to stand in line with all your other admirers! Today’s going to be a great day – I feel it in my bones. Part of that awesome feeling comes from connecting with people like you from all over the world. So many people read this newsletter and respond in different ways – I really appreciate all your input! Remember, darling, I make this newsletter just for you (ok, just for you and for a zillion other awesome people, but I adore YOU the most) so any tips and tricks on how to make this newsletter better, stronger, faster are always welcome!

STU-STU-STUDIO

Last week was a fantastic one – among other things, I spent 2 days coaching 2 different artists in 2 different studios. A big part of my job is helping someone grow as an artist, and a lot of that magic happens in (pre-) studio coaching. Several of you have asked me what ‘(pre-) studio coaching’ actually is. (Which is a pretty good question, as it relates to ‘Personal English Coaching’, which I also made up 13 years ago.) We start by going through the lyrics weeks beforehand – does every word have enough impact? Is this really what your soul is telling you or can we do better? For example, recently with an artist he had ‘falling to the flowers’ in one of his lyrics. Together we talked about the impact of ‘falling’ – is this the visual imagery that this artist wanted to create? In the end, it turned out it wasn’t. We changed it (after a lot of discussion) to ‘tumbling’, as the artist wanted to have a verb that had more action to it and less of a ‘passive’ feel. That’s part of lyrics coaching, and something I really love doing – sparring with my clients to get the most out of them and their wonderful words. Tiptoeing through the landscape of their souls is both an honor and a privilege, and a responsibility that I take very, very seriously. Once the lyrics have been finalized, we then move on to the pronunciation part. I focus on lots of different things here – flow, tone, intonation, US vs UK style and the consistency thereof, connections between words, etc. The client then has a very good idea of what their homework is to rock it in the studio! After the pre-studio coaching is finished, then the magic happens in studio coaching usually a few weeks (or sometimes days) later. I’m with the artist to make sure that the he or she is warmed up, that their English is sounding natural and confident, and off we go! We make sure that everything that is sung sounds the way it should, and I never leave the studio until my client, the producer, and I all agree that it’s perfect. I have such pride in seeing my artists grow in this incredible process, and I’m with them every step of the way. Lucky me! And to think that when I started this idea so many years ago everyone called me crazy. (Now they still call be crazy but that’s because they know I really am!)

I HAVE BEEN WORKING MY ASS OFF TRYING TO SAVE YOURS

so I made you this video. Today we cover the difference between ‘for’ and ‘since’. Many people have trouble with this, but hopefully after this video you won’t anymore!

THE BITCH IS BACK

Thomas wrote me and asked me to include a blog about lyrics in my next newsletter. Funnily enough, I was in the Soundwise Studio this week and one of the producers was talking about lyrics and mentioned that he read a very sharp blog about why James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” had truly awful lyrics. That was my blog! I’d like to share it with you hier. I get bitchy, but hey, it’s justified. And my good friend Lucky Fonz III wrote a fantastic response to my blog, his reaction is hier.

HATE TO LOVE YOU AND LEAVE YOU…

but all good things come to an end. Like songs. And sunrises….only to come back again before you know it! Thank you for letting me slip into your inbox today, I’m really looking forward to coming back next week! Sending you an enormous book filled with the names of everyone who loves you, with enough space for new names to come….in my head.

Wit lof from buffi x

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