Musicianship for the Jazz Vocalist: Vocal Book & MP3 CD

Marano avoids the trap of treating voice and keyboard as separate domains. A jazz singer who can't voice a chord or play what they hear remains musically incomplete, and this book refuses to let that happen. The progression from remedial through advanced work respects where singers actually start while pushing them toward genuine musicianship.

Systematic and purposeful rather than scattered. Each exercise builds on what came before, and the combination of voice, ear, and keyboard work creates a satisfying sense of things clicking into place. You move from isolated technical drills into recognizable applications within jazz vocabulary.

Beginning jazz singers who need foundational musicianship and are willing to learn basic keyboard skills; advanced singers with vocal technique but gaps in ear training or harmonic understanding; any vocalist who wants to stop being dependent on recordings and start understanding the music they sing.

• Work through the weekly assignments sequentially even if you're returning to the material after time away; the scaffolding is deliberate, and skipping rungs undermines the coordination Marano is building.
• Use the MP3 CD to hear each exercise before attempting it yourself, then sing along without looking at the page to train your ear's independence.
• When studying intervals and pitch exercises, sing first with the recorded reference, then without it; this is where real ear development happens.
• Apply the chord and blues studies to standards you're already singing; these aren't abstract exercises but tools for understanding the music you perform.

Assign this as a summer study or semester-long parallel project for jazz singers in your ensemble who lack piano literacy or ear training; the remedial entry point means stronger singers won't feel held back, and the advancing difficulty keeps advanced singers engaged. It pairs well with solo jazz repertoire study, giving singers the tools to actually understand and execute what's on the page.

• Interval identification and singing accuracy
• Rhythmic precision and subdivision reading
• Basic keyboard navigation and chord voicing
• Blues form and harmony recognition
• Ear training without written reference
• Coordination between vocal and instrumental thinking