We're Singin' the Blues for You!: Choral Octavo SoundTrax CD

Robinson proves again that jazz pedagogy works best when the piece itself teaches the style. Rather than layering jazz vocabulary onto a generic chart, he builds vocal jazz technique directly into the melodic and harmonic language, so singers absorb phrasing, swing, and intonation through singing the actual music. The recorded accompaniment provides a flexible reference for rehearsals and gives your students an immediate sense of how the piece breathes.

The blues foundation gives the piece warmth and accessibility while the jazz vocabulary keeps it sophisticated and engaging. Singers will feel the groove settle in once rhythmic precision locks together, creating that satisfying moment when a choir discovers what it sounds like to swing.

Choral directors seeking meaningful repertoire to teach jazz singing in a supported, clinician-tested context. High school and college choirs with some choral experience and an appetite for styles beyond classical literature will find immediate success with Robinson's direct approach to vocal jazz pedagogy.

• Listen through the recorded accompaniment several times before rehearsal to internalize the swing feel and rhythmic nuance; then have singers follow along with the score to locate their entrances and phrase shapes.
• Shape each phrase around the natural contours of the blues form rather than treating every bar identically; this teaches singers to hear and respond to harmonic movement.
• Encourage singers to listen to vocal jazz recordings by artists like Jon Hendricks or Lambert, Hendricks & Ross to develop an ear for authentic inflection and articulation outside rehearsal time.
• Balance rehearsal between isolating jazz-specific techniques (swing eighths, bent notes, scoops) and full performance runs so singers feel competent in both the details and the overall shape.

Program this as a concert centerpiece that shifts energy and mood, especially in a mixed repertoire showcase. It also works as a teaching tool in curricular units focused on American music and jazz history, giving students a hands-on understanding of style that lecture cannot provide.

• Swing eighths and jazz articulation
• Blues harmony and its harmonic movement patterns
• Phrasing within a jazz context (rubato, space, silence)
• Intonation adjustments for jazz idiom (bent notes, blue notes, scoops)
• Listening and responsive singing with a recorded accompaniment