April 23, 2025 • 58 mins
I sat down with Rafi—a USC theater student and current VoxTape student—who shares her journey as a transgender artist using voice work to reconnect with herself.
We talk about gender expression, performance, identity, and how singing isn’t just about technique—it’s about becoming who you really are. If you’ve ever felt like your voice didn’t match how you see yourself, or you’re on a journey to feel more aligned inside and out—this episode is for you.
📍Mentioned: Follow Rafi on social media @rafiperez
Edinburgh Fringe Festival July 30th-Aug 9th
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
if I think about grounding
then it's not all up here
and it's not like I'm trying to like
reach for something yeah
it's not about in your face
you're not trying to reach for something
yeah exactly like that
so it's more like you're
you're going down with your body
like you're grounding yourself going down to reach
to lift off right
to lift off yes
baby lift off yeah
(00:31):
hey VoxStar and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(00:52):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready let's get started
coming to you from LA today
we've got a very
very very special guest with us here today
she is taking lessons with us
currently at Vox Tape Studios
(01:13):
and has an amazing journey that I will asked her
are you okay with sharing your journey with everybody
else and she was like yeah
let's do it so welcome Rafi hi
hi hi
hello it's nice to meet y'all haha
thank you so much for being
here and taking the time of your busy schedule
to come and chat with me here in LA
it's my pleasure yeah
(01:33):
you you live here in LA
you're not originally from LA
I am not I am not I um
I'm from Atlanta
I originally moved here because of college yes
um I go to USC
so yes is that the fight on school
yeah fight on
I toured USC when I was looking at colleges yes
yes
it's a great school and they were like the fight on and
(01:53):
and they walked backwards when they gave us a tour yes
yes I'm like the ambassadors like train to do that yeah
like I'm like why are you doing that
you're gonna start walking into shit
like we can we can talk still
but you can
you know that way the direction you're going
I actually
I actually applied to be a student ambassador
and they rejected me no
can you believe it USC
(02:15):
USC right right
they're missing out they're missing out exactly
exactly
moving on to bigger and better fame
yes yes
don't let that put you down
very that very that well uh
so you're taking lessons with us at Box Tape Studios
but you have a really cool journey
and you're in school for music right
(02:37):
or like no
for theater actually theater
so for me that's the same for me
it's like theater is like musical theater
yeah and but it's obviously not musical
theater is just a part of theater
so you're you're in school for theater
so for acting uh
but musical theater is a part of that or not at all
(02:57):
technically not a part of my curriculum
however I'm allowed to audition for like
the musicals that the whole school puts on
so I've been in a few musicals okay
and that's where I like
I started out like acting was through musicals okay
um and then eventually I just caught the bug in general
yeah for just theater
(03:19):
um I love doing plays
most of the plays I do are like plays with music
um but I also dabble in a musical
I'll dabble in a yeah
in a normal play too okay
yeah very cool
very cool
you got introduced to Box Tape Studios through your mom
yes my mother
okay so this is actually a kind of a funny story
(03:39):
yeah um
my mom uh
wanted to learn how to sing very badly
yeah because she had seen me like
singing throughout my entire life
and she was sorry mom
a little tone deaf haha
um and she
her dream eventually became like
doing a duet with me one day
(04:00):
oh yeah
so um
she's been taking a whole bunch of different classes
yes and ended up at
at Vox Shape eventually yeah
she was doing a lot of different things too
she shared her journey with me
shout out court
haha and love you mom
haha and eventually ended up at Box Ape
and we've been working with her for a
a while now which is awesome
and she's grown so much so much
(04:21):
yeah and I can tell yeah
in her voice and then she was like
so Lara I have a beautiful daughter and
and you know um
she wants to take some voice lessons
would you be able to help
you're trans I am
I am trans
and we luckily have a trans specialist at our student
(04:42):
Kate we love love
love Kate and so
you know when Courtney
your mom shared your story with me
I was like I've got the perfect solution for this yeah
yeah let us help
so uh
you know being trans and singing
holy moly like there's a lot that's happening
you know yeah
because your voice like a male voice and a female voice
(05:07):
if we just look at it with simple terms very
very different right
like lower in pitch higher in pitch
different timbres lots of differences there
vocal training wise it doesn't matter whether
you know you're a male singer or a female singer
we do similar things with you um
to help you train your voice
but when you are trans
(05:29):
there's a big change that happens too
can you just let us all know about your journey
a little bit how you navigated that vocally yeah
um so obviously
once you start taking like estrogen and stuff
your voice doesn't really change yeah
um to be higher
and so you have to find different little techniques
in order to make
(05:51):
first of all your chest voice sound more feminine
but also
working out that mixed voice and head voice spaces
in order to make those
as strong as your chest voice was now um
when I was a kid I was in the Atlanta Boy Choir
and I was a soprano at the time okay
(06:12):
um literally
literally and I had like one of the highest voices
and then the voice change happened
and I essentially had to relearn how to sing entirely
yeah um
and that was super difficult
and then I got used to that
and then kind of lost my head voice
and then once I started transitioning
I have to yeah sort of re
(06:34):
introduce all of those things to myself and navigate
how can I make this sound similar to this
or blend these two registers of my voice
so were you going off of a lot of imitation
like
imitating other people's voices and sounds that you
that you heard yeah
(06:55):
partly partly imitation
um partly like just working with vocal coaches
um a lot of them didn't really know how to
do that transition from um
you know a male voice to a trans voice um
and so finding Kate was actually very
(07:16):
useful and wonderful for me
because she was she's the first um
vocal coach that I've had that has specialized with
trans voices um
and she gave me a lot of amazing techniques
um that I've felt like I kind of Learned in like
my natural life of like
lifting my earrings a little bit yeah
to sound a little bit more feminine
(07:38):
and like spaces where I may not feel
safe enough to use my real voice
you know what I mean
um so that definitely became very useful to me
not just in singing but in that
in the real world as well
okay interesting
so it's not just for singing
it's also for your speaking voice
yeah where you feel the changes
yeah so with Kate
(07:59):
um was it mostly like
oh that's what I'm doing
like I'm already doing it
but now I'm understanding what I'm doing
or was it also completely new concepts too
um it was
it was mostly the first version
mostly the first version okay
yeah yeah
um I felt like I
I understand I understood what I was doing
but yeah I wasn't as concrete of an idea to me
(08:22):
and I feel like Kate really solidified that okay
in my mind
so was there like a big difference between
cause you've worked with other vocal coaches too
um you know
2K like what would you say is like the biggest
biggest difference when you're working
with someone who specializes in your unique situation
versus when you're working
with someone who's a little bit more of a general
(08:43):
voice coach um
I feel like a lot of the difference
lies in the awareness that um
oh you need to be using this register
in this part is more what
what Kate would would work with
with me
and like working out those registers specifically when
like with other vocal coaches they I'll
(09:05):
I'll like just cheat and like
just flip into head voice instead of using my mix
or like yeah
stuff like that and they're like
yeah that sounds great
you know what I mean um
because I
I knew how to like manipulate it so that it was
I could slide away easier
you know yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
sometimes when you're singing
(09:27):
you want to take the path of least resistance
yes yes
and sometimes you need to really work on
the paths of most resistance
well that's how you get better right
exactly that's how you get better exactly
so basically what you're saying is
Kate's not letting you off the hook
no no no
haha I love that
there are times when I want her to yeah yeah
(09:48):
oh my gosh I mean
taking the easy way out is always easier right
and yeah yeah
humans inherently like we're lazy and we're
we like to be comfortable
and so obviously that's what you're gonna do naturally
right but if we wanna grow and we wanna
you know make improvements and whatever
then hmm we gotta fight it a little
figure that yeah
bring it on haha
(10:10):
yeah so how are you navigating uh
being trans in like when you're
when you're doing a musical
for example where you're
where you're singing
does that affect casting at all or not really
yes it does
um it's been kind of
more difficult to find roles for myself
um after transitioning
(10:31):
um but really at the end of the day
what they're looking for is personality
is ability is like just being yourself
yeah and so
um like
I wanna say a year ago I was cast as Angel in rent okay
(10:52):
which was definitely a role that was difficult
in terms of range but I
first of all one of my dream roles too yeah
so it was very much just showing
how I fit in to these sorts of roles
um it doesn't necessarily even have to be a trans role
this like a few weeks ago
I auditioned for a different musical um
(11:15):
and they uh
had gotten the rights to Gender Swap
one of the characters wow
um which was really cool
um and I was grateful for that opportunity
even though I didn't get it
but like yeah
even still
I was grateful that they even considered or like
reached out to the
the company to get the rights to gender swap it um
(11:38):
so really it's
it's all about just like going out there doing
it may not work out but um
if you ask you may receive and not shall
but may yeah you may possibly haha
potentially yeah
okay and so if you like
you do get the role like you
you got Angel like did
did did the
(11:59):
did you adjust any keys of any songs at all or no
you just rocked it I just rocked it
yeah you did haha
it it took a lot like we had like four months of
of rehearsal so it took a lot of rehearsal
yeah um
and there were some parts where like
it was a little too high and so I just flipped oops
(12:22):
sorry but it
but you gotta make it work for you yeah
yeah and I made sure it sounded pretty
it sounded nice for the audience and yeah
it still made sense with my character and yeah
and all that stuff but even in contemporary like
you know not musicals
but also it's like pop music or country
or whatever genre you like to listen to
artists make choices like that all the time
(12:45):
because it sounds better
if they switch into a lighter head voice
instead of like
trying to belt that note or
or whatever and we ask
the audience don't recognize that
they maybe made that decision
because it's easier for them to sing it that way yeah
uh and they made it an artistic choice right
they are like okay
well how can I make that vocal choice that I'm making
(13:10):
you know support the
the story exactly right
and that's where
the theater aspect of it really comes back into right
uh into the performance as well
and yeah
you just you just make it a choice
and you pretend like that's just how it goes
yeah and like
my version of Angel
which was different from most people's version of Angel
(13:32):
is that mine was trans like
at the time the terms
between trans and drag queen were not as distinct
and so I wanted to blur that line
and um
also my my
I wanted my character to really represent compassion
hmm and so
(13:52):
switching into the head voice was kind of
also a decision
and making her sound sweeter and softer
oh you know
I love that yeah
see this is where your acting training comes in
exactly my actor brain yes
how did you get into acting in the first place
um in the 6th grade at my um
(14:14):
middle school slash high school
they started offering theater for us
and I had been like a choir kid for years and years
and they were doing um
Mulan junior and I was like
hell yeah
like I love you a lot
like I'll
I'll sing those songs
I auditioned and I got the role of a hun um
in the ensemble and it was really funny because the
(14:36):
the director would always be like Rafi
you need to stop smiling like no
no
haha you're supposed to be menacing
like yeah
give us like
I don't know a grimace or something
yeah and I'm like
well I'm just happy to be here yeah
haha
sorry I love that
that's so sweet they called me Rafi the smiling hon
(14:57):
haha how adorable
but actually I feel like that came to my advantage
cause the next time I played a villain in my life
I was in um
once on this island at USC
Yep and I was playing papa gate
uh huh and um
this sort of demon character
yeah I could use the smile as like a creepy like yeah
(15:18):
ah sort of thing haha
yeah okay
so very cool so all of my villains are smiley
but they can still be scary
yes a creepy
it's like dolls you know
dolls like exactly
they can be so creepy 100%
but they're technically not supposed to
like that's not the intention behind it
just like with a smile
(15:38):
the smile is not intended to be creepy
but well it can be yeah
so there you go acting choices literally
and they they tell us an acting like one
one of the things like
if you hold something for longer than seven seconds
it's unsettling no matter really what you're doing
so if you're holding a smile like this
(15:58):
for a really long time yeah
it is unsettling it's really uncomfortable
yes oh my God
but I never thought about that
well there you go
you learn something new every day
I went to acting school oh
so not acting school
I went to musical theater school in an ah yes
music theater program in an acting school
so the school was called the New York Film Academy
(16:19):
so it's like a film school that right
lots of acting
but also like film making and all that stuff too
and they have a musical theater program
and I went there and up until that point
this was out of high school
hmm up until that point
I never had any sort of acting training
and for me was always like sing
sing sing
sing sing right
and I didn't really know anything about musicals either
I was just like yeah
(16:39):
why not sing act and dance at the same time
sounds great let's do that yeah
and that was the first time I had any sort of
acting classes
and that helped me so much in my singing
because up until that point
I was really bad storyteller because I didn't care
I didn't care about the stories I was telling
(17:00):
I only cared about do I sound good right right
so
that really helped me reframe what music is all about
and
you know how storytelling is
how you're gonna connect to your audience
and how you leave a lasting impression
not just like wow
they're a really good singer cool
moving on to the next person right right
because like
there's so many really good singers out there right
(17:22):
but if you can touch them and you know
make them feel something that's totally different than
you leave a lasting impression
and so for you it sounds like it's kind of the
the opposite you started with the acting
yeah and then got into the singing
or you you
you were a choir kid too
so maybe it was a little bit more simultaneous
yeah
but a choir kid also means you didn't really have to
like sing on your own yeah
(17:43):
a lot and so
you could just kind of blend in with the other voices
you don't have to sounds particularly pretty
yeah yeah
you know what I mean yeah
um but acting
getting into acting and
and musical theater and all of that
I feel like really influenced my singing because I
maybe it's just me naturally
but I always would just feel the emotions of the song
(18:06):
first and then apply my
like technique from all of this choir experience
yeah and vocal coaching and all of that stuff
um and so it
it sort of became a thing of like I
I very much naturally knew how to phrase things or um
(18:27):
sometimes like I would have like a crack or something
but it went so well with the character that I was just
like in the moment yeah
it worked for me you know yeah
yeah yeah
yeah well
and a lot of performance too
no matter what you perform
like whether it's a musical or just theater
like without the singing right
or contemporary music pop music whatever
(18:48):
like if something unexpected happens on stage
go with it like either make something out of it
make a moment out of it
or just pretend like it didn't happen
because your audience is not gonna know
exactly what happened right
like even if you forget a lyric like whatever
make something up I did a musical when I was at
(19:08):
so I did musical theater school first
and then I did Berklee in Boston
Music School for Contemporary Music
but they had a musical theater show
and I auditioned for it and I got the lead
it was bear the musical like bear like naked
not a bear oh interesting yeah
I've never heard of that one it's really good
it's very contemporary and again
it's not very well known
but I think you would really like it I played Ivy okay
(19:31):
and Teen Pregnancy you know anyways
I was a pregnant you know how it is
you know how it is and um
so anyways I was
there were a couple shows
that we put on over the weekend
like five shows I think
and I completely forgot the songs
the the
(19:51):
the lyrics to the second verse of one of the songs
and I just made it up
I just was exactly writing lyrics on the spot 100%
you know and it happens twice
the first time it happened
the musical theater didn't even the the
the musical director didn't even notice
he was oh
that was actually really good
(20:11):
like I didn't know
like that was really good
then it happened again the next day
and then the last of the other shows I was fine
but happened again the next day
and he was like yeah
this time it wasn't that good
was it I was like nope
nobody knew I had like
there were people in the audience
like parents they came to every single show
none of them knew I told them like
did you notice that I literally made up those
(20:32):
like they're like
oh no
we thought it was the same every time
nope nope
I made them up yeah
I mean the old proverb stands true
the show must go on the show must go on
whatever you do cause at the end of the day
the audience
doesn't know what you're supposed to be doing exactly
so just do whatever yeah
I'll hope that it works yeah
clearly it worked for you
(20:53):
yeah and there are other times where it didn't work
yeah like you crack on stage
like I was in middle school whatever
I cracked on stage and I was mortified
cause the kids and the audience were laughing
and I was just so mortified
and I let that show on my face
and guess what that was not that great of an experience
but yeah it happens
you know and you
you keep going
and you learn from it and you try better the next time
(21:13):
right exactly exactly
that's all you can do or quit
but that doesn't seem like a good option either
I don't like that option right
right
um Mama didn't raise no quitter
no
you heard that Mama no
Courtney is so great I need to like um
have a little podcast session in Atlanta so I can
(21:34):
oh yeah
that would be great she's so great
uh
we love a supportive mom yes
we love a supportive mom she's great
she's wonderful haha
anyways I'd love to um
you know
do a little singing with you if you're cool with that
perfect let's do it
let's do it I've been
I've been practicing my days from the
The Notebook yes
(21:54):
you have we didn't do a warm up
no we didn't oh
do you wanna do a warm up
let's do a quick warm up okay
let's do a quick warm up okay
just real quick yeah alright
um 2 3
(22:31):
you got me snapping right
I went off yeah
yeah yeah that's right
yeah your head voice is really nice and solid out there
yeah
(23:02):
yeah yeah yeah
it's all right over that that bridge right
yeah that we're trying to navigate
like are we are we chesting it
are we more in the head voice
are we somewhere in a mix right
so when when you warm up
what do you usually like to to pay attention to
this is a horrible habit haha
every vocal teacher has told me
(23:23):
this is a horrible habit
but I like to warm up using songs okay
um because I stay the most engaged that way
yeah um
but I I'll also use like
sometimes like some tracks online
or like your tracks on the Vox tape um
studio page um
(23:44):
and just work out specific things like agility or like
I don't know belting or mix or whatever yeah
if I wanna get really specific about like
oh this is not really like sounding
this part of my voice is not sounding
up to par at the moment yeah
you know yeah yeah yeah
no that makes sense
and you know
there's a reason why I created pop song exercises
(24:06):
where I just take a regular song
and I create an exercise out of it
because it is easier to stay engaged right
like
when you're doing a song compared to when you're doing
everybody
exactly everybody like
you know do that 500 times
it gets boring yeah right exactly
so yeah you know I
I feel you
and I think a lot of singers are in your shoes
(24:29):
where it's like I'll sing a song
yeah exactly
like exactly
but but then again
it's like okay
well cool
we know that about ourselves
what can we do to make that work
cause there might be songs that are really good
for a warm up yeah
do you have a couple songs
that you stick to or yeah um
I have a few songs that are like in a lower range
(24:49):
and I'll start out with those
and then I'll do like a beltier song
and then I'll do maybe a head voice song or okay
I'll just switch it up sometimes
I'll do the head voice song first
and then the beltier song yeah yeah okay
yeah okay
very cool so you have like a system that works for you
yeah exactly
and like
who am I to tell you what's good and what's not good
(25:10):
it's just what works for you
and what doesn't work for you right
right and what serves you in the long term too right
cause you're still young
you're just a little spring chicken
and so you know what works for you now
it's great but we do need to make sure that it
it's gonna serve you over the long term
that it's sustainable over many
(25:30):
many many years because when you're young
your voice bounces back easy right
and like you don't feel that much but the older you get
the harder it gets yeah
so you know we need to oh
so excited yeah
haha
can't wait you're gonna be just fine
you're gonna be just fine
but yeah you know
it's just okay well
what works for you works for you now
and also what's gonna work for you in the long term
(25:53):
that's all that matters
whether that's good or bad in quotes
it's what am I to say exactly
it's not for me to judge haha
I love it Wanna do the song
let's do it let's do it
um the key
is that okay do I need to just yeah
the key's fine yeah
yeah I have transpose on here
I can adjust it on the fly
like I could technically do it a half step up
(26:15):
but then like that's a lot of work okay
we'll do the original key
maybe the second run through we can do okay
maybe the second run through we'll see
alright here we go
wait I'm
(27:16):
I lived this one wild life
I ripped it apart
I pushed through the corners with a no
(27:56):
stunning thank you
I had to like get into it at the beginning
yeah but that was so good
how did it feel I feel good
I feel good I feel like I could do better
but like and I always feel like that it's
you know it's the artist complex
I know for me I was just sitting there like yeah yeah
no perfect no no
this is great this is great
this is great there's always
(28:17):
you know little details here and there
but at the end of the day
I'm gonna say like who gives a shit right
exactly like exactly
it's live performance
there's no such thing as perfection in live performance
100% and that was really freaking good
so yeah you know
I love it so
have you been working on the song with Kate
and your lessons um
we've been working on this one
(28:37):
um recently
we switched to a different one that works out my head
voice a lot more okay
which is really cool
I don't know if I'm ready to premiere that one though
haha that's okay
that's okay we don't have to dig into that yeah
uh so when you were working with Kate on this song
my days yes
what were some of the things that you guys worked on
that you workshop um
a lot of like brightening the
(29:00):
the sound lifting the earrings
yeah sort of stuff and making sure I'm like opening up
cause I also have a very tense jaw sometimes
yeah yeah
and so I'll struggle with that sometimes
um but I
yeah it was
it was mostly like getting into the nitty gritty
seeing what worked for me
(29:21):
what didn't what sort of visualizations worked for me
what didn't okay
visualizations for the timber of The voice
yeah for like timber and stuff
yeah I'm
I work a lot more in like visuals
like put it forward put it back or like yeah
yeah it's stuff like that
you know what I mean okay
okay do you have like a
a
(29:41):
weird image in mind that helps you lift the lyrics
and get everything a little brighter
yeah a smile in the back
in the back of my mouth hi
how are you haha okay
okay I like it
I'm trying out for myself right now and I'm like
hold on why can't I not drop down and pitch
because my lyrics is so high okay
(30:02):
very cool yeah
wow I absolutely
you so can do this 1/2 step up
I can I can
can you try it we can try it
we can try it why not
why not why not
yes baby
(31:07):
this one wildlife
I ripped it apart I pushed through the corners with a
no Apollo
(31:40):
hey guys
yes haha
run
yes okay
how did that feel that felt good
that felt good yeah
very cool uh
then the top note was a little
a little crunchy for me but haha
a little crunchy I like that term
(32:01):
a little crunchy no
but that was really that was really good
um it is
it's a half step higher right
and yeah that's
it makes it harder to sing
it takes a little bit more effort
100% but I love just watching you breathe too
like you really prepare for these notes like yeah mom
five
days yeah
you expand your your rib cage
(32:23):
yeah well
it's like that's part of the visualization too for me
because I don't think like on a dime
I could just think breathe into your diaphragm
you know what I mean I just think ground yourself
hmm be in the floor haha yeah
yeah and that's especially hard doing like when
you're sitting yeah
you know yeah
but you have to find that
(32:43):
I don't know if you noticed
I like kind of arched my back a little bit right before
yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah but it supports you
yeah exactly
when you're when you're hitting those notes then
you know talking about support in quotes
uh support
we can look at it in different ways
but what I see a lot of well
actually let me ask you
(33:04):
what do you like
what is support to you hmm
that's a good question
I feel like I'm still figuring that out in some cases
um but it's
it's about giving the note enough space
enough air and enough
(33:25):
I guess force behind it
uh huh
in order to be like audible obviously yeah
yeah yeah
yeah but also like stable and able to adjust sort of um
the the volume or vibrato or
(33:47):
or stuff like that you know what I mean
yeah yeah
cause when it's not supported
my vibrato just doesn't come through at all or um
if it's not supported sometimes I cannot like
go any quieter or if it's over supported
that was what I mean yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah
you you brought up the
(34:08):
the word force hmm
cause you mentioned like enough space
enough breath and force yeah
like like
what's the force like what
I like um
contraction I guess contraction in the
in the stomach area yeah yeah
yeah not as in like
I'm forcing this note yeah
out of my throat but yeah
(34:28):
and that's where I see a lot of singers struggling
cause when they think about support
they're either thinking about
I need to sing from my diaphragm
first of all impossible
sorry it's not how that works yeah
um also
let's pretend it does work well
what the heck does it even mean
to sing from your diaphragm
you can't feel that right
right so
and then so that's 1/2
(34:49):
the other half is well
I need to squeeze my ABS to get it out right
and so use the word force
and I was like okay
hold on yes yes
but what we don't want is to be like
I'm doing like a plank and I'm like yeah
right cause
you know
just like leaning back where I'm using my ABS to
to hold myself up right
(35:09):
now if I sing like this
it's gonna it's gonna feel pretty tight yeah
because there's so much force behind it
and the more force there is behind it
the more vocal fold closure you're gonna get
which means the less breath comes through yeah
so it's about balance right
like how much
quote unquote
force do I need from my ABS for my support right
(35:34):
um so that I'm still supported
but I am not now shutting off the breath right
so it's balancing that yes
with the breath and so
you know it depends
on the singer some singers don't have enough force
others have um
not enough breath yeah
you just need to like figure out okay
hold on which end of the spectrum am I exactly exactly
(35:56):
and it can be hard to judge that as just a singer
on your own like yes
on stage or like well yeah
also how are you gonna know right
like singing is so much about awareness
yeah it's about vibes
it's about vibes it's straight up about vibes
it is about vibes absolutely
but you know
if you're like ah man
that note just doesn't come out the way I want it to
(36:19):
how are you gonna change it if you have no idea why
right you know
like we we need to be aware of what happened so that
that the notes came out the way it did
and what we can do to
create an alternative version of that right
not that one version is better than the other
they're just different then I
(36:39):
at the end of the day
I want you to be able to express yourself
however you want to right
right but yeah
that's comes down to awareness
you need to know what happened
and what you need to do to change it
and then practice that thing
and then you get to the exact
and I think the awareness part also changes
person to person cause I
I know for me like I know the action of
like ha ha ha you know
(37:01):
like in the in the stomach and yeah
and whatever
but I prefer visualizing it as like being grounded
because then I'm not thinking about force or tension
yeah you know what I mean
yeah
cause I don't wanna have any of that really in my body
I love that yeah
yeah for while I'm acting
(37:22):
for me it's
it's like I don't think about force or grounding
or anything like that I think about flow
because my tendency as a singer is squeeze hmm
I squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and then yeah
it's so hard to get those freaking notes out
so for me
and my definition of support for myself is flow
(37:43):
hmm hmm hmm
just focus on the breath flow
yeah and that helps me
but again we're all different yeah
my my main problem is like tension
especially here is like uh
like in your jaw yeah
jaw and like throat sometimes the throat down there
okay well
you know
if you're feeling it here in the front of your throat
that's usually the tongue right
cause your tongue goes all the way down
(38:04):
and it's connected to your larynx
through the hyoid bone not that that matters
but it's connected to your larynx right
so if your tongue gets really tight
your larynx just kind of locks into place
which is why
when we're feeling tension here in our throat
the front of our throat then that's usually
tongue tension if we feel just stiff here
(38:26):
that would be more the neck muscles engaging
and up here of course
that's your jaw yeah right
but again different people feel it differently
so you know
when when somebody asks me like well
where am I supposed to feel it or how
what am I supposed to feel
how am I supposed to feel it
I'm like I'm not gonna tell you
because you and I are gonna feel it differently
yeah right
(38:46):
like
we're just gonna go off of sound and I can help you
you know make make tweaks there
but I don't wanna tell you what to feel yeah
because we feel it differently yeah
yeah I agree
so with when you're singing this song
do you
do you feel that tightness here in and around your jaw
throat area um
not much um
(39:06):
sometimes in that last note
I'll feel it like a little bit um
but I try to keep in mind the
the grounding sort of thing for me because yeah
I I keep coming back to that
but no it's good
it's because like if I think about grounding
then it's not all up here
and it's not like I'm trying to like reach yeah
it's not all about in your face
(39:26):
you're not trying to reach for something yeah
exactly like that so it's more like you're
you're going down with your body
like you're grounding yourself going down to reach to
lift off right
to lift off yes
baby lift off yeah
oh I love it yes
I mean it's like when you're
(39:46):
you know high jump
uh huh
they like go down to their knees to jump right up
exactly so they're
they're launching themselves that way exactly
that's kind of what you're doing too
I love it
launch pad that's my little launch pad
you're creating your own launch pad
um and so as far as openness goes right
cause you mentioned you know
(40:06):
opening and like your jaw
like you're feeling tension here
in general not yes
not necessarily the song but in general
it's so hard to find the balance between
how much should I open my jaw
and what's like
too much cause it can yes
be too much yes
cause if we over open what happens for you
if you open a lot and you go overboard a little it I
(40:28):
I feel the support kind of get a little bit more wavery
it's not as like a concentrated sound
it's not concentrated it's just like it spreads
yeah it spreads a lot exactly yeah
I had this one um
girl in chorus um many
many years ago who would sing every single note like
(40:49):
and I was like girl
please like yeah yeah
yeah it was
it was just a little ridiculous
really a lot of mouth movement and really open yeah
yeah and again
these sometimes for certain notes
we need it right
we need that space but other times if we open too much
we depending on the person
(41:10):
depending on the singer
there's the tendency that singers push too hard
or that they spread too much right
and then the the
the sound just sounds very spready and not like
laser focused right
right and then that uses so much more energy
because now you're filling the room
rather than just singing it to like
(41:31):
one point on the wall yeah
exactly and that takes a whole lot less energy
if you sing to just one person than to the entire room
100% now don't worry
your voice is gonna carry and it's gonna fill the room
yeah either way
but you know like don't work so hard
yeah can we try that last I know
(42:02):
through the corners with a no
(42:33):
yeah okay
how do I feel I felt good
that felt better than the last time yeah
yeah it sounded just a little more control
yeah yeah
yeah it's just so cool to watch your body when you
when you prepare for that high note yeah
it's really like with you
it's extreme compared to other to other singers that I
that I've seen out there like you physically prepare
(42:54):
yeah I love it yeah
I really love it I
cause I mean
like our body is our interest instrument in my mind
so it's like it is it literally is
it's not just in your mind
it's not something you tell yourself it literally is
yeah yeah
um and in acting too
so I'm I try to be very aware of my body yeah
what I'm doing yeah
(43:14):
do do you
do anything to help you connect more to your body
or
is that something that comes a little bit more natural
to you um yeah
well there are a lot of exercises
like acting exercises that we do a lot that okay
um are for neutralizing the body
um releasing any tension all over the body
and
(43:36):
becoming sort of
a vessel for the character to run through you
and um
that also entails a lot of times um
some exercises that we do with articulators
um okay
um this one class
we literally did jaw exercises for ourselves
(43:56):
tongue exercises like the nasal exercise
like genuinely everything
um I love that there's an overlap
you know
in your vocal training and your theater training there
yes there's a lot of overlap
um and it's kind of funny to see
because the way that musicians describe it
versus the way that actors describe it are very
(44:18):
very different yeah
but I know it's the same thing yes
yes that is so cool
well thank you for saying
you obviously have a beautiful voice
and I remember the first lesson that we had together
too you blew me out of the water
like I didn't know what to expect
and I was like oh
oh okay
thank you wow
(44:39):
that's really impressive that's great
I yeah
I didn't know that that's wonderful
no really happy
yeah and just
you know seeing you still grow it's
it's beautiful I love it
you're you're making a lot of progress
do you feel like you're making progress
you feel yeah
definitely yeah
where would you say have you felt
you felt the the biggest change
um in my head voice okay
um and the development of my mix voice yeah
(45:02):
I feel like I've always had like
a concept of mixed voice but like never knew how to
a concept right
(45:23):
yes yes
oh my gosh I think a lot of people can relate to that
very cool thank you so much for singing
share your beautiful voice
thank you
what's next for you cause you're in school now
I am I am final
I am in my last semester in college
wow really
you're about to graduate yeah
(45:44):
I'm graduating in may yeah
super excited um
and so new stuff for me I
these past two weekends I was doing uh
two different shoots um and they should
okay I know
at least the first one is premiering in Atlanta in may
(46:07):
I wanna say okay
um at the Plaza Theater okay
um so very excited for that um
this other one was a concept trailer
um for a web series that I'm gonna be doing um
we're gonna be shooting in October here in LA
um so I'm very
excited for that one too wow
and then I'm currently in a show um
(46:29):
a stage show called
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind um
it's a uh
improve slash sketch comedy sort of show
um it's 30 plays in 60 minutes
so I'm one of the MC's I go out on stage and I ask
along with my other MC and I ask the other audience
like give us a number and they'll say 25 or whatever
(46:51):
and we do play No. 25 okay
until we hopefully get through all 30 plays
in 60 minutes wow
and six minutes 60 okay
I was gonna say how are you gonna get through 30 plays
no no
no no
even in 60 minutes I even in 60 yeah
that's crazy yeah
um
we'll see we'll see what
how we do and then um
(47:12):
we are taking
the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
during the summer so if you wanna catch us in Scotland
you can that is so cool
yeah okay
so you already have
you've two things lined up for post graduation
you've got the Scotland yeah
and then you've got your shoot for the
other show that they're doing
(47:34):
yes in October
so and
and technically the first shoot
it was a short film um
but they're using it as proof of concept
to submit it to like yes
festivals and and whatever um
so hopefully that gets picked up and I have another job
haha yes
oh my gosh yeah
so your plan is staying in LA post graduate yeah
(47:56):
I plan on staying in LA I'm
I'm gonna be based in both LA and Atlanta
since I have free housing at my parents house yes
um
so um
I'll I'll probably be like flying back and forth
but I
I plan on at least settling in LA for a little bit um
especially during the summer
cause I'm gonna be doing yeah
(48:17):
other traveling and stuff yeah
yeah yeah
yeah and sometimes your girl needs a break
haha I don't blame you
I don't blame you so you're
you're gonna do like film stuff too
so like even though you studied Theatre
you know you're using your training for film too
yes technically um
our theatre track um
is called theatre with an emphasis in acting in stage
(48:42):
screen and new media
wow so they teach
they teach us acting not only for
for stage but for screen and okay
and like social media and stuff like that
yeah so your
your career goal is being an actor
I being an entertainer in general entertainer yeah
yeah I
I don't wanna like be like
(49:04):
I wanna just do this because I know I
I'm gonna wanna do everything yeah
um but yeah
I I would say yeah
for post grad I'm probably gonna focus on acting more
yeah yeah
but um
I don't know
my mom's been really pushing me to do some open
mics and things so maybe
maybe we'll do that too yeah
(49:27):
well you know
it's it's interesting
cause we've worked with actors like here
based in here in LA um
they were wanting to do voice lessons
because they're like I keep getting
you know not getting roles
but you know
like auditions for roles that require singing yeah
even if it's just like a phrase here and there
and I just do not feel comfortable doing that
help me yeah
(49:48):
yeah so you're definitely not gonna have that issue
no I'm very glad I won
yeah like that's not gonna be a limitation for you
if you come across a role and like
an audition for a role you're like yep
I got it alright
I'll say but the dancing side no
no okay
haha
well you can always take some dance classes
there's plenty of opportunities for that
that's true that's true
that's true that's so true
(50:09):
yeah maybe one day
we'll see
you are such a spring chicken
so young you've got time for that
I have time yes
yes
so dance was not a part of your curriculum
no okay
no there is a musical theater track at USC
but um
at the time like when I applied
they only had like two classes
(50:31):
like that have gone through the full program almost
it's new yeah
so it's really new um
and I just didn't want to risk it
and I had also gotten a scholarship
with the BA program yeah
theater acting program so I was like
thank you um
I was like I'll take all
(50:52):
hell yeah I'll take that haha
I'll take that instead absolutely
absolutely yeah
that is so cool hey
do we wanna play a little lyric game real quick please
yes let's do it
okay so we've got different games here on our show
and I love a game the lyric lab
meaning hell yeah you pick a song
you read the lyrics and I have to guess what song it is
(51:13):
and then we'll switch okay
alright let's try it
should I do a dramatic reading of the lyrics
oh my God yes
yes please okay
Friday night and the lights are low
looking out for a place to go
(51:34):
where they play the right music
getting in the swing
you come to look for a king
oh
anybody could be that guy
I mean night is young and the music's high
with a little bit of rock music
everything is fine
you're in the mood for a dance
(51:57):
and when you get the chance
you're the dancing queen you are the dancing queen
do you know that song yes
of course oh Ava
let's go they're my fave
I love Ava it's so hard to have a dramatic reading of
(52:20):
freaking Dancing Queen like what the hell
could not be any less dramatic than that
oh my gosh that was good
I love it thank you okay
well I cannot do dramatic readings like you
it's okay it's okay
but I'm probably gonna be horrible at this
I shall try my best
I remember when I remember you already know the song
(52:42):
yes
I remember when I remember
I remember when I lost my mind
there's something so nice about that place
the words I don't know but see you don't know the words
I just know that I remember
what isn't it
so funny how you can hear one phrase and you're like
that I know it
it's crazy how fast it can go sometimes for real
(53:05):
alright let's try one more okay
it might seem crazy what I'm about to say Sunshine
she's here you can take a break
I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space
(53:28):
with the air like I don't care baby by the way
because I'm happy
I knew you knew it
but it's so funny like hearing you read these lyrics
you know
it's just a it might seem crazy what I'm about to say
(53:48):
I know that phrase yeah
and I immediately recognize it from that second phrase
couldn't tell you what it is haha
exactly so I heard it and I was like
huh ah
I I had to like look at the lyrics I was like
I know this song so well but like yeah
but what is it yeah
but it's so funny how that first phrase so you know
I don't know if you write if you write songs
(54:10):
but if you do now
we're learning that first phrase
is what's gonna stick out to people
so right better be a good one yeah
for real oh my gosh well got one oh
I'll choose a little guy oh
it just a little guy let's see let's see what we got
haha
(54:30):
okay oh God
love is a burning thing
and it makes a fiery ring bound by wild desire
I fell into a
fire ring of fire ring of fire I fell in
(54:57):
see I don't know the words to that one though yeah
yeah yeah yeah
I know the melody
but also this is like a song from way back yet
when this is oh
before your time the 1900s
haha
you are a 2000 kid aren't you I am I was born in 2002
(55:20):
okay we're gonna end it right there haha
thanks for coming but no haha wow
that always blows my mind yeah yeah
you know
like kids who were born in the 2 are not kids anymore
you're a grown ass adult yeah
I'm 22 wow you can drink it all I can drink yes
(55:40):
finally wow
haha that is crazy yeah
well I love it well hey
I have one last question for you yes
I asked this question all of our guests
this show is called from singer to artist
so the question is what to you
is the difference between a singer and an artist
(56:02):
is there a difference
um
I feel like it's one of those things that
like a square is a rectangle
but a rectangle is not necessarily a square
you know what yes
singers are artists
but not all artists are necessarily singers
okay um
well cause artists can
can encompass actors you know painters
(56:23):
sculptors
anything and all of the above um
but and an artist
um
how do I define an artist to is someone who creates art
I guess there's the simplest way to say that um
you use the word create yeah right
so there's a there's a creation happening
(56:46):
exactly there exactly
it's not necessarily like you are writing the song
or you are writing the play
but you're still creating something
by making the choices you make
and how to sing it how to act it how
you know
so now you're using the word choice
so it's the choice to do something
and you're not maybe just copying something you heard
(57:08):
but you're you're making a choice
even if you are copying something you heard
you make the choice to do it that way
yes yes
but I also think the choice is a type of creation
yeah yeah
yeah absolutely makes sense
okay absolutely
I love that I love asking people this question
because everybody has a different
(57:29):
thought process behind it right
and most people never even think about it right
haha yeah
yeah and um
I love
I love hearing that thank you so much for sharing
of course thank you for coming on
thank you for having me it's been such a pleasure
yeah you know
like we do all of our stuff online
so actually getting to meet our students in person
is always such a pleasure
and so fun it was so nice to meet you too
(57:52):
thank you for working with us and thank you Kate
Coach Kate
such a we we would have loved to have her here
next time
I know next time we gotta next time fire out here too
it'll be it'll be me you um
my mom Cade yes
all the crew of us
we'll all go to Atlanta and we'll do it there period
(58:12):
perfect let's make it happen
thank you so much Rafi
thank you so much for having me
absolutely the best of luck to you
thank you
with your career and life and all of the above
I can't wait to see where you're gonna go
thank you so much
and we're always here to support you anyway we can
ah thanks thanks
no problem yeah
(58:34):
alright thanks everyone for tuning in
and we'll catch you next time bye bye
if I think about grounding
then it's not all up here
and it's not like I'm trying to like
reach for something yeah
it's not about in your face
you're not trying to reach for something
yeah exactly like that
so it's more like you're
you're going down with your body
like you're grounding yourself going down to reach
to lift off right
to lift off yes
baby lift off yeah
(00:31):
hey VoxStar and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(00:52):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready let's get started
coming to you from LA today
we've got a very
very very special guest with us here today
she is taking lessons with us
currently at Vox Tape Studios
(01:13):
and has an amazing journey that I will asked her
are you okay with sharing your journey with everybody
else and she was like yeah
let's do it so welcome Rafi hi
hi hi
hello it's nice to meet y'all haha
thank you so much for being
here and taking the time of your busy schedule
to come and chat with me here in LA
it's my pleasure yeah
(01:33):
you you live here in LA
you're not originally from LA
I am not I am not I um
I'm from Atlanta
I originally moved here because of college yes
um I go to USC
so yes is that the fight on school
yeah fight on
I toured USC when I was looking at colleges yes
yes
it's a great school and they were like the fight on and
(01:53):
and they walked backwards when they gave us a tour yes
yes I'm like the ambassadors like train to do that yeah
like I'm like why are you doing that
you're gonna start walking into shit
like we can we can talk still
but you can
you know that way the direction you're going
I actually
I actually applied to be a student ambassador
and they rejected me no
can you believe it USC
(02:15):
USC right right
they're missing out they're missing out exactly
exactly
moving on to bigger and better fame
yes yes
don't let that put you down
very that very that well uh
so you're taking lessons with us at Box Tape Studios
but you have a really cool journey
and you're in school for music right
(02:37):
or like no
for theater actually theater
so for me that's the same for me
it's like theater is like musical theater
yeah and but it's obviously not musical
theater is just a part of theater
so you're you're in school for theater
so for acting uh
but musical theater is a part of that or not at all
(02:57):
technically not a part of my curriculum
however I'm allowed to audition for like
the musicals that the whole school puts on
so I've been in a few musicals okay
and that's where I like
I started out like acting was through musicals okay
um and then eventually I just caught the bug in general
yeah for just theater
(03:19):
um I love doing plays
most of the plays I do are like plays with music
um but I also dabble in a musical
I'll dabble in a yeah
in a normal play too okay
yeah very cool
very cool
you got introduced to Box Tape Studios through your mom
yes my mother
okay so this is actually a kind of a funny story
(03:39):
yeah um
my mom uh
wanted to learn how to sing very badly
yeah because she had seen me like
singing throughout my entire life
and she was sorry mom
a little tone deaf haha
um and she
her dream eventually became like
doing a duet with me one day
(04:00):
oh yeah
so um
she's been taking a whole bunch of different classes
yes and ended up at
at Vox Shape eventually yeah
she was doing a lot of different things too
she shared her journey with me
shout out court
haha and love you mom
haha and eventually ended up at Box Ape
and we've been working with her for a
a while now which is awesome
and she's grown so much so much
(04:21):
yeah and I can tell yeah
in her voice and then she was like
so Lara I have a beautiful daughter and
and you know um
she wants to take some voice lessons
would you be able to help
you're trans I am
I am trans
and we luckily have a trans specialist at our student
(04:42):
Kate we love love
love Kate and so
you know when Courtney
your mom shared your story with me
I was like I've got the perfect solution for this yeah
yeah let us help
so uh
you know being trans and singing
holy moly like there's a lot that's happening
you know yeah
because your voice like a male voice and a female voice
(05:07):
if we just look at it with simple terms very
very different right
like lower in pitch higher in pitch
different timbres lots of differences there
vocal training wise it doesn't matter whether
you know you're a male singer or a female singer
we do similar things with you um
to help you train your voice
but when you are trans
(05:29):
there's a big change that happens too
can you just let us all know about your journey
a little bit how you navigated that vocally yeah
um so obviously
once you start taking like estrogen and stuff
your voice doesn't really change yeah
um to be higher
and so you have to find different little techniques
in order to make
(05:51):
first of all your chest voice sound more feminine
but also
working out that mixed voice and head voice spaces
in order to make those
as strong as your chest voice was now um
when I was a kid I was in the Atlanta Boy Choir
and I was a soprano at the time okay
(06:12):
um literally
literally and I had like one of the highest voices
and then the voice change happened
and I essentially had to relearn how to sing entirely
yeah um
and that was super difficult
and then I got used to that
and then kind of lost my head voice
and then once I started transitioning
I have to yeah sort of re
(06:34):
introduce all of those things to myself and navigate
how can I make this sound similar to this
or blend these two registers of my voice
so were you going off of a lot of imitation
like
imitating other people's voices and sounds that you
that you heard yeah
(06:55):
partly partly imitation
um partly like just working with vocal coaches
um a lot of them didn't really know how to
do that transition from um
you know a male voice to a trans voice um
and so finding Kate was actually very
(07:16):
useful and wonderful for me
because she was she's the first um
vocal coach that I've had that has specialized with
trans voices um
and she gave me a lot of amazing techniques
um that I've felt like I kind of Learned in like
my natural life of like
lifting my earrings a little bit yeah
to sound a little bit more feminine
(07:38):
and like spaces where I may not feel
safe enough to use my real voice
you know what I mean
um so that definitely became very useful to me
not just in singing but in that
in the real world as well
okay interesting
so it's not just for singing
it's also for your speaking voice
yeah where you feel the changes
yeah so with Kate
(07:59):
um was it mostly like
oh that's what I'm doing
like I'm already doing it
but now I'm understanding what I'm doing
or was it also completely new concepts too
um it was
it was mostly the first version
mostly the first version okay
yeah yeah
um I felt like I
I understand I understood what I was doing
but yeah I wasn't as concrete of an idea to me
(08:22):
and I feel like Kate really solidified that okay
in my mind
so was there like a big difference between
cause you've worked with other vocal coaches too
um you know
2K like what would you say is like the biggest
biggest difference when you're working
with someone who specializes in your unique situation
versus when you're working
with someone who's a little bit more of a general
(08:43):
voice coach um
I feel like a lot of the difference
lies in the awareness that um
oh you need to be using this register
in this part is more what
what Kate would would work with
with me
and like working out those registers specifically when
like with other vocal coaches they I'll
(09:05):
I'll like just cheat and like
just flip into head voice instead of using my mix
or like yeah
stuff like that and they're like
yeah that sounds great
you know what I mean um
because I
I knew how to like manipulate it so that it was
I could slide away easier
you know yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
sometimes when you're singing
(09:27):
you want to take the path of least resistance
yes yes
and sometimes you need to really work on
the paths of most resistance
well that's how you get better right
exactly that's how you get better exactly
so basically what you're saying is
Kate's not letting you off the hook
no no no
haha I love that
there are times when I want her to yeah yeah
(09:48):
oh my gosh I mean
taking the easy way out is always easier right
and yeah yeah
humans inherently like we're lazy and we're
we like to be comfortable
and so obviously that's what you're gonna do naturally
right but if we wanna grow and we wanna
you know make improvements and whatever
then hmm we gotta fight it a little
figure that yeah
bring it on haha
(10:10):
yeah so how are you navigating uh
being trans in like when you're
when you're doing a musical
for example where you're
where you're singing
does that affect casting at all or not really
yes it does
um it's been kind of
more difficult to find roles for myself
um after transitioning
(10:31):
um but really at the end of the day
what they're looking for is personality
is ability is like just being yourself
yeah and so
um like
I wanna say a year ago I was cast as Angel in rent okay
(10:52):
which was definitely a role that was difficult
in terms of range but I
first of all one of my dream roles too yeah
so it was very much just showing
how I fit in to these sorts of roles
um it doesn't necessarily even have to be a trans role
this like a few weeks ago
I auditioned for a different musical um
(11:15):
and they uh
had gotten the rights to Gender Swap
one of the characters wow
um which was really cool
um and I was grateful for that opportunity
even though I didn't get it
but like yeah
even still
I was grateful that they even considered or like
reached out to the
the company to get the rights to gender swap it um
(11:38):
so really it's
it's all about just like going out there doing
it may not work out but um
if you ask you may receive and not shall
but may yeah you may possibly haha
potentially yeah
okay and so if you like
you do get the role like you
you got Angel like did
did did the
(11:59):
did you adjust any keys of any songs at all or no
you just rocked it I just rocked it
yeah you did haha
it it took a lot like we had like four months of
of rehearsal so it took a lot of rehearsal
yeah um
and there were some parts where like
it was a little too high and so I just flipped oops
(12:22):
sorry but it
but you gotta make it work for you yeah
yeah and I made sure it sounded pretty
it sounded nice for the audience and yeah
it still made sense with my character and yeah
and all that stuff but even in contemporary like
you know not musicals
but also it's like pop music or country
or whatever genre you like to listen to
artists make choices like that all the time
(12:45):
because it sounds better
if they switch into a lighter head voice
instead of like
trying to belt that note or
or whatever and we ask
the audience don't recognize that
they maybe made that decision
because it's easier for them to sing it that way yeah
uh and they made it an artistic choice right
they are like okay
well how can I make that vocal choice that I'm making
(13:10):
you know support the
the story exactly right
and that's where
the theater aspect of it really comes back into right
uh into the performance as well
and yeah
you just you just make it a choice
and you pretend like that's just how it goes
yeah and like
my version of Angel
which was different from most people's version of Angel
(13:32):
is that mine was trans like
at the time the terms
between trans and drag queen were not as distinct
and so I wanted to blur that line
and um
also my my
I wanted my character to really represent compassion
hmm and so
(13:52):
switching into the head voice was kind of
also a decision
and making her sound sweeter and softer
oh you know
I love that yeah
see this is where your acting training comes in
exactly my actor brain yes
how did you get into acting in the first place
um in the 6th grade at my um
(14:14):
middle school slash high school
they started offering theater for us
and I had been like a choir kid for years and years
and they were doing um
Mulan junior and I was like
hell yeah
like I love you a lot
like I'll
I'll sing those songs
I auditioned and I got the role of a hun um
in the ensemble and it was really funny because the
(14:36):
the director would always be like Rafi
you need to stop smiling like no
no
haha you're supposed to be menacing
like yeah
give us like
I don't know a grimace or something
yeah and I'm like
well I'm just happy to be here yeah
haha
sorry I love that
that's so sweet they called me Rafi the smiling hon
(14:57):
haha how adorable
but actually I feel like that came to my advantage
cause the next time I played a villain in my life
I was in um
once on this island at USC
Yep and I was playing papa gate
uh huh and um
this sort of demon character
yeah I could use the smile as like a creepy like yeah
(15:18):
ah sort of thing haha
yeah okay
so very cool so all of my villains are smiley
but they can still be scary
yes a creepy
it's like dolls you know
dolls like exactly
they can be so creepy 100%
but they're technically not supposed to
like that's not the intention behind it
just like with a smile
(15:38):
the smile is not intended to be creepy
but well it can be yeah
so there you go acting choices literally
and they they tell us an acting like one
one of the things like
if you hold something for longer than seven seconds
it's unsettling no matter really what you're doing
so if you're holding a smile like this
(15:58):
for a really long time yeah
it is unsettling it's really uncomfortable
yes oh my God
but I never thought about that
well there you go
you learn something new every day
I went to acting school oh
so not acting school
I went to musical theater school in an ah yes
music theater program in an acting school
so the school was called the New York Film Academy
(16:19):
so it's like a film school that right
lots of acting
but also like film making and all that stuff too
and they have a musical theater program
and I went there and up until that point
this was out of high school
hmm up until that point
I never had any sort of acting training
and for me was always like sing
sing sing
sing sing right
and I didn't really know anything about musicals either
I was just like yeah
(16:39):
why not sing act and dance at the same time
sounds great let's do that yeah
and that was the first time I had any sort of
acting classes
and that helped me so much in my singing
because up until that point
I was really bad storyteller because I didn't care
I didn't care about the stories I was telling
(17:00):
I only cared about do I sound good right right
so
that really helped me reframe what music is all about
and
you know how storytelling is
how you're gonna connect to your audience
and how you leave a lasting impression
not just like wow
they're a really good singer cool
moving on to the next person right right
because like
there's so many really good singers out there right
(17:22):
but if you can touch them and you know
make them feel something that's totally different than
you leave a lasting impression
and so for you it sounds like it's kind of the
the opposite you started with the acting
yeah and then got into the singing
or you you
you were a choir kid too
so maybe it was a little bit more simultaneous
yeah
but a choir kid also means you didn't really have to
like sing on your own yeah
(17:43):
a lot and so
you could just kind of blend in with the other voices
you don't have to sounds particularly pretty
yeah yeah
you know what I mean yeah
um but acting
getting into acting and
and musical theater and all of that
I feel like really influenced my singing because I
maybe it's just me naturally
but I always would just feel the emotions of the song
(18:06):
first and then apply my
like technique from all of this choir experience
yeah and vocal coaching and all of that stuff
um and so it
it sort of became a thing of like I
I very much naturally knew how to phrase things or um
(18:27):
sometimes like I would have like a crack or something
but it went so well with the character that I was just
like in the moment yeah
it worked for me you know yeah
yeah yeah
yeah well
and a lot of performance too
no matter what you perform
like whether it's a musical or just theater
like without the singing right
or contemporary music pop music whatever
(18:48):
like if something unexpected happens on stage
go with it like either make something out of it
make a moment out of it
or just pretend like it didn't happen
because your audience is not gonna know
exactly what happened right
like even if you forget a lyric like whatever
make something up I did a musical when I was at
(19:08):
so I did musical theater school first
and then I did Berklee in Boston
Music School for Contemporary Music
but they had a musical theater show
and I auditioned for it and I got the lead
it was bear the musical like bear like naked
not a bear oh interesting yeah
I've never heard of that one it's really good
it's very contemporary and again
it's not very well known
but I think you would really like it I played Ivy okay
(19:31):
and Teen Pregnancy you know anyways
I was a pregnant you know how it is
you know how it is and um
so anyways I was
there were a couple shows
that we put on over the weekend
like five shows I think
and I completely forgot the songs
the the
(19:51):
the lyrics to the second verse of one of the songs
and I just made it up
I just was exactly writing lyrics on the spot 100%
you know and it happens twice
the first time it happened
the musical theater didn't even the the
the musical director didn't even notice
he was oh
that was actually really good
(20:11):
like I didn't know
like that was really good
then it happened again the next day
and then the last of the other shows I was fine
but happened again the next day
and he was like yeah
this time it wasn't that good
was it I was like nope
nobody knew I had like
there were people in the audience
like parents they came to every single show
none of them knew I told them like
did you notice that I literally made up those
(20:32):
like they're like
oh no
we thought it was the same every time
nope nope
I made them up yeah
I mean the old proverb stands true
the show must go on the show must go on
whatever you do cause at the end of the day
the audience
doesn't know what you're supposed to be doing exactly
so just do whatever yeah
I'll hope that it works yeah
clearly it worked for you
(20:53):
yeah and there are other times where it didn't work
yeah like you crack on stage
like I was in middle school whatever
I cracked on stage and I was mortified
cause the kids and the audience were laughing
and I was just so mortified
and I let that show on my face
and guess what that was not that great of an experience
but yeah it happens
you know and you
you keep going
and you learn from it and you try better the next time
(21:13):
right exactly exactly
that's all you can do or quit
but that doesn't seem like a good option either
I don't like that option right
right
um Mama didn't raise no quitter
no
you heard that Mama no
Courtney is so great I need to like um
have a little podcast session in Atlanta so I can
(21:34):
oh yeah
that would be great she's so great
uh
we love a supportive mom yes
we love a supportive mom she's great
she's wonderful haha
anyways I'd love to um
you know
do a little singing with you if you're cool with that
perfect let's do it
let's do it I've been
I've been practicing my days from the
The Notebook yes
(21:54):
you have we didn't do a warm up
no we didn't oh
do you wanna do a warm up
let's do a quick warm up okay
let's do a quick warm up okay
just real quick yeah alright
um 2 3
(22:31):
you got me snapping right
I went off yeah
yeah yeah that's right
yeah your head voice is really nice and solid out there
yeah
(23:02):
yeah yeah yeah
it's all right over that that bridge right
yeah that we're trying to navigate
like are we are we chesting it
are we more in the head voice
are we somewhere in a mix right
so when when you warm up
what do you usually like to to pay attention to
this is a horrible habit haha
every vocal teacher has told me
(23:23):
this is a horrible habit
but I like to warm up using songs okay
um because I stay the most engaged that way
yeah um
but I I'll also use like
sometimes like some tracks online
or like your tracks on the Vox tape um
studio page um
(23:44):
and just work out specific things like agility or like
I don't know belting or mix or whatever yeah
if I wanna get really specific about like
oh this is not really like sounding
this part of my voice is not sounding
up to par at the moment yeah
you know yeah yeah yeah
no that makes sense
and you know
there's a reason why I created pop song exercises
(24:06):
where I just take a regular song
and I create an exercise out of it
because it is easier to stay engaged right
like
when you're doing a song compared to when you're doing
everybody
exactly everybody like
you know do that 500 times
it gets boring yeah right exactly
so yeah you know I
I feel you
and I think a lot of singers are in your shoes
(24:29):
where it's like I'll sing a song
yeah exactly
like exactly
but but then again
it's like okay
well cool
we know that about ourselves
what can we do to make that work
cause there might be songs that are really good
for a warm up yeah
do you have a couple songs
that you stick to or yeah um
I have a few songs that are like in a lower range
(24:49):
and I'll start out with those
and then I'll do like a beltier song
and then I'll do maybe a head voice song or okay
I'll just switch it up sometimes
I'll do the head voice song first
and then the beltier song yeah yeah okay
yeah okay
very cool so you have like a system that works for you
yeah exactly
and like
who am I to tell you what's good and what's not good
(25:10):
it's just what works for you
and what doesn't work for you right
right and what serves you in the long term too right
cause you're still young
you're just a little spring chicken
and so you know what works for you now
it's great but we do need to make sure that it
it's gonna serve you over the long term
that it's sustainable over many
(25:30):
many many years because when you're young
your voice bounces back easy right
and like you don't feel that much but the older you get
the harder it gets yeah
so you know we need to oh
so excited yeah
haha
can't wait you're gonna be just fine
you're gonna be just fine
but yeah you know
it's just okay well
what works for you works for you now
and also what's gonna work for you in the long term
(25:53):
that's all that matters
whether that's good or bad in quotes
it's what am I to say exactly
it's not for me to judge haha
I love it Wanna do the song
let's do it let's do it
um the key
is that okay do I need to just yeah
the key's fine yeah
yeah I have transpose on here
I can adjust it on the fly
like I could technically do it a half step up
(26:15):
but then like that's a lot of work okay
we'll do the original key
maybe the second run through we can do okay
maybe the second run through we'll see
alright here we go
wait I'm
(27:16):
I lived this one wild life
I ripped it apart
I pushed through the corners with a no
(27:56):
stunning thank you
I had to like get into it at the beginning
yeah but that was so good
how did it feel I feel good
I feel good I feel like I could do better
but like and I always feel like that it's
you know it's the artist complex
I know for me I was just sitting there like yeah yeah
no perfect no no
this is great this is great
this is great there's always
(28:17):
you know little details here and there
but at the end of the day
I'm gonna say like who gives a shit right
exactly like exactly
it's live performance
there's no such thing as perfection in live performance
100% and that was really freaking good
so yeah you know
I love it so
have you been working on the song with Kate
and your lessons um
we've been working on this one
(28:37):
um recently
we switched to a different one that works out my head
voice a lot more okay
which is really cool
I don't know if I'm ready to premiere that one though
haha that's okay
that's okay we don't have to dig into that yeah
uh so when you were working with Kate on this song
my days yes
what were some of the things that you guys worked on
that you workshop um
a lot of like brightening the
(29:00):
the sound lifting the earrings
yeah sort of stuff and making sure I'm like opening up
cause I also have a very tense jaw sometimes
yeah yeah
and so I'll struggle with that sometimes
um but I
yeah it was
it was mostly like getting into the nitty gritty
seeing what worked for me
(29:21):
what didn't what sort of visualizations worked for me
what didn't okay
visualizations for the timber of The voice
yeah for like timber and stuff
yeah I'm
I work a lot more in like visuals
like put it forward put it back or like yeah
yeah it's stuff like that
you know what I mean okay
okay do you have like a
a
(29:41):
weird image in mind that helps you lift the lyrics
and get everything a little brighter
yeah a smile in the back
in the back of my mouth hi
how are you haha okay
okay I like it
I'm trying out for myself right now and I'm like
hold on why can't I not drop down and pitch
because my lyrics is so high okay
(30:02):
very cool yeah
wow I absolutely
you so can do this 1/2 step up
I can I can
can you try it we can try it
we can try it why not
why not why not
yes baby
(31:07):
this one wildlife
I ripped it apart I pushed through the corners with a
no Apollo
(31:40):
hey guys
yes haha
run
yes okay
how did that feel that felt good
that felt good yeah
very cool uh
then the top note was a little
a little crunchy for me but haha
a little crunchy I like that term
(32:01):
a little crunchy no
but that was really that was really good
um it is
it's a half step higher right
and yeah that's
it makes it harder to sing
it takes a little bit more effort
100% but I love just watching you breathe too
like you really prepare for these notes like yeah mom
five
days yeah
you expand your your rib cage
(32:23):
yeah well
it's like that's part of the visualization too for me
because I don't think like on a dime
I could just think breathe into your diaphragm
you know what I mean I just think ground yourself
hmm be in the floor haha yeah
yeah and that's especially hard doing like when
you're sitting yeah
you know yeah
but you have to find that
(32:43):
I don't know if you noticed
I like kind of arched my back a little bit right before
yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah but it supports you
yeah exactly
when you're when you're hitting those notes then
you know talking about support in quotes
uh support
we can look at it in different ways
but what I see a lot of well
actually let me ask you
(33:04):
what do you like
what is support to you hmm
that's a good question
I feel like I'm still figuring that out in some cases
um but it's
it's about giving the note enough space
enough air and enough
(33:25):
I guess force behind it
uh huh
in order to be like audible obviously yeah
yeah yeah
yeah but also like stable and able to adjust sort of um
the the volume or vibrato or
(33:47):
or stuff like that you know what I mean
yeah yeah
cause when it's not supported
my vibrato just doesn't come through at all or um
if it's not supported sometimes I cannot like
go any quieter or if it's over supported
that was what I mean yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah
you you brought up the
(34:08):
the word force hmm
cause you mentioned like enough space
enough breath and force yeah
like like
what's the force like what
I like um
contraction I guess contraction in the
in the stomach area yeah yeah
yeah not as in like
I'm forcing this note yeah
out of my throat but yeah
(34:28):
and that's where I see a lot of singers struggling
cause when they think about support
they're either thinking about
I need to sing from my diaphragm
first of all impossible
sorry it's not how that works yeah
um also
let's pretend it does work well
what the heck does it even mean
to sing from your diaphragm
you can't feel that right
right so
and then so that's 1/2
(34:49):
the other half is well
I need to squeeze my ABS to get it out right
and so use the word force
and I was like okay
hold on yes yes
but what we don't want is to be like
I'm doing like a plank and I'm like yeah
right cause
you know
just like leaning back where I'm using my ABS to
to hold myself up right
(35:09):
now if I sing like this
it's gonna it's gonna feel pretty tight yeah
because there's so much force behind it
and the more force there is behind it
the more vocal fold closure you're gonna get
which means the less breath comes through yeah
so it's about balance right
like how much
quote unquote
force do I need from my ABS for my support right
(35:34):
um so that I'm still supported
but I am not now shutting off the breath right
so it's balancing that yes
with the breath and so
you know it depends
on the singer some singers don't have enough force
others have um
not enough breath yeah
you just need to like figure out okay
hold on which end of the spectrum am I exactly exactly
(35:56):
and it can be hard to judge that as just a singer
on your own like yes
on stage or like well yeah
also how are you gonna know right
like singing is so much about awareness
yeah it's about vibes
it's about vibes it's straight up about vibes
it is about vibes absolutely
but you know
if you're like ah man
that note just doesn't come out the way I want it to
(36:19):
how are you gonna change it if you have no idea why
right you know
like we we need to be aware of what happened so that
that the notes came out the way it did
and what we can do to
create an alternative version of that right
not that one version is better than the other
they're just different then I
(36:39):
at the end of the day
I want you to be able to express yourself
however you want to right
right but yeah
that's comes down to awareness
you need to know what happened
and what you need to do to change it
and then practice that thing
and then you get to the exact
and I think the awareness part also changes
person to person cause I
I know for me like I know the action of
like ha ha ha you know
(37:01):
like in the in the stomach and yeah
and whatever
but I prefer visualizing it as like being grounded
because then I'm not thinking about force or tension
yeah you know what I mean
yeah
cause I don't wanna have any of that really in my body
I love that yeah
yeah for while I'm acting
(37:22):
for me it's
it's like I don't think about force or grounding
or anything like that I think about flow
because my tendency as a singer is squeeze hmm
I squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and then yeah
it's so hard to get those freaking notes out
so for me
and my definition of support for myself is flow
(37:43):
hmm hmm hmm
just focus on the breath flow
yeah and that helps me
but again we're all different yeah
my my main problem is like tension
especially here is like uh
like in your jaw yeah
jaw and like throat sometimes the throat down there
okay well
you know
if you're feeling it here in the front of your throat
that's usually the tongue right
cause your tongue goes all the way down
(38:04):
and it's connected to your larynx
through the hyoid bone not that that matters
but it's connected to your larynx right
so if your tongue gets really tight
your larynx just kind of locks into place
which is why
when we're feeling tension here in our throat
the front of our throat then that's usually
tongue tension if we feel just stiff here
(38:26):
that would be more the neck muscles engaging
and up here of course
that's your jaw yeah right
but again different people feel it differently
so you know
when when somebody asks me like well
where am I supposed to feel it or how
what am I supposed to feel
how am I supposed to feel it
I'm like I'm not gonna tell you
because you and I are gonna feel it differently
yeah right
(38:46):
like
we're just gonna go off of sound and I can help you
you know make make tweaks there
but I don't wanna tell you what to feel yeah
because we feel it differently yeah
yeah I agree
so with when you're singing this song
do you
do you feel that tightness here in and around your jaw
throat area um
not much um
(39:06):
sometimes in that last note
I'll feel it like a little bit um
but I try to keep in mind the
the grounding sort of thing for me because yeah
I I keep coming back to that
but no it's good
it's because like if I think about grounding
then it's not all up here
and it's not like I'm trying to like reach yeah
it's not all about in your face
(39:26):
you're not trying to reach for something yeah
exactly like that so it's more like you're
you're going down with your body
like you're grounding yourself going down to reach to
lift off right
to lift off yes
baby lift off yeah
oh I love it yes
I mean it's like when you're
(39:46):
you know high jump
uh huh
they like go down to their knees to jump right up
exactly so they're
they're launching themselves that way exactly
that's kind of what you're doing too
I love it
launch pad that's my little launch pad
you're creating your own launch pad
um and so as far as openness goes right
cause you mentioned you know
(40:06):
opening and like your jaw
like you're feeling tension here
in general not yes
not necessarily the song but in general
it's so hard to find the balance between
how much should I open my jaw
and what's like
too much cause it can yes
be too much yes
cause if we over open what happens for you
if you open a lot and you go overboard a little it I
(40:28):
I feel the support kind of get a little bit more wavery
it's not as like a concentrated sound
it's not concentrated it's just like it spreads
yeah it spreads a lot exactly yeah
I had this one um
girl in chorus um many
many years ago who would sing every single note like
(40:49):
and I was like girl
please like yeah yeah
yeah it was
it was just a little ridiculous
really a lot of mouth movement and really open yeah
yeah and again
these sometimes for certain notes
we need it right
we need that space but other times if we open too much
we depending on the person
(41:10):
depending on the singer
there's the tendency that singers push too hard
or that they spread too much right
and then the the
the sound just sounds very spready and not like
laser focused right
right and then that uses so much more energy
because now you're filling the room
rather than just singing it to like
(41:31):
one point on the wall yeah
exactly and that takes a whole lot less energy
if you sing to just one person than to the entire room
100% now don't worry
your voice is gonna carry and it's gonna fill the room
yeah either way
but you know like don't work so hard
yeah can we try that last I know
(42:02):
through the corners with a no
(42:33):
yeah okay
how do I feel I felt good
that felt better than the last time yeah
yeah it sounded just a little more control
yeah yeah
yeah it's just so cool to watch your body when you
when you prepare for that high note yeah
it's really like with you
it's extreme compared to other to other singers that I
that I've seen out there like you physically prepare
(42:54):
yeah I love it yeah
I really love it I
cause I mean
like our body is our interest instrument in my mind
so it's like it is it literally is
it's not just in your mind
it's not something you tell yourself it literally is
yeah yeah
um and in acting too
so I'm I try to be very aware of my body yeah
what I'm doing yeah
(43:14):
do do you
do anything to help you connect more to your body
or
is that something that comes a little bit more natural
to you um yeah
well there are a lot of exercises
like acting exercises that we do a lot that okay
um are for neutralizing the body
um releasing any tension all over the body
and
(43:36):
becoming sort of
a vessel for the character to run through you
and um
that also entails a lot of times um
some exercises that we do with articulators
um okay
um this one class
we literally did jaw exercises for ourselves
(43:56):
tongue exercises like the nasal exercise
like genuinely everything
um I love that there's an overlap
you know
in your vocal training and your theater training there
yes there's a lot of overlap
um and it's kind of funny to see
because the way that musicians describe it
versus the way that actors describe it are very
(44:18):
very different yeah
but I know it's the same thing yes
yes that is so cool
well thank you for saying
you obviously have a beautiful voice
and I remember the first lesson that we had together
too you blew me out of the water
like I didn't know what to expect
and I was like oh
oh okay
thank you wow
(44:39):
that's really impressive that's great
I yeah
I didn't know that that's wonderful
no really happy
yeah and just
you know seeing you still grow it's
it's beautiful I love it
you're you're making a lot of progress
do you feel like you're making progress
you feel yeah
definitely yeah
where would you say have you felt
you felt the the biggest change
um in my head voice okay
um and the development of my mix voice yeah
(45:02):
I feel like I've always had like
a concept of mixed voice but like never knew how to
a concept right
(45:23):
yes yes
oh my gosh I think a lot of people can relate to that
very cool thank you so much for singing
share your beautiful voice
thank you
what's next for you cause you're in school now
I am I am final
I am in my last semester in college
wow really
you're about to graduate yeah
(45:44):
I'm graduating in may yeah
super excited um
and so new stuff for me I
these past two weekends I was doing uh
two different shoots um and they should
okay I know
at least the first one is premiering in Atlanta in may
(46:07):
I wanna say okay
um at the Plaza Theater okay
um so very excited for that um
this other one was a concept trailer
um for a web series that I'm gonna be doing um
we're gonna be shooting in October here in LA
um so I'm very
excited for that one too wow
and then I'm currently in a show um
(46:29):
a stage show called
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind um
it's a uh
improve slash sketch comedy sort of show
um it's 30 plays in 60 minutes
so I'm one of the MC's I go out on stage and I ask
along with my other MC and I ask the other audience
like give us a number and they'll say 25 or whatever
(46:51):
and we do play No. 25 okay
until we hopefully get through all 30 plays
in 60 minutes wow
and six minutes 60 okay
I was gonna say how are you gonna get through 30 plays
no no
no no
even in 60 minutes I even in 60 yeah
that's crazy yeah
um
we'll see we'll see what
how we do and then um
(47:12):
we are taking
the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
during the summer so if you wanna catch us in Scotland
you can that is so cool
yeah okay
so you already have
you've two things lined up for post graduation
you've got the Scotland yeah
and then you've got your shoot for the
other show that they're doing
(47:34):
yes in October
so and
and technically the first shoot
it was a short film um
but they're using it as proof of concept
to submit it to like yes
festivals and and whatever um
so hopefully that gets picked up and I have another job
haha yes
oh my gosh yeah
so your plan is staying in LA post graduate yeah
(47:56):
I plan on staying in LA I'm
I'm gonna be based in both LA and Atlanta
since I have free housing at my parents house yes
um
so um
I'll I'll probably be like flying back and forth
but I
I plan on at least settling in LA for a little bit um
especially during the summer
cause I'm gonna be doing yeah
(48:17):
other traveling and stuff yeah
yeah yeah
yeah and sometimes your girl needs a break
haha I don't blame you
I don't blame you so you're
you're gonna do like film stuff too
so like even though you studied Theatre
you know you're using your training for film too
yes technically um
our theatre track um
is called theatre with an emphasis in acting in stage
(48:42):
screen and new media
wow so they teach
they teach us acting not only for
for stage but for screen and okay
and like social media and stuff like that
yeah so your
your career goal is being an actor
I being an entertainer in general entertainer yeah
yeah I
I don't wanna like be like
(49:04):
I wanna just do this because I know I
I'm gonna wanna do everything yeah
um but yeah
I I would say yeah
for post grad I'm probably gonna focus on acting more
yeah yeah
but um
I don't know
my mom's been really pushing me to do some open
mics and things so maybe
maybe we'll do that too yeah
(49:27):
well you know
it's it's interesting
cause we've worked with actors like here
based in here in LA um
they were wanting to do voice lessons
because they're like I keep getting
you know not getting roles
but you know
like auditions for roles that require singing yeah
even if it's just like a phrase here and there
and I just do not feel comfortable doing that
help me yeah
(49:48):
yeah so you're definitely not gonna have that issue
no I'm very glad I won
yeah like that's not gonna be a limitation for you
if you come across a role and like
an audition for a role you're like yep
I got it alright
I'll say but the dancing side no
no okay
haha
well you can always take some dance classes
there's plenty of opportunities for that
that's true that's true
that's true that's so true
(50:09):
yeah maybe one day
we'll see
you are such a spring chicken
so young you've got time for that
I have time yes
yes
so dance was not a part of your curriculum
no okay
no there is a musical theater track at USC
but um
at the time like when I applied
they only had like two classes
(50:31):
like that have gone through the full program almost
it's new yeah
so it's really new um
and I just didn't want to risk it
and I had also gotten a scholarship
with the BA program yeah
theater acting program so I was like
thank you um
I was like I'll take all
(50:52):
hell yeah I'll take that haha
I'll take that instead absolutely
absolutely yeah
that is so cool hey
do we wanna play a little lyric game real quick please
yes let's do it
okay so we've got different games here on our show
and I love a game the lyric lab
meaning hell yeah you pick a song
you read the lyrics and I have to guess what song it is
(51:13):
and then we'll switch okay
alright let's try it
should I do a dramatic reading of the lyrics
oh my God yes
yes please okay
Friday night and the lights are low
looking out for a place to go
(51:34):
where they play the right music
getting in the swing
you come to look for a king
oh
anybody could be that guy
I mean night is young and the music's high
with a little bit of rock music
everything is fine
you're in the mood for a dance
(51:57):
and when you get the chance
you're the dancing queen you are the dancing queen
do you know that song yes
of course oh Ava
let's go they're my fave
I love Ava it's so hard to have a dramatic reading of
(52:20):
freaking Dancing Queen like what the hell
could not be any less dramatic than that
oh my gosh that was good
I love it thank you okay
well I cannot do dramatic readings like you
it's okay it's okay
but I'm probably gonna be horrible at this
I shall try my best
I remember when I remember you already know the song
(52:42):
yes
I remember when I remember
I remember when I lost my mind
there's something so nice about that place
the words I don't know but see you don't know the words
I just know that I remember
what isn't it
so funny how you can hear one phrase and you're like
that I know it
it's crazy how fast it can go sometimes for real
(53:05):
alright let's try one more okay
it might seem crazy what I'm about to say Sunshine
she's here you can take a break
I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space
(53:28):
with the air like I don't care baby by the way
because I'm happy
I knew you knew it
but it's so funny like hearing you read these lyrics
you know
it's just a it might seem crazy what I'm about to say
(53:48):
I know that phrase yeah
and I immediately recognize it from that second phrase
couldn't tell you what it is haha
exactly so I heard it and I was like
huh ah
I I had to like look at the lyrics I was like
I know this song so well but like yeah
but what is it yeah
but it's so funny how that first phrase so you know
I don't know if you write if you write songs
(54:10):
but if you do now
we're learning that first phrase
is what's gonna stick out to people
so right better be a good one yeah
for real oh my gosh well got one oh
I'll choose a little guy oh
it just a little guy let's see let's see what we got
haha
(54:30):
okay oh God
love is a burning thing
and it makes a fiery ring bound by wild desire
I fell into a
fire ring of fire ring of fire I fell in
(54:57):
see I don't know the words to that one though yeah
yeah yeah yeah
I know the melody
but also this is like a song from way back yet
when this is oh
before your time the 1900s
haha
you are a 2000 kid aren't you I am I was born in 2002
(55:20):
okay we're gonna end it right there haha
thanks for coming but no haha wow
that always blows my mind yeah yeah
you know
like kids who were born in the 2 are not kids anymore
you're a grown ass adult yeah
I'm 22 wow you can drink it all I can drink yes
(55:40):
finally wow
haha that is crazy yeah
well I love it well hey
I have one last question for you yes
I asked this question all of our guests
this show is called from singer to artist
so the question is what to you
is the difference between a singer and an artist
(56:02):
is there a difference
um
I feel like it's one of those things that
like a square is a rectangle
but a rectangle is not necessarily a square
you know what yes
singers are artists
but not all artists are necessarily singers
okay um
well cause artists can
can encompass actors you know painters
(56:23):
sculptors
anything and all of the above um
but and an artist
um
how do I define an artist to is someone who creates art
I guess there's the simplest way to say that um
you use the word create yeah right
so there's a there's a creation happening
(56:46):
exactly there exactly
it's not necessarily like you are writing the song
or you are writing the play
but you're still creating something
by making the choices you make
and how to sing it how to act it how
you know
so now you're using the word choice
so it's the choice to do something
and you're not maybe just copying something you heard
(57:08):
but you're you're making a choice
even if you are copying something you heard
you make the choice to do it that way
yes yes
but I also think the choice is a type of creation
yeah yeah
yeah absolutely makes sense
okay absolutely
I love that I love asking people this question
because everybody has a different
(57:29):
thought process behind it right
and most people never even think about it right
haha yeah
yeah and um
I love
I love hearing that thank you so much for sharing
of course thank you for coming on
thank you for having me it's been such a pleasure
yeah you know
like we do all of our stuff online
so actually getting to meet our students in person
is always such a pleasure
and so fun it was so nice to meet you too
(57:52):
thank you for working with us and thank you Kate
Coach Kate
such a we we would have loved to have her here
next time
I know next time we gotta next time fire out here too
it'll be it'll be me you um
my mom Cade yes
all the crew of us
we'll all go to Atlanta and we'll do it there period
(58:12):
perfect let's make it happen
thank you so much Rafi
thank you so much for having me
absolutely the best of luck to you
thank you
with your career and life and all of the above
I can't wait to see where you're gonna go
thank you so much
and we're always here to support you anyway we can
ah thanks thanks
no problem yeah
(58:34):
alright thanks everyone for tuning in
and we'll catch you next time bye bye
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