James Devere
About
JAMES DEVERE
Singer/Guitarist
Tenor James Devere is a renowned, multifaceted artist. Recognized as one of the finest and most influential singers in his class, he is also a guitarist and a major force as a crossover artist. His repertoire encompasses a wide variety of styles, mixing elements of opera, classical, R&B, jazz and rock.
PERFORMANCES
James has been at home on stages for almost a quarter century. With hundreds of singing engagements to date having taken him across the United States, from regional and collegiate opera houses to performance competitions celebrating some of the greatest music.
BIOGRAPHY
The more James Devere has studied, traveled and performed, the deeper his love of music has become. He maintains an active performing career as a singer and guitarist in addition to his work as a vocal teacher and coach. He is a former negotiating member of the American Guild of Musical Artists; Metropolitan Opera Vocal Competition honorable mention and Winner of Ladies' Guild Scholarship in Northridge, CA.
It was James Devere's "voice that came off the most effortlessly, rich in depth and loud enough to hear in the parking lot.... [He] sang with the others but stood out with the utter strength of his voice and his ability to control it without looking like he needed to." -Christian McIntyre, Daily Sundial
Student of Dr. David Scott, Northridge CA. 1995-1999 -Teacher of Metropolitan Opera star, Carol Vaness (frequent partner of tenor stars Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras).
Vocal Performance Workshop Apprentice to Richard Miller (Oberlin Vocal Teacher, Author and Vocal Pedagogue) - 1997
The focus of the study is on classical singing techniques in the Bel Canto style that focuses on proper (pure) vowels, vowel modification, legato singing, appogio (supported) breathing technique, negotiating the passagio or vocal registers etc. The lessons are based on student, vocal exercises with teacher feedback.
For modern styles including jazz, R&B, blues, rock etc. the approach is a modification of the above technique where the student learns the rules first and then can modify those at will based on the desired style and effect. For example, keeping a vowel open vs. closing the vowel.
Ideally, the student should learn to play scales on the keyboard to accompany themselves for practice. This is not very hard to do and helps in teaching where the passagio starts for the individual student as well as helps with intonation, rhythm and emotive expression.
B.A. in Music Vocal Performance, California State University Northridge
Any Richard Miller Vocal Pedagogy text