Piano Guidance
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Why does Ariana Grande sing so good?

The key to Ariana's performance is how easily she seems to reach the top end of her – very impressive – four-octave range. She might not have the breath control of a classical soprano, but she also never throws a breath away, using it instead as a technique to communicate emotion and add texture to her sound.

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Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide
Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

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Let’s take a minute to appreciate how incredible Ariana Grande’s voice is

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

She has one of the most impressive ranges of any female singer in the pop music industry, and she makes it all look So. Darn. Easy. As Ari entertains the world on her Sweetener tour, we take an analytical look at the pop singer’s vocals... ‘Dangerous Woman’ was one of 2016’s best pop hits, and a No. 1 single for Ariana Grande. Melodically speaking, it’s not a particularly interesting song. And if performed by a lesser soprano, the melody would inevitably start to drag after the first chorus. But what is interesting is Ariana’s vocal treatment of the song. As any singer knows, one of the most important parts of the job is to make everything look utterly effortless – even if that involves belting a high G with no instrumental backing (see: 2:44).

A robust music theory analysis of Ariana Grande's 'thank u, next' >

The key to Ariana’s performance is how easily she seems to reach the top end of her – very impressive – four-octave range. She might not have the breath control of a classical soprano, but she also never throws a breath away, using it instead as a technique to communicate emotion and add texture to her sound. What’s also interesting is her ability to switch from her softly vocalised mid-range to that characteristically ‘Ariana’-style belt – a mix of chest and head voice. There’s a moment at 1:18 in the 'Dangerous Woman' video when she ­­jumps from the D just above middle C to a B – a notorious part of a soprano’s range which can easily produce unwanted cracks. But Ariana does it all with a beautifully warm tone, and a smile on her face. She is at her strongest in live acoustic sessions – just listen to her more recent performance of ‘God is a Woman’ on Good Morning America. As well as showing off her distinctive voice cracks, the session demonstrates her unique way of producing melismas: by warping and wobbling her jaw (see 0:25). It’s not the way a classical soprano would produce her coloraturas, but Ariana isn’t after classical technique: she’s after honesty, originality and vulnerability. And that’s exactly what she gives us.

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Is lean in me true story?

Joe Clark, the former principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, who was the inspiration for the 1989 film "Lean on Me," died Tuesday at age 82, according to a family press release.

Joe Clark, the former principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, who was the inspiration for the 1989 film "Lean on Me," died Tuesday at age 82, according to a family press release. The get-tough persona that Clark embodied — he was known for carrying a wooden baseball bat through the halls of the troubled school — was controversial and landed him on the cover of Time magazine in 1988. He was portrayed in the movie by Morgan Freeman. The much-discussed bat was not for hitting students but to symbolize the potential of the baseball diamond, where one could hit a strike or a home run, his family said. Paterson Superintendent of School Eileen Shafer said in a statement that Clark "left his indelible mark on public education by being fiercely devoted to the students in his care" and "demanded more from his students because he believed they could achieve more than what was expected of them." "But in the end, it is the many lives Joe Clark influenced for the better that have become his greatest legacy," Shafer said. Clark was born in Rochelle, Georgia, on May 8, 1938, and moved during childhood to Newark, New Jersey. He served as a U.S. Army drill sergeant, which his family said "engrained in him a respect for order and achievement, which came to define his more than three-decade career in education." Clark declined a White House policy advisor position offered by President Ronald Reagan because of his "dedication to his students and community," his family wrote. Clark died at home in Gainesville, Florida, surrounded by his family, who said he "succumbed to his long battle with illness."

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