Aubrey Logan at the 2013 Berklee HSJF

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This Berklee alum has been doing some great things over the years, such as working with Grammy winning producers, singing on American Idol, becoming an extremely accomplished jazz musician, and most recently working on her debut album as a solo artist with producer Patrice Rushen. Aubrey Logan came to this year’s Berklee High School Jazz Festival as a featured clinician for the day and made a few appearances with the Rainbow Band and Phil Wilson, the band director for whom the festival was dedicated.

Aubrey Logan was one of the top clinicians the Jazz Festival had the good fortune to host. Her ability to engage an audience of all ages and skill levels is innate. Aubrey ran a performance technique clinic at the festival, geared towards showing young musicians how to conduct themselves on the stage (whether they are a vocalist, a rhythm section player, or a horn player.) She offered several exercises and ideas to the audience of high schoolers, like defining the difference between self consciousness and self awareness. She defined self-consciousness as a negative aspect of performance, with symptoms such as being nervous and overthinking one’s flaws, and self awareness as being conscious of what you could improve about your performance in a constructive way.

At this point in the clinic, Aubrey set aside the microphone and performed a tune of hers titled “High Place,” which featured her skills as a vocalist and trombonist. As she finished her tune, she jumped right into another exercise for the students in the room. She asked the crowd, “who here is a singer?” A considerable amount of students held their hands up as she called on a young man to come to the stage. Aubrey had the student sing a song of his choice, so he sang a song he wrote. After the student sang through the first verse, Aubrey stopped him and told him to think about three things: who the audience is, what the music is, and what the song is about. Aubrey also brought up the location on the stage where a performer should stand while singing different sections of a tune. She gave the young man a moment to soak in these points about the song he was performing, and he began to sing again. It was apparent that Aubrey’s comments enhanced the student’s singing of the song and his overall performance. Aubrey continued to echo this process with other students in the audience until her time was up.

As the clinic was wrapping up, Aubrey let the audience know that she was going to be performing with the Berklee Rainbow Band and Phil Wilson in the main auditorium immediately after her clinic. Most of the audience loved her so much that they went straight to the auditorium to watch her performance! During the Rainbow Band set, Aubrey performed “High Places,” (a great opportunity for her clinic audience to see her put the points she had made to use) as well as a number of other originals and standards!

Aubrey Logan - “High Places” Video

Here are some notes from the Aubrey Logan Clinic about Performance Techniques:

• Do not perform what is too complicated for you; do that in the practice room.
• About the audience: “They don’t want to go to see good music, they want to feel something.”
• Be self aware, not self conscious on stage.
• Know your role in the band, whether you are the leader or not.
• When on stage: Thing about yourself, the audience, and the material.