Saskatchewan singers learn from ‘The Voice’ TV show vocal coach

Nearly 100 Saskatchewan singers gathered at the Persephone Theatre on Sunday to learn from vocal coach Tamara Beatty, as part of a one day workshop.

Saskatoon resident Emry Tupper was among the crowd of participants who volunteered to perform for feedback.

“The majority of what I do, as far as singing goes, is classical, but I’ve always been interested in breaking away from that,” Emry Tupper said.

“I really enjoyed that (Beatty) focused on bringing me out as an artist, as opposed to just a good singing voice,” Tupper said.

Beatty is entering her 11th season as a vocal coach on NBC’s television series The Voice, helping singers take their performance to the next level.

“My work behind-the-scenes on the show has really caused me to have to work quickly. Sometimes we only have one or two minutes to really quickly effect a performance before somebody goes out in front of a lot of viewers,” Beatty said. “I’ve learnt to listen very intently.”

Beatty was born in Saskatoon and raised in Alberta. She’s now mainly based in Los Angeles. SaskMusic, a non-profit that promotes the music industry in Saskatoon, brought her in for the one day workshop, to offer tips and live coaching to the province’s performers.

“She’s used to having to work with artists and get results very quickly in a short window of time, so that’s perfect for something like this, where she’s coming in and on the fly working with artists without any prior knowledge of what they do,” SaskMusic operations manager Lorena Kelly said.

“We have a really diverse group here today, from really young singers who have never performed live in front of anyone to artists who have done world tours already. You can always get better in music and that’s the fun part of doing things like this,” Kelly said.

“You get to see befores and afters really quickly and a little spark of inspiration. It’s extremely rewarding,” Beatty said.