It’s been a long time since I was a teen singer and a rabid Sinatra fan studying every detail of his singing. And it’s been a long time since I reflected on what I learned from him. I’m glad I chose Frank as a vocal mentor. For 40 years I’ve taught to others what he taught me…just by listening to him sing.
But, honestly, I’ve been so busy keeping up with the changes in music and pop songs that young students want to sing, I haven’t given much thought to Ol’ Blue Eyes in recent years. On a gig, I mainly sing the Great American Songbook and jazz tunes, many of which Frank recorded; but it’s been a long time since he’s occupied a prominent space in my mind. That is--- until I attended “Sinatra: An American Icon Symposium” at Monmouth University on May 9.
At this wonderful event I listened to panels of music writers and musicians analyzing Frank’s singing and recording techniques, and his personal and professional life. And I had a terrible attack of guilt.
After all he’s meant to me, and after all I’ve learned from him coming up as a singer, why am I not teaching subsequent generations of students everything I know about the greatest interpreter of popular music EVER? Sure, I inevitably mention Frank’s singing to most of my adult students, and play his recordings for select teens. But he is so important and his influence so enduring, I should do more.
At the seminar I sat next to my voice student of several years, Nicole Govel, a music industry major at Monmouth U who was tapped to sing Sinatra songs with the college jazz ensemble that day. She told me later that as she listened to the panel discussing Frank’s breathing, phrasing, and diction, she began to think about---having to think about all that when in a few minutes, she would get up to sing.
In that moment, Nicole didn’t seem to recognize that she had already learned about and was putting to use the fine points of Sinatra’s vocal technique. It was all second nature to her now. I call it “the ghosts that sing in us.”
I lived Sinatra from my childhood. When I taught Nicole and others to best interpret a song, I took for granted that I was teaching what I knew and practiced. No matter what style of singing, the end goal is to master the big three aspects of singing popular music: breathing, phrasing, and diction. (Through the years, I’ve added a biggie - relaxing.) I suddenly acknowledge that I’ve always taught as Sinatra sings and as I sing. I thought I was doing it my way. (Pardon the pun.) But it was his way.
I recently came across a book called “Tips for Popular Singing,” written by Frank and his voice coach John Quinlan, published in 1941. It is written from common sense, acknowledging that one doesn’t need years of conventional study to sing popular songs. I was astonished. It was like I wrote the book! “Many teachers make singing seem difficult.” “Don’t try so hard.” So much emphasis on what is practical.
I was astonished that this book de-mystified singing in the same way I do--our explanations, almost identical. I suppose I shouldn’t be so shocked, because I learned all that by listening to Frank---who listened to John Quinlan and other great singers. It all became second nature to Frank, then to me, and now to Nicole.
Growing up I wanted to sing like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. And it was not in my consciousness that I had developed the interpretive style of Sinatra until I sat in that seminar. Sinatra’s incomparable phrasing…his way of wrapping the lyrics around a musical phrase…that’s his legacy.
While Nicole acknowledges that she learned the art of the big four from me, I wonder if she is aware of the depth of it. So that when she got up to perform at the seminar, she sang with perfect pitch, beautiful phrasing, and clear diction… all while being relaxed. The ghost of Sinatra had influenced her and was singing through her just as it has sung through me, and will continue to sing through people gifted with beautiful voices who are fortunate enough to discover his recordings.
Here is a vocal exercise that was passed down to me as an exercise Frank learned from his coach, Quinlan: “Let us wander by the bay.” I suggest it be sung slowly, on a single held low note, and then moved up in half steps.
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
