Great popular singers

Hands are up all over the classroom. Did Al Jolson ever use a microphone? What is it like to switch from tenor to baritone like Russ Columbo did? Lots of singers have tried to imitate Bing Crosby and failed; why is it so hard to do? It's the Great Popular Singers course at the Ryerson Life Institute, and this time we're learning how popular music made the transition from Al Jolson's over-the-top, melodramatic delivery to the smooth, cool, laid-back style of the crooners. Mike Daley knows his stuff, but so do a lot of the students. After all, it's the music our parents grew up with and played at home, from an era that just touches our own. The class members need to be heard; their comments are wise and insightful and clever and funny. It would be easy for the students to run away with the class. But Mike has mastered the fine art of teaching seniors. This might be a course about popular music, but he runs it like a big band performance. Mike's the bandleader. He sets the pace, establishes the theme, moves the material along. He leaves lots of room for solos, but then he always steers us back to the theme. At the end of two hours, we're all revved up and eager for more. Bravo!