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 American Idol Vocal and Arranging Coach Debra Bryd

Each week on American Idol the contestants get a small list of songs to chose from to perform.  The process can either make or break their Idol contest future. Choosing the right song and arrangement can spark that memorable moment Simon Cowell and the Idol judges hope for. A bad song rendition can invoke the wrath of Cowell and ultimately lead to the Idol contestant being voted off.

To help in the song choice selection and arrangment American Idol performers look towards Idol Vocal and Arranging Coach Debra Bryd. She has helped influence the song choices that have saved several idols from a premature eviction.

 Offering a case study she shared the story of the making of what has been perhaps the most celebrated performance of the season, Chikeze’s rendition of “She’s a Woman.” “What you did not see was the agony of him trying to choose the song. He had chosen “Help!” and we worked on it and he began changing the arrangement. He changed the chords. And I said, ‘You can’t do that to a Beatles song, my dear. Sorry. You can’t do it.’ And I said, ‘You’re either going to have to do one of two things. You’re going to have to surrender to what the song is or you’re going to have to pick another song.’”  Late in the game, with only a tiny amount of time left before the Tuesday show, Chikezie “slept on it, thought about it overnight and came in and said, ‘Okay, I’ve changed my song.’”

Byrd continues, “When he first sang the song ‘She’s a Woman’ and I couldn’t feel it. I said, because part of it is finding it, ‘is it an R&B vibe? Is it a rock vibe?’ How do you see yourself singing it?’ And he got very excited and he said, ‘Oh okay! I want a banjo and I want a fiddle!’ And I was like, okay now I can hear it. And as soon as he said banjo and fiddle, then I could hear it.”

On last week’s other major sensation, Carly Smithson’s  “Come Together,” Byrd revealed that although she had performed this frequently before, the rehearsal time also brought some critical changes. After practicing it a few times, Byrd and Smithson felt that despite the singer’s comfort and history with the material, something still wasn’t clicking. It was at this point that Byrd wondered, “With her band was she singing ‘Come Together’ in Paul McCartney’s key?”

“She sang it and I said, no, no, no. Let’s try another key. We changed it to a higher key because I like that key better. And you know she was very happy because it changed her vibe. She didn’t sound like a guy anymore.  She sounded sexy like Tina Turner.”

One of the biggest challenges, as the judges complain and Byrd commiserates is working with contestants to find their musical identity.  While some arrive fully formed, for others it’s a grueling process that may not sort itself out until late in the season.  Byrd explains, “They have to discover themselves. And what we on the music team do is we help them discover. I would like to use Phil Stacey from last season as an example, if I may. Phil Stacey is a wonderful, wonderful singer. But he couldn’t figure out his vibe. He couldn’t figure out his genre. And I think halfway through, when he latched on to certain songs, then he got in.

“Chikezie just had that same kind of epiphany because with, last week’s song. He said who knew I could sing that stuff like that, I didn’t know it. So, I love watching them discover new things about themselves. That’s really a joy and that’s what keeps me excited about all this stuff.”

For Byrd, her journey with Idol began at American Idol’s beginnings, when just before Season One, after a long singing career of her own, she was desperate for a job that would keep her off the road. “I was driving on my way to do a vocal demo for a Diane Shore jazz album that Barry Manilow was recording and on the way there I got a phone call to re-do — the last show I did was Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. So, on the way to the session it’s like we want you to do the role with Savion Glover. I said, Okay fine, no problem. I had done the role for two years already. But, I remember thinking, oh boy, that means I have to go on the road again, eight shows a week. Then just on my way back from that session I got another call saying, there’s a new TV show that needs a vocal coach. You are not performing. It’s a singing show and you are helping singers in a competition and he kept saying, you are not performing. And he said I thought of you first because I love the way you work with singers. And I said yes and I don’t know what American Idol is but count me in. Famous last words.”

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