{"id":2849,"date":"2016-02-02T17:40:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T17:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/?p=2849"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:24:45","slug":"meet-our-tutors-abdul-shyllon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/meet-our-tutors-abdul-shyllon\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Our Tutors: Abdul Shyllon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Introducing Jazz &amp; Soul Singing tutor and professional performer Abdul Shyllon. Abdul\u00a0has over 10 years&#8217; experience in the music industry in a career which has seen him write and perform for the likes of The Noisettes, Matt Bianco and Omar.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We talk about his life-long love of music, his Jazz and Soul courses at City Academy, and his career as a performer.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>How would you describe your classes?<br \/>\n<\/strong>My classes are a fun, challenging, creative experience that involve engagement, learning through doing and exploring music. I work looking at the basic structure of song, melody and application and build from there. Every class and cohort is different, which always keeps the journey interesting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you enjoy about teaching?<br \/>\n<\/strong>I enjoy the reciprocal interaction I get from learning through the action. It\u2019s a two way process: while performing or teaching I\u2019m also learning. I also enjoy watching people&#8217;s growth as they discover new things for themselves: it\u2019s a trip!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think anyone can learn to sing?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Definitely. We all have different levels of competence, and some are more adept than others of course. Singing is about awareness, alignment and application: the more you are able to successfully work on these components the better you will become.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019m a huge Marvin Gaye fan&#8230;it\u2019s his vulnerability and musicality that I\u2019m drawn to<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>When did you start singing?<br \/>\n<\/strong>My parents have great, diverse tastes in music! Being exposed to good music was really the start. I remember joining the church choir when I was around 8 or 9 years old and learned about harmony. I hit my late teens and started secretly singing and writing songs and just really enjoyed the process &#8211; that\u2019s when I thought I should give this a go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you become a professional session singer?<\/strong><br \/>\nBy being obsessed with music! Hanging out at concerts, clubs, jam sessions; meeting other aspiring musicians and artists; and really just being involved in as much music\/ and creative activity as possible. Eventually I was noticed and asked to collaborate with other artists and it just snowballed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was the first professional work you got?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy first \u201cprofessional\u201d gig was at the Cobden Club in Ladbroke Grove. I had the opportunity to showcase some original material, which led me to being booked to do a show in Barbados.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who&#8217;s your favourite artist and why?<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m a huge Marvin Gaye fan! I think it\u2019s his vulnerability and musicality that I\u2019m drawn to. For me it&#8217;s not just about technical prowess but what you have to say and how that affects your audience. <em>What\u2019s Going On<\/em> is still relevant to this day! <em>Here My Dear<\/em> and <em>I Want You<\/em> changed everything for me.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Jazz and Soul music inspired a new essential language&#8230;it transcends the difficulties people experience<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>If you could sing with any artist, who would you choose and why?<\/strong><br \/>\nHmmm that\u2019s a tough one! There are so many &#8211; I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s a good idea to sing with your idols, but if I could: Marvin, Prince, Sly Stone, Nat King Cole, Quincy Jones (I\u2019m dreaming!), Mica Paris, Dilla, Q-tip, Flying Lotus, Radiohead.. I could go on and on! Reasons why? Craft and brilliance!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What inspires you about Jazz and Soul Music?<br \/>\n<\/strong>It\u2019s the life and expression through the music. Both genres were born out of oppression &#8211; which inspired a new essential language at the time. It became a way of thinking, survival and being. It transcends the difficulties people experience. A lot of what was written decades ago still resonates deeply with the present day and I feel so liberated listening to them!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What you say to someone who was nervous about trying a Jazz and Soul course?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy classes are group-based and enable you to learn in a relaxed supportive environment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/singing-taster\">Come to a taster<\/a> and get a feel for it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are you working on at the moment?<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">I have been collaborating on various projects over the last year some of these will be released during 2016: keep an eye out!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2851\" src=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/abdul-shyllon-thumb-edit.jpg\" alt=\"abdul shyllon\" width=\"94\" height=\"117\" \/>\u00a0If you\u2019re interested in taking one of City Academy&#8217;s Jazz and Soul courses in central London, have a look at our timetables for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/jazz-blues-singing-level-2\">Improvers<\/a>. If you&#8217;re new to singing, our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/singing-lessons-beginners\">Beginners Singing classes<\/a> are the place to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introducing Jazz &amp; Soul Singing tutor and professional performer Abdul Shyllon. Abdul\u00a0has over 10 years&#8217; experience in the music industry&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,102],"tags":[292,79],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Abdul Shyllon | City Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"City Academy Jazz and Soul tutor Abdul Shyllon talks to us about his career, his classes,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/meet-our-tutors-abdul-shyllon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abdul Shyllon | City Academy\" 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