Debbie the Musician and Arranger
Deb began taking piano lessons when she was 6 years old. She eventually achieved her Grade 8 piano, and Grade 2 theory from the Royal Conservatory of Music, which she used as a credit towards her grade 13 year of high school.
When Rock and Roll hit the airwaves, Debbie was smitten, and her ear was developed to the point where she could emulate Jerry Lee Lewis and LittleRichard on the piano. It was around this time that she also realized that she had a singing voice, and she began singing with a friend, writing songs and playing piano to accompany them.
As a teen, through her association with Ronnie Hawkins and the great Robbie Robertson, she became smitten with guitar, and taught herself to play chords, and strum along while she sang. During one of the matinees at the Concord Tavern, Robbie allowed Debbie to play a few chords on his famous Stratocaster, and he explained to her that he used a banjo string for his high E string because it stretched a lot easier. A high moment in her life!
Until she met and married her husband, musician Gordon Fleming, Debbie's musical life was limited to a little playing and singing for pleasure. She had always wanted to be in music, but her parents insisted that she work towards a degree in University that would lead to a career she could "fall back" on, and music definitely wasn't one of those careers! She got the BA in Psychology, then met Gord.
Once she and Gord married, Debbie began earnestly making up for lost time, and learning as much as she could about music from her talented husband. Both Gord and Debbie began studying piano with a Toronto teacher, Patricia Stewart, and they were playing Brahms Rhapsodys and Chopin Etudes, and steeping themselves in the classical repertoire. Gord began working as an arranger in the studios, and Debbie, now a mother, would copy his music for him, calling upon her Grade 2 theory she'd learned many years before.
When Debbie began working in studios as a singer, she was asked to arrange vocals for various sessions, and as the years rolled on, she became more adept at notating what she heard in her head.
When she became a member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, she quickly became an excellent sight reader, and this is when her knowledge of music and arranging really kicked in. Through her many years in the choir, she absorbed the sounds that worked the best with voices, and became an excellent vocal arranger.
When she assembled jazz vocal group, Sing-Co-op-8 in the early 80's, they sight-read brilliant arrangements by Gene Puerling, Kirby Shaw and Phil Mattins. It wasn't long before Debbie was inspired to write some of her own material and arrangements for this group, using many of the crunches and harmonies used by the masters.
Meanwhile, Debbie began singing with dance bands for weddings and bar mitzvahs, and although she purchased some of her charts from RichardMaslove, she began to get the urge to "lift" her own charts as an exercise. Although it was time consuming, and hard work, Debbie always enjoyed the challenge of isolating each instrument on a recording, writing down exactly what it was playing, and figuring out the chord progressions as well. It wasn't long before Debbie's entire book was made up of her own charts. Witha singer's ear for line and harmony, she also became a very good horn-writer. Following local bands like the Brigham Phillips big band and Men From Uncle, she became very cognizant about what works and what doesn't.
Take 6 emerged on the music scene in the early 90s, and by the time Debbie was inspired by them, her ear was finely developed. The ultimate challengewas to "lift' a Take 6 arrangement, and try to decipher what those inner voices were doing -- and which one was doing what! Her first "lift" of "A Quiet Place" nailed the arrangement, and is always a favourite for her groups to sing.
Once Hampton Avenue was assembled, Debbie was writing and arranging prolifically for this group. She was also learning from phenoms Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran, both of whom are musical geniuses, who studied music atYork, and who arranged and lifted many other Take 6 arrangements. Sheer heaven! To have people such as Suba, Dylan, Judy Tate, Emilie Barlow, TomLillington, Tim Olfert, Larry Folk just sight-read her charts on the fly: no piano, no hearing it first - just a tonic hummed by Suba, a count-in, and off they'd go. Yummy!
Since Hampton Avenue became a quartet, Debbie has taken up playing guitar once again. She is the arranger, and the sole accompanist for herbluegrass/country/roots female trio, ChoirGirlz. She is learning slowly,mostly on the job, and taking lessons from the great Steve Briggs of the BeBop Cowboys, who is teaching her even more about theory, harmony, and many other things she's maybe known, but never been able to label.
She continues to sing with and arrange for The Hampton Avenue-4: Suba,Dylan and Tom.
When Rock and Roll hit the airwaves, Debbie was smitten, and her ear was developed to the point where she could emulate Jerry Lee Lewis and LittleRichard on the piano. It was around this time that she also realized that she had a singing voice, and she began singing with a friend, writing songs and playing piano to accompany them.
As a teen, through her association with Ronnie Hawkins and the great Robbie Robertson, she became smitten with guitar, and taught herself to play chords, and strum along while she sang. During one of the matinees at the Concord Tavern, Robbie allowed Debbie to play a few chords on his famous Stratocaster, and he explained to her that he used a banjo string for his high E string because it stretched a lot easier. A high moment in her life!
Until she met and married her husband, musician Gordon Fleming, Debbie's musical life was limited to a little playing and singing for pleasure. She had always wanted to be in music, but her parents insisted that she work towards a degree in University that would lead to a career she could "fall back" on, and music definitely wasn't one of those careers! She got the BA in Psychology, then met Gord.
Once she and Gord married, Debbie began earnestly making up for lost time, and learning as much as she could about music from her talented husband. Both Gord and Debbie began studying piano with a Toronto teacher, Patricia Stewart, and they were playing Brahms Rhapsodys and Chopin Etudes, and steeping themselves in the classical repertoire. Gord began working as an arranger in the studios, and Debbie, now a mother, would copy his music for him, calling upon her Grade 2 theory she'd learned many years before.
When Debbie began working in studios as a singer, she was asked to arrange vocals for various sessions, and as the years rolled on, she became more adept at notating what she heard in her head.
When she became a member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, she quickly became an excellent sight reader, and this is when her knowledge of music and arranging really kicked in. Through her many years in the choir, she absorbed the sounds that worked the best with voices, and became an excellent vocal arranger.
When she assembled jazz vocal group, Sing-Co-op-8 in the early 80's, they sight-read brilliant arrangements by Gene Puerling, Kirby Shaw and Phil Mattins. It wasn't long before Debbie was inspired to write some of her own material and arrangements for this group, using many of the crunches and harmonies used by the masters.
Meanwhile, Debbie began singing with dance bands for weddings and bar mitzvahs, and although she purchased some of her charts from RichardMaslove, she began to get the urge to "lift" her own charts as an exercise. Although it was time consuming, and hard work, Debbie always enjoyed the challenge of isolating each instrument on a recording, writing down exactly what it was playing, and figuring out the chord progressions as well. It wasn't long before Debbie's entire book was made up of her own charts. Witha singer's ear for line and harmony, she also became a very good horn-writer. Following local bands like the Brigham Phillips big band and Men From Uncle, she became very cognizant about what works and what doesn't.
Take 6 emerged on the music scene in the early 90s, and by the time Debbie was inspired by them, her ear was finely developed. The ultimate challengewas to "lift' a Take 6 arrangement, and try to decipher what those inner voices were doing -- and which one was doing what! Her first "lift" of "A Quiet Place" nailed the arrangement, and is always a favourite for her groups to sing.
Once Hampton Avenue was assembled, Debbie was writing and arranging prolifically for this group. She was also learning from phenoms Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran, both of whom are musical geniuses, who studied music atYork, and who arranged and lifted many other Take 6 arrangements. Sheer heaven! To have people such as Suba, Dylan, Judy Tate, Emilie Barlow, TomLillington, Tim Olfert, Larry Folk just sight-read her charts on the fly: no piano, no hearing it first - just a tonic hummed by Suba, a count-in, and off they'd go. Yummy!
Since Hampton Avenue became a quartet, Debbie has taken up playing guitar once again. She is the arranger, and the sole accompanist for herbluegrass/country/roots female trio, ChoirGirlz. She is learning slowly,mostly on the job, and taking lessons from the great Steve Briggs of the BeBop Cowboys, who is teaching her even more about theory, harmony, and many other things she's maybe known, but never been able to label.
She continues to sing with and arrange for The Hampton Avenue-4: Suba,Dylan and Tom.