Noah Lis with good friend Traci Mnich and Debbie Gibson

Christmas was a blur this year, as I had a full season of gigs, and then headed out to Deborah Gibson’s Electric Youth Performing Arts Camp in NYC the next morning. It proved to be a really great  well rounded learning experience and I  honestly came home a different person.

We had instruction from 9:30am- 6pm daily and I was in my element in this high energy work environment.   It was great to meet so many other enthusiastic people; the teachers were all professional instructors who had flown in from LA to work with us. They were a positive bunch who encouraged us to work together and build off of each others ideas. The students came from all over the states, including one girl from Canada, and the majority was interested in being Broadway performers.

We had classes which included dance, music theory, song writing, acting, etc. and they also brought in several speakers and other professionals  to work with us. I had a vocal lesson with Madonna’s coach. She listened to us sing and taught us some individual techniques to make our vocals stronger . She had only positive things to say about my pipes! We performed for some Broadway actors who came in and worked with us. We learned about licensing songs from an ASCAP representative, and we concentrated on songwriting skills. We danced and I will admit..I’m lacking in dance instruction, though I had good intentions.  At least, I didn’t injure  myself or anyone in the class with my klutzy dance moves.

I spent a good chunk of my time songwriting with Deborah Gibson and a teacher named Tim Kobza from LA. I enjoyed working with both of them, and we had a lot of fun.  Deborah proved to be a real star, performing with a smile on her face despite having come down with a terrible flu. She is definitely one of the most genuine and positive people I’ve ever worked with, and I learned a lot from her.

I pulled out a song that I had written two years ago, and surprisingly they  loved it, and asked me to perform it more than a few times.  They also encouraged me to sing my original for the end showcase when the industry people were invited to “look us over”. Two  Broadway actors wrote a script around my song, and it worked out well. I wrote a few more songs during the week, as well as the music for another girl who wrote  some heartfelt lyrics about war.  Camp ended with open mic and lots of goodbyes, and photos.   Back to my world.

I am hopeful that good things are coming..I’m ready to fly.