Raw talent is a bit like a diamond in the rough, sometimes it needs spit and polish before it can be sold.

That is why Richard Bassett of Renascent Music Publishing and the Bermuda Songwriters Association is bringing veteran American vocal coach and actor Steven Memel to Bermuda to teach a workshop.

The workshop for aspiring vocal artists will be held at the Bermuda Songwriting and Artist Retreat on from October 5 to 8 at 9 Beaches Resort in Sandys. Other workshop facilitators include songwriter Jason Blume and singer, songwriter and president of Warrior Girl Music, Gilli Moon.

The Royal Gazette recently spoke with Mr. Memel by telephone about his career and plans for the retreat.

?I teach in two different areas,? said Mr. Memel. ?One is vocal technique and the other is the area of performance. This is something that is often left up for grabs or not given a lot of attention by performers. People are just supposed to figure out how to do it. They just do the song and try to do it well.?

Mr. Memel said there are many elements of self-awareness that can make a performance come alive. He said it also has to do with the singer?s true understanding of the work they are performing.

?It has to do with your physical body,? said Mr. Memel. ?It has to do with literally the acting of the song. What are you communicating in your song? It is amazing how you can ask a person to say the lyrics of the song, but they can?t say it without singing it.

?That means they don?t really know what they are saying. They are not clear about the ideas. They are only clear about them in rote connection with the music and song. You don?t have to do that with every song. There is a lack of clarity about what people are communicating.?

He said this is surprisingly common with people who write and sing their own music, because some people have a hard time switching from songwriter to singer.

?They are not clear that there is a switch that has to be made to be the artist who sings the song,? said Mr. Memel. ?Eventually, all of this stuff becomes a very unified thing. It is about the whole body, whole spirit. If you are one of those natural people, ?boom? why bother? If it isn?t broke don?t fix it, but most people have places where there are weaknesses.?

Mr. Memel has worked with artists at all stages from children to adults who are waiting for their big break to others who are already well-known.

Some of his clients have included Adam Levine lead singer of Maroon 5 and 2005 Grammy Award winner, actress and recording artist Brittany Murphy and actress Lauren Bacall. He has also acted in television programmes such as Matlock, Providence and Picket Fences, among others.

?In the Bermuda Songwriting and Artist Retreat I will be working with local artists to look at performance, movement and communicating song. We will be putting together a good show and looking at how to give the best performance out of yourself in a studio. I will be getting them so they can face with skill any situation they come into.?

Mr. Memel said he became involved in vocal coaching, basically because everyone kept asking him to help them.

?When I was in acting classes the teachers would hear my voice, which I spent a lot of time developing, and they asked me if I taught,? he said. ?Then I came back to Los Angeles after a number of years and was performing. The mother of a neighbourhood kid down the street kept asking me to give her child lessons, so one thing led to another. I have built a successful practise here in Los Angeles. I teach everything from people with label deals, to teaching little kids.?