Singing Tips for Amateurs

 


As a trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, co-CEO Brian Lipschultz is responsible for helping oversee a $900 million organization that invests in nonprofits throughout the Upper Midwest. Outside of his work at the Otto Bremer Trust, Brian Lipschultz is an accomplished vocalist.

Like any other art form, singing is a skill that takes time and effort to develop. For those looking to take their vocal ability to a higher level, here are some tips to consider.

One of the first things an aspiring singer should do is spend time determining their natural vocal range. Simply put, this means becoming acquainted with how high and how low one can sing. Knowing this helps a singer find the songs and keys that are best suited to their singing voice.

It’s also helpful to record your singing in order to get an accurate idea of what your voice actually sounds like. Trusting the ears alone as a gauge of your singing voice can be misleading because the anatomy of the ear can give the voice a deeper tone than it really possesses. By listening to recordings, one can get an accurate picture of how the voice sounds and where improvements need to be made.

Singing Can Benefit People with Respiratory Issues

With a career in the field of finance, Brian Lipschultz currently works as the co-chief executive officer and trustee at Otto Bremer Trust. Before that, it was called Otto Bremer Foundation. When he is not working, Brian Lipschultz enjoys singing.

Experts in the health industry, composed of doctors, physiotherapists, nurses, psychologists, and music therapists, recently signed a consensus statement advising people with lung conditions to join singing groups to help improve their breathing.

The evidence was taken from a study of people diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes cases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema. These patients need to frequently take top-up breaths coming from their upper chest to get sufficient air into their lungs.

The research reveals that singing regularly provides benefits that are not just physically advantageous, such as an increase in lung capacity and muscles strength. Singing also offers social and psychological benefits, like decreased anxiety and improved health-related quality of life. When combined, all these can lead to controlled breathing and more confidence.

Successful Instrumental Singles on the Billboard Charts

 

Brian Lipschultz has served as director of the Bremer Financial Corporation and co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Foundation since 2012. Away from his work at Otto Bremer, Brian Lipschultz enjoys performing as both a vocalist and an instrumental musician.

In 2013, the song “Harlem Shake” by Baauer reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the first time in more than a decade that an instrumental song reached Billboard's top 10. Instrumental songs have not always been such a rarity in mainstream music, with ten different instrumental tracks achieving top-10 positions in 1963 alone.

Over the years, instrumental singles have ranged from the lackadaisical surf rock of the Chantays’ “Pipeline” to grand orchestral compositions. In some cases, determining which songs should be considered instrumentals may be difficult. “Tequila” by the Champs, for example, is a former chart topper almost devoid of vocals, though the word “tequila” is uttered several times. Billboard recognizes the track as an instrumental.

While the 1960s and '70s were rife with instrumental top-10 hits, such as “Hawaii Five-O” and “Jungle Fever,” songs without vocals became less frequent in the following decades. Only six instrumentals reached the top 10 in the 1980s, while “Theme from Mission: Impossible” in 1996 and “Auld Lang Syne” in 2000 were the two most recent top-10 instrumentals until “Harlem Shake.”

UMN Center for Safe and Healthy Children Receives $2.5 Million Grant

Brian Lipschultz serves as co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, one of the nation’s largest charitable trusts. Under Brian Lipschultz's leadership, the Otto Bremer Trust has supported a broad variety of community efforts and nonprofit programs. Grants awarded during the 2016 period included a $2.5 million gift to the Center for Safe and Healthy Children at University of Minnesota (UMN) Masonic Children’s Hospital. 

Awarded monies will expand UMN’s child abuse treatment program in several ways and contribute to the center’s goal of becoming a national leader in combating child abuse and neglect. Funds will go toward hiring additional staff, increasing efforts for community education, and opening new roads to train child abuse specialists. A portion of the grant funded the creation of a fellowship program designed to train more child abuse pediatricians.

The Center for Safe and Healthy Children opened in 2014, becoming the first regional program to focus on providing comprehensive care to children who have been abused and neglected. Its specialized training equips physicians and medical staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to work with victims of abuse and neglect, who often require specialized treatment. Necessary training goes beyond an understanding of child development; physicians must also receive training in treating child injuries, child psychology, and how to recognize signs of abuse and neglect to prevent misdiagnosis.

Remembering Jazz Legend Pete Fountain

Co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, Brian Lipschultz shares joint responsibility for the $900 million charitable trust. Outside of the office, Brian Lipschultz is longtime jazz musician and fan. The jazz world recently lost a legend in New Orleans Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, who died in early August at the age of 86.

Born Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. in New Orleans on July 3, 1930, Fountain started playing the clarinet when he was a child at the advice of a doctor. Suffering from respiratory issues, the doctor suggested a wind instrument to strengthen his lungs. Aside from that, it gave the world a jazz legend.

Fountain is perhaps most famous for his regular TV appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and The Lawrence Welk Show. Known for his free-spirited approach to playing, Fountain was famously fired from The Lawrence Welk Show after a particularly loose version of “Silver Bells,” something he’d later joke about with the press.

With nearly 100 albums under his belt, he performed for everyone from the president to the pope.

OBT Donates to Child Abuse Treatment Program

 


Financial and investment management senior executive Brian Lipschultz currently serves as co-CEO and trustee of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Otto Bremer Trust (OBT). Brian Lipschultz also serves as a board member of Bremer Financial Corporation.

Founded in 1944, OBT owns 92 percent of a commercial bank and manages a diversified investment portfolio. The grants provided by OBT are funded by these holdings. In 2015, the charitable trust bestowed over $46 million in grants and program-associated investments to more than 500 organizations in Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and North Dakota.

In March 2016, the trust donated $2.5 million to assist in funding the Center for Safe and Healthy Children at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. The donation will fund a fellowship program, increased community education, and additional staff.

Treating over 350 children that have been abused and neglected, the center was the only one of its kind in the region when it began operations in 2014. It has been renamed the Otto Bremer Trust Center for Safe and Healthy Children in recognition of the generous donation.

A public health crisis, child abuse deaths total 1,580 annually; this figure now surpasses the 1,250 annual child deaths caused by childhood cancers.

The trust's donation is among the largest of its kind in the country.