Jacob Collier Leads Master Class in Singing and Harmonizing

When one attends a master class by Grammy award-winner Jacob Collier, you best expect the entire room to be singing and harmonizing with one another. The audience follows along to Collier’s musical directing as he directs the room in a series of performances. This is the heart of his tours and recent music — the human voice.

“Your voice is only as strong as the people around you,” Collier said at UCSB on February 5. The English singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist made a brief stop at UCSB after the 2025 Grammy Awards. Collier had just won his seventh Grammy for his arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” featuring John Legend and Tori Kelly. It won under the category Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella. He was also nominated for two other Grammys: his album, Djesse Vol. 4 was nominated for Album of the Year and his song, “A Rock Somewhere,” which featured Varijashree Venugopal and Anoushka Shankar, was nominated for Best Global Music Performance.

“There’s something about human art and the art of collaboration,” said Collier, who has a long-standing relationship with UCSB Arts & Lectures, which organized the event on campus. Creating live music with the audience is part of what he loves most about touring. Singing alongside hundreds of others in a lecture hall might seem daunting at first, but the audience quickly warmed up to speed to fully participate in Collier’s live music-making and performance process.

To splice up his performances, both solo and featuring the audience, Collier answered questions from the packed lecture hall of university students, high school students, and community members. From deeper questions about his journey thus far and motivation to keep creating music, to silly ones such as his middle name (which he doesn’t have!)Collier shared life advice.

“People trust me to be me,” he said in response to a question about the feeling of his music. “If no one was listening to my music, I would still make it exactly the same way.” The unique nature of his music and composing is what sets Collier apart, and has helped him on his path to win seven Grammys.

With Campbell Hall conveniently split into three, Collier opened the show by directing each section to harmonize to make an array of melodies. His opening sequence included an eccentric performance of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and composing a live piece to make the room sound like it was surrounded by birds and a running creek. He concluded his opening with a piano cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird.”

Collier explained the concept of Djesse, a collection of four volumes that explore a different genre and style of creating music. Djesse Vol. 1 followed more orchestral tones, Djesse Vol. 2 featured a more folk feel, and Djesse. Vol 3 was more electronic. After much consideration and continued exploration, Collier decided that the heart of Djesse Vol. 4 was the human voice. In addition to featuring a number of other musical artists including Shawn Mendes, Lizzy McAlpine, K-pop group aespa, and the abovementioned featured artists, Collier noted the most important component of this album was the recorded audiences from all over the world.

“I accidentally made a choir of the whole world,” he joked. This concept fueled his belief in music as a means of connection and worldbuilding.

He also played “Little Blue,” a song from his recent album and surprised the crowd by playing the piano and his custom made five-string guitar at the same time. He proceeded to also have the audience harmonize with his music, making it a masterful performance that only Collier could pull off.

Through creating and producing music to being on tour, he reflected on the connections he’s made with fans and his reiterated love for his managing and music team. Though he joked about people being like Horcruxes (from Harry Potter), Collier emphasized believing in oneself and building connections that result in making a safe space for people, saying, “You’re only as good as the people around you feel.”

Collier closed out the show with a piano rendition and sing-a-long of Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” a warm but eclectic ending to his master class.