On PS22 and Music

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZnSwGCliB8&] If I had one criticism of PS22 and their teacher, it's that he is probably not teaching proper singing or performance techniques to them at a young age. Its common thought that this creates 'bad' habits that will influence the art in a negative way, later.

I was thinking that as I watched this.

And then I thought, "so what?"

There are probably many many children singing in children's choirs around the globe inside of Universities, etc. that don't enjoy the music they sing. I think I'd argue that that fact is more destructive to the art than something like PS22 is.

When musicians come to hate music, it might be one of the saddest days on earth.

If anything, performances like these are creative, unique, and stretching across boundaries. Right? I can see some of these kids rushing over to their friends' house after school and being super jazzed to load up YouTube and show their friends what they did at school that day.

These are kids. And they're excited about what they're doing.

That's the future of America, I think. Creativity is key. Technology (because it is simply an embodiment of creativity) is key. Fine arts (because they are simply embodiments of creativity) are key. The study of maths and sciences (because they are products of creativity) are key.

And so when I cringe to see the kids moving their bodies so much, I have to stop and think..."how proud are these kids of their work?" or "how much will the enjoyment of this experience influence their lives in the future?" You can experience the excitement within the last few seconds of the video. Sheer joy.

Because in the end it doesn't matter if they're singing Mozart or Lady Gaga (though it might be nice for them to understand both forms of the art); they're singing. They're practicing. They're performing. And they're enjoying it.

And, better yet, they're doing what they do...well. We don't have enough of that in today's world.

It's cool stuff. It really is.

-B

I really don't like the song that much, despite its catchiness. Gaga wrote the song with her dad taking shots on the piano after her grandfather died. I just don't, quite...get it. It doesn't speak any sort of message that I would consider life changing, and I don't think the lyrics are very poetic at all. Also, the music video was ridiculous.

Regardless, though, the act of singing it is moving something inside of these two groups. It's weird to think that something's moving inside of these groups when the lyrics to the song suck. But, you know, perhaps that speaks to the power of music within the soul. It probably does.

The Sad Reality That Is Gwyneth Paltrow's Singing

When this debuted on Glee (or rather, the video debuted on YouTube first) I posted it here and made some sort of snide comment about the questionable amount of auto tune used. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1_B9FCZJMA&]

My basic feeling at the time was that while she is an entertaining actress and for the sake of Glee they had to use some pitch correction, I doubt that she had that much of "pop" control over her voice. Not that "pop" control is really all that much different from any other type of control.

Little things like her performance of the word "driving" in the first line "I see you driving 'round town with the guy I love" just made me think there had to be too much computer work done to the vocals.

I had no idea that this was turning into a career for her.

She was introduced tonight at the Oscars as "Country Music's next sensation" (or something like that) and I assume this has all come from Country Strong's suc-wait, lack of success. [I'll post the video whenever it becomes available]

My theory remains true. What was the thing most missing from the performance? Control. Her voice isn't terrible, and yes she has some slight pitch problems. But, mostly what is missing is her control.

She probably sounds like a decent singer in the shower, but not in a microphone.

While in the shower, given the acoustics of typical bathrooms, little nuances in your voice that might not be as pleasing to the ear are covered up by the resonance supplied by the tile, etc. But, in a microphone (and worse, in a dry mix driven to a TV feed) all those nuances cover up the parts of your voice that are actually decent.

It is as if microphones do THE EXACT OPPOSITE that the bathroom walls do.

Which is why, in today's world, people who are not in mastery of their voice ought not sing into a microphone. Or be recorded. Or perform at the Oscars. Or be described as the next big thing.

Stop making actors...singers. Unless they are good. Gwyneth isn't.

-B

For the record, Bieber has incredible control of his voice for not having much training and being 16.