Once again, there I was a captive audience. This time on a Jetblue [I LOVE YOU JETBLUE FOR YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR] flight from Ft. Meyers to JFK after a weekend in Naples with lizards, breezes, a pool, the beach, cocktails, Peanut-effing-M&Ms, orchid blossoms, tennis, bike-riding, and the sun. (Does anybody remember the sun?)
I ended up rather accidentally catching the Top 12 Men of American Idol show their stuff on Tuesday night, which worked out fairly well considering that my next blog post was to be about the show. To balance things out, tonight I forced myself to watch the Top 12 Women on the American Idol website. And I must admit that I went into this locked 'n' loaded, ready to post about how they all sound the same and all of the music is either R&B or Pop-Country. So I was actually relieved and somewhat disarmed to hear distinctive timbres in different contestants' voices, distinctive looks and personalities: Casey Abrams' general bearded 19-going-on-38-sex-creepiness (but he's a bassist! a real bassist! yes, please), Naima Adedapo's straight-up jazz depth, Jacob Lusk's throwback gospel R&B (comes off as more of a 70's Baptist preacher than a rock star).
I've not followed the show (so correct me if I'm wrong, fans) but it seems to me the Idol producers have made a concerted effort to diversify the selection of contestants, both in terms of genre-preference as well as ethnic and stylistic backgrounds. Generally speaking, the men were more interesting than the women. Diva (yawn), ingenue (gag), angel of inspiration (feh), temptress (eyeroll) —what is this, a line of Old Navy jeans? There are many emotions that a woman can experience and express in her life. Let's try some new ones, eh ladies of America? Here's a chart to help you explore: http://www.ami-tx.com/Portals/3/EmotionsFlyer.pdf
All of that said, there's an answer for me in James Durbin.
Tourette's & Asperger's syndromes he has but he's also got the juice. I never thought I'd say this but J-Lo's totally right: he sings from the place where singing is supposed to originate. When he sings, everything else goes away. He is not aware of the fact that he's performing, that people are watching him, that he's supposed to be entertaining. He just goes to a place deep inside and turns inside out.
Says the 3-year-old, "I want to go to there."
Because otherwise, it's just competitive emoting, showcasing, and vocal gymnastics. I'm sick of watching people try to out-diva each other whether on American Idol, The GRAMMYs, or trash TV. It's all "I'm going to go out on that stage as sexed up as possible, throw my voice around 'til I sweat, and work myself up into a scream at the end with either my loudest/highest note or a seemingly unending riff on all the notes I have inside my body." OK, fine. But that doesn't make you a musician, it makes you some kind of super-specialized athlete. And that makes me tired.
So what's the point?
Showing posts with label american idol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american idol. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Glee Thinks All Space Is Star Wars / From the Phantom Zone
Due to the vicious plague I contracted somehow (licked a pole on the C train?), I recently found myself on an unprecedented TV bender that included a couple of episodes each of Glee and American Idol, and ended with the (53rd Annual) GRAMMY (Award)s (show).
Which brings me to the subject of today's blog.
Glee, you make me want to punch teenagers. First of all, nobody goes to a competition called "sectionals." Did any of the writers on the show even bother to learn the basic vocabulary of the choir world? A choir competes in All-County, All-District, and perhaps they can go to "Regionals" or "State" competitions. In the context of music, a "sectional" is when the different sub-sections of a larger ensemble break off to rehearse their specific part. Like, the alto section has a sectional rehearsal. [It took me four seconds to find this on Wikipedia.] A correct usage would be the teacher walking into the room and saying "OK, guys. Remember that today we're breaking into sectionals, so grab your folders and get going." They also never encounter written music of any kind (??), have a multimillion dollar budget (I had $400 a year + whatever we made selling candy bars), and an invisible choreographer, costume designer, arranger, producer, several mix engineers, and a music licensing agent. Whatever, whatever, fine, I get it, it's an episodic musical on TV.
But still, I watch that show and the words of Cletus Spuckler and his friend say it best: "You know, one hillbilly has his way with one fat guy in Deliverance, and suddenly, people think that's all hillbillies do. I suppose you think all space is Star Wars!"
Exactly.
But the fact is, after 20 minutes of any of the above shows, I yearn for the rough 'n' shoddy sounds of the Country Bear Jamboree. And the real reason isn't the complete lack of basic research done by the show's writers, it's the over-production. It's not just Glee, it's...just about everything that makes it to the radio or TV and ends up in my iPod's gym mix.
I can suspend reality and roll with the shallow characters and over-the-top story lines. Sure, it's kind of fun. But listening to the canned vocals, the flat compression [THE WORST], the autotune, the pitch correction, the time correction, the sterilization of all emotional nuance (leftover are only power, cutsie-ness, and cheese, but that's my next blog entry) in the sound — that's what really sets me off.
It sounds like everyone on the show (and on the radio) is singing to us from The Phantom Zone.
WHY?? Is it just because we have a lot of sliders, buttons, and effects that we have to crank them up to 11? Are quality and authenticity of sound not something addressed in audio schools?
Which brings me to the subject of today's blog.
Glee, you make me want to punch teenagers. First of all, nobody goes to a competition called "sectionals." Did any of the writers on the show even bother to learn the basic vocabulary of the choir world? A choir competes in All-County, All-District, and perhaps they can go to "Regionals" or "State" competitions. In the context of music, a "sectional" is when the different sub-sections of a larger ensemble break off to rehearse their specific part. Like, the alto section has a sectional rehearsal. [It took me four seconds to find this on Wikipedia.] A correct usage would be the teacher walking into the room and saying "OK, guys. Remember that today we're breaking into sectionals, so grab your folders and get going." They also never encounter written music of any kind (??), have a multimillion dollar budget (I had $400 a year + whatever we made selling candy bars), and an invisible choreographer, costume designer, arranger, producer, several mix engineers, and a music licensing agent. Whatever, whatever, fine, I get it, it's an episodic musical on TV.
But still, I watch that show and the words of Cletus Spuckler and his friend say it best: "You know, one hillbilly has his way with one fat guy in Deliverance, and suddenly, people think that's all hillbillies do. I suppose you think all space is Star Wars!"
Exactly.
But the fact is, after 20 minutes of any of the above shows, I yearn for the rough 'n' shoddy sounds of the Country Bear Jamboree. And the real reason isn't the complete lack of basic research done by the show's writers, it's the over-production. It's not just Glee, it's...just about everything that makes it to the radio or TV and ends up in my iPod's gym mix.
I can suspend reality and roll with the shallow characters and over-the-top story lines. Sure, it's kind of fun. But listening to the canned vocals, the flat compression [THE WORST], the autotune, the pitch correction, the time correction, the sterilization of all emotional nuance (leftover are only power, cutsie-ness, and cheese, but that's my next blog entry) in the sound — that's what really sets me off.
It sounds like everyone on the show (and on the radio) is singing to us from The Phantom Zone.
WHY?? Is it just because we have a lot of sliders, buttons, and effects that we have to crank them up to 11? Are quality and authenticity of sound not something addressed in audio schools?
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