Friday, November 28, 2014

SINGING!!


MUSICAL JUDGEMENTS:

I wish to say a few things about all the popular singing contests. I have watched The Voice and I have watched America's Got Talent. I have not watched American Idol, dunno why.

Since watching these I have also watched X Factor UK, Australia and some other countries all on the Internet and really enjoyed those very much.

I listened to some oldies such as “Who's Loving You Now” and some new songs that I had never heard but liked very much such as “Listen”, “Say Something” and “Fix you now”. Whew. Then I listened to the original artists on line. Sometimes the original was better sometimes I liked the new version better.

My favorite parts of all of these contests were the initial auditions.  There was a preproduction purity of the songs, they hadn't been tarted up yet and some have been breathtakingly good, chills,thrills and goose flesh.
 
The judging of all of these contests are limited to celebrities who may or may not have actual musical talent or training. When the celebrities have chosen or been assigned their talents, they wear themselves out praising their candidates repeatedly, well except for Mel B, Howard Stern and Simon Cowell. What I would like to point out is that no one cites any educator of musical standards from Julliard (spelling) or some other prestigious facility to point out what is missing. This would lend some much needed verisimilitude to the proceedings. 

That way I would achieve a feeling of judgemental superiority similar to that when watching the Olympics. After a few views I can pretty accurately call a perfect dive and deduct a tenth of a point for a teeny tiny splash. 
 
The differences in the audience participation is marked. The Brits cheerfully roar for their favorites, they go along with the “joke” acts and boo off the really bad ones. The Americans cheer ANYthing. Tsk. The Australians moan over the singers stories. It is all quite wonderful.

Now, I am beginning to think I have attained a more educated ear or I am suffering some limited range hearing deficit/impairment. Why you ask? Well, the last few songs on The Voice were off for more than one or two songs. They were slightly off, slightly flat, slightly sour, slightly not singing the actual song. There were only TWO singers that gave me the shivers. 
 
Production values: The Voice apparently does not believe in spot lights, the stage is so dark with only occasional mood lighting that the electricians may actually be on strike. The audience screams entirely too much, use your ears people, you will enjoy it much more. On one of the most recent X Factors UK, one of the singers did a “Devil” number and they spray painted him GOLD he looked like he had escaped Gold Finger. He sang beautifully but really 
spray paint??

Good news? The Taste is coming next week on ABC, those cranky chefs will choose their teams to cook superb dishes. Wheeeee!!



No comments: