Rap “music” is the result of throwing Hip Hop into a BlentTec blender along with a soupçon of raw sewage and a “whole buncha lotta” Premium Stupid®.
That is all. For now.
Testament of Freedom
Something to consider as July 4 approaches:
Siedbar: Note the applause between movements by “nekulturni” (those who are uncultured, boorish, exhibiting behavior inappropriate for the context) in the audience. Those who know better save their applause for the end instead of interrupting the performance. *sigh*
It Ain’t All About Talent
I enjoy watching clips of Britain’s Got Talent more than I do clips of similar “talent” on America’s Got Talent for many reasons, not the least of which is the actual talent. ¯\_(?)_/¯
Recently, though, Simon Cowell got me thinking about talent. (I know – surprising, right? 😉 ) He had a comment to a guy that was an unconscious dig wrapped in a compliment, something to the effect that Michael Bublé pretty much had the guy’s genre wrapped up.
That spurred me to think a bit about Bublé’s performances and his genre. Compare his singing to the guys who defined the genre. Yeh, nopers. Bublé’s performances lack life, a certain attitude that goes beyond mere emulation of a crooner’s delivery. Compare Bublé and Sinatra singing the same piece. I’ll grant you that Bublé’s instrument – his voice – is technically a better instrument than Sinatra’s, but there’s a world of qualitative difference in their performances.
That spurred me to recall a “new classic” – a 2003 live performance of “Mary’s Boy Child” by Cliff Richards and Helmut Lotti (sorta Europe’s answer to Michael Bublé). As they performed portions separately and then together, the differences between the kid and the Olde Pharte became starkly clear. While I am not fond of everything Richards did in his performance, it had real life, while Lotti’s technically accurate performance, complete with better vocal instrument, was just kinda lifeless, no matter how much he attempted to insert Copycat Richards elements.
And that brought me to memories of what may be the ultimate “talent ain’t all there is” evidence. Early in his career, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, arguably THE best solo voice of the 20th Century, and if not the best, then in the top two, performed (and recorded) Schubert’s Wintereisse song cycle several times in his early career, and was justly famous for giving definitive performances, however. . . later in life, toward the end of his singing career (in his late 60s), he performed and recorded the same song cycle. While his vocal instrument was fading at that time, the performances are at least an order of magnitude more artful and moving.
Why? I would like to suggest that, even though Fischer-Dieskau’s voice was a lesser instrument toward the close of his singing career, his understanding of the music and text had advanced greatly, and. . . yes, even as his voice was fading, he never stopped developing his complete grasp of his art, his “chops” as it were.
Just a few synapse firings. No real conclusion or tie back to the BGT/AGT lead in.
Hyfrydol
Rowland Prichard’s tune “Hyfrydol” has been used as a setting for some great hymn texts, but one of my very favorites will always remain John Wilbur Chapman’s,
Jesus! what a Friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me, He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Chorus
Hallelujah! what a Savior! Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.
Jesus! what a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in Him;
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing, He, my strength, my vic’try wins.
Chorus
Jesus! what a help in sorrow! While the billows o’er me roll,
Even when my heart is breaking, He, my comfort, helps my soul.
Chorus
Jesus! what a guide and keeper! While the tempest still is high,
Storms about me, night o’ertakes me, He, my pilot, hears my cry.
Chorus
Jesus! I do now receive Him, More than all in Him I find,
He hath granted me forgiveness, I am His and He is mine!
Chorus
BTW, the song is only loosely a hymn, technically speaking. It’s actually much closer to a Gospel song, though not in the contemporary pejorated sense but in the classical sense.
Tip for the Holidays
Getcher “figgy pudding cannons and claymores” set up early to drive off the toxically tuneless carolers who won’t go away until they get some. Give it to ’em, but good.
Trials of the Season. . .
Oh, goodie! It’s time for me to break out some noise-canceling earbuds and crank up some decent Xmas music to drown out the disgusting crap that tone deaf, tasteless, auto-lobotomized producers slap into the Hallmark Xmas shows that a *cough* much-beloved someone *cough* likes to watch.
Memory’s a Funny Thing
In addition to my tinnitus chorusing along with earworms, sometimes those earworms just seem to pop up out of nowhere, or some “Fibber McGee’s Closet” of memories. . .
One occasional source of memories insinuating themselves as earworms is children’s songs learned in early-mid childhood. I recall 4th Grade music class (what, maybe once or twice a week?) which was held in the school library for some reason. The music book was a faded red cloth-covered book, and when one of the songs from that class crops up, I see the page the song was on, the music, and the lyrics, even, from time to time, illustrations accompanying the song. *shrugs* Visual memory always seems to work better for me when it’s associated with music, especially sheet music, etc.
Just one of those things.
Practice Does Not Make Perfect
At most, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice can make “perfect,” and that ain’t gonna happen this side of the Jordan. . .
Still, practicing a musical piece. . . so many different methods, and choices/successes depend largely on skill level and preferences, but I always preferred reading through a piece and listening to it “between my ears” as much as possible before setting hand (and mouth, depending on instrument) or voice to the music. *shrugs* During a quick read-through, I could generally identify places that might need special attention, and could often iron them out, at least a bit during the scan. Then it was mostly discerning and effecting the teleos of the piece, as I inferred it from the leading of the tune and harmonies, as well as the composer’s directions on the page (notes and signs and etc.). When leading a group through a sight–reading. I came to appreciate the STARS method for young/inexperienced/amateur performers. For a group with more developed music literacy, just walking through a piece and noting to the group where I thought the different sections (or the group or the piece or both) might require a bit of attention. That was usually enough to get that attention paid during the first sigh reading session. Usually. *heh*
With volunteer choral groups, I preferred handing out an abbreviated rehearsal schedule, with bullet points derived from my much more detailed outline for each piece in the schedule for that rehearsal. Kept things moving and saved time. Of course, I had to remain flexible and touch on unanticipated issues though those were usually rare. A fav book on choral conducting informed the time I spent doing that. . . I occasionally had voices like those referred to below, and I celebrated their inclusion:
“I have never paid much attention to the ‘quality’ of a choral candidate’s voice. I am much more influenced by the extent of his desire to sing, and by his interest in music. . . May I offer an extreme example of this indifference to vocal endowment. I once had, as members of a chorus, two monotones. It would be impossible to exaggerate the delight they experienced in having a part in the rehearsal of great music, and had I denied them one of the real resources of life, I should always have regretted it. They were not the least sensitive over their deficiency and made no protest at being seated together a little apart from the chorus. Fortunately, their voices were not strong ones. They sang, without deleterious effect, not less than four major choral works with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its conductor.” —
_Choral Conducting_, Archibald T. Davison ©1940, sixth edition: 1950,pp. 27-28.
Such a Pleasure!
Sissel, “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls”
I just love her voice.
Mary’s Boy-Child
(I have, as Perri noted in comments, now had the “video unavailable” error twice, while at other times it has loaded. *sigh*
This one, of several others, has loaded a few times for me. Let’s see how long it stays up, mmmK?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_t-rTbOOAI