Practically every singer ought to come down an octave. Some of you get it already and pros can do whatever they like but practically everyone else tries so hard to be something else that the effort makes it sound at least partially contrived.
Cat and I were talking of it and she was saying I should do this for a more natural sound. She's right and it's true for practically all singers who aren't recorded professionally already, it's particularly true for many female singers. They just sing too fookin' high.
In many cases, female singers would deliver their music much more convincingly and powerfully if they dropped down an octave and sang like a woman. It's impressive if you have a range like Mariah Carey but it's not necessary and may even be an impediment to singing in anything which doesn't have musical, as opposed to evocative, fireworks.
Janis Joplin is the primal example of it and the image of her is likely radically different than that of Mariah Carey and so is the feeling for each singer. Maybe we are biased here at the Rockhouse but we're thinking Joplin was as authentic as a singer can ever be and other singers can only hope to be that true to it.
It isn't that any woman needs to come down an octave ... AND ... scream and growl ... UNLESS ... you are able to do it and need to do it.
Coming down on octave may be singing in a smoky blues bar and some of the best music and singing ever recorded came that way. Maybe she's a cabaret chanteuse and people can critique your music all they like but there is tremendous love for this form of music. This kind of singing is sultry and sensual, all of the most attractive and alluring things about a woman.
For the case study, Nero is playing that fiddle while once he played a guitar. What many don't know is Nero is one hell of a guitar player even though he understates his ability almost constantly. There are times when Nero jams when he trips all the way out on it and it's breathtaking. But he doesn't do that much. Somewhere Nero got it in his head he needed to play violin and this is at least marginally germane because an acoustic guitar can hit high notes, an electric guitar can make them penetrating to the point of being almost painful, and a violin goes even beyond that to a pitch which can make your ears bleed.
(Ed: Nero went up an octave and Rome caught fire?)
Hey, history speaks for itself, my brothah!
Coming down an octave works as a general philosophy for life. Fuhgedaboudit. You wanna give yerself a heart attack or somethin'. Fuhgedaboudit.
So, life rolls as it will but for singing the advice is strong and works for just about anyone.
(Ed: who needs yer yokel advice?)
How about anyone who tries to knock off Mariah Carey and ends up sounding like a chicken??
There's a sad side to it because of a false image of femininity as some glowing angelic thing which floats around weightlessly and sings angel songs.
So, Dagwood, how many femmes you met in yer life what are like that? Fuhgedaboudit.
(Ed: I luvs femmes!)
Of course you do. We all do. But we don't expect them to be fookin' Snow White floating around on a fookin' cloud.
Come down an octave. It will do you no harm and has a great chance of making you sound more like .... YOU, girl.
You don't believe you're beautiful because every motherfucker out there tries to tell you that you're not. Every fookin' movie, every fookin' TV commercial ... you know how it goes. It's constant bombardment with they are beautiful and you are not. It works a bit with male types as the commercials often have some stud looking perfectly cool as he talks like my bud while he stands there in a v-neck sweater without a shirt. I don't know fucking anyone who hangs around and wears only a v-neck sweater with his trousers. I even tried it once and it itches. It sucks.
So, yah, I tried that too. They do that shit to all of us but to femmes a whole lot more. It's candy stuff to suggest you be yourself as obviously that's important. What I'm suggesting is to come down an octave and try it. Find how it fits. Maybe you don't like it but try it for size for a while.
Here's an example for you. Mystery Lady can take "Rebel Yell" and bounce the song off the walls. She could make Billy Idol sound like a sissyboy and this isn't flattery. She does an outstanding uncover of the song. Conversely, she also worked hard on "Wind Beneath My Wings" which is immensely soulful, evocative and emotional ... but I got to fookin' hate it.
Mystery Lady did a beautiful job of "Wind Beneath My Wings" and you know it's a beautiful song. We practiced it multiple times but it's so sweet it was driving me crazy and I'll start hating any song after I feel we're doing it as well as I can do it, we can do it, however that goes.
For my taste, man type as I happen to be, I wanted that "Rebel Yell" woman. Show me that primal stuff and bring it out raw. Let's hear what you have in you, girl, all of it.
This is no critique of Mystery Lady and I affirm as I always have I would jam with her before anyone else in the world. If I'm needing a singer, she has the first refusal always. That's not my point.
The point is the illusion of what the perfect woman is supposed to be. That which is created by "Wind Beneath My Wings" is beautiful but it's still an illusion. The words are all perfectly true and every sentiment in the song is real ... but ... it's not the full portrait of a woman and, almost by definition, it can't be because she's not singing in her natural voice.
(Ed: TV killed the radio star?)
You bet. Come down an octave ... and turn off the fucking television!
Cat and I were talking of it and she was saying I should do this for a more natural sound. She's right and it's true for practically all singers who aren't recorded professionally already, it's particularly true for many female singers. They just sing too fookin' high.
In many cases, female singers would deliver their music much more convincingly and powerfully if they dropped down an octave and sang like a woman. It's impressive if you have a range like Mariah Carey but it's not necessary and may even be an impediment to singing in anything which doesn't have musical, as opposed to evocative, fireworks.
Janis Joplin is the primal example of it and the image of her is likely radically different than that of Mariah Carey and so is the feeling for each singer. Maybe we are biased here at the Rockhouse but we're thinking Joplin was as authentic as a singer can ever be and other singers can only hope to be that true to it.
It isn't that any woman needs to come down an octave ... AND ... scream and growl ... UNLESS ... you are able to do it and need to do it.
Coming down on octave may be singing in a smoky blues bar and some of the best music and singing ever recorded came that way. Maybe she's a cabaret chanteuse and people can critique your music all they like but there is tremendous love for this form of music. This kind of singing is sultry and sensual, all of the most attractive and alluring things about a woman.
For the case study, Nero is playing that fiddle while once he played a guitar. What many don't know is Nero is one hell of a guitar player even though he understates his ability almost constantly. There are times when Nero jams when he trips all the way out on it and it's breathtaking. But he doesn't do that much. Somewhere Nero got it in his head he needed to play violin and this is at least marginally germane because an acoustic guitar can hit high notes, an electric guitar can make them penetrating to the point of being almost painful, and a violin goes even beyond that to a pitch which can make your ears bleed.
(Ed: Nero went up an octave and Rome caught fire?)
Hey, history speaks for itself, my brothah!
Coming down an octave works as a general philosophy for life. Fuhgedaboudit. You wanna give yerself a heart attack or somethin'. Fuhgedaboudit.
So, life rolls as it will but for singing the advice is strong and works for just about anyone.
(Ed: who needs yer yokel advice?)
How about anyone who tries to knock off Mariah Carey and ends up sounding like a chicken??
There's a sad side to it because of a false image of femininity as some glowing angelic thing which floats around weightlessly and sings angel songs.
So, Dagwood, how many femmes you met in yer life what are like that? Fuhgedaboudit.
(Ed: I luvs femmes!)
Of course you do. We all do. But we don't expect them to be fookin' Snow White floating around on a fookin' cloud.
Come down an octave. It will do you no harm and has a great chance of making you sound more like .... YOU, girl.
You don't believe you're beautiful because every motherfucker out there tries to tell you that you're not. Every fookin' movie, every fookin' TV commercial ... you know how it goes. It's constant bombardment with they are beautiful and you are not. It works a bit with male types as the commercials often have some stud looking perfectly cool as he talks like my bud while he stands there in a v-neck sweater without a shirt. I don't know fucking anyone who hangs around and wears only a v-neck sweater with his trousers. I even tried it once and it itches. It sucks.
So, yah, I tried that too. They do that shit to all of us but to femmes a whole lot more. It's candy stuff to suggest you be yourself as obviously that's important. What I'm suggesting is to come down an octave and try it. Find how it fits. Maybe you don't like it but try it for size for a while.
Here's an example for you. Mystery Lady can take "Rebel Yell" and bounce the song off the walls. She could make Billy Idol sound like a sissyboy and this isn't flattery. She does an outstanding uncover of the song. Conversely, she also worked hard on "Wind Beneath My Wings" which is immensely soulful, evocative and emotional ... but I got to fookin' hate it.
Mystery Lady did a beautiful job of "Wind Beneath My Wings" and you know it's a beautiful song. We practiced it multiple times but it's so sweet it was driving me crazy and I'll start hating any song after I feel we're doing it as well as I can do it, we can do it, however that goes.
For my taste, man type as I happen to be, I wanted that "Rebel Yell" woman. Show me that primal stuff and bring it out raw. Let's hear what you have in you, girl, all of it.
This is no critique of Mystery Lady and I affirm as I always have I would jam with her before anyone else in the world. If I'm needing a singer, she has the first refusal always. That's not my point.
The point is the illusion of what the perfect woman is supposed to be. That which is created by "Wind Beneath My Wings" is beautiful but it's still an illusion. The words are all perfectly true and every sentiment in the song is real ... but ... it's not the full portrait of a woman and, almost by definition, it can't be because she's not singing in her natural voice.
(Ed: TV killed the radio star?)
You bet. Come down an octave ... and turn off the fucking television!
No comments:
Post a Comment