BJHA:
I know I am coming off here as some kind of curmudgeon but I think
the primary point of this discussion has been somehow slightly lost.
Sometimes in the process of rethinking why one is unhappy with the
quality of performance of a particular group of singers it is easy to
forget what has happened that caused the problem. Surly singers of
the "now" are not less capable than singer of other times. Yet they
display so little skill and such crude understanding of the art they
have chosen to embrace.
Amping is not bad nor wrong. It just is a very capable crutch.
There are many singers who use it and are to be admired and emulated.
There are more who are heard because of it and there is nothing to
admire or emulate. Were it not for amping, we would never know they
were there and that would not be all bad
For example,. have you any comments on the singing of Clark who just
won the "favored singer"award and cannot do her CD because of voice
fatigue. Or the contestants who are even now yelling their way to
fame on the Today show?
The past is not the answer. Integrity of art is the concern. No one
is trying to denigrate the new because it is capable of promoting
mediocrity. But mediocrity of any time with or without assistance is
still less than the best. And we are, because of amping, inundated
with mediocrity.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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