Earl: I don't believe that she has notes lower than the piano.
**************************************************************
I agree. I've never heard her sing lower than a Bass. And even Basses
with extremely low notes don't even come close to singing lower than
a piano.
**************************************************************
Earl: I don't believe she has a usable 7 oct. range.
**************************************************************
I agree but she does have a fantastic range and pretty good pitch
control of her whistle register.
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Earl: But...In the world of Pop music, the "also rans" and
the "clones" are abundant.
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I don't understand, please explain a little more precisely. Thanks.
**************************************************************
Earl: Carey managed to do something different and write her own
material, using the whistle register effectively.
**************************************************************
I didn't know that she wrote her own material. One surely has to be a
competent musician to do that. But aren't singing and composing two
different skills?
**************************************************************
Earl: She has since injured her voice doing the "middle Gospel"
thing, trying to be "urban".
**************************************************************
What exactly is "middle Gospel"? In exactly what way did singing it
damage her voice? What does "trying to be 'urban'" mean? How do you
know that those are what damaged her voice? Might there be other
causes for the damage?
**************************************************************
Earl: I believe that she should not be villified for doing what she
does well, on her own material.
**************************************************************
I'll go you a step further, I don't think anyone willing to take the
risk of a performer's life should ever be vilified by anyone. What
good purpose does vilification serve?
**************************************************************
Earl: The moguls at Sony who made her go Urban should be criticized.
**************************************************************
I disagree. Each individual is accountable for his or her own
decisions. She could have said "No!" any time.
**************************************************************
Earl: When you right your own material and it sells with you
performing it, then you can critique her!
**************************************************************
Your statement contains several logic fallacies:
First: We are each entitled to our opinions no matter what we or
anyone else has accomplished.
Second: Merely because something sells is no guarantee that it has
any merit other than being popular at the time.
Third: Writing one's own material has nothing to do with performance
ability as a singer; though it might imply skill as a composer.
**************************************************************
Earl: I understand that she does some things technically that don't
endear her to the classical vocalist, but she is not one.
**************************************************************
It is a mistake to generalize about groups of people. Using
a "shotgun approach" causes defensiveness, polarization and
resentment. People aren't just one way (classical) or the other
(everything else) all the time. People change; their tastes change.
There doesn't have to be an advesarial relationship between groups
who like specific kinds of singing. Most people like to listen to and
to perform a variety of musical styles. And there are even many of us
who understand that different styles of music require different
techniques. The basics pretty much remain the same; sing on pitch and
in rythm and tell the story but after that it's all pretty much fair
game.
**************************************************************
Earl: Classical musicians tend to get caught up in creating a "note
for note", technique by technique, mentality that is not musical,
artistic, or creative.
**************************************************************
What exactly do you mean by "'note for note', technique by technique
mentality that is not musical, artistic or creative"? How do you know
that "classical musicians" do that?
**************************************************************
Earl: We would do well to understand that the great composers were
improvisationists first, creative to a fault.
**************************************************************
What do the improvisational skills of "the great composers" have to
do with Ms K? Improvisation is a wonderful skill but just because one
can do it doesn't necessarily mean they're great, a composer or a
great composer. I love to listen to a good scat singer like Ella
Fitzgerald, Cleo Lane, Mel Torme',etc or a really good formal singer
like Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Judith Blegen, Bryn Terfel, etc,
doing some Rossini, Handel or Mozart just about as much.
During the age of the castrati, improvisation was prized. Imagine an
instrument that was capable of singing louder than a trumpet, that
could sustain notes for an unbelievably long period of time and that
was even more flexible that today's best coloraturas. The great
composers of that day only gave them an outline to an aria and they
improvised the rest based on groupings of ornamentation that were
understood to be applied in the proper context. They were the
ultimate vocal virtuosi. But the public grew tired of ornamentation
for ornamentation's sake and eventually the music evolved to a more
meaningful form of expression and left the castrati behind. Not all
great composers were improvisationists first either. The skill seems
to run in cycles, depending on what's popular at the time.
**************************************************************
Earl: We should commend those who extend that craft.
**************************************************************
Why?
Regards,
Les
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