From: Judith
To: vocalist
Subject: Bad Singing
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Hi,

I just got back from a concert and I have to talk to someone who
understands. My teeth are still on edge. It was a small concert in a
local church - a soprano and a pianist. Both are music teachers. The
pianist teaches at the local high school and he plays marvelously well.
The singer was awful - no resonance, harsh and sometimes flat high
notes, etc., etc. I suffered until the intermission and then left
discretely. I didn't know many people who were there and may not have
the chance to discuss it with any of them later, but I wonder how these
other people found it. This was classical music, but last year I went
through the same thing only it was mostly popular music - a woman who
sang in a tiny country church, and with a microphone! Everyone seemed
to think she was wonderful. My teacher always told me that you need
just as good a technique to sing popular music as you do for classical,
and this confirmed it. After years of lessons, I've made a lot of
progress, but I know I'm not ready to charge money to have people hear
me sing in concert, or even for free for that matter (I sometimes direct
the singing at church, but that's different). Now my question is: why
don't they realize that they're not up to what they're doing?
Especially the music teacher! I know they're amateurs, but there are
plenty of amateurs with decent voices. Has my voice training made me
too hard to please? Am I getting old and crabby? Am I jealous (not of
their voices, but of their courage)? Maybe it's the price you have to
pay to be able to appreciate really good singing when you hear it!

Thanks for letting me rave.

Judy