Vocalist.org archive


From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Mon Nov 18, 2002  1:24 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] versatility

On Sun, 17 Nov 2002, Jean Marie Henderson wrote:

> My question: Who (other than Dawn Upshaw) does both styles well? Would

This is a really good question, and one I suspect would be answered
differently by classical singing fans and pop singing fans. The only
people I've heard praise Dawn Upshaw's pop singing are classical singing
fans. I've never actually met a pop music fan who though much (or at all)
of Upshaw as a pop singer.

Before Upshaw, an artist who DID have a rather successful crossover career
(into jazz) was Eileen Farrell. But interestingly, as good as Farrell was
at singing jazz, one can still hear a kind of cautiousness and "contrived"
quality to her singing, particularly when one listens to the same songs
done by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, etc.

Another singer who manages to crossover very successfully is Ute Lemper -
but probably because Lemper's main role model was the uncategorisable
Lotte Lenya. The style isn't really classical or pop - it's "Weill-ian" -
it suits the music of Kurt Weill perfectly. But I haven't heard Lemper
singing much of anything other than Weill, so I don't really know how
successful she would be singing "pure" classical or even "pure" pop.

Julia Migenes is another "crossover" singer who has come close to
capturing a real "earthy" jazz-pop sound...when she sings in her middle
register and chest. Like many other classically-trained "crossover"
singers, it's the upper register that gives her away: like Upshaw and
Farrell, when she sings in upper middle and upper register, the sound
suddenly becomes very Bel Canto. It's that classically-trained singer's
caution about not wanting to risk the instrument by blaring out belted top
notes using what has been drummed into us is poor technique.

Barbara Cook, interesting, comes much closer to getting crossover "right"
than any classical singer crossing in the opposite direction. Cook, the
classic "legit" musical theatre soprano, proved her operetta- (if not
full-blown opera-) worthiness when she created the role of Cunegonde in
CANDIDE. But Cook also knows how to belt, swing, and absolutely let go
WITH A MICROPHONE when singing the beltiest and jazziest Sondheim and
other non-"legit" musical theatre and pop songs. That "with a microphone"
is key (and brings up back to our discussion of amplification "good or
bad").

It's a fact that modern "pop" technique absolutely RELIES on use of
amplification. It is not possible to do with the voice some of the
"effects" that pop singers are expected to do without the aid of
amplification. This is because these effects can really only be achieved
when the actual singer sings softly. Without a mike, a pop singer's
"piano" would be inaudible, and her/his "forte" unamplified would sound
like an opera singer's mezzo-piano. Given a mike, however, electronics can
compensate, and enable the singer to create a very intense, dramatic forte
without actually screaming or shouting (which she/he would have to do if
unamplified), and more importantly, can enable the singer to virtually
whisper to achieve those sultry, slightly breathy, but "bread and butter"
pop vocal effects in the "quiet" range and still be heard by the audience.
The microphone also enables the singer to sustain loud notes much longer
than would be possible were the singer projecting without amplification,
because so much less breath is required because the pop singer is singing,
relatively, less loud than the opera singer needs to sing to achieve the
same decibel level.

The reason Ethel Merman's belt was so brassy, forward placed, and loud is
that she was singing BEFORE amplification, and yet using a purely pop
technique. It is a tribute to her as an interpreter that she was able to
create an interesting palate from what was essentially a very monochrome
sound. It's also interesting to listen to her when she wasn't belting -
when she was singing sweet romantic songs, particularly early in her
career. Her technique was essentially "legit". And no doubt she realised
early on that she sounded like hundreds of other singers, and so she
"invented" the Merman belt, and the rest is history.

Me personally, I've always preferred Alice Faye to The Merm - but then, I
don't ever kid myself that Faye could have had much or any singing career
had she not had the benefit of miking, in nightclubs or on the Hollywood
sound stage.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
That man is the happiest who
is most thoroughly deluded.
- Erasmus




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