Be More than a Singer
- By Morgan Cryar
- Published 02/28/2007
- The Music
- Unrated
I got a phone call from a friend recently about his daughter. She sings old-style jazz.
The reason he called was to ask if I had any advice on what to do with a daughter who sings old-style jazz. (He chose to call me because MY daughter sings the same style and my friend knew we had gone through the same decision-making process they were going through: career vs. college, this style vs. that style, how to approach record labels, etc.)
He made an off-hand comment that stuck with me. His daughter sings so beautifully that her voice is what I'd call 'stunning.'
But he mentioned that she came home from school and said 'I can't sing,' (which meant, 'I'm not good enough.')
He asked her why she was saying such a thing. She replied that she had sung for her friends at school and they had not expressed much other than boredom...
As you can imagine, he and I both experienced a mix of emotions hearing thisreport. We were offended ('those young punks...what do they know?...') We were indignant ('Kids today don't even know how to recognize a great song...') And we were unabated (Because we know that there is still a market for old-style jazz...think of Madeleine Peyroux--whose
voice was restored by working with Brett Manning--she alone is proof.)
But upon thinking about this comment, I got the idea for this article.
HERE'S A 'HARD TRUTH'...
MOST OF THE TIME, WE DESIRE MORE THAN A SINGER!
My friend Tom Jackson (stage show expert) likes to compare what happens between a singer and an audience with what happens at a restaurant: The audience is like a table full of hungry people. They don't think much about the waiter...they think about getting some good food.
And this analogy works very well, if you remember times when you've been in an audience yourself...
You don't go into a restaurant and order 3 orders of french fries and nothing else, do you? You like variety, so you order several different
things in the same meal. This is very much what an audience likes... they like to have some variety during the same concert.
Tom Jackson provides artists with the knowledge of how they can put together a show that 'keeps the audience guessing' just enough
to keep them engaged the entire time.
That brings up another point about audiences everywhere...
The reason he called was to ask if I had any advice on what to do with a daughter who sings old-style jazz. (He chose to call me because MY daughter sings the same style and my friend knew we had gone through the same decision-making process they were going through: career vs. college, this style vs. that style, how to approach record labels, etc.)
He made an off-hand comment that stuck with me. His daughter sings so beautifully that her voice is what I'd call 'stunning.'
But he mentioned that she came home from school and said 'I can't sing,' (which meant, 'I'm not good enough.')
He asked her why she was saying such a thing. She replied that she had sung for her friends at school and they had not expressed much other than boredom...
As you can imagine, he and I both experienced a mix of emotions hearing thisreport. We were offended ('those young punks...what do they know?...') We were indignant ('Kids today don't even know how to recognize a great song...') And we were unabated (Because we know that there is still a market for old-style jazz...think of Madeleine Peyroux--whose
But upon thinking about this comment, I got the idea for this article.
HERE'S A 'HARD TRUTH'...
MOST OF THE TIME, WE DESIRE MORE THAN A SINGER!
My friend Tom Jackson (stage show expert) likes to compare what happens between a singer and an audience with what happens at a restaurant: The audience is like a table full of hungry people. They don't think much about the waiter...they think about getting some good food.
And this analogy works very well, if you remember times when you've been in an audience yourself...
You don't go into a restaurant and order 3 orders of french fries and nothing else, do you? You like variety, so you order several different
things in the same meal. This is very much what an audience likes... they like to have some variety during the same concert.
Tom Jackson provides artists with the knowledge of how they can put together a show that 'keeps the audience guessing' just enough
to keep them engaged the entire time.
That brings up another point about audiences everywhere...
Article Series
This article is part 2 of a 2 part series. Other articles in this series are shown below:
-
Be More than a Singer