Actually, I made this interesting observation in combination with an additional observation that I did yesterday.
The thing was: Yesterday evening I was listening to a live concert of a pretty known pretty new German band called Silbermond (Silvermoon), http://www.silbermond.de. The female singer was very communicative even picking one guy with a fan T-Shirt out of the audience and inviting him onto the stage for a while.
However, generally the audience was treated like a body, i.e. spoken to as "you guys here in...". Unfortunately (and probably understandable), this is pretty usual and one has no right to lament on this.
What made this interesting, however, was that the singing was - well - _allright_, possibly even good if you'd been a fan of that band.
Now, today I was visiting another concert of a local Big Band, http://jass-concert-band.de. They were performing very skillfully. The female singers were rotating and their singing extremly well.
Their voices were just great. No supporting music needed, they hit the tones. They faded, they rose, they were so technically good. Them being your pilots and your plane would never crash.
However, one interesting aspect caught my eye:
Neither of the band singers (not yesterdays, not todays) really reached the hearts of the audiences. Nor did they even try.
Of course, one might say: Well, why should they want to get to your heart ? All right: But isn't that what's music is about ? In my honest opinion music is not mainly a profession or for fun: It's for getting in contact with our feelings. So, in my point of view, these great singers just missed a chance, a chance to become immortal, a chance to leave a trace.
But why did they fail to reach the hearts of the audience and what could they have done to take advantage of the situation and top their performances by really getting through to the hearts of the listeners ?
Let's look at the singers of todays Big Band: These singers were totally balanced and listenening to themselves, very concentrated, very inwardly directed. They could play with their voices, let it steplessly fade or rise and highlight certain tones. But just the sounds actually left their lips.
No look for the world around really, never showing that they were aware that there is a world outside of their heads.
What they didn't do is: At no point of time did they try to play with their voices in direction to the audiences. So, I think that's the answer: To take the audience for serious.
If you're an experienced and balanced singer, this should be possible for you.
The feeling I had was: The female singer, let's call her Susi, bridged a gap of air of about 95%. Of course, the sound got ahead but not the feeling. Too bad, as it just would have needed a little push.
The second singer, let's call her Lena, in that regard was worse: The air behaved like foggy cotton to her voice. The emeotions got stuck and were sucked away some 80% past her lips. And again I'm not talking about the sound here but just about the emotional aspects.
My personal conclusion is:
- The singers were not aware of this emotional gap.
- The rest of the audience did not realize this gap (and therefore gave inadequate feedback to the singers).
- The audience was polite.
- The audience was not used to and prepared for receiving emotional broadcasts from a singer.
- My own perception might have been incorrect.
- I was too critical.
- I saw possibilities that nobody was really interested in sending nor receiving.
- The singers didn't want to build an emotional thread to the audiences hearts.
To make my point a little clearer:
Imagine you were a singer: Would other people be able to hear your singing from a distance ?
How far does your voice carry ? 1 meter, 2 meters, 10 meters ?
Can you vary the distance that you want your voice to carry ?
Do you know what I mean ?
Can you point your voice to certain points in the room ?
Can you talk to a single person in the crowd over a distance of 10 meters ?
The answer is: Of course you can !
Ever tried to shout at someone on the other side of the train station ?
Ever tried to talk to someone on the other side of the river ?
How did you do it ? By the power of your voice ?
Or possibly by the clarity and focus of your voice ?
That's what I mean.
Talking to the needle in the crowd.
I think, a singer should be able to use his voice like a tool and also should use this ability. For his own sake and immortality and for the joy of his/her audience.
