Someone posted a link on my Facebook page to a performance by Kristin Cheoweth and Shoshana Bean (a song from Wicked, that I've never seen. I've also never heard of Bean.) I'm posting this not because of the song or event, but because of the striking difference in the way these two women use the microphones as they perform together.

Chenoweth strikes me as a classically trained singer who uses her diaphragm and propels the song outward. She holds the mic several inches in front of her. Bean holds the mic as her mouth, as if she couldn't get the sound beyond how it sounds in that cavity. No propulsion.

I've seen other mis-matched programs, such a holiday performance by opera and pop singers. I think it was the mismatch of Placido Domingo and Diana Ross - she always has the mic right at her mouth, while his is positioned three feet in front of him.

Thoughts?