I don't think either of them are very good singers, or are good at handling their mics. Chenoweth's voice is easier to understand, but waving her mic around like that must drive the sound tech crazy. Bean's voice sounds muddled and hard to understand. And she's not singing into the mic, but at times over it, again very trying for the sound tech.

I was classically trained as a singer and taught to project in an acoustic hall with no electronic amplification. It took me a while to learn to sing with a mic. I have learned to stand back a foot or so and project. Also I try to keep a constant distance from the mic, and let the sound tech adjust the level. Some sound techs tell me to get the mic as close to my mouth as possible, but if I do that I blow everything away. Also for solo singing, I prefer not to have a monitor - it is distracting and I've heard myself sing before.

I run a venue in an intimate acoustic space, which needs no amplification - I like that the best. But some singers (mainly singer-songwriters) have a hard time - they can't project and have to have sound feedback to remind them that they are singing (the shower stall effect). The best singers, in my opinion, are street musicians who have learned how to be heard without any amplification.

Claudia Schmidt will sing in our venue again this coming May. She has a voice that needs no amplification (Garrison Keillor said "when Claudia sings a song, it stays sung!"). She loves our venue because she can freely move around and interact with her audience in the absence of any mics.

Cheers, S. in Seattle