singers: who do you emulate and why?

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 07:57 AM

I think a lot of people learn how to paint by trying to paint like masters. What sort of brush strokes did they use? What colors were they fond of? What subjects did they paint and how did they place people and objects? It's a natural way to learn, and if artists emulate enough other artists, they eventually learn a bunch of techniques and choose to adapt some bits and discard the rest. What comes out in the end is their own style.

We learn from other singers even if we aren't aware of it. If we try to copy one particular person and force our voices to fit every bit of their style, we sound like wannabes. If we learn how to do this and that the way they do in order for our own voices to come out, it just learning.

I guess I used to try to sound like other singers, but now I mainly try to figure out how they do things. "When did she slip from chest to head voice, and how did she do it so smoothly?" or "what is that little bit of ornamentation she stuck in there?" I don't even sound like me on home recordings - how could I hope to do someone else better?

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: Grab
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 07:53 AM

Problem is that if you learn a song from a CD, you'll imitate the singer, consciously or unconsciously. To sound like "yourself singing it" (nice one McGrath) is an interesting problem. Myself, the only time I get that reasonably well is when it's been so long since I heard the original, I've forgotten how it went and I can only actually remember how my single-guitar, single-voice arrangement goes!

Graham.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 07:31 AM

No doubt Dylan tried to sound like Woody and Jack, but he ended up sounding like himself.

The thing is to avoid the one trap of trying to sound like someone else, and the opposite one of trying to sound different from anybody else.

The song is what matters, and if you put that first, you end up sounding like yourself singing it.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: mooman
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 07:07 AM

Tend to agree with Garg on this. I couldn't emulate anyone else and wouldn't especially want to!

Deni...solfage is the term used in French for musical notation, i.e. reading music.

Regards

mooman

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: kendall
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 06:05 AM

Why, Doug, I didn't know you cared! Thanks Mate!

I've never tried to sing like anyone else. Figured it wouldn't do me any good, and they dont need my help.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: Bert
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 05:19 AM

Right on there Garg me ol' china. I always TRY to be me, but I'm sure that lots of my Dad shows though, along with bits of Lonnie Donnegan, Johnnie Cash and maybe even a little John Denver Now and then. And I feel kinda chuffed when I can hear bits of Dad in my style.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: English Jon
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 05:09 AM

"I wonder why any professional musician would want to emulate someone else?"

which is why all opera singers learn "bel canto" technique. Hmmm.

I guess the point is not to slavishly emulate someone's individual technique, but to pick up general aspects of style which appeal.

EJ

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: MAG
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 01:39 AM

Any craft involves learning technique. Every great artist learned technique from a master at some point.

You can't sound like yourself until you know what you want to sound like, what your technical limitations are, what material suits your taste and your voice.

Besides, I'm not a pro, DougR. Are you?

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: MAG
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 01:14 AM

Do-re-mi, Deni.

Well, Bobby Dylan obviously modelled himself on Woody and Ramblin' Jack Elliot.

Give us an example of someone who makes you feel the meaning of a song, Deni.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: DougR
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 01:12 AM

I wonder why any professional musician would want to emulate someone else? Garg has the right idea I think. Sound like yourself.

A professionally successful vocalist, I think, is one that when you hear them on radio or on a recording, you know precisely who that vocalist is. Why try to sound like them?

Make your own voice immediately recognizable.

At least that's my thinking on the subject.

As to vocalists I admire: Burl Ives, Eddy Arnold, Jimmy Buffet, Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, John Prine, Rick Fielding, Kendall Morse, Mary Black, and lots more.

DougR

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: Deni
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 01:09 AM

Good idea for a thread, but what is solfage?

Ever since i was a kid I've been compared to one singer after another. Sometimes a change of hairstyle was enough to complete the transformation!

I like anyone who can make me feel the meaning of a song, or make me forget where I am and what I'm doing. however half-a-pint of lager at lunchtime has a similar effect.

has anyone any little snippets of which successful artists have modelled their technique on another singer?

deni

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: MAG
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 12:43 AM

Yes, Allan, things like noticing how singers modulate to bring things out in a song. Funny you should mention Gene Pitney; "Town Without Pity" remains a classic, in my mind.

anybody besides me develop a fear and loathing of solfage? I know, I know it's just a tool ...

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 12:36 AM

My sound is mine and mine alone...

But then again, when the yodel part comes, I "hear" ol' Jimmy R in my mind....BUT..it just doesn't come out the same on a playback recording.

Subject: RE: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: Allan C.
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 11:20 PM

I always wanted to sound like The Seekers or maybe We Five.*G* Well, perhaps not. Actually, I have always been a great admirer of Lenny Welch ("Since I Fell for You"). He was a sort of blues crooner. I liked his style. I can't think of anyone else who I especially wanted to emulate. There is a long list of influences that include such people as Paul Stookey ("The Wedding Song"), Jerry Butler ("For Your Precious Love"), Perry Como("And I Love You So"), Lou Rawls ("Love Is A Hurtin' Thing") and Gene Pitney ("Only Love Can Break A Heart"). This is not to say that I have managed to sound anything like any of them. I just feel that I have tried to adopt some of what I think are their better qualities.

I sometimes like the way that Paul Stookey attacks his vowel sounds. Jerry Butler has a resonance about his voice that I would love to capture. Perry Como had a way of hitting notes right on the head without sounding odd or stilted. Perry, with his quietly powerful voice, also made it a point to sing with his backup group rather than over them. Lou Rawls, besides having his wonderfully rumbling voice, also has the sound of laughter in his voice - like he is singing a joke's punchline. Gene Pitney has a unique sound to his voice and like some of the others above, has a gift for phrasing.

The one thing that most of the artists I admire have in common (most of them, anyway,) is the sense of appropriate modulation. They can feel those places in the lyrics where a sudden drop or spike in volume can make all the difference in how the meaning is received. If I never learn anything more than that from any of them, I will consider myself very fortunate, indeed.

Subject: singers: who do you emulate and why?
From: MAG
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 09:38 PM

true to my threat in the "Perfect Singer" thread (which I liked), I would like to continue the discussion of what us singers like in the way of models.

for example, I like the mature Joan Baez voice much better than the young voice which everybody and then some just loved for its purity. I was working so hard to overcome breaks, and hers seemed so obvious, and then in head voice there was so much tremulo, which always sounds affected to me. Now she has a nice warm mellow sound. I like it.

and the way Odetta and Linda Thompson can belt 'em out. How do they get that dull sound throughout their range? (I know, practice practice practice -- or, more accurately, practice with intelligence.)

I drive long distance a lot and throw tapes on to my tape player. I will sing along, say, to Art Thieme's "Wilderness Road," and when I resonate with the song I remember that space. It's a good, connected space.

When I went over to the gathering at Mousethief's, I caught the Woody Guthrie exhibit at the State History Museum in Tacoma. It reminded me of the part in "Ballad of Ramblin' Jack" where he talks about "pretty" voices doing songs which were not meant for pretty -- specifically, people singing about things like hard travelin' when they had obviously never done any. There was a lot of food for thought there. It is so easy to slip into trying to sound arty. I would much rather sound gutsy, without raunching out my voice like Janis Joplin or other rock singers -- screaming is NOT good for the voice. The only one I know of who can really walk this line is Bonnie Raitt. Hey, I should have mentioned her on the "Perfect Singer" thread. Her voice is clear when she wants clear, edgy when she wants edgy, growly when she wants growly.

Anyone?