2.9.14 Family Equity Council Dinner, Adam & Chris get GLAM!!

WARNING: Long-assed post about vocal technique. Feel free to scroll if it is not your thing.

Someone commented that there were a number of posts about beards, hair cuts, etc and very little about the performance last night. I guess that is true. But, after you say it is gorgeous (which is nothing new for Adam. We have had five years of "gorgeous" vocals at this point), what is new? I did have some thoughts on the voice after listening a couple more times. So, to balance things out, here goes.

Just like hair styles and facial fuzz or lack there of, people's preferences for singing styles and voice sounds is individual and influenced by their own life experiences. Truth in Advertising disclaimer: As y'all know, my experience growing up is classical music with a smattering of musical theater, choral music, and jazz. I have formal training in piano, violin and voice. That's my "bias."

Adam's voice is beautiful to me for many reasons that have nothing to do with the way he looks, moves, dresses, or talks. First and foremost is the tones and textures of his voice. It is bright, pure, clear, ringing, with a richness and fullness to it. This underlies all of his different sounds. He can add roughness or gravel when he chooses, but that tone is still there. It is one of the main things that differentiates him from most other pop singers of today. And, it comes from his years of formal, classical training. An individual does not roll out of bed sounding like that. It is not "natural."

An untrained singer sings with the same voice, the same "technique" as they talk. Lots of chest, and, when reaching for high notes and/or singing loudly, lots of push and brute force. You hear that push in the big belting divas. You hear it in Bruno's voice especially when he goes for the high notes (as he once said, he wrote a song in the key of "what the fuck"). It is a sound many people are very familiar with and enjoy; even covet in their pop stars. 

When one studies voice in the more classical style, one learns to focus, even "aim" the sound toward certain resonators in the body and head. These resonators naturally amplify the sound and add layers of harmonics to it which makes it sound fuller, and richer, with that "ring" I love in Adam's voice. A student of voice also learns how to adjust muscles and air flow to smoothly hit low notes and high notes that are often beyond what an untrained singer is able to hit. The student learns to move up and down their range without revealing these adjustments in the tone or sound of their voice, so that the voice character is consistent from low to high. A goal is to make the singing sound effortless, free and floating no matter what note and no matter what volume.

Another emphasis in voice training is overall consistency and control. The singer aims to be able to sing any note in their range pianissimo (very softly) to fortissimo (very loudly) at will. The accomplished, trained singer's sound is not controlled by the song, the melody line or the range. He or she CHOOSES how to sing the note or phrase dependent on interpretation of the melody and lyrics. These singers can also sing musical and lyrical phrases of various lengths, breathing where it makes sense for the interpretation rather than where they run out of breath. They actually plan the phrasing and breathing for maxium effect. As an example, in Mad World, Adam frequently sings, "Look right through me (breath). Look right through me AND I find it kind of funny (breath)," extending the musical phrase to build impact, rather than to take a breath after the second "look right thru me" where most singers break the phrase. If you listen to untrained singers, you will notice that they sometimes (or often) break up lyrical and musical phrases to take a breath, sometimes even breathing between the syllables of a word. (As in illustration, listen to the Fun singer's performance of Somebody to Love as opposed to Adam's.)

A trained singer's performance is also consistent from note to note, phrase to phrase because their voice is totally under their control. Untrained singers often sound strong and full on some notes, wimpy or wispy or gravelly on others, strained on others, and truncate still others, cutting them off rather than sustaining them (because they cannot). 

There are many other techniques and characteristics of a formally, classically trained voice, but I will stop here for now. My point is that Adam's voice demonstrates these characteristics in every song he sings. They were beautifully used in his performance last night. No matter how loud or soft he is singing, his voice never sounds strained or pushed. He doesn't sound like he is reaching for a note. He never sounds like he is working hard to produce the note or the volume. He totally chooses when to power out a phrase and when to caress it delicately. This is one reason Adam's voice FEELS so good to me. It FEELS effortless. It FEELS totally within his control and comfort. From start to finish, I know that Adam's "got this" and I can chill out and enjoy. 

I sometimes take for granted Adam's sound and technique. I even get a bit lulled into thinking that is "normal." Then something I hear will smack me upside the head and I will again be blown away with his voice. Most recently, I listened to Renee Fleming sing the National Anthem at the Superbowl. Some folks HATED her rendition. It sounded too different, too "opera-y", too "posh" or something. To me, it was a breath of fresh air. Such pure, resonant tone. Such effortless delivery. So totally in her control, her wheel-house. I listened, right after, to Whitney's quintessential rendition of the NA at the Superbowl in 1992?, and, with my bias, her voice sounded pushed, strained, heavy-handed. I acknowledge that as a pop diva rendition, it sets the gold standard. With my bias, I enjoyed Renee's much more. It FELT better. 

With Renee's example of tone, resonance, control and effortlessness, I went back and listened to Adam sing Queen. Two very different performers, two very different sets of material, but the same mastery of vocal performance and technique. 

Whew! You wanted a post about Adam's singing? Sorry, got a little carried away. Maybe I should have just said, "He sounded incredible last night" and left it at that.