|
|
Post by bridgeymah on Dec 2, 2014 15:48:29 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this Cassie. Love a good voice and wasn't aware of Alphie. One thing strikes me is how effortlessly Adam is able to morph is trained voice across different genres (pop, rock, blues, light opera, musical theatre...) Not sure other than CTMBWM we've ever heard him go full opera direction but have heard lots of operatically trained singers take on popular music and it always sounds like an opera singer singing popular music. When one of the 10 tenors was on The Voice here is Oz (Luke Kennedy he came second) he was talking about how hard it was to let go of the embedded "training" and use his voice differently...
Just an observation. Not sure how legitimate it is, just something I've noticed.
|
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Dec 2, 2014 16:13:26 GMT -5
Adam can change from singing classically to singing pop/rock/blues better than any trained singer I have heard. It is very impressive!
Oh, and check out Alfie singing Bring Him Home. I want Adam to perform that one!
|
|
|
|
Post by bridgeymah on Dec 2, 2014 16:43:27 GMT -5
Adam can change from singing classically to singing pop/rock/blues better than any trained singer I have heard. It is very impressive! Oh, and check out Alfie singing Bring Him Home. I want Adam to perform that one! Bring Him Home is certainly on my list of songs I'd love to hear Adam sing. But that list is so long and varied... there is barely a song I hear (well maybe not anything written by Taylor Swift or Pitbull) that I wouldn't love to hear Adam interpret. But he is so very much is own artist that I think the list of other songs that he would want to sing is probably much shorter than ours :-) |
|
Alison
Member
Posts: 562
Location:
|
Post by Alison on Dec 2, 2014 17:47:22 GMT -5
Cassie, thanks for the Alfie Boe video links. I thoroughly enjoyed the Freddie piece. I wonder what Alfie thinks of Adam's interpretation and delivery of the Queen catalogue. Maybe someone on Twitter could ask him.
|
|
jerelyn
Member
avi by http://stuypoty.tumblr.com/post/89538291031/heres-one-for-the-queen-and-adam-lambert-tour
Posts: 697
Location:
|
Post by jerelyn on Dec 19, 2014 13:53:00 GMT -5
Cassie.... just happen to see this when I was looking for Christmas music....
C7 to D7? Very impressive and only a teenager...
O Holy Night - Serena Sang Higher Note than Mariah Carey's Version
KBL VocalCourse
|
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Dec 19, 2014 15:14:28 GMT -5
Interesting. Thank you for posting. Since you addressed me in the post, I will tell you my reactions. Please do not think I am criticizing your post or your opinions. You are fine to post this and to enjoy it.
To my ear, it is not particularly pleasing. Emotionally, it does nothing to me. This song is written to be over the top, emotionally, but I get only cold execution here, with no focus on lyrics or reverence.
First off, it is NOT live, even tho she lip syncs like it is.
She starts off way too low to be able to sing with any richness or strength. Her mid range is good. She shifts well into her head voice in the 5th octave, but I find the notes from about G5 and up to be astringent and piercing, not full and warm. To me, the whistle register is a trick that I don't think of as part of a legitimate singing voice. It is making noise on pitch, but without lyrics or meaning.
To me, this video is an example of what happens when someone thinks that a huge range means a great voice. For me it is much more about what you can DO with your range, how well you control it, how you use it to interpret the song and convey intent to the audience (the intent of the song, not the intent to wow the listeners with what you can do with your voice).
IMHO, YMMV.
|
|
jerelyn
Member
avi by http://stuypoty.tumblr.com/post/89538291031/heres-one-for-the-queen-and-adam-lambert-tour
Posts: 697
Location:
|
Post by jerelyn on Dec 19, 2014 15:38:20 GMT -5
Interesting. Thank you for posting. Since you addressed me in the post, I will tell you my reactions. Please do not think I am criticizing your post or your opinions. You are fine to post this and to enjoy it. To my ear, it is not particularly pleasing. Emotionally, it does nothing to me. This song is written to be over the top, emotionally, but I get only cold execution here, with no focus on lyrics or reverence. First off, it is NOT live, even tho she lip syncs like it is. She starts off way too low to be able to sing with any richness or strength. Her mid range is good. She shifts well into her head voice in the 5th octave, but I find the notes from about G5 and up to be astringent and piercing, not full and warm. To me, the whistle register is a trick that I don't think of as part of a legitimate singing voice. It is making noise on pitch, but without lyrics or meaning. To me, this video is an example of what happens when someone thinks that a huge range means a great voice. For me it is much more about what you can DO with your range, how well you control it, how you use it to interpret the song and convey intent to the audience (the intent of the song, not the intent to wow the listeners with what you can do with your voice). IMHO, YMMV. Thank you so much for your analysis, Cassie... I always welcome and appreciate and trust your judgement regarding vocal analyses and each artist's interpretation of the song  I was just impressed by the range of her voice :D and did not even think about how her delivery affected me. I was more into "Oh, that's how C7 or D7 sounds like  "... However, I can say from your various discussion of vocal ranges, I was able to learn a little bit more about vocal ranges now, which I had no knowledge before. So thank you.  |
|
|
|
Post by rihannsu on Dec 21, 2014 8:34:56 GMT -5
I agree Cassie, but I do have to say that even though it is still pretty piercing that was actually the first time I've ever heard a "whistle" note that wasn't like nails on a chalkboard to me and her transition in to it was pretty good. I've always found Mariah's whistle notes extremely unpleasant.
|
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Jan 3, 2015 1:15:44 GMT -5
I guess the magnificent NYE performance and the raving of many new fans prompted me to think about Adam's vocals, cuz I posted several detailed responses on the daily thread. I am bringing them over here for archive purposes.
I've been asked to chime in on Adam's vocals on NYE. What can I say? You all have heard the recordings. You all have seen how he commanded the stage. You have all seen how he, impossibly, seems to get better and better.
What do I observe? The combination of control with freedom. It is a potent mix. If one performs with excellent control of his voice and production, the sound may be excellent, but the performance may seem stiff, calculated, and or mechanical. We can respect the level of control, but we don't FEEL a response to it.
On the other hand, if a performer is free and spontaneous, full of energy and joy on stage, but does not have control, the performance is a mess. We may share an evening of fun with the singer, but come away thinking, "I like him, but singing wise, not so much." We also may not feel the song deeply because the singer doesn't have the technique to plumb the depths of the meaning and nuance in the song, or soar to the heights of power the song calls for. He may even make us cringe occasionally with a bum note, or an oddly phrased line or melody. We enjoy the show DESPITE the singing, as it were.
With Adam, his technique and delivery are so superbly controlled, he can stop concentrating on HOW to sing a word, phrase or song, and let himself be joyously spontaneous and free. He can be completely in the moment. His performance can seem effortless and timeless. Never seen before and never seen again in quite the same way. A performance for the ages.
All of Adam's classical training is firmly in place and rock solid. He has the experience of more than 2/3s of his life on stage. He can count on those things no matter what happens in performance. He is also performing with consummate musicians who have well over one hundred years combined experience on stage. They can also handle anything that occurs. They respect and trust Adam as their front man. All this gives Adam the freedom to just "be" on stage and let the music flow out of him.
Adam has refined his ability to sing the pop/rock in Queen's catalog. The technique may be classical, but the sound definitely fits Queen's sensibility. He's learned to shape the tone, the vibrato and the phrasing to best suit Queen without mimicking Freddie. He doesn't sound like a guy from light opera and musical theater trying to sing rock. He sounds like a rock singer with an amazing voice (that comes from amazing classical technique - tee hee).
Adam seems to have backed off of his most acrobatic, upper atmospheric high glory notes. He hit one F#5 briefly in STL, but that was it. (Of course, for 99.99% of tenors, those D5s, Eb5s etc are still supersonic.) I suspect that Adam has so refined his voice, his control, and his delivery that he doesn't feel a need to hit an impossibly high glory note, just to impress. He is impressive throughout his range. I suspect this is something he has learned working with Brian and Roger. It is also smart for being able to perform those challenging songs night after night on tour. He is learning new ways to impress and entice the audience vocally and visually.
I cannot think of one moment I thought he was less that great vocally. Some folks expressed nervousness before the performance. After watching this, I hope y'all are reassured that you have NOTHING to be nervous about when Adam performs. He's got this!
|
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Jan 3, 2015 1:18:07 GMT -5
An ATopper asked me exactly what I meant about Adam being in control or having superb control. Hmmm. Let me see if I can elaborate. (If you are not interested in singing techniques and voice production, remember scroll is your friend.)
I am not talking about being in control over what is happening on stage or with the audience. I am talking about being in control of his instrument; his voice, and his use of it. Singing well is actually a very complicated physical task involving very fine control of muscles throughout the body.
For example, consider pitch. If you are playing piano and you want to play a C4, you press down on the key that moves the hammer that hits the string that is tuned to C4. As long as the C4 string is in tune and you press down on the correct key, you get a C4. However, if you don't press down with enough percussive force, the hammer may not hit the string with enough force to make the string vibrate. Press the key too forcefully and the note is too loud. You have to have the right "touch" to produce the volume you want.
If you want to SING a C4, you have to know in your mind what that sounds like. (Your brain and your voice box do not have pre-set tunings for each note.) Then you have to make minute adjustments in the tension and length of vocal folds that are only a total of .5-1 inch long. Your brain and your muscle memory have to know exactly how much to adjust the folds for each different note. There is no key or tab to press.
You have to expel air to cause the folds to vibrate. This involves muscles throughout your torso, not just your diaphragm. Too little air and you get a whisper or no vibration at all. Too much air, and your voice cracks or the note goes sharp. If you are doing crazy riffs like Adam sometimes does, you are changing notes maybe 5 times in one second, meaning adjusting your throat muscles to change the length and tension of your vocal folds and sustaining a consistent exhale of breath from one note to the next. All the while, you are monitoring your production through tactile feedback, through your hearing, and through your brain, making any adjustments necessary.
That all sounds very complicated. But, you say, everybody sings. Maybe not like Adam, but they can carry a tune. That's where the control comes in. Can everyone hit the correct pitch virtually every time? For long sustained notes or for rapidly changing runs? Without their voice cracking or the tone changing? At the consistent volume for each note? And can they hit any note throughout two to three octaves accurately and consistently? Loud or soft? Yeah. That.
And that is just the very basic component of pitch. Then we have tone. And resonance. And clarity. And intensity. And warmth or brittleness. And articulation. And phrasing. And attack. And sustain. And volume. And consistency throughout the range from low to high. All of that requires the singer to control his/her body and many muscles within it with incredible finesse and exactitude. I think of it like cutting a diamond. The least little slip, and the note is ruined, like the stone or the cut is ruined.
When I talk about Adam having control, I am talking about him being able to totally control all the aspects of producing the sound, and the notes and the words and the phrases of a song EXACTLY AS HE WANTS THEM TO BE, EVERY NOTE, EVERY TIME. (Which is one reason Brian is so impressed with his instrument. That he is able to do any song in their repertoire. They don't have to change any keys, they don't have to change any melodies, they don't have to eliminate any songs. He can handle them all vocally and stylistically.) It is about having the knowledge, experience and muscle memory to produce the sound exactly as it is in your mind without thinking of technique: what to do with the diaphragm, the back of the throat, the tongue, etc. It is about KNOWING your instrument and technique so well that you KNOW you can do it, can sing it, can go there. Then, Adam is able to set aside the technical thoughts and be free in the moment to interpret the song and interact with the band and the audience.
More and more we see Adam's confidence, his spontaneity, his personality and his humor shine during performance. I think a lot of it has to do with this ever increasing control over his performance. Remarkable.
|
|
"... However, I can say from your various discussion of vocal ranges, I was able to learn a little bit more about vocal ranges now, which I had no knowledge before. So thank you. 
