Advice to American Idol Kids

"What is man but his passion?"

Robert Penn Warren

Moon man on a palm trunk

"I've always thought respectable people scoundrels,

and I look anxiously at my face every morning

for signs of my becoming a scoundrel."

George Bernard Shaw

"I'd rather have roses on my table

than diamonds on my neck."

Emma Goldman

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One of my college classes that has stayed with me

is a class that I took on Rock & Roll.

I thought it would be an easy course

because I lived through most the history of Rock.

I got the music in me!

Heck, I was even at Woodstock

(click HERE to read about that.)

When the professor offered extra credit

to anyone who would get up

and dance the "Twist"

I twisted my way to those extra points!

The kids in the class already knew

that I was an old weirdo.

(And that was even a few years back! :)

Of course, I learned all of the things that I DID'NT know!

Like those swooping, wavering notes beloved of Gospel, Soul and Rock?

I learned that there is a name for that.

That is called a:

"Melisma.'

Definitions of Melisma on the Web:

• Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisma

• A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text, as in Gregorian chant
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/melisma

• One syllable of text spread out over many musical tones.
  www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2008/July/20080814214526eaifas0.2540247.html

• A sequence of notes, sometimes very extensive and elaborate, sung to one syllable.
  www.liturgicalsong.com/Glossary.html.

Gregorian chant?!

Those contestants on American Idol sure love those melisma, don't they?

Well kids, what I want you to know

is that you have to

EARN

your melisma!

You gotta build up to them.

They only refresh the ear

and exalt the spirit

when the come AFTER something,

something relatively straight-forward and excellent,

like a well-done presentation

of the basic song itself.

It is the build-up,

the change,

and not mere VOLUME

that gives those vocal

swallow swoops

their majesty.

You need to know the rules,

like any artist must,

before you can break them

to release the creativity

that is yours alone.

Great songs have a sway,

a motive force all their own,

an inertia,

internal guidance,

and a drive

that no amount of

volume

or

vocal swooping

can replace.

First, (please) just sing the song well.

Then you can make us HEAR and FEEL

the note you extend like a wailing soul,

the beat that you skip.

Make us wait for it,

long for it,

STARVE for it!

Then come in like an insinuation,

make it look hard!

Make us wonder if you have it in you.

Make us hold our breath,

make us BEG you for it!

Then let your voice loose;

Then let your talent soar

and we will ascend with it.

Take it from an old weirdo!

ALOHA, cloudia