At 9:04 AM -0700 7/10/06, Dean M. Estabrook wrote:
This anecdote is more than telling inre American attitude towards
quality in our lives. It is no surprise to me that what America most
idolizes is the lowest common denominator.
Dean
On Jul 9, 2006, at 6:02 PM, Chuck Israels wrote:
Hey guys,
I posted the anecdote, and the information came from my daughter,
Jessica, whose friend, a talented baritone with whom she had worked
in the Soldier's Chorus, was the contestant. The story she heard
from him, here reported as I remember she told me, was that after
he sang, the response was something like, "You have a trained voice
haven't you?", and as soon as he said yes (he was studying at
Juilliard at the time), they said, "Thank you, we don't want
trained voices."
"Lowest common denominator" depends on where you're standing.
(Einstein said it: Everything is relative!)
In many people's minds, "trained voice" equates with operatic
training. In fact, there are many voice specialists who will argue
'till the cows come home that this is the one and only proper way to
sing. Clearly they don't get out much!! But let's give the Idol
folks credit for at least some common sense. They do NOT want opera
singers or operatic voices. There are other competitions for those
singers, which are MUCH more directly career-related than some stupid
TV show! (At least I assume it's stupid; I've never watched it and
probably never will.)
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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