The Human Voice
There’s something special about the power of the human voice. About the power of a vocal performance. There’s something that captures the imagination and puts its stamp on something and makes it real. Maybe this is obvious.
I make the point because the singer is often the least trained and the least talented member of the collective, or at least in a rock band. And it’s interesting because even though the musicians that are playing the instruments are often unbelievable and capable of creating real magic, there is still something so special about the voice that I wonder if it’s annoying for talented musicians to train and learn and ply their craft and then have someone with that special voice come in and all of a sudden they’re the star and they are the front man.
But it’s real. And I guess my point is that the front man should be the singer. Because the voice and the vocal performance are the critical magical component of the tune. Whether it’s Sinead O’Connor’s yodeling in ‘Last Day of Our Acquaintance’ or Janis Joplin or Thom Yorke or anyone. The band is the band but the magic happens when the human voice is added.
I liken it to the film industry. All these people working their butts off. Grips and technicians and engineers and people lugging around crap and scouting locations and doing this and doing that and the actors come in and they’re pampered and given all the attention and I’m sure people are resentful that they work all day to set up a brief 5 minute scene while the actors are in their trailer or doing whatever it is that they do. Yet, the truth is that whatever skill it is or whatever instinct it is that separates a great actor from a lesser actor, the actor and their emotions and their beauty are the thing that bring life to the production and make the words on the script emerge from their entrapment. And as annoying as it can be, it is the actors that are the critical catalyst and probably deserve more attention than other contributors.
Because the reality and the presentness of the human condition, brought to life in music by the human voice or in film by an actor’s performance, that is the thing that makes it magic.
I just think it’s interesting given that so many singers and actors are such insufferable assholes. And yet, indispensable.
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