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Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Battle of the Choirs
Sat Dec 22 2007

I have to admit that when I see the word "choir" I expect something quite different from what I saw on NBC the other night.  I think of church-type choirs, classical performances like Handel's Messiah.  Stuff like that.

I almost didn't watch.

I almost turned it off when I did watch.

But, what the hey...in for a penny, in for a pound.

I'm glad Choir Lachey won.  His selection of music came a wee bit closer to the kind of music I like, and when they did It's A Wonderful World, I sighed, sat back and enjoyed.  Until the very end.  The soprano just had to go all embellishing all over the the scale.  Aaaarrrghgh!  That's what I absolutely hate about singers today.  They can't just sing--and many of them can't sing--so they scream all over the musical staff.

Why couldn't the choir have just simply quietly sung that last syllable?

One more comment, then I'll duck under the covers, cuz I'm sure I'm going to get brickbats thrown at me for my iconoclastic attitude toward music.

Did anyone ever give any thought to singing the song just as the composer wrote it? And "updating" the oldies: I didn't even recognize "you get a line, I'll get a pole."  Thoroughly ruined a perfectly good Down Home song.


Bless

5 Comments
  • From:
    DancingButterfly (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Dec 23 2007
    I like the original 'It's a wonderful world' the best :)
  • From:
    404Error (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Dec 23 2007
    I'm with you. Sing it as written-- especially in a choir! Also, I agree that most of today's "singers" can't sing.

    I grew up listening to the big bands with my grandparents. My grandfather was a tenor and sang with The Dorsey Brothers and Les Brown's Band of Renown way back when. He was so charismatic and good looking he could have been Bing Crosby if only he hadn't loved booze so much that he drank himself out of every job he ever had-- which was A LOT of booze back in the 30s. (Yes, he was a bootlegger, too.)

    I got lots of training when I sang in choirs when I was in school-- I even made the Grand Choir for the Rainbow Girls California Grand Assembly one year. It was a lot of fun, even when we all fell apart at the change of key in "Walk On," in front of 5,000 people. :-s We'd fallen apart in rehearsals so we rather expected it. We all just laughed. What else can a choir of 300 do when it all falls apart?
  • From:
    Mamallama (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Dec 23 2007
    Add my vote.
    There is a reason it was written the way it was.
    I don't mind a little change, but some do go overboard and ruin a beautiful song.
    Hugs, Tiggs
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Dec 23 2007
    I agree with you all the way. Just sing it like it's written.
  • From:
    MizzM (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Dec 24 2007
    I'm with you. I appreciate songs being sung the way they were made to be sung. I'm not against updating them, but the Vocal Gymnastics embraced by soloists these days leave me cold.

    At least the prizes went to charity, so no matter which team one, it was for a good cause. No complaints there.