Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Maria Callas- Vocal Range/Profile



Vocal TypeSoprano
Vocal Range: 3 Octaves  F3-E6 (though the E6's vibrato touches an F6, so will count as 3 octaves)
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses:Callas's voice was noted for its three distinct registers: Her low or chest register was extremely dark and almost baritonal in power, and she used this part of her voice for dramatic effect, often going into this register much higher on the scale than most sopranos. Her middle register had a peculiar and highly personal sound—"part oboe, part clarinet", as Claudia Cassidy described it—and was noted for its veiled or "bottled" sound, as if she were singing into a jug. Legge adds, "Even in the most difficult fioriture there were no musical or technical difficulties in this part of the voice which she could not execute with astonishing, unostentatious ease. Her chromatic runs, particularly downwards, were beautifully smooth and staccatos almost unfailingly accurate, even in the trickiest intervals. There is hardly a bar in the whole range of nineteenth century music for high soprano that seriously tested her powers."

Vocal Negatives: Rodolfo Celletti states, "In certain areas of her range her voice also possessed a guttural quality. This would occur in the most delicate and troublesome areas of a soprano's voice—for instance where the lower and middle registers merge, between G and A. I would go so far as to say that here her voice had such resonances as to make one think at times of a ventriloquist. . .or else the voice could sound as though it were resonating in a rubber tube. There was another troublesome spot. . . between the middle and upper registers. Here, too, around the treble F and G, there was often something in the sound itself which was not quite right, as though the voice were not functioning properly."

Note:I am in no position to be a judging a voice like this- you need college degrees and schooling to do that- so I pinched the positives and negatives from Wikipdiea. I am forever in your debt! Read the article here, its fascinating stuff.

Weird: Josh Strickland sounds crazily like Christina Aguilera on track "Last Dance"


Yes its a terrible Photoshop, but I needed a picture.. :D

Sent to a video, via a link, supposedly directing me to a new Christina Aguilera demo entitled Last Dance, I excitedly followed it, eager to hear what direction her and David Guetta- who was credited as the producer on the video- were going to take on their collaboration.

Monday, 26 September 2011

Lady Gaga's touching tribute to fan Jamie Rodemeyer

I had to post this moving performance of Lady Gaga singing Hair at the Iheartmusic Festival this weekend. It was dedicated to a young fan, named Jamey Rodemeyer, who sadly took his own life after being bullied at school because he was gay. Whatever people think of Lady Gaga, something good that has come from her being in the limelight is that she is given a very public, prominent voice to a whole section of society that feels excluded and ostracised by and from it, and credit has to be given for that.

Here's hoping that Lady Gaga's tribute will not only give those who are suffering, like Jamey did, hope for a better future but will more importantly give them strength to persevere through their struggle because it gets better.

School of Mime: Jennifer Lopez performs at Iheartmusic Festival. Live or play back?


Jennifer Lopez wheeled out her surprisingly memorable back catalogue- seriously, I forgot how many hits she has- for her set at the Iheartmusic festival. Now there is no question that Jennifer Lopez's set was anything but A-list and she looked stunning to boot, but many a person were asking about whether it was mimed or sung live.

Lets examine her first performance, which was of Get Right, to get a flavour of things. The dance moves weren't too heavy, or strenuous, so we could logically conclude that this was choreographed with the intention of allowing for Jennifer to sing live. You can clearly hear that there are volumes changes in the vocal, where at some points are voice isn't as pronounced as others- contrast when she goes lower in her range (3.16), to when she makes her exclamations to the crowd. 4.25 also leads me to think it was live as that section of chest notes is intermixed with a shout out to the crowd that maintains the same volume and texture as the chest notes. Finally, at 4.42 Jennifer seems to suffer from a slight breathlessness that would coincide nicely with the rather strenuous movements that had just come before it.

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Lady Gaga performs "Scheiße" and "Judas" at iHeartRadio music festival




Lady Gaga did what she does best and put on a show stopping performance of Scheiße and Judas at the iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas this weekend. Gaga appeared on stage atop of a motorbike, that can only be described as a piece of modern art, and proceeded to sing and dance the crowd into a frenzy. I can't even imagine how much Lady Gaga spends on these one time set pieces and costumes!

Friday, 23 September 2011

Julie Andrews Vocal Range/Profile (Vocal Prime)




Vocal Type: Soprano
Vocal Range: 2 Octaves 2 notes and a1 semitone F#3-Bb5 (Note: she has claimed to have had a 4 octave range. If anyone knows any lower, or higher notes she has sung, please get in contact or comment.)
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: Classically trained, powerful yet dexterous soprano, with a gorgeous clarity to her tone and a natural vibrato. Seamless transition between registers. Vocal stamina in her youth - she was on Broadway constantly from the age of 20 - 23. Wonderfully expressive phrasing and emotive interpretation of song. Also a superb actor (Oscar-winning) and dancer.
Vocal Negatives: Due to her reliance on classical technique, she struggles with certain styles (ie her 'Jazz Hot Baby' from 'Victor Victoria' isn't really that jazzy or bluesy!). However superb at musicals, operetta and light classical music.

Thanks To Karen V for directing me to the notes, and providing the positives and negatives.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Erykah Badu- Vocal Range/ Profile




Vocal Type: Mezzo-Soprano
Vocal Range: 3 Octaves  5 notes D3-B6
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: The voice has a distinctive character that is audible throughout the range. Incredibly elastic, clear chest voice that can reach high up into the fifth octave via deft mixing with the head voice. The narrow vibrato she can apply gives the voice a jazzy, soulful colour.
Vocal Negatives: The voice can be biting at times, in it's extreme, due to its clarity.

Review :Rihanna Feat Calvin Harris' "We Found Love " : ultimately one boring affair.

 Rihanna we found love


Seems like Rihanna is still riding the Euphoric Club sound that she opened last album Loud-which was only released LAST YEAR!- with on Only Girl (in the world). This time she's enlisted British producer Calvin Harris to come up with the lead single, called We Found Love, from the as yet untitled album due in November.

First listen to Rihanna's new single has me feeling like its missing a little magic, perhaps a punchier middle eight or a stronger melody. It's compounded by the song veering towards sounding lazy, lyrically, with way too much repetition occurring. Its a styling that will find We Found Love no doubt sounding amazing in the club, with the right atmosphere, bass heavy speakers, and a few drinks- doesn't everything?- but it doesn't translate well to a more intimate listen.

Ultimately the song is a yawn fest, that could have been helmed by any singer. Stripped is any of Rihanna feistiness or character, and the song comes off being more about Calvin Harris' production than Rihanna's voice. We Found Love should really have been reserved for Calvin Harris' new album, and as such been credited the other way round as himself featuring Rihanna, because she most certainly is not coming off as the main attraction to his show.

Rating: 2.5/5
Listen to We Found Love, below.



Calvin Harris - We found Love (Breeazy Intro Edit) by itsBreeazy

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Patti LaBelle- "A Change Is Gonna Come" (live 2004)

Just stumbled upon Patti LaBelle's 2004 performance of Sam Cooke's A Change is gonna come, and had to post it. The quality of the video isn't great, and Patti sounds horse, but that doesn't stop our Diva. She works this performance so hard and passionately- watch as she actually kicks her shoes off at 4.24- that she gets not only the crowd roused but has the musicians she's sharing the stage with in awe. No mean feat!

Ms LaBelle humbly offering her backing singer her own microphone at 3.60- who I'm pretty sure isn't one of her regular crew judging by the reaction the male singer has to her flinging her shoes off- was a touching moment that added to poignancy of the lyrics. This performance made my day.



Carrie Underwood - Vocal Profile/ Range



Vocal Type: Mezzo- Soprano
Vocal Range: 2 Octaves 3 note and a semitone D3-G#5
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: Steely tone that is bright and robust, with a coarse edge to it that gives it a distinctive character. Solid wide vibrato and Soft head voice, that has a warm and airy quality.
Vocal Negatives: Sometimes the chest notes sound pushed and forced, indicating they are not being achieved by mixing correctly, if at all.

Monday, 19 September 2011

Beyonce Versus Solange: Whose voice do you prefer?

solange and beyonce


Juvenile perhaps, but definitely with tongue-in-cheek, I ask the question: Beyonce or Solange Knowles, which is better? In reality, you can like them both, but for the sake of this post imagine there's a metaphorical gun to your head and force yourself to choose!

Solange- Vocal profile/range



Vocal TypeSoprano
Vocal Range: 3 Octaves 1 note D3-E6
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: Her lower range has a smoky timbre that is pleasant to the ear. Her chest voice is clear, bright and light. While her head voice is strong and wide, extending past the soprano high C.
Vocal Negatives: The chest voice lacks power, and the tone starts to sound constricted and pushed above a C5.

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Review: Florence + the machine, "What The Water Gave Me" and "Shake It Out"



I am really glad to hear some new music from Florence + the Machine. Her last release, Lungs, was pretty close to musical perfection, so I was really eager to hear what the next musical instalment form the singer would bring. Two new tunes from the new album, Ceremonials, have hit the web in the form of "buzz track" What The Water Gave Me and the albums actual first single Shake it out.

What the Water Gave Me: What the Water gave me shows the growth that has taken place since the last album. Though the music is still grandiose and avant garde, the youthful exuberance of Lungs seems to have mellowed, giving rise to a more focused, darker sound that has a more mature feel than her previous work.

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

New music: Listen to Tony Bennet feat Mariah Carey on "When Do The Bells Ring For Me" and Amy Winehouse on "Body and Soul".



Mariah Carey and Amy Whinehouse were the two duets featured on Tony Bennett's upcoming Duets II album that I was most looking forward to hearing. Well it's lucky for me, and my impatience, then that those two songs leaked onto the internet before the albums 20th of September release date. I need a a little while, and a lot more listens, to really conjure up an opinion, but just thought I'd share the songs with you lovely readers! Below are my initial, sketchy impressions of the two songs.

Esmee Denters - Vocal Profile/ Range



Vocal TypeSoprano
Vocal Range: 2 Octaves 1 semitone Eb3-E5
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: Dexterous voice capable of quick vocal runs. The voice has a solid and stable tone to the low to midrange and has a lightness to the top of the range that allows it to hit notes in the chest register seemingly with little effort.
Vocal Negatives: Head voice sounds light, and weak and sometimes the higher chest notes sound nasal.

Monday, 12 September 2011

Leona Lewis sings "Collide" Live on "Red or Black. Also, has she had a nose job?



Leona Lewis sang new single Collide live on Simon Cowells new UK game show, Red or Black. Though Leona started off shaky, she managed to gain confidence when the heavy backing vocals kicked in, providing her voice a little cover and support. After that point her voice soared on its own, though struggling slightly in the lower extremes of the verses, and she proceeded to give a great rendition of the Avicii sampled song. The set was also surprisingly good- Simon Cowell has really managed to secure a big budget for the show- but I hated that they based the routine around the shows name, it was pretty tacky- as I should mention this post is about it to get. Still not liking the song though. I just can't get over that sample.

Friday, 9 September 2011

New Music: Lana Del Rey "Blue Jeans"


Any fear that Lana Del Rey's second offering was going to trip the singer up, after the sprint start that was the sublime Video Game, have surprisingly, and thankfully, been allayed with brilliant new song Blue Jeans. Its boggles the mind how a singer whose first musical love was hip-hop, then Nirvana and went on to study metaphysics at college became this amazingly musical Goddess.

Read more about the Lana Del Rey over at Gurdian online here!

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Diva dos and don'ts for when you forget the lyrics!


Next to cracking or missing that big note, forgetting the lyrics has got to be every Diva's nightmare. Christina Aguilera will probably be noted as the most famous victim of this feared scenario, having recently experienced it as she sang the American National Anthem to an audience of 111 million- the largest ever for a live broadcast- at the American Super Bowl. It wasn't all bad though, she managed to generate her own meme-see below- out of the experience. A feat surely to rival any awards or accolades she has obtained thus far.



(If you don't know what a meme is those pictures are going to seem pretty obtuse...lol)

Feeling for our singers, we here at DivaDevotee- with many thanks to Devotite Karen who suggested and researched this post- have compiled a list of do's and don'ts to help our Diva's deal with this unfortunate situation if, heaven forbid, it were to happen to them.

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Selena Gomez- Vocal Profile/ Range



Vocal Type: Mezzo-Soprano
Vocal Range:  2 Octaves, one note and a semitone E3-F#5
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: Sold, clear tone to the low/mid range and chest voice, with a warm, soft head voice.
Vocal Negatives: Voice doesn't appear to have much dexterity, and the lack of vibrato on the chest notes make them sound a little harsh to the ear.

Monday, 5 September 2011

2011 MTV Video Music Award Performance reviews: Adele, sounding a little rough, Beyonce lip-synching and Lady Gaga embarrassing!


What a strange and surreal experience this year's MTV Video Music Awards was. I think, in all honestly, at 27 I'm getting a little too old and jaded for this show. However, as there were Divas performing on the bill I had to watch! Below is my review of Adele's, Lady Gaga's and Beyonce's performances from the night. If you haven't seen them yourself, I've posted the videos too, so there is no excuse for not letting me know what you think in the comments.