Newest TED Obsession

Watching these TED Talks can be dangerously diverting. However, they often inspire me. Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on the concept of creativity struck me and energized me. Her ideas are ones that I've believed for a long time - but, she goes deeper and presents it in a radical fashion which I find "genius."

Gustavo Dudamel - A.K.A. The Rockstar of Conducting

The most famous conductor of our time is Gustavo Dudamel. He is the coolest young conductor on the orchestra scene right now and everyone is talking about his work! He is from Venezuela and is a product of their government operated youth orchestra program. The Venezuelan government invested a significant amount of money to purchase orchestra instruments and set up orchestras across the country for young people - especially those who could not afford their own instrument. Dudamel grew up playing in one of these orchestras and was recognized for his ability and was offered the conductorship of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. They toured the US in 2004 and became a sensation. Before long, he was offered to be the conductor of the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, making well over a million dollars a year. His passion for music is clear. Watch for yourself!

Gustavo conducts his Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Caracas in 2007. These people are LOVING classical music - and the orchestra is having crazy-fun while sounding top notch.



Here, Gustavo conducts a the Gothenberg Symphony (Sweden) at a PROMS performance in the UK. This is Mahler 4 - the final movement. This truly shows his incredible talent. The world is lucky to have him!

Woah.

This TED conference video is my favorite yet. Probably because I relate well, but I'm curious to see how you are affected by what the speaker has to say.

Jane is incredible!

Jane Monheit is a fantastic jazz singer that I ran across while researching musicals this summer. Leonard Bernstein's On the Town was on the short list for me to choose for this fall. I didn't end up going with it, but I found this incredible singer and her fabulous version of this song. I think you'll be impressed!

Water Shortage Video

Madrigals-

I found an interesting video to introduce you some of the problems regarding the world's clean water shortage and one man's innovation to help solve the problem. It is from one of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conferences - which I find fascinating and often moving. There are tons of clips on hulu.com if you'd like to watch more - they have a wide variety of topics. Also, ted.com has other options.

After you watch the video, work in your teams to research charities for us to support!

TED and Spoken Word Meet

At the 2011 TED Conference, Sarah Kay was invited to speak. She is a fantastic Spoken Word Poetry artist who I think deserves some attention. Unlike the previous TED video I posted - which was technical, this "talk" is more artistic and heart-felt. I was moved by spoken word poetry for the first time earlier this summer when I ran across the young man who performed at the White House. I was watching a variety of TED talks this weekend and found this young woman. Again, I was moved. I think the teacher in me related to the teacher in her and the artist in me related to the artist in her. I found several of the other talks interesting and also moving - but this one was my favorite. I hope you enjoy it and my next post will take us back to my male singer kick! :)

It is a bit long... so wait until you have 20 minutes!

Male Singers - Round 2/AUTO-TUNE RANT

As I was trying to decide which Broadway singer to use for my second installation of my Male Singers series, I was led to a few clips of Matthew Morrison (most commonly known for his portrayal of Mr. Schuester on the hilarious, Emmy-Award winning, and all-around-great-show Glee). Before Glee, he was hot-stuff on Broadway. He originated the role of Link Larkin in Hairspray, the role of Fabricio in The Light in the Piazza, and most recently played the role of Lt. Cable in the well-received Lincoln Center production of South Pacific. Here is a clip from The Light in the Piazza, which has one of the most gorgeous and intricate scores of any modern, successful Broadway show. The composer is Adam Guettel, grandson of Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Rodgers and Hart fame!)

While listening to his fantastic singing, I couldn't help but be shocked by how different he sounds on Glee - which then leads to these negative feelings I have regarding auto-tuning. I know I'm not just a music snob, here. I think it is an obvious problem and one that I hope the public will get tired of quickly - so the music industry will end the fad sooner rather than later. So, listen to this raw, live recording of Matthew Morrison singing Il Mondo Era Vuoto - all in Italian (he just met Clara and has fallen deeply in love with her even though he doesn't speak English and she doesn't speak Italian).

Now, here are my opinions re: auto-tuning the heck out of everything.

Cons
1. It removes the natural sound of the voice. Consider how vastly different Mr. Morrison sounds here compared to on Glee - and not all of that is just because it is a different style of singing!
2. It cheapens the art of singing by allowing computers to do some of the work. How do you think Ashlee Simpson, Miley Cyrus and various other pop singers have survived even though they clearly cannot sing well? If you watch unedited live footage of them singing, it sounds terrible, but because computers can fix it, they can have a career.
3. The general public now expects perfect pitch singing. This, in my opinion, is the primary reason the Glee producers choose to use auto-tune - because it sounds more mainstream. Obviously with the talent they have on the show, they do not need to use this much, but it sounds more like everything else on the radio and they want to make some money! My other thought about their reasoning behind using auto-tuning instead of going organic is because the cast doesn't have much time to learn the music, nor to spend time in the recording studio. After watching the Glee Project this summer, I now have realized how little time they actually have - this way, they don't have to think about notes, they can just work on "emotion."

Pros
1. It offers a new electronica sound that can be used as a tool to get a certain effect. When Cher first used this in her song "Believe" in the late 1990's, I was rather intrigued by the sound. I liked it in the song - I thought it was interesting and different and it worked! Unfortunately, it has now been incredibly over-used. I think in 20 years from now, people will be able to distinguish music from the previous few years and the following few years based on the auto-tune sound in the same way we can distinguish music from the 1980's based on the use of the synthesizer. I least that is my hope.

Enough auto-tune blathering for now! :)