A Singer Sings

I'm fascinated with the recent interest in Susan Boyle, the singer on Britain's Got Talent. Everyone seems so amazed that she sings so well, and yet she's so plain and never dated. Somehow, somewhere, sometime we all forgot that's what singer's do. A singer sings. These days a singer needs to dance, pose in sexy poses, have back-up dancers, wear size six clothes.

I spent a year in the music school at Baylor. Most of the folks in the music department didn't look like Britney Spears. We always wore black for performances, that was true even in high school. The most ordinary singer sang well. Those with exceptional talent were actually very fine musicians, not glamour girls, models, dancers, just very fine singers. I do recall one girl in the music department who was later on a runner up for Miss Waco, but she ended up teaching 2nd grade at the same school where I taught second grade. When you auditioned, the dean didn't say, "Hm, you are really beautiful and you'd make the choir look so much better." I did have the dean give me a private audition, but not because of my looks, but because I had such performance anxiety I forgot my music.

Maybe today's generation doesn't remember Kate Smith. She was quite overweight and very plain, but a popular singer of her day. She wasn't the best, but she certainly did her share of singing on the radio and early days of TV. I remember her for some of her patriotic songs. Back when I was growing up, there were two worlds. The TV/Hollywood World was the world of the likes of Debbie Reynolds, and others who were attractive and also sang. Then there was the Music World, and we all became one, with one focused goal which was the music. We didn't get first chair French horn because we were cute. We didn't sing a solo with the choir because we had a good figure. It was all about the music, the rhythm, the staying in tune, the quality of playing or singing, the practice, the rehearsals.

I think some of the most dowdy looking people I've ever seen were a few music professors in college. They would have made Susan Boyle look like a fashion statement. I'm afraid I may be close to agreeing with one of our local retired music teachers here in Atlanta. "Shows like American Idol have set back music a hundred years or more." How many times do your hear the music of a really great musician on shows like American Idol or America's Got Talent. Often on PBS there will be a genuinely musical experience, but not on PrimeTime.

Sometimes, I'm amazed at what is called a song, that's not even mentioning the nonsense of the words. Why even bother with some of this or at least don't call it music, not when we have the likes of Schubert, Bach, Brahms. Maybe it should be in two categories: Music and Not Music.

I know I'm prejudiced, but most musicians study for decades to perfect their craft, and most of their singing or playing is devoted to church, weddings, funerals, small groups that only locals may ever hear of. For me, I used to play for Sunday School classes, the Kiwanis lunch meetings and banquets, and accompany a few singers, as well as the student recitals. Most musicians may sing or play with the local symphony. They may even be a lead singer, but you won't see them in the news or know their name, other than a small credit in the program.

I should qualify myself. I played the French Horn from age twelve. My greatest accomplishment was playing with the Baylor orchestra in "Rigoletta." I studied piano from the age of five. My favorite performance was playing on the piano a mediocre rendition of the Mendelssohn concerto with my teacher who played exquisitely. This was at a small recital of twelve other students at his home when I was probably fifty or older. For me to play the piece at all took hours upon hours of practice. There was no quick road to fame, and for me no road to fame. Every piece I ever learned took hours of practice whether it was a Mozart sonata or a Chopin mazurka. I abandoned any notion of being a concert pianist early on, after forgetting my music at the college audition before my freshman year. As I read today on an one of those meditation e-mails, don't quit something or you'll spend your life regretting it. I'll have to look up what was actually said later. I know we have to make decisions in our life, but sometimes we quit things that are really a basic part of our nature. It has nothing to do with a performance or a record deal or earning a living from this thing we begin and quit.

Here's the original quote: April 17, 2009 Quote of the Day
"If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time."
– Chögyam Trungpa

I will have to continue this later, my career in music. Meanwhile, I think I may go practice the piano. A Steinway Grand is for more than just dusting.