You feel that it is culturally unhealthy to have prepackaged stars, marketing and brand?

nope- i think it is culturally vapid to market reprocessed echochamber pablum as original art.

This is not a new phenomena.

i never said it was. i was only referring to the last decade in my comment.

i also never said that no good ever came of it. some good does come. in approximately equal proportion to what you find qualitatively in the pop world.

i think it would bother me a lot less if "talent searches" had a broader focus. for some reason, they never do. and yes, that bothers me.

What do you want in your talent shows? America's Got Talent has been won by a ventriloquist, a country singer, and an opera singer that I know of. Susan Boyle didn't win hers; some dance troop did.

i would like to see way more instrumentalists. i have ONLY seen vocal talent in those shows.

Star Search was EXCLUSIVELY vocal talent, if memory serves. so is that OTHER popular "talent" show, whatever it is called.

so was the show the FS won on.

it is hard for vocalists to do their thing without accompanyment. it would be nice if the backup got their props, too.

So who are the known truely worthy female vocalists not viewed a traditional stellar beauties though ' packaged 'of recent times ? I would think despite being ' packaged ' by Disney ( though I think as a child she did not win Starsearch ) , and not a 'classi beauty , Christina Aguilera and I think she is only 28 now.

i would like to see way more instrumentalists. i have ONLY seen vocal talent in those shows.

Good luck, Mac.

Maybe it's the schools and the emphasis on sports rather than the arts, but I don't think the TV-viewing public nowadays appreciates the difficulty of playing a musical instrument. Not too many anymore have themselves sat in the middle of the woodwind or strings sections, or even tooted on a harmonica. Viewers are interested in the person on the stage...her body, her face, her back story, her love life... and the music is secondary. But the human voice is something she has in common with audience, as opposed to a virtuoso's skill with a violin or piano. Vocals now are half artificial anyhow, because the performer's voice is robotically, digitally brought up to pitch if she sings flat or sharp, so skill isn't really even necessary any more. Talent is what you're born with. Skill is what develops when a talented person practices for a number of years. When Itzhak Perlman's love life shows up on a magazine cover in the checkout line, people will tune in to hear the violin.

But the human voice is something she has in common with audience,

bingo. so this is about mass marketing. it has NOTHING to do with chops. zero. zip. you hit the nail right on the head.

if CBS' marketing department found out that a singing porpoise would sell beer and cars, they would get a singing porpoise.

as opposed to a virtuoso's skill with a violin or piano. Vocals now are half artificial anyhow, because the performer's voice is robotically, digitally brought up to pitch if she sings flat or sharp, so skill isn't really even necessary any more.

that is about 1/4 true. pitch correction software is used a LOT in recording- but it really doesn't affect the quality of the person's voice unless it is obviously abused (ie Cher's "Believe"). most often it is used to correct just minor pitch variations that are NOT working. when i let you all hear my album, i will point out the tracks where this technique was used and why, and let you be the judge. more often pitch adjust is used to SAVE MONEY, rather than to "manufacture" talent. if it takes 150 takes to get the vocal perfect, but only 15seconds to make it so, the latter will be done.

Talent is what you're born with. Skill is what develops when a talented person practices for a number of years. When Itzhak Perlman's love life shows up on a magazine cover in the checkout line, people will tune in to hear the violin.

see, this is the thing- if instrumentalists were made into stars, as well, more people would play instruments. my dad used to listen to Gene Krupa. that guy was tremendously influential on kids at the time, many of whom took up drums. you just don't get that any more. i don't blame society for that. i blame the media. it is a conscious choice to try to reach the largest number of candy bar eaters that drives it, rather than any interest in the arts.

Sports, not instumental music, is emphasized in schools. It is considered dorky to play trumpet, trombone, sax, clarinet, etc. etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtxrda3lh-w

Here is Britney's Womanizer. Just how much music do you find in there?

susanne - I find Xtina to be a true talent.

you know what, kat- i will go along with that too. since schools don't have bands anymore, what is left? singing.

Sports, not instumental music, is emphasized in schools. It is considered dorky to play trumpet, trombone, sax, clarinet, etc. etc.


And that is such a pity. One of the best gifts a parent can give a kid is the skill of playing an instrument. Along with that skill comes exposure to great, soul-enriching art. Something the kid will never see on a football field or basketball court, and will never be too old to participate in. We seriously need to get it back into our schools.

macrp

I can assure you that Bands are still in fashion, at least in this part of the Country they are... I know that there are many bands in NC and Oklahoma, along with Indiana, since I have nieces and Nephews all over this Country, and they are in Colleges and they are in a Band...... I'll name any of the Colleges, if need be...

this is so hilarious i had to post it to just contextualize my remarks. this is AutoTune taken to a ridiculous extreme, and i think that you will all agree that, when taken to this degree, it is pretty damned entertaining:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCCuOrRzoSc