Sir Mustapha
Group: Musicians
Posts: 2802
Joined: April 2003 |
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Posted: Nov. 17 2005, 15:32 |
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| Quote (Alan D @ Nov. 17 2005, 14:38) | | So what is it, exactly, that makes us suspicious of Celine Dion's 'Titanic' song, or a Whitney Houston power ballad? I don't share Sir M's distaste for them actually - I can enjoy the spine-tingling emotion that they induce - but at the same time I feel that I'm being manipulated, as if the thing is a bit of a swizz, somehow. Where does this sense of insincerity come from? |
There's one thing that, in my opinion, separates the "diva" singing from the pieces you mentioned, which also make use of loud, high singing and such things: it's the schtick; it's the impression that those singers NEED the endless "woah-woah-woah" in order to sound emotional, because they can't do it otherwise. When the typical "power ballad" needs to achieve "emotions", they all do it the exact same way: violins soaring into the skies, gargantuan drums, children choirs, tubular bells, timpani rolls, either fading out into eternity, or closing with the mellow piano notes. It's almost like the "tear-inducing song prototype" is ready, and just following it is the key to success. Intelligent performers can sound extremelly emotional in different ways, and they also can use that "bombast" in a way that the music deserves it. Mike Oldfield himself always did climactic, bombastic finales, but in most cases they were inevitable and deserved. I started disliking them when they became, in my opinion, gratuitous and predictable. It's not that I dislike the climaxes per se - just the way they used (and many people may disagree, and that's just okay).
Perhaps that's a weak argument. Someone might say that clichés aren't a sign of lack of quality, or else they just wouldn't be used. But I'm convinced that those clichés aren't used because they are "good", but some people react to them because they expect it. If a song lacks the gut-wrenching finale, it's "boring", and so on. And when they hear it, it drives them to tears. But does that make the climactic finale genuinely emotional? Or is it the people who want to react like that, because that's what they're used to?
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); his role is to be the character, in order to make the story come to life. Of course the audience isn't supposed to think the actor is killing himself - what matters is the story, the performance, and the effort put into it. In a way, he does mean it when he's performing, and using "tricks" or not is a matter of style, I think. An actor who doesn't mean his performance is more likely to come across as superficial.
