Critics are teachers, too

I have found that reading reviews of others in your field is an important part of learning a craft, whether or not you agree with the reviewer/critic.  Agreement is not relevant – it is being able to see from where the reviewer is looking when she/he makes comments on an artist.  Distinctions that we might not be able to see at first.  How they comment. What they say about an artist.  My focus, of course, is on reviews of vocalists, since that’s my interest.

Reading and understanding reviews is a kind of homework, not unlike the homework one might do when learning a style of music. Sometimes you might just listen to the great artists of a particular style  - listening to their phrasing, spacing, how they attack a note, arrangements, what the musicians are doing behind the singer, etc. – and in listening “commitedly,” one learns.

The goal is not to imitate another singer, but to find a way to have your sound be authentic in that style; finding how you can add that essence to your own unique signature style and  performance technique. What makes one person unique might not be what makes you unique, but understanding theirs is a way to define and create your own style.

When a critic writes a review, I often find myself asking “What would they say about me?” or “How would I have to be performing to garner that statement? That review?” or “Would those adjectives ever be used to define me as a performer?” or  ”What would they say about me now?” and “What would I like to have said about me?”  And then, of course, “What would I have to do to accomplish that?”

Reviews that I covet as teaching tools

Take for example, this written about Andre Segovia in a New York Times review of a recent concert of this extraordinary musician:
“When asked at age 94, how can you keep going,  Andre Segovia, master guitarist, said  ’You know what I think? If I am tired now, I don’t mind, because I have eternity to rest.’ “

How about this review of Marilyn Maye, also from the New York Times:
“Simply for her stamina, Ms. Maye, 81, is a phenomenon. She performed the entire show standing up, without having to catch her breath, her pitch unwavering. Her voice at the end of the evening had as much body and suppleness as at the beginning.”

Or even from a review in the Jazz Times for my Oscar Brown Jr. tribute CD:
” It takes as fine an actor as Brown to do proper justice to his songs.  So, it seems altogether fitting that a female cabaret performer (the best of such artists renowned for their superior ability to act more than sing songs), particularly one as gutsy as Linda Kosut, should pay album-length tribute to Brown.”

Today’s inspiring review

And in today’s New York Times there is a review of Kurt Elling’s show at Birdland, NYC entitled “Pivoting from Patter to Poetry” by Ben Ratliff, which you can find in its entirety by clicking here! One of the many things said about Mr. Elling in this review which hit home to me most, was what was written in the last 2 paragraphs of this review … about reaching out to and including your audience in your performance so they are truly on your side. Even the greats, like Mr. Elling, do this and it seems, quite thoughtfully.

“Mr. Elling’s baritone voice has range and resonance, and he can make it swell and strain to reach his high register or go very loud so that it distorts and almost cracks, with at least a reference to real emotion. It’s so effective when he does this that it can feel bullying or manipulative. But through microphone technique and a sense of pacing, he uses that power sparely. He’ll open only part of his mouth or sing away from the microphone or cuts vowels short.

“When he finally did bring his voice to full capacity,  it came only in the set’s last few minutes. But you might have expected that he’d wait till the very end to clobber you. Even before the set began, he made a point of shaking hands and talking for a minute or so at each table in the club’s entire front row. He was setting up a kind of contract with the audience, and he never broke it.”

I invite you to share reviews here that inspired you.

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