Note to singers, like those in the 42 versions I listened to and discarded before posting this one: When it's a Christmas carol, that is who the star of the piece is.
Stop jazzing, soloing, and tarting it up, which is just the petty talent's cry of "Me! Me! Me!"
Your own skills and talents show best when you focus on the music, with as much artistic perfection as you can muster, and not on inserting your own flourishes.
Tomorrow, a case in point of how that works.
3 comments:
Amen. Christmas Carols should be about God and His Mysteries, not about the singer's vanity and the mysteries behind how they ever got famous to begin with.
Best Christmas Carols are the ones sung in church, by the congregation. You can really feel the Holy Spirit lift your soul when the whole church sings the "Fall on your Knees..." section of "O Holy Night." My personal favorite for group-sung songs. That one always does just about makes me fall on my knees out of joy
When you get into “... jazzing, soloing, and tarting it up, which is just the petty talent's cry of "Me! Me! Me!" “, the one that annoys me most is the idea that singing more notes makes it better, so simple half notes have to be turned into 8 or 10 notes. Respect the song and the songwriter a bit more, OK Miss “Artist”?
THANK YOU Aesop! I’ve been a professional musician for over 35 years and this is one of my pet peeves. “The song is the star of the piece” - what a novel concept! Note to wannabe Christina Aguilera’s: this goes double for the National Anthem. We don’t need no stinking interpretations....
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