Mini Lesson (actually a rant) on Voice Parts

x-posted again! (sorry for clogging your feeds!)

As with any incredibly talented group, there is always going to be a debate as to who is the “better” or the “best” one. While we’re all entitled to our own opinions, if you’re going to go out of your way to insult to prove your point, sit down and shut up. Nobody really cares. For the “Fated Light” post of my 3-way feature of FictionJunction and Kalafina, I’m going to rant about all you haters who basically have no valid point (inspired by random comments floating the net about the topic). If you’re going to defend a point, don’t do it like an idiotic fan with no basis for their arguments. There is no need to full out insult anybody to make your point. Simply state it. It’s art. It’s subject to opinion always.

Back to the FJ/Kalafina topic, it will focus on Wakana for the most part. Being part of both acts, along with her ability to sing well, she often gets noted as the one that “always” sings the melody. First of all, it’s not her fault that her voice happens to be the strongest in the mid-soprano range, which most of the melodies that Kajiura puts out centres around. Meaning, her voice part coincidentally fits the role, so why not give it to her? It’s called four part HARMONY people. Just because the other vocalists get stuck with the harmonies more often, it doesn’t make them less of a vocalist, the same way it doesn’t count to say that Wakana is overrated because she gets the melody. Keiko happens to take majority of the low alto voice parts because she’s just about the only one of the pack that CAN sing that low, especially with that much power. People like Hikaru and Yuriko end up with the higher soprano harmonies because like Keiko, they have that voice type.

This does NOT make any of them less of a singer. Why would it? We don’t all have the same strengths, and neither do they. Therefore no, it doesn’t mean one is more talented than the other just because of the voice part they sing in.

To clarify one more point, Keiko has more of a chance to showcase her full range because she does get the melody at times. It makes it obvious for us to hear her fantastic low to mid-range. As for Wakana, just because she sits at the second soprano range most of the time, doesn’t mean she does not have a range. Quite the opposite actually. She has a range about equivalent to Keiko’s but on the other end of the spectrum. She can enter the high soprano voice part rather beautifully and well-supported. Behold:

Yes, that IS Wakana you’re hearing.

Clearly, these girls are all capable. Some people ought to learn a bit more respect.

- Tsuki

Remakes/Covers that fail, then fail some more.

x-posted!

MERI KURI ~BEST&USA version~ (BoA)

What did they DO to this song? I thought more acoustic-sounding “MERI KURI” was going to blown my mind, and it did… with how BAD it sounds. First of all, BoA reinforces the fact that she has no sense of rhythm what-so-ever. I don’t want to generalize, but she’s in the music business, and is a dancer. She should have SOME sense, but she evidently does not. Then we have that HORRIBLE PIANO PLAYING. I mean, what was THAT SHIT?! It’s bad enough BoA couldn’t keep herself on pace, but then the piano flips back and forth and encourages her too. The only thing that saved it was the percussion and the bass instrumentalists. BoA’s singing is light and toneless. What more emotion? More emotion does not equal to more vocal antics. I’ll give her this, she did better in the bridge, but that was all. Screw this version. And the 2005 Winter Mix which was a load of umemorable crap too. Weezer did no justice to it either. Go with the original and save yourself from the rest.

Time After Time (Sowelu)

I’ll admit, the original was cheesy to begin with, but Sowelu’s attempt to make it sound more edgy and cool was a total fail. Random rapping in the middle made no sense. The arrangment was a horrible mess. Sowelu’s intonation and choppy phrasing does help either. I might have left this song off if there wasn’t that stupid interlude in the middle that sounded like it was just shoved in there last minute. As if Sowelu’s singing wasn’t as lazy as it was already, we have to hear that guy make random interjections. Boring. Sowelu can have some nice covers, but they all sound like they’re getting worse. First SEPTEMBER, now this. What gives?

Close to you (Cubic U)

I have no words for this. The original by The Carpenters was so cute and sweet, and this is not that. Sure, maybe she’s trying to sound stylish and souful, but it was not a pretty result. An undersupported 14-year-old Hikki should not cover things like this. All I hear are shaky vocals and random adlibbing that should NOT be allowed there. She’s so out of tune. It hurts.

Jupiter (Masaharu Takeda)

If there is one thing Gustav Holst should not go anywhere near, it’s an R&B rendition. I love Holst’s original “Jupiter”, and I’ll admit, I wasn’t a BIG fan of Hirahara Ayaka’s ballad version of the ONE theme that repeats for the entire time. I will say that her version was much nicer in its ballad form, but this cover of that song was something else. It’s just awkward, it’s 7 mins, and trust me, nobody wants to hear this guy adlib his way through one of the best suites ever in an attempt to make it funkier, and then later on, soulful with the horrible chorus and soloing he attempts.

It’s a small world (Koda Kumi & Heartsdales)

No. NO. This is wrong. How did we get a classic Disney song sounding like this? Not cool. At all. Seriously. What’s next? Hakuna Matata?

There you have it. 5 songs that were better left untouched. I may or may not add more.

– Tsuki

alan makes me go ‘*_*’ and ‘>.o’ at the same time

I suppose Avex wants a diva on their hands, if they’re looking to achieve the same affect BoA had with the Korean and Japanese audience, but with their Chinese relations instead.

alan is the majorly talented girl Avex managed to scout, but what are they doing to her?! I was provoked to write this as a response to her two latest single releases, which attempt to showcase alan with her “chest voice” – the voice that is most often used to belt. Face it, alan is no Christina Aguilera, or even a BoA when it comes to using the chest voice, and they should really stop making her sing poorly as a trade-off.

alan has an incredibly beautiful head voice. She has so much more control, and it’s just the way she was trained to sing. I believe she is capable of developing a chest voice because she does have moments where the she sings some very strong notes using her chest voice. However, don’t make her sing stuff like “Gunjou no Tani” with that crappy technique. Most of the times, alan sings all of her songs in a head voice anyway, despite the intention to belt certain songs. The result usually is her loss of control over her voice and poor technique, all because she’s focusing too much on forcing out the diva in her.

My prime example, “Kuon no Kawa” and “Chi Bi”. The latter potentially demonstrates alan’s best singing so far from a musical and technical standpoint. To start off, “Kuon no Kawa” isn’t that bad technically, other than alan forgetting her sense of phrasing in that version (and no, it’s NOT because it’s in Japanese – if she can sing the Chinese version with that much conviction, she should be able to get pretty close in what should be the same song). Towards the end, she gets so caught up belting, her phrases aren’t carried through fully. One more thing, she was STILL singing with her head voice for the most part. I’ll give her this, it was a better attempt than what she tried to do with “Gunjou no tani”, and proved that, with time, she can develop a strong chest voice (and maybe a lower register to go with it). For now, she should be allowed to stick with what she’s comfortable with.

-Written by Tsuki

My ongoing search for more Miyamoto Emiri

Some of you might remember my Miyamoto Emiri review from way back when. I just found out she has a THIRD album, and I still haven’t found her second album in the internets, which makes me rather sad. She is quite a good violinist. I might consider buying her last two albums if I get around to it (i.e. when the economy stops FAILING, and so the unemployed student (Me.) can pay for Japanese editions.

On my search, I found this collaboration with a French singer named Solita. Kind of cute. And samples Ravel’s Bolero, which is always cool.

On the bright side, I can actually FIND Emiri videos on youtube now. Woo!

I need more classical music in my life <3.

I was going to write an Album Impressions post today, but I have an essay due tomorrow… D: