How ‘American Idol’ Uses (and Abuses) Melisma

If you’re one of the 30 million viewers who are addicted to the Fox talent show American Idol (and even if you’re not), you’ve probably heard melisma.

Melisma is the musical art of creating a run of many notes from one syllable. In the United States, singers in the African-American church popularized the vocal practice, which dates to Gregorian chants and Indian ragas. When Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin began singing popular music, they brought melisma to more mainstream audiences. Whether you love it or hate it, Whitney Houston’s hit “I Will Always Love You,” with its elongated “iiieeee-eyes” and “ooooeeeooos,” is a prime example.

American Idol contestants (and pop singers) sometimes abuse and overuse the technique in songs. At worst, they can fracture a word into a soulless slur of syllables that feels both alienating and groan-inducing. Plus you have no idea what word they’re singing.

To get ready for the new AI season, spend a few minutes this weekend with our guide to melisma, courtesy of Anthony Heilbut, music producer and author of The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times.

How was melisma used in the early days of the African-American church?

Usually one person would recite a lyric or line of a song. Then congregants would repeat the line with their own variations. The ultimate choral effect was immense.

Can you describe that sort of melisma?

The melisma of a traditional gospel singer is rooted in folkloric moans and blue tonality. The most transcendent moments occur when a melismatic line is saturated with blue notes.

What can melisma accomplish in a song?

As some crucial moment in the lyric, the singer will worry a word to the point of abstraction. Ideally, the vocal distortions, the intricate and convoluted division of one syllable into as many as breath will allow, convey an eruption of feeling. But melisma can become so predictable that the singer’s passion can be questioned, even though the singer is usually making “ugly faces” to convey the soul’s torments.

How has melisma changed over the years?

As gospel singers became more professional, they would try to outdo [each other], much like a jazz musician in a cutting contest. The fancier the runs, the more amused or delighted the audience might be.

About 20 years ago, I dubbed these elaborations the “Gospel Gargle” and the “Detroit Disease.”

Why blame Detroit?

Some of [melisma’s] earliest and most audacious practitioners hailed from the Motor City. [Their variations] are much more self-conscious. In more recent years, soul singers, and ultimately pop singers, adopted these very busy and self-advertising forms of phrasing.

So while a great gospel singer such as Aretha Franklin can employ melisma for dramatic purposes in a manner that seems true to the song’s message, singers today seem to indulge themselves in a manner that is both virtuosic and anonymous. And the more it is done, the worse it is done. Something that might have seemed fresh and charming in the beginning began to seem self-indulgent and, to many of us, exhibitionist.

What are they doing wrong?

Often, there isn’t any musical justification of what they are doing. [Their runs] interfere with the flow of the melody, of the lyric, of the harmonies, sometimes of the rhythm itself. It’s frequently a very vulgar and ugly display. [That’s] the style of American Idol singers, most of whom are amateurs. [They] are simply mimicking the devices of the style’s most famous practitioners � singers like Mariah Carey, who indulge in runs.

How can melisma serve singer and song?

It can carry both the singer and the congregation to a higher sense of the song’s meaning; until it really becomes really a form of musical catharsis.

For example…?

When [the late gospel singer] Marion Williams sings “The Day Is Past and Gone,” her subtle use of melisma helps turn a lullaby into a cosmic blues. The note-bending begins with the third word, “is,” which is echoed in the next measure by a moaned hum, which is also melismatic. The listener understands at once that she is singing about something deadly serious. By the time she has reached the penultimate line of the second verse, “but death may soon disrobe us,” each melismatic turn has led us to the song’s crux.

With all the attention and backlash this style receives, how subjective is any of this?

In and of itself, melisma can be a great thing, it’s just been terribly abused by some untalented and insensitive singers. But I think the practitioners like to think that this is a sign of their engagement in the song.

The irony is that melisma is one of the glories of gospel music; I feel a real loyalty to it. I don’t think you can get very much better than gospel singers at their best.

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出典: acappellanews.com

The Abuse of Melisma
Posted on October 25, 2011

This past weekend, Zooey Deschanel performed the National Anthem for one of the World Series games. Y’all know I love Zooey D., but I was initially a little skeptical – the National Anthem is historically a tough song to sing, and while Zooey has a lovely voice, I wasn’t sure if she’d have the pipes. I shouldn’t have doubted her.

edit: This video has been taken down, so click here and try one of the vids listed.

What I love about her performance is she sings the Anthem straight, sweet, and solid. There isn’t any annoying vocal tics or runs that distract from the song. One of my pet peeves is when an artist decides to make a National Anthem performance something like an audition for a Broadway musical. It’s distracting and disrespectful.

Example – any “Star Spangled Banner” performance by Christina Aguilera.

Christina’s “performance” (otherwise known in the professional community as “butchering”) is so difficult for me to sit through. Christina obviously has incredible pipes, but her problem is that she abuses melisma so much that it’s hard for me to enjoy any of her songs without feeling like I have to punch something.

What is melisma? It’s when you sing multiple music notes for a single syllable. It’s best described as the “WoooAHHHOooAHHAHAHoooOHAHHHH” disease that Christina, Mariah, Whitney, or any American Idol contestant has. Somehow, there isn’t any other way for these artists to convey emotion except through extended and tiresome vocal theatrics.

In case you can’t tell, I hate melisma.

I read a good NPR article recently about melisma, saying that when employed correctly, it can be a powerful vocal tool. The article argued that the technique, originally used by gospel singers and popular singers like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Sam Cooke, is now being used by modern day singers for more exhibitionist and self-advertising behavior.

The article then listed several songs by past and current artists, asking the reader to judge who was abusing melisma and who was a master. The article was careful to not call out any artists for abusing the technique, instead allowing the reader to decide.

I listened to a couple of songs, and the difference I heard between two of them was astounding. The first song I listened to was “The Day Is Past and Gone” by Marion Williams, a gospel singer active during the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s.

I was simply floored when I heard this song. The melisma she employs in this song adds such emotional depth – the combination of the moody piano chords and her voice makes the listening experience fantastic. Unlike performances by many modern pop singers, there isn’t any faux emotional depth to this song – she is really feeling it, and yet it doesn’t come off as cloying and self-serving like so many other modern pop performances that use melisma.

I next listened to Jennifer Hudson’s performance of “And I’m Telling You” (skip to the last minute for the vocal theatrics).

I don’t think I have to describe just how much of an amateur Jennifer Hudson’s vocal technique sounds in comparison to Marion William’s. I’m not saying she’s an untalented singer (can I sing like her? Hell no). But her often overwrought vocals just do not have the same emotional weight as Marion William’s. If Marion William’s voice is the cool, sophisticated aunt who introduces you to opera and literature, Jennifer Hudson’s is the petulant prepubescent teenager who wants to know why she can’t have the same bedtime as the rest of her friends.

I wish modern-day pop performers will remember that the audience knows how talented they are, and that sometimes, the best and most effective way to sing a song is with a little restraint.

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Same here. I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard a national anthem when I was thinking, “THIS is how it should be performed!” A lot of people said it was boring, but if they prefer shit like Christina’s rendition over this one, then I just can’t help that level of ignorance.

I know, I just cannot handle watching American Idol for that reason. It doesn’t impress me anymore. Yawn.

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出典: jennyquixotic.com

Hate This Over-rated Annoying Melisma Fest!

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I despise the nerve-wracking, overblown-emotion-and-unending-melisma-fest that is American Idol. Good grief, peole, pick an effing note and stick to it! And if you insist on singing that way, don’t cover Beatles tunes! John Lennon, Paul Mccartney, George Harrison, and even Ringo did just fine with the oritinal melodies. They don’t need your pointless. paripatetic embelishments!

And why on earth do they make the contestants sing every different style of music—though with that same annoying singing style? If someone is a good rock singer, why must they sing country, or blues, or whatever? My husband watches this show and I have to leave the room. What an over-rated crapfest. Oh, and how on earth did Ryan Seacrest ever get famous??!! He’s not cute, not smart, not funny, not anything I want out of entertainment!

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出典: bzzagent.com