Soul vs Technique

[datura800.livejournal.com]

I hope he won't mind me quoting him, but I read an interesting assertion in Alex's review of the new Mariah album (today's Guardian):

"Carey's voice has been mocked, bizarrely, as being a triumph of technique over soul - an argument that fails to comprehend that technique and soul are intertwined, that technique primarily exists as a means to convey emotion".

I thought this would be a good discussion to have here - it's a point I quite strongly disagree with (generally, not specifically with relation to Mariah), but I'll wait to see if anyone is interested in commenting before launching into it.

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I know it's nothing to do with the song! It's a problem of the format - I'm just saying that it's fairer to say "the performers fall back on technique because they're in an incredibly stressful competitive situation which scrambles their emotional radar" than "they value technique over emotion".

I do recognise the effect you're talking about though - I just take most of the performers on good faith - "I want to sing like Whitney/Mariah/Celine because that is how emotional singers sing" not "Haha I know real emotion sounds nothing like this but I'm going to sing like it anyway". So I'd rephrase it as "separating technique from intelligence" rather than "from emotion".

For example, the embarassing pantomime of rock'n'roll noises someone like Bobby Gillespie keeps making in songs - all those "whooos" and "oh yeahs" and stuff: that's an example of technique gone awry too, but not because of a lack of emotion - Bobby G means it, maan - just because he's not thought through how to make the technique appropriate to his voice or songs or performance. I think the X Factor wannabes are doing the same kind of thing.

[datura800.livejournal.com]

But you make two separate points there - firstly you argue that they 'fall back on technique' because they are nervous, then you say that they are aping those singers because they believe that's how emotional singers sing. I don't think the two are neatly compatible, and I think the latter is far more the case. But that opens up a whole other argument anyway, because most of the kids on these shows don't actually seem to have been exposed to much music beyond those kinds of artists so you have to wonder what they even think 'emotion' is in terms of music (ie their standard will be 'My Heart Will Go On' rather than 'Strange Fruit')

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think they are compatible - the reason technique works as a fallback is that they believe it to be the best way of conveying emotion (even if their nerves then stop them thinking through the song as coherently as they'd like)

The point about the music they like and listen to is a very good one too.

[datura800.livejournal.com]

But if they were 'falling back on technique' then there would have to be an acknowledgment there that this didn't actually mean conveying emotion - and I don't think that acknowledgment is there for most of these people.