Christina Aguilera and the Hideous Cult of Oversouling

[bananas]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-eskow/christina-aguilera-and-th_b_819979.html

John Eskow
Posted: February 8, 2011 11:48 AM
Christina Aguilera and the Hideous Cult of Oversouling

To me, the horrific part of Christina Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem -- and "rendition" is an apt term for it, because she kidnapped the song and shipped it out to be tortured -- was not her mangling of the words, but her mangling of the tune itself: to paraphrase the great Chuck Berry, she "lost the beauty (such as it is) of the melody until it sounds just like a (godawful) symphony."

This is the same grotesque style -- 17 different notes for every vocal syllable -- that has so dominated the pop and R&B charts for years. Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are relatively minor offenders, but singers like Aguilera -- who admittedly possesses a great instrument -- just don't seem to know when to stop, turning each song into an Olympic sport as they drain it of its implicit soul, as if running through the entire scale on every single word was somehow a token of sincerity.

<snip>

The great Jerry Wexler -- who produced both Ray and Aretha -- coined a great term for it: "oversouling." He described it as "the gratuitous and confected melisma" that hollows out a song and drains it of meaning. Wexler, who knew more about soul than any producer before or since, said:

"Time and again I have found that flagrantly artificial attempts at melisma are either a substitute for real fire and passion or a cover-up for not knowing the melody... Please, learn the song first, and then sing it from the heart."

<snip>

POSTSCRIPT: I was lucky enough to know Wexler a bit, near the end of his life, and I can hear his raspy, streetwise voice in my ear, insisting I clarify his point: the problem is not Melisma--which I believe is also the name of Joan Rivers' daughter--it's Oversouling. It's like those corny educational films I saw in grade-school: "Fire can be our greatest friend...or our worst enemy!" The same goes for melisma. Without melisma, no Ray or Aretha, and also no Sam Cooke, no Waylon Jennings, no B.B. King, no Charlie Parker. It's rare for a singer or instrumentalist to disdain melisma completely; Miles Davis and Merle Haggard come to mind, but even they employ it, sparingly, at times. The nightmares begin when--as several posters have wisely pointed out--singers practice Melisma Abuse in order to draw attention to themselves and away from the song. Then it becomes, as Jerry Wexler said, that "gratuitous and confected melisma" that has driven so many of us to the point of shrieking, Aguilera-style, in despair.

<snip>

[Ozymanithrax]

1. She could have done worse. See below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1YVhcLD2c

[immoderate]

9. I like this more every time I see it.

It's so unAmerican to sanctify our symbols. Roseann, I think brilliantly, exposed the flaws in that music that the average person encounters trying to sing it. That's how most people sound when they "sing" it.

The melody is from an old drinking song. The shrieking happens to anyone who starts above the bottom of their range.

This wasn't an official song until the 1930s. It's performance for sports started in WWII. They still sing it but I can't imagine why.

Aguilera's performance was narcissism. She blew it because she was thinking about how to show off her voice, not the words.

--imm

[Ozymanithrax]

16. Christina at least sounded good.

Peole really to blow these things way out of proportion.

[northoftheborder]

2. whatever you call it.........

.........."melisma" (a new word for me) or "oversouling" I detest it's use on the National Anthem.

[bananas]

8. "Oversouling" means using way too much melisma.

Melisma used properly is good.

[roguevalley]

12. I shut off singers who do this. It sucks for me so badly it makes me

want to throw my radio away. Show off singing that might as well be the vocal equivalent of flashing your boobs.

[patrice]

15. It's what is known in literature as a "conceit", taking a good thing too far. nt

[Wilms]

3. I didn't know there was a term for that "phenomena".

Oversouling in perfect. Thanks.

[GReedDiamond]

4. Aguilera's "melismafyin'" on the Nat'l Anthem last Sunday...

...totally cracked me up, I actually burst out laughing like I was watching a Monty Python bit or sumthin.

And yeah, her "oversouling" was more annoying (after the initial burst of laughter) to me than her bungling of the lyrics.

[lynne]

5. Agree, it was Melisma's-On-Steroids -

- and in doing that she made the song about HER and her vocal abilities. She totally lost the reason that she was there in the first place.

No, it doesn't have to be cookie-cutter same every time. Different artists have put their individual spin on it yet kept it about the U.S. and not about themselves. Go to youtube and check out performances by Natalie Cole, the Dixie Chicks and even Cher - all of whom have sung the National Anthem for the Super Bowl and have made it their own without losing the point of the anthem.

[Kali]

6. is the term overSOULing the reason this is posted in Religion/Theology

:shrug:

:P

[bananas]

13. Yes.

Discussion of religion and spirituality is incomplete without discussing the religious and spiritual aspects of music, art, architecture, etc.

[bananas]

14. The etymology of "soul music"

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=soul

soul (1)
O.E. sawol "spiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existence," from P.Gmc. *saiwalo (cf. O.S. seola, O.N. sala, O.Fris. sele, M.Du. siele, Du. ziel, O.H.G. seula, Ger. Seele, Goth. saiwala), of uncertain origin. Sometimes said to mean originally "coming from or belonging to the sea," because that was supposed to be the stopping place of the soul before birth or after death. Hence, from P.Gmc. *saiwaz (see sea). Meaning "spirit of a deceased person" is attested in O.E. from 971. As a synonym for "person, individual" (e.g. every living soul) it dates from early 14c. Soul-searching (n.) is attested from 1948, from the phrase used as a pp. adj. (1610s).

soul (2)
"instinctive quality felt by black persons as an attribute," 1946, jazz slang, from soul (1). Soulful "full of feeling" is attested from 1863, but in a specific African-American sense from 1964. Hence Soul music, essentially gospel music with "girl" in place of "Jesus," etc., first attested 1961; William James used the term in 1900, in a spiritual/romantic sense, but in reference to inner music. Also from this sense are soul brother (1957), soul sister (1967), soul food (1957), etc.

[Mimosa]

7. The song itself is difficult for anybody to sing.

I think we need to change the National Anthem to a song most everybody likes. "America the Beautiful" would be OK, although Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" is musically far better. Too many people would object to the God reference in God Bless America.

The lyrics to The Star Spangled banner aren't awful. They're rather poetic. But the music is not 'friendly' to performing.

http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/starspangledbanner.html

Christine Aguilara is all about melisma. The word does sound like the name for a disease. *LOL*

[immoderate]

10. Ironic that the guy who wrote "God Bless America" was an atheist, pacifist Jew.

God bless Irving Berlin. :)

--imm

[toddaa]

20. Not to mention, he didn't like the song

Little known fact about Irving Berlin. He couldn't read music and played everything in F#, because the black keys are easier to play then the white keys. I noodle around with electronic music and agree. The Eb Minor blues scale is really easy for me to improvise on because I don't have to look at my hands when I play. I believe Chopin started his introductory students with Bb Maj, because it fits the right hand perfectly. CMaj/Amin are horrid scales for improvising, because I always miss finger the keys. I remember my early piano teacher drilling proper finger technique when playing scales and hated those exercises. I stopped playing in high school (one of my great regrets) and only recently returned to music, because of my love for synths and sound engineering. Right now, everything is digital soft synths, but I have slowly been building a small savings account to finally get my hands on a working vintage EMS VC3, which is the most awesome analogue synth ever (Pink Floyd On the Run). No offense to Bob Moog (RIP).

Unlike Berlin, I have little music talent and mostly stick to making earsplitting noise and dark ambient. I should probably move this to the musicians group.

[immoderate]

24. I understand that Berlin had a sliding keyboard.

He could change the key he was playing in by moving it. So he always got to play easy fingering. I thought he played everything in C.

--imm

[savalez]

11. I agree. Want chills? Sing it straight.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. Melisma is too much ornamentation.

Classical people use ornamentation (trills and turns) sparingly.

Melisma overdone is like Richard Strauss' compositions - wandering through various keys and never settling in one.

[lynne]

22. Oversouling is too much ornamentation. "Melisma" is a composed run of notes -

- through one syllable of a single word. A good example is Handel's Messiah "For Unto Us A Child Is Born". Check out the youtube here >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc

At about 0:33 seconds in, the soprano's will begin to sing the word "born". You'll see what I'm talking about.

[cleanhippie]

18. Why is this in R&T?

[bananas]

19. See posts 13 and 14. nt

[cleanhippie]

21. Bit of a stretch, no?

[charlie]

23. I hope not

I've got a post on Hail Mary Passes ready to go.

[cleanhippie]

25. Hahahahaha!

[WolverineDG]

26. As my choir director used to say (or yell, rather)

Find a note & stick with it!

And no going for the high A in "o'er the land of the free" either, ya showoffs!

dg

[provis99]

27. Marvin Gaye is responsible for all this nonsense with the anthem.

He did an excellent oversouling of the national anthem, but ever since then, every halfwit singer who sings the national anthem decides they are Marvin Gaye, and butchers the song.