MimeTroupe

Truly my immortal soul has been delivered!

Man, I've been studying for midterms and I come back and I have ENDLESS BLOCK B POSTS JUST WAITING FOR ME!

Wait, did you post this to prove that people ignore you? That makes even less sense to me. I don't think I'm qualified to accurately judge pop singers. I can give you my perspective as a classical singer, but I still have a hard time raking/rating pop singers especially if they have very different problems with technique. If you still want me to talk specifically about u-kiss' vocals in that performance, I'd be happy to do it in a PM. I don't see a problem with how the thread goes about responding to people. Yes, I am relatively new, but I've been here long enough to see that they try to respond to everyone. I think part of it may be that they're asked to rate the same idols over and over and it gets frustrating for them when you could just type the idol's name in the search box and find out what they think of them. No, it doesn't have a standardized format, but this thread is for generally talking about vocals, not just for ranking idols. Every time I've wanted a more specific, concrete explanation of something, they've always been gracious about explaining it to me in PMs.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by proper replies. Why would you want somebody to use overly technical language that you wouldn't understand? I could analyze some of what's going on if that's what you really want, but you'd also have to know that I'm studying classical voice and not pop, so my definitions and terms are not always going to apply or match up with somebody who studies pop. But if you just want someone to throw around some fancy technical language (which may not even be used correctly for all you know), I'm not really sure what you would get out of that. I could talk about passagios and fach and glottal fry until I'm blue in the face and it would mean nothing to you and more likely only get me into another argument over terms with someone in the thread. The people on this thread explain things in a way that can be understood or at least easily explained to people who may not have a vocal pedagogy background which I think is appropriate since this is a website for kpop fans, not vocal aficionados.

Yes, I definitely hear it. Perhaps her troubles with glottals are a symptom of the nodules? Regardless, I stand by what I said, but you absolutely do not have to agree with it. And please, do not interpret anything I said as suggesting that she isn't an amazing vocalist. I do recognize she is top level.

Haha, I will agree to disagree then! I won't mention it again.

Oh yeah, I think they're one of the most selective schools in the country.

Man, I didn't even want to talk about this glottal thing. Ahmin talked me into it. I personally disagree. I think she was using a glottal, I don't think she used it in a perfectly healthy way, she did have some tension in her voice, maybe you're right about the nodules but from what I've heard that was more of an issue later. They are very minor, intentional flaws in technique that contributed SOME to her losing her voice.

Oh wait, Curtis is in Phili right? That's an amazing school.

I never said it wasn't intentional. I think she is doing it on purpose. I'm just saying it's not very healthy.

A staccato is just a style that can be achieved by using glottals. It really is just not holding a note out for it's full duration. Really? Which source did you use? Does it help to say that I'm using a linguistic definition? Her voice didn't become squeaky per se, but it did get a little creaky which is a sign of a glottal.

I apologize for my tone, I didn't mean to offend you. I thought I clarified my definition, but I suppose it wasn't clear. To me, a glottal involves closing the glottis. When she sang arms at that part, there was a point where it sounded she re-articulated the a in arms. This blocks air and sound from escaping which is why there was a brief, abrupt halt in the sound but no pause to breath in and no sound of an exhale. You can't re-articulate a vowel like that without some sort of glottal.

Yes, it's when the sound seems like it just halts for no reason. That's her glottis closing. Oh, and Lepidoptery, how far away is Caregie Mellon from you? Wow, should I just never ever use the technical definitions for things? There are different types of glottals and that video is littered with them. Notice I didn't say it was a glottal "attack", I just called it a glottal.

Where abouts do you live? Is there a university with a music school or conservatory in your area? That's a good place to look.

Is 1995 pre vocal deterioration? Because she did it a lot in this song 1:03 if you want to get specific.

Sigh, I guess this is a thing now. Ok, so let me explain about the glottals. So, you guys know that a glottal involves closing the glottis (go figure). That involves pressing the vocal cords together preventing them from vibrating which is why a glottal can't be voiced. When you come out of a glottal consonant when the cords are pressed together tightly, singers tend to keep the cords pressed closer together than they should be because that's what the cords were doing a moment before. And pressing your vocal cords too tightly is what causes strain. This is what I hear happening to Mariah after most of her glottals which gives her a slight scratchy sound. Which got worse as she aged, as you've heard. This always happens right after a glottal for all singers, but ideally it should last for less than a second and with Mariah it seemed to effect and color the phrase after. Also, when she sings with that "breathy" color, she presses her cords together a little too much as well which probably irritated her cords further. Of course, Mariah still did many things extremely well and has some impressive coloratura which I think has helped people overlook some of her minor vocal flaws. Which were of course, minor. But unhealthy and contributed to why her voice isn't the same today.

I've heard good and bad things about the Alexander technique. It's something used more by theater people generally but it has done wonders for a lot of performers. A lot of voice teachers incorporate some of it into their lessons. She is quite good, a little less than $75 seems about right if she's faculty. If she's not, it's a bit pricey. My teachers charge around $100 per lesson if you're not in the music school lol. I would actually recommend first taking lessons from a grad student if you're just starting out. They have a lot of the basics fresh in their mind and many end up being fantastic teachers. That's what I did initially and it worked out great. They also charge way less.

Except her voice has also seen better days.....

I feel like it's also more relevant because she's a dancer as well and does dance routines while singing. Also she has healthier vocal technique, by my classical standards at least, don't kill me TT.TT

So, question, why do you guys always use Mariah Carey as the standard and not Beyonce?

Because the issues she does have are more easily fixable than the issues a lot of "mediocre/average" singers have, if I'm interpreting correctly. And the good moments she does have are very good. Also guys, I know you all love Mariah Carey but it's not like she never has pitch issues. Or vocal issues in general, especially lately.

This gets really confusing since you and zhx have the same profile picture........

I'm really digging that beige corset/strait jacket thing on b bomb

I recognize so many scenes from this from short clips and gifs (both for Block B and B.A.P) but I don't think I ever saw the whole thing until now lol.

What! Is that a thing? Why aren't there a million gifs of that?