Singing rock versus singing jazz music
Posted: 04/19/2011 | Author: markwebermusic | Filed under: Commentary | Tags: aspects, Jazz, loud, music, Rock music, singing, versus |
Mark Weber singing jazz
I love the saying that goes something like this: rock music is 3 chords and 10,000 fans while jazz music is 10,000 chords and 3 fans. Ask a person on the street if they prefer rock or jazz, and 8 times out of 10 the answer will be rock. Jazz music, whether it wants to be or not, is elitist music. Rock music is of and for the people. “She’s my cherry pie” is a lyric from a rock song, which goes well with jeans, beer and a sexually-charged summer night. Jazz music can be intense like rock music, but it’s always more subtle, overall, especially when it comes to lyrics.
As a pop singer who tried singing rock for the fun of it, it turns out that I’m truly at my vocal best when singing jazz, and I think I know why. Jazz employs the use of piano, drums and sometimes bass, at mellow levels, such that the vocalist is allowed to be the star of the show. And jazz allows for dissonant notes now and then, so if I’m not perfectly in key, I can get away with saying, “I meant to sing it odd like that– it’s jazz…anything goes in jazz.” What I love about singing jazz is that it’s really word-focused music, where the words matter, and the way they’re put together matters. In many ways, jazz and rap are close cousins, except rap is for hood rats and white trash, while jazz is for people with especially good manners. Rap will find the rapper spouting off vulgarities about sex, violence and money, whereas jazz is most often about romantic love– a more gentle notion for sure.
It seems like the world we’re living in is not at all gentle, which explains why so few people care to listen to soothing jazz music. In our chaotic world, which is so noisy and low-class, rock music is the people’s choice of music because it fits the culture so well.
When I sing rock music, vocally I am forced to be louder, to almost shout lyrics. There is little room for finesse around the consonants or vowels of a word, because rock demands you spit lyrics out at an audience, and you have to rise above the noise of your loud backing band AND the people conversing in the room.
Jazz music settings are a lot like Protestant churches filled with white people– polite golf claps come from the audience, and everyone’s pretty silent “in the pews,” to show respect to the jazz band in front of them. Rock music is all about noise and partying, however, so while a band may be loud themselves on stage, the audience is usually even louder, with all sorts of hoots and hollers.
You should try singing a jazz song followed by a rock song, to see how different they are to sing. You’ll notice you have to have much more of a tough attitude to sing rock, while jazz makes you feel feminine and thoughtful, with every syllable carefully planned and delivered so as to sound improvisational and cool.
I love the sound of jazz music much more than the sound of rock music, and as a singer, I love how jazz music allows the mellow tone of my voice to be noticed by an audience. Rock music is like rushing into something to get it done so you can move onto the next project, whereas jazz music is like taking your time to get to a know a person before you kiss them.
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Singing rock versus singing jazz music
Posted: 04/19/2011 | Author: markwebermusic | Filed under: Commentary | Tags: aspects, Jazz, loud, music, Rock music, singing, versus |Leave a comment »Mark Weber singing jazz
I love the saying that goes something like this: rock music is 3 chords and 10,000 fans while jazz music is 10,000 chords and 3 fans. Ask a person on the street if they prefer rock or jazz, and 8 times out of 10 the answer will be rock. Jazz music, whether it wants to be or not, is elitist music. Rock music is of and for the people. “She’s my cherry pie” is a lyric from a rock song, which goes well with jeans, beer and a sexually-charged summer night. Jazz music can be intense like rock music, but it’s always more subtle, overall, especially when it comes to lyrics.
As a pop singer who tried singing rock for the fun of it, it turns out that I’m truly at my vocal best when singing jazz, and I think I know why. Jazz employs the use of piano, drums and sometimes bass, at mellow levels, such that the vocalist is allowed to be the star of the show. And jazz allows for dissonant notes now and then, so if I’m not perfectly in key, I can get away with saying, “I meant to sing it odd like that– it’s jazz…anything goes in jazz.” What I love about singing jazz is that it’s really word-focused music, where the words matter, and the way they’re put together matters. In many ways, jazz and rap are close cousins, except rap is for hood rats and white trash, while jazz is for people with especially good manners. Rap will find the rapper spouting off vulgarities about sex, violence and money, whereas jazz is most often about romantic love– a more gentle notion for sure.
It seems like the world we’re living in is not at all gentle, which explains why so few people care to listen to soothing jazz music. In our chaotic world, which is so noisy and low-class, rock music is the people’s choice of music because it fits the culture so well.
When I sing rock music, vocally I am forced to be louder, to almost shout lyrics. There is little room for finesse around the consonants or vowels of a word, because rock demands you spit lyrics out at an audience, and you have to rise above the noise of your loud backing band AND the people conversing in the room.
Jazz music settings are a lot like Protestant churches filled with white people– polite golf claps come from the audience, and everyone’s pretty silent “in the pews,” to show respect to the jazz band in front of them. Rock music is all about noise and partying, however, so while a band may be loud themselves on stage, the audience is usually even louder, with all sorts of hoots and hollers.
You should try singing a jazz song followed by a rock song, to see how different they are to sing. You’ll notice you have to have much more of a tough attitude to sing rock, while jazz makes you feel feminine and thoughtful, with every syllable carefully planned and delivered so as to sound improvisational and cool.
I love the sound of jazz music much more than the sound of rock music, and as a singer, I love how jazz music allows the mellow tone of my voice to be noticed by an audience. Rock music is like rushing into something to get it done so you can move onto the next project, whereas jazz music is like taking your time to get to a know a person before you kiss them.
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