u/Bubbly-Cress-2741

"Vocal coach reacts to" "Vocal coach analyzes" "Vocal teacher explains" why was there a sudden rise of vocal coaches on Youtube suddenly reviewing singers while a lot of them barely get any engagement or views. But nowadays they're so many and they only have a straight face playing the music and not pausing to comment. Also a lot of them tend to review the same performances, say very similar things, have a perspective of analyzing singing the same way that gets a bit monotone or boring like teach us something complex. Idk it all started with Sohyang reaction videos I guess then it all blew up to everyone and a whole massive vocal community grew out from it to spread so much confusion about singing. Also it is hard to distinguish the true vocal coaches and teachers from those who only do it for the engagement, while I'd just like a vocal coach only who often shows she's able to sang her ass off and still explain things like a vocal scientist or engineer. Idk it used to be entertaining when we only had a few

I have often seen the whole problems about pitch perfection which I personally think is impossible to have even though you may have perfect ear and that is because of: technique can only allow the voice to do so much, and the vocal chords on their own function and exist through friction and tension and you can only have so much control of how much tension how much you have to rise or lower your pitch. I'd say a relatively impeccable pitch is not of a digital piano with assigned perfectly pitched frequencies on the sweet spot, it's to of course get as close as that but simply just enough that the human ear gets to hear the melody as it is with least dissonance without sounding artificial.

Problem is I can hear there is a difference between true perfect impeccable pitch and very well made or perfectly robotic autotune and it isn't obvious to everyone. It also seems that because autotune has invaded all the Internet that any decent pitches that still are a tiny bit flat or sharp by a few or any normal flaws are considered as totally repulsive while they're just our natural voice. Yes there's a degree to which being too flat and too sharp is not appreciated because dissonance is the same to everyone but a tiny bit even unnoticeable isn't to spit at. I think I'd like to hear just a few quick off notes but not too off too often just to recognize the melody and obviously because I'd know the voice is unedited, truly HUMAN and raw.
Of course the notes can be not perfect as long as it doesn't become a whole semitone under or changes the melody entirely, but again there are vocal tricks and styles and some melodies that go all up and down the scale that due to fatigue it requires inhumane stamina to always land on pitch. My ears are quite uneasy with autotune, it's distracting, verrryyyyyy distracting and it does such a disservice to singers because a lot crank the autotune to the max and apply it everywhere and sound like a Star Wars 2b2T. Autotune also makes the transition between two pitches instantaneous which makes everything just too aggressive like a piano instead of raising or lowering pitch like a violin instead.
And using autotune to reach perfect pitch instead of just precision is not the way, perfect pitch isn't even necessary yet people's standard of pitch have become outrageous that they don't know what a human being sounds like (because autotune adds that robotic thing and strips away some frequencies which entirely makes autotuned voices so goddamn dryyyyyyyyy). And being on perfect pitch truly will lead to pitch fluctuation or offness if you see a frequency bar, the frequency are not straight perfect. There are reverberation and all sorts of air and tiny pitch deviation that I personally think make the timbres or tones more complex and less dry less robotic unlike these Tiktokers or television contestants which voices have frequencies on the sound lab that are straight like paper. We just need to normalize pitch error and start recognizing true great pitch and not mistake it for autotune. And pitch is not by far the factor in which you determine if a singer is great or not or better than one another, there is only so much skill and technique that is attributed towards pitch other than riffs and runs that are totally about pitch, but even then riffs and runs are so fast that more perfection can't even be heard.

I always wondered how singing on its own held such power to society, those who had it had the world under their feet but some definitely profited their gift of singing to gain advantages like social privileges and riches while we could say it does not contribute to first category human needs. Singing used to be an entertainment and a way of storytelling, advice, social bonding but nowadays there are pieces and styles of singing made to entice emotions into people. That leads to people feeling fear or admiration towards a singer for whichever gimmick or style or vocal acrobatics they created. To give any WoW impression or to give them any image of power or an aura only through their voice although it's more about the sound than the words/lyrics themselves. It's not about the emotion anymore but now about what the human voice can do from an athletical standpoint. And singing has far been more than just Olympics. But singing also nowadays helped people build entire empires, become millionaires solely by singing and appealing by the masses through anything that isn't the storytelling but only the sound and the competition. Singing nowadays has become a tool of competition and showcase and not an artistic way of expression

That's a thing that I always asked myself is why do we always involve Opera to explain the voice and singing technique even to foreign singing styles that function totally differently. What makes Opera the most technical and sought after genre for singing, which qualities in Operatic voices are deemed as athletic? We have very few documents and ancient studies about Opera voices, everything back then was documented through paper and observation by ear and singer describing sounds ear to ear but never by digital recording devices or any technology that enabled them to see the inside of our throat which is I think the only way to see which mechanism are healthy to your vocal chords if visible damage is seen on them. How could they create and explain complex techniques without these tools and make such healthy intricate tools to sing Opera while Opera in its base is a very strainous and demanding, dangerous way of singing for the first undeveloped untrained natural voice if it doesn't transform and build the muscles for Opera. What makes such a risky genre so much elite and "superior" (I can only put it that way) from a vocal quality standpoint to other genres and styles of singing?

What are qualities in Operatic voices that are considered better that we must involve in other styles? What tones from Opera do we make a standard of today and why are they prefered to others by the majority?

-doing pop-opera

-the same riffs and runs

-belting everywhere

-sounding the same and doing the same thing in every song

-always scooping the notes/gliding sliding instead of directly singing the note straight especially for the melody that is totally lost

-being overtheatrical when it's not the genre

-the same popular voice tones by trends (especially new singers all sounding either like Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish or Jennie from Blackpink)

-Acting nonchalant, overly edgy/cool mysterious like a vampire

There is more that comes with breath support and managing air, it's just more than filtering and just saying "breath control, breath support, support, just support". I think two example is two loud belting clips of 48 seconds each: one is Katrina Velarde doing belting and tons of riffs and runs in one 42 seconds breath and one where Melba Moore is belting an A5 and holding it for 48 seconds. And these are LOUD and powerful YET they don't sound constricted or too "closed". Is it about lung capacity at this point or something else we're not taught of?

One female and one male each.

Best discography:

Best songwriting:

Best tone:

Best pitch range (tessitura):

Best cultural impact:

Best artistic print (style, blueprint, inspiration):

Best belting:

Best Headvoice:

Best Riffs and Runs:

Best growls:

Best screams:

Best stamina, breath control, apnea:

Best volume, power/ringing resonance:

Best genre versatility:

Best tonal and stylistic improvisation/gimmick versatility:

Best storytelling/emotion:

Best experience, vibe, ambience:

Best longevity:

Best artistic/stylistic uniqueness:

Best personality, authenticity:

21yo French here who has no personal career, no friends, who does nothing after work stuck in my room, so unskilled and unknowledgeable and feels late because I didn't go to university after graduating.

After I graduated high school, I actually wanted to work in the musical field so badly. I'm a proud singer who is confident in my abilities. But I never confessed to my mom that it is that thing I wanted to do of my life. She always told me that music is not a job, that it's just entertainment but that I must have a real job that is considered by her as tiresome, utilizing your brain to the max, knowledge, or contributing to society in primary needs, that is what matters to her. So Mom actually wanted me instead to go to the US, I went 6 months separate to Minesota, I couldn't apply for a green card because I was in a learning center and they told me to apply for a GED to get a scholarship at whichever university or community college but we both refused after learning a yearly tuition at the most basic community college totally unprestigious was 25k. Also got depressed by knowing nobody except my other family (we're actually a big ethnic community there) I didn't really connect with lots of friends because I couldn't drive and I had to wait 30+ minutes for buses. I just also felt uncomfortable in the blocky market next to market empty hellscape and got nothing to do to entertain myself.

So I flew back to France, I actually worked 1 year at my mom's store. She owns a store so I had to replace her and do basically everything (cashier, storage, and other tiring things) which I got a lot of client confrontations or middle schoolers stealing and bunch of French chavs in jogging. I have taken 2 huge loans, one for an appartment which a buffet owner is lodging in, one for the restaurant we bought that I'm actually working in and it's literally nextdoor to my mom's grocery store. So I'm in charge of the checkout and waiting service and I only got two cooks that are relatives, my parents after their store is on break just do delivery. I actually hate, hate, hate this life so much. I can't write how badly I was socially stressed everyday with a terrible launch terrible non working apparels and unstable wifi and clients complaining. We actually got better but my life is stuck in a cycle of working 8 hours everyday even on Saturday and Sunday evening 3 on the morning-afternoon 5 at the evening. During my break I head home, on the phone, alone, doing whatever nothing. I can't even travel to the big city nearby (huge city with tons of stuff, it's like mini Paris. It's Lyon and very touristic) because why go there only for 2 hours and these buses take 1 hour to go there. I haven't gotten in contact with my friends, I have nobody to replace me at work. I can't start new projects or a career because I am soooo in debt. I can't become a singer, I can't apply for The Voice, I can't spend time with my friends, I can't even go watch movies. I don't even have an activity, I can't even play video games or watch the new upcoming movies because I'm burnt out.

Right now I am not living, how much longer do I have to do this. I can't tell you how horrible the clientele is and how many and many customers aren't coming anymore either because we've disappointed them and tainted the reputation the old owners had, and our growing freaking prices that forced us to drastically increase them lemme tell you 10 to 20%. It is up to a failing business, my mom also does everything: paper, contracts, appointments, material delivery, and I do nothing even though I'm supposed to be the "official owner". I feel so dumb, so unskilled, so uncultured, I know nothing, I go nowhere, my personality is so empty so shallow, I know nobody. My mom's begging me and trying to find a partner but I can't love anyone right now, I'm not satisfied with my own life. I just want to flee, I want something to happen to me, I want to betray them by going to Paris and audition or just sing. I'm seeing my "friends and cousins" go outside hangout in such beautiful places, do so much fun stuff, so many things but I have to only watch them and feel the slighest bit of happiness imagining how it would be. I can't even cry about it anymore, I am trapped in my bedroom, I'm getting so unhealthy so physically and mentally sick. I'm dying almost, I can't sleep at night, I'm having low sugar, I'm having skin cancer walking outside to go to work, I have extreme eczema, I feel so high and drowsy but I can't show it. Singing is the only thing that keeps me alive, keeps me feel alive and in the moment. Singing is just my whole life and I'm not even able to express it. I'm pretty sure my post will go unnoticed but I couldn't care less because no matter if you can understand me or not it is not gonna change