u/PehmeeKultti

I haven't read the books (i'm on it).

Miss Lemon was such a bright fresh character. I loved her hair and outfits. She was a pop of color in the tv series.

I posted here a couple of weeks ago about me finding Björk for the first time and being confused but also into Björk's music. What happend was that I bought Björk's Greatest Hits CD secondhand on a whim. Never really listened Björk before but I was still really surprised how I found her music soothing.

Anyway, that was maybe two or three weeks ago and I have been listening this album nonstop. I can quite comfortably say that I'm becoming a Björk fan. Last time I wrote that Björk sounds "musicly odd". I don't really hear it like that anymore. Currently I feel like all of the songs just make so much sense. There's so many interesting details and I just don't get bored listening her music. I ordered two new albums (Debut and Homogenic cos those were on sale) from the local record store. Someone said last time that it is a good idea to listen Björk's discography in time order so I'm doing that. Thanks for the tip btw.

People also wrote that you need to get used to her music slowly and I definetly agree. Her music will not open up on the first listen. Also I think that there has to be some kind of "Window of Björk" open so that you mind is in the right state to receive the music. Sounds religious but I don't mean it that way. I rather mean that there is times in life when we are open to new experiences. I'm in that moment right now (I'm about to graduate university) and having Björk's music feels like it came in my life right in cue. I feel like I need Björk right now to be my safety net in this new chapter of my life when every single door is open.

That got deep really fast but that's music for you. For some of us, it's the thing that gives that little energy to go on.

Everything started about a week ago when I bought Björk's album Greatest Hits secondhand. It cost maybe 3€ so I was just curious and thought what the hell let's widen my music knowledge a bit. I didn't know really anything about Björk. Of course I knew who she was and I had listened her maybe once but didn't get her vision at the time so never listened again.

Now I been listening this album for a week almost everyday. I'm not even sure if I like it but every time I listen this I seem to like it a little bit more. I don't get what's going on like most of the time but this album feels some how calming in a weird way. The best way I can describe it is that this music doesn't demand to be listened but at the same time it's inviting me to join in.

Please, explain me what's going on with Björks's music. Why is this so good but so bad at the same time?

Edit: by bad I don't mean like low quality music but rather musicly odd. The harmonies are weird and it sounds like she sings in very weird key compared to melody. I'm sure I'm just not enough educated to understand it.

Sometime ago I gave up Spotify and started to use my old MP3 I had as a teenager. It been very nice but I do miss having all of the different choices of music anytime. Still, not going back at least for now.

My dad showed me his MiniDisc player and I was immediately intrigued by the Y2K aesthetic. The only problem is that if you ever want to listen anything with it, you first have to record the song you want with the player. Not very convenient on this day and age.

Anybody else going back to the old technologies like MP3? Or minidisc? Or does someone carry and actual CD player with them? How do you listen CD's on the go?

I have heard that singers sometimes face criticism bc we often lack music theory knowledge. I'm interested of music theory and I have taken a music theory basics course in my free time. Now I can (extremely slowly) read some basic sheetmusic and play it on a piano. However, this course didn't teach music theory from the singer's perspective.

What are some music theory essentials that benefit singers?

I have heard that pentatonic minor scale is very beneficial to a singer since it can be used in runs and maybe in impro. Is there other scales that could be good to learn?

I've noticed that some songs are better for singing than others. A good song and a good singing song is two different things.

I love songs that have enough text but also not too much. The song also has have something to interpret. The lyrics has to be telling and pleasing to say.

One song that I always come back to is very popular disco hit I Will Survive from Gloria Gaynor. It has very strong story telling and it leaves a lot of room for different types of voice tones and expression of emotion. You could sing it with humor, confidence, sadness and anger. Also the song fits my voice well. :)

What's your favourite song to sing and why?

Also remember to tell what genre it is and who is the artist for those who might not be familiar with the song. <3

My two year singing binge has just ended and I wanted to come here to share some deep meaningful things I have understood/learned about singing. ❤️

1. People shouldn't be divided into "bad" or "good" singers.

Everyone has something to work on, even the singing teacher. At the same time you can be very good in certain technique but still need a little bit more practice in somewhere else. Yes, sure. There is people who has more experience and yada yada but it just makes people feel bad about themselves if we continue value people like that. (I haven't seen this additude in this subreddit and I'm super happy!)

2. Singing techniques are tools, not values in itself.

Sometimes we just think about the techniques and how well we can do certain things but that not the main point. Singing techniques are used to interpret the song and to create emotional worlds, to tell about out our feelings and stories.

3. Singing is communication and emotional presence with the audience.

At the end of the day singing is way for us to say something that is just too difficult to say using bare words. The most beautiful thing is when someone can just be honestly authentically themselves on stage and just sing how they feel.

4. Don't wait to sing that song.

Sometimes we think that "I can sing the song when I'm good enough". But I think that is never gonna happen because more you develop the more your expectations grow. So when you are going to be better, you still say "I can singing it when I'm good enough". Just sing it today.

What I want to learn in the future...

This is super sad, but I wish I could see myself as a good enough singer. ❤️ Even though I can sing pretty good, and I know some techniques like twang, control of softplate, good control of the registers, decent pitch, articulation etc. I'm still scared sometimes that what if I'm actually "bad" singer and I just don't realize that but everyone else knows. Honestly, it doesn't even make sense. If you have some wisdom to say about this, please let me know. 😄

It's been one heck of a journey, and I never knew I would even be this good but here we are.