Kassiopaea Karaoke

itellsya said:
Russian orthodox seems to have the right idea - and i love singing along to this - the following songs can make you lightheaded quite quickly, plus a fun way to learn Russian? ;) - it may be tougher but i don't think you need to attempt all the notes, you can hold:

Agni Parthene - Valaam Brethren Choir

https://youtu.be/C7vvPXz-Qes

Very beautiful choir, thanks for sharing, Itellsya.

If anyone is willing to learn Russian through (choir) singing, I would also recommend trying Lyube, for example. It's a modern Russian group singing patriotic songs about Russia. They are also known as Vladimir Putin's favorite artists, he sometimes visits their concerts.

Here is one of their songs My Horse where a man is telling why he loves his Motherland. The melody is pretty simple and can be easily used for choir singing. Hope you enjoy it too:


https://youtu.be/n7gVzTULDPo
 
I always liked the Brown's singing "The Three Bells". It was so simple and pure and touched my heart. Folk songs do that to me. Edith Piaf's version of The Three Bells is absolutely beautiful. Thought I was familiar with most of Piaf's works, but this was a first time listen.

When I was small I would sing along with Peter, Paul and Mary. Loved their selections and harmony.

One of my favorite folk hymns is "Poor Wayfaring Stranger". I hum/sing it now and then when I'm feeling melancholy. By the end I feel much lighter.
 
Siberia said:
Here is one of their songs My Horse where a man is telling why he loves his Motherland. The melody is pretty simple and can be easily used for choir singing. Hope you enjoy it too:

This song is so beautiful - i've heard it sung by a female chorus before but the simplicity of that version is great. And surely could work.

I found some translated lyrics and they're pretty stunning too. I'll have a singalong when i can to see how they fit - though someone with musical skills may be better able. "Russia" can just be changed to "Earth", or something, to be diplomatic ;) and maybe stallion can just be "horse". Or someone may have a better translation.

Either way, thanks for the info and for sharing Siberia.

http://russmus.net/song/788 said:
Translation by katya

With my stallion at night, I shall leave for the fields
By the night so dark and silent we will go
We shall walk together by the fields, my steed and I
We shall walk together by the fields, my steed and I

In the fields the stars are shinning
No one can be seen around
Only my stallion and I, walking by the fields at night
Only my stallion and I, walking by the fields at night

Let me mount my stallion
Take me across the fields, away!
By the endless fields of mine
By the endless fields of mine

Let me glance at the sky
To see where the the fields give birth to dawn
Oh that cowberry color, scarlet sunrise!
Is that place real, or is it not

My little fields, my streams
Lights of villages afar
Golden rye and curly flax
I'm in love with Russia, I'm in love

The year will be good and the harvest heavy
We've been through much, we'll make it through once more
Sing now, golden rye, sing now curly flax
Sing about Russia, about my love!
 
Since Seth Riggs and his Speech Level Singing" was brought up, I want to share some information related to that. I've spent years and years combing through all these various "singing schools", and also trying out the methods and techniques they offer. I hope that what I have to say, will save you from following completely false paths and charlatans.

The short answer is, that Riggs' SLS and other "schools" based on that is pretty much a scam. Or, that's least what I and many others think who have tried it, and researched various methods. Before I get to the details why I think this is, here are some guiding principles and thoughts that I think are pretty close to the truth for you to consider:

1) There is no one "true" singing technique. It all depends on:
- How you want to sound, what style of singing you prefer. If you want to become an expert at some particular style of singing, you probably can not "cross train" that much. This is particularly true between classical/operatic singing and pop/rock/etc. Even inside the classical sphere of singing, there are many different ideals and beliefs of what is the correct 'bel canto' technique etc.
- The genetic and physical "inclinations" of your vocal apparatus; we are all different, and there are clear variations in which ways we can tweak and modify our vocal cords, larynx etc, without it getting too harmful or straining. For instance, some singers are born with a natural talent for reaching those top notes in their own way which works for them (see next point)
- Humans can produce many impressive sounds with they vocal organs in many various ways; e.g. those top notes and your head voice (what is meant by 'head voice' depends on the style and instructor) can be reached in various ways – some being more straining than others, and producing aesthetically different sounds

=> TO SUM: if the method(s) and technique will give you the results you're looking for, AND you can sing for years and years without loosing your voice - or top/low notes - then that is your "true" technique/method. If not, move on to the next one.

2) Superb singing that gives both the listener and the singer therapeutic satisfaction, with conveying and inducing emotions always comes from the participation of the "emotional center" (not necessarily in Gurdjieffian terms). Which in practical terms means activity of the muscles in the body that become active when feeling strong emotions, to put it simple, the muscles that you use when you cry or laugh. If the singing is just technical, without "visceral activity", it's, to put it bluntly, just organized noise. That is also why singing can be very good for you, since for satisfying results, you need to develop your body-emotional awareness, e.g. through body work and breathing exercises (like EE). And, it works both ways: if you can induce emotions while you sing, those "visceral muscles" will become active / if you consciously activate those muscles, the emotions will more easily be freed up and come to the suface.

=> TO SUM: no matter what the style is, how "ugly" it sounds, true singing that touches our emotions always comes from the "viscera"
ADDITIONAL NOTE: I strongly believe, that even with lesser skills in singing, IF you can make contact with your "core" while singing, it will bring you great satisfaction. No one is saying that you need to be super good and highly trained to enjoy singing!

3) The proof is always in the singing. No matter how convincingly someone explains various techniques etc., if they can not sing themselves the way they are preaching about, they don't know what they're talking about. There's an exception to this rule: very old teachers, say age 70+, can't perhaps sing superbly anymore, but even in that case you can probably hear that the technique is good, but the energy for "full spectrum singing" is just lacking.

So the problem with Rigg's SLS (and similar schools) has IMO to do with points 2) and 3). The SLS-method will almost completely eliminate the use of those "visceral muscles", the singing becomes mechanical and without emotion and intensity. You'll become quite skillful in tweaking your laryngeal muscles to reach those top notes when vocalizing (doing those SLS-exercises), but transferring that "technique" to a sustainable high note during a real song will probably be a disaster. You'll choke, or at the very least, the voice will sound dull because of no connection to the body.

At some point I tried to find proof in the form of video recordings, where Riggs or his students would sing a whole song themselves, but there were almost none. And those that I found, didn't sound good at all! Riggs brags about e.g. Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson having studied singing with him, but these two could sing superbly long before they ever met him. So, if you ask me, I don't trust him or his method, nor the "schools" that are similar, e.g. 'Singing Success'. The most laughable example is a video clip, where Riggs compares his vocal technique with Pavarotti's technique, saying how they are one and the same! :lol:
 
Loved the horse song and images!

And since PP&M were brought up, more to add to the list:


https://youtu.be/Y7lmAc3LKWM

Which reminds me of:


https://youtu.be/_EPsuOEH1fY

And:

https://youtu.be/4Qt57c7rnHM

Which leads to:


https://youtu.be/MsgXbSUMzR4

And:


https://youtu.be/n03g8nsaBro

And:


https://youtu.be/y3KEhWTnWvE


https://youtu.be/sonLd-32ns4

https://youtu.be/mw7i4KMEQuY


https://youtu.be/S8LFmtcBj7s

I'm getting carried away....


https://youtu.be/UGCiHev21mg


https://youtu.be/H34sUemjuw4

All these songs just have such beautiful and simple melodies.
 
Aragorn said:
Since Seth Riggs and his Speech Level Singing" was brought up, I want to share some information related to that. I've spent years and years combing through all these various "singing schools", and also trying out the methods and techniques they offer. I hope that what I have to say, will save you from following completely false paths and charlatans.

Thanks for the rundown.

Plus, from my own point of view, why should we search outside the group for singing instruction when we have qualified singers/teachers right here on the forum?
 
One more. Can't resist this one. If it sounds vaguely familiar it's because Elvis did a take-off on the melody with "I can't help falling in love..."


https://youtu.be/9jCIqEcvod8

A lovely choral version:

https://youtu.be/lrBtkqG_dxk

"Plaisir d'amour" (literally "The pleasure of love") is a classical French love song written in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816); it took its text from a poem by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794), which appears in his novel Célestine.

The song was greatly successful in Martini's version. For example a young woman, Madame Julie Charles, sang it to the poet Alphonse de Lamartine during his cure at Aix-les-Bains in 1816, and the poet was to recall it 30 years later.[1]

Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra (H134) in 1859.[2] Louis van Waefelghem arranged the tune for viola d'amore or viola and piano in the 1880s. It has been arranged and performed in various pop music settings.

Which should remind us that we are entirely entitled to take songs and write new lyrics if we like.
 
I took choir in elementary and junior high school and loved it. Even though the songs we sang were considered 'corny' by pop music standards they were very melodic with a lot of held notes and fun to sing. Hearing a group of people singing in harmony can send chills up the spine.


https://youtu.be/WyxXGdG3-Io
 
Odyssey said:
I took choir in elementary and junior high school and loved it. Even though the songs we sang were considered 'corny' by pop music standards they were very melodic with a lot of held notes and fun to sing. Hearing a group of people singing in harmony can send chills up the spine.

I think we need to get over this "that is corny" thing. All the peeps chasing after non-corny seem to be destroying the planet so we can get off that train.

Here's some guys doing plaisir d'amour a capella. Just gorgeous.


https://youtu.be/ZCXCcrXkDxc

Probably my favorite melody of all time:


https://youtu.be/s4Tiz2dfuSI
 
Siberia said:
Very beautiful choir, thanks for sharing, Itellsya.

If anyone is willing to learn Russian through (choir) singing, I would also recommend trying Lyube, for example. It's a modern Russian group singing patriotic songs about Russia. They are also known as Vladimir Putin's favorite artists, he sometimes visits their concerts.

For those who can read music, I found this site with sheet music for Russian Orthodox hymns: http://music.russianorthodox-stl.org/. I'm gonna do some YouTubing and see if there are some good ones.

Here is one of their songs My Horse where a man is telling why he loves his Motherland. The melody is pretty simple and can be easily used for choir singing. Hope you enjoy it too:


https://youtu.be/n7gVzTULDPo

Here are two of my favorite versions of this song. First it can be done as a pretty nice duo:


https://youtu.be/sqNuLPt4MdI

And another, with Pelageya:

https://youtu.be/CpQlM4L3-7U
 
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