One of the nice things about my frequently being awake during the twilight hours is that my Uncle Scott often has to be up during those times as well. He's usually waiting for something to happen so he can leave the hospital, and has time to kill. We message, talk, or otherwise communicate. I love my Uncle Scott.
Uncle Scott kills time when he's stuck at the hospital and there's too little time to go to sleep and he has nothing better to do by watching YouTube videos. He's recently gotten me started watching the One Voice Children's Choir, directed by native Japanese BYU grad Masa Fukuda. It's a choir of (surprise, surprise, since it's based in Utah) mostly white kids. Some ethnic children are in the group as well. they sing like white kids. They sing the way I think children should sing. They don't over-embellish. They sing their melodies and harmonies as written and directed. They dress in the uniform of the day.. They don't look like a bunch of male and female Jonbenets. They don't draw attention to themselves unless they're singing solos, and do so only subtly even then. In short, they show appropriate choir decorum.
If you listen to them, you won't find them to be the most exciting group you've ever heard. Yet, as they age (it's a multi-age choir from ages five to eighteen) some of them start to show genuine talent. One of their either present or former singers, Lexi Walker, is showing promise as a solo performer.
Lexi Walker, either Once Voice Children's Choir alum or present member, sings my favorite carol. My mum taught it to me in French when I was barely two. It brings back gingerbread feelings to me.
Most of these kids won't bowl you over with their voices. They sing at age-appropriate levels. The teens seem to be given a bit more latitude, or perhaps they're just given more difficult parts. They don't try to be junior Beyonces, embellishing melodies all over scales and beyond. Some viewers will be put off by the whiteness of it all, but it takes place in Utah. Where is a prospective youth choir director in Utah going to find a majority of singers who have training in music fundamentals? My guess is, in Utah, that would be mostly among the Caucasian population. Other races are not excluded.
This probably isn't an example the group's best song, mainly because the ending is anticlimactic, but it captures the essence, the age difference, the degree to which the choir takes direction, and the age-appropriateness of the group.
Kids choirs probably don't belong on AGT. I'm not really a fan of the kid acts, although I did like this year's winner, Darci Lynn. Her act is not really kid-like, though.
ReplyDeleteLexi is very Disney. The choir is good, but I don't know that it belongs in Vegas. Utah, definitely.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of most kid acts in general. Either it's a kid being too embellished and stylized and pushing his or her voice to far, or it's awfully white bread. Kids need to hone their crafts -- even on stage -- but not necessarily on national tV. If the talent is real, it will still be there later when the kid is of an appropriate age to showcase the talent. I don't see it as a AGT act, either. It has it's own niche. They did great in their Normandy performance. Vegas is probably a bad venue for them.
ReplyDeleteLexi is Disney princess-sih, but she's only something like sixteen at the very oldest. I think she'll out grow it. I love to hear her sing "Il Est Ne, le Divin Enfant." My aunt says she looks and sounds like my mom singing it at the same age.
Unfortunately the gene pool did me few favors and I got neither my mom's looks nor her voice.
Um... but you play piano and violin and you're in med school. I'd say you were gifted with plenty of good genes. And if those pictures you've posted are really you, you're also very pretty.
ReplyDeleteMy mom claims she can't sing. I've only heard her sing softly. I never cared for my dad's voice, although many people did love to hear him sing. A lot of that stuff is in the ear of the beholder. I supposedly sing very well, but I'm sure some people would rather I didn't.
Lexi sings very well, although I found her introduction to be a bit stiff and formal. That kind of took away from her astonishing performance. I was surprised by how well she sang in French, though. I'm not sure I could do it. Actually, I think I'd have problems with more classical stylings, even though that is what I started out doing. I seem to have developed a pop voice.
Some of the pics i have posted are me. I don't post pics of me except for a couple of little kid ones anymore. The dorky (chemical) blonde ones for the most part that you've seen were I. The one I used to show with the black dress and the yellow flowers was I. The pretty dishwater blonde girl is my cousin. The girl sitting atop the piano holding a violin is I.
DeleteI'm not ugly, but my mom is a total MILF, and she plays piano, too. Boys used to look over our fence hoping to catch a glimpse of her in a swimsuit when I was a kid and in high school. AND she can sing.
I do probably have a greater capacity to retain complex material than she does, though. That's the only area where I may have come out ahead.
Your voice is beautiful singing anything I've heard you sing.
DeleteOn another note, I've noticed that LDS folk seem to love that "pop" sound in their music. Lots of touching pianos and cloying arrangements and such.
ReplyDeleteThey've liked it that way for quite some time. The overall sound of their arrangements hasn't really changed since the 80's from what I've heard. Piano works for choir, but not for everything for which they use it, and if they use an electronic piano sound, it's usually a bad electronic sound.
DeleteYou people have no taste in music. One Voice children's choir is PHENOMENAL. kids should share their talents. When children are older, how will they share their talents on television, if they never got known as a kid? How are you going to learn how to perform on the big stage if you never practice on it? Musical talents and all talents should be shared.
ReplyDeleteDO MORE RESEARCH BEFORE YOU ASSUME NEGATIVE THINGS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE'S TALENTS OR PEOPLE!
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