You wouldn’t suggest guitar lessons to someone as accomplished as Eric Clapton, no more than you’d suggest acting lessons to Robert De Niro or golf lessons to Tiger Woods.
Ok, maybe Tiger Woods wasn’t the best example. What I’m getting at, though, is that the field of pop-music singing is immune to such logic. There are a number of reasons today’s top belters could use some professional help.
Inborn talent is not a prerequisite for success as a pop vocalist. Lou Reed and Bob Dylan proved that back in the ′60s. But while a shoddy voice is surmountable, a shoddy vocal technique is not. Singers who fall flat in this area, and many do, inflict as much damage on their vocal cords as on our eardrums.
I contacted a pro to find out exactly what’s right and wrong with how today’s singers sing.
Jill Jaxx is a vocal instructor at Marshall Music Store in Torrance. A former professional singer who participated in hundreds of recording sessions, Jaxx began her vocal-coaching career at the Chrysalis School for Girls in Long Beach in ′94. Of the 40 students she’s been seeing three times a week since, some have gone on to Broadway shows, others to award-winnning rock bands.
What impressed me most about this forty-something Kansan, however, was that she’s a former member of the Suedes. Remember, the fictional backup band backing Leather Tuscadero (Suzi Quatro) on those indelible “Happy Days” episodes.
How cool is that?
It is dusk as Jaxx sits in the apartment she shares with her movie-producer boyfriend, two cats and mounds of music gear in a gated community above San Pedro. I’m playing her a mix tape I’ve made of ten songs. I narrowed them to selections by rock and R&B acts known for either their commercial or critical appeal.
Jaxx listens primarily to country, opera, and Broadway music these days. This means she can’t place most of the following voices right off the bat. This unfamiliarity is perfect, considering the question I’ve given Jaxx to ponder while rating these performances:
What would you advise a stranger who came into your studio sounding like this?
Alanis Morissette
“Baba”
I’ve picked a particulary exasperating vocal from Morissette’s new album to try and settle a question I’ve had since 1995. Is this singer’s ubiquitous voice—so original and yet so overmodulated—a good thing or a bad thing, technique-wise?
Rating (0–10): technique 7, emotion 10
ADVICE: “Her voice is really emotionally expressive, which I love,” says Jaxx. “but she’s going to kill herself. She should take some lessons in where to place her voice. She’s using her throat muscles too much. They’re for swallowing, not for singing. Her throat should be completely open, everything completely relaxed, and her chest should be supporting her singing. If she doesn’t take this advice, I would suggest that she drink a lot of water and use a lot of steam. She’s going to have to not talk when she doesn’t perform, or she’s going to blow herself out.”
Ani DiFranco
“Gravel”
DiFranco has garnered so much acclaim for her indie posture that I wondered whether a truly honest critical appraisal of her oddly staccato, breathy delivery has ever been made. The version of this song is live, from KCRW’s recent “Rare on Air Vol. 4” disc.
Rating (0–10): technique 6, emotion 7
ADVICE: “I hate the breathy thing she’s doing. It’s boring to me. I get all these kids who think thay can just sing like that all the time. A good singing style connects the singing in your head with the singing from your chest. This is all just disconnected head voice.”
Smashing Pumpkins
“Perfect”
Rock fans are squarely on either side of the fence concerning Billy Corgan’s nasal whine. Jaxx proves no exception.
Rating (0–10): technique 3, emotion 3
ADVICE: “Hello? I could help you! Oh, God, breath support! He knows naught about that. He’s not really pushing his voice. It’s totally nonexpressive and one-dimensional. He sounds like a 95-pound weakling, and he’s certainly a lazy singer. I wonder if he can do anything else. And he doesn’t know how to go through the bridge—the transition notes you need to follow to get from your chest voice up to your head voice.”
Fiona Apple
“Criminal”
The female equivalent of Rick Astley, this is a skinny little girl with the voice of a rotund gospel singer. But is she as big as she thinks she is?
Rating (0–10): technique 10, emotion 9
ADVICE: “I really like her voice. What a neat, bluesy tone. She has it all together—a huge voice with good resonance. I would change nothing about this singer.”
Oasis
“All Around the World”
I have stated on many occasions my belief that Oasis would be better if songwriter Noel Gallagher ditched his annoyingly nasal brother Liam and took over all microphone responsibility himself. I played Jaxx the whiniest recent Liam vocal I could think of and was surprised at her reaction.
Rating (0–10): technique 8, emotion 8
ADVICE: “Now, this man knows how to sing. I like his emotional connection and his voice has got texture to it. It sounds rough but he knows how to put the texture in without hurting himself. He’s probably been in a lot of bands and learned how to do it. He sounds young, passionate and he’s got good energy. His voice is not round and it’s not pleasant. It’s a metallic sound that gets in your face and makes you listen. To me it’s a cool, young, male, rock sound.”
Beck
“Tropicalia”
I’ve always pegged Beck’s voice as chronically flat. Jaxx doesn’t. She picks up on another problem.
Rating (0–10): technique 5, emotion 5
ADVICE: “I like this guy’s voice. He knows what he’s doing. but he’s got swollen cords, you can hear the irritation. Stop smoking!”
Maria Carey
“Honey”
They say it’s as much about the notes you don’t sing as the ones you do. They say it, but Mariah Carey doesn’t seem to listen.
Rating (0–10): technique 10, emotion 3
ADVICE: “She’s a great technician. She’s one of those black singers that really has vocal control. She’s got a high-placed larynx with good forward placement. But there’s too many notes. She’s showing off so much you can hardly hear the song. And I don’t like the fake emotional element. I don’t get anything from it emotionally.”
Note: Mariah Carey is not black. She’s of mixed heritage
Marilyn Manson
“Dope Show”
Jaxx constantly slams the fast-forward button during this one, as if she’s heard enough.
Rating (0–10): technique –2, emotion 1
ADVICE: “Yuck! I can’t stand these British guys with their contrived vocal showboating. This is not singing, it’s posing, with all these gimmicks to sound dark and menacing. This guy would need to learn how to be truer to his real voice before I could even begin to help him.”
Note: Marilyn Manson is not from Britain. He’s from Mars.
Lauryn Hill
“Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Rappers use their voices as much as singers, if not more. So why not subject this solo Fugee to the critical light?
Rating (0–10): technique 5, emotion 5
ADVICE: “He’s hoarse...Wow, is that a girl? She’s got this macho thing happening. A lot of women have that. They think the lower they pitch their voice, the more powerful they sound. But they end up hurting themselves. If that’s on a record, I can imagine how trashed she’ll be in concert. I don’t see, if she’s a woman, why she has to sound like a man.”
Tom Waits
“The Fall of Troy”
I threw this in just to mess with Jaxx. What could you possibly advise someone whose voice is this far beyond reparation?
Rating (0–10): technique 4, emotion 4
ADVICE: “If there was a separate category for guts, I’d give this man a 10 just for daring to sing. I know of an AA meeting he can go to. I always can hear alcohol and cigarettes in a voice. You can hear the abuse. The alcohol dries the cords out, then the smoke damages them even more. And most drinkers smoke, or they hang out in bars where there is smoke. Oh, this sounds like that burping singer. I forget that guy’s’s name. What is it? Hey this is Tom Waits, isn’t it?”