It's Not Your Pitch It's Your Voice
I went to an open stage the other night. It was, as always, eye opening. There is a lot of talent out there. So what rises above the rest? Your voice.
Not your pitch, but your voice. Most musicians have realized that your pitch has little to do with your success as a musician. In the American Idol world there are countless other perfect voices. So what stands out is feeling, emotion, a voice that communicates to people.
For some reason I’ve been listening to Smash by The Offspring as of late. Dexter Holland is not a great singer. But wow does he have a voice. That nasal, whiny, voice is what makes The Offspring so great… maybe not so great these days, but at one point it moved millions of kids. His pitch was not pure but who the fuck cared? He had a voice that meant something to me as a youth.
Do you have a voice? It’s a harder question to answer then you think, but finding your voice is as critical as finding your audience.
Hawksley Workman has a great line in one of his songs:
“singing is about sexual confidence”
It’s a great line with truth at it’s heart. Singing is about CONFIDENCE. Who cares if you’re pitchy? Who cares if you’re flat? If you sing it like you mean it, sing it with authenticity and sing it with heart then I don’t care, I’ll feel it. And that my friends, is what it’s all about, making your fans feel it!
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Category: Live Show, Music Business Commentary, Music Career, Music Philosophy
[...] Allie’s blog interests Posted in Uncategorized by enw115blog on May 13, 2009 New Rock Star Philosophy [...]
yerp, i second that.. if u got the voice.. u can nail everything babey
This is something I have struggled with a lot. Just being comfortable in my own skin. One gig in NYC I played after a Folk artist and he had the smoothiest voice and easy listening guitar arrangements and the crowd was way into him. It totally messed with my head and the first couple of songs I played were terrible cause I was playing to what I thought I was suppose to be that night. Instead of just being myself a Rock guy with a lot of heart. For better or for worse. Truth will always come out in the music.
I hear you MattyZ. I think finding your own voice is something that can take people a long time to do. But it’s also good to remember to not be hard on yourself as you’re on that journey.
I always think of Dylan as someone who is still on that journey to finding his own voice. He started in a far off different land then he is now, but every step has been honest and authentic. Which is really what finding your voice is all about.
-Voyno