Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish.
As we learned last week, my hero, Dame Julie Andrews, had an extensive vocal range and a lovely singing voice to go with it. To my knowledge, she was unable to reach across five octaves. Please contact me if you can prove otherwise. I would seriously (seriously) love that!
You've probably heard of Mariah Carey. Or, maybe you've never heard of Mariah Carey? Some of you wish you'd never encountered her, I presume. I'm guessing it depends on your age and your interests. There are many versions of Ms. Carey in pop culture. I'm most fond of the "Unplugged" version. Although, I do very much appreciate the 2016 New Year's Eve version as well. I assume that someone was fired after the technical mishaps of such a fateful night. Google that fiasco if you want to see a diva in all her glory. Anyway, back to 1992.
Don't worry, I can only imagine what you are thinking. C'mon, Wonderfish! What are you doing? How can you go from talking about Julie Andrews one week and then Mariah Carey the next? Please, bear with me. If you listened to last week's "Do-Re-Mi," you heard a superb example of a vocalist singing across two octaves. This week, we're taking a moment to hear some higher notes. I distinctly remember my mother purchasing Mariah Carey's first album on cassette. Her vocal range was a revelation for my young ears. Then, in 1992, my too cool for words aunt, who is thirteen years older than me, bought a CD stereo system and Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged album on CD! She blasted it and showed me how amazing the backup singers sounded. I loved listening to that album. The most amazing part was hearing Mariah Carey hit those high notes live! It's one thing to sing well on a studio produced album. It's another thing entirely to sing so fabulously in front of a live audience.
At that point in time, the only opera I had been exposed to was the one with the phantom and those that served as foundations for Looney Tunes cartoons. I was unaware that people in pop music could sing such high notes.
So, to sum up, on this specific album Mariah Carey doesn't just reach the high notes. She solidly addresses them. They shine. If you'd like to listen to someone that has a five octave range sing greatly, please check out her Unplugged tracks. Forget about the personas, the hits, the misses; the lady can sing on this album! I've included two outstanding examples for you if you wish to listen. Also, you will find a link to another music blog that focuses on vocalists, so if you liked this post, definitely check it out! Shark's in the water! See you next week.
Emotions: Skip to the 3:35 mark and see if you can hit those notes!
Someday: In the clip below, you hear the stellar backup singers at the very beginning and at the 2:25 mark where they break it down! They are fantastic! Plus, Mariah hits those crazy high pitches! The background vocalists include: Henry Casper, Melonie Daniels, Peggy Harley, Cheree Price, Kelly Price, Liz Stewart, and Spencer Washington.
This week's sources:
The Looney Tunes clip is courtesy of YouTube and Peter "Dunster".
The video of Mariah Carey singing Emotions from MTV's Unplugged is courtesy of YouTube and "Mariah Carey's Archives".
The video of Mariah Carey singing Someday from MTV's Unplugged is courtesy of YouTube and "MariahCareyVEVO".
For more extensive reading on vocal ranges, please visit The Music Critic - this fellow blogger posts in-depth information about vocalists and the site is very user friendly!
As we learned last week, my hero, Dame Julie Andrews, had an extensive vocal range and a lovely singing voice to go with it. To my knowledge, she was unable to reach across five octaves. Please contact me if you can prove otherwise. I would seriously (seriously) love that!
You've probably heard of Mariah Carey. Or, maybe you've never heard of Mariah Carey? Some of you wish you'd never encountered her, I presume. I'm guessing it depends on your age and your interests. There are many versions of Ms. Carey in pop culture. I'm most fond of the "Unplugged" version. Although, I do very much appreciate the 2016 New Year's Eve version as well. I assume that someone was fired after the technical mishaps of such a fateful night. Google that fiasco if you want to see a diva in all her glory. Anyway, back to 1992.
Don't worry, I can only imagine what you are thinking. C'mon, Wonderfish! What are you doing? How can you go from talking about Julie Andrews one week and then Mariah Carey the next? Please, bear with me. If you listened to last week's "Do-Re-Mi," you heard a superb example of a vocalist singing across two octaves. This week, we're taking a moment to hear some higher notes. I distinctly remember my mother purchasing Mariah Carey's first album on cassette. Her vocal range was a revelation for my young ears. Then, in 1992, my too cool for words aunt, who is thirteen years older than me, bought a CD stereo system and Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged album on CD! She blasted it and showed me how amazing the backup singers sounded. I loved listening to that album. The most amazing part was hearing Mariah Carey hit those high notes live! It's one thing to sing well on a studio produced album. It's another thing entirely to sing so fabulously in front of a live audience.
At that point in time, the only opera I had been exposed to was the one with the phantom and those that served as foundations for Looney Tunes cartoons. I was unaware that people in pop music could sing such high notes.
So, to sum up, on this specific album Mariah Carey doesn't just reach the high notes. She solidly addresses them. They shine. If you'd like to listen to someone that has a five octave range sing greatly, please check out her Unplugged tracks. Forget about the personas, the hits, the misses; the lady can sing on this album! I've included two outstanding examples for you if you wish to listen. Also, you will find a link to another music blog that focuses on vocalists, so if you liked this post, definitely check it out! Shark's in the water! See you next week.
Emotions: Skip to the 3:35 mark and see if you can hit those notes!
Someday: In the clip below, you hear the stellar backup singers at the very beginning and at the 2:25 mark where they break it down! They are fantastic! Plus, Mariah hits those crazy high pitches! The background vocalists include: Henry Casper, Melonie Daniels, Peggy Harley, Cheree Price, Kelly Price, Liz Stewart, and Spencer Washington.
This week's sources:
The Looney Tunes clip is courtesy of YouTube and Peter "Dunster".
The video of Mariah Carey singing Emotions from MTV's Unplugged is courtesy of YouTube and "Mariah Carey's Archives".
The video of Mariah Carey singing Someday from MTV's Unplugged is courtesy of YouTube and "MariahCareyVEVO".
For more extensive reading on vocal ranges, please visit The Music Critic - this fellow blogger posts in-depth information about vocalists and the site is very user friendly!
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