<p>Give me your impression of Heather Russell, the 10 year old who has recently signed with Simon Cowell. What do you think? Put her name into YouTube if you don’t know her yet.</p>
<p>Simon is raving about her. My nonmusical ears likes her voice and she seems to sing like someone more mature. Im in awe of such a little kid with big talent!! But is she straining her voice (I dint know the word for it but it’s like she’s pushing too hard). But what do I know?..zip.</p>
<p>If you were reallly worried about the kid straining her voice, why did you post this online?</p>
<p>I do wonder about that, but when you look at someone like Beverly Sills, who was an operatic prodigy at a very early age, you realize that it can work out just fine…</p>
<p>Huh dragonmom, I’m not sure what your asking me. Worried no, just curious. A better question might be, is she really good? Everytime I fall for some singer on TV, the experts on here point out how I’m wrong. I really have no sense in that regard. This kid sounds cool but then I thought but isn’t she doing what others have worried about other young singers doing?</p>
<p>I’m definitely no expert on singing,so I want to make that clear. </p>
<p>I do have a daughter who is a singer. </p>
<p>I had never heard of this girl and just watched a couple of clips. What I saw seemed OK/Good but not really what I think of as great. When she sang loudly, it did seem a little like pushing or even just increasing her volume and not really using a belt voice. </p>
<p>When I read your first post and BEFORE I heard the clips, I was going to say that just because a kid has a “big voice” doesn’t mean they are ruining it, though I have read many who say that kids who belt are ruining their voice. I think if a kid belts properly, they are not ruining their voice. I can’t say with this girl but she just seemed to turn up the volume at times but without any sort of technique. So, I’m not so sure in her case.</p>
<p>I’m probably being too biased (and I only listened to two clips), as my own kid who has sung from a young age, has always been known for a powerful belt voice…her forte, even when young (when she was about 8, my dad used to call her Ethel Merman). I don’t think my kid has ever wrecked her voice as she belts in a proper way and that is not the same as shouting, which this girl appeared to be doing in the clip I watched.</p>
<p>That said, she has some talent and if she wrote her own songs and can accompany herself on piano, that’s quite good for that age and it is not as if she truly is trained yet. She is young and has potential. I didn’t think what I heard was anything unusual, sorry to say. I may be jaded as I have heard a lot of very talented young singers over the years due to my D’s peers from around the country, when they were young. Again, I may be too biased here in my standards.</p>
<p>Nah, soozie, I don’t think you’re biased, just more informed than many because of the years you’ve spent exposed to students of a variety of ages who are quite good trained singers. There is a difference between singing and belting and just yelling on pitch. Also, I am surprised at the number of people who can’t hear if a singer goes off pitch. Haven’t heard Heather Russell so I’m not saying that she does either, but in this day of pop culture instant “stardom”, I can’t help but wonder whether her very young age influences people’s perceptions about the quality of her singing, but of course we know that Simon Cowell would never package and market her on that basis ;).</p>
<p>I have not heard her. However, I have always wondered why we seem to value the kids who have more “mature” voices. In a lot of cases, it is not that they are truly more mature, but that they have learned to mimic it. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than the pure voice of a talented young child singing like a young child.</p>
<p>Remember LeeAnn Rhimes (sp?) She was a local girl…the little kid belting the National Anthem at professional sporting events to the awe of the crowd. The story is that when she was middle-school age, her mom took her around to talk to professonals about various musical genres. The voice-conservatory people told her she would have to study for many years and maybe ready for certain parts in 10 years or so. The Broadway folks told her that they’d have to move to NYC to be able to audition for whatever came up for a kid. The Country folks welcomed her with open arms, hence the direction of her career.</p>
<p>justamom, if you listen to some clips, I will say that this young girl doesn’t try to have a mature voice and she still has a young sound. The first two clips I picked to listen to, I didn’t think were so great as there were loud moments that did seem like pushing and not great singing. But I listened to a couple more later and the best one was a recording, which of course is not the same as live, whereas the others were live. Also, a couple where she sings a ballad that had no loud parts were better. I still didn’t think she was anything extraordinary. However, I will say she has talent in the sense that she is writing her own songs I think and can accompany herself on piano when she sings, which is not that easy considering her age. She seems to have potential but nothing stood out that much to me in what I heard. I guess no “wow” factor for me, and I’ve heard kids who are a lot better.</p>
<p>When I first read this, I thought you were refering to Jackie Evancho - who must be about 10 or so now. She reminds me of Beverly Sills - singing opera at a very young age. She also performs other styles, and seems to have good technique and EXCELLENT breathing control. I’m very impressed…</p>
<p>Jackie and Heather sing very different styles of music. That said, Jackie’s vocal talent seems way beyond Heather’s. Jackie’s voice, however, doesn’t sound like a young girl, and is very trained. She seems to have an incredible vocal instrument. Heather’s voice doesn’t sound trained but as someone with potential. But it is also very hard to compare the two styles of singing which are so different.</p>
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<p>Unless it’s egregious, no, I couldn’t tell at all. I also don’t get why people say Christina Aguilera or Lady Gaga have “real” voices and say, Britney Spears or some other pop singer don’t. They just all sound like women’s voices to me. Not being musical and not being trained to listen, I have no way of telling who really has a good voice and who doesn’t.</p>
<p>I’m the same as Pizzagirl. Sometimes I impress myself when I notice something that the judges on American Idol notice, because it’s so rare.</p>
<p>So she is good for normal people, but not up to CC standards.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - I used to be in the same boat as you, until D2 became much more involved in music and participated in audition-based, non-school related choirs. I can’t tell you how many concerts, performances, etc. over the years that I’ve gone to and feel like I’ve now developed a reasonable ear for off-pitch, sharp and flat. And you know what, sometimes I wish I was more inexperienced with it all, because I really used to enjoy the days when I could go to any music performance and not be disappointed by performances. Now that I recognize some of these things (I still can’t always tell when someone is pushing as opposed to singing). But I do hear off-pitch, flat and sharp and I’ve become spoiled by performances that are truly on a professional level. </p>
<p>However, there are certain occasions when I can just let it slide and enjoy it, such as when I went to see Crosby, Stills and Nash at Ravinia last summer. They were far from the same level as when I heard them 30 years ago, but my expectations weren’t too high with the quality of their voices, considering their ages and the self-inflicted damage they’ve all done to their vocal cords. </p>
<p>So sometimes it’s better to be naive and just enjoy things.</p>