<p>Singersmom, when my D had to sign the contract for Sing Off…she sent it to me (it was very very long) and had so many restrictions for the time AFTER the TV show to the point of her saying, “they’d own me.”</p>
<p>soozie,</p>
<p>I have been thinking the same as you about all the talented students that I have come across at Tisch. And that is just one school. There are plenty more that have and and are training amazing talent. No one I have met has even dreamed of trying out for AI. Each week that I watch the show I am in shock with the lackluster performances and wonder why they can’t seem to get talent. Maybe it is for all the reasons that you have outlined.</p>
<p>That story about your daughter’s friend is horrifying. But I have seen Simon belittle MT types by saying things such as “that is for Broadway not this competition.” But then he makes a huge star out of Susan Boyle and additionally an English all male group that sing all classical songs. So it is difficult to tell what he likes.</p>
<p>My daughter doesn’t even watch the show. She says it makes her too nervous.</p>
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<p>To be fair, “talent” and “national live TV caliber talent as in captivating millions of viewers” are two entirely different things. You could have a fabulous Tisch musical theater singer and that’s no guarantee of the moxie and charisma to grab an audience on national TV. In many ways, those are two different things.</p>
<p>klri, the particular young woman I mentioned who auditioned, while she does do MT, also sings rock/pop very well and so she did not sing in a MT type of way at the audition. She did not have a good audition (I saw it on YouTube) and I think she didn’t make a good choice for it. She sang the ending of a song she had sung as a solo in my D’s a capella group that had garnered her awards, and my D had written the arrangement of it, in fact. However, singing just that section out of context without building up to it, just did not come off well, unfortunately. </p>
<p>As far as moxie and charisma, that was not the issue in this case. I mean the girl is starring on Broadway after all. 
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<p>When I said I know better singers than the ones on AI, it is because among my D’s friends, who while trained in MT and who also do MT, they also some who are rock/pop singers, as is my D, and their voices and stage presence are just way better than many whom I have seen on AI, such as this season (I only saw it once though). Some of these friends have had starring roles on Broadway and National Tours, as well as perform rock/pop in NYC and so on. </p>
<p>I have not been impressed with very many people on AI, though there have been some good exceptions over the years. I have not been following it this year and only watched once. I did think that Crystal had a good singer/songwriter type voice, which is not the normal type of singer they go for on AI but she does have talent.</p>
<p>Anyway, my point in a previous post was that here was a girl who is truly very talented who got bashed by Simon on National TV and it is forever on YouTube and she has a career in the field and so negative publicity like that is not welcome when you google her (though she has adopted a professional name since graduating). It is one thing when the judges bash people who truly CANNOT sing. But this is someone’s career in this case, not an amateur, and I feel in the end, she had the last laugh as look at her now. But my kid saw that it took its toll on her friend at the time.</p>
<p>Falling Slowly is one of my favorite songs! The only other arrangement I’ve heard other than the original, is my daughter’s a cappella group. I LOVED this duet!</p>
<p>Even though the judges weren’t wild about Casey, I enjoyed his performance this evening. I thought that he performed better than Lee tonight. I thought Mike performed well too.</p>
<p>I liked Casey…not Mike, Lee…ok…Crystal rocked it.</p>
<p>Yup, Crystal was excellent.</p>
<p>What happened to Lee tonight? He was terrible. That song was too high for him. At least his duet with Crystal was good. I liked Mike and Casey, but Crystal won it, hands down.</p>
<p>This season I just don’t seem to care enough about any of the contestants to actually vote (whereas in prior years I always voted on the top ten). Last night I enjoyed Casey the best and also his duet with Mike. Lee was not on his game and I normally like his style.</p>
<p>The remaining contestants are visiting their hometowns this week. Crystal is slated to sing the National Anthem at a minor league baseball game here, on Friday night. They are also having a parade for her. It was mentioned that if she’s voted off, the events won’t happen, making me think all of this has been arranged by AI. I won’t be going. I think I’d enjoy seeing her at a local coffee house sometime.</p>
<p>I thought the best performance last night was Crystal and Lee’s duet. I didn’t like Lee’s solo song, but still like him overall. Last night was the first time I have voted all season and I voted for Lee.</p>
<p>Lee did better in the duet because he had Crystal to keep him on pitch.</p>
<p>I can’t believe Casey is safe. Last night, he reminded me of Tiny Tim.</p>
<p>I liked Casey, but your right, he was a little bit like Tiny Tim!</p>
<p>SPOILER ALERT</p>
<p>Mikes gone. I did nlike a lot of what he did but in the end he was still the weakest link, although Casey was weak also. Mike never really got the sound to get the teany votes.</p>
<p>Pretty predictable elimination.</p>
<p>I just realized that if either Crystal or Lee wins (which should happen), we’ll have our first American Idol winner ever from somewhere other than the South (we can argue about whether Missouri is the south, I guess, and Arizona, but the larger point still stands). About time.</p>
<p>Hmmm… the parade for Lee will take place about 15 miles from where I live. I’d feel like such a hypocrite for going as I’ve been less than supportive of this year’s AI season.</p>
<p>Consider it a “Factfinding mission” and then report back to CC with the details!</p>
<p>Crystal’s parade will be about 5 miles from me - Friday is a really busy day for us though, so I’m unlikely to be able to go though I would love to!</p>