Because that’s what publicists tell their clients to do! Remember that Oscar performances benefit both sides - the Oscars get more of a show, and the performer gets exposure. One of the jobs of the publicist is to get their clients the best exposure, and they don’t do that by waiting for the show to call them. They call first, and negotiate with the show directors to get the best spot they can get.
Well, you might think that, but the idea didn’t come from her publicist. See bottom of page 2 and beginning of page 3.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/inside-lady-gagas-sound-of-music-performance-musical-director-stephen-oremus-shares-exclusive-details-342478/P2
Btw, we little people who aren’t musically trained don’t know what you mean by “scooping” or “thin upper register.” Though it sure sounds impressive. We just know what makes the hair on our arms stand up. I thought she was fantastic. I love that she has the guts to go from wild and outrageous to Tony Bennett to SOM. She’s so comfortable in her own skin. I think she is the real deal.
Something terrific she did a couple of years ago on Howard Stern’s show. An acoustic version of one of her pop songs, and a much better version!
There are exceptions to every rule. Although I would not be surprised if her publicist threw her hat in the ring for something and then the producers found that specific spot for her.
“Scooping” is when, rather than hitting a note dead on, you hit it above or below and then slide onto the correct note, not as an intentional artistic choice but because the interval between two notes is too large, fast, or confusing to hit accurately. She did it a lot, and in places that did not make sense as any intentional artistic choice.
“Upper register” is, quite simply, the upper third of the vocal range for a given person, often called “falsetto” in men and “head register” in women - as you sing, progressively higher notes feel as if they are resonating ever higher, transitioning from your chest to your head. The mark of a good soprano (or high tenor) is the ability to put power into the upper register without sounding nasal or losing control. When she hit most of the high notes, her vocal quality changed and her volume dropped, and on the rest she countered by overpowering and sacrificing control. This is not always obvious, it shows most when she is transitioning between the middle and upper registers.
But did most people enjoy it?
^^^apparently only the ignorant masses.
She worked with a vocal coach for six months to nail it. It was fine, just not as amazing as people want to think. Many were surprised she could even sing, which is too bad really since she is a singer. I think most people enjoyed it and it was okay. She did not have the presence of a happy young nun though which is probably not surprising to anyone. I thought it was a highlight in a really bad and boring Oscar show. Last year I was much more impressed by Pink. 
Probably? I can’t claim to have been keeping track but she is very popular and she made an honest attempt at matching Julie Andrews’ presentation. I was asked why I didn’t enjoy it and I gave my answer.
I am honestly not sure how else to put it. There was a guy a few years ago who sang “Nessun Dorma” on Britain’s Got Talent. It sounds pretty good… until you listen to Pavarotti’s version. Julie Andrews was an incredible, incredible vocalist, and having heard her version a few dozen times, Gaga sounded to me like, well, like they could have done better.
Was this meant to be insulting? Have I disparaged anyone for liking her performance? Or is this because someone said they didn’t understand what I said and I then explained myself?
The BGT guy was Paul Potts. Some liked the human side of his performance. For comparison purposes…
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m4AYmcnB0Lg
As far as the Oscars, I taped it and watched later. All I can say is that without a DVR, this year’s was unbearable and even worse than prior years. The emcee was seriously ridiculous and the performances mediocre. A few speeches saved the night, but it is hard to understand the attraction of such a flat program.
Your explanation was certainly helpful and thank you for that.
However, as someone who doesn’t know music theory (beyond reading Alan Pollack’s Notes on the Beatles, which dissects all their songs in technical ways I don’t fully understand), there seems to be a term called melisma, which is “sliding” from one note to another. It seems to be referred to as a good, interesting thing. So how does that differ from scooping and how do you know her (or her vocal coach’s) use of this was accidental / a mistake versus intentional?
Call me ignorant, but I really thought she was great.
Cosmicfish, I think you have to realize that the differences that are so, so important to you are likely lost on the rest of us, that’s all.
Re 446 - I think the “working with a vocal coach for 6 months to hit it” is a positive, not a negative. It says someone who has high expectations of herself, and doesn’t just want to sing it competently but wants to take it seriously,
Going back to Melanie Griffith for a minute, I thought her face looked incredibly unnatural. Almost didn’t recognize her. Her dress was fine but her face made me uncomfortable. The interaction on camera with her daughter was unfortunate.
As for Gaga, agree that most of us not trained in musical theater thought it was a good moment.
I am definitely not trained in musical theater. However, I do have a kid who is a professional in this field and I have seen and heard a lot of musical theater artists. I thought Lady Gaga’s performance was wonderful. I am not someone who follows her at all. I am not surprised that she can sing musical theater genre well because she got her start in a musical theater program in college (in fact, the very same one my own daughter went to), though never finished. I don’t see a need to compare her to Julie Andrews. She gave her own interpretation of the material and did a fine, fine job. For me, it was one of the highlights of a fairly dull show. I also loved the moment that Julie Andrews appeared and both women seemed touched.
I also enjoyed the Glory musical number (John Legend) and the performance by Jennifer Hudson. Some of the speeches were good. While I like Neil Patrick Harris a great deal, and I thought his opening number was very good (though not as good as the one he did on the Tonys), the rest of the hosting fell flat unfortunately. His hosting of the Tonys was better, but it’s an entirely different sort of awards show in the first place.
@cosmicfish I loved her performance, her dress, the background, her voice and the “normalcy” of it all! LOL! I think it was fun to see Lady Gaga in that mode. She really entertained us, and I loved seeing that other side of her. I also think she did Julie Andrews proud in the respect she brought to her songs.
Saying that, I completely agree with you. I could tell she couldn’t quite “hit” that note so “slide” into it…even though I don’t know the musical lingo. I was waiting for the magnificent “high” note that never came, and heard the lowering of the voice. It’s not easy to not compare to the original singer. At least for me.
Anyway, just wanted to say I agree with, but i still love seeing Lady Gaga perform it over anyone else…because I’ve never heard her sing like that before and didn’t realize how talented she was in that regard.
It would seem to me that some of you just didn’t like Gaga’s performance because it was Gaga. Your window to give her much credit at all whether you love her or not seems barely cracked open.
And the reported training time of six months was incorrectly reported - Gaga corrected that fact herself via Twitter:
@usatodaylife I trained 2 months for this w/ my vocal coach and mentor Don Lawrence. He’s been training me for 15 years. Since I was 13
For those of you who were so surprised to hear Lady Gaga ‘actually sing’, I urge you to get the dvd of her collaborations with Tony Bennett. Incredibly entertaining!
Disappointed to read the stupid comments tweeted by Shonda Rhimes.
It wasn’t a Master’s opera performance at Julliard. It was simply a medley of songs from a movie at the Academy Awards show. The intent was not to outsing Julie Andrews or even simply reproduce her performance. It was merely a tribute to her and the music, nothing more. Lady Gaga did a fine job and in the moment most people enjoyed it very much, from what I can gather, INCLUDING Julie Andrews.
Nrdsb4…exactly!
Well, melisma is generally more complex (lots of ups and downs), prcecise (hitting and holding distinct notes rather than just sliding past them), and usually starts after cleanly hitting an initial note, whereas scooping is always at the start and is a simple slide from the mistaken first tone to the correct one. Listen to Whitney Houston singing “I Will Always Love You” - when she sings holds on “I” and shifts between a bunch of different notes, that is melisma. And it can be a very powerful vocal technique if it is used correctly.
Scooping is one of the most common mistakes singers make, and like common mistakes in any other activity, gets pretty obvious when you see it a thousand times*. If you like football, the difference between a bad pass and a QB throwing away a pass to avoid a sack (or save time on the clock) is hard to miss. If you like baseball, a runner sliding into the plate is easily distinguished from the person simply tripping during their run.
And that’s fine - again, I was asked my opinion, there I nothing wrong with having a different one.
Actually, the differences themselves are not that important - it’s not like I was listening specifically for these issues, I was simply underwhelmed and am trying to explain why.
**: In one song in this case! *