The world of vocalists
In order to understand them, you really need to think like a vocalist. Some observations:
o They usually don't read the notes in music for the very simple reason that it is hard to correlate a given pitch with a given note on the page. Instead, they learn intervals and are thus able to relate a tune to a given pitch (as in a cue) by reasoning out the various up a third, down a fifth and so forth intervals.
o Since they don't read notes, many of them have never seen the need to understand any of the rest of the notation. I have placed ads that clearly state "MUST READ MUSIC", yet will have any number who will lie and say that they can (during the phone call), only to get shown up the first time that they step up to the mike. While I can forgive the first point above, the second is unconscionable. Knowing that there's an eight bar intro is all well and good, but they need to know when an adjustment has to be done and suddenly their eight bars turns into twelve.
o Having said all of this, there are any number of excellent vocalists (as far as looks, charisma, tone and the like are concerned) who are well worth having on board as long as they are willing to learn. And, this is where they tend to fail. Either they are not willing to put in rehearsal time to learn additional tunes, or they can't read enough music to learn the tunes on their own time so that they only need a tune up rehearsal before performing them. Either one is a catastrophy, and I don't want to have such a person around unless it is absolutely necessary.
o Finally, and this is a particular sore spot with the musicians, many vocalists think that they are somehow "special" and thus exempt from the many elements that lead up to doing a decent performance. Not wanting to rehearse is a big one of these (them cute gals like to spend the night before out on the town, not getting up for a 9:00 AM rehearsal on our only available day), but right up there with them are not being willing to sing backup, not being willing to expand out of their genre, not willing to help with teardown, and not being prompt on the bandstand when it's their time to shine. I can tell plenty of stories about each of these, and a vocalist who steers clear of them all is a treasure indeed.
I have recently lost four vocalists. The prize three moved, one far out of state, and two to north and central Texas (which is as bad as moving to another state anywhere else in the Union). As a result, over the past four weeks I have run an ad for vocalists in the local "alternative newspaper", and have gotten about twenty five responses.
Of the twenty five:
A. Ten or so I discouraged up front, as being obviously unable to read rests, much less music. If they don't know if they are an alto, mezzo, baritone or tenor, it's usually a good sign that they will fall in this first category.
B. Of the remainder, about six more got screened out by getting cold feet (or by belonging in the first category but not wanting to tell me about it up front). I program five at a rehearsal, knowing full well that one or two will invariably not show up.
C. Of the residual of the above processes, we will get perhaps four at a given rehearsal. This past week was typical, with five scheduled (plus one piano player), but with only four vocalists (two girl, two boy) and no piano player showing. That's when it gets interesting.
Generally, once you get this far, they are either up to the task or they are not, with no grey area. In this case, it was much the same. The two girls were both excellent, even when you consider that one could not do much with reading music. One of the boys was also excellent, with a full command of Sinatra and Darin and rock stuff. All tested out well on adaptability, willingness to cross genres, stage presence, and with singing backup when needed.
And then there was boy singer number two. On the morning of the tryout, he tells me that he's primarily a country and western singer, something not mentioned at all during our telephone contact. No problem there, as long as he's willing to learn. I ask him to pick four tunes from our country assortment, to try some of the Elvis country numbers as they are easier than most, and we'll run them for him one in turn with the other vocalists.
First tune was the every popular Crazy, done in the original Willie Nelson key (since we've found it's better for the instrumentalists to adjust to a odd key than it is for a vocalist to shift). In this case, however, the precaution was in vain - the guy couldn't even stay on pitch through most of the number. Not a problem; that's why we go with more than one tune. Stee-rike one, but you get two more so not to worry.
(Later on, when the other boy singer did Twist and Shout, we asked boy number 2 to sing backup. As anyone in the bidness knows, this is not a complicated number, and the girls readily joined my lovely wife in filling in the echos and the "Ahhh - ahhh - ahhh - ahhh!" parts, but boy number 2 could or would not join in. Uh, oh - not a good sign.)
Up he comes in the rotation again, and this time he tries He'll Have To Go, which he claims he knows backwards and forwards. Again, way off pitch, and he doesn't know the timing and entries either. Stee-rike two, as they say in at the ball yard.
Comes the third time around in the rotation, I ask what he wants to do and he says that he doesn't know any of the other tunes out of the nigh on a thousand that we carry. None of the Elvis country stuff, not Funny How Time Slips Away - he had shot his bolt. I told him to take his time and look around a bit more, but he decides that it's better that he takes his leave, slipping out when I was involved with a technical question with one of the girls. Sad, a waste of his time and of ours, but what are you going to do when ego gets in the way of reality.
We've got another five scheduled for this week, and I'm interested to see just how many show this time. My wife has taken to going with the presumed shortfall of one or two, and orders donuts and coffee accordingly.
Unlike most groups of our general instrumentation (5444), we do a lot of vocals, as many as 75 to 80% of the total during a given performance. I may open and close with instrumentals, and may use a higher proportion of them during the "dinner" and "dessert" sets at a charity benefit, but by and large I find the crowd better connects with a vocalist up front than with a fire-breathing jazz tune with no vocalist. Virtually every dance set tune is a vocal, plain and simple.
I've been told that a vocalist adds about twenty percent value to an entertainment (with theatrical lighting adding perhaps another 25%, just on its own). From the different reception that we get (dance floor occupancy, inquiries from audience members and general comments during the band breaks) when there is a vocal heavy performance as opposed to a instrumental one only, I'm inclined to believe that figure, or maybe value it a bit higher.
I attribute part of this to the general ability of a typical audience member to better relate to a singer (which most people can do to some extent or another) than to a instrumentalist (where skills are at a much lower level in the general population). Playing Someone To Watch Over Me is entertaining, but listening to a skilled vocalist doing the same thing in front of a musical group is both that and engaging.
To move one step farther, the right vocalist (or vocalists) out front can jack up this value even higher. A good looking guy or gal, or a well-coordinated girl group will literally enthrall the crowd. Stack three or four of these together, while tying them together with the right bridging "patter", and you really get things cooking.
As I'm up front on the stand, I make it a point to study the reception that we get when performing certain tunes, and I note that a good instrumental will command some attention from the crowd, but nothing more. A good vocal will usually grab three quarters of the heads at the tables (you can particularly gauge this by the folks who have to turn around), and a stunning girl vocalist will grab nigh on 100% of the eyes in the room, male and female alike. Some of it is vocal skills, some of it is presentation, and some of it is sheer charisma. (Those vocalists who effectively work the room during a break do this better than those who visit with their boyfriends behind the bandstand.)
(Thus far, I have avoided the temptation to do too many vocals myself. Other than my never to be imitated "buffoon" male vocal for Love Shack (oddly enough, a real crowd pleaser the few times we have been able to perform it), some backgrounds on other tunes, and the occasional turn trading choruses in Mac The Knife when we're shorthanded on the male vocalist side, I keep my big fat mouth shut.)
I've worked with an ex-TV anchorwoman who used to sing with some area bands, and she was the prize of all in this category. In a rowdy New Year's Eve crowd of nigh on six hundred in a huge hotel ballroom, I've seen her bring the noise level down to a hush, and then do her bit with every man jack in the room watching her every gesture, and virtually all of the women (except for those who were glaring at their husbands). Some of it was good looks, some of it was lust, but most of it was an appreciation for how well she did her craft.
I've never seen that, even with the very best of the instrumental soloists with whom I've worked. It's just not the same.
