READING LYRICS MUSIC ON STAGE?


A good read with some food for thought...

They say having lyrics/chords/sheetmusic on stage is not cool..

But then i today posted a video of Jordann Rudess concert setup..
By many seen as the coolest keyboardist around
And guess what he is using..

All the real stars used lyric reads. Sinatra, Martin, and Bennet to name a few.. others like Mariah Carey should (if they can read)

That's not very kind, Fran. What makes you think Mariah can't read?

Here's a shot of Herbie Hancock, Joey DeFrancesco from today's National Jazz presentation. The stage was loaded with music stands and charts.

They even used charts for simple songs like John Lennon's "Imagine"


Time to stop beating that "dead horse"...."Music on stage"


Jerryghr

OK, it is not cool to have music on stage but today with the he variety of songs we must respond to, music is a must. That does not change the fact that if you have memorized the song you WILL play it better.

John C.

Just curious. Who says "it's not cool?"

Jerryghr

You beat me to the question, Jerry ...
I have seen far too many "PROFESSIONALS" with lyric monitors that they are reading from - in fact we saw Frank Sinatra at the Providence Civic Center in the 80s using lyric monitors that even contained his 'ad-libs' ...
Saw Billy Joel at MSG last year and he had lyric monitors for his own songs!!! ... so I have no fear or sense of embarrassment for using a tablet for charts ...
Some may call it a 'crutch', I call it "using all the tools" to make my performance better ...
And I don't want to hear about 'eye contact' or having one's head in a book or tablet ... I have plenty of 'eye contact' with my audiences ...

It is not cool is a judgement that came about when a musician had his head glued to his music. It is not meant for the musician who uses music as a guide.

The equation is simple: the more I relay on the music the less freedom I have. I am using music because I don’t want to make a mistake, or get lost. But I m amazed when I play a song through and find that the music in front of me was not the one that I played. No matter what is said, when I have memorized a song I put all of me into the area that makes a performance sound good.

My thoughts, John C.

PS, Do I use a book? Naw, I use an iPad with lyrics and chords. I have trained my hands to find what I am playing. Now, that is freedom. When my right jumped from a lower note, followed by a note in the higher end I had to look at my hand to make sure I got the right note. I trained myself to trust and not to look, now I got more freedom.

Just curious. Who says "it's not cool?"

The author said it probably wasn't, but he felt the need because of sheer volume. This thought wasn't universally accepted by others, by any means. I, personally, use apps all the time, but in the most inconspicuous manner possible with frequent eye contact. Donny,for one, has always bashed this use as a needless crutch, but some, like myself, don't want to spend the added time memorizing lyrics. Some have a natural talent for lyrics, some not so much. My wife is a good example in that she learns songs from the lyrics, and the melody is spot on as well. I, on the other hand, know every single note to thousands of songs in my head, but only fragments of lyrics.