A question on voice

[Ronaldinho]

Originally Posted by BattleDolphinZero

Don't worry about figuring out voice. You have it or you don't.

I wouldn't say "you have it or you don't."

Either you'll FIND it, without trying, or you won't - no matter how much trying you do.

Mick Jagger wouldn't have turned into Mick Jagger if he had tried to sound like Elvis. He just had to sing, and once his singing was good enough, it came out of him.

Voice is, I think, something that flows from mastery. To continue with the musical analogy: lots of rock is played "behind the beat" a bit, giving it a loose, easy vibe compared to the precision of classical music.

But the truly great rock musicians aren't playing behind the beat (or ahead of it, or whereever they choose to play it) because they can't play ON the beat. THey can play the note exactly where they want to play it. They are making a choice which comes from having the ability to play anything.

IMHO, writers need to focus on the mastery, and the voice will come. Focusing on the voice would be like Mick trying to imitate Elvis. No, thanks.

[darkestbeforedawn]

You want to start getting picky, Mick was born with that voice. What did he master exactly? One day he woke up and bam, he's Mick jagger, so it's not really even close to the same thing.

DD

[emily blake]

Originally Posted by darkestbeforedawn

You want to start getting picky, Mick was born with that voice. What did he master exactly? One day he woke up and bam, he's Mick jagger, so it's not really even close to the same thing.

DD

You've never sung in any kind of official capacity, have you? Mick's voice is natural, but how he controls it is not.

Your writing voice is the natural way you write, but you still have to learn to control it.

[darkestbeforedawn]

Zero said that "you're born with it or your not". Dino gave an example that actually solidified Zero's statement.

You're born with it in music. My version of voice is a marriage between what zero and dino said, but dino's example wasn't very good.

His point was well taken though. I just think the 'singing voice', isn't a good example.

DD

[darkestbeforedawn]

I don't think me singing has anything to do with the discussion. I have a friend who sings in the church choir. He practices, but he was born with that voice. He sings. He's not reconstructed screenplays to learn the craft. It's a different animal entirely. It's two entirely different things.

Voice is god given. Again, per this discussion the singing voice is a very bad example, unless you agree with zero, not constructing an argument against him.

[BattleDolphinZero]

Originally Posted by Ronaldinho

Either you'll FIND it, without trying, or you won't - no matter how much trying you do.

This is fine too.

[Ronaldinho]

Originally Posted by darkestbeforedawn

You're born with it in music.

But I don't know if it's true.

Go listen to the Stones' earliest recordings. Something like "Tell Me," represents one of the better early Mick performances. Sounds a lot to me like a guy who's still figuring it out, for exactly some of the reasons we're talking about. (Compared to say, "Come on," their first recording, where it's hard to even hear Mick there at all, even as familiar as he is to all of us).

I don't think he really stepped into his full Mick-ness until they became predominantly an originals band rather than a cover band. I listen to those tracks, and I hear Mick trying really hard to emulate the rock music of the previous decade.

[gravitas]

Don't all artists start out emulating others? Their styles amalgamated with life experiences, until they evolve and take their own shape.

[1mper1um]

Originally Posted by gravitas

Don't all artists start out emulating others? Their styles amalgamated with life experiences, until they evolve and take their own shape.

You beat me to it. Some, of course, don't. And are immediately unique - like Shane Black. Most though absorb and emulate what they listen to - and get this - without choosing to do so. Kinda like you don't choose to speak with a particular accent, you just pick it up from hearing others.

As you listen to more and different musical voices, you pick more up and, if you break out from being a clone, develop your own style. You might not be good enough to play or sing X so you adapt and develop around it. You might like the scales that X voice uses but prefer the attack of singer C in much the same way you might like the tension in John Carpenter's Halloween but prefer the gore of Friday 13th and the witty banter of Reservoir Dogs.

Most though will always be an amalgam of their parts - some melding better than others. A few will develop their own unique voice, even though you can hear traces of their influences in their music Now that "few" may be 20%, which means there are a lot of singers, guitarists, pianists out there with their own voices and are not rare like rocking horse doo dah. But they still represent the minority.

[darkestbeforedawn]

You know Dino, that was an interesting rebuttal, it makes sense.

DD