More music that ought to be listened to

If you are interested in the glorious variety of the human voice I offer you a few more choice examples.

Nina Simone's throaty melancholic voice makes this song all that it is:

I don't think that song will ever stop moving me

Then, in a wonderful example of the difference voice and arrangement can make I give you this cover of Radiohead's "Creep" by Scala, a Belgian girls' choir.  Be warned, its a Radiohead song, so there are a couple uses of the F word.


Then there is this, from the movie Bright Star

the interweaving of voices and tones is certainly as beautiful and intriguing as any instrumental orchestra could ever be.

And speaking of the intermixing of voices, listen to this song on the highest quality you can (I promise it makes a difference) and listen to how beautiful each voice individually is and then how fabulous all of them sound together.  The two tenors singing in harmony, and then that great bass coming in beneath...oh!  I could listen to this song over and over my whole life

The Grand Tradition of Boy Sopranos...

The last two periods of my "The Role Gender in Music and Theatre" class we've discussed Boy Choirs.  Apparently, in early England the boys who sang in these choirs were so in demand that there was a royal writ allowing boys to be pressed into service in the choirs with or without their (or their parents') consent.  And it is an inclination which has remained.  To this day Boy Choirs are still a revered tradition.

What is it about those voices that makes them so appealing.  You can argue that it was simply the archaic attitude toward women that initiated the practice to begin with, but that doesn't really explain it's lingering tenacity.  Once women were allowed to sing in public and particularly in religious ceremonies, why did they continue the tradition of using young boys?

I don't have any particularly "deep thoughts" on this topic.  I just think it is an interesting question.  The appeal of that piercingly high soprano is a real one, I can attest to that.  I am a person who will always choose a bass over a tenor, an alto over a soprano.  And yet, when my uncle played this for me the first time I nearly cried.

But this is a good example.  Here we have both the voice of the adult woman soprano, and the boy.  The thing is...there is a difference.  Listen to this

and then compare it to this

I certainly would never say that the second is not beautiful.  But you can hear the difference.  The woman's voice is thicker, huskier, has vibrato.  It doesn't sound as pure.  That is it, right there I think.  The purity.  These boy choirs sing almost exclusively religious songs.  That piercing, unwavering tone is the closest we can come to how we think that music should sound.  

Or maybe I am way off.  I don't know.  Mostly I just wanted to post these songs because I think they're some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.  I hope you listen to all of them all the way through.  And on that note, here are a couple of other versions of these same songs.  This one has amazing harmonies

And while I do prefer the boy soprano singing this song, Sissel certainly does a beautiful job of it.

Letter from the Return Desk

Dear Sir or Madam,

I know we've only just met the one time, but I really felt like I had to write you.  I was so impressed with the way, after only a few minutes, you had such amazing insight into me.  You, a complete stranger, saw me differently than my family and all of my friends...

When we first met, you seemed like anyone else.  You brought your daughter's gift in and asked to return it.  I asked you for a receipt and you informed me that your grandson's father gave it to him and he is no longer in the home.  You told me you have cancer.  You told me that you bought it from this very store but that you had a new credit card.  You told me that you already had a blu-ray player and that, having cut open the plastic wrapping, you realized that you didn't want this camera and needed to return it.  You told me you didn't have a receipt.

So I took your video game.  I scanned it in and I told you that, without any proof of purchase, I could take this pan set and give you back $26.99 for it.  I told you that normally these digital picture frames are sold for $40.

And this was when I realized that you weren't like most of the other hundreds of people I'd spoken to that day.  It became very clear that you had some insight into my character that most other people lacked.  First you showed me how poor my math skills are when you informed me that I was ripping you off for $20, when I thought it was just $12.  And that you realized I was ripping you off at all showed me just how shrewd you were.  And when I tried to apologize, an made excuses about how I had no control over the system and there was nothing I could do, you saw right through me.

You knew the truth and you told me exactly what I was.  You told me I was spiteful and malicious.  You told me I was dishonest.  You told me I was ruining your entire family's Christmas.  You told me I was evil.  I'm so impressed at how brave you were, seeing what a terrible person I am, that you could still tell me about it.  If you hadn't come along no one would ever have known what a shady individual I am.  I would have gone on fooling my co-workers and friends and family.  They all think that I'm a pretty decent person.  But you, you who had only just met me, you saw me clearly.

So, sir or madame, I just wanted to write you and congratulate you for your discernment.  I wanted to thank you for your honesty, for not letting tact or any other consideration stop you from saying what needed to be said.  Thank you for understanding that you were the only person with whom I had to deal, the only person who had a problem.  Thank you so much.

sincerely,

The girl at the return desk