Theory of Karaoke

By Jason Burchard
www.karaokeaddiction.com

LESSON 3:

Learning from TV shows

Some TV shows these days can actually improve your karaoke skills. What shows am I referring to? American Idol and American Idol Rewind, The Singing Bee, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, America’s Got Talent. There was also Karaoke Dokey on CMT. American Idol’s new season won’t begin for a couple of months, but you can still find a lot of past material on DVD or on American Idol Rewind. The Singing Bee and Don’t Forget the Lyrics are currently still going. These are the main shows that you can learn from to improve your karaoke singing.

The first, and most obvious, lesson to learn from these shows is what the bad performers show us. What are some common pitfalls of TV show singers? Overconfidence, lack of practice, bad dancing, forgetting words, singing words nobody can understand, bad timing and of course, just plain terrible singing are the most common mistakes of TV show singers. One can learn a lot by watching bad performers - the uncontrollable laughing that brightens your week is just a bonus.

The second lesson, is what you can learn from the good singers. Look at what they’re doing when they’re singing. Most of them don’t dance. If you’re lucky enough to become a good singer and have a future career with it, you may pick up dancing later. For now, concentrate on singing first.

What else do the successful singers do? They often choose songs that have great feeling for them and that fit their voice. You’ll see a lot of them close their eyes (but not too much) as they seem to connect to the song. They don’t sing too loud. Few choose to be ‘unique’ with their style of fashion or singing. Some people can pull off being very unique. Find out what you’re good at and if you’re style is going to be one of these effectively unique ones or just a distraction - or something to instantly turn judges against you. Watch the singers that do well and you can come away with these and other helpful tips.

Watch the judges. If you’re going to be in a contest, it will help you to see how the TV judges react to the good and bad singers. Look at the body language. You’ll be able to read your own judges’ and audience’s body language. You may be able to pick up on little cues of what you’re doing wrong and what they don’t like. You may be able to adjust yourself while you sing. You could be singing to loud or too soft. Maybe they just aren’t that interested. Then, it would be time to really go out and try to impress them.

If you are in a contest, and not an audition, I would recommend not ‘singing’ to the judges. Most people can see through this as pure desperation. A confident person will sing to everyone and not worry about the judges. Most of the comments about watching the judges I’ve related to contests, but it helps with your everyday singing. See what the TV judges do and you can pick up on your typical audience’s feedback too.

Study the song choices. What songs are doing the best? Which ones are more like the songs you could see yourself singing? You may not pick the exact songs you notice on TV but it may help you to think of others that may work for you. On the flip-side, you’ll notice what songs don’t work and why not. Sometimes it is just the song, other times it is that the song doesn’t fit the singer. A great singer can sing the wrong song and not do well. Pay attention to song choice.

Finally, sing along! This task is largely related to the previous one, studying song choices, but it goes beyond that. Singing along to the songs on the TV will give your voice a bit of practice. You’ll get to feel how your voice works. Notice how you can sing certain songs and notes well. Realize what notes are difficult for you to reach. If you must sing a song with notes that are hard for you, you need to practice or find out how to mask your inability. Sing along and you will gain lots of extra practice and knowledge. You might even notice (or at least think) that you can sing better than they do. Either way, this will give you confidence. Just don’t become so overconfident that you don’t notice your flaws or start to become careless. So, sing along - if only because you know you really want to.

There are other ways that watching the karaoke related TV shows may help you. Watch and learn. Do your homework and you can familiarize yourself with auditioning, games and contests through those who were brave enough to go on national television.

NEXT LESSON:
Record Yourself

Part three in a series on the Theory of karoake as published by Jason Burchard, founder of the Karaoke Addiction at www.karaokeaddiction.com.