After watching the CSS 2 SF-1 results show last night, I noticed from the short clips of the performances by the female contestants that most of them are unable to emote their songs adequately to give the audience the feel of their songs. They were already doing what they could so I am not writing this to criticise them. I am writing this so that people who love singing and want to know what emoting is and improve their singing.
What exactly is emoting? It means singing the soul of the song. Sounds difficult? It is. Why so? Many aspiring singers are lacking the important stage of understanding what they are singing in the first place. To them, a song means remembering the lyrics and the tune, reciting the lyrics at the appropriate segments of the tune and viola, a song is sung! Indeed, a song is produced but it will never sound as good as a song whereby one actually understood what's the lyrics saying about and how the song persona (meaning the protagonist in the song) feels.
Have you ever taken a good look at the lyrics of your favourite songs to know what they are trying to portray? What is the state of mind of the song persona? What is the mood/mood changes of the song? What is the message behind the song itself? Can you relate any of your own experiences (if not others) to the situation of the song? If you have not done all of the above, perhaps it is time for you to relook at your songs again. Filling those gaps will most certainly improve the way you feel for the song and your listeners will sense the difference.
Below is a YouTube video from a talent show in Britain. I am not an expert in opera singing but look, listen and feel carefully at how the guy emotes his song. He truly believes what the song is saying (or at least whilst he is performing) and sings the song at the appropriate level of emotions and feel in order to reach out to the audience.
Impressive, right? That performance took almost everything out of the guy, Paul, but he held nothing back - from the emotional buildup all the way to the final climax of the song, he is immersed in the song's feel. The fellow knows the song's meaning and transmits it over to the audience through his singing, touching even Simon Cowell himslf. Of course, most singing don't really need such levels of immersion but one will need to know how to immerse oneself in the first place.
Now, let's pick something Mandarin for the second example. I chosed a song recently sung by Teresa during the MOE SYF event at Ngee Ann City. The song is not exactly new but it is short enough to exemplify what I meant. If the link at the title below is not working, you can also listen to the song at my main playlist at song number 45.
随爱而飞 by: 彭羚
深夜里 冷冷的空气 包围着情绪
窗外的夜景 迷乱美丽 想起过去 想起自己
风不停 发丝理不清 象我的心
女人的世界该有人安慰 倾听所有快乐和伤悲
让我随着爱而飞 让我为了爱沉醉
我无法再阻挡寂寞的滋味 我好想在温暖的怀中安歇
让我随着爱而飞 让我为了爱沉醉
就算流泪就算心碎 我也不会后悔 不会后悔
Can you hear the distinctive mood change from the chorus onwards? A key thing to reaching that kind of mood lies in the emotional buildup from the second line of the second verse from the desire to love all the way climaxing to the final determination of never retreating from love again. Listen, understand, relate to the song, be genuinely touched by it, and then finally sing the song.
(Video source: YouTube, June 10, 2007, wolffmann55)
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