The Voice will not Give you a Career!

Hi there,

Well it's the topic du jour and I'm loving watching 'The Voice' from the safety of my armchair (see 'Sticking it the Voice' from last week). I love the way all the contestants are coached to say 'everything is on the line for me'. If there is a lot at stake for them, we are more likely to be pulled into the drama. But one singer recently said to the cameras: 'Tonight is my last chance. I have obligations now. If I don't get through, this will be the end for me.' Then his fiance came on saying: 'He's got responsibilities now so if this doesn't work, it will all be over'. 

Oh so it's your last chance because you've got a fatal disease hanging over your head? No. So you're the one with tonnes of kids to provide for? Oh, no kids yet. So you're getting on and feel like time is running out? Hmm, you're in your 20s. Oh I see, you're engaged and 'real life' is calling you. Ah! Well thank goodness you didn't get through to the next round because if you can let it go so easily then frankly, you don't deserve it. Jump in with both feet. 'The Voice' is never going to hand anyone a career on a platter. It's going to enhance what they already have. 

Look at the most successful contestants so far. Darren Percival has taken his TV exposure and run with it to build on a strongly constructed base. Simon Meli had a career before 'The Voice' and its aftermath will hopefully open new doors to bigger live shows and more record sales. It's those like him who have already put in the work and shown their commitment that really win. Whether they 'win' The Voice or not, no fiance or white picket fence is going to stop them singing. They're not going to be working in music because they won a TV singing contest and winning a TV singing contest is not going to guarantee a career for them. They're going to do it because they couldn't live with doing anything else.

No doubt I'll be here next time with another 'Voice' rant. Love to hear what you think...
Cheers,
Amanda

Stickin' it to 'The Voice'!

Hi there,

There seems a lot of that lately - more than usual criticism of the show we love to hate, 'The Voice'. Don't get me wrong, keep reading my posts and you'll hear me having a go too; we're all entitled to our rants. But for the moment I find myself, once again, defending the show that I didn't want to be part of myself. Most of the negative stuff I've been reading is about the poor treatment of artists. I've had friends who have suffered by being part of this show - this industry can be soul and ego crushing at the best of time and I hate to see fellow artists become 'fodder for ratings grabs'. The thing is, isn't it naive to think it would be any other way? 

I do actually think this show is more respectful to its participants than compatriots Idol and X Factor, but 'The Voice' wasn't designed by its producers to be a vehicle for artists' careers or even to showcase the best singers. Just as the Biggest Loser wasn't designed to be a helpful way to lose weight and gain health. Both shows are created by the same production company after all. These shows and all like it were designed to, well, make money! Commercial TV is a cut throat world and ratings make or break a show. Viewers need drama to keep watching and producers use what they've got to create it - in this case artists, often with fragile egos. So it hurts to feel used - couldn't agree more; I couldn't subject myself to that. I often don't agree with the judges' decisions and quite often the best artists aren't the winners. At the same time, some artists gain massive exposure and great contacts by tiptoeing along this TV tightrope. 

We need to understand the business of this business and go in with eyes open. It's a risky one with potentially huge payoffs. Just like the music industry itself and a bit like life really! I don't necessarily like it but I do believe it's a matter of 'live by the sword, die by the sword'.

Till next time,
Amanda

Just learn to sing man!

Hi there,

I think I have the best job in the world but the problem with doing something that looks like so much fun (it is) is that people think it's only fun and that it's easy (it really isn't). 'The Voice' judges on TV gabber on a lot about the importance of singers 'telling a story' and 'making a connection'. As important as that stuff is, they don't seem to talk much about technique and the practical side of learning to actually sing properly. I have heard gigging singers say, 'I've never had a singing lesson' - well don't boast about it! Lack of training, at the minimum, usually means a voice that will blow out after only two gigs in a row...let alone lack of breath control and weak projection. 

If you had a natural flair for a volley and a mean backhand and were aiming for the professional circuit, wouldn't you get a tennis coach pronto? There probably exists the rare warbler whose voice is so good that training can't improve it - but I'm yet to hear them. Now you may tell me about a guy called Bob Dylan - never had a singing lesson. I would say, as a singer, Bob makes a mighty fine storyteller. And you may tell a story better than Hans Christian Anderson, but that does not a singer make! 

I can't help but get personally offended when people get up on the professional stage without a lesson behind them (I am a Cancerian so I do take most things personally!) You think so little of this pursuit that you're not willing to put everything into it? It's an art, sure, but it's also a craft - please respect it and get thyself to a singing teacher!
See you next time!

Is My Baby Ugly?

Hi there,

I have often compared the process of creating a CD to having a baby. So here I go again - my brand new EP 'Out of the Blue' was an emergency Caeser after a prolonged traumatic labour. Forceps and drugs would have been most helpful. But the musical offspring eventually showed its head and I'm now a proud parent.

After all the hard work to get to this point you'd think Mum deserves a rest, right? No such luck - now the really hard work begins. Time to show it around and have people coo and fuss over the newborn. Except in the case of the musical baby, you're not guaranteed positive reviews. The neighbours who think your baby has a funny shaped head will still do the required fawning and praising in your presence and maybe only behind their hands to their spouses will mention your baby's likeness to Yoda.

The CD however - that piece of art that you poured your life experience, heart and soul into - is ripe for the picking on. Once it's released into the world, anyone with access to a pen or keyboard has the right to slam and damn it, and by extension, you. When my first single 'Celebrity' was released (we're talking the '90s here!) the first review published was glowing. The critic completely understood the sarcasm intended in the lyric. He praised the production, the singing, the lot and I was on Cloud 9. Then came the rain. Reviews stormed in and they seemed to be either disastrous or dazzling, with no middle ground. This Cancerian had to learn how to bunker down behind that outer shell we're famous for.

Well it's that time again folks. Copies are going out to professional reviewers as we speak. Wish me luck!

If you want to have a listen for yourself - after all, I care more about what you think - you can listen to the new EP here:


Cheers, Amanda

How to get the Clap

Hi there,

'Grease' at Taronga Zoo Twilight Series 2013

I was lucky enough to do a gig recently to an audience of over a thousand enthusiastic people. It was on a huge stage with all the lighting and sound set-up you'd expect from a well-produced live music event and a great time was had by all - both sides of the stage. Throughout the entire event the crowd went wild - applause and cheering could be heard for miles.

I did another gig recently to an audience of about 50 people. There was no stage and no lighting. People had to say 'excuse me' to walk in front of us - to get to the bathrooms. Throughout the entire event the crowd went mild - you could hear tumbleweed rolling down the main street.

So what's happened to clapping peeps? The latter style of gig can be bread and butter to many professional musos and I've noticed more and more recently that clapping is a dying art at such shows. Now you may be thinking, people aren't clapping because they aren't enjoying the music. That's the first conclusion I jump to - and I can tell you it's no good for the fragile artistic ego. But then almost without fail, something strange happens after the final song. People from the audience come up to offer their compliments on the performance and press us for more! Ah, so you loved what we did but remained silent in that traditional space left between songs to show your appreciation? 

My theory is that if the venue doesn't show respect for its performers - by offering a proper performance space - then an audience responds accordingly. An audience seems to need cues to do their job properly - and those cues include lighting and a pedestal on which to view their performers. Ideally far away from the toilet door.

The more venues shove performers in the corner on a piece of carpet, the less impact their performances will have. And the more we'll hear venue managers say that live music just 'doesn't work'. And then we'll all be listening to the sound of one hand clapping. 

See you next time,

Amanda

Shut Up and Stress Out

Hi there,

Husband and I were complaining to each other last weekend about having way too much on our plates. We catalogued our stresses to each other. 

Husband: I've been playing guitar for 18 days straight - not one day off - and for at least 7 hours today. Now tonight I have a rehearsal so I still don't get a break.

Stress out...or else!

Me: I've got to learn the lyrics for 6 songs by tomorrow morning and I've got to do the artwork and replication of my new EP-oh and actually record the thing, rehearse the band, promote the launch, keep my crowdfunding campaign on the boil...

Then we looked at each and laughed. Our lives really aren't too bad are they?

Thinking back 10 years to what Corporate Me, slaving long days over a hot computer keyboard at Microsoft, would have said. She would look at Today's Me and say:

'Oh boohoo. So the very career you've always dreamt of is thoroughly filling up your life now is it? So you're oh so busy singing and performing for a living and creating new songs and recordings. Sounds dreadful.' Then she'd look at me with a snarl and snort sarcastically.

We all need to vent sometimes but we also need perspective. A famous experiment on rats shows that those placed under stress, as long as they had the tools to manage it, were far healthier than those who didn't have any stress at all. Many believe humans are the same.

So, advice from old Corporate Self to Today's Me: 'Stress out, it's good for you!'

Cheers,

Amanda

PS The Crowdfunding worked - thank you!

Farts on Facebook

aka 'Over-Sharing'

Hi there,

If you were sitting on a bus and the stranger next to you told you about their fungal infection and how, in great detail, it curtailed their sexual exploits, you'd probably get off a few stops earlier than originally intended, wouldn't you?

I saw a cabaret show recently where the artist, within the 8 minutes that her show ran, told the audience about the great love of her life who had a long drawn-out battle with breast cancer and shared intimate and gory details about how she lost that battle. It was a heartfelt story and obviously deserved our great sympathy but don't you think it is all a little, well, too much information? At least for our first brief meeting with her?

I think nowadays many of us demand to know much more about the artists who create the music, movies and musings we love. We want the ins and outs of our favourite celebrities' every day lives from their underwear preferences to their spiritual beliefs. I understand why, but as a performer myself, I'd like to retain a modicum of mystery and like to think that people will take a bit of time to let my full story unfold.

Am I being old-fashioned or do you agree that the age of Twitter and Facebook is turning us into a community of over-sharers, where no bodily function is too inconsequential to require its own tweet or status update? 

Most of us have a 'story' to tell, whether it's a crime we've committed or a calamity we've confronted. I've got a doozie of the latter variety -  maybe I'll tell you about it over a glass of Shiraz one day. But I'm loathe to drop it onto an audience, who are probably just out for a night of entertainment to forget their own tragedies. Am I wrong - should I use everything I've got to 'make a connection' with people I'm performing to?

While tip-tapping on the keys to write this very blog, one of my best friends rang me to suggest that I did in fact become more public about my particular ordeal. I am trying to 'crowdfund' for my latest recording and with 8 days to go, am sorely under target. She believes that being more revealing could actually help my campaign and is, after all, simply sharing a saga that brought me to where I am today and could even prove inspirational. I respect her take on things but am still stewing on it...

Love to hear what you think.

Oh and by the way, here is the link to my crowdfunding project - your help is much appreciated: www.pozible.com/amandaeaston

Now one thing I don't mind sharing is my video - above - please pass it on - share share share!
Cheers,
Amanda