Looking for Ayu's best performances to study~

[Crystal_Ageha]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

If you really want to be a singer....Ayu isn't really the person to study. She's just not a great vocalist.

This isn't necessarily true. For one thing, Ayu has some of the greatest crescendos I've ever heard, and she also puts the perfect amount of emotion into her singing. These two things are great to look at. And besides, a good singer (over time, of course) can sort out which techniques are right or wrong, and she can use a bad singer to better herself, even. Being a great singer is all about constant practice and experimenting. And so for this reason, you shouldn't just look at the best of the best, but also the average or even the terrible, if only to see what not to do, and to try and figure out exactly what it is that makes that person not as talented as others. For example, after studying singers, myself, I can actually tell exactly what it is that Ayu does wrong sometimes. And also what she does right. I can tell reasons why her voice may be deteriorating, and also why so many people are somehow drawn to her singing. But I would have never been able to tell all these things if I only looked at and listened to the greatest of singers.

[hpg23]

Originally Posted by Crystal_Ageha

This isn't necessarily true. For one thing, Ayu has some of the greatest crescendos I've ever heard, and she also puts the perfect amount of emotion into her singing. These two things are great to look at. And besides, a good singer (over time, of course) can sort out which techniques are right or wrong, and she can use a bad singer to better herself, even. Being a great singer is all about constant practice and experimenting. And so for this reason, you shouldn't just look at the best of the best, but also the average or even the terrible, if only to see what not to do, and to try and figure out exactly what it is that makes that person not as talented as others. For example, after studying singers, myself, I can actually tell exactly what it is that Ayu does wrong sometimes. And also what she does right. I can tell reasons why her voice may be deteriorating, and also why so many people are somehow drawn to her singing. But I would have never been able to tell all these things if I only looked at and listened to the greatest of singers.

I loved this post. Can you please list the things you said you could? I'm really interested! (specially what's in bold)

[Crystal_Ageha]

Originally Posted by hpg23

I loved this post. Can you please list the things you said you could? I'm really interested! (specially what's in bold)

Well, as for what she's doing wrong, there's actually a fairly big list, and it differs pretty widely depending on what time period we're talking about, hah..... But things like, whenever she does that real high pitched trademark 'EEEEEE' sound [lol], that's terrible on your voice. I can tell she's clenching up her throat muscles and restricting air flow. This could easily wear down the vocal chords. Also, she obviously has had trouble with breath support different times over her career. The worst was, of course, towards the very beginning (look at poker face lives), and also the end of last year (evolution...). But she also had some troubles in her vocal 'peak', around 2005. In her MY STORY concert, for example, she cut her notes short a lot, and it wasn't very professional or ideal....
And why are people drawn to her voice? Mostly because it's incredibly unique, I assume. Like, for me, her earlier voice was really annoying (^^'), but at the same time, it made me stop and listen. And eventually, it was almost like I was addicted to it, lol! XP But yeah. Everything about her voice stands out, and not just her actual voice. The way she's always kinda shouted, or those trademark screeches, or the crazy vibratos, hahah... For better or for worse (usually for worse :\), she's always used...techniques, I guess you could say, that stand out immensely. Also, as people always point out, she's usually really emotional and can connect with her fans when she sings, so this is a huge draw-in. Not everybody has such charisma that flows even through their vocals, but Ayumi does.

There's more to each of those, but this should be saved for another topic, I suppose. ^^'