Barbara Cook's Master Class

April 10, 2006 11:54 PM

You can keep your Simon, Randy and Paula, I'll take Barbara Cook any day. Here is the Broadway legend's two hour master class (it's a REALTIME video from The New York Public Library) and it'll teach you more about singing, phrasing and music than every moment of American Idol combined. At least watch the first 20 minutes, you'll be amazed.
posted by adrober (7 comments total)

Excellent post. She is a master.
posted by wsg at 1:17 AM on April 11, 2006

Yeah, very interesting. I know nothing about singing other than some cheesy karaoke numbers, but this was quite interesting. That blonde singer is really annoying, imho, always agreeing with what Cook is saying but not really listening. She just wants to get back to showing off.

That "conversational singing" lesson should be mandatory for R and B and soul "singers" in the Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston vein.
posted by zardoz at 1:29 AM on April 11, 2006

You can keep your Simon, Randy and Paula

To be fair, nobody watches American Idol for trenchant music criticism.

We watch it to see people having their dreams and aspirations crushed.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:48 AM on April 11, 2006

Au contraire, mon frere. We watch AI to see how people willingly sacrifice their dreams and aspirations by having any trace of artistic individuality sanded and blown right off them in pursuit of that contract which will allow them to sing faceless, formulaic dreck to millions of undemanding consumers who, in turn, will turn the dreck into landfill once they've forgotten why they bought it to begin with once they've proceeded to buy something equally insipid but, you know, new.

All that said, Barbara Cook rules the roost. And that giggling twit should do less pro forma agreeing and more touching of the stage with her forehead simply to be taught by such a master.
posted by the sobsister at 6:28 AM on April 11, 2006

The giggly blonde is a tad annoying though she does seem to get it in the end.

Nice post, Cook seems to be a very good teacher.
posted by storybored at 10:55 AM on April 11, 2006

We also watch AI to see vapid wannabes do disastrous covers of songs that were good the first time around. I'm especially looking forward to tonight -- Queen covers!

This blonde girl makes me want to kill her. I'm fifteen minutes in and she still hasn't gotten the big, bold, blinking "Drop the vibrato and unnatural shaping" message. I don't want to miss any of the class, but I sure wish quicker students had been picked.
posted by booksandlibretti at 1:34 PM on April 11, 2006

America eternally owes Barbara Cook for indelibly creating the character of Marian the Librarian (on Broadway).
posted by soyjoy at 8:54 AM on April 12, 2006