Vocal ANALYSIS of RUSH's "Tom Sawyer"
April 30, 2022 4:29 PM Subscribe
International opera singer and vocal coach Elizabeth Zharoff* does an analyzing First Listen of Rush's 1981 song Tom Sawyer [19m]. Her level of delight and wonder is overwhelmingly charming. Also, because I don't want to make two Rush posts in a row, Alex and Geddy in conversation with George Strombo, April 15, 2022. [46m, entirely open conversation about a lot of subjects, please watch if you're a Rush fan]
*Her bio from the YouTube video description:
*Her bio from the YouTube video description:
Elizabeth Zharoff is an international opera singer and voice coach, with 3 degrees in voice, opera, and music production. She's performed in 18 languages throughout major venues in Europe, America, and Asia. Currently based somewhere between Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth spends her days researching voice, singing, teaching, writing music, and recording TONS. She also plays Diablo and Dungeons & Dragons.Also, because why not, Rush's Last Hurrah? | Time Stand Still [1h35m] is a documentary about Rush's final tour. Also, R40 is available to purchase for online viewing.
Missed title opportunity: What about the voice of Geddy Lee?
posted by anhedonic at 5:12 PM on April 30, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by anhedonic at 5:12 PM on April 30, 2022 [8 favorites]
Everything about this is new and delightful.
posted by eotvos at 5:17 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by eotvos at 5:17 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thank you for posting! She's fun to watch, and I loved when she caught one of the times they went to an odd time signature and had to go back and count it out. If you like this go back and check out her first listen of The Spirit of Radio.
posted by indexy at 6:18 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by indexy at 6:18 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the introduction! Aaand if you feel like crying a bit tonight......
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2zFAHS628
posted by johnjohn4011 at 7:47 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2zFAHS628
posted by johnjohn4011 at 7:47 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
She is always so upbeat and enthusiastic; I always feel good after watching her go through a song I like. I think the first song I watched her listen to was Aqualung. Based on the facial expression in the still from the video on YouTube’s sidebar I assumed she was going to be pretty unkind. But instead she loved it and was able to explain some of the neat vocal tricks in terms I can understand. (In contrast to Rick Beato, whose enthusiasm I really like, but whose dives into music theory quickly leave me behind.) I did follow up “Tom Sawyer” with “The spirit of Radio”, and now am watching her talk about “ Kashmir ”. I am a bit puzzled as to how she got through life without hearing so many classic rock songs, but I guess not everyone grew up like I did.
posted by TedW at 7:57 PM on April 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by TedW at 7:57 PM on April 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
There's a rather popular classical pianist that I went through high school with. To hear him tell it today, he has never heard anything but classical music ever. But I know that's utterly not true. He's much older than this YouTube person, however, and so her not knowing Rush wouldn't be surprising to me.
Although I guess the Gen Zs are mostly listening to music that is more than 15-20 years old now? Something... it's bizarre to me.
posted by hippybear at 8:33 PM on April 30, 2022
Although I guess the Gen Zs are mostly listening to music that is more than 15-20 years old now? Something... it's bizarre to me.
posted by hippybear at 8:33 PM on April 30, 2022
Missed title opportunity: What about the voice of Geddy Lee?
How does he sing so high?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy.
I know him and he does.
posted by jonp72 at 8:50 PM on April 30, 2022 [7 favorites]
How does he sing so high?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy.
I know him and he does.
posted by jonp72 at 8:50 PM on April 30, 2022 [7 favorites]
The entire Moving Pictures album kicks ass.
posted by Beholder at 8:53 PM on April 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Beholder at 8:53 PM on April 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
In the “singer reacts” category, my favorite channel is Beth Roars, but The Charismatic Voice would probably be a close second. She was definitely having fun with this reaction. And it was informative. I don’t think I ever realized that the instrumental break in Tom Sawyer switches to 7/8.
posted by tdismukes at 6:10 AM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tdismukes at 6:10 AM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
this is your official permission to still do two Rush posts in a row
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:12 AM on May 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:12 AM on May 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
As an AMAB person who sings soprano, I can advise you the best way to sing "so high" is to utterly relax your throat and use the lightest breath / least pressure possible to make the pitch.
The tenser you are / the harder you try, the more you will fail.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:30 AM on May 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The tenser you are / the harder you try, the more you will fail.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:30 AM on May 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Many, many years ago a couple of friends of mine heard that Geddy was doing an interview at a local rock station so they hopped in their car and drove down there and waited for him to come out. They got to talk to him a bit while he was waiting for his car service to take him back to his hotel. There were no other fans there, just them, and they each got a picture. My friends never pass up an opportunity to remind me they've (briefly) met him, but honestly I'm glad they did. Same friends bought me tickets to RUSH concerts three times over the years and made sure I didn't miss them. I don't think Elizabeth Zharoff quite understands that those three guys performed their awesome catalog live, flawlessly, for decades.
posted by Catblack at 8:43 AM on May 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 8:43 AM on May 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
A few videos illustrating squillo, which I think refers to his projection on "about society" after the fry on "what you say."
posted by rhizome at 12:22 PM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 12:22 PM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Her reaction to Painkiller was discussed a bit in the thread when rory included it in his big Judas Priest post. I enjoyed some of her other videos then, but it's great to get her reaction to Rush. Thanks, hippybear!
posted by straight at 2:22 PM on May 1, 2022
posted by straight at 2:22 PM on May 1, 2022
jonp72...
"What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high"
"God dammit, I hate it when people get the words wrong"
posted by Windopaene at 8:42 AM on May 2, 2022
"What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high"
"God dammit, I hate it when people get the words wrong"
posted by Windopaene at 8:42 AM on May 2, 2022
This has to be the most excited a women has ever been about Rush.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:32 AM on May 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 11:32 AM on May 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
I love a good Rush thread. I got the remastered Moving Pictures recently and I went down a live Rush rabbit hole. My wife got less enthused as the day went on. I was in heaven. It's odd. I prefer the rock bands that fly by the seat of their pants (see below) live but with Rush, it doesn't matter because they so thoroughly committed themselves to recreating their music with such passion, precision, and power on the stage. It never gets old for me.
The analysis of Kashmir was most enlightening. She found Plant's improvisations to be noteworthy, something I never paid that much attention to before. And she noted a few times that he seemed to disregard "the rules" of what to do, a point that Alison Krauss has noted/complained about before. Krauss also comes from a background that calls for precision in harmonies and she credits Plant for breaking her out of her comfort zone.
posted by Ber at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
The analysis of Kashmir was most enlightening. She found Plant's improvisations to be noteworthy, something I never paid that much attention to before. And she noted a few times that he seemed to disregard "the rules" of what to do, a point that Alison Krauss has noted/complained about before. Krauss also comes from a background that calls for precision in harmonies and she credits Plant for breaking her out of her comfort zone.
posted by Ber at 11:23 AM on May 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I really enjoyed the first Plant/Krauss project, but haven't heard the new one that came out recently. I'm sure it is also good.
Rush, much like Genesis, would do live renditions of their tracks that were basically the length of their album arrangements, give or take 30 seconds. Unless it's a long track with extended improvised solos, and even then, most of everything is just like it is expected to me.
In this way, they are very much like classical music. Chamber music, trios and quartets. It's interesting to look at certain segments of rock music as requiring the same amount of faithful reproduction and pre-performance preparation as Mozart or Beethoven, but it's entirely true.
That's one reason I loved this particular ANALYSIS of this song. She's so classically based, but she's also sort of hip and young and is open to these kinds of experiences. Her Spirit Of The Radio review was interesting, but was also rather confused because she had no experience with Rush before at all. But this, she was a tiny bit more experienced, and had gotten a bit of education from her fans (her self-correction of Peart was charming because literally everyone in their lives had that moment with that name), and so she came into this one more confident, and it shows in her reactions and her joy.
I've been trying to think of bands who might be at all similar to Rush insofar as rabid fan base and not being in the mainstream but continually putting out material across decades. And, um... I guess maybe Pearl Jam qualifies? I'm trying to think of other bands who are consistently putting out material and touring and trying to keep from living off their past, and not many are coming to mind. U2, sort of... but they're kind of grinding to a halt. Maybe some old metal bands are still doing it? Iron Maiden? Are they still doing stuff equivalent to Rush at the equivalent point in their career? I have no idea.
posted by hippybear at 3:42 PM on May 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Rush, much like Genesis, would do live renditions of their tracks that were basically the length of their album arrangements, give or take 30 seconds. Unless it's a long track with extended improvised solos, and even then, most of everything is just like it is expected to me.
In this way, they are very much like classical music. Chamber music, trios and quartets. It's interesting to look at certain segments of rock music as requiring the same amount of faithful reproduction and pre-performance preparation as Mozart or Beethoven, but it's entirely true.
That's one reason I loved this particular ANALYSIS of this song. She's so classically based, but she's also sort of hip and young and is open to these kinds of experiences. Her Spirit Of The Radio review was interesting, but was also rather confused because she had no experience with Rush before at all. But this, she was a tiny bit more experienced, and had gotten a bit of education from her fans (her self-correction of Peart was charming because literally everyone in their lives had that moment with that name), and so she came into this one more confident, and it shows in her reactions and her joy.
I've been trying to think of bands who might be at all similar to Rush insofar as rabid fan base and not being in the mainstream but continually putting out material across decades. And, um... I guess maybe Pearl Jam qualifies? I'm trying to think of other bands who are consistently putting out material and touring and trying to keep from living off their past, and not many are coming to mind. U2, sort of... but they're kind of grinding to a halt. Maybe some old metal bands are still doing it? Iron Maiden? Are they still doing stuff equivalent to Rush at the equivalent point in their career? I have no idea.
posted by hippybear at 3:42 PM on May 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Wow I just watched the Time Stand Still documentary and hoosh I didn’t expect the song “Losing It” to show up, nor did I expect it to be such a gut punch
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:42 AM on May 15, 2022
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:42 AM on May 15, 2022
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posted by dirigibleman at 4:59 PM on April 30, 2022 [2 favorites]