The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, November 6, 1979-Page 7 WOULD BE WARBLER S So you can't perform? Fake it! By MARTY DEVINE You've all seen them, strolling down a sidewalk conducting a silent sym- phony with purposeful waves of the arm, or dancing across grassy fields to a rhythm played just beyond earshot. They're the poseurs, grasping guitar necks in mid-air and fingering the strings across their stomachs, the kids who walk through dormitory halls with looks of intense concentration, lips let out, a proper note or two sometimes, straining to sound-like someone they've heard. There are the finger drummers and the table pounders; there are piano players with imaginary keys, and brass sections playing chords from a single trumpet; there are even those who scream song lyrics into the air, as if this would conjure up the appropriate music to surround them. I am one of these imaginary musicians. I'm an amateur professional, a vicarious performer, and all the mind's a stage. Much has been said about the link between audience and live performer, but few have touched upon the strange sym- biosis of recorded sound and attentive listener. ARM CHAIR rock and roll stars have a special problem creating the perfect performance. It is one thing to cue the clarinet section during Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. It is quite another to duplicate a favorite singer's voice, his words and notes, tone, inflection, volume, even his British accent, while tapping a drum part that is never repeated from one end-of-the-phrase flourish to the next, and play several keyboard parts; and still wash the syn- thesizers up behind the whole piece at the right time. Talk about discipline! Keeping up the illusion that you are actually creating the songs you hear is tough indeed. Fir- st of all you must turn up the volume of the record so that even when singing at the top of your voice you blend in with the other members of your groups or with your partner on stage. (Some people, it should be noted, just "mouth" the words to songs,* but the real showmen among us actually sing along.) Good illusory singing is art-only the best can capture every nuance of a singer's voice, every gasp and sigh, each cough and chuckle, an off-beat entrance here, a scream there. Each time the voice cracks or a word is spoken, we're there. Lead singing is a good place to start, too, on the way to becoming a simulated music man. Try to remember where the voice strains, how many different notes are attached to syllables at the ends of the lines-each singer has his or her idiosyncracies. You should pay atten- tion even to how much and where a singer's breathing is audible. IF YOU ARE a completist when it comes to singing lead in a song, trouble may develop if a singer's range in a particular song falls into two or more of your singing voices (natural voice, falsetto, or other affected voices). It's something to have to keep switching voices but for the sake of the art you might occasionally become adept at doing a song which cuts across voice lines. There are specialties besides lead voices, of course, and most of them are just as exacting and exciting. Background vocals are very popular for those of you who are not presum- ptuous enough to star in your own per- formance. There is a certain pride in knowing exactly when to come in with which nonsense word or noise, and of course there are several voice parts from which to choose. Dazzle your friends with the appropriate entrances. (Clever background singers add har- monies from later choruses to earlier ones, so as to appear creative or in- novative, but this is frowned upon in most circles). I've dabbled in background vocals but my own particular forte is in the area of percussion. Piling up a line of books of graduated size satisfied me for a while, and sometimes I'll still run down the drum kit I've got balanced in the air before me. I was even placated by a pair of chopsticks for a while, but nothing really matches the interplay on ten fingers, stroke for stroke, tap for tap, with a palm, knuckle or fist thrown in there for special occasions. THE REAL GOOD finger drummers have the right to be elitist about their f l i a discipline, for while it can be said that drum work is of the most repetitious sort, this only serves to hide the fact that its variations of performance are the most subtle. A good drummer has an infinite array of patterns with which to hold the same beat throughout a song, and will vary them throughout at whim-there's where someone with ex- tra dexterous digits can really fake it well. Nigel Olsson does something dif- ferent at the end of each phrase of the Elton John song "Curtains" as it fades to an end for 2 minutes, and to memorize each pattern in the correct order is quite a feat. On and on the list could go. Electric guitars are far too common as objects of emulation for the more advanced AET songsters, but encourage anyone you see blindly clutching at the air above his left shoulder and at his stomach-he could break away from such an opiae of the masses to the delicate movements of the acoustic guitar, and onwards. Bass playing is on the whole too sim- ple, or used by failed electric guitar players to try and show the gentility that supposedly rests behind their grubby, low desires to take the easy way out and play that electric guitar. But they don't fool us purists. Keyboards are OK, but problems arise in distinguishing the mechanics of playing a grand piano from those of working the mellotron or ARP Farfisa. Most non-existent keyboard players miss these differen- ces in their performance, and it come off flat and lifeless. Likewise, really ef- fective synthesizer playing takes an imaginary technical degree for an ef- n fective display of the dark pyrotechnics of a fake performance. ON THE FRINGE of the silent showmen we find those who have tackled such often ignored instruments as the flute, saxophone, trumpet, and other traditional fare. Though it may seem elementary, some people take. to wrongly holding their clarinets off to the side, or putting both hands along the same side of the flute, or even pulling that trombone slide just a bit too far. I know one person who almost gave up a lifetime's joy as a private tnusician, so crushed was he to learn that there are only three fingers' worth of keys on the standard trumpet. Then too there are those who go in for the exotic or ancient instruments. Masters of the lute, mandolin, harp, nakers and tabor, glockenspiel or marimba are a special breed of home- bound troubadour. Newly electrified versions of old instruments are crop- ping up all the time. It is easy for a general practitioner in our craft to fall behind in the new techniques, and the styles currently in vogue. So where does that leave you, the bewildered beginner, standing center- stage in the vast domed concert hall of your head, dressed in leather or sequins or a fancy suit (but never in all three) and surrounded by thousands of dollars of silent sound equipment? As a service to you future mock musicians and microphone mimics, I wish to present a guide here to some of the toughest and most interesting voices in current rock music. This should set you on your way to a long career as a performer of the most authentic imitations around. FREDDIE MERCURY and the rest of the queen crowd used to be a real challenge to the vocal chords, so check out one of their first four albums for something to imitate. Freddie goes in for. theatrics and extreme melodrama to the point of satire. Freddie and Queen are famous for a cappella openings, heavenly choirs, and piercing falsetto harmonies, and this can tax even the most quick-tongued performer. Mastery of the exaggerated gasps and operatic screams is a must. Queen, with all it's heavymetal trappings, was a hard act to follow. So to speak. On the other hand we have Jon An- derson of Yes, whose naturally high voice never quite loses that air of in- nocence. Imagine yourself a cosmetic butterfly whose high-minded lyrics must mean everything to the world, and you can capture the sound of Jon An- derson in performance. It's sometimes tough fitting all those syllables into the melody line of a Yes song, I know, but with practice you should be able to get them all in-and in the right order, too. Think sweetness, lilt if you must, and sing with a sort of half-asleep urgency. We come full circle again to a mean, down, and dirty kind of voice from Ian Andersonif Jethro Tull. Prerequisites for this imitation include abilities to make your voice come from deep in your throat and sound very nasal at the same time, crack your voice at all significant words, and drag the ends of words out indefinitely for all manner of musical notes, snorts, growls, and a chuckle or two. The situation is par- ticularly complicated by the fact that Ian plays the flute, and is wont to per- form all of the above whilst simultaneously soloing on his in- strument. Whistling the flute and humming the tune at the same time isn't easy ... TO MASTER Neil Young one must sound a little groggy, or have just finished crying. Also tricky is trying to match that occasional off-key note Neil somes up with. Neil Young's one time partners, Crosby, Sills, and Nash, on the other hand, create close three-part har- monies out of voices a bit earthy if true to pitch and key. Imitating the trio is a fine occupation for idle hours, although a complete performance necessitates playing each of their songs three times ina row. Gaddy Lee of Rush sounds most like a spayed gerbil, or perhaps a hamster who's been kissed on the groin. Steve Miller is the only singer whose every breath is audible during his songs. A warbly voice and 60's San Francisco hippie-type lyrics complete the effect. Paul Simon sounds like a sort of mellow person of unknown foreign origin, or possibly an American Indian. Joni Mitchell is just about the only female singer worth attempting to imitate, as it requires more than just a pretty voice but real style. The melodies of some songs are a bit reminiscent of each other but the lyrics are the kind we music re-makers look for to quote other people in letters when we can't perform for them. NEXT: "How to keep track of the single, studio album, and live album versions of the same songs." Plus: "Singing along with those who can't: Bo' Dylan, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, et al." RECOR.DS By STEVEN DE GREGORIO Jackrabbit Slim? Who is this guy from Mississippi who looks like he shaves once a week, too young to have released two albums? Who is this singer/songwriter with a perfect complexion and a pudgy nose? Who is this jackrabbit with a rough, slightly southern voice, playing guitar and harmonica, and writing songs that reflect some thought? He is 24 year old Steve Forbert, alias Jackrabbit Silm, the title of his recently released second album on Nemperor Records. Judging by the sound of Forbert's music, you can bet no one will be asking these questions much longer. The critics raved about Forbert's blend of folk, country and rock-a-billy af- ter the release of his debut album, Alive On Arrival, in 1978. Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone said he'd bet anything that nothing in the world will stop Forbert. This seems quite possible. He's already developed a strong New York following, and this new album, plus a bit of touring, will surely broaden his audience. FORBERT'S SONGS unite his Mississippi roots with a street-wise slickness that has become popular since Springsteen became boss. He picked up the slickness playing in New York city bars. But Forbert is more sensitive than Springsteen and his song writing shows it. In "Tonight I Feel So Far Away From Home," Forbert's voice carries honest emotion. This tune, from his first album, is the most moving written by a male vocalist since Jackson Browne's "Here Come Those Tears Again." FORBERT'S LYRICS are fresh, and more importantly, original. He has a witty way of suggesting a "take it as it comes" outlook on life. "Complications" is one of those witty tunes. It's a tongue-in-cheek anthem to the hassles of everyday life. There are complications "in your mind," "in your footsteps," "in the wind," and "in your lifetime." They're "everywhere." In "I'm In Love With You," a ballad with a country tinge, Forbert reveals the poetic line "I'm a worn out sail on a sidewalk sea." Now that's really in love. Then there's "The Oil Song," a little tune that must have been thrown in at the last second. In a folk song manner, Forbert gives us a brief history of oil spills from the Argo Merchant off the Nantucket Shoals to the recent leakage in Mexico. This is Forbert's bid at commenting on the absurd abuses of our en- vironment "Romeo's Tune" is the most energetic song on the second album. It's cheerful and crisp, and has the sound capable of making it a hit single. Next there is "The Sweet Love That You Give (Sure Goes A Long, Long Way)" with an exciting horn arrangement. The horns in this song would fit well in a Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes tune. The Shoals Sisters, the backing female vocalists, lend their talents to "Say Goodlbye To Little Jo," giving it a definite rockability sound and undoubtedly marking Buddy Holly as an influence. Most noticeably absent from Jackrabbit Slim (when compared to Alive On Arrival), is Forbert's outstanding harmonica playing. The only mouthful we get' is on "Sadly Sorta Like A Soap Opera," and that's the highlight of a rather mediocre tune. Jackrabbit Slim isn't a perfect album, but it is better than most of today's popular music. Forbert is a new talent still growing, still searching for what he considers his best music. With Jackrabbit Slim, he has expanded the limits of what he can attain. This is one good album for 1979, and an even better follow-up to a successful first. 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