June 8 2023 - Babbel or Gospel Singing

 

"There are lots of ads for learning a new language using Babbel.  Here's the Babbel sort of promotion: "From Spanish and German to Norwegian and Danish, the next time the plane lands abroad you could be speaking the native language fluently with a little help from Babbel. Over 100 expert linguists helped create this innovative app, which can have you speaking confidently in just a month."  "In just 15 minutes a day, you can start to be comfortable in another language within a week!" And that helps if your bucket list is Machu Pichu, Mount Everest, Bali, The Eiffel Tower, Rome's Trevi Fountain, and the Taj Mahal.  That's a few languages to learn.   So many languages and so many thousands of dollars of travel seem to be involved in these over-the-top bucket lists. The alternative might be something Bing is promoting.  Gospel singing.  Your can learn how to sing better with gospel legend Yolanda Adams.  Just like you learn phrases in Babbel, you can learn belting, chest voice, head voice, falsetto and vibrato in gospel singing.   In comparison to Babbel's promise of 15 minutes a day, everyone says that Gospel singing takes a few years.  But then one Quora answer says you can be a gospel singing in a community choir within three weeks.  Or if you are just aiming for the shower, it takes 3 minutes.  Only on Quora can you get an answer that says that a clean heart is required so that Christ will dwell in you and give you great inspiration. Gospel singing is not very close to home here in Niagara.  My own thought is to learn another language that is useful right here now.   What about an app on how to communicate with cats.  "MeowTalk gives your cat a voice! " It is a free app that has the translation mode with three basic meow intents.  And there are lots of articles explaining the science behind cat translations.  There's a pie chart with the different cat sounds dataset - hunting, fighting, warning, angry, mating, happy, mother call, resting, pain, and defence. What will Baxter do with all this?  I think we'll give this one a try. And since there is also a dog in our house the Dog Translator is also available.  Here's the promo for Dog Translator: "This app is amazing it's so cool but so simple all you have to do is just press the little mic and say what you have to say and then once you do that it will talk dog talk and allow your dogs to understand what you're saying." For the reverse, My Talking Pet turns your dog barks into talk that you understand.   Who would guess this is all here now?     It is Thursday and that means market day in Grimsby.  The pandemic restrictions are gone so we are back to Main Street as in this picture below from a few years ago.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 15 2021- Singing Duets with Myself

 

Those reality television shows such as America's Got Talent are very disconcerting to me.  They are full of unconvincing spontaneity.  There is exaggeration by the judges with wild reactions. They  purposely interject and disrupt with their amplified comments.  They "mime" negative or positive reviews and reactions during the performance.   There are articles covering how fake the show is:  not checking contestant's backstories for accuracy, that the audience doesn't cheer - the 'planted audience members' cheer, and so on.   This is a continuing complaint about most reality shows - that they are faked in various ways. Quora has an entry for how faked is this show.  It is: How real is America's Got Talent?  It has 1,300 answers and 3,200 answer views.  That number of people engaged explains a great deal about the cynicism and disdain for these shows, matched by compelling interest. A friend sent a youtube video of Marcelito Pomoy, a Filipino singer.  It is his appearance on America's Got Talent. It is a great video for all the reasons above - the cheering, the judge's reactions, and so on. What is special is that he is known for his ability to sing both tenor and soprano beautifully - so he sang a duet by himself.  He won on Filipino version of the show. The "audition" on America's Got Talent is what is featured in this youtube video HERE.  For most of us who sing a small vocal range, if we can sing at all, it is a transfixing performance.  He has such a pretty female voice and such a deep male voice.   One of the songs he sang in the competition was Queen's We are the Champions. Freddie Mercury was a singer with a large vocal range: from bass low F to soprano high F.  There has been much analysis of his voice, including scientific research.  One of the findings was this: "What they discovered was that he likely employed subharmonics, a singing style where the ventricular folds vibrate along with the vocal folds. Most humans never speak or sing with their ventricular folds unless they’re Tuvan throat singers, so the fact that this popular rock vocalist was probably dealing with subharmonics is pretty incredible." In terms of the greatest vocal range of all times - it is 10 octaves, achieved by Tim Storms in Branson, Missouri, August 2008. You can look at singers' vocal ranges HERE.  Lots of familiar names in the list.  You can look by vocal range, highest notes, and lowest notes.  I don't see Pomoy on the list, but this list is famous pop/rock singers. The amusing fact in his biography on his website is that he was discovered "while doing poultry work".  How curious a fact. We turn to winter flowers and fruits for our photos today.

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