Jessi Sfarnas

2/10/2022

MUED 310

I would say that my vocal music knowledge is relatively small, but I am interested in

growing it. I tend to focus on the genres, styles, and vocalists that I am most familiar with, and I

tend not to branch out of my area of familiarity. For instance, I am most knowledgeable on pop

music, and I tend to listen to pop artists the most. Following pop music, the next genre I listen to

the most is musical theater. I started becoming more interested in it as a result of being exposed

to it from my sisters, but I would still consider myself a casual listener of it.

I think I am most interested in listening and singing to pop music because a lot of times

it’s “easy” to listen to. Sara Barielles said at the Kennedy Center that the most recognized pop

music does not have the “intricacies” that other genres show in their singing. Even as someone

who loves so many different styles of music, I still gear towards pop music because I like the

familiarity of it all. However, I would argue that good music does not always need the intricate

and fancy parts of music. Sometimes it is appropriate, and other times it is not necessary. There

are fantastic songs out there that are more simple pop songs.

In the pop section of this article, a lot of focus was put on making sure that pop singers

still have vocal training so they know how to take care of their voices. I think the importance of

this is very underestimated because pop singing is thought of as “easy” by many. While I knew

that it’s important to have some knowledge on singing so you don’t injure yourself, I never knew

specific aspects. My favorite part of this section was Ben Folds saying that singers should know

the difference between “physical tension” and “dramatic tension.” This was probably my favorite

part of this entire article because it made me think of the emotional and physical sides of being a
musician. This comment on tension is something I can even apply to myself as an

instrumentalist.

For musical theater, even if I am not an expert in it, I still love it because of the story and

style of it. I love how the elements in musical theater are exaggerated because that makes it fun

to listen to. However, as Sutton Foster says, musical theater also requires “authenticity and

truthfulness” from the performers so they can connect to the audience. I love the emotions that

come from musical theater performances, no matter what the genre or story is.

One genre that I have virtually no experience listening to is gospel music. It never aligned

with any of my interests on a personal or musical level, so I never even considered listening to it.

However, I really enjoyed reading the section on gospel. The part that resonated with me the

most was Kim Burrell’s statement on making sure your musical decisions were thought out, but

also making sure that you are confident with the decisions you make. I thought this was really

insightful and inspiring in the sense that you should still be educated on voice and music in

gospel, but you should also be proud of the decisions you make.

As with many people, country music is the genre that I am most closed-minded about. I

tend to think about the stereotypical themes and accents being the only aspects that represent

country music. However, I really liked all the points discussed about country music in the article.

I have seen authenticity in music discussed in many music classes I have been in. While

“authentic” music is a huge debate on what that really means, I appreciated the take on what it

means to country music. I liked how it was pointed out that the singing style is a lot like your

natural speaking voice, and it should stay away from vocal modulators. I also liked the point that

you should understand yourself and be honest with the band you are playing with. The

culmination of all of these aspects create the space for you to make honest music and create an
honest story. For country music, I think I need to be more proactive in seeking perspectives like

these, because they are so insightful and more personal than any other country music perspective

I have seen before.

Overall, I think my biggest reason that I have not opened up to more vocal genres and

singers is because I tend to think of vocal music as a separate entity from instrumental music.

However, so much of the information in the article can be applied to my music as an

instrumentalist. All of the advice and perspectives given are things that I should be thinking

about all the time as someone who wants to go into a music career. I need to work on thinking of

vocal music and instrumental music more together rather than separating them so much in my

mind, so I feel more inspired and interested in listening to it.