We all know that the karaoke microphone is one of the most ingenious inventions in the area of entertainment. Why? For one, singing is just everybody’s favorite hobby, and what entertainment gadget to use during a singing itch? A karaoke mic of course! That’s why our very own Magic Sing microphones are always selling hot at Webbyshop! We all love singing sprees, going to karaoke joints, enjoying our own chance at the limelight, especially during parties since a karaoke microphone is the source of the life of a party. A party just wouldn’t be complete without it. All that being said, karaoke microphone simply means FUN.

But a karaoke mic is not just used for fun, it can be a very functional tool for singers—amateur, professionals and even those striving to be one. It is a good investment to those who want a career in singing, because karaoke singing can be an excellent kind of vocal training. It can help you to keep your voice in top form. How? Let’s share some:
1.    Karaoke singing can teach you how to pay attention to cues, timing and pitch.
2.    With karaoke microphones, you can choose whatever song you want and arrange it piece by piece—the beginning notes, the middle phrases, and the end notes. You can train yourself to perform the right pitches at the beginning until the end.
3.    If you practice by karaoke singing, you can spot which errors you make personally and as a result, learn to correct them quicker. You will be able to learn to avoid making mistakes in the pitches, cueing and timing.
4.    In karaoke microphones, you can record your performance. Through this, you are able to hear yourself and know the parts you can still enhance. Through time, you will know how much you have improved through recording and re-recording your performance.
Thus, karaoke singing is not just fun, it’s very functional to singers as well. You’ll not just be able to impress your friends when you have karaoke parties, you can even wow audiences when you sing live as a singer. That’s what karaoke microphones are all about.

I would think that we have had so much lessons on how to sing, i.e. how to sing professionally, how to fake it (hehehe), what is tone deafness and other related topics that teaches you how to sing, however, I firmly believe that we are all bestowed with the gift of music, tone deaf or in-tune, every able being who has vocal chords who can come up with a rhythm can sing, whether it is out of tune, in tune, rapping or in monotone, it is not really in our ability to follow melody and to be in perfect pitch that makes us good singers, but in how we sing it.

Now let us talk about attitude.

According to the Wikipedia, a Diva is a celebrated female singer. The Italian term is used to describe a woman of rare, outstanding talent in the world of opera and by extension in theatre and popular music. The meaning of ‘diva’ is closely related to that of “prima donna.”  By far, my favorite definition is, the basic sense of the term is goddess, the feminine of the Latin word “divus” meaning god.

So there, simply put, a diva is a goddess.

When one is asked who he or she might consider a diva, the names of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion comes to mind. Locally, we have Jaya, Regine Velasquez and Zsa Zsa Padilla (okay, okay, fine, these are but my favorite divas) but yes, have you ever noticed what makes them effective singers, err, divas?

Nope, it is not those glittery gowns they don nor the sparkling jewelry they have on, it is neither their eye make-up nor their oh-my-God high-heels that make them effective singers, it is the manner in which they sing the songs that makes us watch them with wide eyes open (with mouth wide open, with matching shrugging of the shoulders as if it was you singing, and the little pinky extended) as they hit those high notes and belt out to their hearts delight to our entertainment.

But did you ever really watch how they sing? They have this certain attitude that sets them apart from these other so-called singers, who can hit those high notes too, but are less celebrated than them, right?  And even when they are not singing, say in interviews (talk about our local divas, as they talk on The Buzz or Showbiz Central), they command a certain kind of respect from the people who interview or talk to them. I guess, they have that what they call the “IT Factor or the X Factor!”

Yup! It is all in the attitude!

Singing is an art, and like all art, an artwork is more valuable if it is unique, unaltered or stands out as simply what it is, beauty, in this case, beautiful singing is in the eyes (or ears) of the beholder.

Okay, okay, I know I am making this whole thing more confusing than it actually being helpful.

My point you guys is that, it is not whether you have the voice that is of perfect pitch or you not being tone deaf that makes you a good singer, it is not those vocal lessons that will make you a good singer because as long as you have vocal chords and you can hum, you can memorize lyrics, sing from the heart and have your own very unique attitude to sing or rap or belt out or… okay, okay, I have to stop being melodramatic otherwise I will explode! What I want to say is that, as long as you have the passion to sing, the confidence to deliver the song in whatever way you want to, as long as you can feel it and move the people who are listening to you, it is the attitude or the manner in which you sing it that will count a lot!

Cut to the chase, guys, remember audience impact? That is enough to make you the star for all season, the one and only superstar, the megastar… your own shining star; you are the diva that you want yourself to become.

Hold on one minute, says my husband, if women are divas, what are men who are passionate singers called? Divus? Hehehe. Well, at least in Latin, it means that.

Until next time!

Not so long ago (okay to be quite specific, ten years ago… wink, wink!), I would go and join auditions to do little intermission numbers for school-wide presentations and stuff, with much coaxing and taunting from my friends and I would actually get some parts in the program.

Well, I would not say that I am a good singer, but I am not tone deaf, that would be the best description!  Practices would be a breeze, having to laugh around with familiar faces in the program committee, but when the actual presentation came, OMG!  I would actually freeze!

But after what I felt was an embarrassing experience belting out ala Tyler Collins with my own rendition of Thanks To You from the movie Andre, I found people shaking my hand and introducing themselves to me as though I were a celebrity, but as far as I know, I know I had little booboos after much practice, which by the way was left unnoticed.  And how did I get away with it?  Now, let me tell you that I had no professional training, only those little choir practices I joined in–

On stage, in front of a thousand or so students, I found out that I had problems.  I was in fact insecure about how I looked.  I was scared of being humiliated!  Yes, folks, I had stage fright!  But how did I get through and ended up with “fans” who have in fact let me sing every time a school activity cropped up.  Here is my secret!

1.  Choose a song that means something to you.  It has to be something you can relate to, expression is everything and when your audience feels that you feel the song you are singing, then they feel with you.  As you are moved by emotions with your song, they are moved by it too.  Emotions are contagious!  The happy virus seems to be the fastest virus to spread around, so let everyone catch your bug, but if you have to sing a sad song, then you have to at some point, give a hint that you feel sad as well.

2.  I had some problem with movement.  At one time, in a comedy bar, because I did not move much, the host actually put a microphone stand behind my arm pits as if to tell me that I seemed to be like a log just standing there.  Standing in the same position and just clutching the microphone as if your life depended on it just made you all the more afraid and frightened.  Move around the stage.  Do hand gestures!  You do not have to bend ala Pilita Corrales to get those high notes, just move, sway, but do not be like a stiff log in the middle of the stage.  For five or so minutes, the stage is your kingdom!

3.  The room will be inevitably prepared with proper lighting with spotlights flooding the room, so if you are so frightened, find a spotlight you can keep your eye on for 30 seconds, and this will actually blind you for a few minutes, thus, not allowing you to see that there are hundreds of pairs of eyes ogling at you.  That way, you still have the illusion that you are rehearsing, with just the familiar people of the program committee behind the curtains.

4.  Blinded by the spotlight and all, never forget to thank your audience, do a little curtsy and be careful not to fall off the steps!

These have helped me out in my singing engagements, (naks!) and they have worked.
So, for those of you who may not be professional singers, but would like to have their time in the spotlight, just do as I do. 

So then, let me continue with my mini-lecture on music terminology. Of course, I learned all about perfect pitch, the one talent those singers and musicians I used to swoon at all have. Then my dear professor introduced another term, which became dearly attached to me since it described my musical condition. The term is tone deafness.

Tone what? Tone deaf? Is there such?

Yes, there is such. I actually believed with all of my heart that I was tone deaf, until I learned that only 6% of the entire population has it. It is just generally used to describe those who sing out of tune. This common use of tone deafness refers to a person’s inability to reproduce tones they hear accurately, which is most often caused by lack of musical training or education and not actual tone deafness (that includes my case). The real meaning of tone deafness, however, is the inability to discriminate between musical notes. Being tone deaf is having difficulty or being unable to correctly hear relative differences between notes.

This relative difference between notes is associated with relative pitch, and ability of it as with other musical abilities, appears to be inherent in healthy functional humans. While someone who is unable to reproduce pitches because of a lack of musical training would not be considered tone deaf in a medical sense, the term might still be used to describe them casually. Someone who cannot reproduce pitches accurately, because of lack of training or tone deafness, is said to be unable to “carry a tune.” Tone deafness affects ability to hear pitch changes produced by a musical instrument and/or the human voice.
However, tone deaf people seem to be only disabled when it comes to music, and they can fully interpret the intonation of human speech. Tone deaf people often lack a sense of musical aesthetics, and much like a color blind person would not be apt to appreciate colorful visual art, some tone deaf people cannot appreciate music. Tone deafness is also associated with other musical-specific impairments such as inability to keep time with music (the lack of rhythm), or the inability to remember or even recognize a song. These disabilities can appear separately but some research shows that they are more likely to appear in tone deaf people.

Experienced musicians such as W. A. Mathieu have addressed tone deafness in adults as correctable with training. Tone deafness is also known variously as amusia, tune deafness, dysmelodia and dysmusia. (Thanks Wikipedia.)

Hope you enjoyed learning something new again musically!

Okay, I learned all about this in college, while taking up Sensation and Perception subject in Psychology. After a productive lecture of our professor, I fell in love with this new-found knowledge I acquired that day. The term is perfect pitch.

Being a music enthusiast that I am, I was really interested with this topic of discussion we had back then in school. And since Magic Sing is all about singing, might as well share this fancy piece of information, that is, perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch, a more common name for absolute pitch, is the capacity of a person to identify or recreate a musical note without the benefit of a known reference. It is “the ability to identify the frequency or musical name of a specific tone, or, conversely, the ability to reproduce a frequency, frequency level, or musical pitch without comparing the tone with any objective reference tone, i.e., without using relative pitch.” Naming or labeling of notes need not be verbal. Absolute pitch can also be demonstrated by other codes such as auditory imagery or sensorimotor responses such as reproducing a tone on an instrument. Therefore if a musician is from an aural tradition, unfamiliar with musical notation they can still show absolute pitch if allowed to reproduce a sounded note. Possessors of absolute pitch exhibit the ability in varying degrees. Generally, absolute pitch implies some or all of the following abilities: identify and name individual pitches (e.g. A, B, C#) played on various instruments; name the key of a given piece of tonal music; identify and name all the tones of a given chord or other tonal mass; sing a given pitch without an external reference; and/or name the pitches of common everyday noises such as car horns. (Okay too technical, I credit Wikipedia for that.)

A more concrete description in layman’s term, perfect pitch is when you hear the note ‘sol’ vocally produced and you can recreate the note by producing it vocally as well. Or, when a note is tapped in the keyboard while you hear it, you can easily say what note that is, and tap the note on the keyboard yourself. Also, people with perfect pitch can play by ear. When they hear a song, even if they are not particular with it, they can get the tune easily, or get the chords of the musical instrument played just by listening to it. I know a lot of people who has this flair and I’m always amazed by such talent they have, especially after I learned all about the technical but fascinating aspects of their ability.

So there. Hope you learned something new. Just wanted to share!

Emotions are what makes us the unique creatures that we are.  We cry when we feel sad and we laugh when we are happy, and one of the things that shows just how emotional we are is through this thing called singing.  Call me a hopeless romantic, but even Boy Bato who is known for his cold-heart and seemingly lifeless stare will hum you a tune or Annie Batumbakal has her own tune to dance to.   Yes, in fact, think about it, when you broke up with your very first honey, was there not a song that constantly played in your head that either made you run to the bathroom or run out the door with the excuse that you just “need to go”?  Or how about that song that made you feel that tingle run up your spine when you met “the one”?

Yes, singing has been our way of celebrating our moments in life, or under the circumstances, has made us mourn over what we consider that “oh my God, why me?” moment.  Singing in fact has been one of the better ways for us to express our repressed emotions.  Singing is a therapy for the brokenhearted, and singing too is his own special way of making the words “I love you” even more meaningful.  There is nothing in this world that cannot be better expressed with a melody and tune, and we are the only creatures in the earth who can croon with a beautiful melody and words that truly touches the heart.

With the advent of the Age of Karaoke and Magic Mic, almost everyone has found their muses and realized that they are singers.  Emotional creatures that we are, we have found ourselves releasing every single strand of frustration and every ounce of happiness through the songs we sing.   In my terms, except in rare occurrences, singing has been our non-violent reaction to what life throws our way, stones and bread and all!

As I have found out, our life is a song.  Like the tunes we belt out, it has its high notes and low notes, but the ending is that smooth finish, happy or sad.  This is how life truly is depending on the choices that we make and thank God for songs, there is a choice of what songs we would like to sing all our lives!

Why do you think rock stars, opera artists, pop divas, and balladeers have such promising careers when in fact, all they seem to do is sing their hearts out?

Well, it’s a no-brainer: singing is a way of life; an indispensable form of art present in whatever culture or race; has transcended across generations–and it’s evolving! It’s surprising how many musical notes there could ever be.

Art and passion it is, singing has become a way to express one’s self, to kill idle time, or to plainly have fun. Check your grade school slum book (what is your hobby? singing.) or reminisce your good ‘ol high school days and there’ll be surely plenty of ‘singing’ memories.

In most Filipino rituals, singing is as well present. Name it: wedding, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, even burials! There’s a song to sing for every occasion, for every emotion, and for practically every reason.

Singing in turn became almost a necessity, paving the way for the creation of instruments that would make the art easier. From archaic instruments like mandolins, time and technology gave birth to radio, cassette tapes,  compact discs then the Karaoke.

Wikipedia defines Karaoke as a form “of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system” with the voice of the original singer removed or reduced in volume.

But first generation karaoke systems were very expensive and huge in size, making it impossible to sing anywhere you like it. Lyrics were still printed in a paper and if you don’t know the song’s lyrical timing, you have to play it by ear. Thankfully, this evolved into KTV (Karaoke TV) and all you had to do is follow the highlighted prompt on the lyrics.

The Karaoke phenomenon also spurred the rise of KTV bars but public singing areas can be not as fun to those who are shy and not confident with their singing prowess. Besides, there would be a lot of competition in public KTV bars!

All these apparently prompted the creation of Microphone Karaoke. But the Mic Karaoke is a hundred times better! Easy to carry, with a choice of a thousand songs, and just as easy as 1-2-3. Plug and play, the mic karaoke can be used at home (now that is where you can really sing your heart out) or can be brought anywhere you want to. And the good news? The possibilities of this magic microphone is endless. Let me tell you about this more in the future posts.

For now, exercise those vocal cords. Who knows? It might come handy soon.