Last night, I spent some time occasionally flipping channels around to watch the Grammys and also reading tweets and facebook statuses about peoples’ reactions to the program. I would read many reactions to the performers’ outfits and “who should have won this and who should have won that.” However, I think that the most amusing reactions were to how many performers have utilized (or more like how many engineers and producers) Auto-Tune. The term “auto tuning” is not a new term, as it has been done for at least three decades. However, Auto-Tune (as it was being discussed last night) is a plug-in created by Antares Audio Technologies, that corrects pitch in vocal and instrumental recordings. The plug-in can be used in recording studios and as a rack-mounted version in live performances. In 2009, Time magazine quoted a Grammy-winning recording engineer as saying, “Let’s just say I’ve had Auto-Tune save vocals on everything from Britney Spears to Bollywood soundtrack albums. And every singer now presumes that you’ll just run their voice through the box.” The same article expressed “hope that pop’s fetish for uniform perfect pitch will fade,” speculating that pop-music songs have become harder to differentiate from one another, as “track after track has perfect pitch” (found at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1877372-2,00.html). Though with the Auto-tune iPhone app and the price of the plug-in being very affordable, it will be up to the artists and producers to whether the trend will fade.
Last year the group Death Cab for Cutie wore suits and blue pins in protest to auto-tune. They were quoted, “Auto-tuning is a digital manipulation, a correction of a singer’s voice that is affecting literally thousands of singers today and thousands of records that are coming out. We just want to raise awareness while we’re here and try to bring back the blue note… The note that’s not so perfectly in pitch and just gives the recording some soul and some kind of real character. It’s how people really sing.”
Last night, it was obvious that the duet with Stevie Nicks and Taylor Swift did not have the enhancement of auto-tune and you heard some real vocal sounds. Jamie Fox’s auto-tune performance was described as “Most Unnecessary: Jamie Foxx’s crazy Auto-Tune extravaganza had us thinking one thing: The Oscar winner wants an EGOT necklace.”
As many of my students, even the young ones, tune into American Idol, they are surprised and often giggle at the first few episodes which show a variety of “singers.” My students will come in the next day to tell me about “the singer who sounded like he was shouting” or “the singer who was really really bad.” The next question to me from my students is “Why do they think that they sing well?”
Those Idol auditions, and the recordings or live performances enhanced by Auto-Tune, are great teaching opportunities for your students in grades 3 and up (maybe even younger depending on your students). Having them listen intently to different types of singers is an amazing educational tool. For younger students, play a variety of recordings, ones enhanced and ones that are not, and ask the students what they think. Or play a couple of Idol auditions. The young students will be honest and they will listen intently. It will be a wonderful discussion. For the older students, create a blog or wikispace and put samples of audio and video (teachertube.com or youtube.com) of singers who are singing without the enhancement of auto-tune and singers who obviously must sing with auto-tune, and have the students comment on this. Even better, show two different recordings of the same singer: one recording with auto-tune and one without. Try this one from Enrique Iglesias-though there have been debates about whether this is fake or real-however, it is a great example of how auto-tune can greatly correct the pitch.
Years ago, I took a TI:ME Level 2 Digital Audio Course at Valley Forge Christian College and I absolutely loved the course. I learned how to utilize digital audio in my classroom and I learned what auto-tune does to my voice. My final project was a recording of me singing a 3-part SSA version of Appalachian Suite II. I was incredibly humbled when I first heard myself singing on the recording. My professor then applied the auto-tune plug-in and my voice magically sang in tune. Incredible, I thought…however, I felt like I “cheated.” I know that many performers utilize it, especially in live performances as a “safety net,” but as a teacher, I like to educate my students about this and just make them aware so that they can listen better to the music that they hear everyday.
Have you ever had a discussion about auto-tune in your classrooms? If so, how did you address it?
Picture found at toothpastefordinner.com
Entries (RSS)
Powered by FireStats