Poll: Do you guys think classical music is worthless now?

[Julius Terrell]

I'm asking because I have a classical voice and I really want to sing professionally. I'm a male saprano and everybody thinks that I'm going to become famous. The situation I always see is that pop singers with half the talent I have have more of a chance of becoming well known or famous. I've been going back and fourth with myself over the years and I just don't know what to do.

People suggest posting videos on youtube to showcase my ability, but I don't know what that will really do, but I still like the idea. Comments? Thanks guys!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Nah, what you do is you take classical music and update it to make it accessible. Then classical music fans hate you because you've messed up classical music, and fans of modern music don't care.

Somehow this is somewhat profitable, though.

 

[NightmareExpress]

I'm asking because I have a classical voice and I really want to sing professionally. I'm a male saprano and everybody thinks that I'm going to become famous. The situation I always see is that pop singers with half the talent I have have more of a chance of becoming well known or famous.

Do it.
But don't go into it thinking you're going to be famous or have a big chance for it.
You're just setting yourself up for disappointment, then.

The "situation" you see is false. They did have talent and were able to appeal to a mass market.
They were simply lucky to have been picked, among a crowd of people doing the same. You'll be in the same boat if you try.

I don't know the market for classical singing, because a lot of them are...faceless. Very few people know their name or recognize them on the street. Basically the opposite of a typical pop singer where visage is key. Though...are you talking of Opera?

 

[dumbseizure]

Absolutely not, music is art.

Did Davincis works suddenly become worthless?

But go for it, someone somewhere is a fan of something.

And classical is popular among many types of people.

 

[Jayemsal]

I'm asking because I have a classical voice and I really want to sing professionally. I'm a male saprano and everybody thinks that I'm going to become famous. The situation I always see is that pop singers with half the talent I have have more of a chance of becoming well known or famous. I've been going back and fourth with myself over the years and I just don't know what to do.

People suggest posting videos on youtube to showcase my ability, but I don't know what that will really do, but I still like the idea. Comments? Thanks guys!

http://youtu.be/tcrfvP11Hbo


Somebody embed this for me please.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

Well no, all musical taste is subjective; classical music as a genre is not an exception to this. No, it may not be on all the billboards or charts these days, but it has it's places. We still have big concert halls filled on a routine basis where they have bands play nothing but classical music. A lot of aspiring piano players replay old classics or make up their own in a classical style. Some people find it calming, others just enjoy listening to it.

AS for achieve your dream, look into joining a choir! It'll most likely be unpaid, but if you work your way up, you'll be having theater and concert group performances, and the like. If you get really good, who knows where you'll end up? They still have plenty of choirs, groups, and clubs for adults that do classical music; just take a look at your city's art scene and see what you can find.

*snip*

Here ya go:

 

[bigwon]

"Easy to impress, hard to keep impressed" Remember that! hehe

But as far as doing it as a profession goes I think you'll find a sufficient income if it's what you love to do. There's many relatively obscure artists that make a living off of what they do.

When your talking about mtv, much music, etc. of course your going to need to establish a brand with specific attributes that appeal to the young consumer population (looks.....and other things that relate to an impulse to buy certain products lol), but if your looking for a professional career you should have to worry yourself with all of that baloney. Many options.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I have a choral voice, but people swear that I should sing opera. I don't like operas and I like the idea of doing soundtrack work. I wish I could have been hired to sing for the lord of the rings movies. I should sing some of that stuff and post it on youtube.

Also, I want to do vocals for electronic music as well. Its unlimited potential really intrigues me. On the side, I want to showcase my voice more. I mean I do have all 14 minutes of "Dancing Mad" from Final Fantasy 6 memorized. If that doesn't scream talent I don't know what does. I'll have to do something, because I can't let that gift go to waste.

I even tried out for America's got talent a year and half ago. I got a second addition, but didn't get called back, but the first judge who I additioned for was astonished. They bought me back in for an interview and he said he'd never heard anyone with my ability.

Edit: That guy is really good singer. I really enjoyed that!

 

[e033x]

Classical music is far from worthless, but i wouldn't get into it just to attain fame among the general populace. Fame in it self should never be the goal of a musical venture anyway, in my opinion.

But are you truly a male soprano, as in singing in the same range as a soprano? If that is the case, and you have the talent to go with it, that is a good niche to be in, considering alot of of pre-romantic opera calls for castrato voices (which means exactly what you think), and true male sopranos are crazy rare. Most are altos or below.

EDIT: If you're serious about doing it proffesionally, for the love of god, stay away from talent shows. A conservatory is more the way to go, and don't worry too much about not liking it. It's mostly an aquired taste, at least it was for me.

Also, I want to do vocals for electronic music as well. Its unlimited potential really intrigues me. On the side, I want to showcase my voice more. I mean I do have all 14 minutes of "Dancing Mad" from Final Fantasy 6 memorized. If that doesn't scream talent I don't know what does. I'll have to do something, because I can't let that gift go to waste.

Memorization is a good skill, but not really indicative of talent. Neither is 14 minutes very much, to be frank. Especially compared to an opera, where a main character can have at least an hour of material to memorize, often much more. Not to mention conductors, many of which can memorize whole symphonies.

 

[Julius Terrell]

Classical music is far from worthless, but i wouldn't get into it just to attain fame among the general populace. Fame in it self should never be the goal of a musical venture anyway, in my opinion.

But are you truly a male soprano, as in singing in the same range as a soprano? If that is the case, and you have the talent to go with it, that is a good niche to be in, considering alot of of pre-romantic opera calls for castrato voices (which means exactly what you think), and true male sopranos are crazy rare. Most are altos or below.

EDIT: If you're serious about doing it proffesionally, for the love of god, stay away from talent shows. A conservatory is more the way to go, and don't worry too much about not liking it. It's mostly an aquired taste, at least it was for me.

In the the Felowship of the ring, the part after gandolf dies and everybody is crying their eyes out and when they visit Galadriel afterwards . I can sing them PERFECTLY! It fills me with joy when I can let my full range out. It's not often that I get to do that.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm asking because I have a classical voice and I really want to sing professionally. I'm a male saprano and everybody thinks that I'm going to become famous. The situation I always see is that pop singers with half the talent I have have more of a chance of becoming well known or famous. I've been going back and fourth with myself over the years and I just don't know what to do.

People suggest posting videos on youtube to showcase my ability, but I don't know what that will really do, but I still like the idea. Comments? Thanks guys!

Classical music is still something I enjoy, even in an age where I've heard everything from They Might Be Giants to Stratovarius. Even though I like J-Rock, normal Rock, Jazz, Blues, and a number of others, this one isn't out of my repertoire. Besides, during my latest update to the Fallout RP here I run, I was using the Moonlight Sonata as a background for the laments of a Robobrain's existence. It was fun!

As for your talents, it is a matter of fact that some have been noticed on Youtube and picked up for their talent. You have little to lose.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Nah, what you do is you take classical music and update it to make it accessible. Then classical music fans hate you because you've messed up classical music, and fans of modern music don't care.

Somehow this is somewhat profitable, though.

If you do that then it's no longer classical. If you're really into classical you aren't satisfied with a few snippets of a Mozart string concerto inserted into a rap beat and repeated ad nauseum.

On Topic: If you're a male soprano wanting to sing classically then you're out of luck. Soprano is for the female voice and parts aren't written for males. Last I heard anyway. (SEXISM!!!!!!11)

 

[Pjotr84]

I'd say just give it a shot on Youtube. Like other people are saying, you never know who hears it and if you don't try and switch to something different, you may keep wondering how it could have been if you had.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I'm asking because I have a classical voice and I really want to sing professionally. I'm a male saprano and everybody thinks that I'm going to become famous. The situation I always see is that pop singers with half the talent I have have more of a chance of becoming well known or famous. I've been going back and fourth with myself over the years and I just don't know what to do.

People suggest posting videos on youtube to showcase my ability, but I don't know what that will really do, but I still like the idea. Comments? Thanks guys!

Josh Groban would say otherwise. Just a different market.

And don't be sniffy about 'talent'. There's music you like, and music you don't like. No music is superior to other music. It's all about taste.

 

[The Comfy Chair]

No, it's not worthless (is anything truly worthless really?), but you wont get 'rolling around in money' rich either compared to more popular music.

That's just how it is. The worlds most brilliant physicist would get paid much much less than someone who kicks a football around, a skill that could be taught to a chimp fairly well.

Now, jokes aside, footballers do spend a LOT of time training, they get a bad press at times because they're paid extremely well. But they didn't all demand that all of a sudden. It's society who decided to elevate them, not the footballers themselves Also, in terms of time spent, a footballer and a brilliant physicist (whilst the footballer is less than 35 or so) probably do spend as much time 'training' as each other

The Physicist is still more useful, but people don't actively pay for Physicists in the way they pay for footballers.

So don't determine the worth of something by monetary value because the world is a little screwed up in that respect (another example: Nuclear fusion research in Europe still only gets around £1bn a year, despite that being a pretty major thing to be researching).

 

[Belaam]

Definitely not useless.

I would strongly recommend that you look for local choral groups. Or even local community theaters doing musicals or opera. Even if they are volunteer, you will make a lot of contacts and pick up some experience to put on your vocalist resume.

My brother-in-law does sound design and my sister puppeteering and for both of them, making the initial contacts to introduce them to others in the field was a huge boost because all things considered, it's a rather small core of people who do such things professionally. My sister, who is American, has worked in both Europe and Japan in large part because there are very few female puppeteers.

That said, youtube videos can't hurt. Google other male sopranos and email them for career advice. Build up a resume, or preferably a website with video samples of your singing to which you can direct people.

 

[Kyber]

Most certainly not!
Most people have had better and longer answers already but I'm just going to say that i will always come back to listening Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi from time to time.

 

[Lynx]

Look up Eric Whitacre, I tell you. He certainly put a modern twist on classical music with his virtual choir concept. One of the coolest things I've ever heard.

And where I come from, there's no scarcity of choirs, singers, pianists or any kind of musicians. I don't know if that's a typically northern thing, but trust me - there's a big market out there for people like you, as long as you're talented.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by classical. There's 'classical' classical like super old school choir and opera. There's 'classical' like Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, The Four Seasons. There's other forms of classical but I'm assuming its one of those two?

If you want to make really good money, then no, you probably won't be doing that with classical music nor will you be becoming famous. Unless you're talking about the aforementioned Frank Sinatra style in which case there is Michael Bublé and other various artists so there is a chance. But again Michael Bublé is not nearly as famous or rich as pop stars.

If you want to sing because you love it, and you're fine with making less then good god do it. I love classical music(all forms) so it's definitely not worthless to the people who love it.

So if you really love singing and you're actually good at it, then just keep doing it and the money will come to you. You wont be rich but you'll be happy. And if all you want is money and fame and don't really love the music you're singing, then go ahead and become a pop star or whatever you feel is an easier route.

Also if you're having trouble getting noticed, might I suggest making youtube videos of yourself? There's plenty of musical 'nobodies' who have got pretty damn far off of youtube. Nick Pitera has been on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Allison Williams made waves singing on youtube before she ever got on HBOs girls, and Straight No Chaser landed a record deal for five albums. Never underestimate the power of random people browsing youtube.