Karaoke Forums

Yeah, it's an affliction.... goes hand in hand with "having to have the last word syndrome" too.  LMAO

You know, I go back and forth on my thoughts on karaoke. I do NOT like when people run down karaoke and think it's "just karaoke"..... but, in the world of professionals (and by pro, I mean people "making a living at it", not doing it as a side hobby once in a blue moon- or even weekly... I mean, being so good at it that you're making enough dough to keep ya alive, and that people outside your own county know your name) I'm not talking about your every day band that gets gigs here and there at local mom' n pop venues and considers themselves lucky to make it to state fair level. To me, "pro" is tested and tried.. and has the sales and demand to back it up.

I just don't see much more of a future for karaoke than... karaoke. Not saying it doesn't help find, fine-tune, and set apart some individuals with great talent, it does. But karaoke is a training tool, and an outlet for drunks, and 3 minutes of fame for the tone deaf... etc... it's not a "great singers hobby" only. Anyone can karaoke, at any venue where it's offered, there's no discrimination. Being a pro and actually "making it", to where you're booked, and your cd's sell, and it's your bread and butter ..... THAT seperates the good from the bad. And I think that's WHY so many pros look down on karaoke, cause ANYone can do it that chooses. Even if you're good, you're talking about a voice, which doesn't always indicate oodles of talent... And, as Ollie said, there are often singers of karaoke who sound 10 to 1 better than most you hear on radio. But, again, you gotta have what radio and the general public are looking for... not just be able to pull off doing karaoke.

One other thing: I DO think it could easily set a person up for getting a GREAT band behind them. If I were a band, looking for "just the right singer", hell, I'd START at karaoke venues. Most people who karaoke have tried more styles, and have sampled quite a few more songs than your average band has in their lineup. (from what I've seen anyhow)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

The difference between pro and amateur is often one of context. There are a number of karaoke singers that were they to appear with a band would have people raving. (Not that I am one of them.) There are some band singers who have people rave about their talent who wouldn't excite more than just the passing interest in a karaoke context.

And it is the more so the shorter the exposure. Recently an experiment was done, where Joshua Bell, one of the world's great violinists, was placed outside a Washington D.C. metro station. He played there for rush-hour crowds, just as many a busker has been known to do. An article was written about the results:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01721.html

(Sorry if that requires a login, I am not sure.)

The results were interesting to say the least.

Speaking of kid virtuosos, what ever happened to Nigel Kennedy ?

You are correct I suppose as are others in one sense of the term "professional", or as it pertains to "profession", however I've always ascribed to it as somebody who's attained a certain level of skill within their craft, and how they also conduct themselves.  By definition the professional earns money doing what they do,  thing is I never bought into this particular definition assuming the individual in the eyes of most is a slouch and just happened to make money at being a professional slovenly slouch.. JMHO... However my opinion doesn't change the definition.  I always have equated professionalism with polished/excellence/ and one who excels in what they do.   Just my own definition, and one text definition.  

I liked how Kelly described "professional" elsewhere in here.  Basically it's the way in which an individual conducts themselves as well as performs, It's basically a life-style that one doesn't turn on and off.  Yet you folks are correct by "earning ability" I suppose,  which means there are VERY few professional performing artists assuming an individual must live off've what the vast majority of performances pay solely.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Charmin,  from MY perspective Karaoke will be alive LONG after it fizzles in bar-settings.  God forbid the KJ's here were without bar gigs this week, and most bars folded Karaoke would still exist in a smaller scale..  As long as people like to sing,  home Karaoke will NEVER die.   The KJ in a bar setting ?  Yes,  that I believe will happen relatively soon..  But Karaoke exists, and might've existed in the early 60's and 50's in black and white with "Mitch Miller" and "Follow the bounciing ball"

and a von, and a two..

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
and smile smile smile

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Hey,  Did I ever show you folks the movie Ollie sent me of his High School graduation band ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL1YY9qW8n4

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Silly guy, I wasn't alive then to know who Mitch Miller is. How daym old do you think I am anyhow!?!?!  :no:

>goin' to rub some more cold cream on my face<


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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

"Sing along with Mitch", and follow the bouncing ball.  I'm going to see if I can find some "footage" HAHA, of his show

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Good lord, that's such an oldies fiddle tune. I recall once in about 4th or 5th grade, over the loudspeakers they did a prize giveaway (like every friday or something) One time, they said "First person to correctly name this song wins"... and it was Turkey In The Straw. I won, Lol... I had only heard my dad play that song all my life, and most of the other kids weren't quite as hillbilly as me and didn't know it at all.

(big ol' bag of peanut M&M's was my prize...  :dancin: )

And that was the end of my winning streak for the rest of my life:(

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

http://www.tvacres.com/music_songs_mitch.htm


Btw,  Don't mean to go off topic here,  but didn't one of the Beatles music just become public domain ?


Karaoke 50 years ago.  You got a 45 rpm record, with lyrics to the song enclosed, and the Mitch Miller orchestra provided the accompaniment that all could sing to.  The main vocals were omitted.   On his TV show that often features Christmas carols and a few standards the lyrics showed on the television screen, and a bouncing ball followed the lyrics the viewer should sing as the orchestra played

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

>snipped from your link:<



Hell, I don't even recognize any of the singers' names. (though I do know all of those songs...) It must have went off the air (without reruns played) before I was old enough to know/recall what I was watching. Of course, now that I think about it, mom said we didn't have a TV until I was about 4 or 5. But my parents were VERY into watching oldie shows (HeeHaw, Green Acres, Pettycoat Junction, The Morris Taylor Show, Lol)... and surely I would have recalled that if it were still being aired. Must just be an era of TV I missed out on.  :(

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Also going off topic, all of John, Paul's, Wings and some of Ringo's later albums are available for paid downloading.  George's estate is still holding out on releasing all of his material.  The Beatles catalog is still in negotiations too.

thanks Odie.


Mitch Miller 78 RPM that provided the home listener with his orchestra backing and song lyrics to sing the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFtfxpbpxvg

50 years ago this was a Karaoke-like activity

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Wow, WHY my parents played this show I'll never understand. We used to laugh ( me and my brother anyhow) cause the women that sang on his show, just like him, stood there with this totally fake smile plastered on their faces as they sang. It was totally awful performing and singing. We would good off immitating him with our guitars and stuff, always making fun of the show.

Haha- I guess he still plays a show there in Chico, California... I was about 20-30 miles from there (in Loma Rica), must have been why we caught the show so frequently, it was local. (i never knew that)

Listen to his clip of "Kari Okie Kid".... what a dorkus he is.  LMAO

http://payplay.fm/morisstaylor2

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Be happy you didn't have a hearing impaired 80 year old neighbor that loved to play "Slim Whitman" Yodeling to country songs at high volume early in the morning

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Steven, I don't know if you've ever been to church much (and it's not my business so you don't need to answer) but churches have certainly been using a form of karaoke for years. It didn't have the lyrics and bouncing ball on a TV screen, but choirs and soloists would often use backup tapes, in larger churches I went to as a young kid, they always used them. (rather than using just an organ)

My brother in law sang in a church I went to here locally (prior to my moving to California) and I recall him singing quite often with tapes he'd get from a local christian supply store. Same thing, they just started adding the graphics to them.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Oooh, I actually like this guy!  LOL   I hope the download of that song is in stereo so I can remove the vocal. Maybe I'll sub it with a C too!  His webmaster has to learn how to spell the name 'Moriss' though. "Morris" or "Moriss"?

Well, you would never believe some of the songs I sang as a kid. Mind you, my parents were very into the old stuff they had learned as kids themselves. We had an old, little tiny piano thing (and other than spoons, Lol, it was the first instrument I sang along with... prior to being big enough to sit up and hold my mom's guitar) Let's see if I can find one of those little things online to show you, it was like a little laptop piano, and it had a stand but I recall the stand broke.... be right back, with some links maybe. And I'm gonna see if lyrics or an MP3 online even EXIST for a couple of these old songs. (my very first solo performance songs, hahaha)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I dunno HOW to spell it Odie, hell, I was too busy as a kid laughing at his show to actually pay any mind to his name spelling. This guy, to this day, still puts Andy in stitches.  LOL


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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Kids baby grand ?   was it acoustic or electric ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I'm out've it.  I wanted to do a keyword search for 70's pianos and I entered the term in here instead of the search engine

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".