Why Lie?

[Michelle]

You know that guy Paul who has become famous on the net because of his "amateur" rendition of Nessun Dorma on Britain's Got Talent? Apparently he lied. He has been a student of some very famous opera singers including Pavarotti.

A Singer's Life by Michelle Bennett: Essential Knowledge for the Intelligent Singer

My question is why lie? I, as a professional singer, know that good singing doesn't just miraculously occur. Apparently the show was aware of his previous training and is still selling him as "amateur".

Why then, does Cowell complain about the lack of connection with reality of many of the auditionees he hears on Idol and other shows? If the judges make it seem like great singing can fall from the sky, people will believe it can.

I am annoyed and have written the show asking for their comment.

[Brutha]

To sell the "Someone like me could be succesful idea".
They are in the showbusiness.

[Hilary]

And at the opposite extreme, did you see the winning performance for Cardiff Singer? Lovely man, utterly sincere, dripping musicality, voice like chocolate and honey... (And he's only 23, for crying out loud!)

I started reading this thread because of the title. It's an interesting question in general. When I was a child I lied a fair bit, partly to keep myself out of trouble (mixed success, there!) and largely to protect my inner life. If you're agreeing on the outside, then what goes on on the inside is all yours.

Nowadays, I wouldn't dream of lying. What changed? I'm not sure - maybe it's just about feeling stronger. I'd guess that Paul (who said something about lack of confidence at the beginning of the clip you have on your site) feels weak as a singer and is trying to put himself in a position where he feels stronger or safer.

Any other thoughts? I mean, beyond 'Of course your bum doesn't look big in that...'. Why lie?

[Michelle]

Yep, I find Cardiff incredibly inspiring. What a wonderful competition!

I once read that children lie simply to make a story better. They would never dream there is anything wrong with making a boring, mild, dull story better, so they just juice is up - for everyon'e benefit. This is what parents have to keep in mind when accusing their children of unethical or bad behavior. They also say a child will lie when there are other liars around.

Perhaps Mr. Cowell and the rest have not yet grown up, and simply need someone to teach them that the truth would have been just as interesting as their made up stuff.

[Angela]

I'm confused. Paul is the guy from Cardiff, according to the video I watched. Michelle and Hillary, aren't you talking about the same guy?

Paul sings Nessun Dorma high quality video/sound - video | u-tube-tv.com

this note is attached to the video:
For all those that seem to think Paul is a pro in disguise, please realise the following. - Bath Opera is an amateur opera company staging a small number of productions a few times each year. - Paul has performed in just 4 four productions with this company - Paul has attended some masterclasses in Italy. These courses are designed for talented amateurs. All of these are paid for by those attending. - A few masterclasses, even one with the great man do not constitute "a formal opera training" by any stretch of the imagination. - Professional opera singers earn their living by treading the boards night after night week-in week-out, year after year with professional opera companies. - Paul, has never earned a single penny from opera performance, other than winning a tv talent show in 1999 - the winnings funding masterclasses. - Paul has not performed since 2003. - He is not a professional opera singer pretending to be a mobile phone sales man, but rather he is a mobile phone salesman aspiring to be an opera singer. - An operatic voice IS a trained voice.

[Hilary]

Cardiff Singer of the World is a competition for classically trained singers. Not quite as much attention or instant stardom to be had there The winner was a 23 year old Chinese music student with an extraordinary voice for his age. (As far as I can make out, Michelle correct me if I'm wrong, singers in training don't expect their voices to reach maturity until some time after 30.)

I suppose my feeling is that if Paul wants to be an opera singer, he could go train and put in the work, and see how good he can get. But instead he went for the quick and easy instant attention route, choosing an arena where he's being compared with 6 and 12 year olds, and where he doesn't have to deal with his intonation problems, for instance (ouch!), because hopefully no-one'll notice.

I don't know anything about him personally, and I have no idea why he chose to compete, so I'm being too quick to judge. It just feels somehow unfair to me for a classically trained musician to take the prize here. It's hard to put into words quite why. No doubt partly because after wasting a little more time on Youtube, I wish Bessie Cursons had won. But maybe because she evidently has the dedication to do all she can to be the best she can. If he had that, he'd be at home practising scales and exercises for an hour or so a day (how long do singers practice for? I'm guessing not as long as instrumentalists?) and saving up for lessons.

I dunno. I'm rambling. Anyway, if you can get the BBC's silly little video clips to work, you can catch a glimpse of the Cardiff finalists here:
BBC - Wales - The Final
Elizabeth Watts is amazing, too. I wish there were some full-length videos online.

[Matthew Shea]

If what Angela posted is true, then I see no lie here. It should be obvious just from listening to him that he's had some training, but if he's really earning his living doing what he says he does and has not made money from singing, then where's the lie?

[Michelle]

Paul Potts has had regular voice lessons, travelled around Europe for lessons, participated actively in master (note the word "master" classes and been paid to sing.

That, my friends, is a professional singer.

Whether or not the Bath Opera is a professional or amateur company is less important than whether he was paid for his services. And I hardly think one could call the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra amateur, with whom he has performed as well and with whom many professional singers would give their right arm to do.

My problem is that I know how hard it is to learn to sing, and I understand what every singer goes through to get to the point where they can perform. Each singer starts with an obvious talent and works on that for years and years (it takes between 6 and 10 years to educate a voice). What a stupid disservice to all the young hopefuls out there who a) think it is easy and only requires a pretty voice or b) think they have no chance because they have to work at it.

The American Idol auditions often show plainly just how out of touch many young people are with the ernormous effort required to make something look easy and natural.

I would wager any amount of money that Paul Potts has spent thousands of hours and thousands of pounds developing his craft and learning to sing. The fact that he has a day job is no different than most other professional musicians out there struggling to get by because society feels culture is not worth paying for.

[Michelle]

From the Bath Opera Website:

A student of Ian Comboy, Paul has appeared on national and local television and radio. He has spent two summers touring Northern Italy training with one of the major opera schools, and has taken part in masterclasses with Vilma Vernocchi, Katia Ricciarelli and Luciano Pavarotti. He has also performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. With Bath Opera he has sung the roles of Don Basilio (Marriage of Figaro), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the title role in Verdi's Don Carlos. Future plans include the role of Chevalier des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) for Southgate Opera, London, and another concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the summer. Oh yes! He also plans to get married in May this year!!!

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[Angela]

Michelle, how do you know he's been paid for his singing? The note on his video said specifically that he had never been paid a penny, except for winning a contest.

[Michelle]

I actually don't know, and I don't know how anyone (including the video guy) can know except for Paul and his employers.

It is fairly possible that the Bath Opera did not pay him. It wouldn't surprise me, however, if they had (singing a role like Don Carlos for several hours on stage and preparing for at least one year in advance is something a lover of opera may do for free) due to the enormous effort required to prepare such a role.

The Royal Philharmonic, however, is a professional orchestra not likely to ask anyone to sing for free. They have funds allocated for soloists. In addition, his "tour as a soloist" in Italy would have to have been compensated in some way. It simply isn't realistic that he could have lived off of nothing.

I admit though, there is no factual basis to my presumption - just my own experience.

[JimOfferman]

Who cares? It's a TV show that works, like Brutha said, because it sells people the idea that "someone like me could be successful". All TV is smoke and mirrors...

I auditioned for the first season of Idols (the Dutch version of American Idol), but didn't make it past the first round ("you are not what we are looking for for this show"). When the program finally aired, I was quite surprised to find out that the televised "first round" was actually a later round of auditions than the one I participated in...

In other words, all those people who made complete fools of themselves during the televised auditions (arguably one of the more entertaining aspects of the show), had been told previously: "congratulations, you've made it to the next round!" How sad is that? They had actually auditioned the losers as well as the winners!

But that's just how TV works... it's all make belief...

Jim.