It's All About the Music

Without question, my favorite TV singing show is The Sing-Off, featuring a capella singing groups with a range of ages and abilities. The Sing Off was awesome the first time around, but it didn’t make it back on-air last year. This year, it’s back in a slightly different format, including fewer performance groups and a quicker pace.The basic premise is ten singing groups, ranging from 5 performers to 20 or so, who prepare presentations within a musical context, such as Party Anthems. Each froup performs, is critiqued by judges who actually have professional singing careers, and the bottom two choirs at the end of each episode duel for the save that brings one of the bottom two groups back for the next round in the competition. Every group is good, but there is always another group who is better – and that head-to-head competition elevates the bottom groups to bring their A game if they expect to be saved.

The pros on the show include Nick Lachey, host, and judges Ben Fols, Shawn Stockman, and this year’s new addition, Jewel. Because all of the pros are professional musicians, they are tuned into the talent, rather than focused on the cute performances that often mask weak singing. For instance, Justin Beiber would be a good member of a choir, but he doesn’t have a solo voice; hence, all the electronic enhancement and distractions on the stage to keep the focus off his basic weakness: his voice. On the other end of the spectrum, a Whitney Houston voice needs a large choir to help her blend as her powerful voice demands singing solos, and would over-power a small a capella group. In an a capella group, every voice has to be a “best” voice because each member has to carry his/her own weight and not drag down the over-all performance of the choir.

The competitors need to have strong bass vocalists to anchor the bottom range of the songs, the bass provided solely with vocals because no instrumentation augments the singing. Additionally, there is a “beat box” performer who sets the tempo and keeps the performance moving to … the beat … without having a drummer on stage. There also have to be enough members of the group to fill in both the mid-range and the high end, and all of it has to be cohesive, as well as technically perfect to win the contest. Any one performer dragging the tempo, or flatting a high note, or rushing the bridge can justify being in the bottom two and headed back home for the holidays.

This years’ groups include a high school team, a typical street corner group of singers from days gone by, a niche performance group of Filipino male singers, and a large group of male performers who go by the name of AcoustiCats. Sprinkled into the mix are groups that include both male and female performers who blend their voices in song and accentuate the pieces with choreography that keeps the eyes entertained while the ears listen to the music. Too much choreography distracts from the music, and poorly performed music stands out with nothing else on stage to mask a singing issue.

I’m happy to have The Sing Off back this year and hope that it comes back every holiday to delight those of us who enjoy real singing, rather than electronically enhanced lip-syncing.