Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

O Holy Night or o holy crap I'm running out of voice?

O Holy Night will take a singer to the edge so give them a hug for New Years.

Once again O Holy Night turned into “O holy crap here comes the high note” There will be a day when I’m not riding that battle horse at eleven o’clock at night after a full day of kids, two hours of singing carols, and the residue of a head cold.

This Christmas Eve was not that day.

What can I say? Did I shame myself? Of course not. Did the congregation like it? Well, they weren’t going boo during communion so, maybe.

Singing operatically is a physical event and O Holy Night is an ultramarathon. If the singer does not pace it with precision, it quickly becomes a matter of just surviving. Phrasing, text, and musicality go out the window and getting the "F" through it becomes the focus.

Witness international opera phenomenon Jonas Kaufmann. At the end of the second verse at the 1:45 mark his voice starts to sound shaky and we can hear him back way off the remaining notes and start conserving his resources in the third verse for the big end. He also takes that last high note without any rubato which could have been planned but it was probably because he was worn out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBJObglpL9A

Kaufmann is one of the best singers we have but his voice is big, dark and dramatic.

How about Juan Diego Flores? He is also a great singers and his voice is light, lyrical and should handle this without issues. Well, he takes the optional lower notes at the end of the first verse and only sings two verses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3yHGan41E4

All this to say that if someone sang O Holy Night for you this year, maybe give them a hug before New Years.

For the record, this doesn’t happen to Celine Dion or Josh Grobin because they’re not singing the original setting.

My favorite O Holy Night? Jussi Bjørling -O helga natt.

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

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes

Once again O Holy Night turned into “O holy crap here comes the high note” There will be a day when I’m not riding that battle horse at eleven o’clock at night after a full day of kids, two hours of singing carols, and the residue of a head cold.

This Christmas Eve was not that day.

What can I say? Did I shame myself? Of course not. Did the congregation like it? Well, they weren’t going boo during communion so, maybe.

Singing operatically is a physical event and O Holy Night is an ultramarathon. If the singer does not pace it with precision, it quickly becomes a matter of just surviving. Phrasing, text, and musicality go out the window and getting the "F" through it becomes the focus.

Witness international opera phenomenon Jonas Kaufmann. At the end of the second verse at the 1:45 mark his voice starts to sound shaky and we can hear him back way off the remaining notes and start conserving his resources in the third verse for the big end. He also takes that last high note without any rubato which could have been planned but it was probably because he was worn out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBJObglpL9A

Kaufmann is one of the best singers we have but his voice is big, dark and dramatic.

How about Juan Diego Flores? He is also a great singers and his voice is light, lyrical and should handle this without issues. Well, he takes the optional lower notes at the end of the first verse and only sings two verses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3yHGan41E4

All this to say that if someone sang O Holy Night for you this year, maybe give them a hug before New Years.

For the record, this doesn’t happen to Celine Dion or Josh Grobin because they’re not singing the original setting.

My favorite O Holy Night? Jussi Bjørling -O helga natt.

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

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Female Baritone

Next Article

Metropolitan Opera HD Parsifal

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader