“Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, ‘Well that’s very kind of you, but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.’ [. . .]” – Bob Dylan
When I read this quote, I think of all of the singers who are able to manipulate their voices, one minute singing with a bright, vibrato-filled tone, and the next, making their voice sound gritty, nasal, and harsh. I’ve always admired vocalists who are able to pull this off–singers with the aesthetically pleasing big, operatic voice or slinky, intimate Jazz tone are impressive as well–because I believe it resembles the dynamic nature of the speaking voice more. Emotions aren’t pleasant or attractive all the time, and like life, our emotions can constantly change, minute to minute.
Vocalists who can portray these emotions through lyrics and melody are able to convey the truest form of the message in the song. Whether or not you interpret the message in the same way that they intended is a different story; the point is that the vocalist convinced you of something. I remember watching Gregory Porter perform for the very first time. He was singing, “No Love Dying,” and whether the message that I got from those lyrics was the same message he was trying to convey when he wrote and sang them is of no consequence. I was truly convinced, feeling the same adamant faith, unconditional love, and relentless need for self-reassurance–I wept like an old woman right in the middle of that theater. I’m not sure if those were the emotions that he was trying to project, but that’s what I picked up on and it felt very real to me.
That is why I can agree with Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke’s quote when they say that having a beautiful singing voice is nice, but what you make the audience feel is much more important. I strive constantly to really feel what I’m singing; to be conscious of the words and how they might be related to melody, knowing that I am conveying a message, communicating emotions to the people around me. This is truly a skill that takes years to master; I, myself am still learning, and performers that have been doing this for years still don’t get it right at times. People always say that music is its own language and this quote only strengthens that idea because vocalists truly are communicating feelings that someone might have felt at some point throughout their life. Musicians will always care about how they sound (tone, groove, etc.), but connecting with others through how we express emotions and experiences will be remembered long after our sound disappears.