Susan Boyle

So I'm a little late with this, but I have a thought on Susan Boyle. This is the rather average looking woman who wowed folks on the British version of American Idol.

I'm not going to say she can't sing. I think she has a pretty good voice. What surprises me is how exceptional people seem to think she is. My opinion is that people with this level of singing ability are pretty common. Every church has one or two, every town a dozen or so, and who knows how many in a large city.

I think that people no longer get exposed to people who can sing. Instead we have pop stars who are famous for their stage presence, persona and looks. I think one reason people were shocked by Ms Boyle is that they are not used to singers who are average looking and who don't have "attitude."

As technology improves, the need for talent gets less and less. In the studio, it used to be that a performer would have a few takes recorded, and the best one would be used. These days, there may be dozens of takes, or small parts of takes, and the audio engineer will seamlessly splice together all the best pieces into a final product. There are any number of other tricks that can be played with the recording to give the performer's voice more depth, to correct the pitch, etc.

On the rare occasion when pop stars perform live and not dubbed, their marginal talent is more likely to be revealed. But now we have AutoTune, and similar pitch correctors, which use electronic hardware to correct the pitch of a singer on the fly. Imagine singing a somewhat flat note into a microphone and having it come out of the speakers at the correct pitch. It's an impressive technology.

I remember many years ago there was a piece on NPR about a Gilbert and Sullivan amateur singing competition. Perhaps it was this annual event. The singers were absolutely amazing. I remember thinking to myself that it must be very hard to get a job as a singer if all these people are "mere amateurs." Perhaps though, there is simply little demand for talent. It's all a bit sad.