Not so gleeful about “Glee”

Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago at 6:27 pm. 4 comments

Scroll down for an update, 11/25/09

Yes, I got caught up in the hype around the new Fox TV series “Glee.” I watched the pilot last spring, downloaded it for free from iTunes, and was really excited about the possibilities of this show.  It looked like a smart show with good writing that would really relate to kids and how cliques/money issues often work in high school, while being “real” about the not-so-popular kids and how music can really help you survive the emotional and mental stress of being a teenager.

Last night, I eagerly watched the season premier (being thankful for my DVR – opera rehearsal and a coaching DID come first!).  I enjoyed how strong the stereotypes were – they come off as natural for the actors, but are portrayed in such a way as to be self-conscious parts of the show.  Each actor commits to the over-the-top stereotype so that the CHARACTER really believes who they are, but the presentation is very tongue-in-cheek.  I hope that this part of the writing continues – it helps to really define the show & is often how one-dimensional things seem as a teenager.  Perspective is NOT common during this stage in life.  The show also took on, in its first official

While I will reserve judgment, at this point in time, I see myself quickly becoming disenchanted with the show.  It markets itself as a show for the “underdog” and the “loser.”  In their terms, the “gleek.”  But, all the musical numbers, even songs JUST presented to the group, are polished and highly choreographed.  Vocally, the presentation is VERY highly studio edited and the situations are just not realistic.  I feel that “normal” high school students may see the show and feel that they need to be able to come up to that level of quality in just a few short hours, rather than the hours of dedicated & focused practice that it does take to come up with elaborate production numbers (both vocally & choreographically).

Broadway veteran Lea Michele here on Twitter and here on MySpace (from Broadway’s “Spring Awakening”) plays one of the main characters.  She is an immensely talented singer and her acting skills are HUGE.  If you download her complete performance of “On My Own” from iTunes or watch her connect intensely to the text in last night’s “Take a Bow,”  it’s a drama lesson in how singers MUST connect and bare their soul emotionally in order to truly move an audience.

But, Lea’s amazing performance of “Take a Bow” was completely spoiled for me last night.  The whole song had moments of Auto-Tuning throughout and this mechanization of the vocals had me almost yelling at the TV.  For someone SO talented, WHY ruin their sound by putting it through the computer like this?? This program was originally for correcting pitch problems during recording sessions.  It has been used by artists for effect (Cher’s “Believe” in 1998).  Now it is being used in the industry as a standard to mask voices that just aren’t up to par (such as Vanessa Hudgens in the “High School Musical” Disney machine – listen to her especially in HSM3 where every note she sings is over-processed.  The rest of the cast in HSM3, even the talented Zac Efron and Corbin Bleu, is slightly Auto-Tuned just to not make Vanessa’s voice stand out as so strongly augmented).

Lea Michele is talented and ablity.  She has proved herself by performing 8-shows a week on Broadway singing highly emotional material in “Spring Awakening.” She does not need her voice camouflaged by this invasive processing technique that has seemingly taken over the music industry as a replacement for natural vocal ability (that has been TRAINED).  It really ruined a potentially amazing experience for me.

This over-production of a song by an extremely talented singer-actress highlights the over-arching contradiction between Glee’s stated goal of celebrating the underdog and what the show actually portrays, which is instant success.  In one afternoon of rehearsal, the 6 original “Glee Club” members create a routine that is fully choreographed & well-sung.  This routine is presented at a school assembly to an audience that is portrayed as, at best, cynical & in many cases hostile (the football players and cheerleaders). Yet, this song, thrown together in a short amount of time and not rehearsed to any great extent, brings the crowd to its feet in a screaming standing ovation.  In addition, as has been pointed out in several Twitter comments, the lip syncing was not well-matched.  Better video editing (since they took all that time to edit the sound) should definitely be added to the production values.  This is a point that makes a show look cheap and without a lot of care.

Yes, “Glee” is not about reality – it showcases, as I have stated, very strong stereotypes.  I have not yet seen the kids in the Glee Club trip over each other, take more than 5 minutes to learn intricate choreography, or really struggle to learn pitches and to work on technique to make their voices improve.  Everyone is presented as having natural talent and the work side of the equation is not portrayed at all.  While I understand this is television, I do believe that the show MUST, to remain true to its stated goals of celebrating the underdog, portray this necessity to really work & spend sweat & tears on producing a truly quality show.  I DON’T want high school students to watch this and believe that they must be able to produce this polished of a product in a short period of time.  Serious contenders for Show Choir titles put in the same amounts of hours as do those in Marching Band – hours and hours before and after school to learn several routines perfectly.

I truly hope that FOX addresses more of these issues – Some mention of this was made in comments on the LATimes “Showtracker” blog:

I was a little concerned they were moving too fast, (The whole school already loves Glee Club? Rachel and Finn making out? Will and Emma already falling in love?), but by the end of the show, I felt comfertable enough that they put the brakes on all of that. Shows like this thrive on teasing the viewer with what they want for the characters, not giving it all to them in the second episode. Can’t wait to see where it goes from here, excellent show so far!

Posted by: John | September 10, 2009 at 09:23 AM

Perhaps FOX will backtrack and show more of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting together a really strong performance program.

I’m looking forward to upcoming episodes, but am not sure I’m going to be a long-term fan, as I foresaw myself becoming after last spring’s Pilot episode.

UPDATE 11/25/09:

I was contacted by a Twitter Friend @justine_robin who also reviewed Glee in a post entitled “Glee and Music Education: Some Issues that May Arise.”

My response is as follows:

I am still watching “Glee” and enjoying it. They are, very obviously, NOT taking themselves seriously – there are a lot of “set-ups” and obvious double-takes on situations. They are also tackling a large range of issues that are important to high schoolers(teen pregnancy, socialization, body image, self-identity, homophobia, disabilities, to name a few) in very meaningful ways.

But, I still have a HUGE problem with the over-production of the singing. This, to me, means that the audio engineers have taken the sound and really tweaked the equalization so that all the sounds are homogenized, and the vocals are noticeably computer-enhanced (even when, as in the case of Lea Michele, they patently DON’T have to run her voice through Autotune). What really makes music interesting is contrasts in levels (volume, texture, instrumentation/voices, etc.). This, though, is not just a problem on Glee. This homogenization of sound is a current trend in the music industry. What I rail against regularly, is that there is not enough subtlety – the ART of making music is being lost. Glee is showcasing singing & the joy of being in a group such as choir (singing, personally, got me through high school!), but not the artistry and dedication needed to get to the point they get to onscreen.

Last week, I heard on SiriusXM “Broadway’s Best” broadway channel a short interview with Cory Moneith. He was asked about rehearsing and shooting Glee. He said that EVERY WAKING moment was spent rehearsing – singing, dancing, acting – during the shooting process. This amount of work is never shown onscreen. The amount of hard work and dedication, as well as attention to minute detail, it takes to really “make it” as an artist is not shown. The overly produced sound of the singing(both on Glee andcurrently on commercial radio – Taylor Swift, Vanessa Hudgens) makes it so that singers don’t feel(or even know!) that they have to produce TONE when they sing, not just approximate pitches and then let the computers and mastering engineers take care of vocal problems in post-production . Forgive my rant – this is one of my soapboxes about the current state of popular recorded music, that we MUST encourage singers to sing at a high level of technique so that they are able to sustain a career for decades, rather than press for the immediate sale and who cares what happens to the voice 10 years down the road (anyone remember Charlotte Church??). Thanks for the opportunity for me to comment! Anyone agree? Disagree? I’d love to have a discussion – I am obviously opinionated on the subject, but always love to hear and consider others’ ideas. Happy singing, EVERYONE!!

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