We've been watching "The Sing-Off" on NBC this week. And in fact after the first episode I actually recommended to my spring sound design class that they try to catch an episode, to get a sense of how the a capella groups build up a sonic environment using only their voices - as well as some of the comments from the judges, which tackle the same issues that sound designers do: rhythm, dynamics, harmony, mixing, etc.
So what happens after this? The judges drop the ball.
We had already learned that Nicole Scherzinger (from the Pussycat Dolls, which should have been a tip-off) was completely useless; after one episode of wasting our time listening to her pointless vacuous praising of each group, we learned to just fast-forward through her commentaries. But in the first couple episodes Ben (Folds) and Shawn Stockman (formerly of Boyz II Men) gave productive, insightful suggestions and notes about both what worked and what didn't.
Tonight, all three judges chose to just effusively praise each performance instead of offering thoughtful, constructive critiques. BOOOORING.
Let's be clear: all the groups performing here are amazing, and it's not that I want to see them lambasted or humiliated. I'm not a big fan of Simon Cowell-style ripping into contestants, unless they clearly deserve it - and none of these groups do. But the role of judges is to judge - they're eliminating groups each night, so they need to distinguish WHY some performances are better than others, and for those who remain, what they need to do to improve. When my students show their film projects in class, it would be easy to just blindly praise the things that work in each - but this would do the students a disservice; they deserve to hear what they're doing well AND what they're not, since both will help them progress as filmmakers. The same is true here: the judges would better serve the singers by praising what's good and making suggestions to improve what's not.
I can't help but think this is symptomatic of the larger problem in current American society that except for politicians and pundits, who often seem to do nothing other THAN criticize each other, no one wants to criticize anyone - we're all special, we're all perfect, and everyone's great. The problem is, that's just not the case: we all have room to improve, and constructive criticism helps us figure out how to do so - IF we're willing to listen and act on those comments. So in the interests of moving toward a society where we all be a little less hyper-sensitive / ultra-PC and tell it like it is, let's see some more honesty from the judges on "The Sing-Off" - tell the groups what they're doing well and what they're not.
Oh, and one more note: Nota is amazing.
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Great comments Mark. I think it has to do with the modern philosophy that teaches kids that "Everyone is a Winner" and there are no losers in life. Which must be confusing when they get out to the real world and are battling for a job.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, Nota is the team to beat. The rest of the teams are good but can't compete with Nota based on the performances I saw last night. Plus, I think those other groups are too big. Even though it is meant to be an ensemble, too many people at once gets confusing as a viewer. Maybe if I just listened with my eyes closed I would have a different opinion.
Well said. Glenn and I both said that to each other last night. Just this point is why Top Chef is one of our favorite "judgement" shows. They offer very detailed constructive criticism and praise. Not just that something was great, but why it was so much better than anything else. I am better writer because freshman year of college my professors in college and my first boss basically told me I sucked and why. There was article in the paper recently that a school district was implementing a policy that children could not receive below a C - no matter what their grade! IT's insanity!
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. I think this current generation of kids is going to have real problems surviving the world - I know that their parents/teachers think they're helping their confidence by telling them they're all great at everything that they do, but the longer they hear that the harder it is to accept that that's not the case when push inevitably comes to shove. I'm with Angie - the best things my professors in college did was tell me what I WASN'T doing well - and not letting me slack off until I improved it.
ReplyDeleteOn the film side of things, one of the things I always tell my students is that something they should be doing while in school is finding out what areas of filmmaking are their strengths, and what are their weaknesses (so they can hopefully find others to work with whose strengths/weaknesses complement their own). And I'm always amazed that a few of them refuse to accept that they are not the greatest at every single area of filmmaking. Call it the Robert Rodriguez effect or the result of years of being told they're perfect, but the end result is always the same: they try to do everything themselves, and end up with work that's not as good as that of their peers who worked with others. My thinking is that as a filmmaker the smartest thing you can do is surround yourself with people who are better than you at what they do and focus your own energies on what you're best at. Hmmm... that's actually not a bad strategy for ANY sort of job!