Is Julie Andrews' ISOLATED vocal PROOF that you can be TOO good at singing?!!
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- On the agenda tonight we are taking a look at Julie Andrews' isolated vocal performing a medley of musical hits!
Original Videos -
• Julie Andrews - Medley...
• "The Sound of Music" -...
TIME STAMPS -
0:00 Start
0:14 Intro
2:12 The Sound of Music (Isolated)
2:36 Live vs. Studio Vocal Comparison
4:17 The Karen Carpenter Effect
5:13 The GIVEAWAY Slide
8:43 Freedom of Tempo
10:10 The Devil is in the Detail!
11:34 Pitch Accuracy
13:42 The FINAL note
16:47 Too Good at Singing?!
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I performed in an orchestra accompanying her for a Chistmas In Washington....she sang live...PERFECTLY EVERY TIME EVEN IN REHEARSAL. PERFECTLY EVERY TIME!!! She is the Boss!!!
That would have been a great experience David.
@@martymather6012 Oh, it was. I was very fortunate. I was a freelance horn player in the DC area and, as such, was hired to play at Wolf Trap, The Kennedy Center, The National Gallery of Arts Orchestra, and The National Theater....all great gigs...and there were a lot of big stars who played those venues!! Even played at Andrews Air Force Base (when that's what it was called ) for the All Star Salute To The Troops for the first Gulf War. Lots of great memories!
Well, she *was* Mary Poppins, particularly perfect in every way. 😂🤷🏻♀️
Best seats in the house 😉 Thanks for sharing that.
@David Michaels can I also say that she was drop dead gorgeous?
crystal clear, perfect pitch, brilliant tone, soaring range, and overflowing with joy and exuberance; she had it all. A once in a generation voice, unmatched and unrivalled.
That's what happens when your only "pitch correction" is in your own voice rather than a computer.
I aspire to her
Practically perfect in every way.
@@eshafto I see whatcha did there! 😂
Your 'had' made me think she passed away. Don't scare me like that please!
Julie Andrews really is practically perfect in every way!
I agree with llrox in every word.
No doubt! She really is. She is "the last of the really great dames". No one will be after her.
I remember that line from somewhere :)
Yes
I see what you did there
Take in account that in studio she was "in character" of a shy nun thus her contained singing. Live she could shine like the star she is.
That’s an astute observation, and so valid.
I think you’re right. And it really does make a difference in listening.
Are you also a vocalist?
My mum loves Julie Andrews. Sound of Music is her absolute-favourite movie ever.
Let's also remember that when she was recording the song for the film, she had spent less time with the song since it was new to her. By the time the live performance occurred, she likely had sung it many more times.
I would argue that in character she's shy, understated, but also never sacrifices being herself and we see that every time she sings, that's meant to be who she is. There are moments though where expression matters a lot. So I'd have to see the scene itself to know if that's a moment where for whatever reason she's reeling it in. That said, there's such a strong undercurrent of even to all her performances, she was excellent at capturing it in her singing voice which is really incredible!
If she had sung “The hills are alive with the sound of music” like a shy nun she would have ruined the song. The song needs to be sung with passion - which is how she sings it in the movie.
I'm not so sure she was a "shy nun". Right after this scene, she was more or less kicked out for being too rambunctious to be a nun!
She WAS supposed to be very young, and inexperienced...
Julie's parents were vaudeville performers. Julie wanted to sing, but her parents were wise enough to take her to a throat specialist when she was twelve years of age where it was discovered she had a fully-developed, adult larynx. She then went to a coach, who discovered her four-octave range. She was gifted beyond the scope of most humans. How lucky we are to have known her talent. She was robbed when other actresses were chosen for Eliza Doolittle and Guinevere in the movie versions of My Fair Lady and Camelot. She was a smash in both plays on Broadway but the roles went to "bankable" actresses Audrey Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave, neither of whom could sing. Don't get me wrong--I am a huge fan of Vanessa and Audrey. I just think Julie could have crushed those roles in the movies and I believe she was robbed.
Particularly when you consider that in a musical, the singing is AT LEAST half of the performance, and more important than any other aspect. So for the films, her incredible vocal performance was missing.
I agree with you about My Fair Lady. But the film Camelot needed a very sexy, desirable woman to play Guinevere. I think her vocals were perfect, but she doesn’t have the same Wow factor to be in that love triangle.
She thanked Jack Warner when she receive her Oscar for Sound of Music, because she would not have been able to take the role in Sound of Music if she had been cast in the movie My Fair Lady
@@vermin913 Yeah, she is also delightfully naughty in real life. She had to have a thick skin and a sharp tongue to come up as she did but she doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body - unless someone takes a swipe at her, of course. When asked about one of the prominent movie critics of the day slagging of “The Sound of Music” calling it “The Sound of Mucus” Julie responded that she thought the critic needed open heart surgery, and they should go in through the feet. 🤣 All the anecdotes indicate that if you were out and about back in the day Julie would be the one to steal a policeman’s helmet or get up to shenanigans. Obvious, really - there had to have been some reason she and Blake Edwards were together all those years. 🥰
The only reason I'm okay she wasn't in the movie My Fair Lady is bc we got Mary Poppins instead.
Julie Andrews has a quality that she shares with Ella Fitzgerald and that is perfect diction. They both enunciate with such clarity in every part of their vocal range. These analysis videos have totally hooked me and reeled me in.
Connie Francis was the same way.
And I believe they have perfect pitch.
I miss singers we can understand.
Liza Minnelli was very similar with her diction 🥰
Marilyn McCoo comes to mind also.
"The amateur works until he can get it right. The professional works until he cannot go wrong."
- Julie's Voice Teacher, quote from Julie's autobiography
Explains why the live version was so much more heartfelt
"If Julie had made clothes for a living it would have been curtains for all us!" Julie's needlework teacher
She was a fantastic singer. It was so sad when she developed nodes on her vocal chords after performing in the stage version of her film “Victor/Victoria” for several months. The surgery was botched, and she can no longer sing. She uses her voice in other ways, writing books and of course, acting. Such a classy lady. 😍
I've wondered if she could still sing by most standards. Just not to her perfection.
@@udalimb384 unfortunately her singing days are over. In The Princess’s Diary 2 there’s a musical number during the sleeping party. Julie Andrews has a part in it. She doesn’t sing but speaks in a lyrical way. Kind of like Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. When she speaks you can hear the ghost of her singing voice.
I've heard her sing a bit. She still sounds nice, but I think she keeps it simpler.
Don't forget Julie is an elderly lady today
She actually never had nodules on her vocal cords. Her vocal cords were swollen from overuse and she just needed to rest them. The surgeon knew it when he was performing the surgery and realized there is nothing to remove. In the process of getting ready to exit and close, that's when he knicked it and after recovery she found she could barely talk let alone sing. She went through more surgeries to fix it but there was nothing more they could do. It's was so sad. She said she was in such a depressive state because she lost a part of herself that she cherished.
you ABSOLUTELY cannot NOT smile when listening to Julie Andrews sing. Her voice is so pure and wonderful!
His smile is particularly engaging
I love how his face lights up whenever she hits a fabulous high note. Just constant smiles the joy is contagious
I was noticing that also. He shows joy. Which is what she brought to all. Thank you for these videos. Her voice was a work of art all her own and she was so generous with it.
Her diction was perfection. Her talent was once-in-a-lifetime. She was THAT good. Her vocal consistency is impeccable.
Thank you so much for honoring and highlighting the singular brilliance of both Julie Andrews and Karen Carpenter.
Would have loved to see Celine Deion, Julie, and Karen do a record together. Unfortunately that will never happen.
It tickles me pink that such a young person as yourself takes the time to listen to and appreciate singers from generations far removed from your own. I've watched many of your videos and I do appreciate learning from you. Thank you for focusing on one of my favorite singers of all time, Julie Andrews.
You know she has a book?
Pretty sure saying "tickled pink" gives away your age. Lol. (I'm 65)
@@kathryncainmadsen5850 Awe that's a great reply! And yes I'm not a spring chick...wouldn't want to be. Plus pink is my favorite color to this day. So I like being tickled pink!
Ditto!!!
It is a delightful smile in response to an honest one-of-kind wonder of nature (and hard work). From what I've read about her life before the American stage, it wasn't all lollipops and roses.
Except for a few operatic sopranos, Julie's voice was, in my opinion, unmatched in the 20th Century. Her pitch, her range, her enunciation, all helped make any song she sang, from the grand, to the more child-like, memorable. It's why she was in demand for musicals, both on stage and on film. Thank you for sharing her immense talent with your younger audience.
Several years ago I was lucky enough to work one of Julie Andrews' book signings. She was so kind and lovely, and backstage she sort of off-handedly sang a couple of lines while we were waiting for her entrance. Obviously she no longer has her full voice and she wasn't really singing the way that she is in this video, but all of us that heard it just died! What a wonderful woman.
Even when she is speaking, she has a quality in her voice that is undeniable, perfect pitch.
A true gift!
She used her voice wirth the same control that a great pianist could use his hands. The first time I saw Van Cliburn perform was at a Lion’s Club lunch in Kilgore. I was part of a 6th grade choir performing. He was a year older. He played three pieces. The first was good but a bit mechanical, then because he “felt” the audience enjoyment he was much more in his second. Of course the Encore came, and he was obviously having as much fun as we were. Never forget that!
I love Julie Andrews as a singer and an actress. She's always the professional. Her voice is larger than life.
Fil it just goes to show how fall we have fallen musically when people automatically think a performance is lip sync. People will lose their ability to hear real music because of auto tune and pitch correction. They will have no frame of reference for variations in the voice. I know this wasn't about this topic but you can see these changes in the industry are dumbing us down musically. Anyways I can talk on this subject for years and years.
Thanks for your analysis on such an amazing voice.
Well said! It's very saddening to find many people today don't know or forgot that singers prior to the technological advances had to actually be able to sing in order to become professional singers. People like Julie, Ella, Streisand, Doris Day, Vera Lynn, to name but a few, they all had to be able to just get up in front of a group of people with a basic( or not even) mic and impress those people to the point where they feel..."yes, this person can sing well".
Absolutely correct
@@yardengali
Also well said Yarden.
@@yardengali Amazing singers are still out there! I’ve been to two live shows recently where the vocals were very real and very impressive. Sammy Rae and the Friends, and Lawrence. Highly highly highly recommend the entire modern pop-fusion genre for some of the most amazing vocals out there
I worry that the younger generations will think something is bad because it's not dead-on center of a pitch every single time, as can happen with pitch correction. So much depth and emotion comes out of the subtle pitch variants of a natural singing voice.
I still can sometimes weep for this woman who lost her voice some years ago, a botched operation. I just cannot imagine what it must have been like, what it's like to have been able to make such beautiful sound, and then suddenly she can't, ever again.
Can you imagine being the surgeon, holding a scalpel, having just cut Julie Andrew’s vocal cord and knowing you have to complete the operation and then tell her. That’s a moment you’d relive.
Her voice was amazing. The surgeon who ruined her voice is almost guilty of a crime against humanity.
Totally agree. I wept when I heard what happened to her. A travesty and tragedy
She was having surgery because she'd already kind of ruined it herself though. She should never have stayed in Victor/Victoria. If she had given herself a chance to rest and recover completely, she probably would have been fine and could've kept on singing. But she and her husband were the producers of show and people were buying tickets to see her, so she kept doing it even when she shouldn't have been. An 8- show-a-week schedule is grueling anyway, but that role is particularly demanding - the character is onstage virtually the entire two-and-a-half-hour length of the show, singing or talking. Julie Andrews was missing a lot of performances, and every time her standby went on they gave refunds or exchanges to ticket holders who wanted them. They'd honestly have been better off just closing the show, from a health standpoint. I'm not excusing the surgeon's mistake, but I do feel that Ms. Andrews could and should have allowed herself to not get to the point where she needed surgery to begin with.
I’m pretty sure that Dame Julie Andrews never lip-synced a note in her life.
Songs in films are recorded in the studio so when Julie is singing in the Sound of Music, that is lipsynch. Also, in her 1970s TV series there was some lipsynching, especially in the dance numbers. As a pro, Julie prided herself at being really good at lipsynch when it was required for valid production reasons. The thing is she was so good live that people then assume it couldn't ever be live! This video proves she was exceptional at it.
@@chrisnorton4382 I'm pretty sure that when they lip synch in movie production, she doesn't do it quietly pretending to sing, but sings along the recorded track. The edited version will only have the pre-recorded performance, of course.
Yes, it's impossible to produce studio-quality sound when you are moving about and dancing. The sound almost always has to be pre-recorded and lip-synched. No shame in that of it's your own voice you're synching to. In the UK I was a member of a show which is now classed as the devil incarnate - the Black & White Minstrel Show and all of our shows - in the theatre and also on television involved singing along - while we danced - to our own voices which were pre-recorded, usually at Abbey Road Studios. To sing live while performing very fast-paced musical medleys would have sounded terrible.
@@chrisnorton4382 That’s absolutely true. (In fact, the _Mad_ magazine parody, “The Sound of Money,” had the lyrics “I’m not singing now/I am pre-recorded/I’m just mouthing words I have sung before/And how does it feel to be singing nothing?/It’s an awful bore.”) Years later, Andrews would tell the story of how the downwash from the helicopter holding the cameraman filming the scene knocked her flat every time it made another pass around the Gschwandtanger Wiesn, the meadow in which the scene was filmed. Obviously, those wouldn’t be ideal conditions for recording a movie soundtrack, aside from the fact that, as you say, soundtracks are recorded in the studio.
@@chrisnorton4382 a lot of the Julie Andrews Hour was not lip synced, her Julie Andrews Show (1965) was not at all lip synced, sung on spot, as were most of her other TV specials like the SOund of Christmas, you can see her singing in rehearsal footage.
I am surprised people thought this performance was lip synced to the musical sound track! I'm not a musician but I noted how her singing reflected her emotions. She looks like she's enjoying herself and getting feedback from the audience and that's effecting her performance. I'm probably putting this badly but I think performance changes based on that sort of thing. I've seen a lot of live performances over the years and noted the way audience response influences the performer. Maybe that's why some singers like Julie Andrews and Karen Carpenter performed better live. Some dancers are the same and even gymnasts and athletes. The people watching them inspire them
I think that lip syncing is just so prevalent now that younger listeners just assume it was always the case because "no one actually sings well live." That's the logic they use to justify the lack of live performances today, so they have to tell themselves that it has always been that way.
@@carr0760 Quite. A very common reaction from a young listener to an older recording is amazement that singers could sing so well without autotune - and for that matter that musicians could play that well in continuous takes without multiple overdubs or edits.
@@johnnhoj6749 oh, I know. I'm a voice teacher. I spend a significant amount of time introducing my students to real voices in the hopes that they will begin to identify all the autotune in the current business.
@@carr0760 Thank you for introducing young vocalists to a world beyond auto-tuning.
@@juniperspringz I have no choice! LoL
Movie musicals were recorded very dry because they were mixed to be heard in large single screen theaters of the era. Audiences would hear a mixture of the sound from the speakers and the natural reverb of the cinema they were sitting in.
Television sound was mixed to sound good in a residential living room, so engineers usually added artificial reverb.
Another factor that may be relevant here: Andrew's didn't play the role until she was cast in the film, so she hadn't performed the numbers numerous times. That may explain why her later TV performances were "more perfect" than the original film soundtrack.
Younger folks need to realize old prime time network variety shows rarely had lip synch performances. Why have a full orchestra full of highly paid musicians sitting there doing nothing?
Lip synch usually happened on cheap shows like American Bandstand.
It seems like The Mamas and The Papas always lip-synced, which makes me very sad. I understand that their intensely overdubbed sound might be hard to replicate live, but they could at least be singing along live!
With a once in a million voice, beauty and charm as an actress...Julie Andrews is one of the greatest performers in history.
Never. Underestimate.Julie.Andrews. is the moral of this story, kids. 😉 I was lucky enough to see her live during one of her last concert tours before her vocal issues, in an old grand theatre. The strength of her voice just washed over you. And we were up in the balcony. So glad I experienced that.
Thanks for the analysis. I smiled along with you.
Absolutely, she was live. Her vibrato was a bit wider on the live take.....sounded wonderful as she always did. Great presentation.
I am 64, was a 7 year old child and saw Sound of Music seven times at the local movie theaters in two or three months after it's release AND still watch it EVERY time it is on TV!! I just had a mad crush on Julie Andrews, shear talent and beauty. The shot of her at night in the gazebo archway when they have both finally realized their love for one another is just stunning, her beauty ( and still is) and then top that off with her extraordinary singing talent, CLASSY and CLASSIC!!! BLESS HER!! Phil you ain't so bad either, LOVE your posts, keep on!!!
Julie Andrews is amazingly talented. She’s got perfect pitch too. A musical Genius.
No she doesn't. She has even commented on it. She just sings on perfect pitch.
@@takemyhand1988 So you are saying having perfect pitch is different than singing with perfect pitch?
I think FIL did say something like this, now that you've jogged memory. I think having perfect pitch means you can hear any note and immediately know what note it is and if it's corr CT or flat or sharp.
And someone who sings on pitch flawlessly is said to be pitch perfect.
Is that correct?
@@communityorganizer5645 yes.
@@communityorganizer5645 she's pitch perfect but doesn't have perfect pitch
@@takemyhand1988 I saw her on Johnny Carson years ago and she flat out said she has perfect pitch whatever that means.
Julie Andrews was a great family favorite when I was growing up. The Sound of Music movie had just come out while we were on a nationwide flying vacation, my parents were both private pilots, and we went to see it in a Salt Lake City theater while visiting there. I can still feel the thrill of singing this song with my mom, dad, and sister the next morning as we flew out above the mountains on the way to our next destination. Thanks, Fil, for bringing this memory back to me! 💖🎶👍
Andrews had such a pure, clear voice. One of the 20th century's brightest talents, for sure. How sad that ppl thought she was lip synching!
One would think she would never do that. Maybe she had to one time. But one would think she would generally refuse.
People don't realize that she was a broadway star. The studio was just a necessary evil. I've seen her live multiple times - she was always the best, and she will be remembered as such. Marni Nixon tried to get close dubbing a "Julie-esque" Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady." Listen to the broadway (Julie) original recording. Julie was by far, superior.
How wonderful that a young man such as this chap is appreciating the absolute artistry of singers such as Karen Carpenter, Barbra Streisand ,Linda Ronstadt and Julie Andrews and so many of these great singers.....I'm 65 and my generation grew up listening to these incredible voices......keep educating young folks otherwise they will never know about these vocalists.
Julie Andrews was always a stand out to me from my early childhood. I’m now 66 years old. I adored her clarity of voice in diction and musical sound, and I so loved her selection of music and her performances. I never understood the sneering that so many people in the musical theatre world seemed to direct at her. I remember the teasing I got growing up for my appreciation of her. Bizarre. It is so good to find an analyst here who confirms the superiority of her voice. Thank you. 🍃🍂🌈
Please analyze Julie Andrews singing "The Lonely Goatheard" from Sound of Music, where her voice was at its most agile, athletic best.
Love that song so much!
What an amazing singer and actress. I love how well the older singers annunciate when performing, as well as the incredible clarity of their voices. Please consider an analysis of Doris Day, another of my favourites.
I love the energy, detail and passion with which you're defending Julie!
I love his energy... but more than defending, he just presents accurate details about an extraordinary voice that is indeed pure gold!
I love his authentic smile when listening to Julie’s genius.
Julie had the distinct quality of singing right on key. A very clean and light singer. Thank you for this analysis, Fil. I see you are using your left hand a lot more. Take care of it though!
Julie Andrews is from an age when you actually had to be talented to have a music career. As the saying goes "Before there was ProTools there were pros."
You are so right!
Love that saying.
And there were tools.
So true… love Julie Andrews
Google Weyes Blood
I've never been too much of a fan of analyzing the arts too much. always felt if you liked something that made it good.
as I get older I realize thats wrong. its fun to understand what makes something good. appreciating skill and technique in the arts is a good thing after all!
thanks.
@Bobb Grimley imagine that crappily is not a word....and that Maizie may be 12 y.o. or possiibly 92. Either she's this new generation without punctuation skills or she's too old to see the keyboard...lol..
goodbye. I deleted everything.
god forbid a comment on you tube is not grammatically correct.
im not up to getting insults from someone on the internet. and I certainly dont have to defend myself here either. I was saying something nice
@Bobb Grimley
@Bobb Grimley Dude…..WTF is the matter with you? Making such an issue about a comment that was missing a capital letter or six?
The content was actually interesting, and indicative of someone open to change and adapting to new information.
Lighten up, and stop with the insults, they’re mean-spirited and completely unproductive and served only to suppress someone’s desire to share their opinion. The time to make up your mind about people is never.
@maizie
@@jamesconner3437 yeah - “as I get older” makes me think she suffers from arthritis in the same way I do and caps aren’t worth the pain.
@Bobb Grimley e.e.cummings would take issue with that. We are discussing the arts after all.
How privileged we are to have grown up with the voice of this wonderful artist that is Julie Andrews. Her voice is a true pleasure for the senses. Thank you very much Fil for your once again excellent analysis.
Greetings from Buenos Aires...!
She's a beautiful and talented singer and actress. Great job analyzing her.
Her voice always making me think of an Angel 👼🏻 singing. Just beautiful…
Both Fil & Julie are. Fil seems 2B always spot-on.
@@NJ-Cathie m
It never even occurred to me, that she was lip sinking, Julie was renown for her live vocal performances.
Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music are every close to my heart, as they take me back to very special memories with my dad and his side of my family. My parents divorced when I was very young, so times with him and that family are priceless for me. The sense memory when hearing her voice is so powerful. I just discovered you channel recently and I love learning more about music that I already love. And omg, the G5 just gives me chills.
they invented autotune equiptment so people can adjust their voice to sound as good as people like julie andrews , and jkaren carpenter . people now assume they they were altered but the truth is they are better than the computer programs that were made to copy their technquie
Good grief. When I focussed in on that last note at 15:56 I actually said out loud "Whoa...that's so clean." Which, you then said immediately after.
I'm a vocal teacher. I've performed and taught these songs. I'm also a soprano. It is NOT easy to start a G5 that cleanly. For most sopranos, that note sits right in our upper break/transition/passagio (pick your term) making it even more difficult than higher notes.
They didn't do nearly as much editing/production back then either, so while there may have been multiple takes, she really did sing it that well.
Julie is a goddess.
"actually"
@@jamesmcinnis208 what is the purpose of your comment?
Julie lip syncing.?.................
How dare you.
A very close friend of mine did Julie’s make up for a performance for a movie a few years back. She told me that this woman was just as lovely as ever!
I so appreciate your precision in demonstration.
I'm not even a proper singer and I just find your work fascinating.
Thank you! 💚
Thanks for this Fil! JA is actually a better singer live; she’s more comfortable in front of an audience than in the studio. That makes sense to me because of her extensive theater experience. Because you were able to isolate her studio vocal, I could hear her reining her voice in, which caused her pitch to waver more than when she was live.
Sometimes this was done to match the visual perspective of the scene. Film makes it possible to create intimate scenes where all out belting would be inappropriate. The number "Something Good" is a perfect example of her singing in a quiet, intimate style.
@@Tmanaz480 In the Hills scene, she’s alone on a mountaintop. But I appreciate your point and some great singers are best in a studio setting (like Harry Nilsson). But it also can be intimidating to sing in a studio. The acoustics are usually purposefully dead and you don’t get the kind of loving feedback you get from an audience. JA was a consummate live singer. She did My Fair Lady live 8 nights a week for 2 years
Steven - more than that, she did 8 shows a week in MFL for 3 1/2 years. Two years on Broadway and 18 months in London.
I was six years old when Mary Poppins came out, so Dame Julie has always had a place in my heart. I would love if she were to watch this video and hear from Fil that she was TOO good! That would probably make her day!
And that was the first movie I saw as a kid, some time around mid 60s. I would have been somewhere around age 6.
Julie Andrews, her voice is like liquid silver.
My High School GF took vocal lessons from a retired opera singer by the name of Mrs. Duft; who used to work with Caruso! Mrs. Duft's voice, despite her advanced age, sounded like liquid gold. If anyone knows her first name, and where I can find a recording of her, please add it to the comments. I've been looking for decades. I went to HS in the Sixties.
Julie Andrews is so good she performed as a child for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. She’s a natural born singer. She’s so awesome.
Wow, I didn't know that. Thx.
Love all the little details you point out that we might over look at times. Julie Andrew was an excellent singer sad that her throat surgery permanent damage her vocal cords.
O.M.G. she had THE most singularly beautiful voice. Also, she's pure class. Another great video, thank you!!
She’s got such a magnificent voice and beauty acting ability to go along with it. Just a beautiful woman in all spheres!
Julie Andrews was a master at her crafts, whether it was singing or acting or both. She was incredible and a real pleasure to watch and listen to!
Fil these videos are worth just seeing you smile. Your appreciation for music is so beautiful.
Great video Fil. Have grown up watching/listening to the The Sound of Music over 100 times, and I am always blown away just how great her voice was. The Sound of Music is one movie I hope Hollywood never attempts to recreate and modernize because they would just butcher it all to hell. It is also hard to imagine anyone but Julie Andrews singing the songs because her voice is so intertwined with the movie. I thought Lady Gaga's Oscar Tribute to Julie Andrews was a very class act, you could feel the respect she had for Julie Andrews talent by singing those songs to the best of her ability and not doing some weird performance. She is not Julie Andrews, but then again who is.
A very rare gem of a voice.
As a child in the late 60s and 70s we had a collection of "gramophone records" including The Sound of Music. I knew the songs before I remember even seeing the film.
Go to Saltzburg, do the SoM tour. It is surprisingly fabulous.
Yes, perfect pitch and diction count for a lot, but she also acted well and made the musical possible.
This reminds me of one of the most powerful live performances I ever saw, it was on PBS from the states which I was watching in Canada. It was an operatic concert, not an actual opera but a mix of opera singers doing pieces from various operas. One of the singers was a woman who had had to take time off from singing, to recover from bad health, and this was her very 1st performance before an audience, since recovering. I can't recall her name, as was this was many decades ago. So the last singer did her song and both her and the conductor leaves the stage to applause. Then the conductor returns, followed by a new singer, very small and very slim, audience applause then goes silent, then the conductor and orchestra gets ready and music starts, then the singer joins in... she started off sounding good but you could tell she was little weak and pushing herself, then after a few minutes the magic began. The conductor, who was standing only a few feet from her, started to ignore the orchestra and focused more on the singer. The conductor played her like a violin, giving her strength, pulling every note from her as if it was his will power alone that enabled her to sing. It was something I had never seen before or since. When the piece finished, the hall was dead silent as the audience was stunned by what they just witnessed, then they erupted in applause like you rarely hear. The singer then burst into tears, hugging the conductor in thanks. I doubt there was a dry eye in the place and I myself was incredibly moved and I was only a dumb teenager at the time. I grew up listening to the likes of Julie Andrews and Karen Carpenter and similarly talented singers of the time, and hearing them natural, without over done mixing. At times I feel sorry for young people today, that they likely will never have similar experiences.
That was a fantastic analysis, thank you.
It's probably just because I'm old as dirt and have thus seen the film exponentially more times than any of the young'uns who thought this was the studio track, but... these are manifestly not the same versions. Fil's covered all the main reasons--pitch differences, note-attack differences, tempo differences (geeze the tempos alone should've been proof enough on the first listen)--and I'll add another: dynamics.
In the recording for the film... yeah, Maria's up on the Alps singing her lungs out because yay music, but it's not all enthusiasm and joy. We can hear a wider range of emotions in her tone, particularly toward the ending--which is more intimately sung, since Julie plays her as being more internal,/thoughtful/reverent.
The live version is gorgeous and I'll fight anyone who says nay to that, but it's clear she's not playing Maria for a film. She's on a stage and there's a live audience and the whole context for the song is different. The "live audience" part is vital. Julie frickin' Andrews has known how to perform for an audience since before her age hit double digits. You end up projecting more, every muscle is alert and it changes the way your instrument sounds (singers' whole bodies are their instruments). It just... it just changes your tone.
I'm not being very articulate, sorry. I'll just go back to my first point about being older than dirt (okay, if that dirt is 55) and the innumerable viewings I've had of TSOM. I know every nuanced choice she makes for this song courtesy of her acting ability and that extraordinary, one-of-a-kind voice of hers. (And the director likely had an influence, too.) It's all markedly different from how she performs it--beautifully but differently--in the medley.
(Before anyone asks, yes, I'll be submitting this as my dissertation to complete my imaginary Doctor of Soundofmusicology degree.)
Since I have been watching your videos, I find I am noticing vocals with all the nuances that you point out to us, even music that you have not reviewed. Julia Andrews has an amazing voice. Thank you for helping me tune my ears to really hear music and musicians
Julie Andrews was always one of my favorites. It's nice to see the analyzed waves match what I've always heard.
Terrific analysis of a phenomenal singer! I love all of your videos.
Love your comparisons- live and studio. I was into Karen Carpenter and Julie Andrews back in the day.
Julie Andrews was more than a pretty voice. She wasn't a soul singer but she sure had soul.
Great job, Phil. I have noticed a strange phenomenon when I see some of these very young singers, where they are actually mimicking the sound of auto-tune, even though they are singing live! It's the craziest thing to hear them snap their pitch in an abrupt manner, and change their tone to sound processed, but they are actually singing live! It's like someone sitting in their car and making car noises, and then they ask you how you're enjoying the vacation...... when they haven't even left the driveway!
It's wonderful how you are re-setting the bar by showcasing these monster singers in their natural element. It kinda clears the air. You have a wonderful set of ears.
The Sound of Music was one of my first movie musicals. I took her voice for granted as a child but now I truly appreciate her.
A once in a hundred years voice. It's not just the 4 octave range...it's the professionalism and joy she brought to every...single...performance...even in rehearsals she was perfect. She never slacked off, never threw it away...just performed perfectly....
Never disappointing and thank you for sharing Fil. Great analysis as always.
Please. Julie Andrews performed thousands of times on stage, singing live every performance. Why on earth would anyone insult her by suggesting she would lip-sink?!. Especially at the point in her career this performance references. Silliness. Julie Andrews has a gift from above. We are all lucky to have it memorialized in recordings forever.
Why am I not surprised? Because Julie Andrews was taught to sing and produce her voice properly through the mask. The thing about Julie’s voice is it’s crystal clarity. I was taught to sing this way by my vocal teacher, I was once asked by an accompanist who had taught me and then told that he had taught me to sing properly. When I was a teenager I used to play (on vinyl) all Julie’s recordings and sing along with them. It’s vocal gymnastics but so enjoyable. My favourite was her recording of Camelot with Richard Burton and Robert Goulet. After about half an hour my head was buzzing but with such a feeling of euphoria.
Thanks for the reminder of Julie's true talent!!
Fil, your analysis is spot on. I was a boy when this Movie/song came out… saw it in the theater, oh and I has lived in Germany from 1960-63, so this movie/song/Ms Julie are very special to me. She didn’t need to lip sync songs… she could repeat any song she knew anytime. Thanks for training People about production.
A truly magical voice!
Julie was absolutely amazing, such a clean voice with perfect enunciations. So sad that she has lost her singing voice.
Julie’s voice is a gift that we can continue to enjoy. Thanks Fil.
I live in Vermont. The Von Trapp's adopted home after fleeing from Nazi invasion of Austria.
Stowe, Vermont is a beautiful little New England town.
Von Trapp ski lodge still operates today.
Wow!! So interesting!! You really help us hear something we wouldn’t be able to hear or even understand!! You’re training my ears to hear more distinctly! Amazing!!!
This is a really delightful video. I love how pleased you look when you're listening to some of the really good bits. Thanks for sharing!
I dig the look on your face when you just let the doubled track run and appear to be simply delighted to hear her sing.
Beautiful woman with a beautiful voice! Naysayers probably weren’t born when her singing was recorded decades ago. I grew up with all the favorite musicals playing on our Hi Fi. Everyone knew & sung all the My Fair Lady songs. We loved anything she ever sang. Sound of Music was even a bigger success. She & Carol Burnett are great friends & she guested on Carol’s show & they sang so much together & clowned around to the delight of the audience. There are many, many great singers, but Julie is one in a million! She was a child during World War II & sang to help calm people she was with in underground bomb shelters with. Entertainers sang with bands & didn’t have backup recordings to play in case they were tired or couldn’t sing with a sore throat. Someone else would have to step in, not like the way electronics are used today. You need to accept that she is an absolutely, perfectly, fabulous singer!!💕
Thank you so much for refuting the slander that JA was lip synching on the live TV performance. Seeing her unerring sense of pitch demonstrated right before my eyes was amazing!
Both Karen Carpenter & Julie Andrews are clearly more relaxed vocally, singing live & you can hear it! 2 of my favorites that I grew up with & it's heartbreaking with what happened to Karen at such a young age. I can only imagine what we missed but thankfully we have her voice, her God given talent to enjoy for decades to come!! Thank you for doing these analysis of truly talented people
Magnificent! I learned to sing from her singing in Sound of Music and Mary Poppins was the first movie I ever saw at the cinema. Just wonderful. Also, I really appreciate your videos Fil. Thank you.
I've used reference tone generators less accurate than Julie Andrews 😂 Amazing technique that not only enabled that astonishing range, but also gave her a unique sound. And not forgetting, diction to die for 🙂 Loved this breakdown Fil x
Julie Andrews is such an amazing artist! I get goosebumps every time she hits those high notes.
You are so much fun! When I get behind on your video, I get to binge watch them! Hugs!
I’m a classically trained singer and when I was first taking voice lessons, I had to sing all of these songs as practice. Her vibrato is so beautiful and smooth. I love this channel because it’s rare to find someone who has such a dynamic and engaging way of studying voices. Now… I’m interested in your thoughts on Alex Turner or Justin Hawkins. They’re two of my favorite, more contemporary male vocalists. Keep up the great work! 🤘
totally her vibrato is grand...I hate opera singers (on top of their game) who has such wide vibratos its annoying. Pavarotti also has a very condensed smooth vibrato that I love.
What a great voice - I never thought she did anything but sing live on her 'public' appearances, whether I could hear or see the difference or not. {Some lip-syncs are quite easy to spot). Thanks for the comparisons, I would never have noticed a difference - mostly because I don't expect to hear one, especially from a great talent.
Exactly😼
just gonna say some you don't expect to be different. Like early Whitney, Karen Carpenter and Roy orbison etc. You expect to basicly hear the studio record recreated live onstage.
Great analysis Fil. Learning so much about my favourite singers.
Wow! I never appreciated her as much as I do now. Proof of perfection. Thanks for your hard work. I hope I can catch one of your live videos soon.
Julie was fantastic and so pitch perfect.
This was a great, detailed explanation. I was surprised at the people that thought this was lip synced. I could tell almost immediately it was a unique performance and not simply the soundtrack.
I’m not a producer or engineer nor a professional musician, but I guess I’ve listened to this song so many times over the course of my life that any slight changes - playing with the melody or beat slightly will just jump out.
One of my favorite soundtracks of all time, but I’ve yet to hear a CD that didn’t have a tremendous amount of hiss. I wonder if that’s baked into the recording or if the thing just desperately needs a remix.
Question for you, did they have “de-s”ers back in 1965 or would they have just put a screen up on the mic?
Great job again, as always on this one!
Hi Fil. Discovered your videos only recently and just love your attitude, personality and your ear and heart for music. One of the best channels on CZcams.
Thanks!
12:35 her vibrato is very much rhythmic, like the control of a percussionist when rolling. She’s incredible
Julie sang for the King of England when she was very young.
"On 1 November 1948, a thirteen-year-old Andrews became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Variety Performance before King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium."
Source: Wikipedia
A wonderful voice. Too beautiful for words. I could have listened all night.
Great video!! Thank you!
I love watching your face as you watch her sing! You are as delighted by her voice as I am! The answer is yes! Julie Andrews is “too good.” I can’t imagine that Julie Andrews would ever have lip synced in a live performance.
Also, if you know singing, you can see her working her breath support, among other “tells” that she is really singing.
Have recently rewatched Oklahoma and Music Man...would love to see you analyze Shirley Jones' incredible voice.
That's a great suggestion. I'd also add Deanna Durbin to that list 🙂
Oo yes, I love Shirley Jones! Her vocals are gorgeous in Carousel too.