The Truth

Believing a Lie Rather Than the Truth

Romans 1:25 NIV

as a music teacher at a local university here in the bay area, I want to share my opinion on american idol. this is a reality show where people from all over the u.s. come and audition in various cities for a chance at getting on tv and showing off their vocal talents...or lack there of in most cases. at the end of the competition one person gets a ton of money and a recording contract plus tons of publicity.

the 3 judges travel to various cities and sit through hundreds of painful auditions. what we don't know is how editied this show really is thus causing us, the viewers, to believe lies rather than the truth.

what really bugs me about american idol is the fact that it leads kids to believe many lies about music. yes, kids who now have nothing to do really, because their schools have eliminated their music programs and fine arts programs. so they do what? go home to watch more tv? about a quick-fix career in music, a career that cuts corners? who gets held accountable for this? a career that shoves you into the spotlight, unprepared. compromises are often bred by unprepared circumstances.

how should american idol be changed? i'll tell you how.
make the top 20 take music theory! test them on every song they sing.
for example if a contestant, let's say a girl contestant, sings a song made famous by whitney houston (a difficult artist to mimic), the judges should test the contestant on the songs key signature, time signature, any modulations, and the basic chord progressions. hey judges, ask real music questions such as: 'what clef are you in?' 'who wrote the song?' 'does it have any chord inversions?' 'any plagal cadences?'

make her sing whitney's song using solfesh! fixed do? no! moveable do! ha! a difficult thing to do, but it'll make you a good artist, not a one hit wonder. sure, artists like barry white and yani both made it to the top without going to music school.

but look at famous artists like mariah carrey, alicia keys, (even jamie foxx!), kathleen battle, marion anderson, and so many more who've had solid careers because they studied with professionals, learned the craft well, and they know the stuff! all of these are classically trained artists.

the truth is, by not cutting corners in your musical career, you get down to the nitty gritty hard work. being over-prepared. researching the back story on a piece of music you are performing. staying up late to study when everyone else is going out to have fun. working hard when no one notices. taking lessons from professionals who can tell you the truth about how you may improve. eh, i might be rambling.

the ultimate truth? practice makes perfect. like rehersal, like performance. enough with the cutting corners and american idol! how about a real reality show about music?

in the last days, this is what people want to believe: all lies rather than the truth. what other lies have we told ourselves?

prayer focus: liars and those who believe lies.

prayer: Lord, help! help me to get the truth about you out to a world filled with people believing lies!