Vocal Masterclass Discussion For The Voice Season 4: Week Two Of The Blind Auditions

April 1, 2013 by Masterclass Lady 15 Comments


20130401-165341.jpgPicture Courtesy Of The Voice
Did you enjoy Week One of The Voice? Boy, I sure did! It was pure entertainment, from the remarkable charisma between the judges to the unique and diverse talent in Season 4’s singers. What a ride!

And look at Adam and Shakira in the picture above. They are having so much fun and yet still offer so much to the singers who are auditioning for this show.

I was very impressed with Shakira. She was flying under my personal radar but not any more. She doesn’t take herself too seriously and is extremely concise and supportive when dealing with the singers.

Usher is Usher! He’s the man! Calm, cool, collected and extremely talented.

And, since I am handing out compliments, I cannot forget the old-timers, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. How I love these wacky guys!

Also, as everyone probably knows by now, former American Idol Season 3 Top 10 Finalist, Jon Peter Lewis, landed a spot with Team Adam as part of the duo, Midas Whale. And they are incredibly good. And, methinks they will be one of the front runners in this competition.

The second week of Season 4 will air on Monday and Tuesday at 8:00 P.M. Eastern.

Hope you will join me in the comments section. It’s ridiculous how excited I am to see this show once again this week. I can’t think of a better way to start my week.

So, let’s get this party started!

Music, Singing, Television, The Voice
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About Masterclass Lady

Rosanne (Giallonardo) Simunovic began her musical career in Timmins, Ontario. She studied piano with Anne Pizzale and later, at an advanced level, with Soeur Anita Vaugeois (Sister Cecile of Les Soeurs De L’Assomption in Timmins). Her vocal and accompaniment skills were nurtured by her aunt, the late Dorothea Mascioli. When Rosanne graduated from O’Gorman High School, she moved on to the University of Toronto where she continued her piano and vocal studies while attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was hired as a piano accompanist for several musical companies, most notably, the National Ballet Of Canada. She presently holds an A.R.C.T. Teacher’s Diploma in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Rosanne has studied choral conducting with numerous well known Canadian Conductors, including Wayne Riddell of Montreal, Quebec and the internationally renowned Dr. Elmer Iseler. She has been a founding member of numerous community-based arts organizations: the Timmins Arts Council, later known as Arts & Culture Timmins, the Timmins Symphony Orchestra, and, the Timmins Youth Singers…as well as the TYS Alumnus choir, the Timmins Concert Singers. In 1987, she was also selected to be the conductor of the Timmins Board Of Education Choir, comprised of talented students from Grades 5 to 8. In 1988, she was elected to the Board Of Directors of the Ontario Choral Federation (now known as Choirs Ontario), where she served as Chair of the Festivals Committee for six consecutive seasons. In 1996, in honour of the Ontario Choral Federation’s 25th Anniversary, Rosanne was selected as one of 25 recipients of the OCF’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the choral art. The ceremony was presided by Lieutenant Governor, Hal Jackman. In November 1997, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Rotary Club Of Timmins to receive the prestigious Paul Harris Award for her years of dedication to the artistic development of young musical talent in Timmins. In August of 2002, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Board Of Directors of Choirs Ontario to serve as Conductor of both the Provincial Junior and Teen Choir Camps, now renamed in honour of the Camp Benefactors, Don and Lillian Wright. In November 2002, Rosanne was the one of the recipients of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, honouring her work in the development of the arts in Timmins. Under Rosanne Simunovic’s direction, the Timmins Youth Singers and the Timmins Concert Singers have been featured in numerous choral festivals and performing opportunities outside of Timmins. In 1985, they were selected to partici
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15 Responses to “Vocal Masterclass Discussion For The Voice Season 4: Week Two Of The Blind Auditions”

  1. Aubry April 1, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    My first chance to watch The Voice. Love Usher and Shakira as judges. Much better than Niki and Mariah IMO. Just listened to Taylor and for 17 Oh my so good and with
    Usher as a mentor she could go far. Sam Alves also is also so good and a chair better turn around!!

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  2. Aubry April 1, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    I can’t believe that no one turned around for Sam. He was so good. 😦

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  3. Masterclass Lady April 1, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    So upset that no one turned a chair around for Sam. Makes me wonder at what point in the audition process did this singer appear? Looks like the judges were over – analyzing him. We’re the judges tired? Hesitant because they already had too many so-so singers on their team? He was better than the 17-year-old girl, although she was good. Seemed strange from my perspective.

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  4. hunter April 1, 2013 at 11:36 pm

    i love this part of the show. it makes me happy. i love how when the judges love a singer they are so excited about them. like adam said: ‘look at usher, normally he’s a cool guy with his leg up, but look at him now, leaning forward’. great!!

    i said last week i really liked the new judges, but i feel that all the more this week. when they showed a pic of all the old judges from last season it made me even so much more aware of it, i don’t want the ‘old two’ to come back. skakira is natural and genuine and fun. and usher fits right in.

    it will be interesting to see how it develops.

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  5. Vonnie :-) April 2, 2013 at 8:13 am

    Okay! Confusion about this show!!! They let a couple of good singers go and picked some not so good singers…Are the not so good singers the one’s they will put against their good singers in the battle rounds so that they can pick the good singers???

    Then why not pick your team and start live shows with voting???

    I love the judges on this show!!! Idol judges needs to start watching the Voice!!!

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  6. Masterclass Lady April 2, 2013 at 9:14 am

    Vonnie I agree. Although I can’t really prove it, there is some subtle manipulation happening here. I think that the judges seem to know in advance something about the singers. They seem to ask the right questions after the audition ends. Haha.

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  7. Vonnie :-) April 2, 2013 at 10:41 pm

    Okay! So tonight, the red head girl singing Adele did not make it, but the blond model did???

    I think there’s a something not right with this!!! I paid attention more tonight to the questions and I think you are on to somthing MCL……..

    A couple of the singers that didn’t make it were alot better than a couple that did make it through.

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  8. Masterclass Lady April 2, 2013 at 10:55 pm

    Yes, I think there is some subtle manipulation going on with this show, Vonnie. The judges seem to know which questions to ask – questions pertinent to the singers’ background.

    It wouldn’t surprise me to know that the judges are given a general background on the singers.

    Also, at times, some of the judges are encouraging, say, one judge to turn while they remain stationary. That seems scripted – like they were told not to turn so a certain judge can be the only one available to mentor the singer.

    I still love the show but, like you said, some really great singers were not advanced and I found it really weird.

    This is a Mark Burnett production. He is brilliant at producing these reality shows and I am sure that what we are seeing is superbly crafted by him.

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  9. Gene W April 2, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    I noticed the same things that you have been talking about. This season the manipulations are more obvious than in previous years, but I still enjoy watching.

    Last night there was a girl who sang in Spanish that the other judge’s encouraged to join Shakira’s team after turning their chairs for her. The whole thing seemed rigged. The good singers that they pass on have to be a rig as well. I think they are creating the image that they cull better singers than Idol has in the finals, or something to that effect.

    The battle rounds can produce a few really good performances each season, but last year most of the match ups were so skewed that it was obvious who would win before they sang. I’m with Vonnie that it would be better if they just chose their team and began the competition.

    I also noticed what appears to be a “mini me” arrangement shaping up. So far Blake has the 16 year old country girl that we talked about last night, Usher has the young girl named Taylor who sings R&B and Shakira has the girl mentioned above. I don’t think Adam has a mini me yet. The other interesting thing is that they are all girls, so maybe The Voice is joining Idol in the year of the girl.

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  10. Vonnie :-) April 3, 2013 at 8:54 am

    I really like watching the Voice and X Factor…but what happens to these people after their season ends, the only one that I have ever heard was Chris Renee the rapper from X Factor and he didn’t even win??? At least with Idol they are putting singers on the map so to speak!!!

    I agree Gene…the battle rounds are so one sided…the song fits perfectly to the strongest contestant…they should have to sing something totally out of both their wheel houses!!!

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  11. Aubry April 3, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    I so enjoyed last nights show. The first time I have been able to watch this season and what an improvement Shakira and Usher are to Xtina and Ceelo.

    It seemed to me that Shakira wanted to turn around for Sam but didn’t. Was a shame and to my ears he was the best male vocalist of the night. I hope he comes back. The female street performer who sang Adelle was amazing. Tone, range, emotion but no one turned around? wtf really.

    I have always thought the blind auditions are not blind and that the judges are a bit scripted. TPTB know who they want and at this point they need both contenders and fodder. ( This years male contestants on Idol were all Fodder. Not a chance in the world that any of these guys had the voice,charm, personality, looks or guitar to carry them deep. This was by design IMO) I know they wanted Jessica last season, set up Dre to exit early and underestimated Phillips musicality, guitar playing but most importantly CHARM. This year Idol was not taking any chances or so they thought. I think Lazaro may ruin their plans. I pray not but that guy should have been off first.

    The R&B singer Usher picked last night was NOT good. Yep nice tone but his pitch and control not good. Sam was much better and he was better than the other curly haired guy who made it. Baffles me really so I do believe the judges know more than we think they do about the contestants.

    Vonnie, you hit the problem with The Voice and XFactor in that while they do seem to
    have better talent, their contestants go no where after the show. The Voice is a Mark Brunell production and therefore is just a reality TV show and I bet not much if anything is put into marketing the winner or good ones. Viki Martinez and Ceelo have a hit now. Viki was on Ceelo’s teams two seasons ago. So he obviously thought enough of her to do something for her.

    Neither winner of the Xfactor has done anything as yet. I have not heard from the Voice winners. Chris Rene and Marcus Canty have had decent success on Urban Radio. No idea what happened to Rachel Crows Disney deal. Xenia did a demo that went no where.

    The Voice Contestants fair the worst with post show success it seems.

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  12. Vonnie :-) April 3, 2013 at 3:43 pm

    Aubry…

    The girl that sang the Adele song…Oh my…she was outstanding and Sam was so good too..the hubby and I both had our jaws dropped when no one turned around for either of them, so him being the reality show skeptic that he is, starts blabbing about how rigged all of these shows are and how he is not going to watch any more (funny, he finished watching with me, and I can guarantee his hinny will be parked in front of the tv tonight watching idol, LOL) but he is right.

    I think the judges know who to turn around for and who not to…

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  13. Masterclass Lady April 3, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    What gets me is the judges often sit there and comment how good a singer is and then nobody turns around. I mean – talk about sending a strong signal that this show is scripted.

    It wouldn’t surprise me if the judges receive audios – not videos – of the singers before the show so that they can formulate their answers.

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  14. Vonnie :-) April 3, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    I know…last night they told a couple of them that they were amazing singers, but didn’t turn around!

    The judges may know that it is scripted but the contestants sure don’t; you can see the devastation in their faces as they are singing when chairs aren’t turning around…

    Sadly…if we are seeing this, then the rest of the viewers are too, so that could cost them this show, especially with the amount of singing reality shows on right now!

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  15. Masterclass Lady April 3, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Yes, that Sam guy? He was amazing. Poor guy sang his heart out. It’s nuts. The manipulation is just becoming too obvious now. And some of the singers that did advance were not very good at all.

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