Jack Rubinacci is an independent musician and songwriter. He’s opened for The Script, Arcade Fire. White Lies. Lionel Richie. Joe Cocker and many others. He made this great video with his thoughts on what makes a great singer, he has kindly agreed for us to share it with the community. If you prefer you can read the transcript of the video below.
What Makes A Singer Great?
It's an interesting question, right? It's certainly something that interests me being a singer myself. We all have our subjective views on which music we like and what singers we like. Some people like an operatic singer, some people like rock singers, singers with husky voices, clean voices, all types of voices.
But I think I may have stumbled across the one thing that all great singers have. The one common denominator that ties all the singers together. And I'd like to talk to you about it in this video.
I'd like to give you a little bit of a backstory as to how I stumbled across this idea. I live in Norway, and one of my Norwegian friends called me up to the day, asking if I can do a voiceover for an advert that he was making. He needed an English speaking person to do the voice, and I said no way.
I've heard my voice on a voiceover before I sound like the thick idiot that I am. But I said to him, I think I might be able to help you. I know someone that might be able to do it. I've got a friend called Gareth. He lives just down the road, he is English, and he has nothing to do with voiceovers. He has no experience with this sort of thing. He has a nine to five office job.
He just happens to have a really good tone of voice. So we got him into the studio, set the microphone up, and he did a fantastic job. Nailed it in one go, everyone was happy, and he got the gig.
The only advice he needed (and remember, this is a guy that has no experience of voiceover) was to give importance to every single word. Somebody had written that script and then needed the message to come across, and to do that, you got to give him points for every single word that comes out your mouth.
It got me thinking about something that my father used to say to me, my father's a musician. He's been a musician his entire life and has got a great voice, too. When I first started singing in front of him, he always used to say to me, time and time again, he used to say, (in Italian ) don't eat the notes. Give expression and importance to every single note. It's sort of the same thing that I was saying to Gareth. I put the two ideas together, and I felt like I stumbled across what might be the defining thing that makes a great singer.
What Is The Difference Between A Good Singer And A Great Singer?
I think the difference between a good singer and a great singer isn't tone of voice. It's more than that, where people talk about a great singer, they say, "they've got a great voice. He's got a great voice. She's got a great voice." I think it's more than tone of voice. I think tone of voice is implied. Meaning that if somebody is setting up a microphone and getting you into the studio. Spending time with you, writing, recording, taking all the necessary steps to record your voice into a song. Tone of voice is implied. It's implied that you have a really good tone of voice.
That's not what makes a great singer. I think what makes a great singer is intention. What does that mean? It means the ability to connect with every word, every note and every breath and give it meaning. To give it feeling and actually really mean what you're saying, what you're singing and what you're doing.
So this is the difference between a good singer and a great singer. I've worked with great singers, this is the difference. A good singer will be in their head. They're thinking about timing, remembering the words, and doing a good job.
A great singer. When they step up to the microphone, you see it. They're not in their head at all. They're in their heart because they're looking to connect with all the feelings. Feelings of hurt, rejection, joy, happiness. Or of love, in fact, everything that's deep within them. They're looking to connect with that.
Think about it this way. When you've said something that you really mean when you're really angry or really happy, or when you really love someone, you didn't say things by half. You didn't just sort of throw the phrase away or throw the words away. You said it with meaning, and you meant it.
That is the ability great singers have. They step up to the microphone and have the ability to lose themselves in the music. To invoke their feelings and paint those feelings against the words and against the notes.
It's not easy because we are tempted to stay in our heads; it's hard to go within ourselves. We're often afraid of sharing our feelings. We're fearful of being honest. That's why we love great singles. Because there is nothing more powerful than a human being singing from their soul. It hits this hard when you hear Cobain, Freddie Mercury, or John Lennon. They're not messing around; they are baring their soul. They mean it; it's not in their head. It's all in their heart.
So when you get to that level, it goes beyond tone; tone no longer matters. I'm not really interested in tone when I'm working with good singers. It's a given that you've got a pretty good tone... I want to hear this soul.
The Edges Of The Notes
I want to hear the edges of the notes. When I talk about the edges of the notes, it sounds a bit ethereal, but this is what I mean. When you hear a famous cover song or a famous song covered by another artist, this is always interesting, right? You go, Oh wow. That's really interesting. The reason why we're interested in that is that we are hearing that singer's interpretation of those notes and those words even though we've heard that song a million times before.
We never need to hear that song again, but we're interested in hearing that singer’s soul within a song we've already heard before. This is because we feel like we're connecting with that person. We're not interested in the notes; we've heard the notes and don't need to listen to them again.
Any singer with a good ear can hit the notes. You just hit the notes and go home, and everybody's happy, but that's not going to make a great track. What makes a great track is when you hit the edges of the notes because that's where you put your personality and soul into the notes. That's what you're trying to do.
So the next time you step up to the microphone to perform or record, remember, nobody's interested in hearing those notes. What they want to hear is your soul.
You've got to mean it, and it's not easy. Because we're distracted. What differentiates the great singers from the good singer is they go beyond the head and into their soul. They have so much feeling within them that they can connect with that feeling easily. So every utterance that comes out, their mouth, every word, every note, and every breath is done with meaning and emotion. They're not messing around. They mean it.
That, to me, is what makes a great singer. It's not tone, perfect pitch or perfect timing. I don't care about any of those things. What I care about is hearing your soul. That is what I think makes a great singer.