Another Underwhelming Night for Singing at the Oscars
February 26, 2013

The 85th Academy Awards, unfortunately, was blemished with problematic singing:
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Katherine Zeta Jones was clearly lip-syncing in the Chicago piece. The maneuver should have been a no-no in light of the Beyonce's poor judgement call to lip-sync the "National Anthem" not too long ago.
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Despite her large, exciting sound, Jennifer Hudson's screaming-like singing is finally showing early signs of vocal deterioration as her voice when she sings her high notes is beginning to wobble. Unless she undergoes a voice building regimen that rebuilds her vocal muscles, her vocal wobble will become more and more pronounced in the near future. High-larynx singers, like Hudson, often pay a hefty price for this artistic habit. Besides the wobble development, the bane of all singers - "vocal nodules" - sometimes follow close behind.
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Hugh Jackman's hyper-nasalized, "overly vibratoed," vowel sound-compromised, and "closed" singing was in full display at the 85th Oscars, clearly indicating very poor vocal training. His vocal muscles are in a state of physical collapse and his future as an artful singer is dubious at best, unless someone guides him to build into his throat a handful of open, resonant vowel sounds.
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Adele delivered an "okay," if underwhelming, performance. But at least her singing was not corrupted by vocal problems.
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Barbra Streisand's tonally distinctive and charismatic voice always manages to please, even though her best voice did not show-up for her Oscar tribute to Marvin Hamlisch. Her classic "Memories" was marred by pitch issues, hoarseness in a place or two, and generally, an under-dynamic performance.
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