Screamology

I can understand that people have different tastes and preferences in music. So I can appreciate people not liking, or even hating certain styles of music. But it's a whole other thing to deny the musicality inherent in different genres just because you don't appreciate it. What do I mean? I'm sure you've heard people say things like this: "That stuff takes no musical talent. It's just computer bleeps." Or "They aren't playing music, they're just screaming."

It's an unfortunate, yet common statement. Unfortunate, because I think it's not that these people don't see the musicality of these genres, it's just that they don't understand it. It's a knowledge issue, and hopefully this blog contributes a little bit towards learning more about different types of music.

On that note, I want to focus on the screaming that is used in hardcore and death metal etc. Unlike what it might seem, screaming takes a lot of proper vocal technique, and is extremely difficult. It's not just pushing your vocal chords until they crack: in fact, that would be completely wrong! I found a great Discovery Channel video about Melissa Cross, who is essentially (from what I know) the only person who teaches the proper technique to screaming. This video goes through some basic motions of what it takes, and the difficulty involved in producing these sounds.



I've also added the video of when she was on Conan, because it's pretty hilarious.