Simon's Musical Culture

Hello Friends! My name is Simon Mishler, and I am a tenor studying Voice Performance at Converse College. My parents have always told me that I was born singing, and haven't stopped since. Throughout the years I've flirted with other instruments like piano and clarinet, but my pride and joy is voice. Although my greatest passion is singing, my goal is not to be a performer - I dream of being a voice professor at a college. 

A lot of my childhood and most of my adult life has been spent in Detroit, where jazz, blues and soul are prominent fixtures of the city. These genres have been powerful influencers in how I sing, and how I approach music in general. In fact, my first professional gig was performing "an evening of jazz" at the opening of an art gallery in Detroit. I was 13, and me and the other singer had no rehearsals with the band. Whichever one of us was singing at the time would tell the band the name of the song and the key, and we would see what happens. I opened with "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, in B-flat. It wasn't a disaster.

This is the exact video I used to inspire my performance - I can't actually believe I found it.

1. An example of music that is important to me: Anyone who knows me knows that "my thing" is Judy Garland. I've seen all her movies, all episodes of her show, listened to all her music, and I collect her memorabilia. I even have tattooed the title of her last movie (I Could Go On Singing) and a Bluebird, referencing a quote from her first movie; "If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why oh why can't I?". There are many people who share my love for Judy Garland, although I border on the obsessive, and yet it seems no one can explain their infatuation. We all just connect with her music and her story. I think my love for her started with her first movie, Wizard of Oz, where she guided us with music through a land of dreams and beauty. 

Her first movie (skip to 0:50 if you want to just hear the song): 

And her last movie (skip to 0:55 for the song): 

2. An example of music that has gotten me through 2020: "Vocalise" by Rachmoninov is a very popular piece, and I had heard it plenty before the pandemic hit. However, it never resonated with me the way it did after living through the dumpster fire that was 2020. It's like when you meet a guy who is a solid 6, but he jumps to a 9.5 when you find out he's emotionally available and a feminist. The "Vocalise" was always unquestionably beautiful, but I discovered that it carries us through every emotion from its beginning to its end. Although there are no words, you can hear the anger, you can hear the desperation, the yearning, and the relief. This is a piece that you should listen to in a quiet place, with an open mind and open ears.

3. Simon Says "No" to this music: I can't say I don't like an entire genre, because there will imminently be a song within that genre that I do like. I typically don't turn on the radio and blast country, I rarely have a hankering for techno, alas I can usually find something to appreciate about any piece of music. However, I have been known to flee aggressively from "Never Be The Same" by Camilla Cabello. There is not a single redeeming aspect of that song, in my opinion. I think it sits in an uncomfortable part of her voice, the lyrics are unfortunate (at best), and the melodic composition is lazy. Even thinking about the song has my heart racing with fury. I will reluctantly include a link to the song below: