February 10, 2024 | 13.09
Adnkronos editorial team
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From Valentina Carlile, singers' osteopath, the right criteria for issuing verdicts from the sofa. "Not just personal taste, here's what to look at to judge"
Never have so many report cards for the singers of the Sanremo Festival. From listening groups to the 'free hitter', whether an aspiring influencer looking for followers or a lone wolf with no fanbase ambitions, everyone on social media has something to say. Couch judges, living room critics, legitimized by televoting. The jungle of comments that rain down from everywhere has not escaped Valentina Carlile, pioneer of phoniatric osteopathy, who has been alongside national and international music stars for more than twenty years, from pop to opera. Also in this 74th flower festival the expert has 'trained' the voices of some artists competing for the podium, and a few hours before the grand finale she is keen to explain how a 'doc report card' is born. Five criteria entrusted to Adnkronos Salute, to 'educate' the telejurors of the last evening.
The osteopath's analysis of singers comes from the long experience gained working in teams with those, from the phoniatrician to the vocal coach, who prepare the artists to perform on difficult stages such as that of the Ariston Theatre. "Participating in a music competition - underlines Carlile - in most cases can be scary or stressful. This is because the majority of participants do not know, or do not fully understand, the model used by the judges to evaluate performances and assign votes to the competitors. It is therefore a good idea to always explain what the judges are looking for to promote a performance or decide the best."
Rules that the specialist believes it is useful to illustrate to the common spectator as well, considering that even the vote of non-experts can make the difference between rewarding a great favorite or snatching the podium from under his feet to place an outsider on it.
"Many have asked me for opinions on singers - says Carlile - but I preferred to advise everyone to rely on their own judgement, while giving indications on the characteristics to observe and listen to, beyond personal taste.
Indications that I would like to share, given that do-it-yourself report cards are going crazy on social media.
So here's what you should look at to judge":
1) Vocal power and expression, i.e. the ability to sing in key and harmonize correctly;
2) Diction and phonetics, or the ability to make the entire text heard - and understood - well pronounced;
3) Technique in dynamics, i.e. the ability to use vibrato, crescendo, legate, staccato;
4) Staging, or the ability to manage the stage, to take the stage;
5) Audience response, or the effective ability to communicate what is sung, to 'reach' the spectator.
"These are just some of the criteria for a report card or a 'competent' vote - points out the voice osteopath - but in the end the best are those who manage to hit these points. Without, of course, canceling out personal taste too". Rules in hand, therefore, "good report card and good televoting to everyone".
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