Daniel Levitin is the name of a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Before he started his academic career he worked for ten years as a rock musician and record producer. His special interest is in music perception and creation, and he describes this field in the book ”This Is Your Brain On Music” from 2006. Here I want to present some of my own thoughts on his chapter ”What Makes a Musician?” as they apply to Charice.
According to Levitin it takes 10000 hours of work to become a world expert. This corresponds to 3 hours a day or 20 hours a week for 10 years. He thinks this time estimate applies to many fields, not just to music. A possible counter example is Mozart who started playing the piano at age 4 and wrote his first compositions at age 6. Levitin argues, however, that these early compositions may be remarkable for a child, but they are seldom played today, and we know of them only because of Mozart’s later work.
Innate talent seems to be less important. Musical prowess runs in families but so does ability to speak French, Levitin observes. It is almost impossible to evaluate the potential of young music students. What mattered for their later success more than anything was how much they practiced.
Levitin acknowledges that anatomy is a contributing factor for playing certain instruments but he does not write much about voice. It is clear to me that Charice was born with the potential for a great voice, but to use it is something that she had to learn. Ability to learn is also something that can be learned, at least on a higher level. Levitin agrees that there are genetic factors which have to be in place for a successful musical career. Most of them, however, are of a general kind and apply to other careers as well.
English-language Wikipedia states that Charice never received formal voice training but only informal lessons from her mother. This may be technically correct but gives the misleading impression that Charice is a “natural” singer. Mommy Raquel may not have a degree in music education but I am sure she knew what they were doing, and the extent of their work together is formidable. I would not be surprised if it approaches the 10000 hours of training of Levitin’s world experts.
There are many traditions in music education. Charice has learned entirely by ear. She doesn’t read music, or at least didn’t some time ago. Benny Andersson, the musical genius behind Swedish pop group Abba, doesn’t either. In the western tradition, there is a lot of exercise music that the would-be musician would have to go through. Asian traditions are different. An accomplished musician from Sweden who for some time lived in Beijing wanted to learn to play qin – a kind of zither – and got a first-class teacher. She started with a well-known composition and was told note for note what to do. After the first week she could play 4 bars of the composition to her teacher’s satisfaction. This would have been a frustrating experience for most learners.
The most well-known music education method from Asia is the Suzuki method. Its Japanese originator wanted to make learning to play an instrument as natural for a child as learning its first language. He originally developed it for the violin but it has since been adapted to other western instruments and also to voice. It emphasizes a rich listening environment, learning by imitation and active participation from a parent, in general the mother.
Several of today’s Filipina singing stars had started their careers as young children. Some, like Lea Salonga and Sarah Geronimo, appeared as child stars at age 6 or 7, others with a more modest background like Regine Velasquez and Charice took part in singing contests from about the same age. According to Wikipedia Regine Velasquez entered about 300 competitions in her youth compared to ”only” some 80 for Charice.
Charice thus belongs to a Filipino tradition where children learn to sing professionally at a very young age. Many have had parents as coaches, for Charice her mother. My guess is that Mommy Racquel’s instruction has had similarities to the Suzuki method, intended or not. Charice has gotten her marvellous singing technique essentially by listening and imitation. She has told that her mother taught her how to express emotion in her songs, and she told recently that she is now learning more of this aspect of music. Levitin deplores that this is often missing in western music education.
Charice has thus learned to sing heart-break ballads for which she has no personal experience, various unhappy events in her life notwithstanding. In my mind, her real strength is just in songs of this kind. When she picks up a new song of the same category, like “Note to God” or “Unbreak my heart,” she has (or is) the instrument with which she can convey real emotions to the listener.
Levitin makes the paradoxical statement that successful people have experienced more failures than those who were not so successful. The difference lies in what they did out of their failures. They didn’t give up. Charice’s loss in the finals of ”Little Big Star” in 2005 was certainly a blessing in disguise. It eventually opened up for a lucky development, the spread of Charice’s videos on Youtube, first by ”FalseVoice” and then by several others. Levitin writes that luck may be important in order to become commercially successful. Charice certainly has had her fair share of that. Her life story has a Cinderella flavor. Once she was said to lack ”star quality,” and only when she had got a following abroad was she noticed by the music industry of her own country.
To her admiring fans, Charice’s unique singing capability and her personal history cannot be separated from each other. The important message from Daniel Levitin’s book, however, is that where she is now is the result of hard work.
Written by OMIE
Posted by Schoen
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So you want to start weight lifting but don’t know what you’ll get form it. Weight lifting gives you great physical and metal benefit. It provides muscular endurance and muscular strength. The metal benefit to weight lifting is that it keeps you energizes and tones up the muscle which makes your look good giving you confidence. It also give health benefit to like reducing risk of developing osteoporosis, lowers blood pressure, reducing the chance of developing adult onset diabetes, reducing chance of colon cancer and improve your immune system. If this is not enough reason for you to pick up this activity then you just might have to find a new one. So if you want to start getting in shape and improving your health then start weight lifting.
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Jessica86 did I get it right that you have a book about Charice, or I just got it literally, I do hope you will write one sooner, you can do it.
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Thank you Schoen for posting “Omie’s” aricle and well researched one. Omie that was fantastic!!! Your sharing of thoughts regarding Charice gift of singing is so appropriate, it is just so “CHARICE” in many ways, well-done and I salute you for this great article.
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OMIE praise you for your beautifully written article. Charice occurs only once in anyone’s lifetime. I truly believe that Charice given any type of song, being pop, blues or classical can deliver it with her version that would bring everyone to a standing ovation. She is that good and your article clarifies what we are now witnessing the phenomena named Charice.
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it seems to be a matter of “nature vs. nurture” – to begin with, Charice was endowed with the gift of her voice, and through her mom’s coaching and Charice’s own drive and hard work, this was nurtured to what it is now.
aside from her voice, Charice’s sense of rhythm is finely tuned, as if her brain is wired for processing music. This not only manifests in her singing, but also in her dancing and playing musical instruments. And I believe this also directly helps her memorize songs quickly and adapt to last-minute arrangement changes.
and her on-stage performances have that x-factor that we have difficulty putting a handle on, something that is second-nature to her, a skill honed by countless stage performances from an early age, and having been motivated by a desire to help put food on the table.
while she is wired to produce beautiful music, we are all wired to recognize it when we hear it, and it resonates deep within us.
thanks for the article, OMIE, and a Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
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Very good article. Thanks Omie, Schoen for posting!
I see a wonderful thing happening here – in that a lot of people are freely expressing their admiration for Charice through creative ways, prose and poetry and really cool digital youtube postings! It looks like Charice has admirers from the young ones as well as the young once like me ha ha. Youth is not measured in years gone by but it is all a matter of perspective. After all compared to eternity we only live in this physical life for just a “wink of an eye” and our life will vanish like a vapor. So we do the best we can and express our love to those that matter to us. Charice, Chasters, you belong in my world now!
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OMIE, (from Europe), a big thanks for writing and sharing this write-up…..I concur with what you said OMIE, that what Charice has achieved…is the result of her hardwork and of course the guidance of Above through her mom
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wow, thanks for a beautiful, well-written article, omie. i’m just so happy there are a lot of talented writers among chasters, even the comments are worthy of note. just as charice is giving her best in music, these chaster-writers are coming out from hibernation and giving out their best in these well-written pieces-all for their love and dedication to charice. cheers to all chaster-writers and may their thrive increase.
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omie
that was so beautiful write up about charice.so deep and very meaningful.it touches the soul on very wonderful out of the world descriptions.i enjoyed so much reading this article.you are right charice is one of the best thing that ever happened to us chasters.needless to say that we are always here to give our full support to her.i salute you omie and also the global chasters.God bless us all and our beloved charice………..,her mother and carl and to all her future endeavors.
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Very well said, written and executed, Omie. My bow of respect and acknowledgement to you for this very profound observation of Charice.
In one part, I am reminded of a saying regarding success which is defined and measured, not by the ahievement or accumulation of material gains, but rather the the number of times one has been able to stand up again from each fall and overcome the losses and failures in this quest and journey of life. Very aptly described by the song, “The Climb”.
In my book, Charice has already earned her place with the legends and paid the price in full. Whatever she accomplishes from here on is a pleasant bonus which never fails to amaze us. Thanks for this very good article.
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Well said and thought of gonerunner. In the biblical sense, God is much more harder on believers than non-believers. Charice’s successful path so far was because of all the pain and suffering God bestowed on her. Charice’s unwavering faith in God has rewarded her all of the events that we are now witnessing. Praise God!!!
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gonerunner, your comments really speak to me.
in God’s wisdom, He allowed her to go through all that adversity not only to test her but also to serve as an example and inspiration to the rest of us. I say this because I am personally inspired by her fighting spirit and perseverance. And all these give meaning and credibility to her performances.
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Thank you for this very well written article..
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That is a very interesting observation of the parallels that prodigies share. And I say that because Charice is indeed a prodigy child. One definition of a prodigy that describes her completely is “an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration”.
Being a prodigy in itself does not always result in the display of what a prodigy child can do. For that, one needs a mentor. Enter Charice’s mother, Raquel. An awesome talent nurtured and developed by her mom. Some day, someone will write a book on this story. In Charice’s own words, “Soon I hope”.
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Charice is like what that famous English poet said – “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.
On a spiritual level, she maybe the cosmic reincarnation of a great great singing “diva” and we are so fortunate to share a moment in her universe.
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Please do write more interesting stuff like this to while away time while we are waiting for any new Charice Stuff.
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Wow Omie! Your article is one of the very best and so inspiring posted here in Charicemania. Just one reading of this article is not enough!
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OMIE – thats great! wow! thank you!!
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