If singing is a gift from God, then Bianca Ryan has surely been directly anointed by God himself. I cannot recall ever hearing a voice so powerful. I cannot recall ever hearing an 11-year old with such voice control, to say nothing of having a tidal-wave like range. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I most certainly would not have believed it.
There was Judy Garland’s classic rendition of “Over the Rainbow”. And to this day, it is next to impossible for me to listen to that song without a tear or two finding its way to the corner of my eyes. Singing at its absolute best is none other than the ability to bring forth emotions on the part of the listener—often in spite of himself. We all have feelings that we manage to control. Singing at its very best undoes the complete self-control that we are normally able to exercise.
Sometimes, we are moved owing to the sheer purity of sound that is produced. One can’t quite believe that a human voice is actually producing that quality marvelous sound. Sometimes we are moved owing to the range that is reached. In this case, the singer is singing most mellifluously at one pitch, and then goes to another pitch that is so high or so low that did not think it was possible for a human being to maneuver from the one pitch to the other in a flawless manner.
Then there is the issue of staying on key. To reach a note is one thing. To stay there flawlessly is another thing entirely. In this regard, many try but few are successful.
Bianca Ryan achieves all of the above as flawlessly as anyone could hope to do—certainly for an 11 years old, as the judge who was most critical at the outset rightly noted.
With so many singers nowadays, the instruments being played while they are singing make all the difference. The instruments stop; and one stops listening and wonders whatever made anyone think that this person could sing.
With Bianca Ryan, it is just the opposite. Indeed, as I recall her singing in my head, it is only at the very end of the song that I really hear the instruments: the final drum-roll. Up until then, the only thing that is really salient is a most powerful voice.
I am not even sure if I like the song she sang: Jennifer Holiday’s “I am Telling You that I am not Going”.
But that is one of marks of a truly gifted singer: She or he can take a song for which there are many, many renditions and that you have heard sung a multitude of times with utter indifference, and sing that song so incredibly that it is as if you are hearing a brand new song. The person can take a song that you would never have listened to and sing it with such power and majesty that you have to force yourself to stop listening to her or his rendition of that song.
This point about overcoming familiarity is quite important. There is nothing on this earth like taking the utterly familiar and so transforming it that we see or hear it as something fresh. In Bianca Ryan’s case, it goes without saying that her age is a relevant factor. That, however, does not change the reality that she transformed the song. It turns out often enough that our power to transform something depends upon who we are. This is because delivery typically plays a significant role in determining what feelings get invoked by what we say or sing. Had Whitney Houston sang the same song exactly as Bianca Ryan did, we would have been so very much less impressed.
Speaking of Whitney Houston: If there is a prayer to pray here it is that Bianca Ryan will be able to withstand the pressures of corruption. It was not so long ago that Whitney Houston’s voice was considered an American treasure. Today, she is has fallen so low that to mention her name is in many quarters to invite laughter or pity—no doubt a mixture of both, in some instances.
Now doubt this was the point of the critical remarks of one of the judges. In effect, he was telling her to be a brilliant singer and not to present herself as a “slut”—or more simply: a sex object. And he is unquestionably right in this regard. Insofar as we were moved by her singing, it is most certainly the case that how she was dressed added nothing whatsoever to the favorable assessment we made of her ability to sing, assuming that we made a favorable assessment. Her attire was unbecoming for her age. It was more appropriate for a female teenager who at least 16 years of age. Likewise for her hairstyle.
Perhaps the judge could have made his remarks in a less abrasive manner. But perhaps what he did was just right, precisely because she will not forget them. Had he been less abrasive, then in light of the praise he went on to bestow upon her, she might very well have forgotten the initial instructive criticism. This way, if all goes well, she has from the judge both an unqualified positive assessment of her singing talent along with a morally instructive comment. I am so grateful for that.
Talent does not replace morality and decency. That this truth shall be a reality for Bianca Ryan is my hope for her. If she dresses like a slut now, then there is already a formidable strike against her. If, by contrast, she does not become habituated to dressing like a slut now, then there is hope that she shall not do so in the future. And it is that hope that the judge, in his initial critical remarks, hoped to keep alive. Or so I would like to believe.
