Monday, October 19, 2009

Karaoke Music: The Empty Orchestra

By Aaron McLain

Karaoke is a word created and used in Japan. This Japanese word is known as a portmanteau, two words blended as one, two meanings blended together as one. The definition of karaoke is entertainment given by amateur sings. The literal translation of Karaoke is "empty orchestra".

Karaoke is a way to pretend your something that your not. It is a way to sing along to recorded music, sing your heart out, and pretend that you are a rock star. The basic setup is to sing along to recorded music, but an advance setup comes with music video, microphone, and a stage setup like a concert.

There are many different Karaoke songs. Basically Karaoke is a piece of music that is stripped of its lyrics. The lyrics are placed on a screen for a singer to sing. To keep the singer on track, there is usually a bouncing ball or symbol that goes along with the music. It let's them know when to start and stop each verse of the song.

Amateurs are not the only ones that sing Karaoke. Professionals use it all the time. When it doesn't make sense for a big band or orchestra due to reasons like money or space, professional singers will use a Karaoke version of their song. Don't mistake this for lip singing where the lead vocals are recorded. The artist actually sings their song live.

Who first created karaoke? Well, their have been some disputes as to who created this form of singing. One story goes that Daisuke Inoue created the first ever karaoke machine in Japan in 1971. Then it spread to other parts of Asia in the 1980s as it rose in popularity.

Today Karaoke has risen to a whole new level. In Japan it is not uncommon to see karaoke setup to entertain a dinner party. In other parts of the world like Korea, you are able to rent a karaoke room. This room is filled with the latest karaoke songs, has the latest karaoke music, and is used to throw karaoke parties for you and friends.

Karaoke technology consists of a few basic components. You have the music player, the microphone input, a way to alter the pitch of the music, and an audio output. The most common machines are the CD+G, DVD player with microphone input jack, VCD, and Laser Disc.

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