The Appeal
Since by now most people have either visited a karaoke bar or have seen karaoke on TV, karaoke jocks (KJ's) are now adding other formats to the basic karaoke package to keep people interested. These include "scary-oke", karaoke contests, videos, trivia, props, DJ & dance music and others. Karaoke may wane as does dance music in certain areas from time to time but karaoke will never die out. These additions and modifications to karaoke may interest people for a while, but they don't access the real appeal which will never change. When I worked as was a musician people would come up to the stage and want to "sing with the band". The real appeal is people want to be a part of their favorite music like they are the actual performer. This is the real appeal of karaoke.
Thee Ways Of Enjoying Karaoke
1 Sit back, watch and be a "wanna be"
2 Join in with a group of singers, have fun and don't worry what you sound like.
3 Seriously sing by yourself or in small groups and enjoy the act of being creative with the music. People may even enjoy hearing you sing.
My Theories On Karaoke
The last two ways of enjoying karaoke are my forte. Since I see karaoke as a "singing in the band" experience, I like to bring out the dynamics and texture of the music. On each singers performance I personally mix the singers voice with the music. This involves much time and effort but I feel that the singers should be heard through the music and the music should be accompaniment to the singers not drowning them out. To achieve this requires expensive top notch audio equipment plus skill from the person who mixes. In a small staging area like most karaoke shows the more microphones that are used makes for a more complicated acoustic and feedback field so the sound quality usually deteriorates in larger groups singers - but this may be the best way you have fun with karaoke. Also experimenting with harmony and having group sings can generate lots of excitement.
Some people are not aware of the tremendous emotional impact that music and being on stage has on some people. There are many people who want to sing but still hold back. I sometimes sing along with shy singers to make them relax. Singing with a group also takes some of the pressure off of apprehensive singers. Because of the controversy and bickering I've noticed after karaoke contests, I don't perform them. Peoples feelings get hurt. One person wins and everyone else looses. Karaoke should be fun for everyone, in the end who cares who sings better.
