Die Forelle

[BrandonLeo3]

great voice

[DCTubaPlayer]

I sing bass and have been for 5 years and have made all state each year, i recently was told by my teacher i'm a natural baritone (Even though it was very easy for me to sing a low c). I had your same color. i enjoy singing higher so a switched. If you truly want to continue singing bass, your doing and damn good job. Don't listen to these random internet punks. Your a great singer man! Keep on singing!

[sascha1984dd]

interesting coloured voice.....not everybody like it but i do!!!

[opera888able]

Schubert demands near perfect diction. This boy sounds as tho he is doing his best to swallow his tongue.Lovely tone tho, but clean up that diction.

[opera888able]

Schubert songs demand excellent diction above all else. This boy sounds as tho he's trying to swallow his tongue. Lovely vocal sound tho. but get the diction right.

[PooyaRadbon]

Awful! learn German, learn singing, learn to stop!

[yourfupid]

Are you using music in this recording?

[InnocentParadis]

Agreable voice. The style is not academically sophisticated, but it's refreshing.

[Frottussle]

A "Star Search" format is in no way appropriate here. Skiffman is merely posting his singing on You Tube-- not canvassing for subscriptions! In our opinion he has a fine voice and performs equally well in classical and popular music. For those who insist on being Skiffman's arbiter (whether or not they have the qualifications) we suggest they post their products on You Tube so that all may see what they consider perfection.

[BluesGee]

the only emotion i saw the whole song was: i'm a pompous lieder singer - seriously, tell the story more ( perhaps use dynamics and facial expressions more? )

[OTWdk]

It isn't his fault but the bad teacher's. There are too many amature professors in colleges.

[Tubemember6]

OK, German is not easy, but listen to the version of Ian Bostridge to improve your pronunciation. He's British and he's perfect. Your voice is very good!

[LongLivePrussia]

most of the poesie you sing clear and good :)

good work, but some mistakes in the spelling you swallow some word down f.e. at 0:52 "wohl an dem ufer stand" sounds like "wohl an dem woferstand" or at 1:34 "und ehe ich es gedacht" sounds in your version like "ehhhgestad" i think thats what KingOfKarabiner means. And some grammatical mistakes, but all in all good work for a no native german spreaker :)

[ItellLosersOff]

I want to tell you all the reasons why this was horrible but you wouldn't understand. I can tell that you're egotistical in that way. Put the work in like everybody else. Notice that your praise only comes from nobodys on youtube? Doubt you will ever sing a legit opera role in your life. Get your tongue out of your throat, you sound like you're deep throating when you sing.

[davisx2002]

@ItellLosersOff _only you whould know what being deep-throated by a young man is like. 

[skiffman5889]

@ItellLosersOff wait, so you're a somebody?

[sfurules]

@skiffman5889 Don't listen to this toolknob bro. He probably thinks he's "Anon" and dwells in the land of /b, trollin from his parent's basement wearing a wife beater and touching himself too much. I'm guessing he's listened to a bunch of Paveroti and is, therefore, an expert. inb4 u mad.

I suspect the reason that he won't tell you what is "horrible" about this is less about you not understanding, and more about him having no idea.

I don't have much more space, so one word: diphthongs

[bestmaster3]

Remember that if you choose to be at all bilingual, the rhythm of speaking or singing a German phrase is totally unrelated to the way the English equivalent is spoken or sung. What should be explained to the baritone is the necessary "lilt" of the German phrasing, which is one of the reasons why a change of teacher is sometimes desirable.

[BorisCr]

@ItellLosersOff LOSER!!!!! Jonathan might still need to learn a few thing about singing, but he deserve far more consideration for at least offering something of quality... I might be a nobody as you said, but it does not mean I cannot recognize a nice voice when I hear one. Jonathan needs to work a lot to achieve his goals, but scorning him for the mistakes he made at the beginning of his learning process surely will not help him grow!

[joshcho77]

@ItellLosersOff thumbed up cuz ur right

[FrauShai]

you sing horribly. please don't post this kinda shit here - there's enough of it.

[dbrel]

omg..........come on man... change teachers ... please. Take a look at the jaw movements here --- the jaw is jutting to the side a great deal. Look in the mirror when you practice -- try to relax this. The issue at 1:36 is the cutting off of the word -- there is no tone there , which happens a lot in this piece. I would not sing this in public. Not great in your voice. Have you listened to recordings? Maybe too much?

[skiffman5889]

@dbrel new teacher now, life is way better :P

[dbrel]

@skiffman5889 That is good to hear- hopefully one that is getting your tongue out of your throat and creating a line to your voice! Post some more things when you are ready -- I'd love to hear the differences!

[dadnapt24]

Piano was horrid

[PEAinSwe]

Hmmm..... You are blocking the sound with your tongue and the "chewing". This is connected to the fact that you are not letting the vowels sound fully. You sing on the consonants. Add more support and let your voice flow more freely. You have a good natural sound, don't mess that up with strange technique.

[oasis4a]

Not the best song for your voice, but you have a very good solo voice. Nice support, but it seemed like you forgot to breathe or something at 1:33 you kinda spoke it. Maybe you meant to, but it sounded funny to me. keep up the excellent work!!

[radiojesse]

The voice is impressive! Quite enjoyable.

[KiNgOfKaRaBiNeR]

wtf 1.36?

[skiffman5889]

wtf yes?

[ChristopherSPedersen]

...might as well do this one in english?

[wenarto]

OMG, i am impressed!!!!!! beautiful voice (oh check me out also)

[pumanba2]

too many moves of your mouth... ;/ that looks horible...

[skiffman5889]

Hey, very true, check out my new ones if you would. This was recorded a long time now.

[javi9330]

thats classical technique....and its not really about how it looks. :/

[federricoilgrande]

Good but you can sing it besser ::))

[mkopin]

I did not particularly like this performance. The arpeggios in the piano should sound like a flowing brook splashing over rocks; the overemphasis on the left hand makes you miss that effect. I also don't like the fact that your voice gets suddenly sad when you get to the "sad" verse - listen to how Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau does it - at the start of the verse it's not sad, but apprehensive. Once the fisher sees what's happening, only then is he sad.

[BlackHolz]

keine ahnung so wirklich wer das ist aber man könnte annehmen das er an einem aussprachfehler leidet, denn wirklich hochdeutsch - klarer natur kann man dies nicht bezeichnen.

[cdnprincess2]

You do it so well...very sexy voice. I come from a German background....wunderbar!!

[hurricanehelga]

hey, i really like your interpretation, especially that you put it a few tones deeper than the original. your voice sounds really sexy :-). and very well done at the end "das fischlein das fischlein" and so on -- raises the hair on my back. work on the pronounciation, i know german is terribly hard. did you sing more schubert? i can't access your other videos...

[skiffman5889]

Thank you for the comment! I should have "Der Erlkonig", "Der Zwerg" "Gute Nacht" and "Einsamkeit" up shortly.

[federricoilgrande]

Nice:) how to contact you ? I am a musician's agent..

[skiffman5889]

Just send me an email on here via my channel. Thanks

[ILMUSIC1]

Cool !!! I sing the same song in my choer !

[tatboi1]

God!

[talulasong]

I like this! As a singer, I'd say to really just spit out your German! Actually OVERpronunciate, or else it's not really German.

Also, I think you're in a lower key? Do it higher! You definitely can, and it would add a lot of power to your rich voice.

[tavoenparis]

Jonathan, you've got talent. your voice is great and powerfull. It's a pleasure to hear you. There are few mistakes in your pronounciation (the sound ü : süsser = vorüber, Betrog'ne an instead Betrog'ne R an ). Hope this tips will help you. Carry on singing. Thanks for shearing your art with us.

[Altochick]

I love how rich your voice is. Very nice!

[DERCANDYMANN]

I like it. The pronunciation is excellent! I wish I had a set up such as what is displayed in the video for my own works. Although I find the funny jaw movment somewhat, distracting, I will be using your video as a reference for when I'm practicing. Good job.

[JFP84]

Hey skiffman, thank you for your reply, keep them videos coming...always amazed how sometimes people tend to forget that it's hard to sing without accent...can see some of the native German speakers (including meself) have a go at an English song...Zis is werry gut, ja! Keep up the good work. As for the hidden political message, wouldn't be surprised if interpretation of the "Forelle" lyrics, as well as other "Age of Enlightenment"-works, are still part of the German high school curriculum.

[skiffman5889]

Thank you for the great comment. i hope to have some more videos posted in March sometime. I hope you'll tell me if my German is up to snuff on those too!

[JFP84]

Ian Bostridge's German is unbelievable (his pronunciation)...check his Youtube Version of the "Forelle"...you will get there though...keep it up

[funnyguise]

great potential but I worry you spent more time preparing the camera, mic and studio than the song itself.

[skiffman5889]

Haha, fairly true, I put all of this together over a weekend in anchorage-- hence the pronunciation and reading the words. Plus, I hadn't had any musical training, I learned all of these by ear. Thanks for the compliment!

[JFP84]

Your pronunciation is very good...did you take German in school? As for the storyline, with the horrible fisherman catching the little trout...don't take it literally...the song's lyrics, originally a poem from the 18th century (the age of enlightenment), were written in prison...the horrible fisherman who stirs up dirt to disorient (and eventually catch) the little trout can be easily transferred to 18th century German novelty trying to prevent revolutionary ideas among commoners.

[skiffman5889]

Thanks for the comment, I have to take a bit of issue with your interpretation.. I always thought it was indignant if anything. I hope you check out more of my videos when I finally post some! Later

[asumashi]

I really thought something was wrong when you started singing. I couldn't believe that was your voice! GOOD JOB!

[skiffman5889]

Thank you so much for the kind comment. I'm hoping to have some more songs up soon. Just got a camera!

[AnKozlowski]

Heh, its pretty good over all. Words like "ich" the CH should be more like a cat hiss, but softer. and watch the ends of words. NichT. GebrichT.

[cooljerk007]

You have a great tone. But really, really work hard on everything else. Diction, breathing, etc. Try some exercises to smooth the transition between your upper and lower registers.

[huanson227]

とても素晴らしい！

[sankvioli]

pareix un borrego mastegant brosa

[Baccalaureus79]

You sing "r"s in the German lyrics, where there shouldn't ones. It's "Gestade", not "Gestader", as well as it is "Bade", not "Bader".

I really love your voice - it's wonderful, but your German is, well, improvable. Perhaps you should look for a native German répétiteur. Do you know the recording of Fischer-Dieskau singing The Trout?

[skiffman5889]

I have absolutely discovered Dieskau. I"m currently working on Der Wanderer and Der Erlkoenig.

My mother also raked me over the coals about the german, she was born and grew up in Munich. So the next posts, which hopefully, will be soon, should be way better.

[Baccalaureus79]

I know that German is hard, especially hard to sing, all those ch's, ü's. ö's and rs. But unfortunately, there's so much German vocal music, that no singer can cop it.

Another question: Did you try "I got plenty o'nuttin'" from Gershwins "Porgy and Bess"?

[AnKozlowski]

I recommend memorizing the text and what it means before you work on anything else

[copernicoilmangiato]

Ciao! Bellissima "la trotta", sei un magnifico cantante, complimenti!

[gucci312]

Also do you take requests? Perhaps Der Erlkonig?

[skiffman5889]

Sure thing! It's funny that you asked since I'm working on Der Erlkonig, Thanks for the comments!-Jonathan

[gucci312]

Excellent! You could maybe be a little more expressive with dynamics.

[2Checker2]

good diction !

[jas797]

Good effort. A couple of things as I assume you're looking for feedback if you're posting here: Your German needs work and in general I don't get the impression you're really thinking about the meaning of the text. Also, your vibrato is lacking in control which creates a wobbly effect and gets in the way of legato. Try singing some phrases vibrato-less and concentrating on the purity of your voice, which is a good one.

[nalib11]

Very nice german! I agree that the notes should connect and the breath remain one stream. This sounds great as is and really shows off your voice well.

[calcrules]

Nice pronunciation. Your voice is awesome. Though like most people's voices it doesn't seem to fit your physical appearance.

[jonathanraman]

I miss a little the legato... but man... you have a very nice voice... very warm. On of the talents who has a nice warm talented voice, the looks. Congratulations

[ancientarias]

PS I'm guessing that you don't yet know how to read music. Try to learn at least the treble clef (that's the part you sing - google "how to read music"), so you can get the score (sheet music) of the piece you want to learn, play it on the piano SLOWLY (or a keyboard) so you can learn every note correctly. As for a teacher, how about contacting the music department of a local university for recommendations?

[ancientarias]

That's amazing that you learned this piece by listening to a recording.

[ancientarias]

Bravo! I agree with Markpianoman below. This is by far your best singing. Your German is very good, and your interpretation is spot on (especially the tone of indignation about the fisherman appearing, disturbing your idyllic tranquility contemplating the clear waters and swimming trout) Just some minor comments: Your groups of four sixteenth notes are a little shaky sometimes. (e.g., so faengt er DIE FO-relle, the second one), the last note in FO is off or gone.

[ancientarias]

Other minor things:

Ich stand an dem Gestande und SAH IN not SEIN

EIN Fischer mit der... not IN Fischer

You dropped an s in und sah'S mit kaltem Blute

and in the last two lines, your "mit" sounds a little off (und ich MIT regem Blute...)

And finally, perhaps you sound a little too sweet singing "I looked with boiling blood upon the deceived" at the very end.

BUT WOW, you really did a great job.

[skiffman5889]

Thank you, I know it's still a work in progress. I'll keep those points in mind next time I sing it. I'm still a little shaky on what a 14th note is. I basically just listened to a Dietrich Fischer Dieskau recording again and again until it sounded ok. Thanks for the feedback!

[ancientarias]

My bad ... I listend to this clip with a crappy headset. You did pronounce the S in sah's mit kaltem Blute. :)

Keep up the good work! Again, impressive raw talent if you learned this piece by listening to a recording over and over. PS A sixteenth note is a "fast" note that is a solid circle with a bar through the side and two tails on the bar.

[hhhhhhhhhhhhho]

Good job!!! Bravo!!!

[markpianoman]

Die Forelle ist das Beste was ich hier von Dir gehoert habe! Bravo.