Michael Orland, American Idol's Associate Music Director, accomplished pianist and private vocal coach, proved his keen ear for music the first time he heard Clay sing. He knew immediately that Clay was destined for stardom. Michael is also a composer, with his original songs recorded by various artists. On Michael's website (see link above) is a "download" page of a sampling of his beautiful works. One composition in particular, "Every Day Of My Life", well, all who hear it agree this is a perfect song for Clay's voice and musical emotional commitment. Want to join those of us persuading RCA to offer this song to Clay? Please do yourself a favor: go to Michael's website, download "Every Day Of My Life" and listen to this wonderful song. Michael also has a newsletter, subscription available through his website, where you can keep up on all his happenings, personal appearances and guest shots on tv shows.
I'm delighted to announce that Michael agreed to participate in a weekly q & a. Everyone is invited to email questions to me for Michael, about American Idol in general and Clay Aiken in specific. This first week, Micahel gives us a backstage peek into the hectic schedules, rehearsals and a rundown of each-day-of-the-week American Idol routine.
QUESTION: The "American Idol" shows that we view live Tuesdays and Wednesdays is a culmination of behind the scenes run-throughs, rehearsals and preparations. Will you describe for us a detail of what happens, musically, each day of these various events, starting with which day of the week is the actual "first day" of your and contestants work week?
ANSWER: Here's a somewhat abbreviated answer and this has been how it goes in the past - seasons 2 & 3 -that i've been a part of.
Basically, the new week starts on Thursday.
On Thursdays, each contestant gets up to one hour in a private session with Debra Byrd (the vocal coach) and me. During that hour a contestant will come in with his pre-selected song ideas for that particular week (i should go back to say that a few days before all this our music supervisor will give each contestant a cd with all the possible choices of what they can sing for that particular week or theme. she is usually good at getting lots and lots of possibilities, but if a singer thinks of something on their own, she will try to "clear" it for them to sing on the show).
So, let's say the person comes in the room and they can't decide between 3 songs for that week. We will (in the course of that hour) go through the process with the contestant of them narrowing their choice down to the actual song they will perform that following tuesday. Although we can't help them make a decision as to what they sing AT ALL, we can show them the "meat" or the "good parts" of the song they can do in their one minute and twenty or thirty seconds. Often a singer will say if they can't do a particular part of the song they don't want to do it. Or something like that. So, by the end of the hour, they've picked their song and we've picked their key (with them) and figured out the best part of the song for them to do (along with their input, which is ALWAYS welcome). At the end of the session, they get a recording of just me playing for them to practice with when they're just hanging around. That's Thursday.
On Friday, it's more of the same - everyone gets up to one hour with us again - this time it's to really be more specific with the song. And to make any last minute changes in tempo or wanting to change a key or something like that.
On Saturday, our music conductor and producer Nigel Wright makes these unbelievably amazing orchestral tracks (that sound like recordings you could release immediately) all morning with an incredible group of 30 Los Angeles musicians. I supervise the whole session to make sure everything is going to sound like what i rehearsed with the contestants. On Saturday afternoon, all the contestants come in to the recording studio and hear their track, and actually go thru it and record their vocals on it (just for learning purposes).
On Sunday, we usually didn't meet with the contestants - they were busy doing other things. Like the Ford Video Moments. or shopping. or actually resting for a little bit, but mostly rehearsing and getting ready for the show.
On Monday, everyone gets a session with Debra Byrd and me, this time with the actual track they're going to sing to the next day. We usually squeeze everyone in the first half of the day - and then the contestants have to go off to choreography rehearsals for their weekly group number (that they'll perform on the wednesday show). That's also done with the recorded track that will be used on the show.
On Tuesdays, it's a really long day - everyone goes thru their song(s) a bunch of times, first for soundcheck, then for camera blocking & lights, then a big dress rehearsal in the afternoon before the actual show. It's a hectic stressful day for everyone involved. Then at 5 p.m. (california time) we do the live show.
On Wednesdays, everyone comes in early for rehearsal for the group number they have to do that evening. It's usually a funky day with everyone coming in second-guessing how their performance was or how it came off or how people voted and hard for everyone to concentrate, but it's all part of it - and everyone gets thru it. On Wednesday evenings, someone is eliminated, and the rest of the group gets ready to start their next morning witha whole new theme. And then, it's back to.....
Thursday mornings again.
Wow, Michael, thank you for giving us a tour into what most of us don't realize is such a crazy, sometimes emotional, time. Ours is the easy part: sitting back and enjoying on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the culmination of all this hard work. Stay tuned everyone, for next week's question!
