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In the recent “Premios lo Nuestro” homage to Victor Manuelle, Tito Nieves forgot the lyrics of the song he was performing on national TV due to a failed teleprompter. This triggered a debate on the use of teleprompters by singers.
Teleprompter; Is it Good or Bad
In today’s social media world, it didn’t take long for critics to blame Tito Nieves for the embarrassing moment. Tito was compelled to apologize to Victor Manuelle the next day. Victor Manuelle reiterated their friendship and said there was nothing to apologize about.
Tito’s teleprompter wasn’t working, and the veteran singer panicked and forgot part of the lyrics of the Victor Manuelle song he practiced and knew acceptably well.
The question is; should singers rely on the teleprompter? I would argue that teleprompters are a necessary tool for singers. They’ve been using them for many years. And even if the singer knows the song, the teleprompter is a great backup tool that provides singers peace of mind.
Technology on Music
Tablets are for musicians what teleprompters are for singers. Musicians have left paper music sheets mostly behind in favor of electronic pentagrams they now read from tablets.
Should musicians memorize every note of every song they will play in order to avoid using a tablet that could malfunction? Of course not! Technology is here to stay and the music industry does well by embracing it.
And like it happens to all of us that use technology, be that cell phones, computers, or anything else, technology is not flawless and will error out occasionally. But the benefits of technology greatly outweigh the rare problems that come with it.
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