Hello All,
We, singers and teachers of singers
are obsessed with tone. We are so obsessed, we spend the first half (give or
take) of each lesson without singing words at all – or at least words which
have meaning. And tone is important – of course it is. But in order to be an
effective performer you have to be able to communicate; and in order to
communicate, especially in an art form with words, you have to be able to make
those words understood. This is true in all languages but of course it’s
especially true for us in English because it’s our language and we’re generally
singing it for others whose language is also English.
The easiest way to do this is to just pay attention that you’re actually singing the sounds of the words that you think you are. It’s amazing how many times we’re singing a tone which we’re fairly satisfied with but which doesn’t actually represent any sound (vowel or consonant) which has anything to do with the word or syllable we’re singing (or we think we’re singing). Interestingly, often times when we just concentrate on singing the right sounds of the words our tone is better.
In other words, we really have to commit to the words and let everything else fall into place. No matter where we are on our journey to become the best singer we can be, we need to be using all of our abilities to get the words and the meanings of the words across. It’s not a bad idea to ask yourself while you’re practicing – “Would anyone be interested in this? Am I saying anything?”
To wit, I have two examples of singers who ALWAYS fully commit to the words they’re singing. First up is Dawn Upshaw singing an aria from Handel’s “Theodora” at Glyndebourne in a production directed by Peter Sellers. Sellers is an ultra modern director who deconstructs everything but at his essence takes the meaning of words and the music with which they’re set to extreme. The result can look almost choreographed. But notice how Dawn’s energy in pronunciation and body language and vocal production is 100% at the service of this aria. Even without the context of the aria we get a real sense of what is happening and how she feels about it. I’ve always said that Dawn is the most sympathetic singer alive in the sense that as an audience member, you want things to work out for her characters. I think her commitment to expressing the text with all of her “vocal crayons” is the principle reason for this.
Secondly we have a performance of a completely different stripe but with just as much commitment. Kristin Chenoweth may very well be a genius. She is a very upbeat and bubbly person which may cover up the fact that she is extraordinarily good at putting across words. Every phrase she sings seems to have meaning. She gives unbelievably broad and detailed performances all of the time. Here she is singing Glitter and Be Gay from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” which is an impossible aria in its virtuosity. She makes it seem like a breeze and she completely wrings the meaning out of every word and every note. She is so “out there” in her performance that if she weren’t completely committed to it we would almost be embarrassed for her. Also, if she weren’t singing the words so that they were understood, imagine how foolish she would look. If you put yourself into something and do it with sincerity an audience will eat it up and be with you completely.
Enjoy,
R
Dawn Upshaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G98wZzwRHf8
The easiest way to do this is to just pay attention that you’re actually singing the sounds of the words that you think you are. It’s amazing how many times we’re singing a tone which we’re fairly satisfied with but which doesn’t actually represent any sound (vowel or consonant) which has anything to do with the word or syllable we’re singing (or we think we’re singing). Interestingly, often times when we just concentrate on singing the right sounds of the words our tone is better.
In other words, we really have to commit to the words and let everything else fall into place. No matter where we are on our journey to become the best singer we can be, we need to be using all of our abilities to get the words and the meanings of the words across. It’s not a bad idea to ask yourself while you’re practicing – “Would anyone be interested in this? Am I saying anything?”
To wit, I have two examples of singers who ALWAYS fully commit to the words they’re singing. First up is Dawn Upshaw singing an aria from Handel’s “Theodora” at Glyndebourne in a production directed by Peter Sellers. Sellers is an ultra modern director who deconstructs everything but at his essence takes the meaning of words and the music with which they’re set to extreme. The result can look almost choreographed. But notice how Dawn’s energy in pronunciation and body language and vocal production is 100% at the service of this aria. Even without the context of the aria we get a real sense of what is happening and how she feels about it. I’ve always said that Dawn is the most sympathetic singer alive in the sense that as an audience member, you want things to work out for her characters. I think her commitment to expressing the text with all of her “vocal crayons” is the principle reason for this.
Secondly we have a performance of a completely different stripe but with just as much commitment. Kristin Chenoweth may very well be a genius. She is a very upbeat and bubbly person which may cover up the fact that she is extraordinarily good at putting across words. Every phrase she sings seems to have meaning. She gives unbelievably broad and detailed performances all of the time. Here she is singing Glitter and Be Gay from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” which is an impossible aria in its virtuosity. She makes it seem like a breeze and she completely wrings the meaning out of every word and every note. She is so “out there” in her performance that if she weren’t completely committed to it we would almost be embarrassed for her. Also, if she weren’t singing the words so that they were understood, imagine how foolish she would look. If you put yourself into something and do it with sincerity an audience will eat it up and be with you completely.
Enjoy,
R
Dawn Upshaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G98wZzwRHf8
Kristen Chenoweth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVsLMxam21I
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