Hello All,
As we get into the practical application of all of the
diction ideas we’ve been discussing this semester it’s time to start expanding
the tool box of interpretation that has solely to do with English pronunciation
and think about some vocal things that can help pronunciation be more
effective. These techniques are part of
pronunciation but let’s call them extended techniques of pronunciation. We’ve already talked about marrying the
language’s rhythm to the rhythm of the music (a hard concept to learn but
perhaps the most effective extended technique to making language in music sound
natural) and we’ve touched on the importance of glottal stops to clarify and
accent a word which begins with a vowel.
We’ve also talked a bit about elongating voiced consonants at the
beginnings and/or ends of words to make things clearer.
I would like to add to those ideas, that of portamento. In Italian, ‘portamento’ means bearing, as in
the way one carries one’s self; or bearing something from one place to another –
to carry. In singing, that ‘bearing’ has
to do with tone. When you have two
separate pitches you can bear your tone from one to the other. Bearing is such a better word than sliding
because bearing has the connotation of carrying, not just going. A portamento
builds or maintains energy either up or down.
A slide may build energy going down but loses energy going up. Portamento
started as a bel canto vocal technique.
In order to keep one’s tone consistent up and down the scale, you bore
that tone from one pitch to another – especially in a wide interval. Over time this vocal technique has also
become an interpretive technique.
Bearing a lower tone to a higher tone (or vice versa) can give the music
– and the word set to that music a sense of gravitas – a sense of weight.
As illustration I have two videos for you to watch and listen
to. The first is of Marian Anderson who
you should all get to know. I don’t even
know where to start with her. In many ways
she is the most important American singer of the 20th Century. Arturo Toscanini (look him up) said of her
voice that it was of a quality that only comes around once in a hundred
years. In 1939 she was dis-invited by
the Daughters of the American Revolution to sing at Constitution Hall in
Washington D.C. In reaction, President
and Mrs. Roosevelt arranged for her to do an entire concert on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. 70,000 or so people
showed up! Remember, this was 24 years before Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have
a dream” speech was delivered in the same place. The popularity of her singing alone
transcended prejudice. Florence Kopleff
always told me that Anderson’s singing was the most touching and beautiful she
ever heard. I really do encourage you to
look her up and listen to as much of her singing as you can. Here she sings the spiritual “Sometimes I
feel like a motherless child.” She uses
all of the techniques we’ve talked about but notice her portamentos. By the way,
there is one big thing that makes her singing old fashioned in this recording
(to my ears). What is it?
It’s very hard to follow Marian Anderson with anyone else
but I think I found just the person.
That’s right, it’s Elvis Presley!
Here he sings “Love me tender” and notice that he’s using all of the
techniques we “serious” singers use to be immediate and sincere and
moving. In what ways is he doing the
same things as Marian Anderson?
R
Marian Anderson
Elvis Presley
