I wrote:
> > My personal artistic goal is to sing in a way (and to have my vocal
>> quintet sing in a way) that is free of the complusions of the genre
>> in which the composition is categorized. This means to sing jazz,
>> classical, folk, and bluegrass music without ever sounding like a
>> jazz, classical, folk, or bluegrass singer. I believe that this is
> > the only way to have a repertoire that includes music from all those
> > genres and sound convincing rather than foolish. I also think that it
> > is the most satisfying way to perform even if one always stays within
>> a single genre.
and Christy asked:
>What do you mean? How is this done?
In a previous post I gave two examples of how I work with my singers,
both of which may be illuminating. Here's the link:
14764
> What do you and your singers
>end up sounding like when singing jazz, for instance? If not a jazz
>singer doing jazz, then what? A classical singer, a folk singer, or
>some kind of combination?
I intend that we just sing the music in a way that is true to it
without performing charicatures of all the singers that have ever
sung in the genre. But rather than answer with more words, here are
some examples:
CLASSICAL
La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, Debussy:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1181/1181373.html
JAZZ
Blues, John Link: http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1181/1181006.html
FOLK
Russian Siciliana, John Link:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1345/1345768.html
>It sounds like you're claiming the best policy is to ignore the
>conventions of genre in order to perform within the genre
>successfully. If this is not what you meant, please clarify, but if
>this IS what you meant, I do not see how this could lead to a
>convincing rather than foolish performance.
I'm not suggesting to ignore all the conventions of the genre. For
example, I find jazzed-up, swung versions of Bach to be silly, and I
wrote in a recent post about how ridiculous it was to hear "If I
Loved You" in a key that took a soprano to the top of her range. I
mean to avoid the COMPULSIONS of the genre. To find such a thing,
sing a pop song as though you were an opera singer (and wanted to
make fun of opera singers). Now sing something from opera in the same
way. THAT'S what I want to avoid. Or sing a classical piece as though
it were a pop song (and wanted to make fun of pop singers), and then
sing a pop song the same way. That's another example of what I want
to avoid.
The territory we're on is one in which the appropriate distinctions
are quite fine and in which words can be quite confusing. I hope that
what I've written has clarified my ideas.
Respectfully,
John Link
Check out my CDs:
http://www.cdBaby.com/JohnLink2 (John Link Sextet)
http://www.cdBaby.com/JohnLink (John Link Vocal Quintet)
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