Karena Aslanian <omtara@h...> wrote:
>
> What do you do to get it? I know the nuts and bolts of it, but would like to
hear different people's ways of thinking about it. Hopefully there will be
something in there that will help things "click" for me more. So, what do you do
to get that legato line? Thanks in advance!
For me, I always understood legato intellectually. And I was able to apply my
understanding on instruments such as piano and viola. However, as much as I
"tried", I was unable to achieve it successfuly singing until my technique had
progressed so that much of the tensions were no longer there. The concept that
got me able to do a good legato was when I became able to "sing on the breath".
Of course, that's one of those vocal terms that has no intrinsic meaning on the
page, and has meaning only when it's demonstrated "with" and "without" by a
singer, or by oneself.
So the bottom line for me was, when I started being able to master correct
breathing coordination for singing, I also became able to sing a true legato.
Nothing interrupted my breath - not changing notes, not consonants. And I also
became able to sing tone softly, loudly, etc. There's nothing like good
technique to make all the musical and artistic goals come to fruition.
Adding to that a little, there's also a figurative legato - the way an artist
can connect for the listener the idea of a musical line, even when there are
rests in the middle, or a breath is needed. But I don't have time right now to
write more about that - maybe later or someone else can chime in.
Peggy
Peggy
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
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