In a message dated 1/8/01 6:40:57 AM, dredeman@y... writes:
<< Fritz Wunderlich who has done many quite kitchy things in such a way, you
forget it is kitch, because he gives so much more than the music actually
deserves, that it gets a different quality.
But Lynda Lacy is telling us this since a long time, with her quote at the
end of her emails, which I will quote this time on my turn: "Allow your voice
to serve the music, not the other way around." - B. R. Henson >>
Dear Dre,
Nice to hear from you on the list! I want to comment here, partly because
you have quoted one of my teachers, as I do on my signature. Henson was a
choral director. I know that to some on this list, choral singing has not
been a good experience vocally. I can tell you, however, that this teacher,
and many others for whom I have had the good fortune to sing, knew that the
voice has many colors, and allowed singers to truly "sing". I sang an
audition about 10 years ago for another conductor's group, and I performed a
Mozart aria and a spiritual. Obviously, there were stylistic differences,
and to me, there were also major differences in the ways I colored my sound.
Let me hasten to say that neither style damaged my voice in any way, nor did
it cause tension. The conductor who auditioned me, however, questioned
"which was your 'real' voice?". You know, if I had sung with exaggerated
straight tone, or sung the Mozart in tandem with a pop piece that I belted,
or something with extended vocal techniques, I think the question might be
valid. But what I had done was use good, solid breath management and
'complete' tone (appropriate vibrato for the dynamics and range and style)
for each piece. My pitch was good. I am known as an expressive singer but
not as one who overdoes anything to the point of sentimentality or maudlin
performance. I don't believe that anything I do to be expressive would make
anyone listening to me uncomfortable (that is an important factor, and one
that Richard Miller also states often).
Henson meant, in stating that the "voice must serve the music", that we
should do what we can interpret best to be the composer's intention. If we
choose, as performers, to sing something whose style is evident by the
dynamic and tempo markings, as well as the history of the piece and its
composer, and if it is within our abilities, we are true to the music if we
do what is written, but untrue if we must re-write the style to fit our
voices. I believe that a good, well-trained singer can, and should, be able
to find at least two styles of music which are comfortable both to sing and
for an audience to hear. For a large number of singers, those are classical
rep (opera, art song, etc.) and musical theatre. I believe that the flexible
singer can do those forms equally well, but not equal in sound, necessarily.
I find myself adding a brighter quality in musical theatre rep, but for
others, that might not be the variable. It's necessary for each singer to
experiment to find out what styles are possible for his/her voice. Know your
strengths and your limitations.
Singers might well experiment with other styles for the lessons that can be
learned from them. My diction on classical rep improved dramatically when I
realized that my wonderful music theatre diction need NOT be used only for
that purpose! Sounds like something that should be obvious, but it was not
always.
Here's to stretching ourselves musically!
Sincerely,
Lynda Lacy
Lynda Lacy, Director of Choral Activities
Jackson Preparatory School
Jackson, Mississippi
"Allow your voice to serve the music, not the other way around." - B. R.
Henson
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/lynda313/myhomepage/profile.html">Lynda and
the Fine Arts</A>
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