Apologies for the radio silence – things were somewhat manic at the end of term, and then there was a holiday… still, I promise to try and post more regularly!
Many of my students get exceedingly bored by me constantly talking about the words in their songs. Of course, text is something which is totally unique to singers amongst musicians, and something which instrumentalists rarely, if ever, have to consider when preparing their pieces. Whilst my students must often despair as I once again ask: ‘So, what’s this song about?’ it is vital to any singer to have this thought at the centre of all they do with their song.
Back in March at the Audrey Hyland Masterclass at the Academy, as well as confronting the singers with ‘WHY?’ (see earlier post) she talked about the idea of a ‘tree of words’. Whenever a lyricist, librettist, or poet sets out to compose their text they have an infinite number of words to choose from to convey their ideas. One of the wonderful things about language is simply the vast range of options available to us, each of which has its own subtle nuance from other possible synonyms. Audrey suggested that to remain fully connected to the text at all times, the singer should put themselves in the place of the poet, and reach out and choose each word they sing, as though selecting it from a ‘tree of possibilities’ for the very first time. When singers really do this, the audience is totally convinced that they are feeling these emotions personally and ‘in the moment’, rather than a performance having a sense of having been learned and prepared (although of course, any performance has indeed been very carefully thought through beforehand!).
As well as considering the immediate text in front of them, the singer must also research the context of their song. If it comes from an opera or oratorio, it is part of a narrative, and thus to be fully convincing, they must be aware of the ‘backstory’ and of what happens as a consequence of their song or aria.
If the song is in a foreign language, singers must hunt down an accurate translation (not just relying on a florid English translation which fits the music!) so that they understand every word and nuance as if the piece were in their native tongue. This certainly requires much effort, but is essential if you wish to sing your piece with connection and understanding.
It is often with pieces in English that we are most lazy however. We assume an understanding without analysis of the text, and it is often some weeks into the process of learning a new piece that my students finally stop to consider what it is they are actually singing. The assumption that we know how to pronounce all the words is particularly dangerous; we are careless in our attention to detail, and words frequently get lost because we are lazy in our enunciation of each syllable.
I am a stickler for word clarity (much to the irritation of every one of my students!) and firmly believe that if the words cannot be heard clearly, then there is no point in singing anything other than a vowel. I myself was trained with this thought, and cannot (nor would I wish to!) un-think it, or take it as anything other than central to good singing technique.
Achieving word clarity is simple: you have to work the lips, teeth and tongue as if trying to make words intelligible to a deaf old lady sitting at the back of your performance space. If you can be lip-read from a distance, you are probably working hard enough!
This weekend at the Abingdon Festival I was delighted to have my students adjudicated by Ann Lampard. She cares hugely about words being projected correctly and that students should understand the context of what they are singing – as well as singing repertoire with text appropriate for their age and maturity! Ann discussed these issues at length with some students in their Masterclasses, and quoted none other than Dame Janet Baker, who once said to her:
‘There is absolutely no point in being able to sing sixteen bars of music in one breath, if you have nothing meaningful to say’.
What a wonderful thought for all of those students out there who don’t see the point of caring about the words!