Too good!

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Class

Bravo in Barcelona.
Shutterstock image. Source: Pixabay.

A new blog post!  Surprising, I know.  Having a few days’ vacation time gives me an opportunity to catch up a little.

A most amazing thing happened in musical theater class a couple of weeks ago.  I’m so excited to have a chance to tell you all about it!

A student took her turn a few minutes into the class, singing “Almost There” by Randy Newman.

She had nailed “All That Jazz” by John Kander just the week before, so I was anticipating that this would also be wonderful.

As it happened, she was anxious about something. When she began to sing, I could barely hear her. I wanted to get into it and play, but my sound would have covered her voice.

Why was she nervous?

It could have been anything.

• Was she coming down with something?
• Was she unprepared?
• Was she working on one aspect of vocal production rather than performing the song?

What was going on?

She was worried about the high note at the end of the first phrase, so she held back out of fear that her voice might crack. This is a freshman class. The students are shy about making a fool of themselves in front of other people, even in class. (I’ve been there myself so many times! As a freshman, I was so nervous in my first voice jury that I forgot every word after the title of a slow song in English! I changed my major immediately.)

The professor, who is also her voice teacher, identified the problem and found a way to deal with it.  Among other things, she vocalized the student to a top note a third above the one she was concerned about.

And THEN…

On the fourth or fifth try, she knocked everyone out of their chair!  She was SO GOOD!!!  It was perfect.

Next:

The professor talked about how well the student had just performed, giving her kudos for her substantial progress this semester.  She talked about how gratifying it was to witness this as a teacher, saying, “If I had my shoes, I’d throw them!” ++

Huh?

She elaborated.  In the African-American tradition, when something is “too good,” audience members throw their shoes! *

And then the professor burst into tears.  It was so moving.

The student was in tears soon after.

And the class was speechless.

And that, for me, is what it’s all about.

++  Class is held in a studio with a dance floor.  Everyone takes off their shoes so the floor remains grit-free. If a dancer were to trip on grit, s/he could sprain, dislocate or break something, putting him or her out of the game for a long time.  So that’s why the professor didn’t have her shoes!

*  Both professor and student happen to be African-American.  After class, I shared with the professor that I worked in an African-American church in Brooklyn for quite a while, also performing in other venues with the music director, who is a wonderful singer. However, when things were “too good,” no one threw their shoes.  So where did that come from?  She said it’s a Southern thing.  People even throw their shoes in church!

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

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Singing what you play: how does that work?

Pete Seeger teaching William Boyce “Alleluia” round in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, 2011. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Do you sing your music as you practice?  I recommend it (see previous post).

For the past 2 or 3 days, I’ve been thinking about why this works so well.

When playing involves brain work only, one can become caught up in the exact length of each note, the weight given to each, the dynamic changes from one note to another.  That level of detail is crucial to interesting playing, of course, but isn’t that mind-boggling, doing all that thinking?

When I practice in that way, I find that I am physically removed from producing the sound.  I am not a participant in playing phrases. I notice that when I sing while playing, my body takes care of all that.

When the amount of breath sent through the body to produce the sound varies from pitch to pitch, the breath maintains the line.  The body (arms, hands, tips of fingers) produces music, not just mathematical changes. What if someone told you that to reach a certain goal involving myriad details, all you needed to do one thing?

This is the best explanation I can come up with at the moment.  I hope it is helpful.  Singing makes all the difference.  It coordinates separate, much smaller details, making them an organic whole.  And it’s so easy!

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Got a box? Here’s why you need one!

Tags

Andy Murray, Headache, sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, US Open

English: Bromo-Seltzer advertisement for headache medicine. Lottie Collins sings Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-de-ay! after being healed by the medicine and this effect makes her to dance and sing. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Several years ago I went out to dinner with a singer/client.  Although she had a pounding headache, she was delightful company.  She was joking, laughing, and making wonderful contributions to our conversation.

How was she able to be so personable, considering that she had a headache?

Well, she was compartmentalizing.  I didn’t understand how to do that at the time. But I worked on it, and am now so much better!

Which brings me to the point:  What happened to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals at this year’s US Open?

He tanked!  There is plenty of video footage of him smashing his racquet against the court and screaming during his match with Stan Wawrinka. That was   between points. During play, he looked like a bump on a log. He let shots go without moving at all, netted several returns, and generally looked disengaged.

Don’t you think the spectators who paid for those expensive tickets expected to see both players at their best?

I should say that I have long thought Murray’s game was erratic.  He is extremely talented, but his widely variable focus and frequent lack of will make his game so inconsistent.

What would happen if he could put his frustrations in a box for the duration of the match?  Does he need to vent so much that it saps his concentration?

Try this:  When you are practicing and feel distracted, frustrated, angry at the company you spent an hour on hold with just now, or worried about something else, take out your imaginary box.  Put all of that in the box, then go to the front door.  Open the door, and place your imaginary box out in the hallway.

All your “stuff” will still be there when you’re finished practicing.  You can have it back if you want it.

By the way, the same procedure works just as well for rehearsals, auditions, juries, and performances!

Related article

Murray Loses Cool and, Soon, the Match

NYTimes.com 

Got a box?  Please share your thoughts in the Comment Section below!

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Long-distance coaching via txt

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Last night during dinner (in MA), I received the following message from a singer I coach who had traveled to FL:

“Help!  I’m in FL for my godmother’s funeral and it’s looking like the organist is, well, not with it.  The family let him know they wanted me to do a solo at the beginning of the week and he didn’t get in touch with me till today [Friday] (funeral is tomorrow AM) and now he says he’s not ‘primarily’ an organist and he’s not sure he can play “Oh Rest in the Lord” or “He Shall Feed His Flock” on such short notice???????  Oh, and he didn’t call me sooner because he was kayaking!

I mean, taking a job as an organist and then saying you can’t do something simple like that?  And being an organist means being available for funerals, n’est-ce pas?  They aren’t generally planned in advance!!”

What to do?  No singer should have to be dragged down by a pianist.  The funeral was this morning, and I’m waiting for an update.  Hopefully the organist got with the program and didn’t freak out during the service.

I suggested to the singer that she could sing unaccompanied.  She would be comfortable with that, and then wouldn’t have to second-guess the organist or adjust to his discomfort.

If the organist decided to play and the rehearsal went fairly well, hopefully he didn’t drag the singer down during her solo.  I told her that if he messed up, just ignore him.  Can you imagine looking over to discern what the pianist might be doing when you are so emotionally involved in your singing?

We’ll see how things transpired.  The singer and I are driving to Boston and back on Monday (90 miles), so we’ll have plenty of time to talk.  This will make for fascinating conversation!

Every coach I know who is worth his or her salt checks for messages every 1/2 hour or so.  Next time the singer is out of town, she might have to take me!   😉

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Related article

• What is a Vocal Coach?(GretchensPianos.wordpress.com)

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Working with the choir and congregation for the 1st time

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choir, Church, Congregation, Hymn

Image via Wikipedia

My first Sunday in my new Director of Music position was January 29th.  To get started, the choir came early so we could talk about what we wanted to do together.

And it was the choir’s suggestion!

On February 5th, this past Sunday, the choir sang during the service.

We had a brief rehearsal, which included singing the hymns and choosing another to sing as an anthem.

During our anthem rehearsal, I asked the choir to sing sentences, honoring the punctuation in the text.  Sometimes there is a comma and sometimes there isn’t!  Sometimes the thought continues where people have automatically taken a breath for years, breaking up the thought and thus the understanding.

One choir member said, “It’s just a hymn.”

I then discussed that part of the function of the choir is to lead the hymns.  And when the text means something to the choir, the congregation tends to notice, too.  When the text is meaningless, why bother singing hymns at all?

The choir took what I said and went with it during rehearsal.  I want them to step up to their leadership role.  The ratio of success in rehearsal and during the service was rather low, but we started at a higher level than I had expected.

We especially rehearsed “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” which I wanted to do as a gospel number, even with an unaccustomed choir and congregation.

At first, someone commented, “It’s too slow!”  When I mentioned that this was written in the deepest grief, and when someone feels that devastated s/he can barely speak, we continued unchallenged.

What the choir member was actually saying was that she had to take a breath in the middle of a sentence.  When someone is sobbing, it’s going to be more like taking a breath in the middle of a word!

My goal was to remove all obstacles, experience the words, and express the emotion.  This is not a piece requiring great refinement.

When I asked the minister for a minute or two to introduce the hymn to the congregation, he was all for it.

Result:  Not only did everyone sing emotionally, they truly understood what they were singing and appreciated the introduction.  Many congregants approached me after the service to continue the conversation.

And when you’re building a music program, isn’t that the point?

The pastor and many in the congregation said the choir sounded better than ever!

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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• My new Director of Music position! (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)
• An unusual church organ (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)

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If my father had a Facebook page

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Carthage, construction, David and Goliath, hospital calls, IL, Litchfield, male quartet, Maywood, radio, seminary

First National Bank of Litchfield ~ Image by myoldpostcards via Flickr

My father’s birthday is today.

He would have been 99!

If he had a Facebook profile, it might look like this:

Name:  Gilbert Allen.  Nickname:  Sawdi.

City of birth:  Litchfield, IL (pop. 6,815 as of the year 2000 census).

College:  Carthage College, Carthage, IL
Sang in college choir, where he met my mother.  Sang bass in a male quartet, which toured churches.

After college:  Did construction work in CO while deciding what to do with his life.

Seminary:  Maywood, Chicago, IL.  The seminary was moved.  A park was built at the original site which later became Wrigley Field!

Most distinguishing characteristic:  his speaking voice.  He was also very good looking.  (You know, tall dark and handsome.  6’4″, dark wavy hair, blue-gray eyes (same as mine).  When he would make hospital calls to see members of the congregation, the patient’s roommate would often say hello, having recognized his voice.  “You’re Pastor Saathoff!  I heard you on the radio program!”  He was always pleased at the recognition.

He also had a beautiful singing voice.  With further training, I think he could have been a professional singer.

Most unusual thing he ever did:  When preaching a sermon about David and Goliath, he became inspired and ignored his notes.  He acted out both parts.  I clearly remember him shouting, while channeling Goliath, “HA!  You can’t kill me!!!”  He even pounded on the pulpit!

Favorite activities:  Watching the campfire during summer vacation, swimming, attending the Drake Relays with friends, going to the St. Louis Municipal Opera with family (not that far from Litchfield).

Only time I heard him swear:  When parking the trailer in the mud.  It always got stuck.  I was happy when we got a tent.

Pet peeve:  Answering machines.  When I moved to NY, I bought one.  Every time he called thereafter, even when I picked up the phone before the machine, the first thing he said after he said “Hello” was, “Do you still have that answering machine?”

Favorite food group:  Hot fudge on vanilla ice cream.  Definition:  it has to get hard when it hits the ice cream.  Otherwise it’s chocolate syrup.

Favorite trees:  Gingko and Mimosa.

What I admired most:  his ever-present willingness to answer the phone and  go out on a call at times like 3 and 4 a.m. without complaint, and his unwavering integrity.

Happy Birthday, Dad.  I love you.

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• If my mother had a Facebook page… (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)

Recalling a wonderful performance

Tags

Aston Magna, Fortunato Arico, J.S. Bach, Music, performance, Riverside Church, Robert Shaw, St. Matthew Passion, Thomas Pyle, Westminster Choir College

viola da gamba ~ Image via Wikipedia

While including a link in a previous post,
I was thrilled to see that Fortunato (“Freddy”) Arico was one of two cellists
on the recording involved.

Arico’s name led me to recall the first time I heard him play.  He riveted my attention immediately, starting with the very first note.

Scene:  top balcony of The Riverside Church in New York.

Program:  “St. Matthew Passion” of J.S. Bach

Performers:  The Westminster Robert Shaw Summer Choral Workshop, with orchestra

Memorable Soloist:  Thomas Pyle, singing the role of Jesus as a committed, dramatic interpreter.

My housemate and good buddy Margaret and I drove to New York​ for the  performance.  I knew that Shaw was conducting and Tommy was one of the soloists.  We took either Margaret’s way cool blue Saab or my funky orange VW bug, driving back to Amherst the same night.

Freddy played the continuo part on the viola da gamba.  He had a lot of work to do!  His sound was the most beautiful I had ever heard.  The rhythm he projected was incredibly sharp and arresting.  And for that palpable sense of total involvement to reach the second balcony?  That simply doesn’t happen often.

Tom Pyle sang from the pulpit!  Most appropriate, I thought.  And when Jesus spoke to the crowd, Tommy turned to the chorus!  I’d say he paid attention to the words.

He saw the role as a living story.  He was acting the part, not facing the audience at all times as an oratorio soloist normally would.  Members of the audience heard him just fine, and were drawn into the dramatic elements of the performance as well.  His gorgeous baritone voice seemed to roll effortlessly across that enormous space.

Freddy’s gamba playing inspired me to attend several Aston Magna concerts in the Berkshires later.  I am so glad to have been there.

Read more about Aston Magna on the eminent harpsichordist Albert Fuller’s blog.

Have you attended an especially memorable concert?  Please share your experience in the comment section below!

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• In Memory of Philipp Naegele (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)
• Updated: In Memory of Philipp Naegele (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)
• Philipp, a guest post by Elena Yasinski gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)

It’s about the WORDS!

Tags

art song, Broadway song, expression, language, pop song, singing, vocal coaching, words

Image by Cayusa via Flickr

Last weekend I was invited to coach a group of  student singers and play for them in recital.  The program included classical and pop music as well as Broadway show tunes.

From the viewpoint of a vocal coach, these styles have many similarities.  Yes, the requirements of vocal production are widely different.  But what do they have in common?

There was one issue consistent among the singers:  the words!

Expressing the words

What does it take?  What do we need to look at?  What kinds of decisions do we need to make?

1.  Do your own translation. Every singer must know which word is which!  One singer I was coaching didn’t know which words were the most expressive, because she had only a general idea of what they meant.  The publisher had provided a translation next to the original text.  Looking up just a few words would have made a huge difference.

The word order changes from language to language, folks.

2.  Know where each sentence begins and ends.

Not every group of words you sing is a complete sentence!  Look at the printed text. When you come to a rest with a piano interlude, do you see a comma?  A semicolon?  If you don’t see a period, the sentence continues.

3.  Perform the words, spoken aloud, first in English and then in the language of the song.  Declaim them.

This step is crucial.  There are no shortcuts.

You will sound like you are in a fog if you blow this off.  You’ll just be singing gibberish.  You are telling a story!

4.  Find the most important words. Then be expressive on the stressed syllables of those words.  (BLEI-ben, VEIL-chen, VA-ter, etc.  Same approach in English.  French, an unstressed language, is an exception.)  “The,” “a,” ‘”and,” and “or” are unimportant.  They can almost be passed over, singing shorter notes.  (There are occasional exceptions, of course.)

This applies even when the notation indicates an entire measure of quarters or eighths. When we speak, syllables require varying amounts of time to verbalize.  We just talk without realizing that.  In singing, notation sometimes gets in the way of expression.  Declaiming the words away from the music is so important!

Example of stressed syllables:
“We’re OFF to see the WIzard,
the WONderful WIzard of OZ.”

4.  Connect sentences with your thought. Your intention to convey a sentence matters.

Example:
“… sie wieder einen
inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde…”

“… the happy ones, again unite
amidst this sun-breathing earth, …”

from “Morgen!” by Richard Strauss
text by John Henry Mackay

In this song, the thought continues between “einen” and “inmitten,” although there is a piano interlude (so the singer can breathe!).

How would you finesse that?  How could you connect the 2 lines to make a sentence while breathing in between?

How about breathing immediately upon the release of  “einen,” with the intention of conveying the connection? In other situations, you might take care not to drop the end of the syllable preceding the break.  In fact, a crescendo preceding a break creates a wonderful illusion of continuity.

5.  Know the mood of your character. The intensity changes during almost all songs.  Is your character wistful?  Triumphant?  Still hopeful?  Resigned?  Your vocal production, facial expression, gesture, and volume must change accordingly.

When you sing the same words more than once, each statement is different. Are you becoming more emphatic or resigning yourself to the reality of the situation?  You can sing louder or softer to match the mood.

Example: “I love you, I love you, I love you!”  You sing it 3 times because you mean it!  Don’t let it be just a bunch of words.

No matter how long you’ve studied or in which genre you are singing, spending time delving into the words of your song will improve your understanding and performance.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Related articles ~ read more about how to do a great translation

• Effective Translation (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)

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Effective Translation

Tags

coaching, interpretation, Music, story, text, translation

Image via Wikipedia

During graduate school, I found myself sitting in my host’s living room over Christmas break, the music for a program of Messiaen songs spread out on the couch, French-English dictionary in hand.

My host, entering the room, noticed what I was doing.  He proceeded to tell me, “Don’t translate that!  You don’t need to.  Just play the music.”

I hope you find that statement outrageous!  I did.

A discussion followed.  I wasn’t making an impression, but I had no intention of stopping, uncomfortable situation or not.  Out of desperation, I said, “If I don’t translate this program, I’ll flunk out of school!”

That squelched the conversation, and I finished without further unsolicited advice.

Why is translation so important?

You need to know exactly what you’re saying!

• Maybe you know that the text is about water.  You need to go further.  What kind of water?  Rippling brook?  Crashing surf?
• Perhaps you recognize the word “heart.”  What is your character’s heart doing?  Beating faster?  Is your character in despair?  Sobbing?
• When you have repeated chords for several measures, what do they indicate?  A heartbeat?  Being out of breath?  Why?  A tolling bell?
• Is your character saying something or thinking it?  Big difference!
• Is your character talking to or about someone?  You need to know.
• Is this person having many thoughts at once, or is s/he going crazy?
• Is the text serious or not?  Funny?  Ironic?

Translating text right away will make your life much easier.  You can make a plan to interpret the music meaningfully and coach singers with their motivation and character in mind.

If you have been reading this blog, you know how I feel about learning the notes first like a robot.  We all need more information so we can feel the music.

Use a printed dictionary!

Google and online dictionaries are fine for looking up isolated words.  But I advocate doing text translations with an actual foreign-language dictionary.  The more definitions, the better.  You will also be able to refer to synonyms, antonyms, variations, etc.

One of my favorite things to do is an accurate translation of a German text, followed by an outrageously inapproriate one (in my head)!  So many choices….

Write the translation word-for-word into the score

When the translation appears immediately above the original text, you will save time and not have to rely on memory.

Don’t skip anything when translating ~ one word can change an entire sentence.  (“She said lightly, ruefully, coyly, lovingly, darkly….”)

Gail Fischler of the Piano Addict blog challenged her college students to think of adjectives to describe their recital pieces.  Interesting concept!  One student’s idea was “playful, with a hint of brooding.”  That would change your musical approach, wouldn’t it?

Of course, while you’re at it, you will translate all musical directions in the score, too.

Now do another translation in the vernacular

• Use everyday slang
• Include idioms
• Avoid formality

The goal is to understand & convey the story (more like John Grisham than Shakespeare) ~ so you could tell it to your best friend or an audience.  Be conversational.

Include translations in your concert programs

You will want to use English sentence structure.

If the text is complicated or over-long, a synopsis may be preferable.  Plot synopses for operatic scenes, for instance, provide plenty of detail without becoming confusing to the audience.

Do translations yourself

This is the only way you can ensure accurate results.  Besides, after you’ve done the work, you will have in-depth knowledge of the text.

“Poetic” translations rhyme in English.  They do not accurately translate a text.

Translations printed in the music often tell a nice story, but not THE story of the original text.

Volumes of published translations may be accurate for one or two stanzas, but not in subsequent ones.  Sometimes they can provide a good place to start, but you must look up any words you are unsure of.  How can you tell if you don’t check?

Are you in the habit of doing translations?  How do you go about it?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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‘Tis the season…

Tags

avoiding boredom, inspiration, Music, repetition, Ruth Slenczynska

Image via Wikipedia

…to play the same music over and over!

Thanks to my best buddy Louise for the blog post idea!  She wonders how musicians manage to do this several times a day for weeks at a time.  Good question!

The easy solution would be to “phone it in.”  I’ve made a personal resolution never to do that.  Too risky (for missing cues, notes, etc.), not to mention boring.

How can we avoid zoning out?

A few ideas:

Always find a way to “reinvent” the music, as tired as that term may be.

Practice the program every day, whether you know it in your sleep or not.  Be engaged.

A musician who lived in my building in New York made a good living as a sub in Broadway pit orchestras.  He played 5 instruments, and practiced every one of them every day. That’s what it takes.

Practice the program out of order.  Switch it up. Keep your brain working.

Change something about your practice environment, such as the temperature, lighting, or chair height.  This also keeps you alert, as well as preparing you for day-to-day changes at the venue.  The pianist Ruth Slenczynska uses this approach.

Practice at different tempi. This provides the opportunity to hear everything differently.  Who knows?  You could change your interpretation partway through the season!

Vary the dynamics. You don’t have to play exactly the same way every time, in most cases.

Take breaks in different places (not always after the same piece).

In a church situation, you could harmonize hymns in a variety of ways, add a descant, improvise between verses, or even stop playing.

With anthems, the added instruments could change from time to time.

The choir and soloists could sing from different places in the room.

You could switch up the solos.

What was probably the most effective trick was suggested by a friend.  The Fantasticks, for which I played the harp part on a keyboard, had a run of 36 shows last Spring at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA.  Imagining one person in the audience who had never seen the show made a big difference to me.  Then I had all the incentive I needed to be involved, to communicate the music like it was new every time. Thank you!  You know who you are… : )

I also enjoyed watching a veteran actor every night. He has been in theater for over 40 years!  His ability to “read” the audience in each show, changing his performance to match, fascinated me.  Thanks, J.T., for the inspiration!  I learned so much from you.

How do you manage to perform the same music throughout an entire season?  Please share your ideas in the comment section below!

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