On Jun 22, 2004, at 11:14 AM, Allen Fisher wrote:
I agree here too. It's such a waste of time to try to explain the ties that
I end up just telling the singers where to put it. In the end, it saves
time.
Perhaps my perspective is different, since my choral background (both as singer and director) is primarily in opera, where the score you're using is rarely less than 50 years old in terms of engraving practice, often older. It's just not an option to reject certain engraving standards as "wrong". Each standard has its own logic, and it's simply a matter of getting to know them all.
Of course I don't want to waste my time telling my singers where to place each consonant in the score individually. On the other hand, I *do* want to tell them basic rules and patterns of good choral diction, so that they can learn to figure it out themselves. If your chorus is made up of professional singers it might be different (though in that case, I'd throw out the untrained singer, not the score). The groups I've directed have been mostly community choruses with volunteer singers. I consider it part of my job to teach them how to be better chorus singers. The opera company I last worked with had it right in its mission statement that part of its purpose is not just to provide professional productions for the audiences but to provide experience and education for the volunteer participants. I wholly agree with that philosophy, and I take very seriously the duty to teach as well as direct. (Soloists, orchestra and top production staff were paid; chorus and everyone else was volunteer. That's typical in medium-sized regional opera companies.)
My choruses know basic things like saving the final consonant until the end of the note and so forth. Any time they get it wrong, that's an opportunity to restate the rule for the benefit of newcomers who may be less trained and to reinforce the message for everyone. When we get a score that is written in an unfamiliar style, that's an opportunity to learn something new and add to our knowledge base as musicians. The last two operas I did were in French, where the technique of tying an eighth note to the end of a long note is very common for words ending in a weak "e". For those not used to singing in French, it's a subtle thing to find the right balance between making the final "e" completely silent (wrong) and overemphasizing it with a big "euh" sound (also wrong). As with many things, my singers never quite got it right, but at least they'll be a little closer the next time they sing in French.
mdl
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