At 1:11 PM -0400 7/19/05, Phil Daley wrote:
At 7/19/2005 11:42 AM, John Howell wrote:
At 10:47 PM -0400 7/18/05, Raymond Horton wrote:
Perhaps, but that might be supposing too much. I would think it's
just a term for a tool of the trade. (Personally, I heard "axe"
years before I ever heard of "woodshedding.")
And barbershopers have been using "woodshedding" for decades
Well, that's because they NEED it ;-)
Never said otherwise! But I gotta say that it's almost chill-making
to be in a convention room with about 400 Sweet Adelines from 30
different choruses in a widespread region when somebody starts a
song, and they all join in in perfect 4-part harmony! And it's part
of the ethos for the men to form impromptu quartets and teach each
other the latest tags and swipes.
I have been to a couple of BarberShop groups because I like to sing
(I also direct a 4-part men's chorus).
As soon as they say "You have to memorize the music", I'm outta there.
I can sing the music correctly the first time through, obviously,
using the music. What do I gain by spending my time memorizing the
same music?
Well, the most obvious answer is that it frees you for gestures,
choreography, stage movement, eye contact, etc. Any ensemble that
uses staging, choreography or characterization can expect to memorize
their music, and that includes opera choruses and Broadway musical
choruses as well as principals. (The quality of the movement is
another question entirely, and too often in barbershop choruses it
can be repetitious and stereotyped.) Any kind of theater is done
memorized, including any music, and that goes for movies and TV as
well as procenium theater. All entertainers work from memory (or
improvize if that fits what they are doing), but their backup bands
need charts because they're often pickup bands who are sightreading
the shows.
But I've also known legit choral conductors who insist on
memorization because (a) you don't really know the music inside out
until you've memorized it, (b) you can't concentrate on the
conductor's every gesture and expression when half your attention is
on the page, and (c) you can't really focus on musical matters like
fine tuning, balance, blend, and accurate pronunciation when half
your attention is on the page. Fred Waring always insisted on having
his singers' undivided attention focused on him, for good reason.
Yeah, I know that a good musician THINKS that s/he is paying
attention to all those things--I certainly do!--but that attention is
still divided.
Chanticleer sings memorized, and never questions it. Nothing else
would allow them to concentrate on one another and produce
chamber-music-like unanimity with 12 singers and without a conductor.
The Kings Singers, on the other hand, used music stands on their
televised appearances with the Boston Pops. Professional string
quartets do NOT memorize their music, but they've played it so much
they could probably play without charts. Back in the '70s the
Stern-Rose-Istomen trio played in the large auditorium at Indiana
University, and in the last movement of the last piece Leonard Rose's
A string broke. He finished the movement in the stratosphere on the
D string, with Stern and Istomen watching him intently to see whether
he would bring it off. They didn't need to be watching their music!
(He brought it off brilliantly, and 2 seconds after the last chord
everyone from the School of Music was on their feet, cheering!)
Joe Gingold (former concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra)
emphasized to the string players at Indiana that you always go to the
first rehearsal with the music completely learned--unless you're the
concertmaster. Then you go to the first rehearsal with the music
memorized, so you can give your undivided attention to the conductor.
That's what the choral conductors i mentioned are after, too.
I can understand that 90% of people in those groups have to learn
the music by rote, since they are clueless about actually reading
the music. But why penalize me?
Of course they do, and that's typical of recreational singing.
Instrumentalists learn to read music in beginning band; singers too
often don't. They aren't professionals, they don't have advanced
training, and reading music is not high on their list of priorities.
I'm sorry you feel penalized, but it just shows that you don't belong
in that particular environment. I've worked at all levels of many
different kinds of music, and I have to adjust my expectations to
match the situation, which I generally manage to do.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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