"It's not funny if you have to explain it", but Fred Waring also invented the blender. I guess I was too obtuse.
---- John Howell <[email protected]> wrote: > At 6:04 AM -0500 2/23/10, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: > >On Tue, February 23, 2010 12:01 am, [email protected] wrote: > >> Was that so they would blend? > > > >See John Howell's response -- all the answers! > > Thanks! But not quite all. > > No, not primarily for blend. Choral blend comes from matching vowel > qualities exactly, and that's something Fred would have insisted on. > And English is full of diphthongs and triphthongs and he was > concerned with the exact moments of transition. But he (and his tone > syllables) were primarily concerned with intelligibility, for which > the voicing of consonants and their unison execution are vital. > Beautiful tone comes from vowels; intelligible speech comes from > consonants. In ANY language, including the Italian that singers love > so much. > > Blend, balance, and diction are three separate factors that all go > into good choral performance. Waring did have some personal quirks > of interpretation that many other choral directors didn't care for, > and therefore they often rejected his tone syllable approach. But we > have to remember that a young Robert Shaw was Waring's assistant > conductor for a while, and he certainly adopted Waring's approach > without the stylistic quirks, because they just made good sense. And > Shaw is considered the absolute master by many, especially those who > had the pleasure of working with him. > > John > > > -- > John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music > Virginia Tech Department of Music > College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences > 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 > > "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition > of jazz musicians. > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
