On Oct 24, 2006, at 8:16 AM, Anthony Hind wrote: > ...I would personally doubt whether some Irish folk singers are > completely untrained. Perhaps it is not a scholarly training, but > some (not of course the present singer) that I have heard make such > extraordinary vocalizations I can't think this is just the result of > a spontaneous breaking into song, as it were. > If this were so, why can't I do that.
I agree with you that those "extraordinary vocalizations" don't just spring forth without some kind of tradition behind them. I think that for the most part people who sing folk music, rock, blues, country, whatever (classical singing not included), learn it by listening to, and cultivating the art of their native language. Also, the fact is that people do occasionally burst into song: at home, in the workplace, at religious gatherings, wherever. I know this because I've seen it. My father is the best example I can think of: he had absolutely no musical talent, no singing voice whatsoever, no "ear" for music whatsoever, yet he was always bursting into song! He loved to sing, and he was totally uninhibited about it! Of course, some of those among the "frozen chosen" would say that what he was doing was not "singing." And they may be right: after all, he didn't know a damned thing about Caccini trillos, that's for sure! But then, he was the kind of guy who thought opera was funny...Whatever that was, who knows? But I think that whatever technique has to be trained in, a corresponding amount of spontaneity is bred out. That's our civilization for you IMO. > Who knows that there was no voice training at the time of Dowland (as > you say yourself this is highly unlikely)? Clearly there was lute > training, so why not some form of voice training? Surely there would > have been strict training for singers in religious ceremonies, I > imagine. Just listen to some of those complex polyphonous creations. > Surely this would have spread into secular singing in some way. Absolutely. If you can sing Tallis and Byrd, you can certainly sing Dowland. David R [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.rastallmusic.com -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
