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The importance of text in choral repertoireDate: April 13, 2013 by Toryy Hurlburt  Views: 871
How does the text in a piece of music change the way a choir sings a piece of music? Does it always change the way a choir will think or feel about the music? I often feel that it would be difficult to get a high school or middle school choir interested in the meaning behind the music because they usually just want to sing. What would be a good way to really get a middle school or high school choir interested in the text for a piece of music so that it gives them more meaning while they are singing? Also, when would be a good time in the process of learning a piece to stress the importance of text? I feel that if you tried to make them understand the imortance of text too early they would get bored, but if too late, then they would simply blow it off since they already know the piece.
donald patriquin on April 14, 2013 3:34am
Hello Toryy,
GREAT question, with a number of implications!
As a number of ChoralNet respondents have emphasized recently, language is tremendously important in the creation of choral music, as it relates to meter, accent, rhythm and probably other aspects of the music. It could be interesting to point this out, find a few examples and ask your choir member to locate other examples. This may work better with adults.
A large number of choral directors, and I am one of them, believe that it is important to sing (i.e. learn) the text along with learning of the music, right from the start, as the learning of one reinforces the learning of the other. Where the language is in the singers’ native tongue this is not all that difficult, but where it is not it may be a slightly harder sell. But all the more reason for learning it along with the ‘notes’, the melody and its accompanying lines. By all means run through ‘melody only’ or ‘alto line only’, and even ‘words only’, just to make sure they are correct, but the sooner you can amalgamate the two the better, in my books. I am not sure if it is necessary to actually tell anyone that text is important; the important thing is to make it important! And whether it is Hungarian, Latin or any other language, I believe it is important to have a good translation of the text, even better a good word-by-word translation as well.
I’ll let others respond to the specific middle/high school situation. Just a thought– perhaps you could work with a language teacher on this, or possibly an English teacher (or you could do it yourself) to whom you would supply a word-by-word translation and have the students make up a singable translation. I'm personally not in favor generally of singing translations, but for learning purposes – or even program notes – this could be an interesting project. I'll stop while I'm ahead!
Donald
on April 14, 2013 4:53am
My experience is with middle school. If they can relate to the text (I can apply it to their personal experiences), we look at the text before we sing (i.e. "The Arrow and the Song"). With a sacred piece, I let the musical lines "speak" first. After a few weeks, I have had them translate a Latin text into their own words by prompting them with questions relating to them. "Give me an expression of pure joy and enthusiasm for something....." Each choir is different, but once they substitute their expression for "Gloria", they sing it better. If a text is beyond them, you have to make them understand it at their level. Sometimes it means singing a phrase with alternate words (theirs) before returning it to it's original. When you do that, the communication stays in their voices, their faces and in musical expression.
on April 14, 2013 5:30am
As a composer I always begin with the text, and the music is an outgrowth of my attempt to underscore and amplify the meaning contained in the words. Accordingly, I cannot think it is ever "too early" to begin getting singers interested in the lyrics. That said, I understand that, especially with younger singers, they may well be attracted first to the music, and may not show much interest in the text early in the process of learning a piece.
Perhaps one way to begin nudging them toward an awareness of the meaning is to pick a point of musical interest and ask, "Why do you think the composer did that at this point?" With any luck, someone will realize that the choice was because of something in the text that the composer was trying to emphasize. Another way might be to simply ask, "Why do you think the composer chose this text?" Even "wrong" answers can lead to insight.
Finally, I wouldn't allow fear of their getting bored to dictate your pedagogical approach. An awareness of the risk, and a planned attack would certainly be appropriate, but if we allow the students' ignorance to dictate the content of the instruction we're on a slippery slope.
Best wishes,
Dan Gawthrop
on April 14, 2013 5:53am
Just some thoughts from a (college choir) singer's perspective.
I've found it most useful when text considerations are blended into the vocal rehearsal, not addressed separately. After a few rehearsals, some directors ask "So, what's this song about, anyway?" Not a deep analysis, but a quick question-and-response to remind us there are more than notes here. Sometimes it's "What does _____ mean, and what is the context?". Most helpful is the direct link to the singing. What do you think is the most important word in this phrase, and how does that shape the line? How would you say it? Can we try singing it like that? What is the arrival point of this section? Of the whole work? How can our singing reflect that?
These are all questions that make us focus on text briefly in order to inform our singing. Immediate application of insight makes all the difference. (With luck, a few of use will be provoked to look at the whole text more thoroughly, especially if the text speaks to our current life experience.) And if I'm used to being engaged by questions that link text to performance, it's probably OK to "tell" me instead of "ask" occasionally, when the text is difficult or unlikely to appeal to me.
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