Church Music Committee: Choristers’ Manual, Lesson X; Interpretation (Concluded)

CHURCH MUSIC COMMITTEE Choristers' Manual — Lesson X — Interpretation (Concluded) By Edward P. Kimball In the realm of interpretation there are yet to be considered a few requirements, in addition to those already discussed under this subject, which are essential, and which still do not enter into the purely technical element of tone-production so far as to justify the only consideration of them under that head, which comes later. Tone-quality, or "timbre," to use a more specific technical term, has a large part in the interpretation of all music, though less important than either tempo or dynamics. The conductor has less control over timbre than over tempo and dynamics, as the former is a matter concerning the ability of the singers themselves to alter the quality of tone. But there are many passages in choral music which demand vary- ing timbre in order to make it most effective; but in all such the chorister must be governed by reason and consistency, and not vary every line and phrase into a patch-work of varying qualities of tone. To quote Gehrken: "There are many passages in both choral and orchestral music in which the essential significance depends absolutely upon beauty or highness or plaintiveness or boldness of tone; and especially in choral music it is possible for the conductor to induce his chorus to bring out many more effects than is usually done. A positively ugly and raspy vocal tone may convey a certain dramatic effect that no mere variation in dynamics is able to bring about." In support of the assertion that the employment of varying timbres, or "colors," as the great Garcia is pleased to call them, is essential, let the reader consider some thoughts on the subject as expressed by Garcia: "Ex- pression is the great law of all art * * * The human voice, deprived of expression, is the least interesting of all instruments." (The Art of Sing- ing,) "Timbres are one of the chief features of a true sentiment; the choice of them cannot be neglected without committing absurdities." Another writer, H. S. Kirkland, Expression in Singing, continues the statemcnc of Garcia in these words: "Knowing as we do that the very nature of feeling is to change, it is an absurdity to suppose that concepts of widely contrasted emotional states, such as are frequently indicated in song texts, can be communicated through the use of uniform tone-color * * * A stopped clock points the time accurately twice a day, but such accuracy is purely accidental. Similarly, an unvarying color, when the idea chances to agree with it, may for the moment be fitting or expressive, but an occasional coincidence of this kind is undesigned on the part of the singer, who, therefore, deserves no more credit for expressiveness than the stopped clock for accuracy. From this it is easy to understand Garcia when he says: 'Con- tradictory use of timbres explains why sounds that please in certain expressions, dis- please in others, — why a singer who never varies his voice gives only certain pas- sages with truthfulness-.' " The technique of tone will be treated in a later lesson.

CHURCH MUSIC COMMITTEE 1085 The discussion of interpretation will close with a short consideration of a very important element — phrasing, which in music is similar to phrasing in language. In both cases it is a thought, incomplete, and forming a part of some larger idea, which must be slightly, though def- initely, separated fom the preceding and following phrases so that it may be understood. Nevertheless, it must be rendered, in relation to foregoing and consequent material, so as to take its part as an integral part of the whole. It is necessary to emphasize the important words of a language and the most significant tones in a music phrase, as well as to subordinate the lesser important parts in such a way as to project the whole as com- plete and clear. It is not necessary here to draw attention to the importance of phrasing in the reading of a language, since one could scarcely convey the meaning of the thought groups to the listener without causing the im- portant elements to stand out by stressing them and separating each from the other. While phrasing in music is not so easy to understand or to effect, because of the absence of symbolism, it is nevertheless quite as im- portant an element in the expressive performance of music as it is in language. To quote Gehrken again: "In order to interpret properly, the conductor must first of all determine what tones belong together in a group; must make the individuality of these groups evident by slightly separating them, but usually not the degree of distributing the basic rhythmic flow; and must so manage the dynamics and tempo of each phrase as to make its content clear to the listener." , In vocal music, the task is not difficult, because the composer has generally adapted his musical phrase to the text, and all that is necessary to do is to follow the phrasing of the text. The conductor may well be warned against the commonest faults resulting in poor phrasing, the avoidance of which will improve materially his choir's work. One authority cites as the most common mistakes the following: 1. Taking breath unnecessarily in the middle of a phrase. 2. Breathing between the syllables of a word. , , 3. Dividing a long phrase improperly. 4. Running over breathing places, where a pause is really necessary in order to bring out the meaning of the text. 5. Pronouncing the unaccented syllable of a word at the end of a phrase with too much emphasis. 6. Failing to stress the climax sufficiently. These mistakes are most frequently made, because the singer fails to base his phrasing upon the text, but considers only the_ music. One can apply the principles of oral expression to phrasing, in music, with profit. If one will examine sacred song texts he will often see the reason for careful phrasing. For example, if the poet writes: Jesus lives! no longer now Can thy terrors. Death, appall us! and the choir or singer phrases it: Jesus lives no longer now, Can thy terrors, Death, appall us? the result is not true, but this sort of thing is met constantly. Even in long phrases which cannot be sung without breathing, care must be taken to make the punctuation so that it does not change the text. Subsequent lessons will deal in more detail with the breath and its effects Sufficient has been given under the title of "Interpretation" to fur- nish the choristers with some definite helps in rendering properly anv f??e of music closely in harmony with the composer's intention.