Books › Musical Courier 1928-05-10: Vol 96 Iss 19, 1928 › scan 25
Scan 25
Musical Courier 1928-05-10: Vol 96 Iss 19, 1928
70 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 26. See the scan on archive.org.
1Vocal Technic for the Conductor
2By John Finley Williamson
4[The following address was made by John Finley Williamson at the Supervisors' Conference in Chicago. It comes from a man who has made himself internationally renowned as a teacher of choral music and as a conductor of unusual capabilities. His comments on choral singing are at times amusing, at times constructive, but whatever point of view one may take, they surely must bring to the musician a feeling of regret that there is not more and better choral singing in America, and stimulate zeal in behalf of the work necessary to its development.—The Editor.]
6"Conceded that choral singing is necessary to a healthy national musical development because choral singing is the one form of music that penetrates into every community, school, church and home. Then our question is, what kind of choral singing shall we establish as a standard? In going over the United States in almost every town we hear choirs, choruses and groups singing with all sorts of varying standards. One standard is that of volume and noise. A group of healthy, hard working Americans gather together once a week with a definite purpose to outdo each other in lusitiveness. As the program continues their faces redden, the conductor's collar wilts and by the end he has outdone any university cheer leader. Another standard that is used greatly is that of high notes. As soon as you pick up a program, you realize that every number has been selected for its climactic effect so as to give a few choice sopranos a chance to screech on high notes. This kind of chorus will always have about fifty sopranos, three basses, one poor lone tenor and a few kind elderly ladies singing alto. Another standard is that of sentimentality. A great favorite. Their singing is a series of slides, slurs and scoops in the name of interpretation. The conductor and choir members always talk a lot about art. But art is never there. After one of our concerts, a lady from this kind of chorus came up to me and said, "Oh, Bach, ain't he grand?" Mechanical drill precision characterizes another standard. We all go through this period, but the sad part is that few ever come out of it. The conductor feels that if he starts his chorus together, if they sing the exact time and notes that appear on the printed page and he stops them together, that he has accomplished all that can be desired in choral singing. He starts his metronome going at the beginning of the number and never stops it until the end. Some conductors also feel that good tone production is the final aim in choral singing. This class of conductors also feels that the English language is unsingable. The tone of their choir is always slushy, mushy and gushy because it lacks the propelling power of animated vitalized thought. An opposite extreme to this group is the group that overdoes the question of diction. Their words almost slap you in the face. This group, however, is far in the minority and one almost feels like commending it.
8"Perhaps all of these elements enter into good choral singing. But we must squarely face the fact that good or bad singing depends entirely upon the conductor and his knowledge of choral and baton technique, granted that he is a person with personality, leadership and musicianship. Choral conductors are the greatest alibis in the world. They either have no material at all to work with, or they have professional singers to work with that are impossible. Sir Henry C. Coward, Director of the famous Sheffield Choir, England, said that no conductor had great material but a great conductor made his material great. Personally, I believe that professional singers or non-professional singers will come to as many rehearsals a week as their conductor inspires.
10"Time does not allow a discussion of Vocal Technic. Suffice it to say that he must understand the limitations and possibilities of the instrument upon which he plays. He must understand breathing, pronunciation, vowel modification, enunciation and articulation. He must also be able to take a raw, crude mass and mould it into an artistic ensemble. This must be accomplished in a brief space of time with great inspiration.
12"Let us now consider Baton Technic. Conductors are prone to forget that theirs is a sign language and not a word language. How often have we seen a conductor stand before his group, jump at them with a sharp, jerky tone. He is displeased with the result and proceeds to brow-beat them for not looking at him. The trouble is they have looked too closely. This is repeated five or six times and by this time the chorus is cowed to such a point that they are afraid to give expression to a healthy tone and thought. They realize that they must memorize what he says and ignore what he does. A well trained choir is not one that remembers effects as asked for by the conductor, but one that responds to intelligent direction.
14"The choral conductor's task is three fold. He must first secure from his singers a full, free, sonorous, vitalized tone. A tone with enough flexibility to allow an easy production with all stresses of voice. He must then take this tone and build phrases with it along the outlines suggested by the harmonic and melodic progressions of the music. Lastly, he must make each phrase and the entire composition glow with that emotional fire that lends the final touch of artistry. A conductor may have a thorough understanding of vocal technique and its application to individual voices but he must have more than that. When he steps before a group his posture, arm, wrist and hand movements must radiate physical vitality and coordinated control. A devitalized body will bring a devitalized tone. A body lacking in coordinated movement will call forth a tense throaty tone. We often hear people talk about good attacks and good releases in choral singing. These are words that mean nothing. We have as many different kinds of attacks as we have different emotions finding expression in phrasing. It is not the conductor's business to start and stop his choir, but his principle task is to outline phrasing. Just as a violinist knows that each new phrase demands certain pressure and certain mental concept of tone when he puts the bow on the string, so a conductor must know that every phrase demands a thorough understanding of what he expects to do with that phrase and a thorough understanding of the relation of that phrase to all other parts of the composition. Vitality and interpretation in singing come through control of phrasing and not through speeding of tempo and forcing of voice. After he starts, the conductor must be able to build to whatever stress he desires and to sustain interest from one phrase to the next. Phrasing in singing is a little different from phrasing with the orchestra because you always have the element of diction to contend with. This is a separate study in itself, but diction must always be kept as a part of the phrase and of course this depends on the conductor. Linked to artistic phrasing is emotional control. The words soft and loud should never be used with singers. The word soft to a chorus means letting down, the word loud means forcing. Development of emotional color will take care of all elements of stress. This the conductor portrays to his choir by the use of facial expression and the development of emotional curves in his rhythms. He must always remember that the emotional curve is very often opposite from the stress curve. What we call pianissimo singing is usually an expression of the greatest emotional intensity. However, the use of emotion in singing demands great care on the part of the conductor. It must never mean sentimentality or hysteria, but must always be guided by the intelligent use of good taste and good judgment. The conductor that does not have imagination had better find another profession. Emotion is the breath of life. It adds to the bare symbols of music the glow of sincerity.
16"In years past we have recognized that the violinist, pianist and singer must spend years of patient effort in the mastery of a technic. The day of choral singing is here. It must be recognized that the conductor must master a technic as difficult and exacting as that of any other artist in music. The day of the time beater and wig wagger is past. The artist conductor has sublimated him."
18Elderly Peasants to Take Part in Quebec Festival
20Elderly French-Canadian peasants will have an important part in the Canadian Folksong and Handicraft Festival at Quebec from May 24 to 27. They will sing and dance and perform their specialized tasks in the various domestic handicrafts at the Chateau Frontenac, overlooking the broad St. Lawrence. These gray-haired men and women, no matter what their task, have one thing in common—their love of music. There is nothing highbrow about this love. They sing as naturally and as spontaneously as any barber-shop choir; and they do it mainly because the rhythm lightens their labors.
22Gertrude Kappel Appreciated Both Here and Abroad
24Her Isolde, Bruennhilde and Kundry Outstanding Favorites of Opera Goers
26Mme. Gertrude Kappel, after a successful stay in this country, returned to her native land on the S. S. Hamburg, on April 14, to resume her activities there. That she has been missed in Germany as much as she was appreciated here, can be seen from the following paragraph which appeared a short time ago in a Munich daily:
28"La Kappel, that glorious songbird, is seen here on and off—far too seldom, as a matter of fact—on her flight from Vienna to the United States. When fortune smiles on us, we catch a few tones of her glorious voice. It is only at festival time that she deigns to bestow a little more favor on us in Munich."
30Mme. Kappel has given the Metropolitan audiences in New York something long to be remembered, an ideal Isolde, and a Bruennhilde and Kundry which would have brought joy to the heart of Wagner himself.
32While abroad Mme. Kappel will appear first in Munich, then in Vienna, whence she will return to Munich, where she will be a principal figure in the opera festival in August.
34Kisselburgh Has "Voice, Musicianship and Artistry"
36One of Alexander Kisselburgh's recent appearances was as soloist in Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ, given in Brockton, Mass., under the direction of George Sawyer Dunham. The Brockton Daily Evening Enterprise well states that "to present The Seven Last Words of Christ in the manner its composer intended, the baritone must be care-
38PARISI and EVANS
39(Martha Parisi) (Mary S. Evans)
40MUSICAL AND CONCERT MANAGEMENT
4150 West 47th Street New York
42Telephone: Bryant 6603
44EDYTHE BROWNING
45Now Being Played by the Leading New York Hotel Orchestras
46COMMODORE …………………Levitow's Orchestra
47ROOSEVELT …………………..Herbert Sohmanand
48PLAZA ………………………..Nick Orlando's
49THE SAVOY-PLAZA …………….Ensemble
50ASTOR HOTEL
51THE PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL
52PUBLISHED BY
53J. FISCHER & BRO.
54119 West 40th Street, New York, N. Y.
56SOPRANO
57Season 1928-29 Now Booking
58Management: R. E. JOHNSTON
591451 Broadway, New York City
61LA RUMBA
62A Cuban Rhapsody
63By QUINTO MAGANINI
64Piano Solo …………………….$1.00
65Violin and Piano ………………$.75
66Violin, Cello and Piano ……….1.00
67String Orchestra and Piano …….1.75
68Small Orchestra and Piano ……..2.00
69Full and Conductor's Score …….3.00
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