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This is how good our Region is: last week, I judged a District level audition for another region in Texas. The District level auditions allow judges to remove singers who are not prepared for the Region auditions. This consists mostly of people who have not learned their music.
In all honesty, the top 5 girls from this region would have barely been middle of the pack for our Region. While 30 of the girls from our room were 'passed' to go to Region, I doubt half of those would have made it past district in our Region, which consists of schools from Clear Creek ISD, Friendswood, Texas City, and Pearland. This is one case where geography stinks: some very competent singers in our area will get passed over simply because they live in one of the most competitive regions in Texas. Getting to audition for Region, let alone State, is quite the accomplishment in our Region and should be celebrated! DWS Musicality is not just the realm of the performer; most composers after the 1750s give us very specific directions on how to appear 'musical' to an audience. In many cases, musicality is simply the ability to perform what is written on the page! While this takes great technical ability obtained through voice lessons, it does not require 'creativity.'
This lesson was illustrated to me today when a female high school voice student came into her lesson today. She is relatively new to lessons, having started only a few months ago. Yet even though she is just learning how to use her voice, I was blown away by her musicality. She was not trying to be 'musical;' she was simply singing what the composer had requested the singer to perform! DWS While most people feel that artistry or musicality is natural talent, the reality is quite the opposite. Most professionals are so musical because they listened to a TON of music, and whether consciously or unconsciously, absorb the musical style of that genre.
You can learn how to be artistic. "Manufacturing" musicality is not unnatural. Here are some ways to sound 'musical'. 1) Listen to as much music as you can. Try to identify certain elements of a singer that make that singer unique. Then copy! For example, Frank Sinatra loved to add vibrato on held notes after a beat or two, and that style has become essential to the big band type of singing.. 2) Love the words you have to sing. Figure out how you can shade each important word with a different vocal color so as to give the word(s) more meaning. 3) Always add more elements than what is written on the music page. If composers wrote down everything they wanted us to do, where would artistry be? The job of the performer is to add things the composer either did not think of or did not write down. 4) Above all - be willing to take a risk and make a mistake. Try something crazy, record it, and see if it works. In all likelihood, it may take 5-6 tries of doing something different before something works, but it is worth it. DWS Some of the next few posts are going to directly address the region and state competitions for high school singers. Our region, which compromises Friendswood, Pearland, Clear Lake, and Texas City, is one of the top 5 MOST competitive regions in the state. Just getting past District-level auditions is an honor. Many singers who fail to make Region choir in this area would be shoo-ins for other regions in Texas. The singers in this area are THAT competitive.
Singing for the Region auditions is very similar to sports in the Olympics, in that judges grade you in two broad categories: Accuracy and Artistry. Accuracy pertains to ensuring that all pitches, rhythms, and notated dynamics are performed correctly. It is a very objective measure that is easy to grade. The more subjective measure is artistry/musicality. Some singers just have IT, whatever IT is. When you hear them, you can hear the emotion and drama of a song, even if it is in a foreign language. Most singers have to learn musicality, and believe me, it CAN be learned. My personal belief is that great musicality can and should triumph over accuracy, else we are just well-produced machines. And I hate to say it, but music technology has come so far that a machine is far more accurate than the most proficient singer. What makes a singer great is not their technical aptitude, but their ability to COMMUNICATE through song. I said musicality can be learned; well, I will tell you some ideas on the next post! ;) DWS |
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