MUSINGS.RANDOM THOUGHTS AND PERSONAL VIEWS ABOUT THIS AND THAT! Last week I was asked if I would compere (M.C.) a musical concert being given by group of singers of my acquaintance; The person who had originally agreed to do this had become unavailable. The show is to take place tomorrow night (Friday). I said that I would and I attended last Sunday's rehearsal. There are five singers in the concert, all with excellent voices. Ninety percent of the items in the programme are operatic arias – in a variety of foreign languages. So on Sunday I asked for and was given a list of the titles. I began to make notes about the songs so that in my introductions, I would be able to convey to the audience the settings and a little of what the songs were about. I was quickly told that this wasn't necessary as, “We don't want to bore them with too much talking!” It has been my experience – over forty years a performer and at least twenty five of them working with and listening to vocalists – that most singers care little for the lyrics of the songs they sing. I of course, being a storyteller and a 'talking' performer, think that the words should be equally as important, if not more so! – otherwise why not just, 'La-la-la' to the music? These singers have no real interest in involving and 'entertaining' their audience. As far as they are concerned the audience has only been assembled for the purpose of hearing them sing! The really top singers understand that in most cases a song is a story set to music. Or perhaps the song conveys a mood or emotion that the singer wants to convey. When it is done well, the audience also catches the mood and becomes emotionally involved, with their enjoyment considerably enhanced. If the audience has no idea what it is that the singer is singing about, that enjoyment is substantially reduced. Someone recently bought me a DVD entitled 'Jerry Herman's Broadway at The Holywood Bowl'. It is the recording of a tribute, honouring the composer of such hit shows as 'Hello Dolly', Mack & Mabel', 'Mame' and 'La Cage au Folles' etc. Many Broadway stars sing in the concert and pay homage to the man who composed both the music and the lyrics to these shows. The wonderful Carol Channing makes an opening address and concludes by saying pointedly, “If you want to double your enjoyment of the music - listen to the words!” “Hear hear”, says I. Unfortunately, tomorrow night's audience will sit in bland ignorance about the meaning of most of the music they are hearing! |