David - Thank you! Ron asked me to weigh in here from a singer's perspective, but you've virtually covered it all. I feel very strongly that the singer/accompanist dynamic has absolutely no place in lute song. We are collaborating to tell a story, and it feels more like singing partsongs (or playing chamber music) than singing a solo. Ron and I always perform sitting side by side, both to convey this feeling to our audiences and because it helps us stay in touch - I can focus on every nuance of touch on the strings, and he does, as you suggest, literally breathe with me. I'm not a lutenist, but the advice to breathe with your own lines in polyphony sounds perfrect. Playing the lute requires an almost incomprehensible level of focus and multitasking, and it's really not reasonable to ask you all to think about yet another thing, but I have to say that Ron's appreciation for the text and poetry makes possible a richer interpretation of both the music and the poetry, since we're less likely to find ourselves arm wrestling over interpretive issues. He often prompts me when I've forgotten the words. Speaking of breathing, Ron and I were both intrigued by a comment Julian Bream made about how playing lute song with Peter Pears opened up a whole new level of understanding of phrasing for him in his solo playing, since so much lute music is derived from vocal part music. There's a clip of this interview available on YouTube, and I'd really recommend it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvRJJ0tqsY. (We've just watched it again...the interview follows a performance of Fine Knacks for Ladies, and we were struck by their absolute togetherness in phrasing and dynamics. Peter Pears certainly is not what most of us would think of as an ideal voice for lute song, but this "full blast opera voice" somehow never overwhelmed the lute, which bubbled to the surface and navigated the subtle ebbs and flows of the line in perfect tandem.) Ron would add that if you find a singer who doesn't particularly aspire to sing solos - in a small choir, ideally - you won't have to go to the trouble of retraining in the art of blending! Donna Stewart www.mignarda.com > I think that is the important > thing, teach the singer to listen to the lute > so that his/her voice can > blend. That will save us from battling against a > full blast opera voice > (done that, been there). Bob Spencer always > advocated for the singer to sit > next to the lute, singing slightly in the > instrument, so that the sounds > would really mix.> > As for points of > attention in performance, no different from a solo piece in > that every > song, and definitely every style, will ask different things: for > the more > modern baroque a strong baseline and sonorous harmonic support is > needed, > for the early 16th century polyphony all attention should go to, you > > guessed it, playing the polyphony adequately. The Dowland lute songs are > > like solo pieces - there's an argument to consider these the real Dowland > > solo pieces anyway - in that we must bring out all the lines as well as the > > harmony. For al songs: always breathe with the singer (but in polyphony > > breathe with your! own lines) and keep the rhythm flowing. Don't follow the > singer, then you'll be too late, sing with him/her in stead.> > David _________________________________________________________________ Change the world with e-mail. Join the i'm Initiative from Microsoft. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx?source=EML_WL_ChangeWorld --
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