When choral singers are offered the chance to sing lines unhooked melodically and rhythmically from each other, they experience independence. Imagine the relief of an alto, liberated from singing her “harmonic filler part,” who becomes an equal partner with her STB colleagues in singing expressively her own independent line!
Imagine the improvement of the choir when each part learns how to maintain melodic and rhythmic independence! The deep connection between singing a bass part rhythmically and melodically unhinged from the other parts that requires an understanding of how to sing the line expressively, directly correlates to the development of independence, self-confidence, style, and musicianship: music education through singing polyphony.
Where have all the Flowers Gone? Today we hear little Polyphony. Why? We hear new music composed primarily in homophonic textures. Why? Are singers intimidated by the looks of an independent part? Do homophonic “hide-outs” seem safe? Are we out of touch with Renaissance polyphony? Might conductors feel intimidated by specialists espousing informed performance? Perhaps singers, conductors, composers, and publishers avoid polyphony for all these reasons!
Our Interest Session seeks to cut through our current choral conundrum. With the hope of developing enthusiasm and confidence in singing polyphony we will demonstrate rehearsal techniques with three contrasting motets by Ockeghem, Palestrina, and Brahms. We will illustrate and differentiate the inherent expressive nuances in the melodic and rhythmic contours of each part, and how they euphoniously complement each other.
We hope that our Interest Session will be a catalyst for conductors who want their choirs to perform polyphony but for many reasons have not done so. In our presentation we seek to stimulate confidence in singing poly phony choral repertory of all eras It is my hope that our Interest Session will informatively illustrate the “freeing” joy of singing polyphony and how this experience reinforces education: a catalyst for the development of Independence, Style, and Musicianship.
First came melody (chant), then poly phony (many melodies). Harmony was a byproduct of simultaneously independent melodies. Special texts required vertical textures to hear and directly serve text. Text is normally the inspiration for the composer in filling out the blank page, and throughout history composers served the affect of the text through change in harmony, melody, rhythm, and texture – a rich vocabulary of expression served by a mellifluence balance of homophony and polyphony.
Singing Renaissance polyphony most especially offers the chance for singers to experience a sense of timelessness – a kind of “neither here, nor there feeling” because each part serves independently occurring musical gestures; rhythms, melodies, and linear contours are unhooked – and that sense of freedom can illicit emotions that seem transporting, ethereal, transcendent.
(The ACDA National Conference is just one of the many benefits of membership in the American Choral Directors Association. Join ACDA today.)
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