An approach to Early Music Singing

Over generations, baroque vocal music has been placed an important role for voice training. The vast reservoir of baroque vocal music ranging from Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi is an essential repertoire list for many new singers. However, many of us (the singers) seemed unaware to the stylistic approach when performing these pieces, partly because most singers are over concerned on the voice technical development, and many are lacked of knowledge to the appropriate manner to the early music performance. Hence, my present study set to report some imperfections of voice performances based on my own experience and to confer with some of the early vocal music practices.

The common misinterpretation: the Vibrato

Wide vibrato causing by the breath is commonly used in late romantic operas, when singers need to cope with the large orchestra accompaniment, and create a dramatic sound to the role play. However, it is inappropriate for all music preceded it.

Vibrato is physically created by the breathing muscles and throat muscles and can be controlled.1 While using the vibrato for volume change, to add intensity to sound, or to give color and life to the music, it is important for singers to understand the style

Andrea Von Ramm, Singing early music. Early Music, Vol. 4, No.1. (Jan., 1976), pp. 12-15.

and taste of different period and even the different aesthetic usual practice within period of a certain district.

Singers gained their vibrato during the breath-application; many singers found it unconsciously applied to their voice performance especially when they cannot consciously control their singing muscles. However, according to Von Ramm (1976), knowing how to change the speed of vibrato will lead them towards the idea of how to control the vibrato. In addition, the breath support shouldnt be pushed or it would sound too much like a siren.

Singers can practice the vibrato-less singing style from practice each note really shortly, but maintain the voice dynamically equal. One could then move onto figuring out the important word from every phrase in the music, and put more breath onto it (to increase the dynamic to emphasis on important words to give meaning to the music) but always remain the throat muscle from being pushed as it would results in unconscious vibratos.

When singers could feel the muscles movement, meaning that these singers could started to control their singing muscles, and eventually knowing how to control the vibrato. Once a vibrato-less sound is formed, the singing style is assumably adaptive to the early music singing-style.

The application of ornamentation

In general (especially reflecting to local Malaysian singers, according to my knowledge), there are a few reasons for todays singers misinterpretation to early music performances.

The first and foremost reason lies on the singers themselves. The lack of studies about early music embellishment often causes singers to perform these music without life. Many tend to believe thoroughly on the scores they have, even without the knowledge to judge the reliability of the editions they have. This would results in the early music they performed sounded tasteless and unconvincing in style.

Singers should realize the differences between music of different period and be willing to explore themselves into the aesthetic diversity. Moreover, singers would realize the changing of musical style is actually a social progression that shows the different way of looking at music. The understanding of the social reform is utmost important for singers to be able to perform their pieces just at the right taste.

Singers tend to show off their best high notes. However, this practice will not seem too jadish (because many baroque composers even wrote florid passages for the singers purposely to show off the singers fabulous vocal technique) unless if the singers placed too much concern for their high notes and omitted the usage of

ornamentation into shaping the proper taste to the music. The following set to report the proper usage of the two important ornamentations based on my recent study.

A. The appoggiatura

Appoggiatura comes from the Italian word appoggiare which literary means to lean. Appoggiatura is one of the most common baroque ornaments and meant to be performed on the beat, often resulting in an intended dissonance with the bass which has an effect to heighten the expression of a melodic phrase. It could be considered, the simplest and perhaps the most complicated of all ornaments.

First of all, the Italian practice to the appoggiatura for voice seemed having much freedom, whereas the Berlin School notated precisely the note values for appoggiatura to prevent the unplanned consonance or dissonance 2. Tosi (Italian composer and singer, 1723) hated composers, who notated these ornaments precisely, and tend to give much freedom to the singers to improvise their own ornaments, whereas Agricola (German composer and singer, 1757), in his treatise, saying that German composers would gives alludes on music purposely to prevent the Italian singers from performing extempore appoggiaturas. After 1750s, many Italian composers started to join the German practice by notating the exact note values for appoggiaturas.

Julianne C. Baird(Translator and editor), Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola , (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 12-15.

The Berlin School classify the appoggiaturas into two types: variable (long) and invariable (short). Variable appoggiaturas were notated in exact note values, whereas the invariable is notated with sixteenth or thirty-second notes.3

Hence, singers need to understand that appoggiatura doesnt simply means to lean on the second note, but it has a totally different practice for different districts. For performing most repertoires after 1750s, even though they were composed by Italian composers, the appoggiaturas are no longer meant to be introduced

extemporaneously by the singers. Following are some basic rules to follow4:

1. No appoggiaturas can be added at the beginning of a piece because there must be a note preceding from where it leads.

2. Except the earlier practice as recommended by Tosi, the later Berlin School indicated the performance of appoggiatura should be on the beat with exact note value. However, some off-beat-appoggiaturas were allowed between the falling thirds.

3. As advocated by Bach, Agricola and other composers, in duple meter, the

Julianne C. Baird(Translator and editor), Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola, (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 12-15. Julianne C. Baird(Translator and editor), Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola , (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 12-15.

appoggiaturas must receive half the value of the main note; in triple meter, two-thirds its value; if a rest follows or the main note is tied to another note, the appoggiatura may occupy the entire time of the main note.

4. However, the appoggiatura must be short, if it precedes triplets; or if it fills the descending thirds, or the intention is to increase the liveliness and brilliance to the melody.

Agricola suggested the means for composers to add appoggiaturas are to give better connection to music, or to create movement to an empty melody, or to enrich the harmony, or to add liveliness to the music. When adding an appoggiatura, singers could use the above hints to examine if the taste of their appoggiaturas is properly being used.

B. The trill

The trill is perhaps the easier ornament for keyboardist while it could be said the most difficult ornament for singers. Yet it is one of the ornaments that exist most often in the early vocal music.

For this ornamentation, both Italian and German scholars seemed sharing a common view. A good trill is described by Tosi as eguale (equal), battuto (beaten),

granite (distinct), facile (flexible), and moderamente veloce (moderately quick)5.

Based on a personal experience, in gaining these good qualities for a trill, a singer could practice the trill with two different methods: firstly, begin with the main note, slowly move to the auxiliary note, and gradually adding the speed into it. In this process, a singer could feel the movement of the throat-muscle, which is somehow like beating the larynx, which occurs simultaneously with the breath. Similar to the vibrato, if the singer could consciously control these muscles, they could control their trill in a perfect timing with most flexible movement.

The second method for practicing the trill is to begin the exercise with dotted main note, followed by the upper auxiliary note. This exercise is to be performed slowly at first, with only the main note should receive an impulse of the breath, the auxiliary note should be sung really shortly. When the speed of the movement is increased, singers could feel the battuto della gola (beating of the throat) and this could prevent the singers to performing the trill out of pitch.

Conclusion

Singing the early music is fun, stimulating and enjoyable because it gives us the space of making our own music. However, this music-making should sound

Julianne C. Baird(Translator and editor), Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola, (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.17.

convincingly and reasonably in-style. Hence, singers should accept it as a challenge and open up all possibilities to find the appropriate color to a particular piece of music.

References:

Julianne C. Baird(Translator and editor), Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola, (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.1-21. Greenlee, Robert. Dispositione di voce: passage of florid singing, Early Music, Vol. 15, No.1. (Feb., 1987), pp. 47-55. Von Ramm, Andrea, Singing early music. Early Music, Vol. 4, No.1. (Jan., 1976), pp. 12-15. Von Ramm, Andrea, Style in early music singing. Early Music, Vol. 8, No.1. (Jan., 1980), pp. 17-20. Von Ramm, Andrea, Singing early music without risks LUnicorno, Accademia Jaufr Rudel di studi medieval, Anno III, no.1. (1991), pp. 4-5. Accessed 11th. October 2006. <http://www.accademiajr.it/unicorno/articoli/uni006.htm>.