THE PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION
I fancy there is nothing more intangible to most people than the term “phrasing.” I have asked a great many students to give me the principles of phrasing, but as yet I have seen none who could do it, and yet all singers, from the youngest to the oldest must make some use of these principles every time they sing. Now a thing in such general use should be, and is, subject to analysis.
All of the rules of phrasing, like the rules of composition, grow out of what sounds well. Beauty and ugliness are matters of mental correspondence. In music a thing to be beautiful must satisfy a mental demand, and this demand is one’s taste. The sense of fitness must obtain. When the singer interprets a song the demand of the listener is that he shall do well what he undertakes to do: that he shall portray whatever phase of life the song contains, accurately, definitely, that he shall have a definite intent and purpose, that he shall be in the mood of the song. The singer must not portray one mood with his face, another with his voice, while the poem suggests still a third. He must avoid incongruity. All things must work together. There must be therefore, the evidence of intelligent design in every word and phrase.
The song is a unit and each phrase contains a definite idea, therefore it must not be detached or fragmentary, but must have the element of continuity and each and every part must be made to contribute to the central idea.
The element of insecurity must not be allowed to enter. If it does, the listener feels that the singer is not sure of himself, that he cannot do what he set out to do: therefore he is a failure.
Another demand is that the singer shall be intelligent. A poem does not lose its meaning or its strength by being associated with music, and to this end the singer must deliver the text with the same understanding and appreciation of its meaning as would a public reader.
Now from the above we infer certain principles. The demand for continuity means that the singer must have a pure legato. That is, he must be able to connect words smoothly, to pass from one word to another without interrupting the tone, that the tone may be continuous throughout each phrase.
The feeling of security lies in what is known as sostenuto, the ability to sustain the tone throughout the phrase with no sense of diminishing power. It means in short the organ time.
From the demand for design in each word and phrase comes contrast. This may be made in the power of the tone by means of cres. dim. sfz. It may be made in the tempo by means of the retard, accelerando, the hold, etc. It may also be made in the quality of the tone by using the various shades from bright to somber.
The basis of phrasing then, may be found in legato, sostenuto and contrast. All of the other things involved in interpretation cannot make a good performance if these fundamental principles be lacking. A more complete outline of interpretation follows:
AN OUTLINE OF INTERPRETATION
| READING | { | Pitches | ||
| Note Lengths | ||||
| Rhythm | ||||
| DICTION | { | Enunciation | { | Vowels Consonants |
| Pronunciation | ||||
| Accent | ||||
| Emphasis | ||||
| VOICE | { | Even Scale | ||
| Quality | ||||
| Freedom | ||||
| Breath Control | ||||
| TECHNIC | { | Attack | ||
| Flexibility | ||||
| Execution | ||||
| PHRASING | { | Legato | ||
| Sostenuto | ||||
| Contrast | { | Power Tempo Color | ||
| Proportion | ||||
| MOOD | { | Emotional Concept | ||
| Facial Expression | ||||
| Stage Presence |
Most of the things mentioned in this outline of interpretation have been discussed elsewhere, but the subject of diction requires further explanation.