Preparing the Special Song

What things are important for preparing a special song?

By  BEN  GLANZER,  First  Tenor

The best definition of singing that I know is in W. J. Henderson's book The Art of Singing: "Singing is the interpretation of text by means of musical tones produced by the human voice." This is short and definite. It goes to the core of the mattersinging is interpretation. Interpreta­tion of what? Interpretation of the text ; and the text means the words, the message of the song. Always keep in mind that the words come first.

Keith Macdonald, a former baritone of the Metropolitan Opera with whom I once studied, said that his instructor sometimes had him spend two weeks studying the text of a new opera before allowing him to study the music. How much more we need to study the text of a sacred number ! It it not always possible to do this in a rushed evan­gelistic program, but by careful planning we can give much more time to the study of the text than we often do. Write out the words of a new song and keep the copy handy in your purse or note­book, where you can refer to it readily in spare moments, until gradually the words become your own. Then memorize the melody and study out the expression that you want to put into it. Now you are ready to sing it in public.

No! Not yet! If you feel this is a song that really has possibilities, don't use it right away. Put it aside and let it "sink in," until it becomes a part of you.

Now before you turn away and skip the rest of this article as fantastic, let me say that I know this is an ideal that sounds impossible, and may in many instances be impossible. But if you really want a few songs in your repertoire that are outstanding, to a certain degree at least, try this procedure and see what it does to a song. A few of my solos which seem to go home to the hearts of people are songs which I have taken time to really study and assimilate. Some songs I have studied and worked on for as much as a year before using them in public. Then they were really becoming my own songs.

After you have memorized the words and melody, and laid the song aside to season, you will often find yourself humming it spontaneously. That's a good sign. Keep rehearsing it from time to time. On occasion, you will notice a particular place in some service where the song would fit appropri­ately. All these experiences help you to become more conscious of the message of that particular song. Gradually the expression of the song, the music, the climax, the words, the mental and soul picture, and the experience of the song will really become a part of you. Then when you finally sing it in public, it will not be just another "rendition," written by some composer you have never met. Instead, you will be sharing with your audience a message in song that has become your very own; and of course you will sing it from memory. After you have done this with some of your solos, duets, or quartets, you will always feel circumscribed unless you can sing from memory.

Have a number of new songs ahead all the time that you are preparing and making your own. Be on the lookout for good songs that will fit your voice and experience. In this way your repertoire will always be fresh. Remember, though, that most people like to hear "the old songs," and be sure to use them liberally. If you have been sing­ing a song for a time but feel it is not going too well, lay it aside for a few months or a year. Then come back to it and study it as you would a new song. Memorize the words and melody. Study the expression. See whether another key would improve it. You will be amazed at the difference it makes sometimes to sing a song just a half step lower or higher. Don't sing a song in the key in which it is written unless it fits you just right. Song writers often write songs in the key which is comfortable for them. When you are singing, you must find the best key for you. I have to sing some songs in a lower key in the morning than I do in the evening, because the voice is naturally lower in the morning.

All these little things are important in preparing songs, and need careful attention. Remember, if you have really made the song a part of your very life and experience, and have prayed about it, angels are waiting to co-operate with the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts of the hearers and make them receptive to the message in song. In the next article we shall study how to interpret songs and make them live in the memory of our hearers.


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By  BEN  GLANZER,  First  Tenor

March 1946

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