sunday afternoon, i was treated to an evening of spirituals performed by
some of the local (washington, dc) talent, including a choir from duke
ellington school of the arts--elijah has rarely rocked better 8-), plus
the presence of mrs. sylvia olden lee.

for the most part, the program was very enjoyable. however, something
bothered me. one of the singers seemed to feel that her exaggerated
gestures and body movements were a necessary part of her performance.
after finally adjusting her shawl--which took most of her first selection
to do, she threw her arms out and swung her hips in what i presume was an
effort to "get into the music."

the audience ate it up. all i could do was close my eyes and try to
simply listen.

maybe it's just me, but what i saw was far more reminiscent of musical
theatre than spirituals performance. it's not the first time something
like this has been staged. a couple of years ago, i watched a choir
mangle a song by trying to perform it with choreography.

maybe i'm being unrealistic, but i do not believe these songs are
well-served by attempting to "popularize" them. i've always regarded
spirituals as a deeply personal expression, a private communication in
song, even when performed on a concert stage. i keep any gestures simple
and understated and let my voice do the rest.

comments?

randye

Well,

I think it was kind of obvious that the group was trying to "sell the song". I share the same sentiments with you when it comes to performing a spiritual. Someone who could clearly trivialize the reflectiveness of it can't begin to understand it's connection to us. I however also find it a problem when voice teachers, choir directors, etc. beging to pigeon hold great voices to this genre of music. I participated in our region of NATS student auditions, and saw more than my fair share of Black students singing "Deep River". I think it does the students no justice to not expose them to other genres of music, or let them perform in them because the teacher is simply trying to "feed the audience what it wants, and put on a show"

On the topic of singing spirituals. As a singer who has a staple of them in my repertoire, you only sing those that you can identify with. Everybody can't sing everything, every composer and arrangement doesn't lend itself to every voice type. It has to mean something to you before it can mean something to somebody else. When you're into giving all praises to our maker and that what these songs are, there's no room to worry about gestures because you mind is on GOD, where it needs to be when singing these songs. I'm sorry singing sprituals just to achieve a pretty sound is one of my biggest pet peeves. These are not aria's and you must feel some type of connection with aria's if you hope to deliver them effectively.
My GOD is so high...