Journal of Singing Featured Article:

Birdsong (Editor's Commentary)

by Richard Dale Sjoerdsma

I LOVE TO READ . . . AND TO WRITE . . . AND TO SING—not necessarily in that order of preference. In fact, I find that those behaviors are very much related, and, in my mind, at least, they come together beautifully in a captivatingly interesting book by Anne Lamott with the curious title Bird by Bird.¹ It is not a recent publication by any means, but new to me, and, subtitled Some Instructions on Writing and Life, goes considerably beyond utilitarian advice for scriveners. A great deal of what Lamott says about writers and writing can be applicable to singers and singing. This edition of "Editor's Commentary" will quote rather liberally from her text, and relate that material to the art and act of singing.

Why do we sing? Lamott's opening sentences seem to paraphrase the penultimate line of Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Beauty is truth, and truth beauty."

. . . good writing [singing] is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. [3]

I yearn to tell stories, but also to delve into historical, psychological, spiritual, philosophic truths that accrue still deeper meaning with the added layer of music, then choosing vocal inflections and colors to communicate those truths. Provided we studiously eschew imitation, one of the marvels of art song is that each of us can sing the same song, but communicate truth based on his/her own experience conveyed by his/her individual voice.

Becoming a writer [singer] is about becoming conscious. When you're conscious and writing [singing] from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader [listener]. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say [sing], in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of. [225–226]

And this is another reason to write [sing]: people need us, to mirror for them and for each other without distortion. [234]

The song literature is rife with illustrations of the foregoing. One could cite Rorem's "Youth, Day, Old Age and Night" (Walt Whitman), a poignant caution to youth not to be smug in the face of inevitable old age. Or who has not felt the intense longing for peace, security, and serenity voiced in Barber's "A Nun Takes the Veil" (Gerard Manley Hopkins)?

For purposes of this discussion, let us assume vocal technical facility, in the same way that the writer knows how to shape letters and construct sentences. We need to go deeper.

Writing [singing] is about learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on. [97] There is ecstasy in paying attention. [100]

In her chapter on dialogue, Lamott urges writers to understand their characters and to have compassion for them; it is necessary to see things through their eyes. "Mouth your dialogue," [66] she exhorts, referring to dialogue for one's fictional characters, of course, but it applies equally well to song and, most obviously, opera. A familiar example in art song where speaking the dialogue would be hugely beneficial is Schubert's "Erlkönig," where the singer must assume four distinct personas: a narrator; an ill, frightened child; an anxious father; and a sinister, seductive death figure. Among many other instances one may cite Debussy's "Colloque sentimental" (from Fetes Galantes II); here the performer must portray a narrator and two spirits, who, on a barren landscape, differently recall their lives as lovers during their tenure on this terrestrial ball. Try reading both texts as a dramatic narrative, and see how the sung performance improves.

An author [singer] makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift. [15]

Similarly, the singer-artist needs to have a command of background and setting, of context and subtext.

It may help you to know what the room (or the ship or the office or the meadow) looks like where the action will be taking place. You want to know its feel, its temperature, its colors. [74]

Such instruction is often heard in master classes, but, one suspects, judging from insipid renderings, infrequently applied. As I have suggested in an earlier "Editor's Commentary," it is vitally important to be thoroughly grounded in text, subtext, and context.2 A masterful rendering of an art song, like a masterwork painting, will bring the audience to see, hear, feel, smell, taste what is communicated.

We are indeed fortunate to be among those who wish "to build sand castles with words" [231]—and with notes. Like the will-o'-the-wisp in Schubert's "Irrlicht," a song (unless recorded, of course) is ephemeral, a sand castle, the substance of whose individual notes washes away with each succeeding tick of the clock. But its emotive impact in memory is potent, and therein lies great responsibility to truth, discernment, and commitment.

One can find in writing [singing] a perfect focus for life. It offers challenge and delight and agony and commitment. We see our work as vocation, with the potential to be as rich and enlivening as the priesthood. As a writer [singer], one will have over the years many experiences that stimulate and nourish the spirit. [232–233]

You are going to have to give and give and give, or there's no reason for you to be writing [singing]. You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have to be its own reward. [203]

Let us promise ourselves and encourage our students to treat each song, aria, and role as a microcosm of life, and to dig as deeply as possible into what it has to teach us and others. Then each of us can sing with fervor, "Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür."

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To conclude, I bring to your attention two items of Journal of Singing business. First, in an effort toward economy of space and perhaps even slightly to reduce printing costs, I have decided to publish biographic material for regular contributors only in the September/October issue of a given publication cycle. Subsequent issues will direct those interested to our web site for that—in some cases, expanded—information.

Second, my graphic artist Laura Carter and I have updated the "Guidelines for Contributors" found in each issue of the journal. After a decade, some directives were woefully antiquated. Now more than ever, it is imperative that prospective authors read this material carefully, and also consult an expanded version of the guidelines on the NATS web site.

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Finally, dear reader, please accept my warmest wishes for a happy holiday season.

NOTES

1. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird (New York: Anchor Books, 1995).
2. Richard Dale Sjoerdsma, "Text, Subtext, Context," Journal of Singing 65, no. 3 (January/February 2009): 267–268.

Richard Dale Sjoerdsma received his AB degree from Calvin College, an MM in voice from the University of South Dakota, and a PhD in musicology from The Ohio State University. His research and dissertation on the music of Franz Christoph Neubauer (1760–95) have rendered him an authority on this composer, resulting in contributions to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The Grove Dictionary of Opera. Additionally, he has written articles for The NATS Journal, penned reviews for NOTES and The Piano Quarterly, and has authored a book on Neubauer published by A-R Editions.

He recently has retired from a 39-year career at Carthage College, Kenosha, WI, where he taught studio voice, opera, vocal literature and diction, voice pedagogy, and directed opera productions. During that time, he served almost three decades as Chair of the Department of Music and eight years as Chair of the Fine Arts Division. Dr. Sjoerdsma, a tenor, also has performed widely in opera, oratorio, concert, and recital, both in the US and in Western Europe, principally in Germany, but also in Sweden, Hungary, Austria, and France. Additionally, he has appeared frequently as guest clinician and adjudicator, has conducted symphony orchestras, and has led a number of voice master classes.

After having managed the "Bookshelf" column since 1972, begun under editor Harvey Ringel, Sjoerdsma was appointed Editor in Chief of Journal of Singing in 2001, a post that occupies a significant part of his retirement. He has been a member of NATS since 1971, and was invited into membership of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS) in 2002.

Reproduced with permission.
Journal of Singing, November/December 2011
Volume 68, No. 2, pp. 123-124
Copyright © 2011 National Association of Teachers of Singing

Journal of Singing is the official journal of National Association of Teachers of Singing, providing current information regarding the teaching of singing as well as results of recent research in the field. A refereed journal, it serves as an historical record and is a venue for teachers of singing and other scholars to share the results of their work in areas such as history, diction, voice science, medicine, and especially voice pedagogy. Journal of Singing is published five times annually (Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb, March/April, May/June). Richard Dale Sjoerdsma, Editor-in-Chief.

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