On the importance of line

I was going to put a YouTube recording of a Dowland song on the blog, and I found one with a countertenor that I liked.

Except.

What he did was something that, I think, singers are warned about. Basically with a melody composed of long and short notes, you concentrate on your sound in the long notes, sometimes taking a little while  on each long note for the sound to arrive, to resonate, to warm up...

The effect goes : nice, ok ok nice, nice, nice ok ok nice nice... (I hope I am making myself clear)

It's certainly something wind players are aware of.  Essentially before you start a melody you have to establish your sound - from the first note - and keep that sound. You sing fast, you sing slow, you sing long, you sing short, but all with that sound.

Of course you can vary your intensity, volume, tone, etc... but you gotta make and keep the LINE.

It's the weekend. The week is busy, sometimes frantic. The weekend is sometimes slower. But you gotta keep the LINE.

The school holidays have started. It's great ! No more 6am starts for two whole weeks ! But you gotta keep the LINE.

Comments

Emmanuel said…
And there's "Walk the line" by Johnny Cash
10:26 pm
Alan said…
and line-dancing, of course
8:41 am
Alan said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
8:41 am
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