Summer, sweet summerrrrrr...

Writer Henry James said the two most beausiful words in the English language are summer afternoon, and lovely they are, evocative, leaves rustling in a soft breeze.

But I am partial to James Joyce's riverrun, all vowels and voiced consonants. In fact, river is one of my favorite words to sing, along with forever. Why? Because, blithely ignoring conventional choral tradition, I think R's are beautiful in the mouth.

And why is that? Because I had the very good fortune to attend Fred Waring's Youth Choral Workshop one summer, when I was fourteen. There, I was taught how to pronounce words naturally and clearly, so that the audience could understand them. I've used what I learned there in every line I've ever sung.

I balk when choir directors tell their singers to drop the final r - in "father", for instance - because "it's an ugly sound" - insisting it's better to sing "fawthuh", because a musical tradition born in England in the 1600s should sound English. I'll do it, because the director is the director. But I don't mean it.

In fact, research suggests that the English we hear today on the BBC is quite different from that of the 17th century. I have heard Shakespearean verse spoken in a way that is closer to how it would have been spoken when new, and let me tell you, it is o'erbrimming with Rs. Big, rich, juicy Rs. Fat, piratical Rs. And they sound delicious, and quite like some of our American regional Rs.

This, and other differences between the English accents in the Renaissance and today's received pronunciation, reveal rhymes that have been lost. Loved and moved and proved used to rhyme. So, when Willie (I call him that because I love him sooooooo much that he makes me howl like a wolf) used some combination of love/move or love/prove as the final rhymes in Sonnets 25, 32, and (most famously) 116, he hadn't suddenly decided, "oh to heck with it, close enough!" They did rhyme. Then.

In Sonnet 61, he juxtaposes -where and near. In 66, gone and alone. So these words, too, may once have rhymed.

Why does this matter so much to me? Two reasons. FIrst, because there is no point to put on, for the sake of "tradition", the fake English accents I hear in some choirs, especially in the Episcopal Church, if the tradition isn't accurate. Second, rhyme scheme is part of how I remember a lyric (the overall story of the song being the other part. That will be another post). I am accutely aware of a missing rhyme where there should have been one. If, when I'm grabbing a Johnny Mercer lyric off the internet, the established rhyme pattern suddenly disappears for a line, for no reason, and then returns, something's wrong.

I wanted to post a YouTube clip that illustrates what I am talking about, but an evil cabal of choir directors is interfering with my internet connection today, and my eight-year-old laptop has jettisoned its Flash drive in its confused dotage. I therefore can't watch video clips any more, and am flying blind on this. But here are two links that should take you there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7OynPUIY8

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s&feature=related

If they don't work, let me know. If they fail, go to YouTube and look for ... oh, try Shakespeare authentic pronunciation.

Comments

[Carlos]

A long time ago I heard, I think it was from Kristin Linklater (who was then the top vocal coach for The Royal Shakespeare Company, check out "Freeing The Natural Voice"), that Elizabethan English was more like the way American southerners speak than the way the British speak today. Is that what you are referring to when singing those "Rs"?

And I remember more recently another "vocal" teacher, you, saying that most American Standards are usually sung in a slightly southern accent. Would Shakespeare have sung "Skylark" in a way that we could really dig? Was he even a good singer, I wonder? One day I'll find out!

[Chicago Bob]

The links work great. Keep writing, we like it.

[AitchD]

Flash drive? Or the Flash (Player) software? A 'flash drive' can also be a thumb drive or USB memory stick (among other so-called names). A few months ago Adobe's Flash Player was the culprit in untold invisible malware infections, so many sites disabled their Flash handshakes and required updated versions of the Flash Player in the user's system. I've oversimplified the issue, but you can check it out (at Adobe's site) and get back to normal. Now this.

When aye we found such need of some sweet sleep,
Ere rose the day's eye on the morrow morn,
We rolled our mind's eye over countless sheep
(And eke nay ever any of them shorn).
A lamb post hocus-pocus felix clone
Means all we ever need to count is one.

[Laurel Massé]

Flash Player. Sorry, and thanks for clearing it up. I have tried to get back to normal, but the updated version requires an Intel iBook, which mine is not. A friend who is waaaay better at these things than I was also stumped when trying to download the older version.

Love the verse!

Blessings, Laurel

[Laurel Massé]

Carlos, I think I may have said (or meant) most rock and roll. I probably cited Mick Jagger as a prime example. London in his speech, Mississippi in his singing drawl.

I am guessing that Shakespeare could sing passably well. Most people can, and then, probably, more people did.

Blessings, Laurel

[AitchD]

A PPC iBook is it? I HEART Mac. Tricked it to speak in Text-To-Speech the first 18 lines of Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, a daunting task but so fun. The voice I chose is Vicky for her excellent dialect. C&P (into e.g. TextEdit), > Edit > Speech > Start Speaking. The Text-To-Speech is in System Preferences > Speech > Text-To-Speech > System Voice > Vicki. (Some of the voices also 'sing').

Here's the per(fect)verse text (the rhythm is much harder to get, wanted to keep Chaucer's line breaks, still working on it):

Juan thawtt auppreel, width his sure aze so ta,
The drookht off marsh auth pair-said tow thir oat ta,
Awnd bawth ed every vie n, een switch lih-cure,
Off which vairt you, enjhendrid is the flew er,
Juan zeff-air-oos ache weeth his swait a brayeth,
In spear ed oth een every oalt on dayeth,
The tendra cropp is, ond the younga sun,
Oth een the rom eess off-course e rwraunna,
Awnd small uh foe wells mock enn mellowed yay,
Thawtt slay pen al the nicght, width open yay,
(So pricketh em knot yore in air core awjhis).
Than longen foalk tow goan on pilgrim awjhis,
Awnd pallmaris for tow sake in strounge a strawndis,
Tow fern a hallwis, cooth in sondrie lawndiz.
Awnd spesh ee ali, froam every shearis en da,
Off awng guh-lond toe caunter bree they wenda,
Thee oh lee blissfull mar tear for tow sake-uh,
Thawtt em oth olpen juan thott thy ware sake-uh.

[Laurel Massé]

Swooning...