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| Welcome to the Spring 2009 edition of the Your Accompanist Newsletter In this edition, we hear about the origins of one our best loved melodies; we take a look at the life of Dubai-based singing teacher Joseph Moras; we get inspiration from young musician Alex Stobbs; we offer a crumb of comfort for singing leaders working with teenage boys' voices; we have a look at a few more Singing C's in our A-Z of singing terms; and we make an important announcement for anyone who would like to give their singing a bit more exposure on the web. And of course we bring you the latest additions to the catalogue: We've been busy recording as always, and hope that there's something of interest to everyone. With 180 new tracks at your disposal, our library has grown to more than 1200 titles! Best wishes from The Your Accompanist team PS: If this is the first time you've received a newsletter from us, you might like to take a look at the Newsletter Archive. All our back issues available to view online. You can view them in the original format, or browse the articles by type. Latest additions: www.youraccompanist.com/latest Collections: www.youraccompanist.com/collections Inspirations: Alex Stobbs' Passion
Alex was the subject of Channel 4's memorable documentary, 'A Boy Called Alex' where we watched him as a schoolboy fulfil his long-held ambition to conduct Bach's Magnificat. Now a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, he's on track to pull off the double - a performance of The St Matthew Passion ('all three hours of it!' he says) - with the Rudolphus Choir and the Southbank Sinfonia on the 5th April 2009 in London's Cadogan Hall. The concert will raise funds for other suffers of Cystic Fibrosis. Unsurprisingly, it's is sold out, but you can still show support by making a donation. For this and other insights into the life and work of this remarkable young musician, please visit: The Alex Stobbs St Matthew Passion Project Let's make beautiful music together
Then, drop us a line to let us know it's there, and we'll add you to the playlist. If you don't have a YouTube account, we'll upload it for you. Whatever kind of singing you enjoy, alone or with others, you'll
find your favourite public domain songs in our catalogue. We cover
a wide range of singing styles: classical to traditional; lullabies
to lieder; operetta to art song; nursery rhymes to shanties and sea
songs; oratorio to music hall. We've got over 1300 titles to choose
from. So, get rehearsing and recording, and get in touch! http://www.youtube.com/YourAccompanist Here are a few hints for getting great results from your video: Tips on making a YouTube Video We've recently revised our terms & conditions to increase the flexibility you have in using our tracks for non-commercial use. This means that you can now perform or record yourself using Your Accompanist tracks for personal use, or charity and not-for-profit projects without having to ask our permission. We'd still love to hear about what you're doing with them, and we'd be happy to publicise your charitable work in our newsletter. Do you have a singing-related website that you'd like to share with more people? Drop us a line and we'll include you on our links page. It could be your personal singing portfolio site, your voice studio, choir or an association of some kind. We don't mind where you are in the world, all we ask is that it's singing-related and you link to us. |
Issue 8 In this issue: Tell a friend! Do you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter? Forward on the email from us or send them a link to this page. Invite them to subscribe at: www.youraccompanist.com/newsletter History of Song: What's in a name?
Not too much seems to be known about the life of Yradier. Born into a Spanish Basque family in 1809, he died in 1865, blind and in relative obscurity. We know he spent some time in Cuba and as a result, gave the world this wonderful piece inspired by his time there. We know too that his publishers persuaded him to change his name from Sebastián de Iradier y Salaverri to Yradier, presumably in the hope that it would be easier for most people to remember. One of his many habañeras, 'Ay Chicita' (from his work 'El Arregilito') was regularly sung in a popular Parisian café in the 1860s by a colourful character called (Celeste Vénard La Mogador) thought to have been Bizet's inspiration for 'Carmen' (although, not Merrimée's). It's said that Bizet believed 'Ay Chicita' was a just folk song when he heard Venard sing it (c.1865) and so used the tune in his opera, 'Carmen'. Today, we know it as the opera's famous Habañera - 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'. Perhaps it's wrong to accuse Bizet of plagiarism, but Bizet and Yradier
were contemporaries and it's highly likely that he would have known
of the Spaniard's work. Who could blame Bizet for just recognising
this song as an absolute show-stopper and using it in his opera? Find La Paloma Accompaniment MP3
So, tell us a bit about how you got into singing?My interest in singing began with my participation in my parish church
choir when I was a boy of six. Singing was the greatest thing that
I enjoyed during my childhood - both at home and in school. I sang
in the church choir, then the school choir and by the time I was eight,
I was being invited more and more to sing solo at services and parish
events, although at that point, I'd had no formal training. What do you like to sing?I love singing lieder, art songs and classical songs. I often include sacred songs like Mozart's 'Ave Verum Corpus' and Schubert's 'Ave Maria' in my performances. I think the greatest song composer is Schubert. He is my all time favourite composer. Would you like to be our featured singer? Contact us for more information. Singing with Kids: Breaking through
The result of all this is that the frequency of the vibrating vocal
chords may go from 200 times per second to around 130 - slower and
deeper. Teenagers have enough to cope with without this extra worry, so reassurance has to be very important. As a parent, carer or teacher, try to prepare them for it so that it doesn't come as a surprise. Explain the physiology. Tell them that it happens to every young man and that it won't last for long. Not to worry if it hasn't happened yet - Aled Jones was sixteen when his voice broke - and if they're still anxious, encourage them to have a chat with their GP. Keep them singing a little and experimenting so that they can look forward to the voices they're going to have. Choose your material carefully - maybe fall back on some sea shanties or something like Coleridge Taylor's Viking Song. If they were standing among the sopranos, let them move over only when they feel ready. Support from peers is very important so get everyone involved to accept it as normal and enjoy the outcome. Added bonus - maybe you'll get that extra tenor you were hoping for... If you're a blogger and like what we do, why not mention us to your audience? Let us know before you do and we'll give you a little discount code to publish as well! A-Z of singing terms: the final C's Chanson - specialised meaning of 'song' in French
- a medieval part song earlier than the madrigals that were popular
in the rest of N. Europe. Like a lighter canzonet and often accompanied
by lute. Sub-types: C. de Geste - heroic manly deeds and adventures;
C. de Toile - for or about women and often assoc. with weaving or
spinning ('toile' = Fr. 'cloth'). Chant - in church music, the singing of psalms to
harmonised and measured tunes often with modified rhythms to fit the
words. Chant-fable - 13th century French narrative or story
punctuated with songs. Chanty - an old way to spell 'Shanty'. Chest Voice - part of the singer's range used for
singing lower notes - the resonance giving a sensation of coming from
the chest. The opposite of 'head voice'. Choral - type of singing associated with more than
one voice - i.e. choirs. Choral(e) - A Lutheran Hymn - originally in German
it meant the choral parts of a Latin chant but with the Reformation
came to mean a single unharmonised (monophonic) melodic line sung
by a congregation. Many were adaptations of plainsong. In English,
an 'e' is tagged on to avoid confusion with 'choral'. Claque - the early 19th century opera equivalent of supporters' clubs or cheerleader team who would turn up at performances to cheer or boo. They originated in France (with a complex array of functionaries, like 'criers', 'laughers' and 'bisseurs' who shouted for encores) but rapidly spread to Italian opera houses. Often they were hired by promoters to applaud but also included fawning admirers of performers. Their leaders ('commissaires') regularly extorted money from singers too so that the claque would not boo them off the stage. Toscanini helped stop the practice as audiences developed a more decorous 'concert etiquette'. Feedback please If you've enjoyed this issue of the newsletter, if there's something
you'd like us to talk about in the future, if you've got a question
you think we could answer or a singing tip you'd like to share with
others, please let us know. Use our online contact form:
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Alex
Stobbs is an extrordinary young musician. His struggle with cystic
fibrosis has not reduced his passion for music, nor for aspiring to
the highest standards of performance. His story is truly inspirational.
A
'habañera' is a slow melodic dance with words to be sung. Characteristically,
it has two beats in the bar split into four quavers with first one
dotted. The melody starts on the second beat in two equal quavers
with a triplet on the first beat of the next bar. The form, originally
from Cuba (hence the name) is now firmly fixed in the Spanish and
Spanish American music traditions, but is thought to have originated
in Africa. One of the best known habañeras - hugely popular in the
Spanish speaking world when it was written and still loved throughout
the wider world today - is '
Since
we began nearly two years ago, we've had the privilege of getting
to know manyoutstanding singers and voice teachers from all over the
world. One of the first to find us was Joseph Moras - a voice teacher
from South-west India who now lives in Dubai. We asked him if he would
share some of his expertise with us and tell us a little more about
his musical life and work...
When
a boy's voice 'breaks' it can be very upsetting for him until it settles
down again into his adult register. It usually happens between the
ages of eleven and fifteen and can be sudden or gradual. Male vocal
chords more than double in length, the voice box tilts to create the
distinctive 'Adam's Apple' and facial bones grow leaving bigger resonating
spaces within the face. 
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