Last week I was singing Tom Booth’s “Be With Me, Lord” at a funeral Mass. I seldom look at the music anymore when I sing that song; I know it so well. This time, for whatever reason, I had the music open and decided to ‘read it’ while I played and sang it. I sang it exactly as it was written, for a change! I had one of those moments like, “Oh yeah! Now I know why I first fell in love with this melody. It’s great!” Over time I have (apparently) improvised a lot while singing it, changing a note or two here and there, but this time I sang it the way I first heard it. It was sort of like pushing ‘reset’ on a song. It was pretty cool.
It really got me thinking…do I improvise too much on a melody, simply because I’ve sung it so many times and get bored with singing it the same way over and over? I wonder what the assembly thinks when they hear me do that?
I mean, we are first attracted to songs because of the melody, right? When we hear one of our favorite songs on the radio, we are listening for those familiar notes and words. Isn’t that what makes you want to hear it over and over again? We don’t get bored with listening to our favorite tunes on CD’s or iTunes simply because the music never changes. In fact, we look forward to hearing it the same way. (I remember a comedian talking about hearing bands in concert and wanting to hear the songs 'just like the record.')
Everyone has heard the Star Spangled Banner sung at sporting events. For some reason, most people feel like they have to ‘dress it up’ to impress or make it better. The reality is (I think) that when people hear it sung really well…normally…they tend to clap and cheer louder because “that’s how it goes.”
‘Happy Birthday’ is ‘Happy Birthday’ because it’s, well…’Happy Birthday.’ You don’t change that song! (Okay, maybe not the best example, but you get what I’m saying. :-) )
I am NOT saying that we shouldn’t improvise…of course we should. That’s part of what makes musicians different from one another…the way we, as individual artists, sing and perform music. Maybe, though, we should save it for later in the song…after we’ve presented the ‘actual’ melody a few times. That’s sort of what we do on recordings. We sing it ‘as written’ for the first couple of verses and choruses, then ‘let it rip’ at the end.
It’s something to think about, at least. When people see ‘Be Not Afraid’ on the song list, they’re expecting to hear a certain melody (or ‘Amazing Grace,’ or ‘Ave Maria,’ etc.).
I don’t know. Thoughts? :-)
I really think it depends on the song and the setting... some of my favorite artists rely on the improv to make them who they are... (i.e. Dave Matthews!!!)
ReplyDeleteI think if the purpose of the song is communal singing, it should definitely be done as written (or as the community learned it, which may not necessarily be the same thing!). If it is more of a 'meditation' song, or one for quiet listening, then improv away. In either setting, some of the instruments can improvise while the melody holds true.
ReplyDeleteFor soloist or instrumentalists--improvise away (within reason of course). However, when leading an assembly in song the community voice is paramount. Anything that could impair the singing of the Body of Christ should be avoided. If the assembly’s voice is strong and confident or if there are other song leaders and/or a choir present to assist the assembly, then melodic embellishment, or better yet, improvising a descant, can enhance the community's voice in a similar way that a flute obbligato adds to the overall sound. But unless you have an assembly of trained musicians, the bottom line is that leaders of liturgical song should save the improvisation for the concert stage or the recording studio.
ReplyDeleteI'm certain that our dear friend Mr. Rote comes into play from time-to-time as the cause of unintentional improvisation. There are several songs that as a worship team we have learned over the years with what I will call "slight melodic irregularities" especially on some songs where we only had a lead sheet to work with. Thus, the congregation ends up singing it the way we learned it….and that’s alright for assembly worship. I would agree that for solo settings some leeway should be afforded to the vocalist as long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the original setting. From a personal perspective I believe that too much vocal improv can be interpreted as a performance when compared to the original piece. In other words, do we take the song and make it our own, or are we playing it the way we think it should have been written? One thing I’ve tried to instill in our group is this: The composer created the song the way that person envisioned it would sound, just like an artist paints a picture. While we can apply our own interpretation of their work when we play… let’s try not to change the colors too much.
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