picking up on the visual..."word, word, word" says vertical (vertical,
vertical") where phrase says horizontal. what is generally missing in
singing that does not make a sense of phrasing, is connection and emphasis
(or, a hierarchy of emphasis). if, as a singer, you are going to have
legato (the connection), you must 'slide' from pitch to pitch. we think of
'sliding' as being horrible but, the only difference between horrible sliding
and legato is the speed with which you do it. if you slide directly to the
next pitch as quickly as possible, it is legato. if you take your time and
don't go directly to the next pitch, it is 'sliding'. both feel the same to
do.
i agree with dre about how you would say a text you understand: 'I will
kill you', 'i WILL kill you', 'i will KILL you' and 'i will kill YOU' are all
different statements (the first and the last, for example, change the role of
a third person from culprit to victim) and it is the emphasis that makes them
so. within the context of a phrase, some words can be given greater stress.
in most cases, the composer has already done this, either by making a note
longer or placing the word on a beat that stresses that word. in some cases
(i remember brahms doing this a lot), the composer can use harmonic rhythm to
stress a word. comparing the stresses of the music to the wider variety of
spoken stresses will narrow down which of the choices the composer has made.
technique, if it is to be considered good, has to include a method for
producing sound horizontally in addition to making a good sound.
mike
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