Mike, Sally, List,
It does seem, (if I may over-generalize) that our attitudes very much
affect the way we interpret things, ie approaching a musical phrase, singing
in a particular style, interpreting literature. Whether it's defining styles
in terms of rhythm or, "Finding the essential thought,"--whatever will put us
in a receptive (and perhaps creative) mode.
How many times do we, as teachers, repeat concepts or examples again and
again in hopes that a student will be open, either at that moment in time, or
in the future, to glean something from it--and learn. I have often had the
experience of approaching a song one way and later finding something
completely new in it (or in my voice's approach to it) at another point in
time--and perhaps merely because I was thinking of it differently. I tell my
students that the mind is an essential element to our instrument.
The popular jargon of the day of "getting in touch with one's feelings,"
applies elementally in music, we must get in touch with the most musical
aspect of a piece we're working on, a style we're working in, and try to
bring to it a way of thinking, understanding and therefore a way of singing
which best gives it life.
--Erica
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