Singing and Memorial Day

Singing has not only been a part of United States history for hundreds of years but it has a special relationship to Memorial Day.

Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, abolished slavery on Sept 22, 1862 with his revolutionary Emancipation Proclamation. While this did not solve the Nation's overall problem with equality and diversity, it was a pivotal moment in our Nation's history and began progress in the right direction.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is one of the many reasons why he is/was widely regarded as the greatest President of the United States. Fast forward a couple of years to May of 1865 and the location is Charleston, South Carolina (which, at the time, had been one of the Confederate states).

A group of freed slaves and supporters created a celebration at the Washington Race Course, which was previously a prison camp for captured Union soldiers during the Civil War and, as a result, hundreds of Union soldiers were buried there.

Ten thousand freed slaves and supporters converged on Washington Race Course to celebrate their freedom on May 1, 1865. As part of their celebration, there were sermons, picnics and, of course, Singing! This party was named Declaration Day which is now called... Memorial Day!

For years, the ceremony was largely forgotten. It wasn't until many years later that a researcher was at the Harvard University Library and stumbled upon the personal writings of a Union soldier that happened to be at Washington Race Course that infamous day and it turns out that there was MUCH Singing.

The celebration began with the reading of a Psalm and they sang a Hymn and prayed. Everyone carried a bouquet of flowers in honor of the Union soldiers that gave their lives helping to abolish slavery.

They threw flowers from their bouquets on the graves of the lost soldiers while singing "The Star Spangled Banner," "America," and "Rally Round The Flag," and other celebratory songs.

Hat tip: Ethan at Singing Success.

Structure of Singing

Richard Miller's The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique (Wadsworth, 2001) is quite simply the best book about the process of singing on the market today.

In it he stresses the importance of knowing the details of a number of techniques of singing and compares vocal pedagogy to "a smorgasbord, from which one can sample foods both rich and simple; [but] not everything that can be ingested is equally nutritious."

Miller acknowledges that studying with many famous teachers, attending numerous of their master classes or symposiums, and reading the latest "complete" vocal method may be beneficial. But he adds that "there comes a time when the singer or teacher of singing must stop shopping around and make a choice." The right choice can only be made if "one is aware of what produces free vocal function."

Certain sounds may be exciting to the listener but harmful to the singer. Miller continues the food analogy by saying if vocal sounds "are not based on reliable functional principles, they will make the voice sick, just as a continual diet of desserts will adversely affect the constitution."

The following books by Miller are also excellent: On the Art of Singing, Training Tenor Voices, Training Soprano Voices, and Solutions for Singers.

Studying Singing

Sergius Kagen (1909-1964) was a member of the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music and had this to say regarding the studying of singing:

In my experience, I have become aware of the fact that too many young people who hope to become professional singers believe too much in and expect too much from the processes of study. . . . [Study] cannot be expected to endow the student with faculties he may not possess by nature.

SOURCE: Sergius Kagen, On Studying Singing (NY: Dover Publications, 1960), p. 4.

Bernadette Peters on Singing

Bernadette Peters has long been one of my favorite Broadway singers. In 1985 during the Broadway run of Song and Dance, she had the following to say about the singing voice:

''It's like a muscle,'' says Miss Peters, suddenly sounding like an athlete. ''You have to keep it in shape. Singing lessons are like body building for your larynx.''

How true.

SOURCE: Dena Kleiman, "Bernadette Peters Trains Voice Like a Muscle," New York Times (20 September 1985) C3.