February 4, 1964

Dear People --

Letts remind ourselves that it is the business of the Cleveland Orchest:-a

Chorus to perform all kinds of music in the style and spirit of their writin~,
that choral music becomes for us a dramatic art -- its emohasis is upon com-
munication. And it I s our business first to understand the musical a~d emo-
tional (spiritual) idiom of whatever music we approach and second, to communi-
cate that understanding to our listeners.

Our three chief scales of criticism and construction are (1) treatment of
tone, (2) treatment of rhythm, and (3) treatment of speech. Now, all three of
these will be variable. No one of us is to assume that the Honegger King David
and Verdi Requiem call for identical techniques or attitudes. -- ---

Our tone is to range from strenuousness and stringency to sheen and hush;
and tenderness with respect to sacred ideas and persons is not to register with
the same patent-leather efficiency as rnnarling, I love you. 11 --But each has
its place.

Rhythm is the name given to music's Time-ness. Its elements are first,
recurrency -- alternating stress and rest -- and second, (and more subtly)
direction -- the going some-whereness which ushers in the whole field of
phrasing and dynamics. These, too, are to be variable within our technique.
There is, however, in this instance an underpinning vital to all rhythmic
styles, and that is the integrity of the "weak" beat. Full value here and
the feeling of movement -- or we become sing-song and static.

Our treatment of speech has three attentions:

(1) Clear and vigorous voweling, with emphasis upon compound vowels
(diphthongs and triphthongs): lay (ay-ee), low (o-oo), lie (ah-ee), loud
(ah-oo), loy (aw-ee), and many words beginning with Y and W or ending with R.

(2) Vigorous and rhythmic singing of the consonants which have pitch:
M, N, and NG, anticipating wherever possible the hummedconsonant of a word by
singing it on the previous word and pitch (thus: OurM usic); and exoloitation
( for intonation I s sake) of the beginning pitches of the "sub-vocal 11 consonants:
V, L, G, J, D, B, Zand TH.
(3) Unanimous phonation of the explosive and sibilant consonants al-
ways as though they began syllables -- never as though they ended them (thus:
Thi -- si -- zuh -- luh -- vlee daee).

All these things are basic to our singing together. They should be habits.

R. So

ANNO
UNCEME~
;':':'3:

Sunday February 9 3:00 p.m. Tenors

Sunday February 9 S:oop.m. All - -·Dic:o- -& -----

Aeneas

Mo:1day February 10 8:00 p.m. All

 Febr11ary 11, 1964

Whereas, it's the only way choruses can be understood, and

Whereas, it settles half the problems of intonation, color,

balance, and phrasing, and

Whereas, I'm going to keep on hollering 1 til it's settled

Be It Resolved: Leave us save our ears and voices a helluva beating.

leave us

(1) Exaggerate the duration and loudness of consonants having

pitch: M's, N's, NG1 s, L's, B's, G1 sJ D's and J 1 s.
like
(2) Exaggerate the duration and loudness of the maker-uppers
of diphthongs and triphthongs: like say-ee for say, so-oo for so, lah-ood
for loud, bah-eet for bite, ee-oo foryou~oo-awk forwalk, fee-uh for fear,
vaw-ees forvoice. - - - -- -- -
-- -- (3) Phr;se ideas as well as melodies, breathe according to sense,
not whimsey.
Meld words together; tie final consonants across to the next
word. Leave us have no solo sibilants.
Practice by reading arry newspaper paragraph in a monotone,
steady, sustained no breaks except at ends of sentences.

II

I've written and talked a lot about the Timeness of Music and the won-
derful directives to choral singing which derive from that awareness. Time
providing Music its medium, its ''matter" to be shaped -- not doubling back
on itself, fresh every instant, each song a new song, and every performance
a first performance •••••• the here-nowness of Music, its Going Somewhere-ness.

If any stray soul has missed those eternal verities send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to And~ Truth Shall Hake You Inc., (same address).

Anyway, I 1ve got another pearl: --

DEPARTMENT
OF ANTITHESIS:

Time's contradictory quality is that of Recurrence, Pulse, Rhythm. It 1 s

the extension into Music of the heart-beat, the seasons, the tides, the biped,
gestation, and when you get right down to it -- wither by confirmation or
denial -- most of man1 s religious mysteries. It's the beat the beat the beati
It's the here it comes again-ness.

What it boils down to for members of the COGis that we don 1t sit around
lis t ening to our beautiful voices when we1 re supposed to be in the next bar.
Tirr.e·, s tides move right along, and we move along with them. 11Restsn. are not
what comes after releases -- rests are what comes before attackS.:---- And
both releasesand rests are dramatic accents. It is rhythmic integrity which
gives motion and vigor to music. We1re going to shade and color within that
frame, not without it. Here comes that brass ring again -- get ready~-

R. s. (c.c ., 2/24/44)
Sunday February 16 3 :00 p .m. Altos
Sunday February 16 4:00 p.m. All - Dido & Aeneas
Monday February 17 8:00 p.m. All ----
 February 18, 1964

••••• It's terribly difficult to write. Rhythm is at once the most phys-
ical and vulgar of music's architectures, and the most subtle and extra-
sensory. It's muscular and it's intuitive - and words are of little
help to either. But these things come to mind:

It should be our commonalways-present understanding, it seems to

me, that Music I s untouched canvas is Time. Everytime we sing -- every
time, rehearsal or performance, we work on Time. Music is from Now to
Somewhen. It has not mass, substance, dimension, shape, weight. It
has Time. Sculpture is a Space-Art; it has mass and propor ·tion. Paint-
ing is a Space-Art; it has height, breadth, and by the illusion of per-
spective, depth; it has design and proportion; it has color and light
(and this may introduce a qualification, for the quantum and relativity
theories may make Light and Time pretty close neighbors -- for all I
lmow).

Ballet deals principally with movement through space. Drama and

literature have strong Spatial preoccupations. But Music has Time 1

Now Time has dual implications. On the one hand it has Eternality.
And for all we know forever may be of instant's duration. At any rate,
Eternality must be One-ness. There can be no last-time or this-time in
Forever. There can be only Now. In one there cannot be Two. Eternal-
ity is indivisable. Now and Forever are one and the same.

On the other hand Time has -- by all our experiences -- the impli-
cation of Change and of Recurrency, of Cycle and Growth. Tomorrow is a
very real thing to most of us. All of man's moral and religious systems
are built upon it. We fight wars so that there will be a Time when no
wars will be fought. We ascribe to Time periodicity: we say we have
high-tide twice a day, thirteen full moons a year; we say it takes nine
months to mature the human embryo; and from there on man still has a
traditional 11
Seven Ages11. We believe we can 11shapen Time, change it,
give it form.

It seems to me that without a very sure awareness to Form in Time

(aspects of which are Recurrency and Growth) and without a very strong
faith in the power of men to change and determine their own Life-Time,
we're in no position to give Time-Form to Music.

"Form11 is not too fortunate a word, for it suggests the static and
set. That isn't at all what we mean by Time-Form. Time-Form is heart-
beat, ~ulse; Time-Form is yesterday, today, tomorrow; Time-Form is Rhythm.
And within Rhythm, Time-Form is movement, going somewhere, growth.
This issues in a lot of very practical procedures for us.

At the head of the list is the absolute inviolability of the pulse

of great music. Any tampering or insensitivity here will crip9le or
kill. Music has a right to its own life. It has its own pulse, its own
heart-beat. It has its own growth, its own 11Seven Ages11• ( In a para-
doxical, but not contradictory sense, Drama resides in the inevitable,
in the thing everybody knows is going to happen, in mustness. And most
of the mustness in Music is the beat, the beat.) Any great artist
 -2-

phrases within the rhythm; he does not distort rhythm to fit his phrase.
He lets music live its own life.
There is, of course, some music (most of it badly written) which is
enhanced by a free rhythmic and dynamic play upon the emotional content
(most of it is shallow) of words and ideas. That is a valid style for a
particular type of music -- and for no other •

Second is the integrity and importance of the 'tweak" beat. In all

dance and march rhythms it is this poor little weak-beat that does the
work. It has the vitality. It keeps people moving. It gets things
done. It lifts. It's the up-beat.
-And in all sustained melody this is the beat of unrest, of growth.
It moves. It is not the beat of repose. It is not the beat upon which
the music stands still. It is the searching bear:- Everything happens
here. The "strong" beat offers refuge -- but it is only temporary refuge.
Within the instant in all great rrelody is restlessness, yearning, intensi-
fication, accent. No one can fail to sense this quest and remain an art-
ist.
The third application of rhythmic singing is rhythmic speech. It
is imperative in choral song that compound vowels and pitch-consonants
have rhythmic proportion. Their duration is only definable in terms of
rhythm. Rhythm offers the only basis for coordination of 200 people,
and it alone insures the listener of intelligibility. It is not enough
merely to sing M's, N1 s, NG1 s and the disappearing vowel sounds of diph-
thongs and triphthongs. They must be sung rhythmically.

R. s. (c.c. 10/3/44)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

If there are still some who are interested in Mr. Shaw's perform-
ances in either Bowling Green or Cuyahoga Falls please let me know by
the end of this week. I'm afraid we already have too many people who
want to go to Elyria -- so if you can possibly change it would help to
know.

I call your attention to the rehearsal of Sunday, March 8, ALL MEN

the date of Mr. Shaw's Cuyahoga Falls concert.

Saturday February 22 1130 p.m. All - Di.do & Aeneas

---
Sunday February 23 4:00 p.m. Perf. - Di.do & Aeneas
---
Sunday February 23 5:30 p.m. Basses
Monday February 24 8:00 p.m. Everyone
 March 4, 1964

Half-ideas are transient-shaped

Or else they must dissolve somehow each into each.
If only they would stand completely still
Until one found the words their size.
"I see, your measurements are thus and thus
That's clear enough. 11
You inventory your entire stock
"Now this should fit" and turn to find
It realJ_y doesn't fit at all.
You have a cubed suit
For a sohered thought.

You were sure that thought had corners •

••••• X tried to get down on paper some of the things that are jam-
ming my mind with reference to music and the spiritual qualities.

We have, almost from the beginning of the COC, assumed the function
if not the particularized truths -- of that relationship, and now with
a frightening clarity and in a flood of specific detail I begin to under-
stand that music is spirit.

I guess the first Bible verse I l,earned ''by heart" in the Beginners
Class at Sunday School was "God is love". It must have been at least
twenty years later that it occurred to me that what it probably meant
was "You know what God is -- Love"~ And the same thing happens now with
"Music is spirit" -- but this time in overwhelming detail.

We began years ago by assuming that song was a story -- it had a

tale to tell, an argument to deliver, or a mood to convey. It's func-
tion was dramatic. Song was drama. Our first understandings of spirit
in music were limited then to understandings of the text; and our tech-
niques centered around systems of enunciation and a practical speech dis-
cipline, if also text was seen to qualify tone and sonority.

We understood spirit, too, as synonamous with our own corporate en-

thusiasm for the music we sang. It was very evident in concert perform-
ance that here was a group of people who loved to sing together and who
somehow believed their song.

But at this point and from this time on the Cleveland Orchestra
Chorus begins. I have never felt so sure of anything in my life. The
ends for which we have assembled take shape; the pace and manner of
their achievement grows more conscious and clear.

I believe that the essential musical properties -- harmony, melody,

rhythm, tone and dynamics -- under whatever critical microscope -- are
to be understood finally only as relations of qualities.
 -2-

I believe that the relations of a note to its octave is the relation

of one-ness to two-ness (which it is in te~ms of vibrations per second)
and that at the same time the fact of their recogniza .ble unity is a qual-
itative symbol knowledgeable only to men's spirits.

I believe that when voices switch functions for even the span of
two notes, so that one voice sings what the other sang and what the sec-
ond sang the first now sings the human spirit is involved. And the fact
of a fugue wherein voices propose identity in alteration is a spiritual
phenomenon.

I believe that form in music is a symbol of relations and values,

not a blueprint of construction technique.

I believe that intervals have quality; that good intonation is the

result of sensitivity to truth and untruth in tonality.

I believethat the voice is fantastically responsive to musical

understanding, and that in every instance the sense of what must be
precedes the How.

And I am no longer so concerned about the inability of any choir

(including the COC) to master the long line of a long piece in a single
sitting; for there are a hundred miracles in every measure worthy of the
whole of a man's understanding.

I believe, then, that spirit in music is not the wholesale emotional

orgasm that weeps appropriately in public, but rather the marshalling of
one's keenest, most critical intellectual and moral forces to the p oint of
complete consciousness -- 1 til one hears in terms of values and the move-
ments of values, until the most pedestrian minutiae of pitch and rhythm
are heard inwardly in relation to adjacent minutiae; and finally in re-
lation to wholes of form, tonality and intent.

I beli eve that we are only at the beginning. I believe we can s cale
and direct every rehearsal to this end, and that in those hours will lie
the 11'life we have lost in living -- the wisdom we have lost in knowledge
-- the knowledge we have lost in information".

R. S. (C.C. - 11/19/46)

ANNOIB{CENENTS:

There is a new Oasis for the relief of partched and scratchy throats.
Newly installed and perhaps unknown to you it is located out in the upper
foyer. Hopefully it will ease, nay eliminate, the bedlam in our skinny
little hallway.

Sunday March 8 3:00 p.m. Rehearsal for ALLmen

Monday March 9 8:00 p.me Everyone

E. B.
 March 10, 1964

Too few of us realize the short - maybe too short -- s9ace of time be-
tween us and our first meeting with Mr. Shaw after tour. One I:Ionday and
two Sundays s13parate us f:-om 1,rednesdaY, '· t1ar.0h 25, at"' 8 ~00 p,.ni. ··

The Collegiate Chorale received a letter date lined "late Monday ni ght"
~lmost a score of years ago, but it's pertinent -- so terribly pertinent
to Casey's rehearsals: 11a reacquaintance with the fundament als of choral
musicians hip 11.

Snafued enunciation and careless dispirited rhythm. Things we shoul d

be able to take for granted. Pitches sometimes are hard to find: disson -·
ances and the speed with which notes succeed each other offer difficulties
onl y solved by a slow and extremely precise process. We enlarge; we put the
music _under the microscope; we cut to half-time and quarter-time; we analize,
look for pitch cues and thematic materials. That is a legitimate method of
learning. Even orchestras sometimes are forced to it. -But enunciation and
the elements of rhythmic form and stress are basic. (To these eventually
should be added an understanding of choral tone, though it must remain con-
siderably more flexible and variable.) We have a right to assume that these
disciplines are second-nature.

-Like a pro-football team. They assume the familiarity of the funda-

mentals. The boys know how to tackle. They know how to block. They know
how to handle the ball, and how to fall without breaking their necks. What
they study is formations and the execution of plays.

Well -- we assume the techniques of enunciation and rhythm. We study

the intricacies of harmonic and melodic patterns. We spend time on phras-
ing, balance and an occasional problem of vocal agility. We shouldn't have
to take time for much else.

Let's take enunciation first. What we have is an artificial, arbitrary,

but immensely prac'ti o al system. Nobody claims anything more for it than
that it works. It is built particularly for American speech, though~ of
its principles may carry over into foreign tongues.

The Rules Are:

IPure, vigorous vowels.
II Carefully broken-up dipht hongs.
III Long and intense hummed consonants .•
IV Explosive consonants always exploded as though they
began a syllable.
V Rhythmic, proportionate allocations of hummedconson-
ants and secondary vowels.

I - We will purify our vowels to the extent that th ey never be mis-

understood -- even without context~

Note that this is one of the most delicate adjustments

of the singer's art. Note that it is not necessary to
emasculate in order to purify. We do not have to sing
hooty "oos" and rasping 11ees 11 to make ourselves under -
 -2-

stood. It is perfectly possible to have vowel defin ~-

ition without grotesque facial contortion and the frac-
ture of vocal line. The vowels are formed at the "voice
box" (or whatever you want to call it), not by the teeth,
nose or position of the tongue in the mou.th. Their chief
resonator is the throat column directly adjacent to their
point of origin; and though in particular instances the
mouth and jaw may aid clarity and faci .li ty ( as in the
difference bet ween OH and 00; or prestissimo, pianis-
simo passages of caluclated dexterity) the fundamental
voweling area is before the mouth. Try it. Put your
hands up alongside and forward of the hinges of your
jaw. Drop your javr slightly and naturally. Now say
all the vowel sounds you can think of. Not.e how firm,
full and virile they sound. For contrast sake try t o
form them by facial gesticulation; try to cut off all
resonance before the mouth. Note how whiney, thin, r eedy
and emasculate they become.

Actually -- all it takes is a little mind.

II - We will exaggerate the intensity and the duration of the di stinct

vowel sounds in diphthongs and triphthongs. We 1 11 sing them loud-
er and longer and more clearly. We will never -- never sing one
vowe l sound where two belong.

Always for "ay" (as in say) we will sing a (almost "eh ") and "ee".

Always for 11 ow11 (as in~) we will sing ah 11 and

11
"oo".
Always for "oy" (as in boy~ we will sing aw11 and
11 ee 11•
11

Always for II I" (as in sky) we will sing "ah" and "ee".

Always for 11 yoo 11 (as in yoo-hoo) we will sing ee 11 and 'loo".

11

Always for "ear" (as in ear) we will sing "e e " and "u~ ".
Note that this holds no matter how fast the tempo, or
whatever the duration of the diphthong. Break it up;
sing both parts separately and distinctly.

II I· ·- We will exaggerate the intensity and the duration of the conson-

ants that have pitch. We will sing M1 s, N's and NG1 s longer
·· and louder.

A - If the hummed consonant is an initial consonant and pre-

ceded by a vowel (as in new !:.:asses) (what a lyric i) we
will sing the 11m11 as though it belong ed to both words,
thus 11newM-Masses 11.,

B - If the hummed consonant is a final consonant and follow-

ed by a vowel (as in "I'm asleep") we will sing the "m"
 -3-
as though it belonged to both words, thus I'm-Masleep
11 11•

C - We will ·oe conscious of the fact ( chiefly for the sake

cf intonatior..) that the 11sub-vocal 11 consonants have an
initial pitch, and that they are to be sung on the pitch
they are supposed to be sung on. Thus B, D, J, G. L, V,
Zall have a fragmentary initial pitch. Sing it.

JV - All explosive and sibilant consonants will be pronounced as though

they _began syllables, not as though they ended them. Thus_, "what
is this all about anyway 11 becomes 11hoouh-ti-zth-saw-luh- bahoo-
tehn-nee-ooayee. 11

V - We will give always proportionate (that is, rhythmic) time value

to the various portions of speech sound that make up a word.
That is to say, hummed consonants and the final vowel sounds in
diphthongs will always have an actual rhythmic allotment, vary-
ing up to½ of the full time value, and depending upon tempo
and style.

This is hard to illustrate, but suppose you had the word 11home11
on a half-note in fairly rapid time. We would sing the first
quarter-note value 11Ho11 and the next quarter-note value "ooM11,
coming immediately to the M. Thus, count "one-two, one-two,"
"Ho-ooM, Ho-ooM". Or take the opening line of the "Star
Spangled Banner 11• Now, instead of quarter-note values on 11Oh,
say can you", think eighth-note values on "Oh-oo say-ee ca-aN
you-OO11•

There is one further refinement of this; and it's also tough to

put on paper without musical notation. It is that hummed con-
sonants and the final vowels of diphthongs do not fall (except
in very fast tempi or short note values) exactly on the rhyth.~ic
sub-di vision.

For example, sing to yourself in a slow tempo, 110h come all ye

faithful". Now, instead of half-notes on "come" and "faith",
think quarter-notes on "Kuh-uhM" and 11Fay-ayEE 11,, Iiote that if
we sang 11Kuh-M11 and "Fay-EE", it would sound quite artificial,
but if, on the second-quarter value, we preface th e LI and the
EE wi t h just a fragment of the main vowel sound, most of the
angularity and artificiality disappears. This allows then an
enlarged duration for the secondary vowel or hummed consonant,
but maintains the normal accent of the primary vowel. OK?

I
Pure, vigorous vowels.
IICarefully broken~up diphthongs.
III Long and intense hummed consonants.
JVExplosive consonants always exploded as though they
began a syllable.
V Rhythmic, proportionate allocations of hummed conson-
ents and secondary vowels.
 -4-
,
I
Nm, what all this issues in is -

1. :Musically, the legato phrase, which is the substance of melody.

2.. Dramatically, a continuous intensity of mood and sense. Ther e

are no spasmodic, diverting interruptions of the songs story.
We end phrases where it makes it make sense textually and
beauty musically. If someone has to breathe, he does so in the
middle of a vowel or hummed consonant :1 and jumps back in the
middle of a vowel or a hummed consonant.

3 • Uniformity and discipline. For instance, in the case of the

exploded consonant, the technique of tacking it on the follow-
ing syllable places it on the oeat or sub-division thereof.
So far as I can tell, that'sthe only instant capable of abso-
lute definition and unanimous ,mderstanding. -And, people,
that's the point of a chorus; doing the same thing together at
the same time•

-Which brings us 4:00 a.m. and the Second Lesson. From here on it
comes slower.

A. The cardinal sin of singers and choruses is their unmusicali ty.

B. I've heard people quote Mozart something like this: '1What is

music? Music is first of all Rhythm; in the second place -
Rhythm; and finally - Rhythm. 11
O.E.D~: The cardinal sin of singers and choruses is their lack
of rhythm.

I 1 d like to be able to tell you all I feel about Rhythm and the
Time -n 0ss of music, and make it sound fresh and exciting. As a matter
of fact , I've written to you so many times about it that I'm sick and
tired of the whole subject. It all sounds like SLOGANS. -Or the "In-
fatuation with the Sound of Own Words Department''.

-Yet I know it's right. And I know it's the one absolut 8ly neces-
sar y , '!Jasic, urgency of the choral art - ( or any other musical art).

Up above it says "sick and tired of the whole subject". That's not
quite true. I'm not tired of doing it, only tired of talking about it.
I t I s al ways fresh and exciting in the music. We work always with new
r.i2:r<_,r,:n
s , new patterns, new accents. That I s the wonderful invigo r ati ng
1)3I't. These excerpts, analytical and critical, are awfully shy of th e
inten se practical organic excitement that comes with actual performanc e;
but it ought to do us good to review them.

I can think of a couple of emphas es that haven I t been emphatic

enough up to now. The first is that little notes are just as i~ port ant
a.s bi g notes, that they have places, and that they should be put in t he ir
pl ace s . Sixteenths and eighths and quarters are not just t hing s tha t
s ome between bigger things. They are not "introducings 1
: or preparations
or pick-upss I get a horrible picture from the way you sing of little,
ti t ·0y eighth-notes running like hell all over the place, to keep from
 -5-
being stepped on. Millions of I em! Meek, squeaky little things. No
self-respect. Standing in corners, hiding behind doors, ducking into
su bway stations, peering out from mider rugs. Refugees.

Dammit, you 1 re all a b1mch of Whole-Note Nazis. And dots l Poor

little dots ! Oh - ( I can I t stand it t) I just thought of a double dot !

Look, this is a democracy. Little people count. They're included

in the census, Eighth-notes can vote. They carry ID cards. They be-
long.

Dialogue:

Sixteenth note marches up to a bar, ''Gimme a glass o I beer.''

11
COG, tt'I'm sorry, my little man, that's only for whole notesa

Moral:

Give 1 im a drink.

R. S.,

ANNOUNC,'EMENTS:

Some weeks ago in a letter there were some words to the effect that
w8 ar a not a Monday evening social club", and, with an eye to the no t
11

too distant future, it seemed necessary to say it again. I know it is

not easy to sit quietly while the conductor works with a single section,
but please try. There has been no count made of the number of ns-S-H-H I s''
Casey uses up of an evening, but I don 1 t suppose he should have to use any .

LADIES NOTEt l Sunday March 15 1 :4.5p .m. Rehears a l ALL women

Mono.ay March 16 8:00 p.m. Rehearsal ALL

 ber 23, 1964
Sept e~;1

Many, m=1.
ny thanks for the great pleas ureso f l a.s t Monday 's
r ehe arsal. Your promptness in the registr a-:.ion pro cedur 8::: , and
your intens e i:nt er e;:;t and discipline in the r ehe.:1.rsa. . i.t self
1

make for a would. every night were Monday night glow~

I sh all writenext week concerning some of t he experi ences

af the South American t our, and of the implic o.t,j _ons th e.;r may
have for our own organization. --But I' d l ik e to save those
lett ers until our 1964-196.5 membership is ccm:p lete.

Until then, may I a.s k two favors which I fe el wil l he l p

our rehearsals considerably? In th e firs t instance, our new
associates next Monday will be extremely qualified and pers on-
able folk. Ours is not primarily a social club -- but now that
our own initial greetings are past, it probably would be a
good thing to be thoughtful of gr eet i ng our newer friend s and
co-wor ke rs.

In the second place, while it is natural that most of us

find habitual seats and seat-mates at rehearsal, I am not con-
vinc ed that this makes for th e great est music al or social pro-
duct~ Diff er ent positions and di ff ere nt as s ociat es brin g vary-
ing factors of tone, rh yt hmic ens emble and att enti on -- all of
which build our musical homogeneit y more rapi dl y and more s e-
cur ely.

It would be fine if we could devis e s ome "r ot ati on" pl an

i n reh earsal seating, but this is an enor mous probl em in l o-
gis tics, given movabl e chairs et al. May I r equest that yc.u
shi ft your general r ehearsal locale from week to week -- fr ont
to middle to back, and that you find at least one new ne ig h -
bor each session ? All of us sh ould profi t th er eby.

Until Monday, then , many th anks and good wish es -

ANN
OUNCEM
ENTS :

Monda y Se:pt ember 28 8 :00 p. m.

 October 1, 1964

There is a very strong interest in the choral art in all South American re-
publics, but of those visited (all but Bolivia and Venezuela) the choral move-
ment in Chile is most remarkable.

Our schedule in Santiago, after a noon-time arrival, briefings and a press

conference, began with an evening reception for the entire company (thirty-six
vocalists, twenty-four instrumentalists) given by the Federation of Choruses of
Chile in a high-school gymnasium. I had been asked to arrive a few minutes after
oi1r group, which, as guests of honor, were placed in the front and center of a
l arge expanse of tiered seats flanking one side of the basket-ball court. As I
step ped through the door onto the basket-ball floor I was sure I had been ushered
into the wrong arena. Here were some four- to five-thousand yelling, shouting,
banner-waving "fans" -- obviously here to greet the Beatles, Mickey Mouse or Liz
and Richard.

It was a fantastic evening. Having first been greeted by songs of friend-

ship and welcome - which these thousands had rehearsed for weeks ahead -- we
then were treated to an amazing staged full-hour revue of folk-music and -dance
-- lighted, costumed and choreographed with full professional competence but
with amateur, native and animal vitality. Following this each of the choruses
there represented filed by with gifts and souvenirs -- pottery, metal work,
sculpture, pictures or pennants. -And after we had "improvised" our scoreless
hymn of thanks and murmured some words of appreciation -- with unpremeditated
but fortuitous references to how a young late great North American would have
enjoyed being there (which references occasioned the evening's only moment of
silence and tears: this man was really loved down there), after, also, an hour
of auto- and photo-graphs, we were ushered into what must have been a combin-
ation locker room and cold storage for informal mingling, snacking and wining.

For the next three days, in addition to our rehearsals and performances, I
met every morning with nearly one hundred choral conductors, assembled from
Chile's interior -- of which there 1 s very little -- and from her extremities --
which are about twenty-five hundred miles distant from each other. We rehearsed
and rehashed, paneled and seminared, traded literature, techniques and compli-
ments.

We learned that there were more choruses in Santiago than at which one Iaj.ght
shake a single stick. In addition to choirs associated with schools and relig-
ious institutions, every factory, bank, department store, insurance company or
agency of public service or government seems to sprout some sort of choral activ-
ity. Frequently these were also coordinated with groups of dancers and strummed
strings. -The point was that music was not a spectator sport but daily do-it-
yourself bread, wine and TV.

On the fourth day we were invited to a twi-night reception-dinner afforded

by the chorus of The General Tire Company of Chile. The factory was located
about an hour's ride out of Santiago, and we reported first to a quonset qubhouse
built by the members of the chorus with materials donated by the Company. Here
we were wined, canapeed and sung to by a charming motley of executives, workers,
wives and children. -For this chorus not only crosses management-labor lines,
but also those which separate the generations. The youngest members would surely
be no more than six years old, and the eldest, retired grandparents.
 -2-

Follo wing this there was a gargantuan barbecue dinner at a public park pub-
house which began with Chilean wines and bouillibaise, continued with Chilean
wines and great joints of braised meat, Chilean wines and salad, and ended with
Chilean wines and dancing. It was at this point in the evening that I won my
spurs. Rowels rampant on my corrugated rubber-soled seven-leg boots I was led
by a lamb to her daughter and allowed the first dance. That is, it was the
first dance for me. Every dance is a first for me. For them it was fun time --
like turning a turtle upside down. -There's not a lot to this dance: just feet,
hands, hips, eyes, spurs and handkerchiefs. The only trouble is that everything
is supposed to move at once. I didn't seem to be able to figure out how to keep
my poncho out of my spurs. Everytime I'd step on it, it'd jerk my chin down on
my knees. (I remember thinking it wasn't quite fair: two against one. The
chin was bound to lose.) This was supposed to have been an ancient gaucho dance
of courtship. Courtship t Rape would have been less risky. Ah, art. Ah, dip-
lomacy.

To return to this letter's matter. The manager-director of the factory,

a North American from Akron who'd been handed this job about wartime drove me
from the reception to the dinner. It was one of those "Now, I don' t know any-
thing about music, but ••• " beginnings, but what followed was extraordinary:
"··· what is there about this singing in choruses that gets to people and gets
to the best in them? I've been here for more than twenty years. We always
had all sorts of labor-management problems and trouble. A few years ago some
workers came to me to ask if they could start a chorus. Why not? Pretty soon
I noticed that the chorus included people from all levels and elements in our
factory. When they asked for some help in building a clubhouse, I saw that they
got the space and materials, but they did the work. I don't know how it happens,
but ever since that damned chorus began we've never had a serious management or
labor problem in this company. I 1ve never seen anything work like this. When
some problem comes up these guys sit down together like they could stand each
other and its all settled. Nothing has been so important in this big company
as that little chorus."

All this -- and Mozart too.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Enclosed is a revised rehearsal schedule. Please note in particular the

change of date of the Oberlin concert. Please destroy the original schedule.

Sunday October 4 5:00 p.m. Tenors

Monday October 5 8:00 p.m. All
 October 13, 1964

I had intended to write to you this morning, as the second in the series of
letters outlined , last week, on the "theory of rhythm," and music as a "time-art."
However, I think it would be better to save that until next week, since matters
of text and language arose during last night's rehearsal -- some intentional,
some inadvertent ; and irretrievable -- and since, from here, it appears that these
ought to be the focus of next week's rehearsal.
In the main, last night's rehearsal was concerned with aspects of phrasing:
in particular, the use of loudening and quieting -- of crescendo and diminuendo
-- as the principle techniques of forming "phrases" out of consecutive notes; and,
in two cases at least, the suggestion that time need not always march rachet-like
on -- which must have confounded a singer or two after the assembly-line metric
premises (?f the week previous. ("Phrasing" should be the subject of a letter two
weeks away.)
The rehearsal of eight days ago was substantially a basic and bruising rhyth-
~ drill -- not directed primarily at learning the rhythmic and metric matters of
the Mozart Requiem (though that was one result), but even more stringently and per-
tinently, I feel, using the metric motives of the Requiem to sharpen and rlrill
our basic rhythmic sensibilities.

Therefore, since it is one of the legs of the choral stool, the emphasis of
the next rehearsal ought to be text: words, language, enunciation, meaning, poetry
and associated phenomena. It occurs to me at this pondering that language as re-
lated to music has four meanings.

In the first place language almost always has a reasonably decipherable,

dictionary-, "literal-" meaning. One can usually find near-equivalents -- even
from one language to another. "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" at the very
least means, "Rest eternal give them, Lord." (From here on out we may wish that
we knew a little bit more about "meaning" -- and its meanings; but le t 's go ahead,
and see if we still can accomplish something with the commongarden variet y of
meaning.) I said above "almost always" because there are texts, of course, which
are so obscure as to resist paraphrase or translation. Such a text, in part, is
that of Christopher Smart, used by Benjamin Britten in Rejoice in th e Lamb:

For His a spirit and therefore he is God.

For K is king and therefore he is God.•
For Lis love and therefore he is God.
For Mis musick and therefore he is God.

For the instruments are by their rhimes,

For the shawm rhimes are lawn fawn and the like.
For the shawm rhimes are moon boon and the l ike.
For the harp rhimes are sing ring string and the like.
For the cymbal rhimes are bell well toll soul and the li ke.
For the flute rhimes are tooth youth suit mute and the l ike.
For the bassoon rhimes are pass class and the like.
For the dulcimer rhimes are grace place beat heat and t he like.
For the clarinet rhimes are clean seen and the li ke.
For the trumpet rhimes are sound bound soar more and t he l i ke .
For the trumpet of God is a blessed intelligence
and so are all the instruments in Heav1 n.
 -2-

Nowthis, at least in terms of "the boy throws the ball," is relatively ob-
scure. All the words are certifiable; all of them possess dictionary equivalents;
the grammar is uncluttered and precise -- but the meaning is obscure. Still, it
is not so obscure as out-and-out "nonsense" -- which plays a considerable part,
as anyone can attest, in folk-music:
There was a wee cooper wha1 lived in Fife.
Nickety nackety noo noo noo
An' he has takenagentle wife.
Hey willy wallacky
Ho John dougal alain
Quorashety roo roo roo.
Still, in that first place, except for occasional nonsense or intended sur-
realistic obscurity, most of music's texts have a definable and paraphrasable
meaning.

The second meaning that language bears in music is one that has accrued to
it through tradition and association. In essence this is a social and institutional
tradition: that is, it belongs to a number of people, both past and present, who
have shared a given body of understandings, rituals, beliefs -- and communications.
Names obviously have this sort of association: Jim Thorpe, Sergeant York,
Yankee Doodle, T.R., FDR, JFK, Whirlaway, Big Red, Han o 1 War; consider, for in-
stance, the difference in flavor, patina and eventual meaning between "Honest Abe"
and "A. Lincoln" -- same person, different emphases. --But also consider what
happened to Edgar Guest's Motherhood on the way to meet Philip Wylies's Momism;
consider how loaded a word "extremism" can become in a few weeks, or how unfunny
a word like "vigah" became in a few moments last November. The member of the
Optimist Club does not find his motto fatuous; the horror of "Babyland" in Forest
Lawn Cernetary is not apparent to all anguished Southern California parents; the
Boy Scout oath to the twelve-year old is not initially a covenant to be "honest,
trustworthy, obedient" etc. etc., but a magic formula that makes him a member of
a troop -- world-wide, and uniformed.
Similarly but positively, "Requiem aeternam ••• " is by no means limited to
"Rest eternal give them, Lord," but is centuries-full of the meanings of death.
In Rejoice in~~ Christopher Smart talks about the "language of flowers."
Well, there is also a language of dying; and since 1250 (surmised date for the
writing of the Dies Irae sequence) for most of Western Civilization a "requeim"
text has been the source, center or formalization ,of the language of death. It
carries, I feel sure, not only the commitments of those who at present share its
literal religious formula, but since it is a formalization familiar to govern-
ments, societies, sects and celebrants outside its specific institutional domain
it carries also the accumulations, adhesions, qualifications and addenda of the
entire family of man, including, I should think, lines on an eighteenth century
gravestone on Nantucket -
My days in infancy were spent
While to rrr:,parents I was lent.
One fleeting look to them I gave
And then descended to the grave.
-or four days in November, or the diary of Anne Frank x 10,000,000o
 -3-
The third of language's meanings to be dealt with in music is even less open
to measurement ~nd analysis, because it is not subject to the evidence of incident
or history. It is the proposition that, just as there is a language of death, so
also is there a language of language. In its most primitive form we know this as
onomatopoeia, "the formation of words in imitation of natural sounds -- hiss ••••
buzz •••• plop •••• bob-white. 11 However, all the elements which give langua'gea
greater intensity of communication give it also greater value and greater meaning.
Rhyme, rhythm, meter, assonance, alliteration -- are warp and woof not merely of
style, but also of meaning.

Lewis Carroll's "non-sense" is not necessarily without all meaning;

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabs:
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe •••• :

Dylan Thomas1 .fern Hill appoints simple words to unique, oblique functions,
but their rhythm and intonation is part of their meaning; and one who has heard
the sound of Dylan's voice, reads more richly:

· Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs

About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light~

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns

About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streamsg

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, tt e hay

Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass~
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing t he farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among st ables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
 -4-
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house

Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that tim ~3 a.:Uows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace,

Noth:l-ng I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is alw~ys rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land~
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Who is to say how much of the intensity of the Dies irae text comes · from
sense, and how much from sensation: the lopsided eccentric swing of three-line
rhymings; the hammering, riveting strokes of alliteration and assonance which
begin stanza two -- "Quant us ••• ~ quando ••• ~ cuncta •• e ~11

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sybilla.

Quantus tremor est futurus

Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus.

Certainly there is a meaning in language which is independent of "sense" or

"association". It inheres (in) sound itself, -- a babble of ecstacy, a speaking
in tongues.

All these meanings of language -- sense, association and sound -- could be

in text, of course, independent of a collaborative composer. Therefore, the fourth
and perhaps most important meaning of language as related to music is the contri-
bution of the composer -- his intent and his meaning. This is at the essence of
our interpretative problem.
 -5-
Let us admit at the beginning that almost without exception the composer
begins with the text. "In the beginning is the word," and the composer assumes
responsibility for making it flesh -- or, at least, appearance. -But if we should
begin our interpretative procedures with the text, then we are in great danger of
denying ourselves the composer's commentary. Should we take the position that be-
cause the Requiems of Mozart, Verdi and Faure have substantially the same text they
also have the same meaning, we are in a prime posture of artistic insolence and
human emaciation.

There is, of course, a more apparent tie between words and music in the song
literature than in the choral complex. The art-song, the folk-song a..~dthe pop-
song more frequently will effect between tone and text an expressivity and shape
which is parallel, Analogous and occasionally nearly identical. -But even within
their fieids there is an independence of musical and textual symbols. Perhaps the
most primitive of song-forms is the strophic-, verse- or stanzaic- lyric or nar-
rative. Within this form, since the same short tune must serve several verses and
a multiplicity and variety of texts, if we grant the song's communication we
must admit that the tune has a structure and meaning of its own.

"Structure" is a key-word here; for if we grant to an assemblage of little

squiggles called "letters" a meaning, or if we grant meaning to a formula involv-
ing numerical symbols, then there is no reason why we should not grant meaning to
a formula -- a structure -- in sound and time.

The great composer, then, beginning under the inspiration of text, atte mpts
to fashion a musical structure that will match his text not syllable by syllable,
accent for accent, duration for duration or intonation for intonation, but rather
will match it spirit for spirit and structural soundness and expressivity for
structural soundness and expressivity -- even though one structure be of the sym-
bols we call words and the other a structure in tone and time which we call music.

That this is so, recall Mozart's opening measures of the Rex Tremendae:
three incredible tonal explosions of "Rex-hood" which certainly are unprescribed
by the letter of the literal law. Recall what energy Beethoven, in the Missa
Solemnis manages to implode into his several isolated shouts of et~ It is the
fervor of the early evangelist or campaign orator, 11Moreover~ ••• - Absolut ely un-
believable ~ --But I promise you that ••• 1 Moment by moment the composer is writ-
ing his commentary upon the text. It is written in musical terms with musical
symbols: pitch, duration, accent, tone. To find his meaning we must first repro-
duce these symbols. (This is one of the reasons I feel the choral art begins not
with voice lessons but with music lessons.)

I wondered when I -started this four-stage missile in to the air where it would
fall to earth, and I now find a remarkable coincidence of theory and function.
Our responsibilities as choral artists engaged with musical text are precise and
four-fold:

One: to deliver the sounds of the text so that th ey at least make sense
available, or so that the text could be understood if one isolated it f rom compli -
cating and competitive factors, like five words at once, or three brass bands over
"let me whisper to you once more , 'darling, I lo ve you. 111

Two: to deli ver the text with the fervor of its historical seed and an under-
standing of its contemporary inferences.
 -6-
Three: to deliver with energy and ecstacy the fantastic vocal kaliedoscope
of language, the microcosmic babble and bauble of man's conu~unication, sound for
sound's sheer delight.

Four: to deliver the composer's intent, understanding and passion as pre-

scribed in his musical language.

The know-how here is not nearly so difficult as the want-to -- but these
would makeafurther letter.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

GUESTS: We should like to make our Monda.ynight rehearsals open to all who
would like to attend, but unfortunately this is not possible. Space and fire laws
make it necessary to limit the number of guests attending each rehearsal. Please
arrange in advance for any guests that you would like to bring with you. Too many
gaests on a given night can mean that everyone might be asked to leave.

We ask that you do not bring guests to the Sunday sectional rehearsals.

No guests are admitted to the rehearsals "with orchestra" without the express
consent of the conductor.

SUNDAYTICKETS: The Sunday Afternoon Concert tickets you have received re-
present the complimentary ticket, to which you are entitled, for each of the per-
formances in which you participate, plus a bonus of four concerts.

An exception is the performance of the Beethoven Ninth, which will have no

third performance because of the Carnegie Hall concert on February 8.

The first concert on the Sunday Afternoon series will be:

LOUISLANEConducting
EUNICEPODIS, Piano
RAFAELDRUIAN,Violin

Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra J .s. Bach

No. 1 in A minor, BVW1041

Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra Shostakovich

No. 1, Op. 35, with Solo Trumpet

Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Chausson

Orchestra, Op. 21

IJEWYORKCONCERT: The Musical Arts Association will provide transportation, hotel

accommodations and meals for all of you who participate in th e Car negie Hall con-
cert. This is true from the time we leave Severance Hall, in bus es, for the air-
port, until we return to Severance Hall, in buses.

Sunday October 18 5: 00 p.m. Women

Monday October 19 8:00 p.m. All
 October 22, 1964

By recollection we have promised two additional letters: the first a discus-

sion of the theory of rhythm, and music as a Time-art; and the second a study of
the practical ways and means of good choral enunciation.

At this point, however, we have but one rehearsal before we Join the orch-
estra for the Mozart Requiem, and I'd like to direct our attention to what must
be the essence of music-making. The ability~ phrase (to unleash a triple-
thretaphor) is center, circumference and radii of the musical art.
It is the art of phrasing which communicates,
which makes sense and stirs emotions, which provides a "belonging 11 and a "direc-
tion" to the consecutive symbols of the score. It is phrasing that proves the
artist. In the few moments that are left, let's begin an "Introduction to Phras-
ing".

It is obvious to all of us that some singers and instrumentalists are excep-

tional in this regard . (Fischer-Dieskau, Mack Harrell, Pablo Casals, Fritz
Kreisler are and were phenomenally convincing and communicative artists~) Out of
consecutive notes they produce a musical sentence, and that sentence leads some-
where (somewhen?). This is the problem: to make things hang together -- and go
forward. --

Phrasing is also that part of music-making which very uniquely -- not quite
capable of analysis, but incontestably -- involves the whole person. We are about
to consider those elements of our musical craft which are capable of manipulation
and whose ensemble results in "phrasing", but we will still be a long way from
identifying the Sammyand what makes him phrase. (Ulysses, wasn't it? "I am a
part of all that I have met;/ Yet all experience is an arch wherethro 1 / Gleams
that untravell'd world, whose margin fades/ For ever and for ever when I move.")
Our purposes are these:

One, we want to "make sense". That is, we want to establish proper relation-
ships. The things that belong together must be reproduced in proper proportion
and function. The several notes of a melody are not isolated, unrelated phenomena.
Their meaning lies in association. Letters into words, words into sentences; notes
into motives, motives into phrases. We want to make sense. We want to discover
and provide a belonging.

Two, we want to move forward. If music truly exists in time -- from Now to
Somewhen -- then its life and logic are concerned with becoming. The Now always
must justify the Next and seminate the Soon, and successive horizons of Soons
should ultimately reveal the Whole. Our study of music is a study of getting from
Now to Then (future) along the path of inevitability and beauty. We want to pro-
vide a belonging and a becoming.

Our rule of thumb is this:

Since we are dealing with a function through time, then all of music's ele-
ments are also 11in function" and "becoming". All of them (almost) must be in con-
stant change. (We'll identify that 11almost" in a moment.) The point is that music
is animate, it is a growing or withering, a quickening or slowing, a to- or a fro-
ing, a being born or dying. The signal of life is change. Change is the "con-
stant" of phrasing.
 -2-

the most convincing, -proper or artistic of temporal relationships. (This latter

is a solace, but it is not permissible as an excuse, for our liberty in the ex-
pressive use of Condition II is dependent upon our discipline with respect to
Condition I.)

Relative durations and periodicities are prescribed in traditional music.

In many instances -- by prescribing tempo -- 11actual 11 mechanical, measurable
durations and periodicities are also-prescribed. In any event their relation-
ships are given~ -And it is to be presumed that the composer could have writ-
ten them otherwise had he so desired. Therefore, our initial task is clear: to
be as precise as is possible and human.

The problem arises in coordinating the rhythmic responses, reflexes and sens-
itivities. of over two hundred people. Our various physical and psychological tem-
perments, at any given rehearsal, or moment thereof, would range from choleric to
apathetic. What has to be achieved by drill and discipline and more drill is a
sense of the metric division of time which is relatively unharrassed by sight-
reading insecurities, and relatively dependable in spite of temperamental bouy-
ancy or depression. (One of the reasons I allowed Monday night's rhythmic drill
to go on too(?) long was the necessity of provlng to everybody -- including Jerry
and myself, whose tendencies are to push forward to defeat drag and perhaps win
vitality -- what a wide wide river this is and we're all in it.)

Anyone of you can construct at no expense . whatever the most convincing and
animate of metronomic devices: a pendulum. At the end of a three- or four-foot
piece of thread or string tie a small reasonably heavy object: a nut, bolt or
fishin g sinker. By lengthening or shortening the string and thereby the arc of
the pendulum you can simulate a wide variety of tempi. And by taking the bottom
of the arc as the 11beat 11 or moment of pulse you can improvise all sorts of exer-
cises of pulse-division. You can drill regularity. You can experiment with
11
cross-" rhythms: two against three or three against four. By lengthening or
shortening the pendulum while in motion you can experience a ritardando or accel-
erando of pr oportion.,

The fin e thing about this pendulous do- it-yourself metronome is its natural
and life-like swing. The watch-type.,spring-swing pyramid, electric buzzer or
flash metronomes are not nearly so viable or persuasive. (Tos canini never used
one of the mechanical gadgets, always carrying a pendulum device like a retract-
able tape measure, calibrated in metronomic sp eeds rather than inches.)

The bas i c problem of rhythmic cohesion in large musical groups i s not one
engendered by the disparity in sight-reading abilities, but one traceable to the
basic inabilities of most people to divide an appreciable moment of time by two
or by t hree. The blessed assurance is that, unlike some prospects of salvation,
t his can be learned and, more importantly, self-tau ght. Five minut es a day for
a fortnight should double most everyone's accuracy in this regard. Once t hat is
done and delivered we may deserve -- and be able to utilize -- the solace (Con-
dition II) that "a foolish consistency is the hob-goblin of li t tle minds."

-Whi ch leads t o an additional observation concerning last Monday night's ob-

vi ous rhythmic dislocations. It is that after the constant and general ru shing
of the first 15 minutes of rehearsal -- particularly in extended sixteenth-no te
patterns -- from then on, only isolated shorter motives were being rushed, fr e -
quently under reas onable mel odic urgency.
 -3-
stance -- of having six beats in three-four time organized
two-plus-two-plus-two, rather than three-plus-three) our ac-
centuation will alter. Instead of "strong-light-light,
strong-li.gl:lt-light 11 we will sing "strong-light, strong-light,
strong-light." Obviously this may have dynamic manifesta-
tions, but they will be manifestations of what is fundamen-
tally a change in rhythmic stress. (For instance, we might
achieve a very similar effect by singing "long-short, long-
short, long-short. 11) If my understanding is correct there is
a kind of basic psychological response to the inner-stresses
of metre itself. These stresses are not nearly so concious
as those of dynamics. Anyone can tell, for instance, whether
such and such a piece (in most instances) is written in duple
or triple metre. This recognition will not depend upon the
performer•s stress of the first beat of each measure, but
would be present if all beats were stressed equally -- by
metric and melodic organization. It makes a good deal of
difference in a five-eight sequence whether one recognizes
the fives as three-plus-two, two-plus-three, or as in one
celebrated case six-take-away-one.
Therefore, metre analyzed and understood yields stress
which is also one of the maneuverables of phrasing.
Under TEXTconsider:
1. Syllable stress

Very frequently one will find himself stressing the

normal syllabic properties of a word when it is thoroughly
contradicted by melodic or metric considerations. Occasion-
ally, as in Stravinsky, one will find himself improperly
stressing text because it is demanded by melodic or metric
considerations. As noted above, this sort of stress must
issue either in duration or dynamics -- either in longer or
louder. Still, it is primarily literary or verbal in gene-
sis, and deserves to be considered under factors of Text
which can be manipulated in the interests of phrasin'g:--
2. Punctuation

This is the placing of commas, dashes or periods --

for textual or poetic reasons -- within a melodic line. It
is obviously one of the "variables" of phrasing and fre-
quently quite personal. It will also manifest itself in mo-
mentary ritard and accelerando and in momentary dimenuendo
and crescendo. Its genesis, however, is literary or poetic,
and therefore Textual.

3. Style of enunciation
This also is extremely sensitive to change. I am speak-
ing not primarily of differences between languages but of
differences within languages. It makes a great deal of dif-
 -4-
ference whether one uses the ecclesiastical Roman Latin of
the Verdi Requiem or the scholastic Latin of Stravinsky's
Oedipus Rex. The enunciative colloquialisms and mannerisms
of the folk-song -- more pervasive hummed consonants, vary-
ing treatments of the sounds of 11R11 and final "NG" -- would
be completely out of place in the choral music to Mendelssohn's
Midsummer Night's Dre~ -- and vice much versa. Varieties of
text make obligatory changes in actual sounds, durations, rhy-
thms, and inflections. These alterations all become a part of
phrasing.

Consider finally the aspects of TONEwhich are capable of manipulations:

1. . Intonation

We are accustomed to regard intonation as a keyboard

absolute, but anyone who has done even a bit of barber-
shoplifting knows about the raising of leading-tones and
the flatting of sevenths. 1 Truth is, pitch is functional,
and one can use this function expressively. There is in
addition, the device of portamento ("the voice gliding
gradually from one tone to the next through all the inter-
mediate pitches") -- more successful musically downward
then upward, though upward can end in a convincing dramat-
ic scream •. And there is, of course, deliberate flatting or
a trailing off into speech intona t ion for dramatic purposes.
Pitch can be a phrasing device.

2. Color

The large chorus, by many musical standards, is a rel-

atively mono-chromatic instrument. Still, it is capable of
a considerably greater variety of tonal color than many
choral-vocal institutions have utilized. Primarily, flex-
ibility and variety depend upon a sensitivity to matters of
literary, historical, national and personal style. There
simply are ~r should be) different timbres to the chansons
of Debussy and the waltzes of Brahms. Not all of this dif-
ference is occasioned by the difference in language, though
it is a large part thereof.

One spends the better part of one's vocal education ac-

quiring a "line", "linking the top to the bottom", smoothing
out "the break" -- all of it to acquire a decent, consistent
and dependable sound. At the same time, it seems to me that
the voices which have the finest techniques also have a wide
range of color among their resources. Certainly the chorus
is capable of "bright and .dark" "reedy and woofy'' "nasal and
throaty". This is reasonable equipment of phrasing.

J. Vibrato

This is very much open to study and further investig-

ation. Again , singers spend a good deal of time acq uir ing
 -5-
a satisfactory- or controlling an unsatisfactory-vibrato,
and instrumentalists (among the vibrato instruments) do
likewise. Yet, so far as the choral literature is concern-
ed we all know how vastly periods and styles vary in the
propriety and character of vibrato. The singers of 11popu-
lar" music have developed a wide variety of vocal "styles",
many of which depend upon the containment and unleashing of
vibrato at will. In the few experiments which we have at-
tempted following our exposure to Pablo Casals and his prin-
ciple of vibrato variability (according to Alexander Schneider)
we have seen that a chorus can control vibrato to an appreci-
able extent, and use it as an expressive device without ex-
erting undue vocal pressure upon individual voices. The tech-
nique, furthermore, of singing the first fraction of a pitch
substantially without vibrato is one of the most valuable aids
to intonation and leaves the balance of the duration of the
note open to expression -- and phrasing -- via vibrato.

4. Dynamics

This is by all odds the most critical, important and

pervasive of phrasing's inventory of techniques. It requires
a chapter all to itself. It is the constant play of the in-
tensification and relaxation of dynamic values which reveals
the physiognimy of the phrase, which -- to refer back several
pages -- is the principle agency and proof of the belonging
and the becoming. Crescendo and dimenuendo under the keen
control of amount and rate are the prime tools of phrasing.

There is one audition to which I always look forward whenever it comes time
to hear veteran members. No matter what the repertoire, whatever portion of the
year's materials is requested is always sung by this person with the care, af-
fection and sensitivity which one hears occasionally from an exceptional soloist
in a distinguished song. No willy-nilly pell-mell and scratch to hit the pitches.
Rather, phrase after lovely meaningful phrase. Howpersonal music then becomes.
What joy it gives to the performer, what satisfaction it brings to the listener.

There is really no point in making music any other way.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Sunday October 25 5:00 p.m. Chamber Chorus

Monday October 26 8:00 p.m. All / COCC