What’s behind singers starting out with flat phrasing?
I think there are four big reasons.
- Notation. “All quarter notes look the same on the page, so they all should sound the same when we sing them.”
- Varied Interpretations. When you and I emphasize different notes or syllables, the end result is a sort of average accent across the phrase. The bigger the choir, the more smoothed out it will be.
- Learned Reticence. Schools teach students to withhold both initiative and expression. Little wonder that choirs might not show those things.
- Fear of Being Wrong. Related to 3 but distinct, we don’t do nearly a good enough job of valuing mistakes as part of the creative process.
I’ve learned lots of strategies for pulling expressive phrasing out of students, but it always helps to step back and understand why it needs to be pulled out in the first place.