Unaccompanied Singing

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 07:30 PM

Cranbrook. The story goes that a boys choir from Canterbury were invited to Yorkshire to sing. During a walk over the moors they invented the scurrilous words of Ilkley Moor bar t'at to amuse them selves.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:52 PM

Yes! Glad you liked it McGrath. We'll do our best down here.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:49 PM

"archipelago siging" - I think that should be officially adopted as the term to replace both "a capella" and "unaccompanied" in the folk context.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:47 PM

"archipelago siging" - I think that should be officially adopted as the ter, tp replavce both "a cape

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 05:41 PM

Here in Australia unnaccompanied singing has fairly recently come to be called "a capella" as a fashionable term at folk festivals and folk clubs.
We played at a festival where a lady asked me if we did "archipelago singing". I liked the term so much, (after gently correcting her so that she wouldn't feel folish next time she said it,) that we often introduce an unaccompanied song using that name.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 05:00 AM

Burke - whoops I should have said "Grace" not "Love" in my posting - it's a while since I sang with the Thomas Clark Quire and I didn't have the words with me.

The main problem with the singing of "While Shepherds Watched" these days is that it is usually sung to the "Ilkley Moor" version of the tune rather than the original. I like going down to the bottom E for the 2nd "Lord came down". The ascending repeats of "Watched their flocks by night" etc are not in the original which carries straight on with "All seated on the ground".

If anyone wants a copy of the 4-part score (as a PDF file) I'd be glad to e-mail it. You can download a matching MIDI from the link which I gave previously. If people would like me to post the full tune, I could do it as 4 separate MIDI-TEXT files.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:18 PM

Ferrara,

"Your discussion of "Just Intonation" is very interesting."

Thanks - use the Mudcat search engine to dig around on those terms - you will unearth heaps of threads with much more detail...

"Robin, is there more you can say about "aural feedback control of the voice" or does it require being there and hearing it demonstrated?"

Ahhhmmm... to be succint is the problem...

It would seem to be difficult to demonstrate it to someone else, as the whole point of it is that it is internal to oneself ....

I have a friend who could not hold a tune. She was told from very young that she could not sing and so believed it! Her idiotic singing teacher had never showed her how to listen to her voice, so I showed her with a simple physical trick, and with a little practice, she was amazed that not only could she now hear how just out of tune she was when singing along to her favourite CD's, but with some practice, she was improving - although she was fighting nearly 20 years of self perputuating brain washing that she was "tone deaf"!

The simple physical trick is this:

Put the palm of one hand to touch one ear, perhpas bending it forward slightly.

Instead of your voice normally being heard internally through your skull, your brain can now detect through your ear a far greater percentage more of the reflected external sound.

You must have seen singers doing this - it is often used as a source of humour anyway...

This does really assist oneself in "aural feedback control of the voice", something which is happening subconcousily all the time anyway.

Robin

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Gloredhel
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 08:25 PM

A cappella does mean "in manner of the chapel." But not just any chapel: it refers to the chapel, the Sistine Chapel. This is where Palestrina and many other famous singers and composers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance performed for papal Masses. There is no room for instruments in the chapel, at least not in the small space where the very small choir performs.
It can refer to solo singing as well as choral, because, yes, there are pieces in that repertoire which call for solo music and which would have been performed in the chapel. I'd be much more likely to restrict its usage to religious music than to say it can't refer to solo singing.

I think that gospel music without instrumental accompaniment is beautiful. It can be very freeing for the singers, and no one notices if you go flat just as long as you all go flat (or sharp, as my sight-singing class manages every week). If you're making up your harmonies as you go along, though, instrumental accompaniment of the chordal variety can help if your mind goes blank while searching for a note.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Burke
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 07:03 PM

Dave, I believe you will find that Cranbrook was originally written to go with "Grace 'tis a Charming Sound." Being of the same meter it was also very commonly used with "While Shepherds." The old thread on the topic is HERE.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 06:30 PM

Ferrara: Sorry you won't be at NOMAD this year. If we ever get down to Washington again, maybe we can get a group of folks to sing old white southern gospel, and do it down your way.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Ferrara
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 01:52 PM

Robin, is there more you can say about "aural feedback control of the voice" or does it require being there and hearing it demonstrated? Your discussion of "Just Intonation" is very interesting.

Jerry, wish we could get to NOMAD this year. Would love to hear your workshop! (among others....)

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 12:10 PM

Thomas Clark lived in Canterbury, Kent, not Yorkshire, and the tune's title "Cranbrook" is the name of a Kentish village. My actual words were "was originally" this was not meant to imply that the tune is not still used for "While Shepherds Watched" these days. The setting of what were thought to be rather bawdy words to it though, probable hastened it's replacement. In Clark's original manuscript, the melody is in the tenor line (as was usual at the time), but there are several differences in the tune from that of the yorkish imposter. The tune was used for several other sets of lyrics including the anthem "Love 'tis a charming sound, melodious to the ear". You can find a MIDI of the original manuscript here.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 11:37 AM

I sleep better a cappella. A capella, too. Without goats. Words will be the death of us all! :-)

As often happens, words in the English language mean different things in England than they do in America (maybe Australia, too.) I had never though of a cappella as literally meaning, in a chapel, or church. Then you get people who consider the voice as an instrument.
In which case, I guess you could never sing without an instrument..

I'm really enjoying this thread. I suppose I might as well comment on singing without accompaniment in old black or white gospel, and even in the rhtyhm and blues vocal groups they now label "Doo Wop," as they are so "church" in style. And then We'll demonstrate the difference in the workshop we're doing this Saturday. Allan, Colin, Noreen and Sussex Carole all know the difference, first hand. And what a glorious time it was to bring maritime, unaccompanied British Isles music together with black gospel when the Shellbacks were here!

When I sing the old style of white gospel unaccompanied, no one joins in on the verses (unless they know them) and then everyone comes in full blast on the chorus. In black gospel, while the lead singer is singing the verses, the other singers are either filling in with "oohs", "Aahs" "Oh Yeah's" or "Doo wopps", "ratta tatta toos" or "dip dips".. in doo wop, or sections of the lines in the verses.   On the choruses, the harmonies may actually sing all the words of the chorus, while the lead improvises above them, or just sings parts of each line, to lead the harmonies into the next line. It can be a very complicated interweaving of voices, rhythms and words which is definitely not British Isles in origin.

It's hard to describe on paper.

The next time we see you, we'll sing it so that you can hear it..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 11:11 AM

Ecuse me, "Incidently the melody of "On Ilkley Moor baht 'at" comes from a West Gallery tune (Cranbrook by Thomas Clark of Canterbury) and was originally used for "While Shepherds Watched". Whaat is the word WAS doing in this sentence. It still IS, even in the frozen wastes of Canada, never mind in Yorkshire.
A capella must have been translated in correctly surely is means "without set pitch" either that or "dropped like a stone" :)
JohnB

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 09:10 AM

How about accepting Accapella as without instrument accompaniment?

How about accepting "Guitar" as any musical instrument? A capella is a particular sort of unaccompanied singing by a group.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 07:36 AM

I enjoy singing both with and without accompaniment. I do find that as I (usually with Linda these days) do quite a lot of singing in pubs, to non-folk audiences, that a guitar can act as a "bridge". We will nearly always start off with the guitar, but once we've got the audience's attention/confidence, we will sing a fair amount of unaccompanied material. We often find that some audiences seem to think that unaccompanied harmony singing is quite a clever accomplishment. I also find that it's much easier to act and move around without a guitar, when I'm singing some of my comic music hall material.

There is a fair amount of tradition gospel material available over here in the UK - much of it rather akin to the american "Sacred Harp" tradition and these days we tend to call it "West Gallery Music". It was not always unaccompanied because there was usually a band (often consisting of a very strange assortment of instruments) as well as the choir. The band and choir would usually be accommodated on the gallery behind the congregation - a much better place from which to encourage them to sing, than the modern day choir stalls out at the front. When the choir were about to sing an anthem on their own, the congregation would be invited to "Stand and face the music" - a phrase we still use today. There are "West Gallery" choirs, bands and consorts all over the country these days and "The Mellstock Band" give an idea of some of the sorts of music (and background stories).
Incidently the melody of "On Ilkley Moor baht 'at" comes from a West Gallery tune (Cranbrook by Thomas Clark of Canterbury) and was originally used for "While Shepherds Watched".

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: fiddler
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 03:57 AM

How about accepting Accapella as without instrument accompaniment -

Our Dancers (Appalachian) Dance acapella and their dear little voices don't utter a sound other than to gasp for breath!

The rythms they can create with their feet are phenomenal - you don't need the fidlee - cello big bass drum or any other!!!!

A

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 02:01 AM

Something I don't know! What is "shapenote" singing?


GUEST - 11 Nov 03 - 10:00 PM above
"12 note Tempered Intonation" is an artifical mathematical creation - post medieval time, designed to allow instruments such as a piano or woodwind, guitar or other instrument where evry note is available as a fixed pitch (as in modern electric/electronic instruments) - unlike instruments such as the violin, unfretted banjo, human voice where most pitches are "tuned" by ear - to play in every one of the 24 major and minor keys without creating horrendous dissonances - see "The Well Tempered Klavier" as the first published example. We have had more detailed discussion of this elsewhere in Mudcat so I won't repeat it all here.

"Just Intonation" is based on "natural" overtones of fifths - on work documented by Pythagorus - and is natural for the human ear - which is controlling the human voice by means of feedback if there is no external tone reference source, such as an instrument.

Incidentally, as explained above - Church "a cappella" - i.e. monks singing in the Middle Ages without instruments was in "Just Intonation" - something I unconciously assume when that term is used - unlike "unaccompanied" which could easily be (to my mind!) in either intonation!

So perhaps your music tutor did have some very reasonable theory behind that idea...

Incidentally, and this has been gone into elsewhere in more detail, Medieval music (with its inherenbt "Just Intonation") was more "horizontally melodic" in structure: with the arrival of "Tempered Intonation" music began to move towards a more "vertical" chordal harmony - which is what is taught as the basis of "Classical Music" Training, with its insistence on "resolutions" of 7ths etc.

Now, you _can_ get instruments made with "Just Intonation"...

Ferrarra,
It's only "harder to stay on pitch" with instrumental accompaniment, if that is the only way you have been taught to sing - although one does need more training on aural feedback control of the voice to perform unaacompanied.

Robin


Robin

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: karen k
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 12:58 AM

Jerry,
Great session at your house. I was so pleased to be there. The only thing was that it didn't last long enough! One reason I love unaccompanied singing is that I don't have to lug instruments around although I love singing with accompaniment as well, just not usually gospel. With any kind of gospel I love to hear the harmonies and I can really do that better when there are no instruments. With ballads, for me it is out of respect for the tradition. I prefer singing and listening to most ballads unaccompanied because that was how the original source singers sang them. I guess it is all a matter of preference - no right or wrong. Ferrara is right when she comments that it is easier to stay on pitch when you are using instruments.

Jerry, I hope to be able to get to the Gospel In Black and White workshop on Sat. I have some pictures from the gathering at your house for you and Ruth.

karen kobela

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 10:22 PM

'Course when it comes to liturgical music, sometimes there's nothing quite like a bloody-great pipe organ that can make the building vibrate and that registers on the Richter Scale. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Ferrara
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 10:20 PM

Jerry, I don't know much about the connection/derivation of black Gospel from spirituals, maybe there are some insights to be gained from someone who does.

But listening to the Georgia Sea Island singers, for example, I get the idea that the black singing tradition during slavery was very likely to include some kind of percussion, even if it was hand clapping or "hambone music" played by slapping out rhythms on one's own body.

I still think of them as "unaccompanied singers" though. Oh well.

PoppaGator, I loved your comments on work songs and the fact that they were sung in rhythms that were determined by the work. It's maddening sometimes to hear shanties or work songs sung out of rhythm or sung way too fast for anyone to work to. The songs lose so much that way.

I once heard Peggy Seeger say that the Revival loses a lot when singers leave out the traditional ornamentation. She said, "They don't realize that the ornamentation is part of the song." I often feel that revival singers "homogenize" their singing. It loses all the traditional stylistic ornaments and subtleties. Singing unaccompanied give you a chance to listen to, and try to control, the subtleties. If you're playing an instrument, or even accompanied by one, it's harder to pay close attention to using your voice as an instrument.

It also does make it harder to stay on pitch. I once phoned a professional singer, a friend of a friend, looking for the verse to "Glocca Morra." She couldn't get her phone close to her piano and had to sing it unaccompanied and she could NOT stay on pitch. That made me realize how much of a challenge it is to sing unaccompanied, and how much of an accomplishment it is to do it well.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 10:00 PM

Last night my (acapella) chorus director commented that one of the reasons we don't use a piano even for rehearsal is that it has an 'even-tempered' scale and when we fine tune a chord using just the human voice we use a slightly different scale which doesn't quite 'match' the piano. Maybe one of our musicologists could elaborate.   I heard a young quartet sing recently where one child had a bad voice day and their teacher 'helped' by playing a keyboard. The teacher RUINED an otherwise great song, didn't seem to be able to hear that they were tuning without her.

You are correct about 'freedom', I think. You feel freer singing. Without instruments the vocalists can control all the elements: rhythm can be more irregular, improvising leads can wander the melody around at will, and as above, the harmonizers can sound chords their own way.

My own pet theory however, is the folk (as today) liked to form new splinter churches all the time and if they were poor there was no piano at first and by the time they could afford one their music was so together they don't need one.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: alanww
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 09:53 PM

Hi again, Jerry
I just loved the song session we had at your house and thanks again for your wonderful hospitality.
My knowledge of gospel singing is very limited, so I will not make any comment on that.
However, on the general issue of whether to have accompaniment or not, I enjoy singing unaccompanied most of all, particulary chorus songs when there is a good collection of singers in the audience.
But I do now play the English concertina and have learnt to accompany myself on a few songs. I tend to choose to accompany myself for certain songs when I am performing to a predominantly listening audience, as it does add a bit more colour and variety.
However, when I accompany myself I do not use my instrument to keep regular time (its not a guitar!). Instead I play at the rhythm I would normally sing unaccompanied, going along with the ebb and flow of the song.
I have recently tended to sing more frequently in mixed sessions of music and song (with unaccompanied and accompanied singers and non-singing musicians) and therefore I often find my songs being accompanied by someone else. But, unfortunately, not all (non-singing?) musicians are able to let the timing of their accompaniment be anything other than strict. That can result in a bit of a problem if the person does not follow one's lead on timing! Oh well, that's the price I pay for the pleasure of being able to play and sing at the same session ...
"Joys are flowing like a river ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 08:36 PM

Thank you very much Harvey - I know the chaps enjoyed singing there too. And you'll be glad to know, we got home without too many hold ups.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 08:24 PM

LOL! McGrath you remind me of one evening when I was jamming with a couple of friends. We had one guitar, a pennywhistle and I was on the bones. While we were playing I casually picked up my beer and took a swig at which the pennywhistle faltered. Later he noted the advantage a bones player had over nearly every other instrumentalist, i.e., you can drink while playing.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 07:43 PM

"a capella" implies a certain kind of formality which unaccompanied does not. To call some kinds of singing and some kinds of songs "a capella" just because they don't have instrumental accompaniment borders on the ridiculous.

I agree. But some songs, particularly some versions of ballads, have the kind of dignity and formality that, at least to me, make the term "a capella" seem perfectly appropriate.

I have a hard time thinking of sea chanteys, for example, or a whole bunch of other songs sung without accompaniment as being sung "a capella." In fact, a sea chantey sung without accompaniment is closer to its natural habitat than it is when it's accompanied by an instrument (with the possible exception of a fo'c'sle chantey accompanied by, say, a concertina). The deck of a ship when raising sail, for example, is not exactly a chapel. But there are certain similarities: in a monastery chapel service there was often a line sung by a single monk or a group of monks, followed by another line sung by the rest of the monks. Call and response, or "antiphony," sung "a capella." With no instrumental accompaniment and literally "in the chapel." No harmony early on, however. Polyphony gradually evolved step by step over the centuries and morphed into what we now call "harmony."

For more than anyone could ever possibly want to know on the subject of liturgical singing and chant, check HERE

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 07:22 PM

Not a lot of pump organs out in the cotton fields. As black gospel grew out of the spirituals, it must have seemed odd at first to add instruments.

Don't forget Sacred Harp and other shapenote singing... also, some churches believed instruments were sinful.

~S~

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Burke
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 07:02 PM

Jerry,
There are some US denominations that historically have not used instruments in church. Among those I'm aware of are Primitive Baptists, some Mennonites, and the Church of Christ. I have a seven shape Church of Christ hymnal that I've used as a source for early 20th cent. Gospel standards.

Not all saw the instruments as sinful, just not appropriate for church. I've heard of some that have decided to add instruments.

You mentioned shape note music. The 19th cent. shape note books kept alive the New England psalm singing of the previous century after it lost popularity there. The 19th century singing school movement was transatlantic. The British analog is usually called West Gallery or Georgian Psalmody. Both New England & British included instruments. I was only as it was preserved by those opposed to instruments (or just not having them) in church that the US versions became unaccompanied. Read Hardy's "Under the Greenwood Tree" or go to Bruce Randall's workshop at NOMAD for the connections.

I've read a little of some early 19th century music debates. The interesting thing to me was that organs were being introduced then & were not universally approved. Up until then, there were a variety of instruments, especially strings, used in churches. They seem to have lost out to the organ or been banned all together.

On the whole use of terms, unaccompanied is actually older & more accurate. Here's the Grove entry explaining the confusion that gave rise to the current usage of the term a cappella.


A cappella
(It.: 'in the style of the church [chapel]').

Normally, choral music sung without instrumental accompaniment. Originally (c1600) the term was used to distinguish works composed in the older polyphonic style of the Renaissance from those written in the newer concertato style of the early Baroque. During the 19th century the Roman Catholic Church idealized 16th-century polyphony and the works of Palestrina in particular. Noting that no instrumental parts were included in the sources containing this music, and unaware that instruments were often used during the Renaissance to double or substitute for vocal parts, musicians came to believe that a cappella referred to unaccompanied choral singing. Since that time, the term has become synonymous with 'unaccompanied singing', both religious and secular.
Holmes, William C.: 'A cappella', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 11 Nov. 2003),

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: harvey andrews
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 06:46 PM

Just spent an evening in the audience at a Coope, Boyes, Simpson concert. Unnaccompanied singing at its very best, and the songs all composed by the boys!

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 06:07 PM

Just about the only instrument you can play while you're drinking is the bones. And even with that, it's tricky not spilling your beer. (Well, I suppose you could play the piano one-handed. Except I can't)

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: PoppaGator
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 06:07 PM

To me, "a capella" connotes *group* singing without instruments, while "unaccompanied" is more appropriately used for solo vocals without instrumental (or vocal) accompaniment. Not strict, mutually-exclusive definitions, now -- just my perception of the general sense of these words in my experience of common usage.

[Aside: There's a nice 20th-century tradition of secularized black-gospel-influenced group singing that includes "doo-wop" and the like. If you've never heard of the Persuasions, you might check 'em out.]

I'm not really familiar with the school of thought that singing shouldn't be accompanied, and instrumental music shouldn't be interrupted by vocals. In fact, I had never heard of such a thing until fairly recently, when I first read about it here.

All else being equal, I observe that soloists who sing and accompany themselves on some kind of (string) instrument are a bit more apt to hit all their notes right on the button, and *much* more likely to keep strict time, than unaccompanied singers. The ability to silently count "2-3-4" between verses seems to be pretty rare.

Now, I know that *some* songs should be sung in a loose, flowing rhythm, but not all of them.

In fact, some folk songs that are properly sung without intrumental accompaniment were originally sung in the very strict meter enforced by swinging pickaxes and sledgehammers, or by hauling on a bowline or whatever. Some of today's singers who deliver these numbers while standing on a stage fail to duplicate that kind of rhythm, which builds a kind of momentum that is integral to that musical genre. Better, perhaps, that they tolerate a bit of accompaniment -- maybe percussion only, nothing melodic, which *would* simulate the original context.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: vectis
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 06:00 PM

It's true that accompanied singing was the norm during the revival. When my dad was a lad they sang unaccompanied most of the time because few working class people carried instruments around with them. Accompanied singing took place in homes and pubs when there was a pianist there, otherwise it was unaccompanied.
Bob Copper remembers being stood on the table of a local hostelry and singing while his dad got free drinks because folks liked the entertainment. Knowing Bob, he probably got a drink or two even though he was as young as eight at the time.

Singing unaccompanied is still the norm round here. It is easier to be expressive when you are not restricted by the rhythm of an instrument like a guitar. A few clever clogs can sing and play squeezeboxes at the same time. Most of us can't even talk when playing, or we lose the tune completely.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 05:55 PM

There are plenty of instrumentalists in the Shellbacks - in America I think we had 4 or 5 concertina players, 3 guitarists and myself with whistles and kazoo. And plenty who didn't come with us (Andy Maliphantplays the tuba (or is it euphonium?))

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 05:51 PM

I tend to look upon A capella singing as meaning choir-like, multi-part harmonies, as against the unison-with-occasional-harmonies we do with the Shellbacks or rugby songs.

And solo unaccompanied is something else altogether and can no way be A capella - you can't have a choir of one person!

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: sian, west wales
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 05:24 PM

Leadfingers, I'd have to disagree with your first comment that, "Traditionally in UK ALL 'Folk' singing was unaccompanied". That's pretty sweeping. There's a whole type of folk music in Wales in which the vocal and the instrumental are inseparable.

(Hi Jerry! How's tricks?)

sian

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 04:58 PM

I can't add much about gospell singing but here on Guam people seem to be very impressed that I am willing and able to sing without accompaniment. Clearly there is no longer a tradition of singing unaccompanied thanks to 300 years of Spanish influence on the culture. But even the old Chomorro people created musical instruments to accompany their music.

Yet there is evidence that the old timers also sang a capella. One of the UOG professors explained to me about the Chamoritas which were gossip songs sung by (mostly) women while they worked in groups with each woman contributing a verse. Since a large part of Chamorro humor consists of teasing they would gossip about each other, making up "news" to contribute. Friends who've heard a Chamorrita sung by two old women told me the results were inevitably hilarious.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 04:58 PM

I approve of the old dance band convention in which a singer with the band was called a "vocal accompanist".

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 04:54 PM

Very good, Kevin! I agree wholeheartedly... accompaniments are supposed to compliment the singing... not compete with it. If your attention is drawn to what the accompanist is doing, unless it's a dance tune, they're not doing their job.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 04:48 PM

"a capella" implies a certain kind of formality which unaccompanied does not. To call some kinds of singing and some kinds of songs "a capella" just because they don't have instrumental accompaniment borders on the ridiculous.

"After the game we all had an acapella rendering of Eskimo Nell and similar ditties." "The sailors struck up an a capella sea shanty." "Leadbelly sang John Henry a capella on this occasion."

I remember years ago the first time I ever heard real Gospel Singing, with an American choir on tour. They may have had some kind of piano going some of the time - but if so, you wouldn't have even noticed it.

The basic thing with accompaniments is, they shouldn't stand in the way of the singing. With some types of singing that'd be because it's wrong to risk interfering with the singer. With gospel it'd be because the instrumentalist who got in the way might get run over.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 02:39 PM

Jerry - Most of the Non-Traditional stuff I do was written to be sung
accompanied,so I tend to do a lot of guitar/banjo backing.However at
odd times I do sing the occasional Traditional Song.Some of these do
'work' as accompanied songs and some do not ,unless I really work hard at the accompaniment becuase of timing shifts.

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:29 PM

Dontcha just love Mirriam?

When I am singing I often like to take the last time around on the chorus without an instrument, just to hear the wonderful sound of voices in harmony. Somehow, it has even more impact when the instrumental background is dropped out..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:27 PM

Jerry - so is Hip Hop music a fusion of the two :) ?

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:16 PM

merriam-webster gives both spellings of a cappella/capella

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:08 PM

The term "unaccompanied" isn't a replacement for "a capella," it's the other way around.

Way back in medieval times, when many musical terms came into existence, Gregorian chants, for example, were sung in a cathedral or chapel without any instrumental accompaniment. Organs and instrumental "consorts" came along later. Some secular singers, such as troubadours, generally accompanied their singing with some sort of portable instrument. So to distinguish a song sung without instrumental accompaniment from one with accompaniment, it was referred to as "a capella," or "in the manner of singing in the chapel.

Incidentally, I've heard it argued that when a group of monks is chanting, it is not unaccompanied because any given voice is being accompanied by other voices. True, but it is still "a capella"—in the manner of the chapel.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Dani
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:07 PM

I'm with you, Jerry.

There are certainly times and pieces of music where the instrument and voice are perfectly matched, and there's plenty of instrumental music that I love, but I MUCH prefer singing without instruments, either alone or in a group.

Spending time with the Shellbacks really made me think about how the culture of singing somehow got almost completely lost when we crossed over: not just the English, but the Irish, and the Africans, and plenty of other folks. Now American musical culture seems almost all "accompanied", and almost all SUNG FOR us by someone else!

Us people who just like to sing are sort of on the fringes around here, even in traditional music circles, which in these parts involves plenty of fiddle and banjo, and precious little singing.

Dani

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 01:04 PM

I think that you're right on both counts, Les... my friend Frankie in my group explained the difference between gospel music and juke joint saturday night music.. Juke joint music starts you moving your hips from side to side, church music gets you jumping up and down.

It's all in the hips..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Janie
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 12:59 PM

Jerry,

The Baptist sect that my grandparents belonged to believed that the playing of instruments was sinful. My grandfather gave up playing fiddle and banjo when he joined his church. They did, however, believe it was wonderful to "make a joyful noise" and their Sunday services rang with a cappella singing.

Hopefully Joe Offer will chime in on this thread.

Janie

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 12:59 PM

Jerry - interesting. Got me to thinking about it, too, although I'm not a gospel singer. I would think there are two possible reasons for singing gospel unaccompanied -

First, the church might look askance at instruments -- the fiddle being called the "devils box" and the banjo seen as a racous tool for frivolity, drinking, dancing -- and not want their sacred music associated with "bad" music.

Second, simple economics. I suspect many gospel singers don't come from money, and, in times past, couldn't afford even a simple instrument.

What do you think ?

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 12:57 PM

So, Lead... Any thoughts about why people prefer singing unaccompanied? There are some songs that I sing, where I find accompaniment limits my ability to sing freely.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Unaccompanied Singing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 03 - 12:45 PM

What's a thread without drift? The thread is about a cappella singing (in contrast to singing goats.) Ballad singing in this country seems to have been more likely to be unaccompanied, and still is in folk venues.

I never thought of a cappella as being associated with church singing.
Webster defines it as singing without accompaniment. It's not a phrase I normally use, myself.

Jerry