The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #115531 Message #2475016
Posted By: M.Ted
24-Oct-08 - 01:09 PM
Thread Name: Lord Allenwater - how to arrange for unaccompanied
Subject: RE: Lord Allenwater - how to arrange for unaccompa
One must remember that any number of musical devices, from ornaments and flourishes, pauses and changes in tempo, irregularities in meter, dynamic variations, and other such things as an unaccompanied singer might use, are set aside when playing with musical accompaniment. You have to reintroduce these things if you mean to back-construct an unaccompanied song from an accompanied one.
You also must remember that the ballad singer is a storyteller, and that the real interest is in the drama of the narrative. Every singer has their own way of pacing the events and coloring the details so that the audience is engaged. Even the melody is simply a device for focussing on the flow of the story line.
No matter which melody you use, the most important thing is to understand the story.
You have to start with basic questions--what happens in the story? What emotions do I want the audience to experience? What do I want them to take away?
Then you move on to pragmatics--how do I get and keep their attention? And then to
how can I convey the story elements do that they lead my audience my desired conclusion?
If this sounds like a lot of trouble just to sing a song, keep in mind that the narrative ballad is the oldest form of theatre that we have-everything else is based on it, and everything comes back to it.