JUDITH WEIR (b. 1954)The Voice of Desire (2003)

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-229
Author(s):  
Jane Manning
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Music ◽  
Bird Calls ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
The Voice

This chapter studies Judith Weir’s The Voice of Desire (2003). Weir’s music is fresh, concise, and instantly recognizable, and it successfully assimilates, within a modern idiom, the elements of traditional music and storytelling which are integral to her artistic persona. The piece sets four poems concerning the ambivalent relationships between birds and humans. As may be expected, bird calls and sounds of nature are illustrated strikingly, especially in the piano part. The selected texts provide plenty of variety in mood and character: the first and third songs are the most substantial, and the last a sublimely simple strophic ‘jingle’ which has to be delivered with understated aplomb. The vocal tessitura stays in a rewarding medium range for the most part, taking advantage of natural resonances that can penetrate the texture with ease and adapt to timbral shadings according to context. Helpful pitch-cues, including unisons, are to be found frequently in the piano part. Although originally written for mezzo, it can also be performed effectively by a counter-tenor.

RODNEY LISTER (b. 1951)Songs to Harvest (2006)

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-143
Author(s):  
Jane Manning
Keyword(s):  
Good Deal ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
American Composer ◽  
Voice And Piano ◽  
The Voice

This chapter focuses on American composer Rodney Lister’s Songs to Harvest (2006). As shown in this attractive cycle, Lister has a distinctive and fascinating way of writing for voice and piano. The voice projects succinct, shapely phrases, while linear piano parts weave a tapestry of sinuous counterpoint, frequently in two parts only, often with three-against-two rhythms. When the voice stops, the piano continues, its luminous texture ebbing and flowing. Ingeniously, it seems to give a subliminal commentary as well as an irresistible propulsion to the music. The prime test of the songsmith is to set words so that they can be heard easily, and Lister passes this with flying colours. A predominantly medium range guarantees comfortable articulation—the highest note occurs only once, fleetingly. The cohesive musical idiom is discreetly contemporary, disciplined, and carefully modulated. Pitching should be relatively unproblematic—there is a good deal of doubling with the piano, and plenty of time to plot each interval cleanly.

RICHARD CAUSTON (b. 1971)The Flea (2000)

2021 ◽  
pp. 34-36
Author(s):  
Jane Manning
Keyword(s):  
John Donne ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Time Signature ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Equal Effectiveness

This chapter discusses Richard Causton’s The Flea (2000). This is a very different and ostensibly simpler setting of this wonderful text by John Donne from that of Krenek, but one that conveys its wit and sardonic humour with equal effectiveness. Causton, a highly experienced and gifted composer of broad musical tastes, understands the voice very well and has wisely kept to a comfortable tessitura to allow the smallest details and nuances to tell. The tonality is based firmly on C, at the lower and upper octave, and, once begun, the singer should have no difficulty in keeping pitches safely anchored, since this ‘tonic’ is frequently and reassuringly revisited throughout the piece. Medium range encourages a warm, resonant quality, but the singer must not allow vibrato to become too rich, obscuring detail or word clarity. Changes of time signature help to give a feeling of flexibility, but, as always in unaccompanied pieces, it is very important to keep a sense of pulse and forward impetus, especially through the rests which pepper the opening paragraphs.

KATE ROMANO (b. 1971)Who Killed Cock Robin? (1999)

2020 ◽  
pp. 265-267
Author(s):  
Jane Manning
Keyword(s):  
Bird Calls ◽  
Nursery Rhyme ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Repeated Words

This chapter discusses a miniature cycle by Kate Romano. In Who Killed Cock Robin? Romano sets the six verses of a much-loved nursery rhyme with consummate flair, writing for soprano with innate understanding and an acute ear for timbre. In addition, the composer makes particularly astute use of the upper register’s natural flexibility. The words prove an ideal vehicle for imaginative expansion and embellishment: oft-repeated words suggest witty simulations of bird calls, in a dazzling range of figurations. Contrast is supplied by legato writing, especially in the second and fifth stanzas. It is only in the last verse that the lowest note occurs—the highest comes amongst the smoothly sliding lines of the fifth verse. Piano parts, skilfully tailored to each vocal setting, are nimble and varied, often exploiting higher resonances to complement the voice.

Public School Voice Clinics, Part I

1984 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-57
Author(s):  
Sandra Q. Miller ◽  
Charles L. Madison
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
School District ◽  
Voice Disorders ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Urban School District ◽  
Local School District ◽  
Local School ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Voice Problem

The purpose of this article is to show how one urban school district dealt with a perceived need to improve its effectiveness in diagnosing and treating voice disorders. The local school district established semiannual voice clinics. Students aged 5-18 were referred, screened, and selected for the clinics if they appeared to have a chronic voice problem. The specific procedures used in setting up the voice clinics and the subsequent changes made over a 10-year period are presented.

Hormone Replacement Therapy and Voice

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-614
Author(s):  
Jean Abitbol
Keyword(s):  
Replacement Therapy ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Hormone Replacement ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Fat Cells ◽  
High Pitch ◽  
Endocrine Effects ◽  
The Voice

The purpose of this article is to update the management of the treatment of the female voice at perimenopause and menopause. Voice and hormones—these are 2 words that clash, meet, and harmonize. If we are to solve this inquiry, we shall inevitably have to understand the hormones, their impact, and the scars of time. The endocrine effects on laryngeal structures are numerous: The actions of estrogens and progesterone produce modification of glandular secretions. Low dose of androgens are secreted principally by the adrenal cortex, but they are also secreted by the ovaries. Their effect may increase the low pitch and decease the high pitch of the voice at menopause due to important diminution of estrogens and the privation of progesterone. The menopausal voice syndrome presents clinical signs, which we will describe. I consider menopausal patients to fit into 2 broad types: the “Modigliani” types, rather thin and slender with little adipose tissue, and the “Rubens” types, with a rounded figure with more fat cells. Androgen derivatives are transformed to estrogens in fat cells. Hormonal replacement therapy should be carefully considered in the context of premenopausal symptom severity as alternative medicine. Hippocrates: “Your diet is your first medicine.”

In the Limelight: The Voice Virtuoso

ASHA Leader ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-23
Author(s):  
Kellie Rowden-Racette
Keyword(s):  
The Voice
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