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Date: | Sun, 6 Aug 2000 20:03:43 +0100 |
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My musical tastes would certainly be different if I were not a performer
as well. In particular, I have a special affection for those who wrote
well for the voice. I'm not sure that this couldn't be replicated by a
non-singer, if they looked at scores (which performing almost invariably
involves!) and knew enough about singing.
The experience of giving a voice to someone long dead by singing their
music is something I wouldn't be without, but as a singer I can't perform
and hear a work adequately at the same time, because you hear a distorted
version of your sound, and in a choir you hear a distorted version of the
balance. Some composers I have come to know much better through singing
their music; on the other hand there are pieces which I might like more had
I never performed them, because I didn't find it a rewarding experience.
Part of my appreciation of music that I have sung, when I hear it performed
by others, is the recollection of what it is like to sing it - in other
words, my response it has a physical component. I don't think someone who
didn't sing would respond in that way, but I don't think it's a vital part
of appreciation of the music, either - just part of the way I happen to
appreciate it.
Virginia Knight
[log in to unmask]
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~ggvhk/virginia.html
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