Textual emphasis in the context of a celebration
Author: Blogger in Residence, Rory Johnston
When writing music with words it’s always really important to think about how you set those words, and how they are emphasised.
Most of the time (if not ALL) a composer wants the audience to be able to understand what is being sung about, otherwise they may as well have written a piece without words.
Consequently, if a word is poorly set and the wrong syllable emphasised, or an insignificant word like ‘and’ and ‘or’ or ‘a’, the listener will have a harder time deciphering what is being sung about.
Tomorrow is my birthday, and because of that I thought it highly appropriate to share this video with you on the topic of word emphasis and text setting!
It’s a well-known Hungarian composer, Ivan Fischer, talking about how terrible the tune and word setting are to Happy Birthday. I think it’s a good way to start thinking about how you can better write your choral parts to present the text in its truest form…
Written by Rory Johnston