Practise

In the 2nd section of my project, I will be using repertoire from my principal one to one lesson and seeking optimal progress through a background preparation stage, exploration of variants and practical singing. 

The Ballad & Related Research

“The Trooper and the Maid” is an example of a classic ballad and tells of a soldier who comes home tired from traveling where he meets a maiden who brings him to her home and feeds him food and wine in to seduce him. The girl asks him about when he’ll return and he answers, “when heather grows oxen Bowes”. Throughout the ballad, there is a repeated refrain where the soldier says that he’ll stay the night with her but leave her come morning.

Like many classic ballads, there are many versions of this example that exist in collections such as the Child ballads and the Greig Duncan Folk Song Collection. From the Kist o Riches website, Hamish Henderson sings a light-hearted and unsympathetic version that I feel offers engaging expressive qualities and helps audiences to connect with the contents of the song. During the song, Hamish intentionally breaks up some phrases with momentary pauses as it allows a singer to describe the subject of each verse comfortably and keeps a good flow for listeners to visualize the events unfolding in the song. At the songs more humorous areas, Hamish uses speech-like quality in his voice and sometimes even laughs along with the audience which can add a further layer to a song as the singer identifies with the situation the song describes which puts across a more casual and comfortable performance.

I found that Ewan Maccoll’s version which also features Peggy Seeger helped to identify some key areas of change with a contrasting melody although the structure and contents resembles the familiar outcome in the version I first heard. Some aspects of delivery from this example as I think there are areas in the song where slight pauses could be considered in my interpretation to allow audiences to engage with the story. This relates to my key aims in developing this song in expression and confidence in delivering this “cheeky” tone featured throughout the song. This particular ballad is featured as a Child ballad which helped me to experiment with the variants of words; I usually find it useful to refer to recordings of singers that I recognize as a reference and I would also look closely at the words throughout to closely consider intention and how I may express certain events in the song.

Experimentation with Concepts

Brownrigg (2018) mentions Jean Redpath’s approach to a traditional song that emphasizes background detail. “Tracing the variations in lyrics or melody between cultures fascinated her. She ploughed through reference papers, books and early recordings, making herself expert on what she sang – and taught. Her liner notes on every song she sang – all 667 recordings – usually held a thorough analysis of what the song meant and the historical context in which it had been composed. She was much an academic expert as a singer.” These preparation aspects help to preserve the authenticity of tradition in performance and also teaching which could be in organized or in casual discussions. In this instance, writer Brownrigg (2018) discusses the success of Jean Redpath and her ability to connect with a song and a variety of audiences throughout her career. Significantly, these qualities could offer benefits and highlight the importance of preparation in practice and having a fundamental role in the preservation of traditional songs which I feel should be considered when attempting to implement new ideas to any traditional material.

In the initial learning phase, I found the many versions of significance and this required me to attempt thorough research and explore many singers’ versions’ which regularly seems the first logical step when I learn songs. The theme of expression was regularly my focus after deciding to use the major melody which I feel conveys a lighter tone and almost pokes fun at the story of this couple. As the storyteller, the delicate issues like the references to the night they spent together, the pregnancy and the overall outcome of the song that occur seemed important to keep the light-hearted tone by using phrasing effectively to highlight the importance in the song. The pacing of the song was a feature that I considered thoughtfully as I wanted my version to convey the lively and joking nature in tone and felt that this feature was an important aspect for listeners hearing the story for the first time.

Practical

With reference to the attached recording, I feel that I’ve made good progress in learning the “Trooper and the Maid”. I’ve worked most effectively in learning the core major melody to a good level of understanding which helps give a confident feel in my voice. Relating to expression, I feel that there are areas that I could aim to develop more speech-like tones to give a harsher sound at events like the maid asking if he’ll stay and the soldier’s statement when leaving (“When heather knowes grow ousen bowes). From Hamish Henderson’s version, I felt that the expressive qualities of maid asking the soldier when they’re ready to go to bed was a highly significant phrase for its humor and abruptness which I made an increased effort to emphasize and incorporate in my version. In my regular practice, I think that I could further incorporate a pitched drone in order to hear some slight areas of inaccurate that occur in the recording. In future practise, I could also experiment with the pitch vocal range higher in order to challenge my voice and help to increase projection. I think the interval gap of a 3rd in both the verse and refrain could benefit from additional practise with a pitch drone to help me to hear some errors of pitching in this example. In experimentation, I believe I may also consider joining the last two verses as a method to further the storytelling aspect effectively for audiences as it gives a small gap before resolving the ending with a double refrain (not displayed in recording example).