Sometimes people mix up the terms “musicianship” and “artistry.” While artistry refers to the expressive interpretation of a song, musicianship refers to being accurate to the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, and tempo markings written by the composer.
If you’ve ever listened to a Broadway cast recording and followed along with the printed music, you may have noticed a tendency for singers to occasionally stray from the score. Even though I tend to be in the “sing what is written” camp, in my estimation, there actually are times when it is appropriate to deviate from the score. Here are some examples:
#1: It is a stylistically accepted part of the genre. This is not a blanket statement for all of music theatre, but in certain pop/rock-influenced or gospel-influenced musicals (Children of Eden, Memphis, Jesus Christ Superstar) it may be OK to deviate from the printed notes and rhythms. As a rule, however, riffing and “optioning up” are fairly rare in most music theatre.
#2: The piece has been around long enough that there are multiple examples of professionals singing notes that are not in the score. Some shows and songs have been done for so long by so many artists that there is a track record of ways to change the printed notes that still honor the composer’s intent but acknowledge how the piece has grown over time.
Conversely, if there is only one professional recording available and the singer does something that is not in the score, in my mind, that is not sufficient justification to sing it that way yourself. Maybe the notes were changed by the composer from the time the recording was made to the time the music was printed and published. Or maybe the composer asked the singer specifically to play around with the melody during rehearsals to see what would happen. Which leads me to…
#3: If you receive permission from the composer to deviate from the score, knock yourself out! We’re lucky in music theatre that so many of our composers are still living. When I get the chance, my favorite question to ask composers is what degree of latitude they would like performers to take with their music. Overwhelmingly, the composers I’ve talked to prefer greater accuracy to the score.
[I have a story here about a famous composer coaching one of our singers when he visited campus a few years ago. Ask me about it if you want to hear it!]
So, before you change the written notes or rhythms, try considering the following:
1. Do I know what the correct notes and rhythms actually are and have I made every effort to make the song work in my voice the way that it is written?
2. Does my choice to deviate from the score enhance the text and help tell the story more effectively or does it just show off something about my voice? In other words, is it about the music and the story or am I making it about me?
3. Is it my own interpretive choice, born out of the text, or am I just copying someone else?
I understand that sometimes our lack of accuracy comes from learning music via recordings instead of from a printed score. Naturally, we are often attracted to music because of a recording we have heard. But, as you know, that does not guarantee that the singer on the recording is being musically accurate.
We MUST take the time to read the score (keep working on those essential music theory skills!) to find out what the composer intends. Otherwise, we are not singing, for example, Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady. We are singing our version of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady.
The place where you “make it your own” (though I sort of abhor that phrase) is in the way you express and tell the story from within the parameters the composer gave you. This is where musicianship becomes artistry. And that’s what composers and audiences both want to hear.
When we begin with musicianship, we uncover honest, original artistry.
Now go practice.
