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Vocal Performance

Decent Essays

Performances, particularly vocal, are complex events consisting of the culmination of sounds, works and presence of the listeners. These performances focus on skills and traditions to create the musical experience for the listener and in the creation the performances are able to define the performer. The performer takes on the role of a public persona to which the audience becomes closely connected with, regardless of the genuineness of the actual performer. However, a performer may sing a particular piece, but they must be aware that they do not have the full experience of the song and as such must exhibit moral deference. I agree / disagree with this notion of ________ because… blankity blankity blank. Performers of vocal work, most notably, …show more content…

The listener takes in the words of a song and directly relates them to the singer, trying to come up with meaning purpose that the singer could have for performing the song, rather than just accepting a contract. It is difficult to accept that one is singing a song merely to sing, as listeners we “make assumptions about the appropriateness of the relationship between singers and songs” (Bicknell, 262). As audience members, by making these assumptions we create the persona for an individual and expect them to follow through as if the persona we know of them is true. The persona is built off not only what they sing and the portrayal of themselves, but also completely arbitrary things like race and gender, these things should not have much of an impact on who a person is, but the traits become magnified when addressing a public persona. Singing can be compared to acting in such that “the public persona is like the constraints of the role of an actor” (Bicknell, 267). Regarding this comparison an actor must take on a role of a certain character, despite not actually being connected to a character in any way. Though it may be the case that certain …show more content…

The idea of moral deference allows for a lot more room for interpretation than authenticity, this is because in authenticity the singer wants to be able to recreate the work as closely to the original as possible, whereas moral deference acknowledges that implausible option. Given that authenticity relies much more heavily on recreation than moral deference does, there is the constant problem of keeping the proximity of tradition (Bicknell, 178). This is because in order to offer an authentic performance one must be fully engaged with the traditions and culture of those who originally sang it and without that awareness the piece is not really authentic and could cause great offence to the listeners. Given the overall notion of maintaining authenticity, there will continue to be a discourse between the musician and the fan, given in the sense of how the song is then performed. Though it is thought impossible to create an authentic experience it does not seem to prove too much of controversy, so long as the song is performed without aim to give offence. Overall, regarding the discussion of authenticity and moral deference Bicknell claims that, “the notion of moral deference is much more powerful and fruitful than the concept of authenticity.

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