" The singer must be both the narrator of the story of the
poem and the impersonator of the principal characters in that story. Upon
the completeness of his understanding of the meaning of the poem, and his
revelation of its meanings, as well as upon the absence of stiffness or
self-consciousness in suggesting the moods or characteristics displayed,
will depend the impression of temperamental force upon his audience.
The following suggestions may be of some value as devices in making songs
mean something; and this, after all, is the object of all attempts at
interpretation.
Suppose you take a new song--one you have never seen before. Do not sit at
the pianoforte, and play at it and sing at it until, after a fashion, you
know it. This way of learning leads to the kind of statement recently heard
after a peculiarly bad performance, "Why, I never think of the words at all
when I sing!" Instead of doing this, if you have been taught to do so, read
the song through, observing its general character. If thinking music
without playing or singing be impossible for you, play it over, carefully
noting _tempo_ and other general characteristics, until you have an
understanding of the melody, rhythm, and musical content. Observe how the
words fit the music, still without singing. Then read the poem silently and
carefully, and decide whether it is narrative, lyric, dramatic, churchly,
or in other ways distinctive. Next read the poem aloud, giving the voice
character appropriate to its sentiment, phrasing it intelligibly, observing
the emotional portent, and coloring it accordingly.
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