I went to a Speech Level Singing Masterclass today (with Jeffrey Skouson, who is one of the eight SLS instructors who teaches other SLS instructors around the world). He said something that really resonated with me. Unfortunately I'm a horrible notes-taker so I am not able to quote a lot of what he said except one thing:
"Truth rings."
He had the audience listen to a sample of a young man in his early twenties who has amazing vocal talent and technique. To put it in the simplest of terms, the guy soared through his bottom range to a dazzling high note. I was moved almost to tears. If there hadn't been other people there I probably would've cried. And there was a collective gasp in the audience as this man just soared and carried us all with him in the height of the music.
When there is true beauty in a voice, people know. They don't have to be a musician to know. They feel it. It might not be the kind of music they prefer to listen to, but they are compelled to listen to it and their hearts are compelled to move because of it. It's almost like an unspoken language.
And what's even more interesting to me is the fact that he called it "truth". It taps into the great mystery of music and called me to ask the same questions that people have been asking for years: why does music speak so powerfully to people? Why do human beings sing? Why do we even have music in society in the first place?
So many questions without answers. And yet, music is as much the puzzle as it is the picture. When we listen, we understand. That understanding may be beyond words, but when we hear a young man soaring beautifully in an aria, or hear a guitar solo as his fingers dance on the strings, or feel the pounding of a drum in our chest, we know it. It's there. It has always been there and it will always be there, whether or not we understand it. It's truth.
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