Grace and peace, everyone.
It's Christmas and you know what that means: descants!
I think of a descant as a golden thread woven into the last verse of a hymn or carol. It is not an opportunity for Parish Top Dog Soprano to show off (as firmly I believed and truly when I was a young Episcopalian and fancied myself a PTDS), but should be sung by a handful of singers who can pull off a sweet, innocent sound with as little vibrato as possible. Hearing a well-performed descant, I think, "Hmmm, time I went to confession."
Descants make me think of joyful freedom. (Now that I have written that, I wonder whether any sorrowful descants exist; no doubt someone here knows the answer to that one.) Nothing takes the joy out of singing a descant like a poorly written descant, though. The tessitura needs to be high but not too high, please, and save the high notes for as close to the end as possible. To do otherwise kills both the drama and the sopranos.
Descants of quality---I'm looking at you, Kings College Cambridge---help tepid choirs grow fervent and fervent choirs quickly mount to high perfection. Let us now praise famous descants and the servants of God who created them.
It's Christmas and you know what that means: descants!
I think of a descant as a golden thread woven into the last verse of a hymn or carol. It is not an opportunity for Parish Top Dog Soprano to show off (as firmly I believed and truly when I was a young Episcopalian and fancied myself a PTDS), but should be sung by a handful of singers who can pull off a sweet, innocent sound with as little vibrato as possible. Hearing a well-performed descant, I think, "Hmmm, time I went to confession."
Descants make me think of joyful freedom. (Now that I have written that, I wonder whether any sorrowful descants exist; no doubt someone here knows the answer to that one.) Nothing takes the joy out of singing a descant like a poorly written descant, though. The tessitura needs to be high but not too high, please, and save the high notes for as close to the end as possible. To do otherwise kills both the drama and the sopranos.
Descants of quality---I'm looking at you, Kings College Cambridge---help tepid choirs grow fervent and fervent choirs quickly mount to high perfection. Let us now praise famous descants and the servants of God who created them.