Music and Singing

The following is an edited version of the brief I gave Ron, who is going to working with you as Musical Director.

Well in short, I am keen to use the boys voice to bring out the feel of the boarding school and as the play progresses- I would like to use their ‘chorister experience’ to underscore and at times juxtapose the dramatic events that take place both in the story of R+J which they are acting but also their own stories.

The key thing to bear in mind is that as students they are boarding school pupils who sing hymns and maybe Latin plainsong on a daily basis and therefore have a degree of musicality built into them, they are certainly more attuned to classical music than todays kids. I really want to bring this out and use it as a tool for them to confront the repressive regime in which they live. Hymns like ‘god be in my head’- that sort of simple a cappella suited music that has an incredibly spiritual feel would be suited. (nb: if you have any suitable suggestions I would be very keen to hear them, as would Ron)

The music should help transport the boys and the audience into both the world of the chapel and then headlong into the world of Romeo and Juliet

What I mean by this is that for example in the opening scene, I would like them to be singing as choristers- setting up the religious connotations from the off- something quite angelic-

But I think as the play progresses we could move away from hymns and into more simple ‘humming’ and even sound scaping to a degree.

There are a couple of other bits of music- the main bit being the dance- in which I was thinking that we could use some 50’s rock and roll that they bring in on a gramophone- which again is a point in itself…I don’t think we should use any prerecorded music- it should come only from what the boys have eg: themselves, the gramophone etc, we could use some artistic license and have some come in towards the end of R+J when they have totally immersed themselves in the play, but on the whole it should be music that they create themselves within the space.

Please be reassured you were cast on the basis of your acting and not your singing, however we will be working on this every day, and Ron will be in rehearsals for some of the time, to teach and then revise and work the music. If you watched the great Gareth Malone on BBC's The Choir, you can see how this sort of music has the uncanny ability to forge bonds and connections and this will be pivotal to the show both on and off stage. I know Chris highlighted this in his blog previously in that choral singing was very much a feature of daily life, and in fact remains so, at these public schools. It wasn't always a showing off exercise, but just a ritual, an every day occurrence. I remember when I was at my boarding school we had hymn practice every Thursday, which was basically an excuse to wind up the poor teacher whose job it was to teach us harmonies etc, to be honest I dont think we ever got to harmonies, as the harassed man resorted to sending more and more of us to the headmasters office. The tune was about all we ever accomplished in these sessions. Again though I think this demonstrates that this surplus of religion didnt exactly inspire a genuine devotion or respect for the material that we had, we did it, and we didnt often do it offensively, but we didn't endow it with anything more than a passing alto.

As I arrived at my senior school, The Perse in Cambridge, which although Private, was my no longer a boarding school, this 'aloof' take on religion took a step further, and morning hymns were reduced to a state of belching bassonic rumbles that one could hardly say 'took the roof off'. I remember being initially a little taken aback by quite how superfluous these morning religious assemblies were to basically everyone, even the Chaplain. Just a bi-weekly ritual that was relic of the school's more pious days.

The point I'm making here is that religion and these hymns and music we will be singing was just part and parcel of everyday life, I don't think that a lot of thought went alongside day to day religion, just as not a lot of thought went behind anything of any great importance. Such was the aggressive timetabling that there was precious little time for any extraneous thought other than making it on time to your next scheduled activity. There was no time to stand and stare. And so this elicit breaking out and playing and exploring with ideas and literature really must be a huge journey of discovery, from the blatant and obvious things like physical contact to the subtler elements like the singing- where the music was for possibly time in the boys experience the first time endowed with meaning and passion although not directed at perhaps its intended purpose.

Thank you Chris for your post- much food for thought in here, I encourage you all to follow suit and share your research. I cannot make you do it, but would only encourage persuasively. We are all busy, but you should be finding the time to think about the play and your lines, and this is just an extension of that and a tool for us to progress to a collective understanding. Just do it.

Finally I would remind you that you need to send Ron as a matter of urgency your CV and a brief synopsis of your voice and singing experience- ron.mcallister@southhillpark.org.uk. ASAP please.