CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

The choice of medium is 50% of an artists vision.

There. Ive made a bold artistic statement of opinion. If I were one of the elder statesman of the a cappella community, I could just let it sit there reverberating its grand sense across the nation and go back to watching The Amazing Race

But I see myself more as an upstart director who has made enough of an impression by combining the world of a cappella with the world of commercial theatre that I should probably continue my rant for a few more paragraphs to attempt to back up my statement.

Imagine: Leonardo da Vinci sitting over a cup of tea telling a group of art students, You know, I want to be recognized as a master of the human form and an interpreter of the body as a work of art and not because I sculpted the dude in marble.

Imagine: Spider-Man creator Stan Lee telling an interviewer, Id like to be known for observing the human condition of extraordinary human beings who may have been bitten by radioactive spiders and not because I choose to tell my stories in a series of boldly colored panels

Imagine: William Shakespeare bemoaning to dramatists: YES, I wrote it as a play but the story speaks for itself and my next story, Romeo and Juliet, will be released as a pop-up book.

(Some of you will notice that I slipped Stan Lee in with da Vinci and Shakespeare and will subsequently decide to dismiss the rest of my opinions forthright. But I stand by everything I wrote. Excelsior!)

Soas artists, why have we chosen a cappella as our medium for the art we create?

Speaking for myself, I was trained as a vocalist. I studied music as a vocalist. Ive also used my voice as a voiceover artist, announcer and emcee. The voice is a logical choice of medium for me because I have the talents and skill to express myself in a multitude of ways through it.

I also have a background in theatre. Therefore, I can include in my art a visual and presentational element to accent or be accented by the music. In fact, Toxic Audio isnt limited to musical expression. The concept of the show is the exploration of the human voice as a means of expression. This has included comedy, literature, and noisemaking in addition to the obvious musical applications.

But lets say you belong to a group that performs mostly cover songs of tunes that were originally scored with instruments. Is your vocal arrangement of the piece interpreting the song in a new way? Or is it just attempting to mimic the sound of the original. Nothing wrong with that. But isnt the next step finding a way to make your medium inform the material in a brand new or original way?

A painter can take color and fill in a grid of numbered white spaces to replicate a tree. But it takes an artist to create a unique vision of that tree and to present it to his/her audience in a fresh and exciting way. If that means the artist chooses to sculpt the tree, write a poem about the tree or portray the tree him/herself in a one-act play about the tree, they still have an opportunity to cultivate a fan base of art appreciators who admire their particular vision. Its how an artist builds an identity. Its how a musical act of any kind establishes a vision. That vision may be consistent throughout the existence of the group, or it may be the vision for just one album or concert tour. But a group with focus or vision will set themselves apart immediately from those that are just doing it to fill a couple of hours.

If you are choosing to perform your music a cappella, then you should be saying that there is something about the human voice that brings beauty or meaning to the music you have chosen to interpret.

I can think of a couple of examples of a cappella music as art and the perfect choice of medium right off the top of my head:

Paul Stillers Morning from the Vox One album Out There is a song that Im convinced should never be performed by an instrumental band. But, heyheres hoping the band comes along that can prove me wrong.

Bobby McFerrins Thinking About Your Body Heres an example of the subject of the music and the medium being inseparable. What else can illustrate the single mindedness of fixating on someones body than only using the body to express it?

So accept and embrace your chosen medium. Use its unique tonal and aural qualities to enhance and inform EVERY piece you choose to paint with it. Make it PART of the art and not just a random decision or to satisfy your unwillingness to lug instruments around.

Disagree with me? Agree with me? Or would you like to make your own point? Bring it. Im at rene@toxicaudio.com. Id love to include your thoughts in my next article.

Excelsior!