Singing...

Choir rehearsal is to be started in an hour's time. I just finished working on a song with John, Bring Him Home from Les Mserables. Since he wanted me to improve his singing, I had chosen this song for him to sing. It is a hard song and I now regret of the decision. I just remembered this song is included in a Grade 8 singing syllabus back in the UK.

We spent nearly two hours working on just two phrases. I have to admit sometimes my ears are sharp and my heart does not normally tolerate imperfections in music. Though I love imperfections in life, but for music everything is different. I love the moment when one can put each component of a piece at its right position at the right moment. That is where God reveals the eternity of life. That transit moment creates eternity in mind.

Knowing how to sing oneself and teaching others to sing are completely different issues. When I see the manuscript, usually songs from musicals, not Schubert or Mahler of course, I normally know instantly how the song has to be sung. The tempo, the phrasing and the structure just come naturally at hands. But for someone who has never sung before or who has sung in a reckless way, I always find hard times to convey my ideas. When John was practicing under my instructions, one could always hear me saying, "John, listen to the accompaniment", "You're late in the beginning of this phrase and early when it ends" or "this part you should make the audience feel falling rapidly and then a immediate slow down following afterwards". Sometimes it is so hard to tell him what I mean rather than demonstrate. If words can express music, what is the meaning of music then?

But anyway, here is the link of the song, Bring Him Home, from Les Miserables.
Bring Him Home by Gary Morris

it's a quite good version since it is actually selected from the complete recording of the musical. So it has the flavour of songs from the musical. Sometimes when a singer performs a song as song, not as one of the songs from a musical recording, then the feeling of the piece may completely be altered. But the irony is, the general public would prefer to listen to a song as a song when they only listen to one song or a collection of songs, but a song as a part of a musical when they are listening to a complete recording. Therefore, Gary Morris's version may not be as welcoming as other versions on the net, but has the originality which only can be realised when the whole musical is played.