Singing the primal mystery | Claron McFadden | TEDxAmsterdam

"The human voice: mysterious, spontaneous, primal." With these words, soprano Claron McFadden invites us to explore the mysteries of breathing and singing, as she performs the challenging "Aria," by John Cage.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

(Singing)

(Singing ends)

(Applause)

Pep Rosenfeld: Folks,
you've just met Claron McFadden.

She is a world-class soprano singer

who studied in Rochester, New York.

Her celebrated operatic roles
are numerous and varied.

In August 2007, Claron was awarded
the Amsterdam Prize for the Arts,

winning praise for her brilliance,

her amazing and extensively
wide repertoire

and her vivid stage personality.

Today, she's going to be sharing with us
two arias

and her thoughts about musical traditions
and the arias

and how they all come together
in our contemporary days.

She's moments away from the stage,
so let me just quickly point out

that when this car was revealed,

everyone in the theater went:
"Oh, my God, it's so far away!"

I'm still stalling.

You know, speaking of the opera,

the tax on theater tickets

19 percent.

We all hate that, right?

How about a loud boo
for the raise in theater tickets?

Audience: Boo!

That's why, right around the corner,
there's a new circus opening up.

(Laughter)

Alrighty. The thing you don't know
about TEDxAmsterdam

is that backstage there is
an intricate labirynth of traps and pits,

you can fall down and get hurt.

But fortunately that did not happen
to our next speaker.

Please welcome Claron McFadden.

(Applause)

Claron McFadden: The human voice:

mysterious, spontaneous, primal.

For me, the human voice is the vessel
on which all emotions travel -

except, perhaps, jealousy.

And the breath,

the breath is the captain of that vessel.

A child is born,

takes its first breath -

(Inhales)

Whah!

And we behold the wondrous beauty

of vocal expression -

mysterious, spontaneous

and primal.

A few years ago, I did
a meditation retreat in Thailand.

I wanted a place

where I would have total silence
and total solitude.

I spent two weeks at this retreat

in my own little hut -

no music, no nothing - sounds of nature,

trying to find the essence
of concentration,

being in the moment.

On my last day,

the woman who looked after the place,

she came and we spoke for a minute,

and then she said to me,

"Would you sing something for me?"

And I thought, but this is a place
of total quiet and silence.

I can't make noise.

She said, "Please, sing for me."

So I closed my eyes,

I took breath

and the first thing that came up and out

was "Summertime,"

Porgy and Bess.

(Singing) Summertime
and the livin' is easy.

Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high.

Oh, your daddy's rich
and your ma is good-lookin'.

So hush little baby,

don't you cry.

And I opened my eyes,

and I saw that she had her eyes closed.

And after a moment, she opened her eyes

and she looked at me and she said,

"It's like meditation."

And in that moment I understood

that everything I had gone
to Thailand to look for,

to search for,

I had it already in my singing -

the calm, but alertness,

the focus, but awareness,

and being totally in the moment.

When you're totally in the moment -

when I'm totally in the moment,

the vessel of expression is open.

The emotions can flow from me

to you

and back.

It's an extremely profound experience.

There's a piece by a composer,

an American composer called John Cage.

It's called "Aria."

It was written for an amazing singer
called Cathy Berberian.

And the thing about this piece
that's so special -

if you see it behind me -

it's not notated in any way.

No notes, no flats, no sharps.

But it's a kind of structure.

And the singer, within this structure,

has total freedom
to be creative, spontaneous.

For example,

there are different colors

and each color gets
a different type of singing -

pop, country and western, opera, jazz -

and you just have
to be consistent with that color.

You see there are different lines.

You choose in your own tempo
in your own way

to follow the line,

but you must respect it,

more or less.

And these little dots,

these represent a sort of sound

that's not a vocal, not a lyrical way

of expressing the voice.

Using the body - it could be sneezing,

it could be coughing, animals -

(Audience member coughs)

Exactly. (Laughter)

Clapping, whatever.

And there's different text.

There's Armenian, Russian,
French, English, Italian.

So within this structure, one is free.

To me, this piece is an ode to the voice,

because it's mysterious, as we can see.

It's quite spontaneous.

And it's primal.

So I would like to share
this piece with you,

It's "Aria," of John Cage.

(Singing in various languages)

Hampart-zoum

Dirouhi

Di questa Terra

Naprasno

Conscience et

(Barks)

(Singing) Arise

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

(Singing)

Vidiel’a

facilmente

E io sono per te

(Robotic voice) No other way

Dans l'espace, so help

(Singing)

Si juste

Dvidzénya bistri

(Claps)

(Singing)

On pekrásen

idyot a k u

O a k ho a

Sivayoot eternal loosin

(Sneezes)

(Laughs)

Shh!

(Singing)

Gloobinoí più chiara

Si ceci est cela cela est ceci

Totalmente soi whom they sought to slay

To have the fruits gloire

J’écoute ...

À la vie…

Leggermente snédznoi

Coo coo

P k t d

Banalité

K o e

(Makes the sound of a kiss)

(Singing)

In armonia

(Applause)

Thank you.

Some of you may have noticed
that my talk is called "Two Arias."

And that is because I'd like
to do the piece one more time,

but I'd like to invite all of you
to join me.

(Laughter)

So I may bring my assistant out,

Sjaron Minailo, who will help
explain briefly

so you have a moment
to get over your panic.

I will do the lines,
the colors, the text,

and you will do - we all will do -
the spots.

So, take a second,

think - the idea is
that it's spontaneous

nothing is wrong - as loud, as soft,

as sick as you would like it.

(Laughter)

And the last thing is that we all
as a group sing in armonia - in harmony.

Nervous?

(Laughter)

Feel the adrenaline, isn't it wonderful?

Spontaneous expression.

(Singing in various languages)

Hampart-zoum

Dirouhi

Di questa Terra

Naprasno

Conscience et

(Audience whistles and claps)

(Singing) Arise

(Audience claps and cheers)

(Singing)

Vidiel’a

facilmente

E io sono per te

(Robotic voice) No other way

Dans l'espace, so help

(Singing)

Si juste

Dvidzénya bistri

(Audience claps, cheers)

(Singing)

On pekrásen

idyot a k u

O a k ho a

Sivayoot eternal loosin

(Audience whistles and claps)

(Audience whistles and claps)

(Audience whistles and claps)

Gloobinoí più chiara

(Audience whistles and claps)

Si ceci est cela cela est ceci

(Audience whistles and claps)

Totalmente soi whom they sought to slay

To have the fruits gloire

J’écoute ...

Leggermente snédznoi

(Audience whistles and claps)

P k t d

Banalité

K o e

(Audience whistles and claps)

In armonia

(Applause) (Cheers)