WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:12.000 (Singing) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:11.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Host: Folks, you've just met Claron McFadden. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.000 She is a world-class soprano singer 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 who studied in Rochester, New York. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:21.000 Her celebrated operatic roles 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.000 are numerous and varied. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 In August 2007, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 Claron was awarded the Amsterdam Prize for the Arts, 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 winning praise for her brilliance, 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.000 her amazing and extensively wide repertoire 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.000 and her vivid stage personality. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.000 Please welcome Claron McFadden. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:45.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.000 Claron McFadden: The human voice: 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.000 mysterious, spontaneous, 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.000 primal. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:59.000 For me, the human voice 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.000 is the vessel on which all emotions travel -- 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.000 except perhaps jealousy. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000 And the breath, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.000 the breath is the captain of that vessel. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.000 A child is born, 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.000 takes its first breath -- 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:25.000 (Breathing) 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.000 and we behold the wondrous beauty 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.000 of vocal expression -- 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.000 mysterious, spontaneous 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.000 and primal. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000 A few years ago, I did a meditation retreat in Thailand. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.000 I wanted a place 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.000 that I would have total silence 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.000 and total solitude. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000 I spent two weeks at this retreat 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.000 in my own little hut -- 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:56.000 no music, no nothing, sounds of nature -- 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:58.000 trying to find the essence 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 of concentration, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 being in the moment. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 On my last day, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.000 the woman who looked after the place, 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:09.000 she came and we spoke for a minute, 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 and then she said to me, 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000 "Would you sing something for me?" 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 And I thought, but this is a place of total quiet and silence. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 I can't make noise. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.000 She said, "Please, sing for me." 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 So I closed my eyes, 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.000 I took breath 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.000 and the first thing that came up and out 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:37.000 was "Summertime," Porgy and Bess. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:42.000 ♫ Summertime and the living is easy ♫ 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 ♫ Fish are jumping and the cotton is high ♫ 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000 ♫ Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-looking ♫ 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.000 ♫ So hush little baby ♫ 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.000 ♫ Don't you cry ♫ 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.000 And I opened my eyes, 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.000 and I saw that she had her eyes closed. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000 And after a moment, she opened her eyes 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.000 and she looked at me and she said, 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.000 "It's like meditation." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000 And in that moment I understood 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.000 that everything I had gone to Thailand to look for, 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.000 to search for, 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.000 I had it already in my singing -- 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:23.000 the calm, but alertness, 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.000 the focus, but awareness, 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:29.000 and being totally in the moment. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 When you're totally in the moment, 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.000 when I'm totally in the moment, 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.000 the vessel of expression is open. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000 The emotions can flow 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.000 from me to you 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.000 and back. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.000 Extremely profound experience. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.000 There's a piece by a composer, 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.000 an American composer called John Cage. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 It's called "Aria." 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.000 It was written for an amazing singer 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.000 called Cathy Berberian. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 And the thing about this piece that's so special -- 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 if you see it behind me -- 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 it's not notated in any way. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:10.000 No notes, no flats, no sharps. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.000 But it's a kind of structure, 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.000 and the singer within this structure 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.000 has total freedom 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:20.000 to be creative, spontaneous. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.000 For example, 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:24.000 there are different colors 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 and each color gets a different type of singing -- 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000 pop, country and western, opera, jazz -- 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.000 and you just have to be consistent with that color. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 You see there are different lines: 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.000 you choose in your own tempo in your own way 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.000 to follow the line, 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.000 but you must respect it, more or less. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.000 And these little dots, 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 these represent 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.000 a sort of sound 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:56.000 that's not a vocal, not a lyrical way 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:58.000 of expressing the voice. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.000 Using the body -- it could be sneezing, it could be coughing, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 it could be animals -- (cough) exactly -- 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 clapping, whatever. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.000 And there's different text. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.000 There's Armenian, Russian, 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.000 French, English, Italian. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.000 So within this structure one is free. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:21.000 To me, this piece is an ode to the voice 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.000 because it's mysterious -- as we can see -- 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.000 it's quite spontaneous, 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.000 and it's primal. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.000 So I would like to share this piece with you. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.000 It's "Aria" of John Cage. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:54.000 (Singing) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.000 ♫ No other way ♫ 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.000 ♫ Dans l'espace, so help ♫ 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.000 (Singing) 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.000 ♫ To have the fruits ♫ 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:41.000 (Singing) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:33.000 (Applause)