Singing the primal mystery

"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.

(Applause)

(Singing)

(Applause)

Host: 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.

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 --

(Breathing)

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

that 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.

♫ Summertime and the living is easy ♫

♫ Fish are jumping and the cotton is high ♫

♫ Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-looking ♫

♫ 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.

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,

it could be animals -- (cough) exactly --

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)

♫ No other way ♫

♫ Dans l'espace, so help ♫

(Singing)

♫ To have the fruits ♫

(Singing)

(Applause)