My Musical Musings Blog | BetsyLeeBaileyMusic.com - The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey

Singing Beethoven at Light Speed

5/26/2026

Our edition's marked tempo was 130. Our Conductor's tempo was at least 180. Sure it was marked as Prestissimo and open for interpretation. Who's to say if Beethoven himself marked the tempi or it has just been interpreted certain ways over the years in edited editions. All I know is that singing the end of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Prestissimo for this conductor was really something!

I guess I am getting old. Singing above the staff has never been a problem for me before. In fact, I used to enjoy singing the very high notes. But trying to keep up singing German words so fast way up in the stratosphere made me feel like I was a squeaking mouse.

My voice teachers always taught that the high notes must be modified and shaped towards "ah." There's a good reason why most obligato passages for high soprano are less about words and more about sounding like flutes. Anyway, the conductor kept encouraging the choir to sing with crisper diction and more deliberate consonants. That is nearly impossible to do successfully at such a fast rate up so high.

When I listened to recordings of other choirs singing the prestissimo section, the tempo was much slower. The consonants and tone quality came through beautifully. I am not so sure how we sounded in the performance.

We tried the best we could. That's all I can say.

The Finale section of Beethoven's 9th is truly a masterwork. During our chorale rehearsals, separate from the orchestra, it was a joy to sing. The Hymn tune "Ode to Joy" is probably one of the most recognizable tunes ever. When the choir bursts forth with that tune at full volume near the end, the effect is truly powerful and joyous.

I am so sad thinking that Beethoven, who was deaf at the time he wrote this piece, never actually heard it performed in his lifetime. I wonder what he would have thought of our orchestral conductor's tempo at the Prestissimo?

Athletic Singing

4/3/2026

"Messiah" is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. (Wikipedia)

So, 285 years ago, Handel wrote his Oratorio in the high Baroque style. Small string orchestra, a few color instruments (trumpets, organ, timpani), and continuo (harpsichord and bass viol). The chorus was small, too, likely no more than 20-30 singers. And the vocal soloists chosen were required to sing all of the flourishes in more of an Operatic style than the typical Church soloist style (also including women singers, not castrati).

Gates of Paradise at the Baptistry in Florence, Italy

Last night I got to attend a wonderful Performance of the Easter section of "Messiah." The performance space was comparatively small, it was the lobby of the Museum of Art on Brigham Young University campus. The man who pushed for this to happen, had a dream one night of how this could and should happen. He contacted the MOA and found that they would love to host the event in conjunction with some art displays that would be unveiled at the same time, just before Easter. (The reproduction of Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise was spectacular!)

Alex Woods pulled together players and singers to form a string quartet, continuo, organ and soloists from his professor and student friends at BYU and the Orchestra of Ballet West who all volunteered their time. (We came particularly to hear my nephew Dr. Randy Lee play trumpet. He was fabulous!) Dr. Woods decided that the elite choir he envisioned for this concert would be the audience. We audience members of about 250 were delighted to provide!

The selections on the program were not the typical pieces chosen for a "Messiah Sing-In" done at Christmastime. These were the songs and choruses having to do with the Savior's Passion. Powerful. It helped that these musicians were experts in their disciplines. The music was superb. We singers in the audience felt honored to be able to sing with such knowledgeable musicians who also invited the Spirit into their performances.

There is no secret about the fact that singing "Handel's Messiah" requires some very athletic singing. The melismas done at a rather fast clip were challenging to sing. But SO FUN!!!!! (It helps when you have most of the music memorized.) My voice teacher in college used to tell me to sing "Rejoice Greatly" (a soprano solo from "Messiah") every day if I really wanted to keep up my voice. Well, I haven't remembered to do that, but I have been privileged within the last few months to sing "Messiah" at Christmas with the Wasatch Choral, the TSO and Dr. Doug Pew, and now again for Easter with Dr. Alex Woods and our elite chorus of devoted audience singers.

So satisfying for the soul and great for the voice!

Making a Song Your Own

9/13/2025

Singers tend to have unique instruments. One person's voice may be bold and brassy. Another might sound soft and breathy. Another bright, another dark, another full of vibrato, another straight-tone... And then, how they use language makes a big difference in their vocal production from singer to singer. Last night I watched a concert of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs done by a wide array of singers and actors, in a host of different styles.

Some of the performers sang their songs as if they were doing a character from the Broadway show such as Curly from "Oklahoma." Others were not Broadway actors and gave very different interpretations of their songs whether it be pop or opera or jazz or something else.

Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are so good that they have been in the standard repertoire for over 80 years. Many of the songs have even been covered by the likes of Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, and even the Beatles. It didn't seem to matter how the songs last night were sung or by whom. And even if I didn't really like the style of the performances, they seemed successful as the singers made the songs their own.

When I was young, I loved to try to emulate the style of Julie Andrews. She had just starred in two of the favorite movies of my 10 year old self, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. I had access to those soundtrack recordings and I listened to them a lot.

She was a soprano and I was a soprano. So in my mind it seemed only natural that I could grow up sounding much like her. I sang and sang until I had memorized every song on those albums, complete with her inflections. My friends told me I sounded like Julie Andrews. It was a great compliment.

Then along came other performers that I admired and wanted to emulate their styles. I enjoyed singing in a lot of different styles, and trying to copy famous singers was a good way to learn those different styles. But, I knew that eventually I would need to be able to make my own style, to take a song and make it my own.

Singing in choirs, singing operatic arias, singing in Musical Theater, and singing pop songs or jazz in a dance band tested my skills at singing in distinct vocal styles. I am not sure how successful I was, but I did learn a lot. I had so much enjoyment in singing for a variety of different audiences in many different styles, and I hope they enjoyed it.

I guess one way I have truly been able to take a song and make it my own is to write something original. "Break Forth Into Joy" was written as a sacred vocal solo in the style of the art songs I studied so much in college. Enjoy!

Serendipity

6/24/2025

Last Sunday I was asked to accompany my cousin and her nephew in a special musical number. The ward where they were singing was in the same chapel as my ward that met just after. They sang very well, and were delighted to see that more family members had come to hear them perform. I had asked my cousin if she would stay just a little while longer and sing in my ward as well. She said that she didn't think she had time for she had responsibilities in another ward across town at 12:30 pm.

However, she and the other family members stayed in the back of the chapel until three minutes before our meeting was to begin. So, I went back and informed them that since they stayed this long, they might as well stay a bit longer and sing in my ward. So, they agreed. I explained things to the Bishopric member, and since I was in charge of the music, it was no problem.

Serendipitous situations like this sometimes just happen, if the wheels are put in motion at the right time by the right people. It was wonderful to have them sing. We had not had a special musical number in many weeks. (Summers are when it is particularly difficult to secure people who are willing or in town long enough to prepare a special musical number.

The song they sang was very special in our family. It was a setting of the 23rd Psalm by Henry Smart. In the early 1960's when my family was living in Houston, TX, my mother found a book of sacred duets by various composers for various combinations of voices at the local music shop. She was excited because she thought it was the perfect time for her to teach her 12-year-old daughter how to sing duets with her. That was me. She thought that song was perfect for my first foray into the world of singing sacred duets in a classical style. (In other words, she deemed my voice and musical ability mature enough to match her.)

Together, we sang that duet many times in many different meetings, but mostly for funerals and special musical numbers at church. After I left home, she taught it to others of my siblings. I believe, every one of us had a chance to sing it either with my mother or with each other.

Over the years, apparently my mom shared this music with others in her family, too, like her opera singing brothers. They shared it with their singing children, too. It has become quite a favorite throughout our clan.

Actually, I didn't realize this until last summer when my cousin asked be to accompany her and her nephew singing it in her ward. When we got together to practice, she was quite surprised that I had the physical book that she had a photocopy of. We compared the music and there were the handwritten notes of where I was to sing and where my mom would sing. Somehow, I was blessed to own that heirloom book.

(My cousin is endeavoring to order the actual book, now that she has the correct information about it.)

There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today

5/22/2025

In the Wasatch Master Chorale, we are preparing for our last concert of the season. It is also our Bon Voyage send off for those of us who are going on a tour to New York City. (I did not plan to go because I had planned to drive my daughter's family across country that same week --- but now I don't have to do that. Oh well...) Anyway, one of the sets we are singing contains several Appalachian hymn arrangements. They are very fun to sing --- songs like "The Storm Is Passing Over," "The Unclouded Day," and "No Time."

There is something delicious about singing early American Folk Hymns. The melodies and harmonies may be a bit raw and unpolished, but they contain pure emotion, joy and worship. Several years ago now, I decided to write a set of hymn arrangements for solo voice. Some early American Hymns seemed like just the right choice to go into that collection. And though some of the hymns may not be exactly early American, they still fit that genre.

"There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today" was at the top of the list. It was actually the first sacred solo I wrote just for myself. My youngest son had gone off to Kindergarten, and that gave me time to devote myself to purely selfish projects. This hymn had become a favorite because of a dear friend who grew up in a deaf family. She told me that she always thought of her mother's desire to have the Lord hear the righteous *song in her heart that she cannot sing.

There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today - arr. by Betsy Lee Bailey
Text: Eliza E. Hewitt, 1851-1920, Music: John R. Sweney, 1837-1899

There is sunshine in my soul today more glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky for Jesus is my light.
There is sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is music in my soul today, a carol to my King,
And *Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing.
There is sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is springtime in my soul today, for when the Lord is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart, the flowers of grace appear.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is gladness in my soul today, and hope and praise and love,
For blessings which he gives me now, for joys laid up above.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.
There is sunshine in my soul today,
Sunshine in my soul today.

In this recording, my sister Bonnie Lee is singing and I am playing the piano. This and other solos are available for Medium High Voice in The Praiseworthy Singer Vol. 14 and 15

Reign in That Vibrato!

4/18/2025

Have you ever sung in an echo-y place?

Yodelers like to sing in mountain canyons where the rock cliffs are steep. Renaissance music specialists like to sing in very old cathedrals. The college kids at BYU like to sing under the overpass bridges to the Marriott Center. The open foyer to my house in Maryland had wonderful acoustics. I loved singing there. On a trip once to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, I couldn't help trying out the acoustics in the grand ballroom. There's nothing quite like singing a little something in a room built for performing. (The tour group didn't really mind.)

When the acoustics are just right, the singer feels such a rush soaring on those suspended and naturally amplified tones. However, a wide vibrato can spoil the whole effect. That's why many accapella groups try to sing without vibrato. Too many stray or uncentered pitches muddy the purity of the sounds

That's a problem for amplification with microphones, too. Last night at rehearsal, the sound technicians had trouble mic-ing the soloist who had a very wide vibrato. She had a beautiful voice, but her vibrato was inconsistent. Sometimes it was barely present, then other times she really let loose. It was loud and very wide. Had she been in a Cathedral with no mic amplification, her natural ability to make her voice project would have been appreciated. But in the very large hall where we were, her wild fluctuations in volume and vibrato really gave the technicians trouble.

My vocal coaches and choral conductors really worked with their singers to reign in their vibratos. If we couldn't control our vibratos, we were not allowed to sing with the groups.

Recording equipment can be very touchy, too. Some vibrato gives the voice warmth and expression. But too much or too wide of vibrato makes the machinery go haywire. Professional recording artists learn tips and tricks to safely get the best recordings possible with their own particular voice qualities.

I sure hope the sound techs can help our few soloists sound good in that enormous hall we are performing in tonight. Sound amplification is necessary, even with big voices, because the room swallows up sound so thoroughly. I hope they are magicians.

"Call Upon the Lord" - a song about prayer for this Easter Season.

Draw Near Unto Me

4/5/2025

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you" begins D&C 88:63. My ears immediately perk up when a scripture is quoted in General Conference that I have set to music. President Henry B. Eyring quoted the rest of the verse as well. "Seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

This verse provided a powerful point of inspiration to set it to music. I must have been in a very Mendelssohn mode, though. I may have been singing or studying some of his works. I don't remember now, but it seems pretty obvious.

For those of us who have classical vocal training, we need the challenge of singing music that exercises our musical ranges. In the mid 2000's, I was looking for opportunities to sing music that harkened to the great masters but took their texts from the Book of Mormon or modern prophets. So I began writing some of my own. During that time, I wrote some Choral, and Solo and Duet works that had texts from prophets such as Isaiah, Nephi, Mosiah, Alma, Joseph Smith, and quotes from the Savior as recorded in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Break Forth into Joy
By Small and Simple Things
Come Sing to the Lord
Counsel with the Lord in All Thy Doings
How Exquisite was My Joy
Keystone of Our Faith
My Promised Land
O That I Were an Angel
Dedication

Draw Near Unto Me was a piece that started life as a Soprano solo. Then it became a Choral piece with a part for a soprano or tenor soloist. Then it morphed into a duet for Soprano and Baritone. I had always planned on recording it, but life got in the way. I actually haven't thought about it in years.

But when President Eyring quoted that verse in Conference, the words and music came flooding back into my mind.

He told how the promise made by the Savior in that verse was the prelude to many revelations. That reminded me of when I was trying to write this piece. I felt that it needed a companion scriptural quote to fill it out. So I searched through many references to prayer in the Doctrine and Covenants. When I came across D&C 98:1-2, I knew that was what I should use. I felt like I was taking dictation and it was hard to write fast enough to keep up with inspiration.

Enjoy "Draw Near Unto Me" Duet for Soprano and Baritone

Tensions and Resolutions

1/20/2025

"Was that song you sang by Mendelssohn?" the organist asked me yesterday after the meeting. I know he was just kidding, but it felt good to be complimented that way and have my work compared to such a great composer. My daughter Cami and I sang a duet in Church that I had written back when we lived in Maryland.

At that time I was singing with the Harford Choral Society. The conductor, Arlen Clarke, was also a composer and took an interest in helping me in my solo and choral writing. When he looked over my first draft of "Come Sing to the Lord," he said, "Here's an idea for you that could make this piece a lot more fun." Then he told me about his, at that time, current fascination with "unresolved ninths."

Most people will understand how when two notes are only a half or whole step apart, they rub together and provide tension. But usually, they resolve to a more stable interval such as a third. A pretty common example of this is at a cadence when the 4th of the major scale is rubbed up next to the 5th scale degree and it wants to resolve to the 3rd. That would be the F and G rubbing together in a G7 chord with a strong pull to resolve to the tonic chord C major.
Well, just know that there are other examples of "rubs" that provide tension. including 7ths, 9ths, and other juicy intervals and chords.

Well, Maestro Clarke noticed the places in my song that I put tension in between the singer's notes, but I always resolved them. He encouraged me to leave some of these partial cadences unresolved. He said that doing that would heighten the interest especially at the climax on the word "VICTORY." The resolution would come later during the piano interlude and/or modulation to the new key. So, with trepidation, I tried it.

When we sang yesterday, I wondered what kind of reactions I might get, especially from knowledgeable musicians in the congregation. Most people complimented us on the usual things like, "That music was so lovely!" "Your voices blended together in a way that only family can!" or "I loved how your voices wove above and below each other in such a fun way!"

But having my music be compared to Mendelssohn ... that was a highlight! Now I just have to figure out a time when Cami and I can record it before she moves to Albany...

Just Because You Can, Should You?

12/23/2024

Classical singers learn through their studies of vocal styles that flamboyant modifications and improvisations are acceptable forms of expression in certain kinds of music. For example, during the Baroque Period (1685-1750), it was expected that taking great liberties with the vocal lines especially at cadences was a sign of expertise. But just because you can add flourishes, should you? When is too much JUST TOO MUCH for the situation?

After the Baroque Period, came the Classical Period in music (1750-1820) and composers decided that if the piece needed flourishes, they would write them in themselves. Mozart, in particular, really hated singers taking liberties with his music.

The Romantic Period (1820-1900) was not about love-making, but all about feeling and expression. But still, composers liked being in control of their music.

The Modern and Contemporary musical style periods followed and the flood gates opened. With everything from avant guard, tone row, neoclassicism, popular styles combined with traditional styles, and everything in between happening all at once.

The Church (of any faith) tried to keep to more traditional styles, for many years. Leadership in those faith traditions added guidelines through the years to stick to simplicity with no outlandish performances. And yet, some branched out to include praise bands and gospel styles, but many still stick to the older hymnody traditions.

What I was taught in my solo singing studies was that music for the Church should be about praise of God and Christ and singing your testimony. If you use style components that bring more attention to yourself and your personal "artistry" than inviting the Spirit into the meeting, you have gone too far.

Unfortunately, that is not always the case with soloists. Last week I attended a community choir's performance of Handel's "Messiah." The singers clearly had something to prove. In the program, their biographies listed their lengthy schooling and qualifications. However, they were adding flourishes that detracted from their performances because they were too frequent, often did not fit the chord progressions, and seemed to be thrown in just to show off. Granted, in Baroque music, adding flourishes is considered standard, but these singers let their flawed flourishes get them into trouble.

Yesterday in one of the Christmas programs I attended, Contemporary Pop Styling really shocked me. A young man let his desire to imitate modern Rock Band Lead Singers get out of hand. He emoted with his face, and hands and whole body so much that even his high tenor wailing was overshadowed. Had he toned down his "interpretive dancing" that only drew attention to himself, we might have been able to hear his message and feel the Spirit.

Then again, in a different meeting I attended, I was moved by the professional Opera singer who sang a pure rendition of "Gesu Bambino." Clearly she had the training and the chops to add all kinds of flourishes to her performance, but she chose to follow the composer's score and let her own beautiful voice and personal testimony shine. She sang "let us adore Him" in a way that allowed us all to worship with her.

She invited the Spirit into our meeting so we could really feel fed.

Merry Christmas!

Setting a Book of Mormon Text

5/24/2024

Setting scriptural texts to music isn't easy. Just by the nature of prose, rhyme schemes, regular meter plans, and venerable musical forms mostly cannot be used. Sometimes a composer can make use of short phrases repeating over and over again to provide meter, pattern, and rhyme. Think of Handel writing many of the choruses in "Messiah." He took one or two phrases or even one word and took 5-10 minutes musically expanding them. Think "Hallelujah" or "For Unto Us a Child Is Born."

We don't normally do Baroque stylization in our day. Occasionally though, for emphasis, a composer can get away with phrase repetitions. I find that PHRASE REPETITION is a great way to set scriptural texts. Repeating a phrase of words set to a melodic passage that can be developed is a way to provide pleasing musical structure as well as patterns and rhyme schemes listeners can appreciate.

A few years ago, my friend (Barbara Cramer) asked me to create a song for her to sing using an ancient form of Hebraic poetry. Her brother (John W. Welch) was being honored for finding Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon in 1967. There was a "Chiasmus Jubilee" (50 year anniversary) held at BYU in 2017 where she sang this song.

Chiasmus is a form of Hebraic poetry where the concepts reflect back in contrast to the previous ideas but in reverse order with the climax or most important concept in the center. So, I tried to play around with themes and tonalities that would reflect these contrasts -- darkness turning to light, sin to forgiveness, pain to joy -- going from minor to major and so forth. So, as the text reflected back to a previous thought, I tried to make the musical theme relate back as well, but brighter and more hopeful.

The text is taken from Alma 36 where Alma is telling about his conversion. First, Alma recognizes his sins, he feels exquisite pain and guilt. Then the central and most important part of the song is about his turning to Christ, forsaking his sins, and relying on the Atonement. Then, he tells of his feeling great joy and relief through repentance. He is changed and he then wants to share his joy by preaching of Christ.

The song is titled "How Exquisite Was My Joy."

The only way I could make my setting of this scriptural text work is with using phrase repetitions. This helped with meter and structure as well has providing singable melodic ideas.

Other composers feel very strongly that scriptural verses should be set strictly as they are laid out in the book. As a singer, I find those so hard to sing. I enjoy having notes that soar and phrases that can be repeated to provide some pattern and rhyme. To me, that's much more fulfilling.

The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey copyright 2020