Text

Text is an element unique to the human voice and an essential aspect of choral music. No other instrument can “perform” text like the voice can. Other instruments must find different ways to communicate messages to their audience. However, to be able to fully communicate to the audience, it’s important singers and directors take time to study the text of the pieces they are performing. Not only must the text alone be studied, but its relationship with the music must also be taken into careful consideration. The more connections made between text and music, the deeper the understanding of the piece and the greater the ability to effectively communicate the essence of the message to those listening.

The following terms are useful in the analysis of text:

• Poetic Form: How a poem is organized, consisting of lines and stanzas to break up the poem.
• Line: A row of text in a poem
• Stanza: A collection of lines, resembling a paragraph
• Poetic Foot: Combination of stressed and unstressed syllables, used to determine the rhythm and meter of the poem.
• Poetic Meter: The rhythmic pattern in a poem found from stressed and unstressed syllables along with the number of feet in the line.
• Enjambment: A sentence that continues onto the next line without the use of punctuation
• Text Painting: A compositional technique where the music reflects the text