Sicut Cervus

Several years ago I studied voice with Marcia Young, a wonderful soprano from St. Luke-in-the-Field’s Church, in Greenwich Village. She taught me how to find my voice at the back of my head and to support my voice which was not an alto, but rather a mid-range soprano. That was the beginning of this journey back to singing, but I needed lots of training, singing and sight-reading to improve and enjoy singing more fully.

There are many benefits from singing. I recently read about a woman who suffers from a genetic skin disorder and she returned to her early love — singing. She says: ” I sang fully conscious of the pure physical joy of it — a pleasure beyond the flowing endorphins that singing releases.  I tightened my abdominal muscles to support deeper breaths and marveled at the sound that vibrated in my vocal chords and finally resounded in the chambers of my skull. For me this was a late-blooming pleasure.” Through singing, she learned how to appreciate her body in the midst of the debilitation that she experiences.

I have not yet reached her heights, but I know it is possible. It is a not a runner’s “high, but there is a deep physical  release and profound pleasure.  I sing mostly sacred music in the context of a church service or a Choral Evensong, so  it is also the spiritual understanding of the words and the meaning of them. Whether we sing in English, French, German or Latin,  it is about learning the words and expressing them through the voice.

Here is one of my favorite songs in Latin written by Palestrina. He was an Italian Renaissance composer and his work was the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.  The Latin words mean: “As the deer long for the springs of water, so my soul longs for you, oh God.” This Sunday — Trinity Sunday — choir will take a summer respite and I will need to find new ways to exercise my voice and feel this deep pleasure. This song will ring in my head and heart.