I am doing an afternoon tea recital in aid of the Friends group at my local church. The audience will range from musically well educated to "I'm here for the tea and cake" and I only have one A4 side for 13 songs and 2 piano pieces. I have decided that it will be better to allow two or three sentences for each song, trying to capture the emotion rather than trying to be academic.

This is what I have written for Faure's Les Berceaux: The ships rocking silently at their moorings ignore the cradles rocked by the women, who weep as the men leave to search out new horizons. But as the port shrinks into the distance, the ships feel themselves subtly held back by the souls of the distant cradles.

I think ( hope) it's working quite well but I am struggling with the spiritual "Deep River". I just can't find words other than the words to the song to describe what it is all about. I would really appreciate some ideas.

Thank you

Val

Could you look at it from the negroes' point of view? They were in a poor state in this life, but felt they belonged "over Jordan", and that once they crossed over they would be safe and happy. I'm not nearly as poetic as you, but a more prosaic programme note might be:

"This profound spiritual was written by slaves who had found great hope in the religion of their masters. Although the life they endured was harsh and they had no freedom, they had an unshakeable belief that their true home was with God, and that when they reached heaven, things would be very different."

Thank you, BerkshireMum. This is just what I needed, as I had painted myself into a corner mentally. I'm not as poetic as you might think. I have to work hard at getting to the emotion of a piece as "prosaic " could be one of my middle names along with pragmatic and pedantic! And I think that you are more poetic than you give yourself credit for.

I haven't used your words but they sparked new ideas for me, so I'm trying out "Life now is harsh, but God has a promised land waiting for us, flowing with milk and honey and above all peace." I will be taking my notes to my singing lesson on Monday so no doubt the red pen will be out then!

Val

PS I have carefully saved your text so that when I prepare some more academic notes, this is just the sort of wording I will want.

Both lovely descriptions! I'm planning to do some programme notes for the 'Players for Pleasure' event in Somerset next month but I wasn't planning anything quite so poetic! The audience will be visitors to a stately home, some of whom may be knowledgeable about classical music but probably most won't be too knowledgeable. I was planning to research what various sources say about a piece of music and summarise the findings. Eg for Moonlight Sonata I was planning to say who it was dedicated to, how it got its name, and the fact that LVB didn't have a moonlit evening in mind at all when he wrote it - wasn't it a friend's funeral he had in mind (haven't finished my research yet). I don't feel I'm at a level to offer interpretation of a piece, but having read what Val Alto is putting, I'm now wondering if something more factual would in fact be OK for progamme notes for this event?

Good luck with writing the notes, Val, and with the recital itself.

PS. Sorry to encroach upon your thread Val Alto, and oops I've just noticed that this is in the Voice forum, sorry

Not a problem at all. I tend to use the "view new posts button" and look at posts that look interesting regardless of what forum they are in.

The reason I have chosen to go the poetic route is that I have been trying hard recently to get to the emotion of a song. The programme notes are just reflecting some of the thinking I've been doing. (And it's really hard!)

Skylark, you should write the notes that you feel are right for your event especially if you have the luxury of more space in your programme. I expect to know 90% of the audience as it is very much a village affair, and feel that the emotional response will be best. However when I do my DipABRSM notes..... ... they will be very different even for the same songs

Thanks, every one for the input.

Val

Thank you, and I hope your recital goes well