The Old Songs

We’re almost there! You have the Accuracy down. You are Confident in the song. You are now singing with Energy and Enthusiasm. Terrific! So now you can move to the next level of the song, the I portion of ACE IT.

The I stands for Interpretation, or how you express the meaning of the song. You can now delve into that magical land of artistry. Here is where you put the feelings behind the words. Here is where you dissect the song to determine what its message is. Here is where you create.

Part of the interpretive aspect of a song is knowing what makes you want to sing it in the first place! Maybe it’s the lively tempo, like “Mardi Gras March” or “Here Comes The Showboat!” Maybe it’s the easy beat of a swing song, like “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” or “Let’s Go Strolling Down Harmony Lane.” Or maybe it’s the tender lyrics of a ballad, like “That Summer When We Were Young” or “Last Night Was The End Of My World.”

In other words, interpretation is the “how” of the song. How are you going to deliver the message of the song to the audience to make it believable? If the beat is the most important aspect of the song, then that is what you must focus on. If it is the tender lyrics, then you must focus on them. You can even make it a comedic song or presentation. Then you must plan the right words to emphasize and include pauses for you audience to laugh.

The interpretive stage of learning a song also includes the planned and unplanned choreography. Planned choreography are the staged moves that are programmed into the song. These are the moves that you have been asked to do — “Move your outside foot and hand on this beat,” or “Snap to ‘attention’ on this word.” You must learn these moves and remember to execute them on time and with consistency. Staged moves are now an integral part of the song, as much as the words, notes, and breaths. It’s no longer acceptable to sing the song without them.

Unplanned choreography are all the moments in between these staged moves. Is your face expressing the feeling of the song? Is your body feeling the message? Does your time on stage express the song interpretation from the opening breath to the last chord of the tag? Often, it is not the planned moves that deliver the true meaning of a song to the audience, but the unchoreographed, personal expressions.

Interpretation is where you learn how to cross that line from robotic singing to artistry. All of this is not even remotely possible to truly grasp without mastering the three elements that precede it — Accuracy, Confidence, and Energy.

So what does that leave? There’s only the T left to go!

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