Number 23, March 15, 2022

Crossing the Bridge from Singer to Troubadour

How do we become troubadours in popular music today?  What does it even mean in today’s world, to be a troubadour?

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word troubadour as “a French medieval lyric poet composing and singing in Provençal in the 11th to 13th centuries, especially on the theme of courtly love.”  Similar nouns include minstrel, singer, balladeer, poet.  This is essentially a poet who writes verse to music.

The Collins Dictionary states that “troubadours were poets and singers who used to travel around and perform for noble families in Italy and France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.  People sometimes refer to popular singers as troubadours, especially when the words of their songs are an important part of their music.”

And there’s the key: “…the words of their songs are an important part of their music.”  As singer/songwriters know, the words of their compositions are, arguably, the most important part of their songs, as they are writing poetry and creating landscapes with their poems set to music.  Thus, the storytelling element is the key:  the “why” of why they wrote the song to begin with.

If “troubadours” are traveling “minstrels” who bring the songs of love and loss to the people as they travel the land, they are, in essence bringers of news.  And to me, a bringer of news is a monumental figure in our culture:  we rely on this information to complete and illuminate our world for us.

“Crossing the bridge” as a metaphor to explain the transition from singer to troubadour, thus requires us as interpretive, expressive artists, to realize the bigger picture:  past the point of good technique in singing is the transcendence of how a song resonates within the human condition, aiming toward the goal of bringing good news, joy and hope.  The key is in the words and your ability to recognize themes, morals, messages and even warnings found in songs that will resonate with the listeners.  This is the bigger picture and gets us, as singers, crossing that bridge from singer to troubadour.

During this time of global and cultural unrest, we as artists have a very large part to play in bringing news of the world to others and letting the light of the human heart radiate out like a beacon, bringing healing to those that will hear us.  Endeavor to find the core of your songs and cross over that bridge to the land of the troubadour.

Video of the Week: NBC News Feature on John Prine from 1991, and “The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”

Here are two great films about one of this country’s finest ever troubadours, John Prine.  Enjoy.

 

See you next time for all things singing for Folk and Americana styles!

Susie

PS:  Get in touch with me at newfolkfusion@gmail.com about taking voice lessons on Zoom!

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Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene. LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.” “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.” As an educator, Susie has lectured at USC Thornton School of Music and Cal State Northridge on “Balladry to Bluegrass,” illuminating the historical path of ancient folk forms in the United Kingdom to the United States via immigration into the mountains of Appalachia. Susie has taught workshops since 2018 at California music camps RiverTunes and Vocáli Voice Camp. She is a current specialist in performance and historian on the work of American folk music icon, Jean Ritchie. Susie now offers private voice coaching online via the Zoom platform. Visit Susie’s Website HERE