Although examples like the following have been used for years to illustrate this idea, they are still valuable. Read the following sentence in a conversational tone with your own personal inflection.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
Then underline the syllables that received the most weight. Go back and read it a second time to see if you can give the text another interpretation by stressing still other words. By this time it has been realized that more than two interpretations of the text are possible. In fact, there are many. This is also true in choral music. The weight or stress given by a choir to words will influence its communication to an audience. It will also have a direct bearing on the choir's ability to sing artistically shaped phrases. Do not allow the choir to give equal weight to each syllable unless that is the desire of the composer.
Two people really give the text its interpretation; the composer and the conductor. The composer, by his underlay of the text, demonstrates his preference regarding the stress. The example given in figure 4.6 shows that the composer has given rhythmic and melodic importance to "make," "noise," and "Lord."
The conductor may further emphasize these words and fully realize the composer's intent by instructing the choir to stretch (apply the growth principle) particularly to these words. They should not be accented, but the choir should "sing into them," which will create the effect of inflective stress. This will prevent a harsh rendering of the text, and will also help obtain a lyric vocal line.
By using the simple device of numbering the words and syllables that receive the primary stress as 1, those receiving secondary emphasis as 2, and those that are unstressed as 3, one gets a clear picture of stress patterns. In the case of the text in figure 3 the stress is:
In this short example there are three primary stresses, two secondary stresses, and four unstressed words or syllables. The music is written to provide that stress. Conductors must be certain not to stress any of the unstressed words or syllables. Often, conductors become pretentious regarding choral tone and change the pronunciation of unstressed words or syllables, thereby completely changing the word stress, word flow, rhythmic inflection, and musical and text expression. This must be avoided. Usually the number of unstressed words and syllables is greater than the number of those stressed. By emphasizing only the stressed words and syllables the conductor begins to create a verbal setting in which musical expression can flourish. Without proper word stress and, consequently, excellent word flow, it is not possible to produce a musical phrase or be expressive. Granted, in some cases the emphasis will be slightly different for different individuals but only the attention to text stress can lead to musical expression.
In the following setting of the same text, the composer has indicated an entirely different inflection (see figure 5). The intent here is to present a setting of the text in which all syllables have virtually the same importance. This emphasis is a rhythmic one and, with the use of percussion, reveals the "joyful noise" portion of the text.