I can't believe that we are finally doing a gospel song in the choir, and a doozy we've picked too: an arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Interestingly, at the start of the sheet music is a recommendation to see Luther Vandross and Jennifer Holliday singing the song for "stylistic authenticity". Well, thanks to the magic of YouTube there is a video of the pair singing it, ironically with Paul Simon, and totally stomping the composer vocally in the process.
Watching the video and listening to Jennifer Holiday's vocal pyrotechnics, I am not sure we can be that authentic, but we sure can try!
Bridge Over Troubled Water is hardly a gospel song!
ReplyDeleteThe song itself isn't a gospel song, but it is arranged in the gospel style. In many ways it is better that it is not religious, so we can explore the vocal technique without worrying too much about content.
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