2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Acapella is singing only with the voice, without musical accompaniment. It originated in the 17th century. For a long time it was a purely religious action. However, over time, acapella goes beyond worship and becomes a common secular style and a popular genre. Many Russian composers of the 20th century write choral (a cappella) works. In this century, a large number of ensembles sing a capella.
What is an acapella?
Acapella is the singing of several voices (ensemble or choir) without musical accompaniment (accompaniment). It takes its origins in the 17th century. The term is often associated with the practice of papal worship. A cappella is also called a vocal part written and sounding without instrumental accompaniment.
Initially widely used in church music and folk art. Then it became widespread in the works of Palestrina, the work of composers of the Dutch school.
On the otherOn the other hand, acapella is a style that was developed in madrigals, as well as secular singing art.
Acapella as a style of professional choral art
Singing a capella as a style was firmly established at the end of the Middle Ages in cult polyphony. The remarkable masters of the Dutch school reach the highest flowering. A great contribution to its development was made by Benevoli, Palestrina, Scarlatti. It is important to pay attention to the fact that a capella singing in the 17th and 18th centuries was sometimes accompanied by a general bass or solo instruments. But then the performance came back without any accompaniment, which became highly appreciated.
In Orthodox churches, only choral singing a capella is used. A small musical accompaniment was allowed in the ancient churches of the East (Coptic, Malabar, Ethiopian). They allowed the use of both Asian and African instruments. In Russia, the well-known composer A. Grechaninov advocated the introduction of instrumental accompaniment into divine services. But this decision was rejected in 1917-1918 by the Local Council.
Singing a capella is quite often used in chamber choral music by composers of the 19th century. In the Russian choral culture of the 20th century, the works of such composers as Rachmaninov, Taneyev, Sviridov, Shostakovich, Shebalin, Davidenko, Chesnokov, Koval reached great heights. The activities of the Court Singing Chapel, the Synodal Choir and many other groups are noteworthy. Today, a capella singing is in great demand in differentcountries.
Which of the composers turned to acapella?
As mentioned above, a cappella is a collective singing (ensemble or choral), in which there is no accompaniment (instrumental accompaniment). Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Georgian folk art is full of a cappella songs. How did the a capella style originate in the Middle Ages? The highest flowering of the acapella came in the Renaissance. Among the composers of this time, it is worth noting the Dutch polyphonists: J. Obrecht, J. Despres, G. Dufay, J. Okeghem, J. Benchois, O. Lasso. An outstanding role in the development of this style belongs to Palestrina (composer of the Roman school). In Russia, a cappella singing was originally found in cult music: the work of M. Berezovsky, D. Bortnyansky, A. Vedel. And at the end of the 19th century, S. Rakhmaninov, S. Taneev, P. Chesnokov, A. Kastalsky and many others turned to writing a capella choirs. Soviet composers composed a huge number of choral works. They are D. Shostakovich, G. Sviridov, A. Davidenko, V. Salmanov, V. Shebalin, M. Koval and others.
How to make an acapella?
In order for the human voice to sound beautiful and natural in a song, you need to record high-quality vocals. This can basically be done by every professional sound engineer on expensive (tube) equipment. But how to make an acapella without visiting the studio? There are special programs for this.
First, vocals should be recorded in mono mode with certain parameters (16 bit/44.1 kHz) and saved into a separate file in wav format. Thenthe record needs to be processed properly. To do this, open the file in any music editor and start processing:
- Level up vocal volume.
- Perform one of the time-consuming and difficult tasks - use the equalizer.
- Pan.
- Make vocal "warming up"
- The final stage will be reverb and overlay delay.
These are simple ways to process acapella.
Ten modern a cappella bands
Many people think that only churches sing a cappella. However, this is an erroneous opinion. There are a huge number of excellent bands that have their fans. Today, a cappella singing is very popular and is represented in a wide variety of musical genres: folk music, jazz, mass popular, rhythm and blues, rock music and so on. In this regard, a cappella notes are often sought after by interested listeners. In addition, "university" groups singing a cappella are very popular in the United States of America.
Here are some contemporary bands:
- Ensemble "Men's Style" - "Oh, in the meadow, in the meadow."
- Pikkardi Tertsiya - "Garden of Angelic Songs".
- Barbatuques - Baiana.
- JUKEBOX TRIO - So, Let Me Know.
- Van Canto - The Mission (Official).
- Rockapella - Shambala.
- Sweet honey in the rock - Ella's Song.
- Rajaton - Joululaulu.
- The Glue - "ElTopo".
- The Puppini Sisters, "Jilted" (dir: Alex de Campi).
Conclusion
Thus, a cappella is singing with a voice without accompaniment (instrumental accompaniment). Usually it is performed by musical groups - a vocal ensemble or a choir. Acapella appeared in the 17th century. Initially used exclusively in church music. However, over time, it became not only used in secular singing art, but also became a separate style. Many composers turned to writing a cappella choirs. Today, such singing has not lost its popularity. On the contrary, many modern bands sing in this manner, which gives them a special artistic value.
