| 'Since singing is so good a thing I wish all men would learne to sing'. |
William Byrd. in his 'Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety (1588) he appends an 'Epistle to the Reader', being 'Reasons briefly set down by the author, to persuade every one to learn to sing'.
'First it is a knowledge easily taught, and quickly learned where there is a good Master, and an apt Scholar.
2. The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature & good to preserve the health of Man.
3. It doth strenghthen all the parts of the breath & open the pipes.
4. It is a singular good remedie for a stutting & stammering in the speech.
5. It is the best means to procure a perfect pronunciation & to make a good Orator.
6. It is the onely way to knowe where Nature hath bestowed the benefit of a good voyce: which gift is so rare, as there is not one in a thousand, that hath it: and in many, that excellent guift is lost, because they want Art to expresse Nature.
7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to that which is made of the voyces of men, where the voyces are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.
8. The better the voyce is, the meeter it is to honour and serve God there-with; and the voyce of man is chiefely to be employed to that ende.
omnis spiritus laudet Dominum
1999 Recital
Power of Love
Cory L. singing for Senior Banquet
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