The role of new music in the Classical Crossover genre

In her April “Grace Notes” column classical crossover contralto Grace Foley discusses the role of original music in classical crossover music.

In the past few years, I have dared to dip my toe in the songwriting pool. All my life I have only ever performed songs that came from the minds of others, and this has served me well. I generally choose songs that speak to me personally, and that I can emotionally connect to. It always fascinates me that a song written about someone else’s experience of life can feel like it came directly from your own soul. Sometimes you will hear a song and think, ‘I could have written this about my own life’. 

The more time I spent in the recording studio, the more I began to fantasise about writing my own music. I found that people often asked me if I write my own songs and this made me question why I had never done it before. Straight away I would blame my fear of not being strong enough with melody writing and my lack of knowledge at developing interesting chord structures and rhythms. This was all very technical. Then I questioned my lyric writing ability. I knew I liked to write, but could I write a song? Could I get my thoughts, feelings and emotions into a series of lines, verses and choruses? Would my material be too personal or would people like it because it comes from a place of sincerity and truth? Will I ever write a happy song as I am always drawn to sad songs myself?!

As I searched for answers, I asked myself the ultimate question… WHO will listen to my songs? I am part of the Classical Crossover genre, a genre that loves to hear songs from other genres and artists, covered by classical singers. I myself love nothing more than to hear a familiar song sung in an unfamiliar way. Is this the essence of the genre? Do our fans want new music or should I continue to produce only covers? 

In other genres, new music is vital. A new song can literally be the making of an artist. Singing the songs of other artists is not common practice because singers need to pull you in with their own personal style and sound. This made me question why new music isn’t as prevalent in my own genre. As Classical Crossover singers, most of us have come from a training and a type of education through Classical music. In my entire time singing ‘classical’ repertoire, I only ever sang two relatively new pieces of music and, even when singing them, I had to pay complete reverence to the notes on the page. The artistry and skill of the classical musician is to perform the music of composers with the utmost respect to the notes as they are notated. This is right down to the exact dynamic markings. You sing loudly and quietly when instructed to do so. While contemporary singers are encouraged to make songs their own, the Classical singer stays carefully within the parameters of the musical genre they find themselves in. You may use ornamentation in Bach pieces but only a very specific type of Baroque ornamentation. Now, please do not get me wrong, this is an incredible skill and has given the world some of the most talented and skilled singers in history.

It is only when I noticed my own tight parameters that I began to question if my training may have something to do with it. The first time I sat at the piano to try my hand at songwriting I immediately chose a key and wrote a chord chart. I thought about chord progressions and beats in a bar. What about the story? What about my reason for writing this song? I didn’t know where to start! It wasn’t until I found a ‘reason’ to write a song that things started to fall into place. 

The homeless crisis in Ireland was completely out of control and I had something I wanted to say and so, I teamed up with a colleague who is a songwriter and, together, we wrote ‘Close the Door’. This song was a huge learning curve but, because I had a reason to write it, everything fell into place. Something similar happened at the start of the pandemic. I turned to my favourite songs and tried to choose one to sing which would express how I felt about the scary situation that gripped our world. I then asked myself why I didn’t just write my own feelings down on paper and make a song out of it? This was a completely different songwriting experience for me. This song simply flowed out of me and I very quickly had a complete song. ‘Together Apart’ was born. I will never forget the first time Jannie Rawlinson played my song on her radio show, ‘Classical Crossover for You’. I was so nervous but I got the ultimate validation when a listener immediately tweeted that it was great to hear new music in the genre! Wow! Maybe this was all going to work out.

I have since come across many Classical Crossover artists who have written their own music and I feel perhaps this is something that will become more common practice. What I want to ask our lovely readers is, do you think you would prefer to generally hear us artists sing covers or would you be open to hearing more original music? Is the essence of Classical Crossover in the new sound we bring to old favourites? Is it possible that we actually fall out of our genre when we sing our own songs? We are no longer hardcore ‘Classical’ singers and we are not singing covers, so what are we? Are we contributing new music to any specific genre anymore? Can a classical singer ever be accepted in the main stream or must we always try to ‘fit in’ somewhere? I ask these questions because I honestly don’t know the answers myself yet!

P.S Have you heard Grace’s big news?? Check out this video to find out…

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