This is a rare musical game that doesn’t require a musician (although it does require good musicianship on the part of the improvising singers).
The Basics
Players (usually a team of four) form a very proper cluster, often facing a conducting fellow player or host. To a steady rhythm, each player takes turns singing (and repeating) a brief lyrical line. After a new offering has been established, the contributing player pulls back vocally so that each new addition has some space to be heard. After several “rounds,” the conductor (or the players) elect a particularly memorable line to serve as the climax, and their voices join to repeat it with added flare and gusto (and likely a full voiced fermata)!
Version one
Each singer obtains their own disparate phrase from the audience, such as a tabloid headline, song title, actor and their most famous movie, and a bumper sticker or product slogan. Round one consists of each player establishing (and repeating) their given line in a consistent but musically and rhythmically dynamic way. Once each offer has been heard, future rounds consist of players gently mixing and matching their base line with those of their teammates with increasingly absurd and humorous results. To facilitate fun wordsmithing, it’s helpful to make sure you have some good nouns and verbs in your initial pool of offers.
Example
Player A: (singing legato and over two full measures) “Big Foot attacks family of four…”
Player B: (after A is established and has set a steady rhythm, and in a quicker, deeper voice) “Don’t stop believing…”
Player C: (as the first two singers softly continue, and in a note staccato and rhythmically complex manner) “Tom Hanks in Castaway…”
Player D: (singing over the first three with sustained, soaring notes in half time) “You deserve a break today…”
The conductor continues to help keep the rhythm and now designates Player A again, who offers the first mashup while retaining the essence of their original melody…
Player A: “Big Foot attacks Tom Hanks’ family…”
Player B: (when signaled by the conductor) “Don’t stop believing in Big Foot…”
Player C: (on cue) “Stop Tom Hanks…”
Player D: “You deserve a family of four…”
The madrigal continues…
Version two
A platitude or similar serves as the madrigal’s launching point. Player A establishes the musicality and tempo with the line as given. Each subsequent player moves the story along “one small step” while their teammates continue to sing their prior offerings. When the story reaches a satisfying conclusion (often, but not always, an inversion of the original idea), players all sing this lyric in unison as aided by a conductor.
Example
Player A: (singing legato and over two full measures) “The grass is always greener…”
Player B: (after A is established and has set a steady rhythm, and in a quicker, deeper voice) “So much wasted water…”
Player C: (as the first two singers softly continue, and in a note staccato and rhythmically complex manner) “My neighbor is watering on non-watering days…”
Player D: (singing over the first three with sustained, soaring notes in half time) “Time to end this madness…”
The conductor continues to help keep the rhythm and now designates Player A again, who continues the story while retaining the essence of their original melody…
Player A: “Sneaking into their yard at night…”
Player B: (when signaled by the conductor) “Taking out my hammer…”
Player C: (on cue) “Smashing all their sprinkler heads…”
Player D: “Is that the neighbors’ security light…?”
The madrigal continues…
The Focus
Both versions offer some potential for storytelling, though the second iteration clearly provides a more linear approach. Lean into the formality of the event and style as it creates a great comedic juxtaposition with the generally banal content. Listening for both story and musicality cues is paramount.
Traps and Tips
1.) Pointers for both versions. Lean into the “seriousness” of the musical event, assuming a formal stance and cluster – a slightly curbed semicircle tends to help so singers can see each other and the conductor of you elect to use one (which I’d recommend unless everyone has a strong sense of musicality and can therefore essentially conduct themselves). The more you can retain a formal composite, the more delightfully ridiculous the irreverent content becomes. Regardless of whether or not you decide to utilize a conductor, it’s shrewd to place a strong singer in the first position as Player A as they’re responsible for setting the tone, style, and steady rhythm. Subsequent players should aim to lock into this first musical phrase predictably, perhaps singing in double or half time comparatively (so if Player A takes two measures to complete their lyrical line, Player B might take four or one measure instead). It also helps if at least initially singers fill the same number of measures when it’s their turn regardless of how many repeated refrains that might take. Finding how the voices can “dance” in and around each other is a major stylistic feature of the game.
2.) Pointers for version one. Once each improviser has established their lyrical and musical line, strive to maintain these essences throughout (unless a prior clunky choice demands a little creative adjusting in real time). As you enter the second round where the game becomes stealing words from each other, endeavor to keep your melody similar to your first attempt so that the greater collaborative sound remains vibrant. It’s good form not to rush into combining all four suggestions as something of this ilk tends to serve as the song’s climax. In early rounds, consider keeping the bulk of your sentence (and/or syntax). This has the added value of keeping most of your original words in the mix that your fellow players will be simultaneously looking to steal and sing. To this end, it can also be kind to return to your base lyric when you’ve had your moment in the spotlight. While it’s okay to incorporate a few insignificant words (articles and conjunctions, for example), the stated contract is that the four random lines will provide the lyrics so it’s a bit of a jarring cheat to suddenly add a string of completely unrelated words.
3.) Pointers for version two. You’ll want to follow the conventional wisdoms above in terms of tempos and musicality, maximizing how each voice embellished the greater sound of the madrigal. Content, however, is now considerably looser, and players aren’t limited to a small lexicon of words. Instead, singers should offer up small and interconnected steps for a larger story. Assuming one character or clear point of view can help a lot – in the example above, the singers are aligned with the irritated neighbor who has lawn envy. While it’s certainly possible to have everyone adopt a different character (in a Perspectives manner), this approach can unhelpfully encourage disconnected thoughts and moves and so much of the fun (and challenge) comes from gently unpacking the inherent potential of the inspiring truism.
In Performance
Even in adroit hands (and voices), this tends to be a quicker offering in a performance lineup. While your musician can take this game off (if you’re fortunate enough to play with one), they can add to the final climactic ending. With more novice singers, they could also offer the sparsest of accompaniments in order to establish and maintain a workable rhythmic template. Again, neither of these embellishments is necessary; but it is a shame to let a good musician go to waste if they’re available!
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Cheers, David Charles.
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