Putting a lid on piano, celebrated vocalist demonstrates one way to sing (1,8)
I believe the answer is:
a cappella
'putting a lid on piano celebrated vocalist demonstrates one way to sing' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'a lid on piano celebrated vocalist demonstrates one way to sing' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'lid' could be 'cap' (I've seen this before) and 'cap' is found in the answer.
'piano' could be 'p' (musical abbreviation) and 'p' is found in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'way' could be 'l' (abbreviation for left) and 'l' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'el' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a cappella that I've seen before include "Palace pal in unaccompanied song" , "Of choral music, unaccompanied" , "Sung without instruments" , "type of singing" , "Palace pal singing without musical accompaniment" .)