You may have wondered why I haven’t touched on the subject of intonation or singing in tune, earlier. Just like resonance intonation is a product of all the lessons that have been discussed in earlier weeks. I have deliberately left this till last as I feel that too much focus on purely that issue doesn’t […]
What actually is resonance? It means that the quality of the sound singers make is deep, full and carries through the venue without amplification. Please note it doesn’t mean to sing as loud as possible neither does it mean to force the sound. Resonance contains a ring, a mellowness as well as brilliance and depth. […]
Ideally you will want to find time to practice your songs at home. If all did this then the repertoire would be learnt much more quickly and efficiently and more songs could be added. Of course the performance as a whole would be greatly enhanced and thus both audience and choir would get more satisfaction […]
Sheet music is very expensive and on the whole you can say that each song you sing will cost around £3 per singer to purchase. Multiply that by an average of 12 songs per performance that amounts to £36 per singer per season. Copyright laws prevent photocopying of music unless there is an original per […]
If you sing in a choir that has an accompanist then you are very fortunate as paying for the accompanist adds to the expense of running a choir and good accompanists are worth their weight in gold and should be appreciated as such. You could even be lucky enough to have a retired volunteer pianist. […]
What do you think is the job of the MD? This is a huge topic and I will just briefly touch upon a few individual points. A good musical director wears many hats and has to balance them all. Being an MD requires a lot of multitasking such as leadership, organisation, repertoire selection, administration, mediation, […]
The standard description of the 5 p’s is : prior preparation prevents poor performance. I would prefer to focus on the positives so have changed 2 of the p’s to make it : prior preparation produces polished performances. I also love the saying : He/she who fails to prepare, prepares to fail. Logically nobody wants […]
On the whole the mental images we have running through our head as we sing will affect the sound quality. Thoughts we have will also affect the sound. A sad thought will create a sad sound etc. Is it the image itself that creates the improved sound or is it your attention being placed on […]
When singing in a group it is important that you listen to yourself, the singers around you, the choir as a whole and the piano. It is also possible that the MD might give you some verbal instructions just before you are about to sing. Be attentive at all times to the whole process. The […]
Being able to sing lower and higher than you currently do is possible in time. At first it is necessary to see which range you can sing easily and with good tone. Do not expect to be able to increase your range drastically as your range is mostly determined by the length of your vocal […]