Using reductive metaphors won't solve your choirs problems

Added April 15, 2014 - 2091 views - 0 comments

One of my favorite choir tricks was to telling my singers to ‘aim for the top side of the pitch.’  This was, of course, because they were singing flat, and I thought the imagery would give my singers a way of thinking about an abstract concept (singing in tune) in a simplified, easi...

The Singing Choral Director

Added April 11, 2014 - 1076 views - 0 comments

Having been a director, I acknowledge that through the years I have fallen prey to using cheap techniques – “tricks” that skirted around the issues of posture, tone production, breathing, vowel formation, physical awareness, and aural skills. These were temporary patches ...

Talking to your choir about vowels

Added April 9, 2014 - 1378 views - 0 comments

One Sunday, I was subbing in a choir in Mississippi.  On that particular Sunday, the church in question was auditioning a candidate to be their next Music Director. He worked us a little bit, then said the following, in the laziest South Mississippi Drawl you can imagine, “Now, when you l...

Everything we hear about matching pitch in choir rehearsal is a lie

Added April 7, 2014 - 1436 views - 0 comments

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that “music is math.” Whether in relation to something simple (counting), or something more esoteric (highly-developed, academic analyses of harmony and structure), or whether it is a misguided argument to try to convince school...

Why is it so hard to sing in tune?

Added April 6, 2014 - 5737 views - 0 comments

I brought this question up before as one of the fundamental problems of working with, and being a part of, a choral ensemble. After all, no one really wants to listen to an out-of-tune choir.   It’s a complicated issue that involves both technical and conceptual components.&nb...