Singing A's Tool Chest Forum

[tommcq]

Unifying Ensemble Vocal Skills

Is there one tool that can address balance, blend, target sound unity, sync and tuning concurrently? It's been my experience that -- for mid B and above quartets and choruses -- the answer is frequently Yes.

Ask everyone -- to "sing at a volume level where the other three voices (parts) are far more apparent to you then your own voice."

Initially many groups reduce their volume level as everyone seeks to lessen their individual sound to allow them to more clearly hear the ensemble. Of course, little if anything improves. My response to this is:
1. Recognize for the group what happened, that is their natural response to my request. (I'm a firm believer that when quartets and choruses fail to do what I want -- it's my failure to communicate effectively.)
2. Ask them to trust each other and to sing at their normal volume levels but -- to "sing in a manner that -- causes your voice to nearly disappear into the ensemble sound and concurrently -- allows you to hear the other three voices more then your own."

This "Active Listening Tool" quickly produces the desired results for most mid B and above ensembles.

Discovery Learning Tools -- especially those that require us to produce sound and/or listen differently and/or breathe differently and/or physically feel the resultant change, etc. are generally far more effective then those I categorize as "Show and Tell Tools".

Individuals and quartets retain "discoveries"; they consciously apply those they find produce results they desire. These discoveries more quickly become real individual skills upon which higher performance levels depend.

In contrast while "show and tell tools" produce some improvement, the individual changes required to achieve the improved results are generally less memorable. They are therefore generally "taught" over and over again by coaches and Chorus Directors who feel that the quartet and/or Chorus members are lacking.

Borrowed from Tom McQ's Pilfered Tools