Observation #7

(Apparently I forgot to post publish and hit save instead...)


This week at Holt, I decided to see what it would be like to work with a smaller group of singers, so I ran a section on Barbara Ann (see rep project for score). The teacher said that the Baritone part was having trouble holding their part in the full texture and to solidify the part along with anything else I saw fit. I took the Baritones into a practice room and worked on the following:

Confirm notes
Finding starting pitches
     Audiating patterns to find entrances.
Singing against another part
     Sing one part and play another while they sing a third

We took about 15 minutes on various technique work as well, working through the low flip and not pressing into lower notes. One freshman is going through his voice change as well so we talked about that for a little while as well. During the sectional, everything was great, the guys were nailing all of their pitches (I was incredibly able to play and sing along on the other 3 parts...) so we went back into the large rehearsal and fit them in. I'm not sure why I didn't anticipate it, but the part completely disappeared. What was odd was that as soon as I helped them with one pitch, they were back on track. One singer, the strongest of the three, continually had his part. I moved him from the front of the triangle to the back and all of a sudden, the part held together. We talk a lot about how horizontally, people listen differently, but this small vertical change made the choir stick together and tune better. It's interesting to see how important setting up your choir is. It's part of your preparation to make sure the group has the best opportunity to succeed.

Observation 8 and Final

For my last day at Holt, I decided to bring something musical that means a lot to me and that is Barbershop singing. I was a little concerned at first since I know the ability level of the singers and singing something in four parts is tricky but I wanted to challenge them. We sang a tag that I taught by rote, focusing on tuning.

I love this first tag because each voice part is very contained and allows the freest part of the voice (T1s in falsetto) moving the most. I had each section make small circles (2-3 per part) and taught each part one at time, bass upward, layering in parts. We then brought the singers back to the risers to "perform it." I'm always surprised by the ability level of these boys, especially when they are taught in isolation. When we bring the group together and teach chunks, it takes a lot longer for them to hold onto their part. By going part by part and layering, each guy got to grab onto the newest part while holding firm to what had been developing before.