- Confidence in singing the first note absolutely securely
- Confidence to sing "out" - (note I didn't say sing loudly)
- Confidence to know you really can sing long phrases
- Confidence to sing high (or low) notes without tightening up
- Confidence to give your all to an expressive and musical performance
So........ lets look at these and try and pin something tangible to each of them
Singing the first note absolutely securely is something which I know troubles lots of amateur choristers. From my experience of these things I notice that this is generally caused by two problems (for the purpose of this article I am assuming that there are no significant problems underlying such as a poor ear). The worst of these is poor preparation; it amazes me how often I look round choirs as the opening chord is given or as the introduction is being played and see choristers who clearly are not concentrating on the music.
You must be thinking about what you are about to sing beforehand and (if you will excuse the hippy phrase) visualise the first phrase, the shape and the meaning. But for practical measures - remember to breathe in early, breathe in rhythmically, breathe in low down and hold the breath in place just before you sing. Don't let in all out on the first note but set the stream of air going just before you place the first sound right on the first beat.
The second difficulty is confidence - you must just do it!! Don't worry or think to much, in rehearsal especially just follow the practical points and sing with confidence.
As for having the confidence to sing out - there is a lot of tosh talked by choristers about blend and singing quieter than those around you and suchlike. The important things to worry about in terms of blend are accurate intervals and tuning and uniform vowel sounds. Each chorister has and important role to play in the overall sound of the choir, every last one of you is vital to the choir - play your part confidently and when you are singing quietly do not apologise for the quiet singing, sing with even more projection, with even more "forward tone"
Long phrases are dealt with in lots of different ways, mostly through improved breathing techniques, I have talked about this in some length elsewhere on this site so here I just want to talk about having the confidence to do it. The key to being confident is to know you can actually do it!! And as for you guys, deep down you know you can do it. In our warm up exercises you can always sustain chords for 24 steady beats. That is six bars of a pretty slow 4/4, so all you need to do to work up your confidence is to remember to apply exactly the same principles in your singing as you do in your vocal exercises.
The problem of high notes in the context of this discussion can be dealt with in three words Trust trust trust. Don't try to control the note. Control everything you can - i.e., the breath support, the open throat, the raised palate, the relaxed jaw, but don't try to "grab onto" that note and make it come out. Instead, just open your mouth, start the breath, and think the note, and let it happen. You will make mistakes at first but just believe, you will be amazed at the things you can achieve. Don't change anything once you've got it started correctly - don't start pushing more breath through the folds, don't try to refocus placement, or put "spin" on the note.
On a practical note why not play with sirens and yodels. I find the best way to feel how the highest notes are supposed to feel (and how they should sound in my head) is to do sirens and yodels to get those notes first. The idea is to just touch on the highest notes quickly the first few (100) times. Then to sustain them for a short period- without making any changes to anything. If you've hit the note right when you siren or yodel, keep exactly that amount of breath support - no more, no less - exactly that mouth, facial, and body posture - no changes - and just go ahead an sustain briefly at first, over and over, until you can do it consistently, and then a bit longer, and again repeat until it's consistent.
Never reach for a high note. Never "hit" a high note. Always "gently land" on a high note - imagine your voice is a bubble riding a steady wave of breath. The high note is on the surface of the breath - the voice lands gently on it, then bounces off again. When you vocalise, vocalise as high as you can and then think about going a half step or whole step higher. Better yet, don't look at the piano at all - just sing up and up and up (yodels, sirens, arpeggios). Let the notes just bore their little laser-like hole through the top of your skull each time and shimmer out into space. Don't try to hold them inside your head. Play around with these images and see if any of them help you. "Conquering" high notes is as much a psychological coup as a technique coup.
The final confidence builder needed is in terms of performance - I'll keep this short - this is entirely down to you - I want you all to let go - feel the music - enjoy the chords - enrich yourselves with some of the delicious texts that we sing - smile when you are happy - let go your feelings into the music and convey the meaning of the texts to the audience, be it loss, love, fun, grand theological ideas - whatever - there are 50 odd of us on stage at any time, just lose your self in the music for two hours - try it - you might even enjoy it!!
And finally - a video - this is by an American voice coach as an introduction to his lesson programme, I don't agree with all of what he says, I don't agree with much of it but the idea of releasing that which is within you that he is talking about has some value. If it clicks with some of the concepts above that I have been talking about then I am happy for you to watch. If it is useless to you, well, no harm done!
Finally, finally - if you have any thoughts email me or leave a comment, it would be nice to know if these posts resonate with you in any way.
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. ~William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, 1604
