Online Rehearsals

2011-10-02T20:13:00.000+01:00

Barbershop, Bagpipes and Inspiration

2011-08-16T14:37:00.022+01:00

To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor - Oliver Wendell Holmes

It's the choir off-season at the moment, a time to rest, reflect and generally restore, ready to launch back into the new season. We have some very good concerts before Christmas, a tour to Krakow next summer and the Male Choir competition in Torquay in March 2012.

There is no doubt in my mind that the choir has had a good year just past, some splendid performances and excellent audiences but an organisation must look to the future, for unless we move forward there is no doubt we will drift back.

Deliberately, I have been looking around at other musical orgainisations, looking for inspiration, looking for a way forward, looking for a way to help us improve our music making. I haven't yet found it but I think I have recognised some of the things our beloved male choir genre is missing, but more of that in a minute. Let me share two inspirations that I have had recently.

I spent last Saturday watching the World Pipe Band Championships on the BBC Scotland live internet feed; my best friend at school played (and still plays) in The Gilnahirk Pipe Band and I remember the thrill of hearing these wonderful organisations in my teens and early twenties.

The winners were The Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland, one of the leading pipe bands in the world today; it is arguably the most influential and successful pipe band ever. Led by Pipe Major Richard Parkes MBE and Drum Sergeant Keith Orr, the band has won every major championship title available to them, including seven World Pipe Band Championships and a colossal 43 major championship titles.

Watch the video below, listen to the incredible musicality of these guys and girls - they are just like you and me, ordinary people, with real jobs and real lives. The difference is that they have achieved absolute excellence in their hobby, in their passion, in their amateur music making. They are clearly enjoying everything that they do, clearly having a ball doing it.

So, what makes them so good. Well, they practice, they practice hard, they are very dedicated to their art. They are gifted but all gifts need to be nurtured and in Richard Parkes they have inspirational leadership from a gifted musician. They are very clearly proud of their achievements - but I am guessing that their pride comes from knowing that they do their very best every time they step on to the grass. Importantly (to me) is that whilst I have focussed on the winners at "The Worlds" - there were probably another 50 bands (in all the various grades) there, all competing, all striving to improve, all constantly learning from their experiences, learning from the judges comments and drinking in the experience of hearing the best in the world and wanting to be like them.

There is an overarching organisation in the form of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. The RSPBA is the recognised Centre of Excellence for the promotion and development of Pipe Band Music internationally. Its services and facilities are noted on their website and include: education, training and certification in Piping, Drumming, Drum Majoring and Pipe Band Adjudication; an annual Summer School, an Academy of Pipe Band Musicianship; setting standards of Pipe Band competition performance. Please note it does not mention promoting Scottish Culture or promoting the constant playing of nostalgic hymns and arias. Excellence, training, education, adjudicating, schooling are the key words. Rather than constantly looking back the male choir genre needs to look forward, we, at Bournemouth Male Voice Choir must strive to do that. Only by embracing these kinds of values will we be able to inspire younger men (like those in the Pipe-Band world) to experience the best singing of their lives - in a men's choir.

Another inspiration came closer to home, a new friend and member of Bournemouth Male Voice Choir David Wood is also the new Director of Ocean Harmony, a Barbershop group from Southampton. David, very kindly, invited me to visit one of their rehearsals and I really enjoyed hearing this group. What was fascinating for me was that the "Guild of Judges" had sent one of their representatives to the rehearsal to discuss the groups recent performance at "Convention". A screen was set up, the choruses performance was projected on to it and played through speakers and the adjudicator had to talk about why they had given the scores they had. What a fabulous idea! No more giving the cup to a choir because they come from the same place as you! The judge had to stand by their adjudication.

I got chatting to the members and the judge and I was very impressed by their striving to improve, very much like the members of Bournemouth Male Voice Choir, but very interestingly this endeavour was well supported by the overarching organisation, The British Association of Barbershop Singers. I have taken some words from their mission statement and they are remarkably similar to those above from the RSPBA in so many ways. "Embrace and perform music predominantly in the barbershop style, and in a broad range of other a cappella styles. Through the educational and coaching opportunities available in the Society, they continually improve their public and contest performances. Each chapter embraces and performs a cappella music, our chapters are leaders in the musical life of their community, employing and enjoying the same educational opportunities for improvement available to quartets and all singers. District and international conventions, festivals, and educational conferences incorporate contests, activities, and training sessions to meet the needs of our membership and their families. We continually strive for improvement in individual, quartet, chorus and Society activities, performances, and events…….. largest supporter of vocal music education in the world, the alliance has formed strong partnerships with school choral groups, music educators, and their organizations."

So again, an organisation interested in eduction, coaching, improvement, conventions, festivals, contests, training, partnerships....

I am convinced that the groundwork we are putting in place, improving standards, singing new music and looking forward to a future that in fresh rather that looking backwards to a nostalgic past that never really existed is the right thing to do.

The 2011/2012 season will see the choir ratchet up its performance standard and strive to be the best it can be, why not get involved with us? The Male Choir genre offers a unique opportunity for men to perform wonderful music from a wide range of styles.

If you are a voice coach, why not offer to help with coaching?

If you are a choreographer why not help us with our stagecraft?

If you are a composer show us your music!

If you are a singer who lives in Dorset and wants to be the best you can be - why not join us!?

I'll leave you with a Barbershop choir singing one of our new pieces the delicious "Lux Aurumque" by Eric Whitacre - watch this then drop me an email (musicaldirector@bournemouthmalechoir.co.uk ) telling me how you can help drive forward the best sort of ensemble singing - "Men's Choirs"

Now the years are rolling by me, they are rocking evenly and I am older than I once was and younger than I’ll be, that’s not usual

2011-02-13T14:23:00.004Z

Far too long since the last blog post, in fact every post I write here seems to begin with that sentiment, an excuse for inaction will inevitably follow but today I won’t bother, time to cut to the chase as time moves on and all this chatter isn't getting the photocopier oiled is it? I will however pause to apologise for the slightly confessional feel of this email but hey, we are supposed to be touchy feely artists aren’t we?

The time has come; some might say the time is long past, for us to decide what we are as a choir and how we move forward. In many ways this has been not so much a decision as an inexorable progression towards where we are today and where I hope we will be in the future.

Firstly, some background – I have been conducting male voice choirs for twenty years, I am steeped in the lore of the genre, know the repertoire intimately and genuinely believe that the opportunity for men to sing together in TTBB choirs is a valuable artistic outlet (can you sense a silent but…?) OK then you spotted it.. I genuinely believe that the genre needs to find its way into the twenty first century so that it remains relevant and something that twenty-first century men want to be part of. Our PRO John Coates undertook a major SWOT survey among our choir and supporters in 2010 that in lots of different ways told us that the image of male choirs could be off putting for many people who, unlike me, we not steeped in the history and tradition of the genre.

There is something uniquely moving about the passion combined with sensitivity that a group of men singing together can achieve, so why are so few men in England getting involved. Importantly why are so few younger men (30-50) getting involved? I hear all sorts of stories from choirs across the UK about how they are getting more young members and they have 70 members and all is rosy in their gardens but when you go on the websites and look at the pictures the story is different. For me, some of our problems lie in the repertoire.

Male choirs tried to re-invent themselves in the 1980’s and 1990’s with floods of new arrangements of what were described as popular songs but their original artists made most of those songs famous before I was born and even when they were current they were older in style and hardly contemporary in nature. This isn’t in any sense decrying our beautiful arrangement of “Softly as I leave you” for example but I sometimes look down concert programmes and think that its really all terribly similar and wonder how long male choirs can exist without an injection of new music to bring a new energy to our musical lives. This is not a new idea, when you look back at male choir programmes from the early 1900’s they were regularly singing new music by Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, Daniel Protheroe and the like. So for us, I am treading my own path on this one, its not necessarily better but I do think it suits us better.

I think if I was sitting in South Wales writing this piece I would probably think differently, there is a rich cultural tradition of folk song, hymn tunes and the like which have an intrinsic part of the male choir tradition and if I directed one of those great male choirs from Wales I would want to preserve the tradition, and indeed I know that some choirs in Wales are looking at new music from Welsh composers. Here in Bournemouth, and I sense in England as a whole, things are different, so Deus Sautis remains due to its incredible quality but I can’t see much space for many more of these hymn tunes in our programmes due to them perhaps not having as much relevance to an English choir or audience. More importantly, this gives us space for musical items and texts that aren't so much “male voice choir” as music for a choir that happens to be of men’s voices.

The new world seems to be leading the way for new innovative music for men’s voices; Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Randall Stroope, Timothy Takach and many others are writing interesting, quality music and here in Britain Alan Simmons, Goff Richards, Christopher Wiltshire and others have produced some excellent new music for TTBB; the problem is that we (the English choirs for men) aren’t crying out for new compositions, we’re broadly not commissioning new works and therefore market forces intervene – no demand - no supply? The big American men’s choruses (particularly the gay men’s choirs) are regularly supporting the composition of new music. But, doing our best here in Bournemouth we are at the moment however working on Lux Aurumque and The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, a brand new piece by Timothy Takach as well as original music by Poulenc, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Alan Simmons and Goff Richards and are just about the start two new pieces by contemporary British composers who are less well known.

But modern choirs cannot live by the more serious music alone, lollipops are very popular with our audiences but to attract modern audiences and new members to secure the future of the genre we need to make sure those lollipops are acceptable to modern palates. So rather than Matt Monroe and the like our popular selections in Bournemouth are Take That, Ronan Keating, Seal and Toto with the occasional nod to great doo-wop groups like The Marcels – hopefully this is the combination of old and new that will help us secure our future – a choir of men rather than a male voice choir?

By introducing new music, arrangements of contemporary popular songs and the like we can attract an audience and members to be part of our choir – and when they are part of our great tradition we can show them the beauty of Llef, The Old Woman and that wonderful traditional range of male choir music – not in isolation but as part of a balanced musical diet. A mission statement of “Proud of our past, looking to the future”

I leave these two thoughts with you – next time the advertisements come on don’t go and make a cup of tea - have a watch! I am surprised by just how many advertisements show scenes of people of all ages together in groups who end up singing (like the one set in the airport) – it makes me think that there might still be a future for singing in choirs – these advertising companies carefully research before they make these shorts, a huge amount of money is spent – they won’t present an unappealing scenario for their client.

And finally, can you name one star, one film, one series or one red carpet show when the male protagonist (of any age) is wearing a blazer with shiny buttons, a club tie and slacks? This isn’t about age – look at the clothes every panel show, awards ceremony etc puts their leading men in, they are timeless, clean and crisp looking – what sixty year old man (or younger even) wouldn’t want to look as good as George Clooney does in that coffee advertisement?

A lot to think of, I am a very, very imperfect vessel for the challenges ahead for the genre, do you want to get involved in moving singing for men forward?

Calm is the Sea - Bournemouth Male Voice Choir - New CD Launch Video

2010-07-31T12:41:00.000+01:00

The King's Singers - Masterpiece

2010-04-18T11:24:00.000+01:00

From the front of the choir: Why men won’t sing: a discussion

2010-04-03T20:20:00.000+01:00

From the front of the choir: Why men won’t sing: a discussion

And keep in tune with .........

2010-03-24T18:28:00.001Z

Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ,
Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce;

They may be " Sphere-born harmonious Sisters" but voice and verse are two of the most difficult parts of the choral jigsaw that we as English-Speaking choristers have to fit together. English is a complicated enough language on paper, without beginning to think about the myriad nuances of pronunciation and subtle inflection that one finds among the living and spoken language of our singers.

Whilst these different sounds are part of the rich heritage of our British Isles, they do play havoc with our choral sound; the problems are twofold - differing pronunciations upset the blend of the choir and they have a seriously detrimental effect on the tuning. How's that so then?

Think for a moment about a simple word that appears in some of our songs - "flower"

Too often I hear choirs pronounce this word as two sounds "flao-were" - or something like that - (phonetics are difficult aren't they). In addition to sounding really unsophisticated there is a real problem with the "chewing" of the vowels that inevitably occurs with this - with each chew there is a subtle (or not so subtle) change in the pitch of the note that will cause a problem with our tuning.

I want you to think about each word that you sing in simple terms

· Identify the first consonant sound - Good diction requires the crisp, clear pronunciation of consonants, but remember don't chew on them - consonants should always be crisp!

· Each word has a "core vowel sound" - that should be the longest sound and should be completely open. Keep the vowels simple - remember there are only five sounds to worry about! They are EH-EE-AH-OH-OO.

· Eh= raised eyebrows a "pleasant phizog"

· Ee= “trumpet shaped lips”, lips out, not horizontal - keep relaxed.

· Ah= Mouth very open but still relaxed, jaw dropped.

· Oh= lips rounded, but still open and relaxed.

· Oo= lips rounded more closed but still very relaxed.

· Identify the closing consonant and diphthong and make them short and crisp.

This is a really important starting point - now think about our word "flower" - I think the answer is clear! I hope this is a useful piece about the words that we sing in the hope that we "with undiscording voice, May rightly answer that melodious noise."

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

2009-08-02T11:04:00.004+01:00

I cannot believe how long it has been since I posted to this blog; overtaken by events as always. I must do better this year.

As you probably have heard I am currently undertaking the re-audition process with Bournemouth Male Voice Choir - it has been a fascinating, enlightening and fulfilling experience thus far with the members on the whole acquitting themselves well and showing much more in their voices than perhaps they knew they had.

The process however has drawn me to this site and I want to talk about something that is difficult to explain but is vital to us taking the next step of our development, that is confidence. Confidence in what then?

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

Memories, light the corners of my mind..

2008-09-13T11:17:00.002+01:00

I want to thank Jocelyn Lavin for her excellent tips on memorising scores which I have shamelessly adapted for our help in this blog. Jocelyn is exactly the sort of chorister every choirmaster would want in their choir - gifted and committed!!

Singing from memory

The most important starting point is not to say “I can never learn things from memory, I find it too hard” or “I could learn it if I had time, but I’m far too busy”. There are ways round both these things. You need to want to learn whatever it is!

The best way to learn to sing something from memory is to sing it from memory.

That means you need to take every possible opportunity to try singing from memory.

Try this - sing along to your music in the car on every journey you make, until you know it. (This method will result in you knowing the whole thing far more quickly than you might expect.) It’s best if you can sing aloud, because then muscle memory will start to kick in, but there’ll still be some muscle memory if you’re just mouthing the words.

Sing from memory in rehearsals. Just try one line at a time. You can glance down at your score after the line to check what you got right and what you didn't. You'll find that you already know more than you think you do, and each time you’ll improve. Do not put your score away though – the score is vital in rehearsal!

If you find you can usually remember the notes fairly well but struggle with the words try writing the words out on their own. Often, when you do this, you notice patterns in the words (e.g. rhymes) for the first time, and patterns always help with memorising. And don’t just write them out once - do it a few times, and after each time, recite the words as a poem.

So, in summary, to learn music from memory:

• Try singing it from memory every chance you get, don’t wait till you know it
• Sing along to the part learning CD on car journeys (and silently on the train!)
• Sing from memory (a bit at a time) in rehearsals
• Write out the words and spot patterns
• Keep a copy of the music with you and snatch a few minute looking at it when you can.

Smile when you're singing!!! YUCK!

2008-08-23T13:59:00.003+01:00

Most male voice choirs are a miserable looking bunch! No don't be offended it's true!. Lovely warm engaging chaps who are quick to laugh, smile and crack a joke are instantly turned into stone faced monuments when placed in a male choir and asked to sing in front of an audience.

However, I am not in favour of the cheesy grin displayed by most choirs who are "trying" to be entertaining - I refer specifically to four part male voice groups who sing predominantly unaccompanied music with the melody usually in the second tenor line!

What I would like us to aim for is an expressive meaningful look on our chops that in some way conveys the music that we are singing. I can't imagine that during Beati Mortui a rictus like grin would be thought appropriate even by our hairdressing colleagues but our somber visage during "Five, foot two" is a bit embarrassing really.

So for next season, here is what I would like you to do for me!

Lets show some emotion on our faces as we sing - express the words during each song as you would if you were singing a solo. Honest emotion will help us communicate the song to each member of the audience and make the whole experience more enjoyable for all concerned.

And when do we smile???? After each piece is completed have a look round the audience and smile at them. The smile says "Thank you for listening, I'm glad you enjoyed the song and I love your applause!" There is safety in numbers so don't feel embarrassed doing this - try it for me, you might even enjoy it!!

I attach below two examples of honest emotion expressed by a male choir whilst singing their music. I attach two contrasting items from the BBC show "Last Choir Standing", both sung by Only Men Aloud. These fabulous arrangements are sung with utter commitment by the guys, they are technically proficient, wonderfully musical and so very engaging. I was a sceptic about Last Choir Standing but Only Men Aloud have added something that the rest of the show simply doesn't have.

Hope you enjoy these - please feel free to feed back through the comments.

The greatest songwriter of the last 100 years

2008-07-21T20:14:00.003+01:00

It's the off season and I feel like digressing.........

Not too far of the beaten track here but in controversial territory for a "proper" musician - who am I talking about? This songwriter is American and to me is not only the greatest songwriter of the last 100 years but is also the greatest American songwriter.

His exquisitely crafted songs have drawn on early rock & roll (particularly doo-wop), reggae, salsa, jazz, gospel, blues, New Orleans, and African and South American music. In an unassuming, distinctive voice he speaks of matters personal and universal with attitudes ranging from the whimsical to the reverent.

He stands apart from most songwriters of his generation in that he has created a wide-ranging body of work in which the purely musical vocabulary - of style, instrumentation, and sounds - is as evocative and as expressive as his lyrics.

So, who is it? Jerome Kern, George Gershwin?

No, its Paul Simon.

From his first harmonising with Art Garfunkel to his collaborations with Ladysmith Black Mambaza, Simon's work stands head and shoulders above his generation, unique in his ability to touch the hearts and minds of audience.

So, I hear you ask, what is this to do with a choir. Very little directly I suppose except for this - this is an artist committed to reaching out to his audience, conveying meaning from each inflection, drawing deep inside to communicate his message.

We can learn a lot by listening to all styles of music - try some Paul Simon for size.

I include here a little known track - the subject of this song was Paul Simon's English girlfriend Kathy, the song "America" features her and it is said she was his muse during his time in England.

The text is beautiful, as is Simon's delivery.

Enjoy

I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls

And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies

My mind's distracted and defused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day

And this song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme

And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you

And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I

Sunset Poem

2008-06-29T11:14:00.003+01:00

A member asked me the other evening why we don't sing "Sunset Poem". I smiled sweetly, made a few appropriately polite remarks about pressure of other repertoire and not being able to see where it would fit into the general run of our concert commitments - this is perfectly true.

However, underneath all of this there is a simple underlying reason why we don't do it.

I hate Sunset Poem.

I find it the most odious item that I can possibly ever be confronted with in a male choir programme. Why so? I hear you ask; How can a few short verses of "Under Milk Wood" set to a perfectly reasonable chant by Troyte be so offensive?

Well, this is because of the horrendous way that almost every choir I have heard sing it.

Regard the text....

Every morning when I wake
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please to keep Thy lovely eye
on all poor creatures born to die.

And every evening at sun-down
I ask a blessing on the town,
for whether we last the night or no
I'm sure is always touch-and-go.

We are not wholly bad or good
who live our lives under Milk Wood,
and Thou, I know, wilt be the first
to see our best side, not our worst.

O let us see another day!
Bless us all this night, I pray,
and to the sun we all will bow
and say, good-bye - but just for now!

This text should be sung in speech rhythm - that means at the pace of good well-measured speech and in a similar shape. So this might mean for the first verse something like

Every morning when I wake
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please to keep Thy lovely eye
On all poor creatures born to die.

Compared to most performances that go something like

Every morning when I wake
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please to keep Thy lovely eye
on all poor creatures born to die

Hard to represent on the page but you must have regard to the meaning of the text and it is very poor form to accent the word “I” in tastefully performed Anglican chant!

Why have I just ranted about this – well I feel quite strongly that we don’t as a whole pay enough attention to the important things in the male choir world. We are very obsessed with showering the choirmaster with saliva on final “t’s” and accenting inappropriately the word contempt wherever it appears but singing with style and attention to the words and “painting a picture” seems to slip past most of us.

Let’s concentrate on

Performing each phrase appropriately by thinking about the meaning of the text.
Looking after each interval - making it just perfect.
Singing clean vowel sounds, unpolluted by affectation
Concentrating on the phrase at hand and by doing that remaining focussed on the moment, not worrying about that difficult phrase on page 12 (or whatever)

By doing those few things above we should think all the time about interpreting the music not just producing a collection of chords.

Oh, and as for Anglican Chant – this is fun!

2008-06-11T18:53:00.002+01:00

Let's try this - I'm interested today in the starts of our songs - usually things like Beati Mortui that start on the last beat of the bar are the most difficult for us. The beginnings of these songs can sound abrupt and unmusical with no flow from the weak last beat of the bar into the stronger pulse of the first beat of the next bar.

So lets practice this exercise.

Breathe in - fill your tummy up from low down and hold it using your tummy muscles; as I count you in gently let some of the air escape and then start the music smoothly without breathing in again or jerking in on the first note.

If you find this difficult, try this exercise first.

Breathe in - fill your tummy up from low down and hold it using your tummy muscles; hum the first note and then transition the hum into the first phrase. For example mmmmmmmeati mortui - then try and remember the sensation and try mmmmmmmmmmmmbeati mortui.

Finally use the first exercise to practice a smooth start to the son.

With a La La La!

2008-06-01T11:19:00.005+01:00

Once again I want us to think about legato. I have been working on some things with you regarding this and want to try and give you some things to work on at home.

Get out your learning aid CD for Beati Mortui and try this.

Instead of singing the words practise your part to a good old La!

But, and this is important, don't just la la la along - make sure that the music is in one continuous flow of sound and the "L" of La is merely used to define the start of each note.

Keep your mouth open in a really good shape - not over stretched, nor mostly closed - a nice open shape is ideal.

Breathe in nice and low down, expand your rib cage low down and out creating a nice barrel shape in your tummy and as the sound comes out conserve the air by using your tummy muscles (remember our hiss exercise)

Now La the phrase as a continuous stream of tone.

Only when we create a really good legato line will we be able to sing truly expressive phrases and create truly musical performances.

I dug around "tinternet" and found this example of gorgeous legato, delivered by a choir directed by the 20th century's greatest choirmaster (probably)

Enjoy

Reach for the stars!

2008-05-12T17:22:00.001+01:00

It has been over a month since my last post – tut tut! – time just seems to fly by. Apologies for my tardiness but life just seems to get busier every month.

I have been thinking about breathing and support this month. One of the difficulties one has as a singing teacher or choirmaster is giving advice on what is fundamentally a physical process – singing!

You hear grumpy old choir masters using phrases like “sing with head voice” or “lift your soft palate” but what does that really mean? The problem with putting it into words is that the physical sensations are hard to describe – so I prefer giving you a few practical demonstrations that hopefully will help you.

So I’ll give you a quick three point guide in how to stand (or sit) well for good singing!!

1. When standing place your feet about as far apart as your shoulders. You should be physically well balanced (and mentally for that matter but I’m not sure I can help with that). rock from side to side until you feel “well planted”. If you are sitting don’t slouch in the chair, sit up with your weight supported by your legs; in practice this means that you should sit so that you could stand straight up without moving your feet

2. Stretch your hands way up above your head and then lower your hands to your sides without moving any other part of your body. this will put all your apparatus in the right place!

3. When you breathe in, imagine you whole body filling with air, right down as far as you pelvis. The air pours in very much like water filling a glass – it comes in from the bottom up!

That’s you ready to go. We can’t stretch before each song, phrase or set at a gig but if we learn how these correct positions feel, we can replicate them in the concert environment.

Beati Mortui

2008-03-30T15:30:00.003+01:00

A quick post today - this is a recording of Beati Mortui by the men of the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, directed by Richard Marlow.

Dr Marlow uses slightly different pronounciations in a couple of words but as the National Lutheran Choir uses the same as we do I am content!

Interestingly if you listen very carefully you will hear that the choir have redistributed the voice parts near the end in exactly the same way as we have.

Hope this is enjoyable and useful.

Beati mortui
Beh-ah-tee mor-too-ee
Blessed are the dead

In Domino morientes deinceps
Een Do-mee-no mor-ee-ehn-tehs de-een-chehps
Who henceforth die in the Lord

Dicit enim spiritus,
Dee-cheet eh-neem spee-ree-tus
Thus says the spirit

Ut requiescant a laboribus suis
Oot- reh-kwee-ehs-cahnt ah lah-bor-ee-us su-ees
That they may rest from their labors

Et opera illorum sequuntur ipsos.
Eht oh-peh-rah ee-lor-oom seh-koont-oor eep-sos
And their works follow them

Share my longing

2008-03-22T13:51:00.007Z

One of the stated aims of Bournemouth Male Voice Choir (in it's constitution) is "education" - an unusual aim for an amateur choir perhaps but one which we take seriously nonetheless. We tend to eschew the "I know what I like and I like what I know" philosophy in favour of introducing all kinds of music in our programmes.

So, for choir members, let me introduce you to one of the pinnacles of the choral genre - J S Bach's St Matthew Passion. Being the Easter weekend, this is timely - but I also know some of you have an antipathy to sacred music - around 75% of our choral output in BMVC is secular but please don't close your mind to the beauty of this sacred item. As I have said before, you don't need to believe to sing music convincingly. I imagine most of you don't have a "Five, foot two eyes of blue" girl at home but that doesn't prevent you from convincingly performing it.

Sometime in the Middle Ages, Christian churches began observing Holy Week by retelling the story of Christ's crucifixion in music. Those beginnings were simple—Bible verses set to simple chant melodies—but eventually they would culminate in one of the most ambitious musical compositions of all time.

When J. S. Bach came to write his St. Matthew Passion in the 1720s, the passion, as a musical form, had grown to allow orchestra, choirs, and non-scriptural choruses and arias. But even by the standard of the Baroque passion, the Passion According to St. Matthew is exceptional for its musical richness and its grand scope.

Musically, the score is of imposing length, and calls for double orchestra and double choir—three choirs, at one point. The musical textures range from complex counterpoint to simple hymns. Dramatically, the point of view shifts regularly, from the narrative of the Evangelist, to the actual words of Jesus and his disciples, to reflections that speak for the individual believer. But in Bach's hands, the effect that the Passion gives is not one of a brilliant collage, but a single, sustained, sombre meditation—appropriate for a work that was first performed as part of a church service.

Scholars believe the first performance of the St. Matthew Passion may have been in 1727. It was certainly performed on Good Friday of 1729, and perhaps at several other Good Friday services during Bach's life. It then dropped from public view until 1829, when it was triumphantly revived by Felix Mendelssohn, crystallizing a revival of interest in Bach that grew throughout the 19th century and still continues.

The text of the passion was created by the German writer Christian Henrici, who wrote under the pen name of Picander. Like Bach, he lived in Leipzig, and it is believed that he and Bach worked closely together on the text.

There are three strands in the text: the actual text from the book of Matthew; Picander's own poetry; and the pre-existing hymns, or chorales, which Bach incorporates into the score, which would have been immediately recognizable by his first hearers.

I attach the opening chorus in the hope that you might like to dip into "The Matthew" - the best recording (in my humble opinion) can be bought on Amazon by clicking here. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-J-S-St-Matthew-Passion/dp/B000J233L2

This fabulous chorus was described by Leonard Bernstein thus...

"Suddenly the chorus breaks into two antiphonal choruses. 'See him!' cries the first one. 'Whom?' asks the second. And the first answers: 'The Bridegroom see. See Him!' 'How?' 'So like a Lamb.' And then over and against all this questioning and answering and throbbing, the voices of a boy's choir sing out the chorale tune, 'O Lamb of God Most Holy,' piercing through the worldly pain with the icy-clear truth of redemption. The contrapuntal combination of the three different choruses is thrilling. There is nothing like it in all music."

the text is

Chorus I
Come, ye daughters, share my longing,
See ye, whom?— the bridegroom Christ,
See him, what?— a spotless lamb!

Chorale
O Lamb of God, unspotted
Upon the cross's branch slaughtered,
See ye,—what?—see him forbear,
Always displayed in thy patience,
How greatly wast thou despisèd.
Look—where, then?—upon our guilt;
All sin hast thou born for us,
Else we had lost all courage.
See how he with love and grace
Wood as cross himself now beareth! Have mercy on us, O Jesus!

Enjoy

England's Song forever

2008-03-09T14:03:00.002Z

As you may realise our first own choice item at Llangollen is also one of our most ambitious choices of repertoire thus far. Granville Bantock’s Fighting Temeraire sets Henry Newbolt’s poem to music and draws its inspiration from Turner’s Masterful Paining above.

In this painting, “The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up” Turner touched, as he rarely did, the common heart of mankind. Apart from particular associations, there is an eternal pathos in an old ship being tugged to its last berth in calm water at sunset. It is not necessary to tell the story of how the good ship was captured from the French at the battle of the Nile, and broke the line of the combined fleets at that of Trafalgar; nor is it necessary to think of her battered hulk as a type of the old sailing “wooden walls,” so soon to be replaced by ironclads and steam propellers—of the “old order” which “changeth, giving place to new.”

It is a poem without all this, though all this gives additional interest and pathos to it in our eyes. Considered even in relation to the artist, this picture has a peculiar solemnity: he, as well as the Téméraire, was being “tugged to his last berth ;“ he had still many years of life, but his decline as an artist had commenced, and was painfully perceptible in most of his pictures; occasionally his genius rallied, and this was one of its expiring efforts, the last picture which, “he painted with his perfect power”

Turner referred to this painting as "My Darling", and refused to sell it. When this painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in I839 its title was accompanied in the catalogue by these lines from Thomas Campbell's `Ye Mariners of England'

The flag which braved the battle and the breeze,
No longer owns her.

The passing of the age of sail into steam-ships, iron vessels, indeed the industrial revolution, coincided with great artist like Turner and John Constable painting both the old idyllic landscape with castles, abbeys and scenes of the past age alongside steam trains, boats and industrial changes as exciting them days as computer in our time.

The pinnacle of Constables paintings 'The Haywain' is set undeniably in the past. Turner's 'The Fighting Temeraire' shows us the passing away of that time. A grand forty-year-old champion of the Battle of Trafalgar, being towed away to its last berth by a modern steam tug bellowing smoke.

Turner was seen on board a Margate steamer sketching the passage of the Temeraire upriver to Beatson's ship breaking yard at Rotherhithe on 6 September 1838, although what he saw and what he painted are two different things. Thus we know from contemporary newspaper reports that the Temeraire was towed by two tugs, and another observer of the towing later testified that the painter invented the spectacular sunset. The Temeraire glorified for the last time by Turner's brushes, for in reality she is stripped of her masts, the Admiralty removes sail and rigging, all guns and useful parts as spares. The ship is to be stripped of its oak wood at the breaker's yard, the copper sold back to the Admiralty for £3000, the breaker having paid around £5500 for the hull.

The Temeraire that would have made a marvellous museum piece in itself, is now left to the nation in the National Gallery as a painting. Thanks to Turner the ship that saved the 'Victory' at the Battle of Trafalgar is still remembered.

Smooooth!

2008-01-12T13:09:00.000Z

We have been working this week on the legato line, so in today's post I'll look at the fundamentals and the building blocks of technique; in subsequent posts we'll look more closely at practical manifestation of that theory.

Breath support/breath and breath management.

This is crucial for real legato singing. In singing a legato line, the singer must learn how to make a low breath into the lower back, not too much breath, however it is always a low breath". Over-breathing will encourage you to"blow out the vocal cords " with too much breath pressure. This manifests itself as "pushing" the voice or too much "pushing of air pressure" through the cords. Over-breathing will certainly distort any legato line. A slow and gradual release of breath is crucial for the basis of a legato line.

The Jaw.

The proper position of your jaw is"hanging slightly down and back" (a sort of gormless look) much as the jaw would hang down and back if one went to sleep with the head back. The jaw NEVER goes forward. Too many singers open their mouths too much until the jaw "pops forward" out of its socket or joint. This is completely incorrect for healthy singing. It also makes a legato line impossible because the jaw cannot manage the relationship between vowel and consonant function. If the jaw is "slightly down and back", the relationship between vowel and consonant is smooth. This creates a longer vibrational time between vowel and consonant function: a pure legato line.

Try a "gentle chewing motion" of the jaw.

chew several times before singing.

Then sing "ee,oh,ee,oh,ee,oh". When a "gentle chew" is achieved, as in eating food, the pressure in the jaw muscles is released. This exercise creates a smooth, gentle, and elastic motion of the jaw muscles.

The Tongue

Think about the "ng" position of the tongue as in the word "singing" or "hanging". This "ng" position of the tongue is the basis for resonance to be present in singing a legato line; without this technique there is a "muted" or "darkened" sound in the voice. True resonance is lost.

Some simple exercises:

Try leaning slightly forward from the waist" then sound a "hiss" creating a lot of resistance at the tongue/teeth area. This will give the you the feel of "holding back the breath pressure" with the body and allowing a "small controlled breath stream" to be used. Then (when there is no-one around) do the same thing but create a small moaning sound, this will give you the proper feel of breath support.

The "hanging" relaxed jaw. Use chewing exercises and imitate the jaw function of chewing food. Sing from a closed vowel to an open vowel . This could be "ee, oh, ee, oh, ee, oh," etc. or "eh, ah, eh, ah, eh, ah," etc.

Try it again but use Italian syllables such as: da, me, ni, po, to, la, be, da. Use the "hanging jaw" as proper position to pronounce these sounds. This can be properly found by using the position of "drinking out of a large glass". Allow the tongue to do all of the pronouncing. This will keep the jaw from closing and the result will be a more "open ". Note: (if you raise your eyebrows, the "relaxed hanging jaw" will be much easier.)

Use a "ng" sound and gradually open to an open vowel such as "oh" or "ah". The result will be a vowel that has resonance and this resonance can maximise the length of the vowels and minimise the time spent on consonants.

It is important to remember that the core of good musicianship in singing is a good legato line, when the legato line is present in your performances, the audience is moved and touched emotionally.

2008-01-04T16:44:00.000Z

Hi All,

We spoke on the last rehearsal of the old year about commitment - I want to share a very old video clip with you of my absolute favourite singer (well almost) - Giuseppe di Stefano.

Being a deeply flawed character myself, it will come as not surprise to you that one of my musical heroes (despite his genius) was not perfect. Giuseppe di Stefano was a natural talent, a voice with an immediacy and passion unrivalled in this century. His story was the story of a tenor who was more than liable to yield to temptation - and he did, singing without precaution.

During the decade of 1946 to 1956, Di Stefano performed onstage and on recordings with a beauty of tone and an intensity unique in this century. His lifestyle was as intense as his performing - it made the behaviour of the wildest player in Manchester United seem more sedate than that of a house-bound Baptist preacher.

His technique, which in some respects was extraordinarily good, spread his tone and negotiated the transition of vocal placement that occurs in the tenor range around F above middle C in the worst possible way. But while the voice lasted, it was unlike anything heard this century. Its sound was beautiful beyond compare and Di Stefano could manipulate it with nuanced expression of seemingly endless subtlety. His diction in both Italian and French was perfect. Every syllable he sang was suffused with meaning. He shaded the music so that the listener seemed to sense the meaning of what he sang without understanding a single word of Italian or French. He could also make a seamless transition from the very loudest to the softest sound without losing support of the tone, and he could do it over his entire vocal range.

Both Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti were asked which tenors had influenced them. They both named the same two - Enrico Caruso and Giuseppe di Stefano. The recently published biography of Jussi Björling written by his wife describes how taken that great tenor was by Di Stefano's singing, how Björling said that if Di Stefano kept going the way he had started, he would leave everyone behind.

The aria is E lucevan le stelle is the last solo aria in the Opera ra Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. It is sung by Tosca's lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi,when lamenting his coming execution. Mario Cavaradossi is a beautifully shaped character who, being in love with a passionate and extremely jealous diva, Floria Tosca, endures all her doubts and jealousy and loves her more and more every minute. But he is imprisoned for treason and he is to be executed at dawn.

Cavaradossi, who is aware of the situation, bids his farewell to life, singing one of the most beautiful arias in the entire operatic repertoire. He starts recalling a night spent with Tosca - everything was so beautiful, sublime and almost unreal. But something is wrong with all that Cavaradossi's shows his anger over the unjust laws of life and death in the second part of the aria, when he cries out in complete despair:

This level of commitment to each note, to ensure that every phrase is what we want it to be is (in the words of Shakespeare's Hamlet) "a consummation devoutly to be wished" Please enjoy a masterful performance below.

Reasons to Sing

2008-01-03T19:28:00.000Z

Hi All,

A long time since the last post - as some of you will know, I haven't been in top health for the last few months. I am feeling a lot better and my aim is to post something worthwhile every week. So as a starter - a fun peice picked up on the web.

According to researchers at Western Ontario University, Canada, singing can help lift depression and there are lots of other good reasons to sing out.

SNORING

Because singing tones muscles at the back of the throat, it has been shown to give the long-suffering partners of snorers a silent night. Alise Ojay, who headed a study into its benefits at the University of Exeter, says: “Surgical interventions to treat snoring include removing tissue from the upper throat or toughening it by creating scar tissue. “Singing offers a harmless, healthy, noninvasive, inexpensive, even enjoyable way to restore the throat’s tone.”
For more information, see singingforsnorers.com

SOOTHE BABY
Every parent knows that singing a lullaby can calm a grumpy child, but a study at the University of Western Sydney found that it can also soothe desperately ill infants.Researchers discovered songs help babies in intensive care cope with their life-saving treatment. They say songs help tots maintain normal behavioural development. They are less irritable, upset and tearful. Dr Stephen Malloch says: “It’s likely the babies who received music therapy used up less energy when compared with the babies who did not receive the therapy. “If a baby is less irritable and cries less, this has implications for rate of healing and weight gain – two significant factors which contribute to the length of a hospital stay.”

DEMENTIA
Songs from our childhoods appear to break through the barriers of dementia. Canadian scientists found that patients with severe Alzheimer’s, who did not respond to other stimulus, were able to recognise songs from their youth and join in. If nurses played a tune incorrectly one would screw up her face and complain, going some way to proveing that the areas of the brain which retain musical memories are not affected by the condition. Boffins hope the discovery will lead to music therapies to help patients with dementia.

BONDING

Companies use songs to help build teamwork and loyalty. Computer giant IBM has rehashed an American military tune while cash till manufacturer NCR has created its own version of The Beatles’ Back In The USSR to encourage employees to sing from the same hymn sheet. Advocates of business-bop claim that upbeat company songs are designed to stress youthful energy and a can-do attitude. They are widely used in the US and Japan. But, and this won’t surprise you, Warwick University discovered many British workers found company songs an embarrassment.

SMOKING
American health campaigners are using song to help smokers stub out. Neighbourhood choirs have been formed to promote the benefits of quitting and to encourage a buddy system where on-song choir members help each other beat their nicotine addiction. A two-year pilot project cut smoking rates from 34 to 27 per cent across three mainly African-American neighbourhoods, while smoking rates in comparable areas fell by just one per cent over the same period. A key feature in this initiative was a Gospelfest, where each choir included an antismoking song in its repertoire.

IMMUNE SYSTEM

Listening to a choir could help you shake off coughs and colds. Researchers at Frankfurt University, Germany, asked volunteers to listen to choral music and used saliva tests to measure hormone levels before and after the performance. Levels of cortisol, a hormone known to suppress immune system response, was much lower after the show. Cortisol undermines the body’s ability to produce T cells which fight infection. High levels of cortisol are also linked to blood pressure and blood sugar problems.

STRESS
The same researchers found joining in a singsong lowers stress. Some studies have shown that singing releases the love hormone oxytocin, which is released by both sexes during orgasm – and researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University found choir members feel more upbeat after singing.

So please let any prospective new members know of the benefits of joining Bournemouth Male Voice Choir

Building Blocks

2007-07-18T17:10:00.000+01:00

Some of you have been asking me to include some music theory lessons on the blog; I have hesitated thus far as it is a massive subject that I was unsure how to present in this digital format.

I have however recently discovered an American website by Ricci Adams called Musictheory.net.

Whilst this site is American it has a British English translator . The fundamentals are superb however and presented in a very clear way.

I would suggest you work through the sections as far as "Key Signatures" Then have a go at the "Trainers"all except for guitar and brass trainer.

The link to site is here http://www.musictheory.net/. The British English page is http://www.musictheory.net/translations.html#en_uk

Any questions or if you get stuck and need additional help - just email me.

You hum it son - I'll play it!

2007-07-02T13:37:00.000+01:00

The point of this blog entry is to focus the sound on the front of your mouth in order to create greater resonance.

Strangely, If you can't hum the note you will not be able to sing it effectively, Now hum gently on the outward breath.

With your teeth slightly apart (imagine you are holding a match between your teeth) and your lips just touching (not pressed hard together) lets hummmmmmmmmm!. Try to aim for a buzzing, tickling sensation on the lips. If you don’t get the “tickle”, try bringing your head slightly forward. Experiment with your head position until you find the point where you get the “tickle”. This is also a good way of confirming that your head is in the right position.

Now take another breath as before and hum down from the very top of your vocal range to the very bottom. Make sure the hum descends slowly and steadily in a controlled manner.

Then try the same thing, beginning at the bottom of your range and sliding up to the top.

Now try the “siren”. Take a breath as before and hum smoothly up and down your range. If you should hit a point where the voice “breaks”, start humming just above that point and slide down and up, down and up over it until it is smoothed out. It’s just like ironing your trousers!

Take in another good breath. Start humming and turn up the volume, then open the mouth and allow the sound to carry forward on a “mmmmmmaaaaaah” sound. Always ensure the shoulders, throat and jaw are kept as relaxed as possible, providing a clear passage for the flow of air.
Practise this until you can confidently reproduce the forward resonant tone throughout your range at will.

Control freak!

2007-04-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

We talked about controlling your breathing on long phrases in order to achieve a really good legato; this control is not just as the air leaves your body but also controlling it as it enters your body. So think of it in this way

As the air comes in let it enter deeply but gently; fill your lower abdomen as slowly as the music allows, feeling the rhythm of the music (the beats) as you breathe in.

Before you sing hold the breath firmly in your tummy, ready to use in those lovely long phrases

As you begin to sing there should be no sudden burst of air, just a steady stream of sumptuous sound.

Release all the air by the end of each phrase.

There is one big big big no-no! It is so important that I will write it in red, bold and capitals.

KEEP YOUR SHOULDERS RELAXED AND DOWN WHEN YOU BREATHE IN!

I would love you all to have a go at this exercise every day for the next week - just spend five minutes on it each day until you perfect it.

Breathe in as above
Gently blow the air out onto your index finger held in front of your mouth
Practice until you can feel the air hitting your finger smoothly and evenly through the duration of the blow out.
Listen to sound of the air and make it smooth and even through the duration of the blow out.

Smooooooth!

Walk right in, sit right down...........

2007-04-18T20:17:00.000+01:00

We didn't do much new technical work last evening since we were getting ready for this weekend's concert at St Aldhelms's Church - however we did think about the lessons from previous weeks and thought a little bit about posture and worked on how to "relax our apparatus" (Ooerr Missus!) - unlike our friend to the left. This chap doesn't look very relaxed does he, such a tight mouth, head tilted back, trying to swallow a football, never mind a orange or small grapefruit!

Humming is a good way to warm up, as it puts very few stresses on your voice but how to hum effectively in a relaxed and stress free way.

Make sure your lips are barely touching - if you squeeze them together it sounds like you need more fibre in your diet!
Keep your teeth slightly apart - imagine you are holding a matchstick between them.
Imagine the sound starting about 1 inch (2.5cms) in front of your lips

We spoke about the dry air around at the moment - I am taking tablets for hay fever and find them very drying - we should be drinking a lot of water.

Your vocal chords (or folds to be precise) are very delicate and need to be protected. If you cough, the chords rub against each other instead of vibrating smoothly together, so if you feel you need to cough to clear your throat - DON'T! Try swallowing instead, creating saliva to help clear your throat.

As a singer there should never be tension in the neck.

Finally - we talked about sitting during rehearsals - for some this is a no-no "You can only sing properly whilst standing" - this is untrue! Sure, if you slouch you can't sing well but if you follow the snappily named "Bournemouth Male Voice Choir Five Top Tips To Better Singing Whilst Sitting" all will be well!

Sit up tall - imagine a perpendicular line running through your ear down to your hip, If you slouch you will be fighting against your rib cage.
Don't cross your legs
Rest your weight on the balls of your feet and take up some of the weight with your thigh muscles. Sit as if you are just about to stand up.
Keep your shoulders relaxed.
Whilst we sing in performance without music - rehearsing without the scores is useless. When sitting with your score, your shoulders should be relaxed and down. Your shoulder supporting your elbow which supports your wrist and your arm is slightly extended from the body. Keep your head level and your line of sight so your eyes can move easily between the score and the conductor without having to move your body.

Up, up (and down, down) and away!

2007-04-12T18:24:00.000+01:00

We spent some time this talking about range and making the best of our voices by extending the range.

The top tips we talked about for extending our ranges upwards were

Keep your throat very relaxed - no tension!
Relax your jaw and let your mouth open in a North/South direction.
Expand your throat - (imagine trying to swallow an orange or a small grapefruit!
Make sure you breathe well, low down in your abdomen (front and back) and then concentrate your efforts on supporting the sound from your tummy - focus on breathing better rather than the notes and you will be amazed at the improvement!
Check your posture! It should be relaxed - shoulders down - hands relaxed too! Pleasant facial expression (Baritones too!) and make sure your whole body is relaxed.

Please, please remember that if you are thinking about this at home.

Always start your exercises in the middle of your range and move up in semi-tones - this will allow your voice to warm up gradually

Move quickly through the higher notes - this is much easier on the voice and prevents stresses
Do not sing high phrases for too long
Don't sing too loudly - a "taste" of higher pitches stretches the range much better than long durations

We also looked at the bottom of our voices

The highlights of this part of our work were-

Practice gliding down - make a Mmm sound buzz at the front of your mouth on a comfortable pitch in the middle of your range and then slide down by a fifth, gradually opening your mouth as you do so. A helpful way to recognize a fifth is to hum the second and third notes of Twinkle twinkle little star, which is a familiar 5th. The third note then the second note sung in that order is the interval we are looking for.
Keep your throat relaxed and open!
Make sure you breathe well, low down in your abdomen (front and back) and then concentrate your efforts on supporting the sound from your tummy - focus on breathing better rather than the notes and you will be amazed at the improvement

Gliding down like this helps to even out the sound quality in the lower part of your voice.

The poorer pitches start to sound more like the better pitches
Lower pitches no longer have a completely different character from higher pitches
You will learn how to sing more lyrically without jumping from timbre to timbre as the pitches move about.

These exercises are for everyone because as you work on the lower part of your range you will notice that the middle parts start to sound richer too!

Do try this at home!

2007-04-07T14:29:00.000+01:00

I didn't expect to be posting again so soon but I have had half a dozen emails asking for examples of exercises that you can do at home to improve the breathing without singing out loud, frightening the cats and having your better half looking at you as if you are nuts!

The following exercise may make you feel tired at first, but do keep at it as you will begin to notice that it takes less effort to breath, less energy is used when breathing plus it helps you learn to co-ordinate all your singing apparatus when breathing.

First up though, to find out if you are breathing correctly, place a hand on your belly button. This area should expand first when you breathe in and then spread upwards until your chest is expanded (don't lift your shoulders).

If you feel you are not breathing properly, practice the following exercise. Lay flat on your back. Place your hands on your waist, fingers pointing towards your belly button. Focus on filling up your stomach from the bottom to the top taking a slow deep breath. (The aim is not to fill yourself to bursting but to inhale enough air so that you can feel the difference between the shallow breath taken when breathing from the chest).

You should feel your stomach rise and your hands being raised gently up and outward until you feel your chest expanding. The expansion is not only at the front of the body but also to the sides and back as well.

Breath out slowly to a count of 5 Repeat the exercise 10 times Practice daily before you get up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night for 5 - 10 minutes gradually increasing this to 3 or 4 times a day. Once you get it right, practice as often as possible, sitting, standing and whilst at work until you are breathing naturally from your abdomen.

As easy as breathing in and out?

2007-04-05T11:22:00.000+01:00

Is this always the case in singing? As we have discovered the two items that we want to work on are breathing and diction. But what do I mean by this?

This week we worked on these items in some detail. I don't intend these weekly blogs to be very long but just to recap on the principle and give one simple reminder of the weeks points. And of course feel free to post comments on this blog!

Good diction is about much more than "spitting out those consonants", the things we were working on this week are all about uniformity. This means that in order to get really accurate tuning the vowel sounds we produce need to match each other very closely.

Tuning is the process of producing a pitch in relation to one produced by another singer , both matched at the unison inside your section but also with the other sections in the choir who will be singing different notes. So when I say that a chord is "Out of tune" I am referring to a pitch that is too high or too low, or sharp or flat respectively.

But, I hear you ask, what has this got to do with diction? If our vowel sounds do not match there are very small differences in the sound, in essence this means that it will be impossible to create a true unison. This is a particular challenge in our choir as we all come from such diverse backgrounds, Ulstermen, Brummies, Welsh, Cockneys, Yorkshiremen et al, all with their wonderfully rich accents when speaking, I love hearing regional accents in speech but we need uniformity in singing.

So have a look at the picture above - this is the basic principle we started with on Tuesday in order to start thinking about open vowel sounds. I'll start looking at the vowels next time.

Breathing was the other item we worked on on Tuesday evening, I'll just recap the basic principles that we worked on here. A good air supply is fundamental to producing a good choral tone, good musical phrasing, good tuning and it makes it much easier and more enjoyable for you too!

So here are the headlines from Tuesday

Breathe quietly through your mouth. A deep breath will relax your body
Prepare your mouth for the vowel your are about to sing, for example if you are about to sing the word "Holy" breathe in to an "oh" vowel
Make sure you don't suck the sound through your teeth
Keep your shoulders relaxed and down
Breathe in slowly until the air fills up your tummy very low down. Feel the air fill up the front and then the back of your abdomen!

If you could think about just these two ideas when practicing during the week it will make such a difference!

As you know I have given you midi files of the music with your part accentuated to help you learn the notes, if you are feeling brave here are some links to this weeks music with the parts and accompaniment all at equal strength, see if you can sing your part without extra help! If this doesn't work for you yet go back to your original file and try and master your own part - then try again!

for Sailing - click on this one

http://media.putfile.com/Sailing-all-parts

for Close thine eyes - click on this one

http://media.putfile.com/Close-thine-eyes---all-parts

See you all on Tuesday

Hello

2007-03-31T12:38:00.000+01:00

I thought it might be a good idea to create this little blog to recap on our Tuesday evening sessions, go over the technical points we have discussed and act both as an aide memoir to those who were present and fill in the gaps for those people who were unavoidably absent.

I hope you find this useful.