(An excerpt from the New York Times article, "Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing," by Robert J. Zatorre & Valorie N. Salimpoor)
MUSIC is not tangible. You can’t eat it, drink it or mate with it. It doesn’t protect against the rain, wind or cold. It doesn’t vanquish predators or mend broken bones. And yet humans have always prized music — or well beyond prized, loved it.
In the modern age we spend great sums of money to attend concerts, download music files, play instruments and listen to our favorite artists whether we’re in a subway or salon. But even in Paleolithic times, people invested significant time and effort to create music, as the discovery of flutes carved from animal bones would suggest.
So why does this thingless “thing” — at its core, a mere sequence of sounds — hold such potentially enormous intrinsic value?
The quick and easy explanation is that music brings a unique pleasure to humans. Of course, that still leaves the question of why. But for that, neuroscience is starting to provide some answers.
More than a decade ago, our research team used brain imaging to show that music that people described as highly emotional engaged the reward system deep in their brains — activating subcortical nuclei known to be important in reward, motivation and emotion. Subsequently we found that listening to what might be called “peak emotional moments” in music — that moment when you feel a “chill” of pleasure to a musical passage — causes the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, an essential signaling molecule in the brain. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE . . .
OK, no such thing as "final" thoughts on a topic as big as choral intonation! But this IS the final installation in this long series of posts. No more (unless I respond to your comments) until late August--if you have thoughts on new topics of interest, send a note!
A resource I've used is a book on choral intonation by P.G. Alldahl, a Swedish composer (and choral conductor) who followed Lars Edlund as the teacher and coordinator of ear training at the Conservatory in Stockholm. I met P.G. in 1990 when doing research for my dissertation and he's a fascinating person. I have a copy of the Swedish version of his book on Choral Intonation, which deals with ideas of just intonation, exercises of how to approach it, with examples from the literature. What I didn't realize (stupidly) until now is that there's an English version of the book. It's published by Gehrmans and the Swedish price (228 kr) is currently the equivilent of ca. $35, but I don't know about shipping. You could order directly from Gehrmans, but I've also had great luck (and quick response) from Bo Ejeby, who is not only a publisher, but a retailer. He's very quick to respond and ship and you can order with your credit card. I've just gone ahead and ordered a copy for myself, since the English version has been updated and, as you'll see from this short sample pdf, also deals with some interesting literature in terms of problems (Verdi Ave Maria, for example). So sorry I didn't think of this earlier, since it's a great resource for many of the ideas I and others discussed earlier in terms of just tuning.
Thinking a bit more about Eric Ericson's approach, I thought I'd offer some thoughts about what I've seen him (and other Swedes) do.
Eric's (and many Swedish) choirs have long been known for really beautiful, in-tune singing. Eric would say that the Swedish language has some advantages: all very pure vowels and a legato, connected way of speaking (he would also say that "the front side has a back side," that Swedes have to work harder for crisp rhythm or diction, for example). As I noted early on, pure unified vowels go a long way towards helping with good intonation.
But Eric always had a particularly accute ear and early on developed a keen interest in excellent intonation. Of course, Eric was trained as an organist and pianist, so came from the background of equal tempered tuning. When I was in Sweden the summer of 1990, it was he who introduced me to P.G. Alldahl and Eric was very aware at that time of just intonation and incorporated it into his tuning. I suspect it may have happened as early as his trip to Basel after World War II, when he studied at the Schola Cantorum with people such as the pioneering viola da gambist, August Wenzinger, Ina Lohr and others. He had a particular interest in early music and, in fact, his (at that time 16-voice) Chamber Choir was founded in 1945 specifically to perform early music his group of friends had studied, but had never heard. If he did not come across other ideas of tuning possibilities at that time, he certainly would have in the late 1960s when there were some notable collaborations between his Chamber Choir and Niklaus Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus. And by the time I was in Sweden, Eric was regularly collaborating with the period-instrument Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble as well.
In addition, to do contemporary scores (of the sort Eric conducted) justice, it required new skills with pitch for both choir and conductor. As Eric said,
The music department at the Radio had many competent people who really jumped on impulses and picked up all the big personalities of the 1950s . . . I sat there with my choirmaster position . . . and was ordered, here comes Stravinsky, here comes Hindemith, and they want to guest conduct their pieces with the Radio Choir, etc.--and I had to be able to study all that. But of course it also meant incredibly inspiring contacts and demanding jobs--"Here you go--study this Dallapiccola . . . "--and that was horrendously difficult at that time! So we stood there with our assignments, and it was exciting for us to jump into all of this modern music.
And then,
You asked how technique and proficiency developed, and I can almost mention certain pieces which were "rungs on the ladder" . . . because that's how I feel so strongly when we've learned a difficult and very good piece. I'm thinking naturally from the viewpoint of the Chamber Choir with [Lidholm's] Laudi from 1947, Fyra körer from 1953, then the big pieces of Stravinsky, Nono . . . Dallapiccola perhaps most of all, which is where we learned to read notes and rhythms. And then of course we have a Swedish piece, again by Lidholm [1956--Canto], that we struggled with for half a year. I have a certain sense that, when you "come out on the other side" after having done a piece like Lidholm's Canto, you are a better musician, a better conductor, a better chorister. Canto feels like a final exam for the '50s choral life . . . early pieces that were difficult tonally and rhythmically became less so. Canto combined all the difficulties one was thrown between.
To sing this music well requires tight control of pitch. When you sing clusters or demanding non-tonal chord constructions, too much vibrato or any vague sense of the pitch simply doesn't work. For the music to sound, the pitches have to be very precise (and more likely with equal temperament, of course).
I had an interesting experience when doing Lars Edlund's Gloria with my PLU choir (a piece that was very effective with our audiences, once I introduced it with verbal program notes). It involves quarter steps, which are never, however, used harmonically--the choir simply "bends" a note a quarter step higher or lower, then back again--it's an ornamental inflection. In almost all performances I'd heard (including Eric's!) the quarter steps were really close to half steps. So I worked in the following way:
First, we did Robert Shaw style exercises to learn how much distance there really is between a half step and worked these regularly--for example, ultimately having two parts (men and women in octaves) a half step apart gradually "change places" (the higher pitch sliding downward, the lower pitch sliding upward), but at a specific tempo and length, with the goal that half way through we'd meet briefly on the quarter tone (we weren't exact, but got quite good at it).
I also had our composition teacher help me program our Yamaha DX-7 to play quarter-tones. When we worked on the sections with the quarter-tone inflections, I wouldn't allow them (for quite a long time) to sing them--they stayed on pitch and I played the inflections for them, so they could hear absolutely mathematically accurate quarter-tones.
Finally, I allowed them to sing the quarter-tones themselves, which they did quite well
The interesting thing was that piece never went flat or sharp during 12 or so performances on tour--other pieces did, but not the Edlund. I think all the intensive work they did on pitch in that work resulted in such a keen sense of where those pitches were (and the consequent muscle and tonal memory) that they had it totally locked and could reproduce it no matter what the acoustic or how tired they were.
Certainly, I've found that work with contemporary music which requires intense concentration on non-tonal pitches gives the choir a much keener sense of intonation, which can carry over into other music as well.
To get back to Eric:
The kinds of things I alluded to (and which P.G. has in his book) about using the piano to give "pedal" reference notes for intonation come directly from watching Eric in rehearsal. So, a bit about Eric's use of the piano (whether he played or an accompanist--all of whom knew his methods quite well).
First, Eric was a superb pianist with a marvelous, light and "vocal" touch. He almost always played with the una corda ("soft") pedal down and created a transparent, non-percussive sound. Too often I hear either conductors or accompanists pound notes in a way which invites harsh attacks and sound. Never from Eric or his accompanists. I saw Eric work with his own choirs (the Chamber Choir, Conservatory Chamber Choir, and Orphei Drängar), in masterclasses with a "put-together" choir of Americans or Canadians, or at the 1990 IFCM in Stockholm, and guest conducting the first concert of Choral Arts in Seattle as well as other choirs, plus at two workshops at PLU when I taught there. So please understand that we're not talking beginning choirs!
He never simply played along with the choir, doubling what they did. Here's what was typical:
sometimes without the choir singing, he'd simply play (normally from memory) the music (Bach's Der Geisthilft, for example, demonstrating all important parts), saying, "I think it might go like this," giving a very complete idea of rhythm, phrasing, and shape
he would often play pedals (usually in the treble, above the soprano, but also bass lines) to help establish pitch (but without implying tempered intonation)--often "rocking" an octave back and forth to keep the sound going
in something very slow, he would often improvise a melody above the choir in 16th notes, so there was always a pulse audible
if the music was harmonically complicated, he would either play (as in the first example) something for the choir, but never exactly what the choir sang--simply a reduction of the harmonic content and shifts so the choir could hear it easier
he would also help the choir hear the harmony when it was complicated by playing below and above choir choir (a bass-line and treble chords), but never in the choir's pitch area
and, of course, much of the time the choir sang a cappella -- he played only when it was necessary to help stay in tune, or to help with one of the musical issues listed above
Eric also loved jazz and could improvise in a jazz style rather easily. One of the things I remember from conducting classes was him having all the conductors conducting (asking them to reflect the music--light/heavy, etc.--in their conducting), beginning with the opening of the St. Matthew Passion and then evolving to a jazz version with all sorts of syncopations, etc., all to provoke the conductors to show more of the music in their conducting.
Eric had excellent ears, as I've said, but not perfect pitch. He recorded nearly every rehearsal and would listen to it afterwards--I remember my first time in Sweden in 1989, where I accompanied him and Orphei Drängar on a short tour, when after the concert in the bus, he'd put on his headphones to listen to the recording, humming and occasionally checking pitches on his little Casio keyboard to see exactly where the choir started to go flat or sharp.
An amazing man!
It's been a pleasure to write these posts--good for me to re-think what I just do and get feedback and new ideas from others. Have a great summer!
We've talked several times about easy ways to share audio examples with your ensemble, and ways for your singers to share recordings back with you. While we all strive to support our musicians to be independent as much as possible, there are always limiting factors: time, both for us and for them, and choristers' access to some kind of pitch/keyboard and reading abilities. That doesn't mean that we can't still get good feedback on our musicians and find individual errors that can be fixed outside of rehearsal to give us big gains in our next rehearsal period. For a quick, painless, but very insightful look into some of the roots of our intonation and rhythm, check the diction! Here are a couple of ways that I might do a quick diction check that could pay huge dividends for your next rehearsal.
Lay The Foundation
First off, this works really well with small, deliberate excerpts rather than entire pieces (although that can be beneficial for other reasons later on). Choose an excerpt scheduled for your next rehearsal, either something with difficult text or a section that just hasn't clicked yet. This can be done with either foreign language text or native language. If this is a piece that you've already been working on, singers can speak the text in rhythm/tempo, otherwise they can simply recite the text slowly. In either case, the rules are just like in singing: speak the text with importance on the vowels so that you can hear them clearly, and perform any schwa or rhythmic consonants that you've requested. Finally, give them a model recording (especially with foreign language!).
If you have a choir wiki or blog, you can use that for this purpose (as long as it's private-- probably don't want the outside world hearing the piece at this level!). If not, create a Dropbox account and upload your model. Share the folder with all of your choristers so that they can upload as well. From here, you have two choices: outside of rehearsal or in.
Outside of Rehearsal
If your group has access to smartphones, tablets or most modern computers with the ability to record video, it's quite easy for them to record themselves in the comfort/safety of home speaking the text and uploading it into Dropbox. You might need to ask a couple of tech-savvy people in your group to help other members out, or at least be available to answer questions. Ask them to name the file with their names and the excerpt to make it easier for you to find (e.g. Jeff_Tillinghast_Pseudo_Yoik_mm48_56).
Inside Rehearsal
If you don't think that your group is ready to make that leap, or you want to get the first couple of attempts out of the way before you ask them to do it independently, you can do it during rehearsal as well. Generally speaking, I try to avoid things that pull musicians out individually during group time-- it's distracting, noisy, and it means inevitably that someone will miss a note/edit/correction. Most of us have so little time with our whole groups assembled as it is that giving up that time is a hard pill to swallow. Regardless, hearing each musician is useful information and can make a big difference in the group sound, so sometimes it's worth it. In this scenario, I would find a practice room, outside area or any quiet place and park one computer/tablet/smartphone there. Start with one end of the back row and ask each singer to wordlessly leave, recite the example, come back and tap the next person in line to send them in. You can move people very quickly through this process. One advantage for you of doing it this way is that you end up with all of the audio files in one place. You can upload them to Dropbox en masse, or simply keep them on whatever device you used for recording.
Diction Helps!
Exercises like this are all about observation-- like with rehearsing a large group performance, you may not know exactly what you're listening for when you hear each musician recite an example. For both you and the singer, though, hearing that two or three members of a section are using a different shade of vowel or have poor timing on a dipthong can immediately correct issues of rhythm and pitch that otherwise would remain buried. This experience can be done relatively quickly for each person, and set up in a way that even listening to 50 examples of 30 seconds each isn't a massive burden on your rehearsal preparation.
What About You?
Do you do "diction checks?" Are there ways that you would use a spoken text recording from your musicians? Comment below!
As I bring this (long!) series to an end, I'll attempt to answer questions or highlight comments made by others to this series--a huge thanks to those who took the time to comment, correct, or add to what I've said. I will likely say a few things more on Saturday before signing off for the summer. If you have questions, ask them now!
A number of people have brought up issues of singing technique. My earlier posts (here, here, and here) deal with different aspects. A few mentioned mouth position for vowels and yes, this is important. While not all singers will use the same mouth position for the same vowels (for example, I was suprised watching John Potter, a former member of the Hilliard Ensemble, to see how little he opens his mouth!), with young singers what you see can be an important clue to what they're doing correctly or incorrectly. Get out of the score and watch your singers!
On my last post, both Stephen Bigger and William Copper (my most prolific commenter and one of the most interesting!) offered comments. Stephen spoke of tongue position (follow the link to the comments to see the specifics). While I don't disagree with anything he said, I tend to be conservative about dealing with issues of the tongue with my choirs. Primarily, this is because I can't monitor something like tongue position very well with a large group of singers. In the private voice studio I would certainly do this, but then I can closely and easily monitor what the singer does and correct it, if necessary. It's very easy, in a large group of singers, for an individual to misunderstand what I say and for me not to notice it. Part of this, of course, is also that I've been dealing for a long time with relatively experienced singers (at PLU or UNT with singers who are almost all taking private voice). I expect that their teacher will deal with those issues, and also don't want to "step on" the voice teacher's toes! Both at PLU and UNT the relationship between voice faculty and choral faculty is extraordinarily good (not always the case, I know!) and I want to make sure that the things I ask for are congruent with teaching in the studio. If I see/hear something specific happening with one of my students, I don't hesitate to speak to their teacher and ask about it. On the other hand, if I was working with a younger group where almost no one was taking voice lessons, I'd probably do much more--as I mentioned in an earlier post, for many conductors, you are the primary voice teacher for your singers.
The post just before that got the largest number of comments. I responded to most of them there, so won't reproduce all of them (you can read them yourselves), but thought I'd reference solfege here, since I haven't spoken of it. I'm far from an expert in solfege, but because most of my current singers are from Texas and the UIL requirements are to read with moveable do solfege, I will sometimes have my choir either read or rehearse with solfege. In terms of intonation, solfege offers several advantages, among them: singable vowels and the singer learning where various scale degrees "belong" pitch-wise. Much as with count-singing, however, I tend to use occasionally as a tool, rather than as part of my regular teaching/rehearsal pattern. That has to do with my background and what, over the years, I've found works for me - it may be to my detriment!
Again, personal experience: I came to college not really reading, but having always learned by ear. I'd taken some piano lessons the summer before I started and knew note names and key signatures, but not to the point where it was automatic. I had to work really hard to catch up since I was so far behind the other singers and instrumentalists in my theory and sightsinging classes (by the way, Joan Conlon was my freshman year ear-training teacher). We learned with moveable do (although with do-re-me minor, not la-ti-do). This was very helpful for me initially, since it did give me a reference point for where pitches were in relation to Do. However, I never became truly quick and proficient with solfege (I later worked a bit on fixed-do solfege as well, after an experience with a teacher trained that way), so can't, for example, read with solfege syllables as fast as many of my students do (although I can read far better and more accurately than they can!). It's my experience that solfege (unless you're incredibly well trained) doesn't help much with really chromatic music of the 19th century or 20th/21st century music.
Basically I learned to read . . . by reading. I sang in virtually every grad student's recital (Bruce Browne was one of the DMA students at the UW at that time, for example) and simply got to the place where I had enough experience to just read. With some friends I also got together regularly to read madrigals (wine was also involved!). I believe strongly that one learns to read by reading - it's one of the reasons I'll almost always let my choir read the music we're doing, unless it's so difficult that's just not possible. I encourage them to read however it works best for them, given the difficulty of the music: complete with words, with solfege, on neutral syllables--whatever's easiest--and if they get lost, find their way and jump back in, not giving up. I want them to have that experience. I also encourage them to sing in a good church choir (around here, many of them can get a position as a paid section leader), which will force them to read and learn a lot of repertoire. If you know Nancy Telfer's sightreading series, I think she makes some excellent points about reading with text.
When I started doing more 20th century music, particularly after I became interested in Swedish music, I worked some with Lars Edlund's classic Modus novus, which is a great primer to reading non-tonal music. And as I conducted more and more such music, my score-study and preparation made me a much better musician and reader of this music. It really is all about experience.
Next, choral gesture as it relates to intonation: William Copper wrote a post with a great question: WHO adjusts pitch to tune a choir? I'd encourage you to read all of it and the responses. Eugene Lysinger responds with a comment about choral gesture, referencing the work of Rodney Eichenberger (yes, my first real conducting teacher and Eugene and I sang together with Rod some 40 years ago--and I sang in at least one of Eugene's grad recitals at the time). This is to the effect of gesture on intonation (and the way singers sing).
I certainly still use some of Rod's concepts, although I don't conduct as low as most of his students do. But I'm concerned with getting energy where it belongs (lower, where the breath comes from) and not giving tense, high gestures that can cause singers throat tension. It's not that singers can't ignore that, but it's harder than you'd think! Even experienced/professional singers will find it more difficult and young singers will almost invariably get tension where you don't want it and cause vocal and intonation problems.
I want my gesture to engender the breath flow that my singers need to sing well. It has to flow with the phrase. My sense is that gesture can be higher if there is no tension and it also depends on how close I am to my singers. My preference is NOT to be too close to the choir. That makes a huge difference. I don't want tension in my hand (thumb and forefinger pinched together, for example) or in my shoulders.
Eugene also references a technique of Rod's using the hand (of the singer!) to lift the soft palate. I use this all the time and with groups that are fairly experienced or absolute beginners. Easy to show, hard to say in words! I turn to my left, so the choir sees me from the side. With my right hand held next to my face (like a karate chop, with the side of my hand directly toward them), I'll ask the choir to do exactly as I do. The hand is first at a 45 degree angle and very flat/straight. I ask them to sing an ah on a given pitch. While they're singing I rotate my hand forward and curve to create an arch in my hand (they copy this, of course). I then go back and forth between the two hand positions. The difference in sound is remarkable, since any singer, regardless of training, will lift the soft palate as the hand mimics the position of the soft palate. It's physiologically impossible for them not to lift the soft palate. Once they've done this a few times, I can use my left hand in this manner to remind them, even in a performance, since it will remind them of the physical feeling of lifting the soft palate. This is one of the things I said early on was an important part of vocal technique to sing in tune. Try it if you haven't before! (Rod's video, What They See is What You Get, will give you lots of ideas about this topic and lots of things to try).
And finally, back to one of my original topics of just intonation: William Copper, as part of a series of comments here said, first quoting someone else, "This method becomes somewhat tricky when singing through the circle of 5ths are what was once your 5th scale degree (tuned higher), is now the root of the new key, so constant adjustments must be made."
William then followed this with, "It becomes VERY tricky VERY fast: you simply cannot sing many chord progressions in just intonation, period. As a very simple and ubiquitous example, the progression I vi ii V I in root position (triads in C major: C , a minor, d minor, G major, C major) is impossible to sing accurately. Not just difficult, impossible." He then offered: "I recently posted an illustrative video-score of a four-part a cappella piece, with a tuning graph for each voice on youtube, showing just how dramatically changeable tuning must be to keep both harmonic and melodic intonation pure. Contact me for the link if interested." www.hartenshield.com
I think he's dead on about the (in)ability for choirs to keep to just intonation all the time. And I don't try to do that, quite honestly. I also work primarily by ear and demonstration. I'm always concerned with: 1) working with the choir initially so they hear and can produce good unisons, fifths and pure thirds 2) working to get pure thirds at cadences (in passing harmonies I won't be as concerned) and 3) working to stay in tune (i.e. in a cappella music, not going either sharp or flat).
One of the things one has to deal with, given pure thirds and trying to stay at the same pitch, is how to accomodate both. Oversimplifying, barbershoppers want the lead (melody) to sing in tune with the (equal-tempered) piano--then the harmony parts must sing pure intervals from the lead, no matter whether it's on the root, third or fifth. The other way to do this is to keep the roots of the chords in tune (i.e. with the equal-tempered piano) and tune purely around that. That's what I'm more likely to do.
If you know Bruckner's Os justi (or can look at a copy from cpdl), we can use the opening as an example. It opens with an F major chord, 3rd in the soprano. I want that chord tuned purely (so will avoid giving the chord on the piano, but teach the choir how to tune "justly" from just the F)--the A will be lower than on the piano. Next the bass sings a passing tone E to D, where the chord switches to d minor. In this case, I want my basses to sing a fairly high E-natural and a D that matches the piano (it's easy to sing too wide a half step from F to E, so the D is flat--it's also a question of vowel--from the ee of justi to the eh of meditabitur the basses must concentrate on a forward eh vowel, not too far from the ee). That means the soprano A to D has to be a fraction higher to make sure the lower pitch of the A (3rd of F major) to the D that will match the basses's tempered D. In the fifth bar there's a G major chord with the 3rd in the soprano (slightly lower), but in the next bar the same B is the fifth of an e minor chord (and perhaps a fraction higher). Note that I'm not telling them to sing X cents higher, but pointing out what needs to be higher or lower, getting them to listen carefully and place the notes accordingly (I may need to demonstrate as well where the notes belong). Having "anchor" chords which must be tuned justly is part of what I figure out when learning the piece. William mentioned in a previous comment about the need to sing sometimes with equally tempered intonation, and that's absolutely true. You have to figure that out by the accompaniment (you can't retune the piano or organ, although strings, winds and brass can all play with just intonation) and by the style. If a composer clearly thinks in equal temperament, sometimes just intonation simply doesn't work (William gives a good example).
This may sound complicated, but it's really a matter of getting the basses to sing their line absolutely in tune with the piano, but the parts above to listen carefully and tune to it (it's one of the reasons why, if my choir is in sections, the basses are most often behind the sopranos--it makes it easier for the sopranos to tune if they hear the bass part, which often has the roots). IF they've learned what nice just major and minor chords sound like, it's not as difficult as it may seem. Of course, to do this well, they have to have all the basics down and be able to sing this with very little vibrato so the chords tune. Again, I'm not attempting to tune every single chord with just intonation, but listen for those places where it makes a difference, and particularly at cadences.
Do the basses always stick with the piano? No. In Lauridsen's O Nata Lux the opening chord is a D major 9th with the basses and sopranos on the 3rd. Here, I give a D, but want the basses and sopranos to sing a pure third (lower than the piano). In order to keep the piece in tune I may play single note pedals (usually above the soprano part, where it's more easily heard) that usually (not always) correspond to the roots of chords.
Once again, this has gone on longer than I thought!
I'll post at least one more time and address a few more issues. If you have any final questions, ask them in the comments section or send a private message.
During the crush of the academic year we are pulled in more directions than is perhaps healthy. Too many things compete for our limited attention, time, and resources. Some are necessary. Some are worthwhile. While others are neither.
As choral conductors and lovers of the choral art, we should turn aside from the noise during these precious summer moments to reflect on the incredible power that exists within our rich and historic musical tradition. Take three minutes and twelve seconds to be reminded of choral music's value to those who sing.
I had no idea this topic was going to go on this long! Comments from all of you talented people keep new posts and ideas coming. As I said in my initial post, intonation is a complicated subject.
If you haven't looked at the comments, please do so! This community has many sharp (I don't mean pitch!) and talented people, and they've added to what I've written. My last post got a lot of excellent comments--take a look here. I gain as much as I give here.
So, now to flatting (I'm speaking here primarily in a cappella music)! What do we do about it? As with all to do with intonation, it depends on the cause. There's no one reason why the choir goes flat. I remember Michael Korn saying at a workshop one time that the proper use of the left hand was a finger pointing up, reminding the choir not to flat! I can't agree with that very much, although a gesture can help at times.
First (and sorry, this isn't the magic answer you may be seeking!), you have to work constantly on those things we've been talking about:
good vocal technique
unified vowels - good placement of vowels
good unisons and octaves (and perhaps a vibrato that doesn't obscure the pitch--YMWV/"your mileage will vary"--my way of saying that everyone's taste will vary here!)
work on whatever tuning system you choose--if it's just intonation, the choir has to learn where those major thirds belong, for example
good rhythmic ensemble and vowels that coincide when they should
tuning exercises--I highly recommend John Goldsmith's exercises!
It should be said that this is a long-term plan, not something that happens overnight. It's an important part of your training the choir and choir members to be better musicians and to have better ensemble and vocal skills. And it's work that never ends--do you think the Swedish Radio Choir never rehearses these things? Of course they do! At a different level than most of us do, but they constantly address all these issues, too.
It also means that your rehearsal plan needs to be appropriate to each stage of the choir's development on a particular program. In the early learning stages, don't overwhelm with too much at once. Work on neutral syllables or count-sing (instead of text), work at a slower tempo (so they can absorb the pitches and harmonies better). Pace your rehearsal well so the hardest work comes when they're still fresh, and make sure that demands are varied throughout the rehearsal (see my earlier posts on rehearsal technique).
Separately from this, what's the room like where you rehearse? Easy or difficult for them to hear each other? Too reverberant, not reverberant enough? Temperature relatively well-controlled, or often too hot or cold? These aren't always things you can control, but if you can, do so! I've worked in great and terrible rooms, but manage to make it work in all. But if you can work in a better room or improve the room you're in, you'll want to do it.
But, assuming you're doing the things on the list above (appropriate to the level of your choir), what goes into a choir singing flat? Back to basics first--your diagnosis has to tell you why they're going flat. Possible reasons and solutions:
poor breath management - remind them about proper use of the breath -- are they slumping in their chairs? Are they using enough breath energy?
are descending intervals too wide? If they've done exercises such as John's, your feedback will mean something to them and they can make adjustments, for example, on a descending minor third that is too wide (a common fault)
are the vowels dull or placed too far back? work with them on brightening and bringing vowels forward -- have them sing on a brighter vowel/syllable (tee), then go back to text -- do a quick exercise to bring the primary vowels that are poorly placed where they should be
are they singing with a lowered soft palate? do an exercise to get them to raise the soft palate
do they "scoop" up to pitches? then work with them on making sure each onset is exactly in tune
is the key part of the problem? Perhaps you need to try transposing up or down.
how about their energy on the day? or a room that is too hot? do something to bring up their energy, a physical exercise/movement, switching to a lively piece that they like, etc.
All of these are possible problems and solutions. Your experience, listening and observation (what you see in the choir can often give a clue to the items above) will tell you a lot about why they're flat and what to do about it.
But there's another issue that I spoke of last time: that of tonal memory. Patrick Taylor, in a response to that post, said that he believes it's more about muscle memory than tonal memory--and I should have mentioned that. It's certainly a combination of those elements (thanks, Patrick!). I can't say what the percentage is of each, but it doesn't really matter. If the choir sings flat for very long, or sings an interval too far down on the descending side or not far enough up on the ascending side . . . they will memorize that as correct (whether tonal or muscle memory). And once they do that, it's very hard to get them to sing it correctly.
For that reason, I don't want to allow the group to sing under pitch when they learn a piece. I will use the piano in the following ways:
I (or my accompanist) will play some chords or pitches to keep us in key, but not play constantly
we can also play pedal notes (in the bass or the treble--usually below or above where the choir is singing) that help establish correct pitch
it's possible to play along with them as well, but I'd try the other options first
I simply don't want them to start to learn the piece in the wrong key.
By the same token, I have to be very aware of melodic patterns or intervals that are flat (the descending minor third above is an example). The choir or section needs to be made aware of that and correct it. Again, singing that flat just a few times will make it a part of how they hear and feel that passage and it will be much more difficult to sing in tune.
There will also be difficult transitions/modulations or a difficult series of chords to tune. Special time needs to be spent here. I remember during one of the rehearsals I did preparing the Swedish Radio Choir where the accompanist (Michael Engström, a wonderful musician!) said, "take some time and care there--it's a dangerous place." You can't gloss over these passages, but need to make sure the choir is very secure.
Chords may need to be tuned in isolation. Are unisons and octaves really unisons? You may need to point out a place where the tenors and sopranos are in octaves so they listen and tune together. There also may be dissonances that have to be pointed out--if the basses and altos sing a major seventh, but aren't aware of it, they may try to "correct" by ear to an octave. Those are places where I'll isolate just those sections. Just asking the choir to listen (unless they're very accomplished) won't do the trick--you have to point out to them what to listen to and how to correct the tuning.
Of course, I'm also aware of other causes--if it's vocal/vowel, I have to fix that. If it's poor rhythm, I have to fix that.
Additionally, when learning (and remember, more of their conscious brain power is focused on finding the right pitch, rhythm or word) I have to be aware of tempo. Music that is fast has to be rehearsed more slowly, so they have time to perceive the correct pitches, hear and reproduce them. By the same token, slow music might have to be taken faster--it's very difficult to sustain a slow tempo vocally, and when they're learning, I want it to move at a tempo that makes it easier. As they know it better and have control of pitch, then I can gradually slow down or speed up towards the real tempo.
The key may need to be changed. This can come about because you realize that the key simply doesn't work for your choir and moving it up or down makes it comfortable and they sing in tune. Or you can plan for it. I used an example of this in a response to the last blog: I know that Weston Noble was once preparing the Nordic Choir to do Bach's Singet dem Herrn, which is written in Bb, but was probably done during Bach's time at a pitch close to a half-step lower - Weston rehearsed the choir in Ab almost exclusively and then raised the pitch to A major just as they began performances . . . and apparently had no flatting problems whatsoever. Here I think he was taking advantage of the fact that the new key (A major) was a very fresh one for the choir with no memory (muscle or tonal) of any problems in the lower key. It also may have been helped by being in a sharp, rather than flat key (although we can argue about whether this is psychological or physiological!).
My mind is starting to go and I'm brain-dead, even though there is much more to say. Please add your ideas in the comments! Help us all out with your ideas!
If I have enough mind left, I'll make a couple last posts on this topic next week. Happy weekend!
May 31, 2013, 10:00 p.m. CDT. For the second week in a row, devastating weather has pummeled Oklahoma City, home of the National Office of the American Choral Directors Association. At this time, the ACDA staff are all well and the facility is undamaged. We appreciate the many texts, e-mails, and calls received from our friends in the choral community.
E-mail is a great tool for sending text and documents to each other, but before too long, you'll run up against one of its limitations: you can't send big files with it. For most users, that's not a huge issue, but when we want to send large bits of audio or video to our musicians, we can get in trouble pretty quick. Gmail, for example, has an attachment size limit of 25 megabytes (MB), which will buy you just over 2 minutes of CD quality audio, or only a handful of seconds of HD video. If we're sending high-quality examples out to our ensemble or accompanists, this clearly isn't going to work. We need an alternative to send out multimedia. Enter two options: File compression and cloud storage.
Take the Air out of the Bag of Chips: File Compression
An easy way to save a little space is to compress a file. Think about the last bag of chips that you opened (if you're not a chips fan, try cereal instead): remember how much of that bag seemed to be taken up with air? If you squeeze the air out and reseal the bag, it would be much smaller. File compression works on the same principle. While computers do a pretty good job of using space efficiently, we can remove bits of code that are unnecessary and end up with smaller files. It's pretty easy to compress files into one of the common compressed (or "archived") file types: .ZIP or .RAR are the most common. You can do a quick search for "How to compress files" to learn how to do it with the operating system that you have on your computer.
The only problem is that audio and video files don't have a lot of fluff in them. Compared to some file types, you're not likely to save the kind of space that would make a difference with e-mail. If you're close to the attachment limit for your e-mail and just need a little squeeze, compression might get you there. For something larger, though, let's try a different method.
It's Raining Media! (In the Cloud)
"The cloud" is a generic term for high-capacity storage that is accessed over the Internet-- in other words, lots of space that can be accessed from anywhere. When you need to get large files out to someone (or a group of someones), the cloud can be a free and easy way to drastically increase your sending capacity. Services like Google Drive (using your existing Gmail or Google Account), Dropbox or Microsoft SkyDrive all give you free storage to a point and let you upload files to a folder that you create. This works just like folders on your computer, and as a matter of fact, each of these have an application that you can use to create a real folder on your desktop that will automatically send files to the cloud account for you.
But once they're there, what do you do with them? Once you have uploaded a file, either through one of these applications or the website for the service, you can choose to share the folder with anyone that you wish. If you know that you send lots of audio or video to your ensembles, you can create a folder and share with all of your musicians and upload files throughout your concert season. They can then download them to their own computers and do with them as they will. This is great if you plan on sending many files over a long period of time, but it does require a little setup to use.
The second option is to use a mailing service such as WeTransfer. If e-mail is like the mail carrier for letters, consider WeTransfer your UPS/FedEx/DHL-- this is the shipper for your major packages. Again, it's a free service, and it also requires no registration. For files up to 2 gigabytes (GB), you can enter your e-mail, the e-mail of whoever you wish to send the files to, and push the button. All of your recipients will get a notification that they can download the file when they're ready.
The Right Package for the Right Content
Neither of these options are going to replace e-mail, but e-mail just isn't the best solution for moving big things like audio and video. As we get more storage and transportation methods, it'll be easier to move huge amounts of data (without having to resort to those all-night CD burning parties for practice tapes). Use one of these options to make it easier to send out the examples that you want to share with your group!
John Goldsmith's two guest posts (here and here) demonstrate a wonderful way to train your choirs to remember and audiate patterns, shifts of tonality, accurate half and whole steps, scales, etc. He creates ways to train the tonal memory in a positive way, which will help your choir in reading as well as to sing better in tune. It's a learnable skill.
Tonal memory can work against us as well, however. Singers have impressive abilities to memorize where pitches are.
On the positive side, Robert Fountain used to do an exercise in tonal memory with an Eb Major chord (from the bottom up: root, 5th, root 3rd), asking his choirs to be able to produce it from memory at any time. I've known other conductors who've worked on that kind of memory (not perfect pitch, but to develop a memory for a particular chord or pitch).
When I'm working on a piece intensively, I almost always find that if I don't think about it, but simply begin singing it, I'm almost invariably in the correct key (I don't have perfect pitch). My choirs can often do this as well.
But it also takes little time to memorize pitches incorrectly. An example:
With my PLU choir I did John Gardner's wonderful and dramatic, A Latter-Day Athenian Speaks (published by Oxford, now available only on rental, it's a fabulous--and difficult--a cappella setting ca. 13 minutes long). We'd been working on it, preparing for a January-Term tour to the mid-west and east coast. The end of the piece has a dramatic double-choir fugue and, even though we'd been singing it well in tune through the rehearsal process, when we got to the first performance, the choir (with all of the energy and excitement that goes with a first concert) drove that section of the piece a half step sharp. After that, we always sang it sharp. I'd rehearse it with some reference pitches from the piano and they'd lock it in, but in concert they'd be a half step sharp within very few bars. In essence, they now memorized going sharp there, heard the opening of the fugue that way, and no matter what I did, that's what was going to happen.
The power of tonal memory is just that strong.
It's one of the reasons that you have to be very careful not to allow your choir to flat or go sharp early in the learning process--it quickly becomes a part of how they hear the music and tonality. It's a reason to listen carefully early in the process. It's also why rehearsing well, not trying to do too much too soon, or using Robert Shaw-style countsinging/rehearsal techniques, etc., can make a huge difference in whether your choir stays in tune or goes flat (more usual than sharp, of course).
It's also the reason why, if your choir has been going flat in a particular key, if you suddenly raise the pitch by a half-step, they may be able to keep it in tune: you've moved out of the tonality where they've memorized going flat. They can now approach it with a fresh sense of where those pitches belong.
It's not about listening! Sometimes we say, "Listen!" . . . well, how could they go a quarter-step flat, exactly together, unless they were listening to each other?!
I'll write next about some ways to rehearse to avoid these kinds of problems. The use of the piano in rehearsal is a part of that.
There is, of course, more to say about intonation, but I won't go on posting too much longer about this topic. If you have specific intonation issues you'd like me to address, drop me a line (you can google my address at UNT or write through ChoralNet) and let me know what you'd like to ask. I have a few more things to write about intonation as well.
And looking ahead, let me know if there are other topics of interest for a blog series after the summer break.
My own blog has some earlier posts on programming, working with orchestra, etc. You can find it here: http://richardsparks1.blogspot.com/, and you can look at the list of blog posts by topic on the right hand side of the blog.
Except for a very few holdouts, the academic year is over. Time for a little rest and rejuvenation. A change of scenery is in order, as is some time for reflection. Here, then, is a little something to ponder from your hammock. The following is by Kevin Peter Hand, a planetary scientist/astrobiologist in Pasadena, California and a 2011 National Geographic Emerging Explorer:
The drumbeat of human civilization is the pursuit of new knowledge. We explore, we discover, and we advance. From fundamental research on cancer to revolutionizing our understanding of the universe, it is not an either/or: we must do it all. Anything less is a sign that our priorities as a race have been hijacked by agendas beneath our potential. As has become a refrain in my community, the drumbeat continues and we echo the wise words of Teddy Roosevelt: Dare mighty things.
What will YOU dare to advance the choral art next season?
This is the second part of John Goldsmith's Calibrating the Ear warm-ups. To understand this, you must first read Part I! The singing of chromatic and whole-tone scales will be done every day, along with the earlier exercises. The more advanced exercises can be added later if you wish.
These are great exercises which will vastly improve the ability of your choir to sing accurately and in tune--but only if you do them regularly!
Singing chromatic and whole-tone scales (the ultimate test for accurate chromatic calibration!)
By concentrating on the ear rather than the voice, you accomplish much more than simply warming up! After the minor melody exercise have your singers ascend the chromatic scale a cappella singing "doo-doo" while you conduct quarter notes in an Andante tempo. Ask them to sing the octave up and down first (or a 1-3-5-8-1 arpeggio), to establish the aural destination (I suggest the "D-D" or C#-C# octave - relatively comfortable for all voice parts).
The first time they will over-shoot or under-shoot the octave after those twelve notes! Sing the octave again. Repeat the chromatic scale up in quarters. Work until they can sing an accurate chromatic scale up and down, ending on the same pitch with which they began.
Remind them to sing softly (mp dynamic).
When they can sing the chromatic scale accurately up and down at a steady tempo (all quarter notes) have them sing up with quarter-notes, down the chromatic scale in 8th notes, then back up in triplets, and down again in 16ths. Don't change the tempo - make the singers do the subdivisions with good ensemble. It's not easy to do the chromatic scale accurately at a rapid tempo, but they will get it.
The most important skill for singers is the ability to sing and hear the difference between half-steps and whole-steps . . . which leads to the next step: the whole-tone scale. This scale has only six tones. Sing the octave again, then repeat as above . . . up the whole tone scale in quarters, down in 8ths, up in triplets, down in 16ths. The Whole-tone scale takes a bit longer to learn, but you will be surprised how quickly it sinks in!
Singing minor and major arpeggios:
Conclude with singing minor arpeggios up and a major arpeggio down (start around B, since it's easy for all voice ranges). Remember, you must be able to demonstrate this! Each shift up a half-step must be done without the piano.
If this becomes easy, you can work on arpeggios with all minor thirds (diminished) or major thirds (augmented).
Some Advanced Techniques:
Once your singers can sing the minor melodies shifting down by half-steps accurately, the chromatic and whole-tone scales, and minor/major arpeggios, challenge their tonal memories as follows: Sing to them a different five-note minor melody, ask them to sing it back . . . then ask them to "audiate" the melody (i.e. hear it silently in your head), then say "OK, sing the 3rd note when I conduct it." Might not work at first . . . try again. Then try shifting the five-note down by a whole step, or up by a half-step. Then "audiate in that tonality, and sing the 4th (or 2nd) note on my cue." You can also create five-note melodies based on the whole-tone scale using these tonal memory exercises. Even more advanced: sing a 5-note melody, have them sing it back, then - in silence - ask them to shift down a whole step plus a half-step and audiate in that tonality . . . then "sing the 3rd note when I conduct you!" If they can do this their tonal memories are STRONG!
Again, my huge thanks to John for sharing with us!
John Goldsmith is a terrific musician, directs the Heinz Chapel Choir at the University of Pittsburg, and teaches the musicianship courses for the Music Department. He was a member of Chanticleer and sang with Robert Shaw in France. If you wish to reach him directly about his workshops, contact him through his email address at the University of Pittsburg.
I first came across John's Calibrating the Ear--Developing Tonal Memory workshop material through Simon Carrington, requested a copy (which John gladly gave), and then met him briefly at a NW ACDA Conference. I've used these exercises with my choirs at PLU and found them valuable. I haven't used them since coming to UNT but, now that I'm reminded about them with this blog series, plan to this fall! I highly recommend them. This is the first of two parts:
Definition: Tonal memory is the ability to accurately sing back long phrases of melodic line after one hearing. This ability develops into the skill of singing in tune and maintaining a stable key center in a cappella singing.
Premise: Most choral directors do vocal warm-ups with the choirs prior to beginning rehearsals. The most common method is to sing five-note scales or arpeggios up and down, possibly while playing along on the piano. The exercises are usually done in major mode and all tonal shifts are given to the singers with the piano. This type of warm-up actually prevents the development of tonal memory because: 1) no one really "listens" when singing in the major mode, 2) singers go on "automatic" and simply match pitch without thinking if the piano plays along, and 3) singers are not asked to engage their intellects or use their ears.
The Ear Calibration Warm-up system is an a cappella warm-up which utilizes patterns in the minor mode (which is so odd that singers actually pay attention), thus turning on that illusive "listening switch" in the brain. By teaching the fundamental skill of being able to hear and sing the difference between half and whole steps, tonal memory is developed and expanded, parts are learned more quickly, unisons are beautiful, and singing in tune becomes automatic.
At first the routine may take 8-10 minutes. Don't be impatient--tonal memory takes time to develop and the initial investment will be well worth it! Furthermore, the calibration rolls over from year to year, and new singers catch on quickly.
The Calibration Routine pre-supposes that the conductor can sing the given 5-note scale minor patterns, chromatic and whole-tone scales up and down, a cappella, in tune, and can demonstrate it.
Rehearsals are begun with a couple minutes of relaxing exercises (backrubs; shoulder rolls; movement of shoulders, arms, and face; yawns (raise the soft palate); and sprechstimme imitation (raise the soft palate). The Ear Calibration warm-ups must be done in an environment of silence. If there is a band playing next door your singers will not have enough quiet to hear that inner voice.
The First Step for Turning On the Brain's Listening Switch:
In a medium-high tessitura, using a neutral vowel (nyah, nyoh, nyoo) with no vibrato (you cannot tune vibrato!) in a soft dynamic, sing a five-note melody using the notes of the minor triad (e.g. mi-Do-re-ti-la) and ask your choir to sing it back to you. Then ask them to shift down one-half step and sing it again. Even if the singers accurately shift down a half-step (not likely), the exercise will fail the first time because they will sing the melody back to you in major.
Stop them . . . tell them what happened . . . say: "we are in minor, not major . . . make the 2nd note lower (i.e. "Do") - demonstrate. Start over. Sing the melody to them again and ask them to sing it back. Pause. Forbidding your singers to sing or hum, ask "can you still hear the first note (i.e. "mi") in your head?" (If anyone sings or hums the pitch the entire exercise is ruined for everyone else . . . tonal memory gets exercised in silence!)
Then ask them to silently shift down one-half step (NOBODY is allowed to sing or hum the new starting pitch!) and sing the melody back in the new tonality. Chances are they will have shifted at least a whole step. Repeat all this until they catch on to what a half step sounds like!. At consecutive rehearsals change the order of the minor melody always beginning on the fifth (e.g. mi-ti-re-Do-la; mi-re-ti-Do-la; mi-la-re-ti-Do . . . etc.) NOTE: by beginning in medium high tessitura and shifting down by half-steps the voice relaxes, and singers spend their concentration on the pitches rather than trying to sing higher and higher (and getting tighter and tighter).
Additonal notes:
do the entire calibration warm-up routine at every rehearsal
always entirely a cappella! never play the new shifts on the piano--insist that the singers remember (wihout humming) the first pitch of the previous tonal center, and make the half-step shift down without help (coach them and demonstrate it)
begin the descending five-note pattern moderately high--by using descending patterns the voice will relax as you go rather than tighten up, as it inevitably will if you begin in ascending patterns
make sure your singers are aware they must raise the soft palate!
with whatever vowel you choose:
watch their mouths for uniform shape
demand perfect unisons (say, "make unison")
soft dynamic with no vibrato
be extremely picky about pitch accuracy, and be specific about which pitches are not accurate (e.g. "the fifth note is low because the fourth note was too low")
when the five-note pattern becomes easy for the choir, change it
From my experience, this is a demanding exercise, but the singers will improve rapidly (wait until you see part 2!). It will make a huge difference in the ears of your singers and, therefore, in their intonation. Many thanks to John for being willing to share this Ear Calibration routine!
Though the following comments are from an article on professional aviators, they are applicable to professionalism in every walk of life – including choral conductors.
Professionalism is a way of thinking about your work. Professionals don’t just understand the tasks they’re being paid to complete, they understand how all the pieces of everything in their profession fit together … and why. A professional (at least to me) understands the subtleties that produce a near perfect product or experience, whether that’s installing new carpeting in a home — clean up after yourselves and make sure everything fits before you leave — or flying an airplane near Virga — slow the airplane before you get too close since significant turbulence is highly probable.
And professionals wear their label proudly because they don’t need someone to tell them what to study next or what rule to follow. They care enough to dive into their careers and learn because they want to be the best.
It’s not a surprise to me any longer that young workers require more precise instructions than we did growing up. I’ve seen it in my graduate students at Northwestern too. But why? Where did we fail them?
Is this need to hold their hands and to be told what to do and what not to do simply fallout from too much technology or is it decades of lousy, indulgent parenting skills coming back to roost?
(Monday, May 20, 2013, 4:00 p.m. CDT) Despite massive devastation in various areas of the Oklahoma City metro area over the past 24 hours from a series of tornadoes, the American Choral Directors Association reports that the members of the staff and their families are safe. The ACDA national office in downtown Oklahoma City did not experience any damage.
Thank you to the many members of the choral community who continue to text, e-mail, and call out of concern.
One of the greatest benefits of ACDA membership is the opportunity to hold appointive or elective leadership positions in the Association. There are currently three openings within ACDA's national Repertoire & Standards structure:
Children's & Community Youth
Ethnic & Multicultural
Male Choir
Those interested in applying for these positions should submit a brief Statement of Intent outlining a vision for the future of the respective R&S area a résumé. Only electronic applications are being accepted. Send materials to Amy Blosser, National R&S Chair at amy.blosser@bexleyschools.org. Applications are due by JUNE 1, 2013.
A few other vocal issues to consider in terms of intonation:
Extremes of range - moving to the top of any singer's range will be a challenge--vocally and therefore for intonation as well. This is an area that needs the kind of long-term vocal work that I've already described: vocalizes that help singers learn how to sing high notes well and modification of vowels, especially for sopranos as they move to the top of the staff and above (closed vowels will need to be more open) - these aren't short-term fixes (although if you've already been working on these techniques, sometimes a reminder is all that's needed)
Music written in the passaggio or break -- this is too complex a topic for a brief blog, but we're speaking of the transitions from one register to another -- suffice it to say that you need to learn how to help your singers deal with this issue and it's always an area to consider when diagnosing intonation problems -- all singers will find it challenging to sing with consistent resonance in this area (well-trained singers might not) and therefore to sing in tune as well
Sustained or repeated notes - this is both a vocal and mental/ear issue: when a singer has to sustain a long note, it's easy to 1) fail to keep a constant flow of air/let energy flag 2) fail to keep a pure vowel sound or 3) the singer fails to listen or pay attention to pitch -- any of these mean that sustained or repeated notes can easily go flat unless . . . attention is paid to air flow/energy, mentally "repeating" the target vowel, and the singer listens for sustaining the same pitch and not allowing it to change
"Placement" of vowels - Mike mentioned in his post on barbershop the importance of vocal resonance and placement, much as I did when discussing vowels and teaching concepts of "bright" and "dark" (which one could also consider "forward" and "back," although that's a simplfication) - in general it's easier to keep a forward, brighter vowel in tune, compared with one that is placed further back or is darker (if these terms don't mean much to you, then we may need more discussion) -- really well-trained singers will be able to sing a much richer, "darker" tone without it affecting pitch
These are specific issues, but a reminder that intonation problems have many (and sometimes, multiple) causes. Don't forget to consider all the vocal issues in both the training of your choir or in your diagnosis of why the choir's singing out of tune in a specific place in the music.
As conductors, both we and our ensembles generate a tremendous amount of information - some of it in aural or visual performance, some of it in our research and program notes, and some in our presentations, journal notes and articles for professional organizations. In the past, we had only two options when it came to our own intellectual property: copyright it, in which case nobody could legally share it, or throw it to the winds without restriction, in which case it could be freely distributed, modified or copied. While these copyright options served an era in which copying, editing and redistributing were time- and resource-intensive work, computers and the Internet have made it much easier for our work to spread the world and influence others in a variety of ways. The Creative Commons organization has developed and supports a method of intellectual property that's much more nuanced and appropriate to the digital sharing age. If you or your ensemble generate intellectual property, the Creative Commons system may give you more options to share and control your hard work.
What is Intellectual Property? What can I claim?
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and none of this should constitute legal advice.
Simply put, intellectual property ("IP") covers information, art or products of your creativity and hard work. In the digital age, intellectual property is data. Your program notes are a result of your intellectual work, so they are your intellectual property. Likewise, your ensemble's performance of a piece is that group's IP - a result of that combination of performers and your vision for the particular performance. You can record and distribute that performance and claim it as "yours"-- just as I could perform the same piece 2 months later and claim that performance as "mine."
That's broad strokes-- there are some essential details to consider. First, you can't claim something which is already out in the public sphere. I can perform the Verdi Requiem, record it, and distribute it as my performance. I can't claim the Verdi Requiem as mine, though, since it's already out in the sphere and obviously isn't my work. Second, copyright rolls uphill and starts with the original creator of the work. In other words, I own the copyright to any of my compositions. If a choir purchases one piece from me (I wouldn't recommend it-- they're terrible), then I give them the right to perform it. That's why octavos often have something written on them like "for non-commercial performance only." My copyright as creator of the piece supercedes yours as the "purchaser."
So what does the creator of an IP have in their copyright? The big ones that apply to us most often are distribution, commercial performance and derivative works. Distribution means that when I buy 80 copies of a piece, I can neither copy those to distribute to 100 singers, nor can I resell them. The issue of "selling used works" is actually much murkier than most people realize, but it's way past the scope of this article. Commercial performance means that I can't perform it for profit without royalties going back to the original copyright holder. Derivative works means that I can't create a work that is "obviously derivative" (i.e. directly derived from) somebody else's IP. There's one more wrinkle to consider: copyright is automatically awarded to the first person who can claim ownership/creation of an idea, whether or not they display the copyright logo or fill out the legal paperwork. In other words, this article is already copyrighted by virtue of my name being on it and there being a date at the top.
This means that technically speaking (again-- not a lawyer):
You can't share a video of another choir's performance. You like the video that a friend sent you? Tough-- sit on it.
You want to share a video of your choir's performance of a copyrighted work? Copyright says no.
You give a new text translation of a traditional work to an interest session group and tell them "Please, use this in your programs! I waive my copyright protections!"? They can now modify it wholly at will and change your work to meet and fit their own.
The Creative Commons
The idea of the Creative Commons is two-fold: first, to identify restrictions to IP that are more in line with the digital sharing age, and second, to allow people more specific choices than "on-or-off" for their own IP.
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
Attribution - Share Alike
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you an license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution - No Derivative Works
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Attribution - Non Commercial
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-comercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivative Works
This license is the most restrictive of the our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially.
You can see how these licenses give a wide range of settings for your IP. Artists, scientists and educators are turning to the Creative Commons to be able to share each other's works more fluidly. As creator of a piece of intellectual property (again, even if it's just a recording of a performance of a work that's not currently under copyright), you can choose any of these levels to reflect how you'd like the piece to be shared.
The Creative Commons website has links to many people who are using the Creative Commons "in the wild" as a form of protection, including the White House. Would you consider using any of these for your works? Have you come across people using the Creative Commons licenses? Would this offer you the ability to share things in a way that traditional copyright doesn't? Comment below!
While I haven't exhausted the topic of voice and vowel, another area that intersects with intonation is that of rhythm/ensemble. As I mentioned early on, poor (or excellent) intonation has many potential causes. That's why we have to diagnose correctly what the underlying problem is and help the singers solve it, rather than just saying, "You're out of tune!"
Because of the way that unified vowels affects intonation (see this earlier post), chords won't tune as well if the rhythm of the choir isn't crisp and together--because the vowels happen at different times and don't "line up" in such a way that all the overtones/partials line up as well.
There are two parts to this: understanding diction and that we don't really deal (technically) with words, but the sounds that make up words. "My country 'tis of thee" has five words, six syllables, but seven vowel sounds. The diphthong in the word, "my" means there are two vowels--if those vowels aren't together, the intonation won't line up either. This is the genesis of Fred Waring's "Tone Syllables" (if you've seen the old Shawnee Press editions, you know what I mean!). Robert Shaw was brought to New York by Waring to help prepare his new radio choir and Shaw certainly learned those lessons. To get the best diction, the best unification of vowel (and best unification of pitch), the choir has to be able to sing all the sounds precisely together. I remember watching/hearing the King's Singers in concert quite a few years ago from the first row, dead in front of them. The unanimity with which they closed through every single dipthong was amazing--you could literally see their mouths closing through the "oo" as the vanishing vowel of the diphthong "oh" exactly at the same time.
The second part of this fits with Shaw's development of the technique of count-singing. This is a way to get the ensemble (before they pronounce words) to find a precise rhythmic ensemble and sense of intonation (since they're all singing the same vowel: one-and-two-and-tee-and) at the same time. Once the choir moves from count-singing to text, each sound (not each word) has to fit precisely in place. Shaw said, "There is no such thing as good intonation between voice lines that do not arrive or quit their appointments upon mathematically precise, but effortless schedule."
Again, the level of your choir will determine how far you take this and how you choose to teach it, but without a good sense of rhythmic ensemble and being able to sing all the vowel sounds in a given phrase together, your choir will not sing as well in tune as they could. Building a technique/discipline (whether or not you use count-singing) of rhythmic ensemble and learning how to correctly sing all the different sounds in the words we pronounce will make a huge difference in not only diction and blend, but of intonation as well.
And when intonation in your choir seems to be fuzzy, ask yourself whether the rhythm and ensemble of your choir is fuzzy, too. Again, Robert Shaw, from Howard Swan's chapter in Decker/Herford's Choral Conducting: A Symposium): Of this and all other problems related to pitch, Shaw could say, "Mental laziness and sloppy intonation are a pretty smooth couple."
In last week's Choral Caffeine column, we commented that filmmakers are increasingly turning to choral musicians as subject matter for their films. Almost as if on cue comes this trailer for a documentary currently in production that highlights one of the choral art’s beloved figures.
AMEN: The Life & Music of Jester Hairston, pays a fond and respectful homage to a man who has left an indelible mark upon all of those who have sung his music. In announcing the dedication of the 1989 ACDA National Conference to Jester, the Choral Journal stated that he was a man whose “unwavering devotion to his art is fueled by his love for music and the joy he receives from sharing that music.”
The film is being produced by the California State University Dominguez Hills Foundation. A session hosted by the producers will be featured during the R.E.A.P.: The National Conference on the Spirituals, June 13-15 in Denver, Colorado.
It’s time to throw away the striped vests and straw hats! Barbershop isn’t just for old folks anymore!
If you haven’t been actively involved with the barbershop art-form, you might not be aware of the renaissance that has been taking place over the last 10 years. Lately, even the simplest forms of barbershop harmony are being used in classrooms around the world to teach a number of lessons, reaping a number of exciting benefits, including improved ear training, part independence, sight reading, visual awareness, recruitment of male singers, and so much more.
Barbershop harmony in the quartet and choral setting has been blazing a new path in high schools, colleges and universities, concert venues around the world, and has even taken its own place on the internet. Don’t believe me? Take some time to look into some of the hottest barbershop groups around today, including the Vocal Majority, the Westminster Chorus, the Ambassadors of Harmony, OC Times, Vocal Spectrum, and Musical Island Boys, to name just a few.
You’ll probably wonder…“Is this BARBERSHOP?!” Barbershop harmony has been working hard to improve its craft, and today you’ll find some of the very best in ensemble singing, advanced vocal techniques, and locking and ringing of chords with the tightest tuning around.
Above all no matter your age, musical/singing experience, or geographic location, barbershop harmony is the pinnacle of lifelong healthy singing and learning long after the college experience. So, if you haven’t given barbershop a chance recently, there’s a wealth of opportunities just a few clicks away. Check it out at barbershop.org and help to “keep the whole world singing!”
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E-mail is a great tool for sending text and documents to each other, but before too long, you'll run up against one of its limitations: you can't send big files with it. For most users, that's not a huge issue, but when we want to send large bits of audio or video to our musicians, we can get in trouble pretty quick. Gmail, for example, has an attachment size limit of 25 megabytes (MB), which will buy you just over 2 minutes of CD quality audio, or only a handful of seconds of HD video. If we're sending high-quality examples out to our ensemble or accompanists, this clearly isn't going to work. We need an alternative to send out multimedia. Enter two options: File compression and cloud storage.
One of the greatest benefits of 
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