LGPE Choral Preparation

Diction is the one element that will make or break a “good choral sound”.

Singing in English is a minefield for the American choral director. The way we speak American English is not, in most ways, the way we sing in English. The primary reason is that for the performance of “standard choral literature”, the gold standard for the choral tone is the raised soft palate which produces a free and beautiful sound. Over 70% of spoken American English contains the sound of the schwa(for IPA symbol please refer to the downloadable version of this document), the “uh” sound. Most often it is found alone in words like  of, the, a, was, what, from, one, sun, love, and many more. Sometimes it occurs in diphthongs, which are particularly troublesome for the choral director as singers often move too soon to the closed/unaccented sound. The goal of great choral singing in any language is long, open vowels followed by quick, crisp consonants. The use of the unaccented schwa(see downloadable document for symbol)is a sound that is used in singing, but only at the conclusion of sound. 

The sound of the schwa as an accented sound tends to lower the soft palate for a most unpleasant sound. This one change in choral singing is an accepted practice in pop, jazz, country, contemporary musical theatre,some church choral music and studio choral music. Over the past few years this sound has found its way into choral singing because of the way our language has changed and how we speak in our country. Students will let this sound migrate into the choral sound if it is not dealt with consistently. Discuss with your choir the kind of choral tone expected by LGPE judges, and strive for that sound when singing classic choral music.

How do you keep the soft palate high when singing the “uh” sounds? You must search the problem vowels out first. Then start with “ah”. If “ah” is too open for your tastes, then change/modify the vowel slightly, but not so much that eh singer cannot maintain the raised soft palate. Vowel modification will change depending on the voice and range.

Using the raised soft palate on the “uh” sounds will transform you choral sound. When you take your choir to festival or a performance evaluation, more than likely, your judges will make their critique based on the traditional sound of bel canto(Beautiful tone/sound/voice.

Singing in the tradition of Western Europe is our primary heritage of most of the literature that we sing in the U.S. and is the starting point in teaching good choral sound. With this as a foundation, there will be not limit to your young singer’s ability to adjust and react to new sounds and stylistic changes in the voice. There have been many new styles that have emerged from other corners of our world and from the pop side of choral music over the past 100 or so years. One must give special attention when attempting to teach students to sing music produced vocally differently from that of the western tradition. In doing so, one must teach our singers how and why the sound is produced and, why it may or may not be different from the sound we normally ask from our singers. Care must be taken, as well, with the vocal health of our singers, as many may be wading in dangerous waters. Do no harm to these young voices.

Special attention to the use of consonants is just as important as vowel usage. The consonant is critical for understanding in all languages, but especially important for rhythmic, melodic and syllabic intensity and vitality. Energy in the musical line has a great deal to do with consonant use. The consonant helps in developing the ebb and flow of the rhythm, the melody, the harmony and the dynamic line. We in the South are especially lazy with our consonant production.

What is the value in teaching other languages in choral singing? It is important for us in America that we teach foreign languages(especially Latin and Italian) for developing good vocal technique. As students understand the physical posture and feeling of the open vowel in singing, they can more easily transfer the sound to other languages, including English, especially English. How many times have you found that a piece in Latin has been easier to bring to full bloom than a corresponding one in English?

There are other problems that arise in choral singing that contradict all this talk about the raised soft palate. Stylistic changes in music may require diction mutations that may or may not produce “good choral sound”. How do we deal with them? One may need to mutate the vowel to the point of lowering the soft palate and/or spreading the vowel to its widest position in performing some historical pieces, some ethnic pieces, or some contemporary pieces.

The best advice might be to stay clear of the choral music that requires a harsh, abrasive, bright sound made by lowering

the soft palate and/or spreading the vowel. The performance of these pieces might be best achieved by high school and

younger students using the basic vocal techniques of the traditional sound of bel canto.

Many of the things that we have introduce in this chapter are becoming more and more controversial. Let us hear from you on how you approach this subject as you teach in your choral classroom. What do you think?

 Preface

We envision this document as an open-ended study of all the things that lead up to the choral LGPE (large group performance evaluation; formerly known as festival) held by GMEA in the state of Georgia. It is our hope that many LGPE judges will add to the notes that we have begun. Some of the content in some chapters are very light in content. We hope that this will change

The consummate choral director does not acquire knowledge of the best techniques that result in an outstanding singing ensemble in one easy lesson. The process of learning never ends. The best teachers/directors search for new and better means of producing the most beautiful, the most energetic, the most meaningful, and the best possible performance by the choir. This document will be just a step in opening eyes of directors who are looking for new ways to teach concepts and skills that form the choral/vocal experience. In most cases these are old established concepts found in any choral director’s tool bag, but some are new ways of teaching or communicating.

What are the elements in training a choir to be both artistically tasteful and communicative? What does our experience and knowledge tell us are the best practices for performance? How do we choose the music?

We have organized the chapter selection according to a presentation we gave at a recent GMEA conference. The chapters are in order of the major points made by LGPE judges from across Georgia, from those they considered the most important to the less important. We asked each judge to give us the three things (in order of importance) on which choirs needed to work. The only time we left this order was with Chapter 3. On our work around the state with various choirs, we have found that the directors who use physical reinforcement to teach vocal and choral techniques mange to teach with ease and accuracy on a consistent basis. This was the one basic teaching technique that almost always did its job with students. The two top areas of 22 judges participating were the first two areas discussed in this document. Top marks were 14 (for #1), and 13 (for #2). All other categories fell in the 1 to 9 response range. So you see, this is a compilation of ideas and statements by master choral directors and LGPE judges from across our state.

After presenting the first four chapters, the remaining chapters discuss other points that look at answers to problems which occur in all areas of directing a middle or high school choir through musical and non-musical processes. We have learned these things from classes, observations, trial and error, and shameless borrowing of any idea that we have heard. Our opinion is that the more ways you have to present something, the better chance you’ll stumble onto something that works with every student.We hope some of these ideas will work in your classroom.

You may come across information now and then that has nothing do with LGPE, but does have to do with teaching choral music in the classroom.

Look at the Appendix. It contains the outline of the LGPE presentation that we made at GMEA, 2012 on which this document is primarily based. Within the handbook are symbols from IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). They are always within brackets []. You will also find a list of additional resources. As we receive more comments and additions, we will add them as well as links to other resources that are available.

Compiled by

Eva and Tommy Jameson

Fine Arts Facilitators

Piedmont College

Demorest, GA.

CHAPTER I

APPROPRIATENESS OF MUSIC: FOR GIVEN SITUATION: FOR THE ENSEMBLE

Sometimes choosing the correct music for your choirs is the most difficult part of your job, and it’s certainly one of the most treacherous. As young teachers we often want our groups to sing the songs we love, and we’re not always conscious of their difficulty. Try always to be aware of the level of musical knowledge of your students,and “teach the choir you have”. It’s tempting to push students too far too fast, especially at LGPE time. It’s usually not wrong notes and rhythms that are a problem for judges, but lack of time spent on the vocal fundamentals. Never worry about what “class” you enter at LGPE. just put your choirs in the right place for them musically.

When choosing music, think of the number of parts you need to use with the choir. Unison singing with a good tone and diction can be a real challenge. Think of the diction level of the group. A young choir will probably have much more difficulty producing a unified English vowel sound than Latin of Italian. In any case, remember that vowel production is the key to good tone.

When choosing music for LGPE, also consider the size of your choir. You don’t want to sing a madrigal with a choir of a hundred [they're written for small groups]. Likewise, don’t choose the “Hallelujah” from Beethoven’s Mount of Olives with a group of thirty. It’s not just about whether they sing the notes; it’s also about appropriate style.

When choosing your second piece for LGPE, it’s always a safe bet to choose one off the list of the same level as your first piece. That way your choice should be safe. If you choose a second piece not on the list, be careful! Check to be sure it’s not on any other level list, and be sure it’s an appropriate selection for judging. If you have any concern about it being appropriate, don’t choose it.

READ YOUR HANDBOOK many times when preparing for LGPE. There are lots of rules, and we’ve all made stupid mistakes as young teachers.

Especially with beginning choirs, always look for “teaching pieces”. Your students might not be able to sight read the whole piece, but can they read the first page or phrase in one lesson? Are the rhythms and intervals simple enough for them to succeed with an early partial reading? Do you need to teach minor key? Compound meter? Form? Have a teaching plan in mind when you choose your music.

Be sure you have a method for both rhythm and pitch reading, and continue to stress to your students that they’re learning a new language, and it will take time to become good at it.
There is no right or wrong method…pick one and stick with it until they become proficient. Always try to read some part of every piece, even with your baby musicians; reading the whole thing is what you’re aiming for. We’re not teaching much if they’re learning the music by rote. They already got that down watching Sesame Street!

Just for the classroom:

            When looking for the “fun pieces” for your choir to sing, remember to explore the oldies but goodies. Pop music of the twenties through the fifties has lots of great songs your kids will love.There’s also great music from the musicals of that period. The fact that they don’t already know this music can be a good thing. Your audience of parents and grandparents will love your programming, too. You may find it difficult to teach the music of today to your students with the sound you want; they’ve heard the pop artists sing them, and that’s what they want to sound like. Many/most times that’s not a good thing!

Go to as many concerts as you can, spend a whole day at the music store or on the computer looking at new pieces, go to reading sessions wherever they’re held and never forget to ask for suggestions from the “old folks”. They’re always happy to share titles that have worked for them.

When you’ve chosen a piece, spend lots of time studying it. You might not be able to anticipate every problem your choir will have, but you can come pretty darn close! The more you do this, the better you (and they) will get.

Discuss with your administration and students the importance of sacred literature in the development of music throughout history. This can be a delicate area, but one which you need to address early on, with your argument well marshaled. Again, talking with some older folks will be a help with your presentation. Especially try to keep that Holiday Concert a good mix of sacred and secular.

This is the conclusion of the October, 2012 edition of the handbook. I will publish the next chapter on Diction in early November, 2012. If you can’t wait to see the rest of this handbook, just follow the earlier blog and download to your computer the ms word file of the handbook which is located on this blog.

We will also be adding a page of blog rules for this site as well as links to each section and/or chapter. Please do not post to this blog until we have the page of rules up and you have read them.

Thanks, Eva and Tommy

We are working to make this blog a little more user friendly. The topics are now downloadable doc. files (ms word). That means in order to see our content you must click on the topic. When you do, the file downloads to your computer. On most pc’s the download will appear at the bottom left of your page. For mac users the download will be located in the upper right hand corner. We are working on putting up pdf files so that you can open each topic immediately. If you still do not see the file on your screen, open your document files and look under downloads. We should have the pdf files available within the next several months. We are sorry for any problems you may be experiencing. If you still have trouble pulling this up, email me and i’ll try to walk you through it step by step. This is what I have to do with Eva!!

Tommy J—

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LGPEbook.doc

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3-4

Chapter 5-6