Tako Oda wrote:
> Easier said than done! Most singers in an amateur choir can't support
> properly on a loud note, let alone a soft one. I've heard a lot of choir
> directors tell people to "support", and noone, including the director,
> really knew what the term meant.
>
> OF COURSE, there are exceptions, but they are few.
I'm lucky enough to have one. In a way, he works with the choir collectively
the way he
does with a private voice student. He never asks for "support", a meaningless
term for
people who haven't learned through voice study how to achieve it. For example,
this could
cause an untrained singer to "push" more air through a narrow opening.
My director listens to the section's tone in a problematic section of the
music, and then
asks them to do something differently to achieve a different tone, which he
demonstrates a
few times - first the way he wants, then the way he doesn't want, then the
desired way
again. He asks the singers collectively to do individually whatever is
necessary to
achieve the desired tone. The section's tone always improves immediately, and
he asks
them to remember what they did and continue to do it. Obviously, this doesn't
"take" in
one session, but is worked on throughout the rehearsal period so that the
desired results
are more likely to occur in performance. You'd be amazed at the gorgeous tone
that our
mostly untrained, totally unauditioned, singers can make.
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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