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CDPerformance: Vocal Technique
Vocal Pedagogy in the Choral Rehearsal:
Becoming a Vocal Technician
sy Kyte J. Weary
he goal: to develop healthy singers with healthy
vocal technique. ‘The problem: how to do this
in the choral rehearsal, without losing those pre-
cious minutes of time needed for learning music.
Creating a unified, healthy. Teaching your choir
sounding choir is something
all choral directors strive to accom- solve most problems that
plish, but all conductors’ training we find in a given choral
isn’t the same. Sometimes there are rehearsal. For instance,
gaps that need to be filled in the ed- if your choir constantly
uucation of the conductor. The pro- goes flat during a capella
cess of creating a healthy sounding pieces, what reasons can
choir is much like a doctor meet you think of that would
ing a sick patient for the first time: cause this to occur? Faulty
; one must listen to the choir breath support can be one
vefore trying to determine what the cause. If the piece is in C
problem might be. After listening, major or F major, those
8 diagnosis of the problem must be pieces typically lie right in
made, and this may include multiple the first passagio of ten
hypotheses. Finally, the conductor ors and sopranos, mak
scribe a plan of action for ing it very easy to go flat.
their students to correct whatever This problem might be
issues are found. Adding the funda- addressed by simply hav
mentals of vocal pedagogy into the ing the students use better
rehearsal may seem like a daunting breath support, or by singing in © ting and poor breath support. Pos:
these four basics can
Posture propery Ifyou can breathe prop.
‘Choral Director, January 2011 21own posture, Ifthe conductor fails our lower abdomen expands out
to have proper posture, the students like a balloon, but it doesn’t fill up.
will mitror often what they are see- Since the larynx is fully capable of
a moving in six different ways ~ side
‘There are a few ways to teach to side, up and down, and forwards
students posture and for students and back — improper posture will
to check their posture within the cause muscular tension, If there is
rehearsal setting. Having students muscular tension because of poor
routinely check both their own and posture, that can translate to ten=
a “buddy's” posture may be enough sion in the vocal folds, which will
to drill the idea ofthe importance of affect sound quality
good posture into your students. If
that docen't work, try placing mir- ati
tors in he front of the ceasroom ReSpiration
(where your students will be able to “Teaching respiration is harder
sce themselves) so they can check than most people think. We natu-
their own posture. Be aware that rally breathe in and out all day,
this may cause distraction for some
students at first, bur eventually they “Posture is the root
will be used to seeing themselves in of everything when it comes
the mirrors. ”
Body position can refer to pos- {0 singing!
ture, hut it also takes into account every day. Yet, continuously think-
the entire body. Body position is ing about breathing habits while
how we stand: feet flat on the floor completing another task ~ su
with the body weight evenly distrib- fg ~ can be quite a challenge
uted between both feet; feet roughly Improper breath support can cause
shoulder-length apart; knees relaxed many issues, including flatting and
(and notlocked); the chest should be faulty intonation. A quick fix for
high before inhalation; and the head breathing is that the director must
should be in line with the spine. It be the one to Iead the group by
is important to recognize that be- example in good breathing habits
cause singing is an athletic activity, You might consider showing the
the body must have an alertness and students (and, when appropriate,
intensity present. 1 also teach my telling them) where you would like
singers that body positioning is the them to breathe in a song. Gener-
dicection that our body takes when ally speaking, when teaching a new
singing. For instance, when singing, singer how to breathe, you must
Cee
Resources for
Choirs and Soloists
‘Since 2001 choral music
directors word wide have
‘chosen Note Perfecto
help thousands of singors
to confidently learn their
indivduel part.
Se ee
ee ue aac
ete CC etc)
22 Choral Director, January 2011
first teach them how you will indi-
cate breathing to them
Some of my favorite exercises to
teach involve deep breathing One
such activity involves having students
lie down on the floor and place a hook
fon their stomach, and then asking
‘hem to breathe so they move the book
up and down, ‘This is a great exercise
to teach our singers early on for a few
reasons, Fitst, our singers aren't hav-
ing to fight gravity when they are lying
down on the floor, so they are quite
successful when they are first learning
this. Second, they are learning how
\dependently control their stom-
ach muscles. Finally, they can visually
sce the difference in the type of breath
they are taking with the book placed
‘upon their stomach,
Differentiating between abdomi
nal breathing and chest breathing is
something that is imperative to cho-
ral singing. Typically, we advocate
for abdominal breathing, but every
so often there is a piece of choral
music (or solo vocal music) that
cessitates a chest breath from our
singers. Another easy way to show
students how to take a deep breath is
by having them pretend that they are
breathing through their belly button
with a straw, This will give them the
sensation that they are breathing
from the bottom up and will hope-
fully help them take a proper ab-
dominal breath, rather than a chest
breath. Getting students to breathe
abdominally without thinking is
something that not only takes prac-
tice, but also takes time.
Phonation
‘Teaching phonation to students is
‘often problematic, especially if the
teacher isn't a native of the area or
‘completely familiar with the subtle dia-
lect of the students. Improper phona-
ton can cause a poor focus in the tone,
and overly bright vowels can cause the
choit to sing sharp. Teaching phonation
to students must include the basic anat-
omy for the student to be a successful
singer, Singers should understand the
‘multiple components needed for good
tophonation, which include: the power
source (the vocal folds); oscillator (the
breath); and the resonator (the eavi
in the head). Along with this
knowledge, students should know that
the lips, the jaw, and tongue are what
determine the vowel sound, Opening
the mouth and having relaxed jaw
that is dropped will help singers’ pho-
nation. Teaching the “inner yawn” feel
ing typically results in a good jaw posi-
tion for singing.
Resonance
Teaching resonance to students is
the most difficult task in group vocal
pedagogy. A poor sound or lack of
projection may be caused by poorly
adjusted resonators. Fortunately, we
can teach our students about this.
The resonator is a secondary vibra:
tor, not capable of initiating pitch.
But it is capable of altering the am-
plitude and timbre of a pitch, for
better or worse, The main objective
of resonance is for space to be cre-
ated, which allows the sound to be
amplified through the cavities with-
in the head, ‘There are three main
cavities that help amplify the sound:
the mouth, the throat, and the naso-
pharynx. While most voice teach.
ers will say that resonance should
be felt, not all students have the
same sensation when feeling reso-
nance. Therefore, generalizing in
the rehearsal will most likely con-
fuse those students who are feeling
resonance differently than other
singers.
For students to comprehend
resonance, they must experience
wt over and over again. Some stu-
dents might feel it, which makes
it easy to remember, but for those
who don’t, it can be hard
member the experience, which is
why repetition is important. Also,
teaching our students one term and
using it, rather than using multiple
terms (for example, “placement,”
“focus,” “ping,” “ring,” “singing in
the mask,” “nasal resonance,” and
so on) can help decrease confusion
about this somewhat complicated
topic, Humming is a basic starting
point for most resonance exercises
Sighing and yawning are also ways
of teaching resonance. A good cho.
ral sound is one that is rich in reso.
nance and is also characterized by
a uniform vowel color, depth and
fullness of tone, and projection.
Developing our students’ voice
jg a task that won't be complete in
lone week, one semester, of even one
year, We must continuously create
new warm-ups and choose new rep-
ertoire to broaden the technique
that our students use in choir and
to keep theit voice at the top of its
game. Choral directors and educa-
tors who take the extra time to in-
corporate voeal technique into their
rehearsals aren't just teaching music
to be sung, they are teaching singers
how to sing. *2
An active presenter
and music educator
Kyle Weary isthe
socal music depart-
‘mont lead teacher
forthe Barbara
Ingram School for
the Arts in Hager
stoven, Maryland.
Kyle bas a bachelors degre in Music
Education and a master’s of music in
Conducting from Shenandoah Con-
servatory of Music, as well as Level
IM Certification in Somatic Voicework
= The LoVetri Method -from the
Contemporary Commercial Musical
‘Theatre Vocal Pedagogy Institute.
Kyle isa member of the American
Choral Directors Assocation, the
Conductors Guild, the Educational
‘Theatre Association, Music Educators
[National Conference, bi Mu Alpha
- Sinfonia, and National Association
cof Teachers of Singing
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Choral Director January 2011. 23