Day 1 posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Previous Day 2 posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Okay, so I am going to ram all of the rest of what I attended at Day 2 into this part, so it may get long. For your knowledge this post will review three session: (1) Sharri VanAlstine of UW-Whitewater on Madrigal Dinners, (2) Tesfa Wondemagegnehu's entertaining session on Vocal Pedagogy for Adolescent singers, and (3) the Great Northern Union concert and information session. Are you ready? Well here we go.
1:15 PM SESSION
During the 1:15 PM session, I attended Dr. Sharri VanAlstine's session entitled: The Educational Value, Creation, and Running of a Madrigal Dinner. Dr. VanAlstine is an assistant professor of vocal music and music education at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Her own experience in directing madrigal dinners came during her time as choir director at St. Francis High School in St. Francis, MN. When she arrived the madrigal program was already well established, so she admitted that she never had to create a madrigal dinner tradition from scratch. However, she gave a very detailed description on all of the administrative tasks that go in to creating a madrigal dinner concert at the high school level, and how such a concert will benefit your music department both educationally and from a community PR stand point.
I have long been kicking around the idea of beginning a madrigal dinner tradition at schools that I have worked at and have attended a number great sessions and spoke with many colleagues in the past including speaking with former Dubuque Senior High School director Dan Nye, purchasing Paul Brandvik's Compleet Madrigal Dinner Booke, and speaking a little with Iowa Western Community College Director Luke Johnson who wrote his master's thesis on Madrigal Dinners. I think I might be ready to start jumping in the pool for this one.
2:30 SESSION
At 2:30 Tesfa Wondemagegnehu lead a session entitled, Vocal Pedagogy for Adolescent Singers: The ABC's of Healthy Choral Singing. Mr. Wondemagegnehu, or Tesfa as he encourages many of his colleagues to call him, has been a welcome addition to the Minnesota choral scene since relocating from Florida a couple of years ago. Currently working as MPR's Choral Stream Representative, he has worked with MPR to be a readily available asset and partner with Minnesota choral directors.
The session on vocal pedagogy gave choral directors practical tools to communicate proper vocal technique to novice adolescent singers to produce a better more unified choral tone. Along with giving very practical tips, Tesfa directly referenced a number of great sources for the directors present to either revisit or read for the first time to help improve our instruction to our classes full of singers. Three that stood out from the session include Richard Miller's Structure of Singing and Solutions for Singers, Dr. Rodney Eichenberger's What They See is What You Get, and Dr. Alan Zabriskie's text Foundations of choral tone. These are three resources, along with others listed, that I will be sure to review or consult for the first time.
Additionally, I need to make sure I invite Mr. Wondemagegnehu down to work with my choirs in the near future. I think it would be a great experience for my singers.
3:45 SESSION
The Great Northern Union Chorus presented an educational concert on barbershop harmony singing in the Central Lutheran Church sanctuary. I have had the privilege to "sing in" on a number of GNU rehearsals in recent years. My current schedule has prevented me from joining the ensemble, but there rehearsals are always open to new singers (and singer educators) to learn more about them as a group and barbershop singing. In fact, GNU is one of the leading organizations in the Barbershop Harmony Society in advocating and encouraging singing opportunities for young male singers. Over the past couple of years, I have gotten to know some of the leadership in the ensemble and they are passionate about helping educators excite and recruit young men into choirs.
In my opinion, the session was under attended, and I believe many educators missed out on a great opportunity to see what GNU can do for them. I highly recommend that choir directors bring their young men to the GNU Real Men Sing Festival on October 3rd, 2015. Open to male singers in grades 7-12, the GNU Real Men Sing is a fantastic opportunity to get your men excited at the beginning of the school year. In previous years, my students have loved the experience. Oh, and it is FREE!
Additionally, there are other Real Men Sing Festivals sponsored by other great institutions in the Upper Midwest throughout the year:
1. The Staples Area Men's Chorus - The SAM founded by Stan Carlson has been a pioneering group in RMS festivals in Minnesota, having hosted one in mid-October for a number of years. If you live near Staples in North Central Minnesota it is a great event. If not, it might be a good retreat for your men, their dad's and you. And it is FREE!
2. St. Cloud State: Brothers Sing On! - Alan Hawkins and Dr. Matthew Ferrell of SCSU. The cost is $30 per singer, and includes lunch and a "Brothers Sing On!" T-shirt.
3. Wartburg College: Real Men Sing - Dr. Lee Nelson of Wartburg College in Waverly, IA has begun the tradition of hosting a Real Men Sing Festival in early October. Cost $10 per student, $25-35 for adults. Another opportunity to bring your high school men and their fathers together.
4. Minnesota Valley Men's Chorale - Although currently not scheduled, the MVMC under the direction of Steven Boehlke, has hosted men's choral festivals for high school students in the past, and are great advocates for men's choirs in the Twin Cities.
5. The Apollo Men's Chorus - Under the direction of Dr. Sean Vogt, the Apollo Club has hosted a festival for high school men in recent years.
I am sure there are a number of events which I am missing. If you know of any feel free to leave information in the comments section and I will update.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
MMEA Mid-winter Clinic - Day 2, Part 2
Day 1 posts in three parts posted in the following links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 1 of Day 2 is posted here.
On Friday, February 13th, Dr. Brad Holmes of Millikin University in Decatur, IL led an interest session entitled: Which Choir is this Anyway? A Practical Approach to Variety in Sound. Many choir directors (including me) have longed admired Dr. Holmes' work with the Millikin University Choir. Dr. Holmes excels at encouraging his choral singers to use a variety of timbrel colors in their singing through a varied selection of repertoire, but grounding these vastly different vocal colors in a healthy pedagogical approach.
During his presentation Dr. Holmes, with the benefit of handouts and recordings, illustrated his approach to programming a wide variety of tonal colors for his choirs. He first does this through repertoire selection. Below is a picture of the chart that Dr. Holmes created placing different genres of choral music on a grid system.
In this chart, Dr. Holmes places various genres of vocal / choral repertoire in relation to the desired shape of the singers vowels to the amount vibrato present in the voice. He places vibrato on the "x axis" with less vibrato on the left and more vibrato on the right. On the "y axis", he places accepted vowel shapes from wide (horizontal) on the bottom to long (vertical) on the top. Holmes readily admits that this is his interpretation of his observations of accepted performance practice, and one can debate where each genre is placed. Looking at the chart I tend to agree generally with his interpretation of these genres.
In creating a program, Dr. Holmes will often begin with a piece that sits in the "core" sound which utilizes a moderate level of vibrato with vowel shapes leaning toward vertical placement, but not overly so. He then will pick pieces that will branch out in a certain plane away from the core, return to a genre that utilizes a core sound, and then program pieces that plane away in another direction. He always returns to a core sound to allow his singers to recalibrate his or her instrument. Below is a picture laying out a sample program using recordings from 2014, 2012, and 2010. Please excuse my notes in the margins cluttering up the diagram, but the program when compared to the above chart illustrates the use of the core sound to create balance.
Dr. Holmes gives a lot of credit to his colleagues on the Millikin University Vocal Music faculty for working hand in hand with him to help teach his singers sound and healthy pedagogical approaches for creating all of the desired choral timbres. As a collegiate choral director, he is still dealing with relatively immature and developing vocal instruments. So he feels it is important to be aware of where each singer is on his or her vocal development. To negate wear and tear on the instrument he will strategically place rests in the music for individual singers. He finds this especially necessary for lighter or higher passages in the music.
In the end, this session was probably the one I was most looking forward to attending during the Mid-Winter Clinic. Strangely, I had never previously had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Holmes, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from him.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 1 of Day 2 is posted here.
On Friday, February 13th, Dr. Brad Holmes of Millikin University in Decatur, IL led an interest session entitled: Which Choir is this Anyway? A Practical Approach to Variety in Sound. Many choir directors (including me) have longed admired Dr. Holmes' work with the Millikin University Choir. Dr. Holmes excels at encouraging his choral singers to use a variety of timbrel colors in their singing through a varied selection of repertoire, but grounding these vastly different vocal colors in a healthy pedagogical approach.
During his presentation Dr. Holmes, with the benefit of handouts and recordings, illustrated his approach to programming a wide variety of tonal colors for his choirs. He first does this through repertoire selection. Below is a picture of the chart that Dr. Holmes created placing different genres of choral music on a grid system.
In this chart, Dr. Holmes places various genres of vocal / choral repertoire in relation to the desired shape of the singers vowels to the amount vibrato present in the voice. He places vibrato on the "x axis" with less vibrato on the left and more vibrato on the right. On the "y axis", he places accepted vowel shapes from wide (horizontal) on the bottom to long (vertical) on the top. Holmes readily admits that this is his interpretation of his observations of accepted performance practice, and one can debate where each genre is placed. Looking at the chart I tend to agree generally with his interpretation of these genres.
In creating a program, Dr. Holmes will often begin with a piece that sits in the "core" sound which utilizes a moderate level of vibrato with vowel shapes leaning toward vertical placement, but not overly so. He then will pick pieces that will branch out in a certain plane away from the core, return to a genre that utilizes a core sound, and then program pieces that plane away in another direction. He always returns to a core sound to allow his singers to recalibrate his or her instrument. Below is a picture laying out a sample program using recordings from 2014, 2012, and 2010. Please excuse my notes in the margins cluttering up the diagram, but the program when compared to the above chart illustrates the use of the core sound to create balance.
Dr. Holmes gives a lot of credit to his colleagues on the Millikin University Vocal Music faculty for working hand in hand with him to help teach his singers sound and healthy pedagogical approaches for creating all of the desired choral timbres. As a collegiate choral director, he is still dealing with relatively immature and developing vocal instruments. So he feels it is important to be aware of where each singer is on his or her vocal development. To negate wear and tear on the instrument he will strategically place rests in the music for individual singers. He finds this especially necessary for lighter or higher passages in the music.
In the end, this session was probably the one I was most looking forward to attending during the Mid-Winter Clinic. Strangely, I had never previously had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Holmes, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from him.
Monday, February 16, 2015
MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic 2015 Day 2, Part 1
I posted a three part post on Day 1 of the Clinic earlier.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Friday morning sessions began with the Choir Open Forum at 8:00 AM. Lead by MMEA Choral - Vice President Melanie Kjellberg of Andover High School. The forum continued the annual discussion regarding MSHSL Large Group and Solo and Small Ensemble Contests coming up, as well as ideas for revamping the audition procedure for the MMEA All-State Choir. It is a good forum to share ideas and concerns. One important note is that the MMEA is always looking for section leaders for the All-State Choir camp in August. If one is interested in participating in that experience, Melanie Kjellberg would love to hear from you. Click the MMEA hyperlink to contact her.
At 9:15 AM, Dr. Jonathan Reed of Michigan State University lead an interest session entitled: Where the Boys Are.... Men's Choir 101: "This is not art..."
Attending this session continued MMEA's initiative to bring more young men into choral music, and my own desire to re-evaluate and fine tune my approaches in retaining the young male singers at my school. Of my interest sessions focused on young male's, I probably enjoyed Dr. Reed's the most. He covered much of the same topic discussed by Dr. Sieck and Professor Bass on Thursday, but added some additional information points I found valuable.
One resource the Dr. Reed referenced was Perspective on Males and Singing, specifically the chapter written by Dr. Patrick Freer, of Georgia State University. Dr. is an expert in the male changing voice, and is a great resource for young adolescent male singers. I have attended a session lead by Dr. Freer in the past when he presented at the Iowa Choral Director's Association Summer Symposium a few years back. (As a side note, his text on middle school choirs is a very helpful resource, even for experienced educators.) The larger point that Dr. Reed made while referencing Freer's research, is that the current repertoire for young adolescent choirs has not caught up with the research, and educators MUST be willing to rewrite the score to work with the singers they have in their groups.
The overarching point of Dr. Reed's presentation is that male singers want to feel successful and that they are improving as singers in their class. At this age we as educators need to focus on the process, and not the end result. So we should not worry about achieving performance perfection in our young adolescent ensembles, because it is a virtual impossibility. What we should focus on is developing a fluidity in the vocal musculature as we work on transitions from the different registrations in and out of the passagio. (For more information on this reference the Dr. Sieck presentation here.) At this point we discussed a number of vocalization exercises, transitioning downward from the head voice through the passagio to the chest or modal voice.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Friday morning sessions began with the Choir Open Forum at 8:00 AM. Lead by MMEA Choral - Vice President Melanie Kjellberg of Andover High School. The forum continued the annual discussion regarding MSHSL Large Group and Solo and Small Ensemble Contests coming up, as well as ideas for revamping the audition procedure for the MMEA All-State Choir. It is a good forum to share ideas and concerns. One important note is that the MMEA is always looking for section leaders for the All-State Choir camp in August. If one is interested in participating in that experience, Melanie Kjellberg would love to hear from you. Click the MMEA hyperlink to contact her.
At 9:15 AM, Dr. Jonathan Reed of Michigan State University lead an interest session entitled: Where the Boys Are.... Men's Choir 101: "This is not art..."
Attending this session continued MMEA's initiative to bring more young men into choral music, and my own desire to re-evaluate and fine tune my approaches in retaining the young male singers at my school. Of my interest sessions focused on young male's, I probably enjoyed Dr. Reed's the most. He covered much of the same topic discussed by Dr. Sieck and Professor Bass on Thursday, but added some additional information points I found valuable.
One resource the Dr. Reed referenced was Perspective on Males and Singing, specifically the chapter written by Dr. Patrick Freer, of Georgia State University. Dr. is an expert in the male changing voice, and is a great resource for young adolescent male singers. I have attended a session lead by Dr. Freer in the past when he presented at the Iowa Choral Director's Association Summer Symposium a few years back. (As a side note, his text on middle school choirs is a very helpful resource, even for experienced educators.) The larger point that Dr. Reed made while referencing Freer's research, is that the current repertoire for young adolescent choirs has not caught up with the research, and educators MUST be willing to rewrite the score to work with the singers they have in their groups.
The overarching point of Dr. Reed's presentation is that male singers want to feel successful and that they are improving as singers in their class. At this age we as educators need to focus on the process, and not the end result. So we should not worry about achieving performance perfection in our young adolescent ensembles, because it is a virtual impossibility. What we should focus on is developing a fluidity in the vocal musculature as we work on transitions from the different registrations in and out of the passagio. (For more information on this reference the Dr. Sieck presentation here.) At this point we discussed a number of vocalization exercises, transitioning downward from the head voice through the passagio to the chest or modal voice.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic Day 1, Part 3
Previous posts in this thread include:
Part 1
Part 2
During the 3:30 PM session of the MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic I attended the Christine Bass session entitled "Where the Boys Are: Recruiting, Engaging, and Maintaining Tenors and Basses". Bass was a very successful high school choir director in Cherry Hill, NJ outside of Philadelphia, PA. Currently, she teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia as the Women's Choir director and as a part of the music education faculty. An incredibly successfully educator, I looked forward to learning from her in this session.
Admittedly, I was a little nervous at the beginning of the Bass session that it would merely be an advertisement for her educational DVD by the same name. Bass is one of Hal Leonard's star convention presenters, and has a very busy schedule traveling around the country. While the clinic did begin with clips from her DVD (which I am sure she is contractually obligated to do), I found her presentation engaging and to the point. Her website is quite user friendly as well, including suggested repertoire lists for SATB and TTBB ensembles, which are great starting points.
I would not say that anything information she gave in the session was revolutionary or ground breaking, but that is the point. She reiterated some very important points:
Part 1
Part 2
During the 3:30 PM session of the MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic I attended the Christine Bass session entitled "Where the Boys Are: Recruiting, Engaging, and Maintaining Tenors and Basses". Bass was a very successful high school choir director in Cherry Hill, NJ outside of Philadelphia, PA. Currently, she teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia as the Women's Choir director and as a part of the music education faculty. An incredibly successfully educator, I looked forward to learning from her in this session.
Admittedly, I was a little nervous at the beginning of the Bass session that it would merely be an advertisement for her educational DVD by the same name. Bass is one of Hal Leonard's star convention presenters, and has a very busy schedule traveling around the country. While the clinic did begin with clips from her DVD (which I am sure she is contractually obligated to do), I found her presentation engaging and to the point. Her website is quite user friendly as well, including suggested repertoire lists for SATB and TTBB ensembles, which are great starting points.
I would not say that anything information she gave in the session was revolutionary or ground breaking, but that is the point. She reiterated some very important points:
- You will get out of your program only proportionally to what you put in. To get a program to where you want it to go requires a lot of time and hard work.
- Men in particular (and all students in general) are attracted to what is cool, but will only STAY if what they are a part of is successful and of high quality. Meaning, you can (and should) use gimmicks to get young men in the door, but if what you teach is not grounded in good technique that produces excellence you will not keep them.
- Younger male students are best recruited by the high school men that they look up to. High school male students are best recruited by the high school female students in your choir.
One point Bass strongly encourages is the use of popular music to woo students into your program. In her defense she insists that you program a varied repertoire of music. However, I always have slight reservations of investing too much of my limited budget to purchase repertoire that quickly becomes obsolete. My belief is to use purchase popular repertoire sparingly, and if you do so be extremely selective. Ask yourself, "Will this song still be popular or powerful to young singers 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now?" If not, I would be hesitant to spend $2 a copy for 50-60 copies of a piece of music. My recommendation to director's facing this dilemma is to dabble in arranging vocal a cappella arrangements of popular tunes for SATB and TTBB choirs. The other option is to get in contact with vocal a cappella arrangers, and purchase from them. Generally, on a singer for singer level, the price point it is a cheaper route, and if the song arranged is forgotten five years from now (or the radio exposure "kills" it), it is not collecting mildew in your files. Granted this almost a separate topic/tangent to the greater point of Bass's presentation, but is worth stating here.
A good starting point in search of vocal a cappella arrangers can be found here.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic Day 1, Part 2
Part 1 of this thread of consciousness was posted here.
During the 2:15-3:15 session period on Thursday, 12 February 2015, I went across to Central Lutheran Church where the choral performances are held. The Mound Westonka High School Choir under the direction of Kate Larson was the first choir to perform. Ms. Larson is the 2014 ACDA-MN Young Director of the Year, and she has created an outstanding program at Mound Westonka during the past 8 years. Not only do I enjoy the sound this ensemble creates for a high school group, Ms. Larson utilizes very inventive programming ranging through a variety of cultures, time periods, and styles.
The Mound Westonka Program...
During the 2:15-3:15 session period on Thursday, 12 February 2015, I went across to Central Lutheran Church where the choral performances are held. The Mound Westonka High School Choir under the direction of Kate Larson was the first choir to perform. Ms. Larson is the 2014 ACDA-MN Young Director of the Year, and she has created an outstanding program at Mound Westonka during the past 8 years. Not only do I enjoy the sound this ensemble creates for a high school group, Ms. Larson utilizes very inventive programming ranging through a variety of cultures, time periods, and styles.
The Mound Westonka Program...
- "Alleluia Incantation" Andrew Miller (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
- "Cantate Domino" Claudio Monteverdi (CPDL)
- "Bobinom' Saintom'" arranged by Stephen Hatfield (earthsongs)
- "Good-Night" Matthew Emery (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
- "Fear Not" Daniel Schreiner (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
- "Balleilakka" A. R. Rahman / arranged by Ethan Sperry (earthsongs)
Larson selected music predominantly from SBMP and earthsongs, two publishers I regularly trust due to the high quality of the repertoire that they put out. Rarely, do I find pieces published by these two smaller companies lacking in musical quality. When I am looking for new repertoire, these are the two websites I check first. The repertoire was both a choral nerd's delight, and contains music that an audience will find entertaining and moving.
The second choral performance during the 2:15 session was the Willmar Senior High School Cardinal Choir under the direction of Neal Haugen. Mr. Haugen has had a distinguished career as a vocal music educator at Willmar. I appreciated the Cardinal Choir's vitality of sound, and the numerous genres represented in Mr. Haugen's programming.
The Willmar Program...
- "Hainerot Halalu" by Stanley Hoffman (ECS Publishing s492)
- "Ave Verum Corpus" by William Byrd (ECS Publishing 2976)
- "Evening Prayer" by Ola Gjeilo (Walton Music / GIA Publications WW1520)
- "Run to You" by Pentatonix (www.ptxfans.com/run-to-you)
- "I Can Tell the World" by Moses Hogan (Hal Leonard HL08703198)
- "One Day More" from Les Miserables, arranged by Mark Brymer (Hal Leonard HL0862112)
- "The Ground" by Ola Gjeilo (Walton Music / GIA Publications WW1460
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two selections, especially hearing the Byrd. EC Schirmer is another publisher of quality choral repertoire who I trust and appreciate. Ola Gjeilo is arguably one of the most popular composers in the current repertoire and much of his work is published by Walton Music. Walton recently transferred over its distribution rights from Hal Leonard to GIA Music.
The Pentatonix arrangement I did not find particularly interesting, which is unusual because I enjoy Pentatonix, and have followed them since their season on the Sing-Off. Brymer's "One Day More" performance did not particularly move me either. However, this is not a criticism of the programming of either piece. These are pieces that will connect with the regular audience in our communities the most. In the end, we as choral educators need to sell our programs to our audiences. By programming these pieces for the MMEA Conference performance, Mr. Haugen shared with his colleagues two pieces that have worked for him in that manner.
I think programming like this is valuable to the membership from a community advocacy perspective. Too often, I see choral directors at an ACDA or NAfME convention program to show off to his or her colleagues. (On the flip side, I see and hear too many choir directors make snide comments about a choir's performance or a director's programming at a convention.) I love the program Mr. Haugen showed in this instance, a complete combination of Ivory Tower programming and programming for the masses.
Well done to both Kate Larson and Neal Haugen!
MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic Day 1, part 1
The Minnesota Music Educator Association hosted its annual Mid-Winter Clinic, February 12-14, 2015 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. As a middle school and high school choral music educator, I was very pleased with the number of interest session options that the MMEA scheduled for this clinic, along with some great concert sessions. It is impossible to go to everything, but to the credit of the scheduling committee, I did not have an hour where I felt there was nothing to go to. In fact, I probably spent a great deal less time in the vendor area than normal which is fine with me. Normally, I prefer not speak with vendors unless I have a specific reason, and I had enough time to visit the booths I needed to visit.
Most of the choral interest sessions that were offered that I attended were centered around one of two areas: (1) Recruiting, teaching, and keeping male singers in your ensembles, and (2) vocal pedagogy. As I have spent time in a new position this year, it is always helpful to get reminders in ways other teachers have successfully recruited. Also, I always worry that in my hurry to teach repertoire, I may be missing important details in teaching proper vocal technique. Again, I was reminded of a lot of fantastic ideas that reinforces what I am already doing or will enhance my approach in the classroom.
First Session: Thursday, 12 February 2015, 1:00-2:00 PM. Building a Beautiful Sound with Young Tenors - Stephen Sieck, DMA, Co-Director of Choral Studies, Lawrence University.
Dr. Sieck's session reinforced much of what I have learned over the course of my career about voice classification in young male singers, specifically finding young tenors (ages 12-20). However, there were a few subtle points that he brought up that set off some alarm bells in my own teaching, and I want to make sure I recheck how I am doing things in order to best serve my middle school and high school aged men. He references Richard Miller's The Structure of Singing in his presentation. The Miller text is referenced by later presenters during the conference, and is text that I recall glancing at as an undergrad, and looking at in greater detail as an graduate student. However, I do not own this text, and I believe it is a source I may need to revisit in greater detail. I know there have been advances in scientific understanding of the human voice since it was written in 1986, but it continues to be an important text in the field of singing.
The topics that Dr. Sieck touched upon that I felt were good refreshers were numerous. He began by reviewing the principal of the bell curve principal: most male voices are baritones. There are few true basses and tenors. In diagnosing where a singer is one must pay attention to a singer's (1) fry tone, (2) modal (chest) voice, (3) mixed voice, (4) upper (head) voice, and (5) falsetto. When assessing a singers range we need to pay attention to a number of aspects. When a singer shifts from a modal tone to a fry tone is important to note. A fry tone is difficult for a singer to sustain and is essentially not useable for an extended period. It is something I pay attention to individual singer evaluations, but maybe not as closely as I should. The next important step is identifying the lifts/breaks/passagio in a singers voice. This is something I pay the closest attention to, but according to Dr. Sieck's presentation, I may need to be certain unhealthy modifications are not being utilized to mask or negotiate the breaks. I may have baritones (or baritenors) that can not healthily sustain pitches above an F4. From that point finding a singers "highest" note is less important, but valuable in identifying how smoothly he changes registration and whether or not it is with healthy technique.
After identifying the pitfalls, Dr. Sieck identified three common problems and rehearsal strategies to avoid the problems and build healthy techniques. The problems he identified include: (1) lifting of the larynx, (2) spreading of the vowel, and (3) overly nasal timbres. All of these can be addressed directly or indirectly by teaching the singer to engage his head voice in a relaxed and unforced manner. Keeping the tongue forward, using voiced consonants and rounded vowels, and singing "ng-ah" passages all will help the singer develop understanding through sensation.
The challenges I face is delivering this information to my middle school men in a mixed choral setting. It is difficult for men to explore this vocal sensations in a room in which the opposite gender is present. I can do these things in one on one lessons or sectional rehearsals, but it will take some work to develop a culture in which my men will feel "safe" to take these risks in our middle school choir rehearsal. I attempt to do some of these activities already, but again serious engagement is difficult in this setting. It is less of a challenge in the high school choral rehearsal, because a culture has been quickly been established in which figuring out proper vocal technique for men and women is essential. Dr. Sieck has provided great tools, and I appreciate the information he provided.
Most of the choral interest sessions that were offered that I attended were centered around one of two areas: (1) Recruiting, teaching, and keeping male singers in your ensembles, and (2) vocal pedagogy. As I have spent time in a new position this year, it is always helpful to get reminders in ways other teachers have successfully recruited. Also, I always worry that in my hurry to teach repertoire, I may be missing important details in teaching proper vocal technique. Again, I was reminded of a lot of fantastic ideas that reinforces what I am already doing or will enhance my approach in the classroom.
First Session: Thursday, 12 February 2015, 1:00-2:00 PM. Building a Beautiful Sound with Young Tenors - Stephen Sieck, DMA, Co-Director of Choral Studies, Lawrence University.
Dr. Sieck's session reinforced much of what I have learned over the course of my career about voice classification in young male singers, specifically finding young tenors (ages 12-20). However, there were a few subtle points that he brought up that set off some alarm bells in my own teaching, and I want to make sure I recheck how I am doing things in order to best serve my middle school and high school aged men. He references Richard Miller's The Structure of Singing in his presentation. The Miller text is referenced by later presenters during the conference, and is text that I recall glancing at as an undergrad, and looking at in greater detail as an graduate student. However, I do not own this text, and I believe it is a source I may need to revisit in greater detail. I know there have been advances in scientific understanding of the human voice since it was written in 1986, but it continues to be an important text in the field of singing.
The topics that Dr. Sieck touched upon that I felt were good refreshers were numerous. He began by reviewing the principal of the bell curve principal: most male voices are baritones. There are few true basses and tenors. In diagnosing where a singer is one must pay attention to a singer's (1) fry tone, (2) modal (chest) voice, (3) mixed voice, (4) upper (head) voice, and (5) falsetto. When assessing a singers range we need to pay attention to a number of aspects. When a singer shifts from a modal tone to a fry tone is important to note. A fry tone is difficult for a singer to sustain and is essentially not useable for an extended period. It is something I pay attention to individual singer evaluations, but maybe not as closely as I should. The next important step is identifying the lifts/breaks/passagio in a singers voice. This is something I pay the closest attention to, but according to Dr. Sieck's presentation, I may need to be certain unhealthy modifications are not being utilized to mask or negotiate the breaks. I may have baritones (or baritenors) that can not healthily sustain pitches above an F4. From that point finding a singers "highest" note is less important, but valuable in identifying how smoothly he changes registration and whether or not it is with healthy technique.
After identifying the pitfalls, Dr. Sieck identified three common problems and rehearsal strategies to avoid the problems and build healthy techniques. The problems he identified include: (1) lifting of the larynx, (2) spreading of the vowel, and (3) overly nasal timbres. All of these can be addressed directly or indirectly by teaching the singer to engage his head voice in a relaxed and unforced manner. Keeping the tongue forward, using voiced consonants and rounded vowels, and singing "ng-ah" passages all will help the singer develop understanding through sensation.
The challenges I face is delivering this information to my middle school men in a mixed choral setting. It is difficult for men to explore this vocal sensations in a room in which the opposite gender is present. I can do these things in one on one lessons or sectional rehearsals, but it will take some work to develop a culture in which my men will feel "safe" to take these risks in our middle school choir rehearsal. I attempt to do some of these activities already, but again serious engagement is difficult in this setting. It is less of a challenge in the high school choral rehearsal, because a culture has been quickly been established in which figuring out proper vocal technique for men and women is essential. Dr. Sieck has provided great tools, and I appreciate the information he provided.
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