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.
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