Stagger breathing

Ok, I thought I was the only one who did this…thankfully. I am NOT!

When I was in high school, I was taught that “stagger breathing” was taking a catch-breath in between words.  A I grew in my craft, it occurred to me that in a choir situation, this could be ominous:  too many repeated consonants, and LOTS of “S” at the end of a word going on…

But how do you fix that?  The answer is easy, but difficult to employ at first because it is soooo counter-intuitive!  Here it is:

Instead of taking a breath in between words, take your breath instead of a word.  You read that right!  Instead of singing a short word or note (the word “the”, for example), pretend you are singing it (for the audience’s benefit)…but in reality, you want to inhale instead!

Now, this needs to be practiced; the technique is difficult at first, if one was trained to take that catch-breath in between words.  Once each individual in your choir becomes more comfortable with this concept, it’s time to make sure that everybody doesn’t take their breath on the same word!

That’s how I found out I wasn’t the only one who used this technique: an acquaintance of mine, Linda, and I were hired as ringers to be the only two altos at a performance.  At rehearsal, I decided to employ “my new technique”…only to discover that Linda was doing the same thing!  And yes, we were taking our breaths (for long phrases) on the same words.  We kept snickering every time it happened; at the break, we sat down to “divide up” the words so we wouldn’t stagger breathe at the same time.

 

And I thought I was so clever….!  Have any of you been practicing this method?

Dipthongs and Smooth Phrasing

This is an exercise that is difficult at fist, but becomes much easier in just a short period of time. If I could only pass along one single technique, this would be it!

We’ll be using this melody I made up for the occasion:

I Will Praise Your Name

Unison vowel production in Music Education III

Robert Shaw, the incomparable American conductor, said, “To create a smooth legato line, sing vowels only until the vowels align with the beat. Then add the consonants back in “on top” of the vowel line“.

This is a very short way of stating my earlier blog on unison vowel production and legato line; but if short and sweet works better for you, then I am happy to include his words.  I do tend to belabor a point, I have been told….

Anyway, you can hear the success of using this technique in the Robert Shaw Chorale rendition of  “Shenandoah”.  I cannot think of a lovelier example of legato singing.

Music Education: How and when to pronounce “S”

Oh, my……how and when to pronounce “S”,  if done incorrectly, will make the smile of any trained singer listening to the choir’s performance turn into a grimace!  We need to fix that problem immediately!

This requires more than just a conductor giving cues for ending a phrase; singing in and around an “S” requires group practice.

Many times, especially with an older group, I have found that an elongated “sss” is not uncommon; often I find that choir members who do this consistently are actually trying very hard to follow my directions.  If you can isolate the offenders, I recommend asking for ‘help’ from them, and a few others, in this area by asking them to help out by “lisping” when an “S” comes along.

I myself always use a lisp when I am a choir member; in this way, I am not contributing to the problem! It helps that I actually had a mild lisp as a child; my youngest sister had one, too, and we went to the “speech teacher” at our elementary school.  I was able to overcome my problem pretty easily (turns out I was “lazy”…Me!  Can you believe it?  Maybe that’s why I am such a stickler now…)

This helps with elongated “S”, but it’s up to you as the conductor to make sure that your choir holds off on closing their syllable; they’ll need to close their “S” all at the same time to avoid any “hisssssing” that might result from individuals closing to pronounce the “S” at different times.

Next time, a nice change of pace for us…don’t miss this video!