Singing in a Choir

For those that take private voice lessons, many will, and are encouraged to, sing with their school choir. Not only is it a forum for where students may get the opportunity to perform, but it’s essentially a free voice/music lesson! Your director will (hopefully) go over these points more in depth, but here are a few tips for successful choir singing.

1. Don’t Prove or Provoke: A good choir member never sings louder than their neighbor. They don’t sing earlier and don’t try to “show” that they know their part. Simply put, the best singing is nothing more than on time, with the correct pitch and a beautiful tone.

2. Vowel Matching: While each voice in a choir may have their own individual character, never EVER sing a different vowel than your neighbor. Vowels create a beautiful sound (try holding out a consonant on pitch!). If the vowel sound doesn’t match between individuals in a section, or between different sections, the tuning may go off, not to mention there will be a clash in sound, and will lead to poor...

3. Blend : Sing at the same dynamic level as your group; keep your ears open. You want to hear yourself AND your neighbor, if one or the other is too loud or soft, adjust your sound!

4. Always have a pencil: You are unprepared in a rehearsal if you don’t have a pencil. No excuses!

5. If you are at a rehearsal, you are IN the rehearsal: If the director isn’t going over your part at the moment, do not let your mind wander or to talk to a friend. Follow along in the music; if your director fixes a problem in one voice part there is something to learn and chances are it will affect your voice part aswell. If you get bored, hum your voice part quietly (assuming the director is ok with this) to stay engaged in the rehearsal.

6. Ask questions last: Wait for the director to finish going over your section’s part. Chances are the question you have will be answered by the time the director is finished. If there still exists a problem, ask after the director has gone through the section in question. Trust in the director’s abilities to hear and correct problems as they see fit.

7. On time is late, early is on time: A good ensemble member is in their seat, ready with music and a pencil, AT LEAST five minutes before the scheduled rehearsal time.

Follow these simple steps for some successful choral singing!