I went to a choral workshop today. Got some great hints on how to make primary choirs sound better and sang through lots of fantastic repertoire.
I've gone to four of these in the last 12 months. This one was the best because he didn't dictate what kind of sound we should be going for (i.e. the sound of his choir!) When asked a question along those lines he said...
'The only thing two choral conductors will ever agree on is the incompetence of the third.'
Basically, everyone likes the sound that their own choir makes and thinks everyone else's sucks. Yep. That's my experience!
We went to a school concert once. The songs the various choirs sang were generally pretty cool. However, some things that let it down were a lack of stage presence training and announcement pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteThat is, training them not to fidget or try to find where Mum & Dad are sitting (parents in the dark and kids under spotlights) etc. while they are singing. And the person announcing the piece really needs to know how to pronounce names (pieces, composers...), especially if they're in a foreign language. Walk them through it, even if they're in high school or an adult. That way, even if they're blinded by a spotlight, they'll have some idea of what's coming up.
The consequences of not doing these things is that your audience (who aren't related to the performers) will either be wincing or laughing at the wrong things.
Are you familiar with this "Humpty Dumpty" song?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOQR8TQYCgs