Sunday, 29 November 2015
Tom Kitten - A Technology Project
This week we needed to record a technology project with the program Audacity. I decided to read a children's book - Beatrix Potter's Tom Kitten. I chose this book because my grandparents gave the set of Beatrix Potter books when I was little and I loved them, especially those about cats. The link to my recording is below!
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
ChoralNet Discussion: Pitch Memory
I found a forum post on ChoralNet from last week that was from a teacher who is having trouble with one of her vocal students in the classroom. She has a beautiful tone, and is making the tone properly, but there is one vital issue - she can't remember pitches after she sings them. The teacher has tried solfege work, during which she can match the patterns and repeat them without issue. She has also tried working on non-syllabled pitches and had her match each one individually, and she again, has no problem. However, when it comes to singing in the ensemble, she goes outside the key when they sing a capella. The student loses the concept of Do, and can't find it again after singing for longer than a single phrase. Even when she sings music she knows, she goes off pitch and doesn't end where she should.
Her question to the forum was - how does she help/what could be causing her issues? When she figures out what the issue is, how, if at all, can she improve this concept?
I thought this was really interesting because when singing in aural skills in first and second year, I struggled a lot with keeping some Do pitches in my head by the end of a solfege sight singing. For me, I thought it was because I have a sort of "go to" pitch in my head for when I think of Do. This was for no particular reason at all, but I usually ended up forgetting the actual Do, and going straight to this one that was embedded in my brain. The teacher posted later after many people had commented with suggestions, and she said she doesn't think that reminding her or maintaining the tonic would help, but I would disagree. This is what helped me the most, I think. If the student has to continuously revert back to Do, they'll remind themselves of what they need to do to remember it more and more often. I think this could make a huge difference. I'm not sure why the teacher doesn't think this will help. She thinks the student has no sense of tonality, but if she can sing solfege, she must have some concept.
I think the student is just forgetting where Do is during the piece and needs to work on her ability to go back to Do from any pitch, at any time.
That said, I am not a vocalist by trade, and also have never delved into vocal pedagogy, but given my own experience, I think that continuously referring back to Do and having Do maintained while she sings will help her at least somewhat. If she can match pitch, and sing solfege, she must have SOMETHING she can grasp onto and improve. One other poster suggests that the cause of the problem is a disconnect between tonal retention and vocal development. This is something that, according to the poster, normally go hand in hand with vocal students. However, in this student, they aren't improving at the same rate. I can't tell if anyone thinks that the student can improve, but I do.
Dr. Dunsmore, previous director of Choirs at MUN, said that singing is 90% brains, 10% talent, and I think this comes into play here. There has to be a way of helping this student. She's not completely hopeless if she can do some aspects of singing, there's just a disconnect that needs work.
What do you all think?
Her question to the forum was - how does she help/what could be causing her issues? When she figures out what the issue is, how, if at all, can she improve this concept?
I thought this was really interesting because when singing in aural skills in first and second year, I struggled a lot with keeping some Do pitches in my head by the end of a solfege sight singing. For me, I thought it was because I have a sort of "go to" pitch in my head for when I think of Do. This was for no particular reason at all, but I usually ended up forgetting the actual Do, and going straight to this one that was embedded in my brain. The teacher posted later after many people had commented with suggestions, and she said she doesn't think that reminding her or maintaining the tonic would help, but I would disagree. This is what helped me the most, I think. If the student has to continuously revert back to Do, they'll remind themselves of what they need to do to remember it more and more often. I think this could make a huge difference. I'm not sure why the teacher doesn't think this will help. She thinks the student has no sense of tonality, but if she can sing solfege, she must have some concept.
I think the student is just forgetting where Do is during the piece and needs to work on her ability to go back to Do from any pitch, at any time.
That said, I am not a vocalist by trade, and also have never delved into vocal pedagogy, but given my own experience, I think that continuously referring back to Do and having Do maintained while she sings will help her at least somewhat. If she can match pitch, and sing solfege, she must have SOMETHING she can grasp onto and improve. One other poster suggests that the cause of the problem is a disconnect between tonal retention and vocal development. This is something that, according to the poster, normally go hand in hand with vocal students. However, in this student, they aren't improving at the same rate. I can't tell if anyone thinks that the student can improve, but I do.
Dr. Dunsmore, previous director of Choirs at MUN, said that singing is 90% brains, 10% talent, and I think this comes into play here. There has to be a way of helping this student. She's not completely hopeless if she can do some aspects of singing, there's just a disconnect that needs work.
What do you all think?
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
Hamilton Children's Choir
This week in Choral Methods, we are all giving presentations on internationally recognized choirs. My choir is the Hamilton Children's Choir and my presentation is at the link below. It also comes with a handout that is attached as well.
Symposium on Singing and Song
This past weekend at Memorial, we were host to the Symposium of Singing and Song, and four day gathering of choir personnel from 12 different countries of the world. I was lucky enough to be one of the student volunteers, and I had an incredible experience while I was there.
The first session I got to enjoy was on "Singing Traditions". The first set of presenters were from Singapore, and they have created the "STAR" initiative. STAR stands for the Singapore Teachers' Academy for the aRts. This was created just under a decade ago when Rebecca Chew noticed that there was no joy left in the children music classes she attended. She didn't see any folk music of Singapore, and the teachers were resistant to incorporating anything new to their lessons. So Rebecca, in combination with Hui-Ping Ho created STAR. They emphasize teaching teachers how to be better at what they do. They incorporate traiditional Singapore concepts into the music and teach the contexts in which these songs are used. They have found that once the students have been given context of a piece, it has become more enjoyable for them. The main reason for creating STAR was to preserve so many of the Singapore musical traditions that were being lost in the music system.
The second set of presenters were from the USA, and they talked about African American identity in music. What they mentioned a lot of was an alteration of the original texts of music so they are less raw and real for the young children who are singing the songs. They too, as with the STAR creators, are pushing to teach context in the school system for the music. I found this presentation to be the most influential of the weekend for me, because afterwards we had the opportunity to create a semi-round table discussion on the topic of identity in music and how that affects those who sing that music. I think this is a main factor as to why Newfoundlanders love singing so much. Our traditional music is raw, it tells stories of the things that happened in our lives, the tragedies and the heartbreak. This is what a lot of people don't seem to understand about music, particularly when planning a performance, the fact that not all music is meant to be "happy". We discussed that African American music is telling the story of something that happened, it is a reality, and why not convey that reality in song? The connection a human can make when they hear about another's experiences is so powerful. Not to mention, if we always sugar coat the past, it will be forgotten because no one is continuing to tell the truth. If that is lost, who's to say that we won't repeat those mistakes? People need to learn that the human race isn't perfect, and we learn how to be better with life experiences. We learn most when we are outside of our comfort zone, so why not do so in a group discussing a piece of music? The amount of emotion that can be tapped by the human singing voice is so much more than just the speaking voice. This session had a huge impact on me and my ideals about how to teach students and how to approach new music going forward. We must put a context to a piece, and move outside our comfort zone to get to a place where true connections can happen through the song.
The first session I got to enjoy was on "Singing Traditions". The first set of presenters were from Singapore, and they have created the "STAR" initiative. STAR stands for the Singapore Teachers' Academy for the aRts. This was created just under a decade ago when Rebecca Chew noticed that there was no joy left in the children music classes she attended. She didn't see any folk music of Singapore, and the teachers were resistant to incorporating anything new to their lessons. So Rebecca, in combination with Hui-Ping Ho created STAR. They emphasize teaching teachers how to be better at what they do. They incorporate traiditional Singapore concepts into the music and teach the contexts in which these songs are used. They have found that once the students have been given context of a piece, it has become more enjoyable for them. The main reason for creating STAR was to preserve so many of the Singapore musical traditions that were being lost in the music system.
The second set of presenters were from the USA, and they talked about African American identity in music. What they mentioned a lot of was an alteration of the original texts of music so they are less raw and real for the young children who are singing the songs. They too, as with the STAR creators, are pushing to teach context in the school system for the music. I found this presentation to be the most influential of the weekend for me, because afterwards we had the opportunity to create a semi-round table discussion on the topic of identity in music and how that affects those who sing that music. I think this is a main factor as to why Newfoundlanders love singing so much. Our traditional music is raw, it tells stories of the things that happened in our lives, the tragedies and the heartbreak. This is what a lot of people don't seem to understand about music, particularly when planning a performance, the fact that not all music is meant to be "happy". We discussed that African American music is telling the story of something that happened, it is a reality, and why not convey that reality in song? The connection a human can make when they hear about another's experiences is so powerful. Not to mention, if we always sugar coat the past, it will be forgotten because no one is continuing to tell the truth. If that is lost, who's to say that we won't repeat those mistakes? People need to learn that the human race isn't perfect, and we learn how to be better with life experiences. We learn most when we are outside of our comfort zone, so why not do so in a group discussing a piece of music? The amount of emotion that can be tapped by the human singing voice is so much more than just the speaking voice. This session had a huge impact on me and my ideals about how to teach students and how to approach new music going forward. We must put a context to a piece, and move outside our comfort zone to get to a place where true connections can happen through the song.
Monday, 28 September 2015
Sing! A Teacher's Guide - A Response
This week for Choral and Voice Methods, we are reading "Sing! A Teacher's Guide" by Doreen Rao. This article brings about the following questions and comments for me.
Questions:
1) Is it common that the top of the speaking voice range is the same as the singing voice range? The diagram has it that way, but that just may be that particular person. Is it normal for them to be around the same note? Or is it truly person specific?
2) The article also has "Rules for the letter R", but it doesn't really give any suggestions to it. I assume this is case by case specific, but what are some of the general rules for working with that letter? I know it is notorious for being brutal to sing.
Comments:
1) One of the Objectives of singing is to have the students sing in class for their peers. I think it is very important to have them start early with this. When students are very young, they are not as self conscious of their voices, and are more willing to begin the performance process. Whereas those who are older have had bad experiences and they are not as willing. I think it's best to start them early with performing.
2) I also really agree with the connection between composition and what is comfortable for the singer themselves. It's very common for people to expect a certain range from a singer, but if writing for that singer specifically, why not cater to their preferences and abilities. If it's for a general purpose, that's different, but when writing for a specific person, I really think it's good to check with that person to make sure they are comfortable with what you write. This goes for instrumentalists as well.
Questions:
1) Is it common that the top of the speaking voice range is the same as the singing voice range? The diagram has it that way, but that just may be that particular person. Is it normal for them to be around the same note? Or is it truly person specific?
2) The article also has "Rules for the letter R", but it doesn't really give any suggestions to it. I assume this is case by case specific, but what are some of the general rules for working with that letter? I know it is notorious for being brutal to sing.
Comments:
1) One of the Objectives of singing is to have the students sing in class for their peers. I think it is very important to have them start early with this. When students are very young, they are not as self conscious of their voices, and are more willing to begin the performance process. Whereas those who are older have had bad experiences and they are not as willing. I think it's best to start them early with performing.
2) I also really agree with the connection between composition and what is comfortable for the singer themselves. It's very common for people to expect a certain range from a singer, but if writing for that singer specifically, why not cater to their preferences and abilities. If it's for a general purpose, that's different, but when writing for a specific person, I really think it's good to check with that person to make sure they are comfortable with what you write. This goes for instrumentalists as well.
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Vocal Development Parts 1 & 2 - A Response
This week in Choral Methods, we also read "Vocal Development Parts 1 & 2" by Kenneth Philips. This reading is great for the introductory choral conductor as it is very in depth and concise. However, within each part I did have some questions and some parts really resonated well with me. The following are my questions and comments about the reading:
Questions:
1) When in the school system, we have to pick a length of time for rehearsal. The chapter discusses that directors of the choir need to be vigilant of vocal fatigue to avoid strain, which of course makes sense. However, when starting a young choir, what length of time should we expect a choir to be able to sing? As in, when we're telling the administration how long we need for choir rehearsal, how long should we start with? Half and hour? Can we really accomplish anything with a group in half an hour? An hour seems too long, however?
2) Would rap be considered Sung-speech diction or rhythmic diction? I am inclined to say rhythmic because of all the syllables that need to be articulated. However, popular music is thought to be sung-speech? But the syllables aren't really blended together by the best artists? Hrmm.
Comments:
1) I think it would be best to change up the warm ups quite often when rehearsing and utilize the many options that Philips gives in the first chapter. If we consistently do the same warm ups, we aren't reaching any new areas, and the body will become very accustomed to the routine. When this happens, we aren't really warming up the same extent anymore, our body is just going through the motions as we are creatures of habit.
2) I think it's interesting that most people speak in their lower or almost in their lower register of vocal range. I personally think I speak at the higher end of my range, and my singing voice can go much lower from where it is than it can go higher. Maybe that's because I'm an alto? But it's interesting that there is really this whole upper portion of the vocal range that most people are not tapping into at all.
Questions:
1) When in the school system, we have to pick a length of time for rehearsal. The chapter discusses that directors of the choir need to be vigilant of vocal fatigue to avoid strain, which of course makes sense. However, when starting a young choir, what length of time should we expect a choir to be able to sing? As in, when we're telling the administration how long we need for choir rehearsal, how long should we start with? Half and hour? Can we really accomplish anything with a group in half an hour? An hour seems too long, however?
2) Would rap be considered Sung-speech diction or rhythmic diction? I am inclined to say rhythmic because of all the syllables that need to be articulated. However, popular music is thought to be sung-speech? But the syllables aren't really blended together by the best artists? Hrmm.
Comments:
1) I think it would be best to change up the warm ups quite often when rehearsing and utilize the many options that Philips gives in the first chapter. If we consistently do the same warm ups, we aren't reaching any new areas, and the body will become very accustomed to the routine. When this happens, we aren't really warming up the same extent anymore, our body is just going through the motions as we are creatures of habit.
2) I think it's interesting that most people speak in their lower or almost in their lower register of vocal range. I personally think I speak at the higher end of my range, and my singing voice can go much lower from where it is than it can go higher. Maybe that's because I'm an alto? But it's interesting that there is really this whole upper portion of the vocal range that most people are not tapping into at all.
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Building Sequential Vocal Technique Skills: A Response
This week in Vocal and Choral Methods we had two readings. One of which was James Jordan's Building Sequential Vocal Technique Skills. This article made me think about the two following things:
1) Vocal and musical warm ups are a lot like sports warm ups in that without them, we lose touch with the basic skills we need to continue learning. Just like in sports, without a proper warm up, you can easily get injured. The muscles used in the face to sing can also be strained just like those we use in running/sprinting/etc. I think it makes a lot of sense that we need to have proper warm ups before we sing, and I question why anyone would argue otherwise (other than the obvious time constraints).
2) I really agree with the assertion that basic inhaling and exhaling is crucial in a warm up of all kinds. When you properly breathe and get a chance to relax, the body is in a much more responsive state for performing. Singing is, in many contexts, not supposed to be physically taxing, and without the proper breathing, it is impossible to make singing simple.
This article also raised the following questions for me:
1) Would it be fair to say that the "sixth sense" is only pertinent to musical performance? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that it comes from any physical engagement? I know that in this context, it is being specific, however, I think it would make more of an impact if we put it into broader contexts?
2) I question their use of the word "spacious" to describe the sound we want to create with our singing. When I hear spacious I think more spread out than what he means, and I worry about how younger singers would interpret spacious. To me, spacious doesn't go together with "full", which is another characteristic of what we want to hear in the sound of the voices. Could we maybe use something like focused? Is that too narrow?
This week in Vocal and Choral Methods we had two readings. One of which was James Jordan's Building Sequential Vocal Technique Skills. This article made me think about the two following things:
1) Vocal and musical warm ups are a lot like sports warm ups in that without them, we lose touch with the basic skills we need to continue learning. Just like in sports, without a proper warm up, you can easily get injured. The muscles used in the face to sing can also be strained just like those we use in running/sprinting/etc. I think it makes a lot of sense that we need to have proper warm ups before we sing, and I question why anyone would argue otherwise (other than the obvious time constraints).
2) I really agree with the assertion that basic inhaling and exhaling is crucial in a warm up of all kinds. When you properly breathe and get a chance to relax, the body is in a much more responsive state for performing. Singing is, in many contexts, not supposed to be physically taxing, and without the proper breathing, it is impossible to make singing simple.
This article also raised the following questions for me:
1) Would it be fair to say that the "sixth sense" is only pertinent to musical performance? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that it comes from any physical engagement? I know that in this context, it is being specific, however, I think it would make more of an impact if we put it into broader contexts?
2) I question their use of the word "spacious" to describe the sound we want to create with our singing. When I hear spacious I think more spread out than what he means, and I worry about how younger singers would interpret spacious. To me, spacious doesn't go together with "full", which is another characteristic of what we want to hear in the sound of the voices. Could we maybe use something like focused? Is that too narrow?
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