Choir Directing

As a choir director, you’re in position of high visibility. At the very least you can expect that each choir member knows who you are and has made some judgment about you. It’s not like worrying about what other people think of the clothes you’re wearing or how clean your house is. In those cases [...]

Here’s a vocalize I learned from singing in the Arbor consort. It uses the arpeggio in an interesting way to work on connecting notes separated by a considerable distance (a fourth) and singing staccato down an arpeggio. vocalize8 The tendency will be for singers to accent or “punch” the upper c effectively disconnecting it from [...]

When I started directing the Collegium last fall, I was taking over an already established choir, a very different task than starting a choir from scratch. It has it’s own perks (don’t have to do much recruiting) and pitfalls (high expectations), but it’s not the same thing as starting a new choir from nothing. I’ve [...]

Here’s the third “Now Wolde Y Fayne” vocalize. The other two can be found here: Now Wolde Y Fayne 1 Now Wolde Y Fayne 2 This week’s vocalize is the entire final phrase of the top line. It should all be sung in one breath, thus it’s a good exercise for breath control. vocalize7 For [...]

I’ll start with a fairly intuitive statement: “Directing with confidence is more effective than directing with timidity.” This is pretty obvious, right? If the director is wishy washy about what he/she wants then the singers won’t be sure about what to do, how to perform, or how they’re doing. Rehearsals get muddled and will likely [...]

Here’s a tongue twister exercise. In form it’s really simple, but in practice it’s trickier than it looks. Take a look! vocalize6 Again you can go up or down the keyboard, whichever you feel like doing. Starting slow and then ramping up the speed as you go is a good way to lead the exercise. [...]

Here’s a variation on last week’s arpeggio exercise. It’s essentially the same thing except that it’s in minor instead of major and it’s sung on “Ha” instead of “Hi” for the staccato exercise. They’re both interchangeable so do whichever you’d like. ^_^ The other thing to note is the solfege version starts on La instead [...]

Here are 10 ways to break the monotony of singing rehearsals, many of which can be implemented without prior preparation. This can mean any number of things. Below are some examples: Face different side of the room Sit it in a circle Sit in two rows Intermix parts (i.e. sopranos sit by non sopranos) Have [...]

To compliment the previous article on designing a weekly rehearsal agenda, here’s a list of things you can do to prepare yourself for directing your next rehearsal. The number one thing I do before rehearsal is make sure I know how to play the individual parts on the keyboard. Chances are high I’ll be expected [...]