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Last weekend I had the privilege of singing Faure's Requiem at Carnegie Hall in New York City! Prior to last semester I had no training in singing at all before joining the school's Chorale for my ensemble requirement. After a semester of hard work I grew to become the bass/baritone (whatever) that our section relies on. I still feel like a fish out of the water though and I'm clueless as regards to technique. My only advantage seems to be my tonal memory (I can remember everything on key all the time), but I struggle in just about every other aspect - breathing, posture, low notes, high notes, sight-singing, etc. I just found this thread; I wish I had known about it sooner! There is a lot of good advice in here - props to the people have contributed. I just started voice lessons recently and it hasn't helped much yet, but I haven't had much time to practice singing alone yet either (my major is piano, not voice.) I hope to be a solid singer soon. It's such an enjoyable activity, and I feel that it helps you be more musical overall as a musician - dare I say that all musicians should be able to sing! edit: I made a thread about this but it got no replies, so I'll post it here. Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rRaL-Czxw Nearly 4000 singers via live video and VOIP being conducted by Eric Whitacre, peforming "Water Night". Our group has the privilege of learning this music for our end of the semester concert. CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Apr 16, 2013 |
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Apr 14, 2013 00:46
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 11:08 |
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What is a good basic practice regimen for improving your voice? I am talking the most basic possible. I work best when I have something simple and stupid to follow. I'm a baritone and I am a part of a chorale and an A Capella singing group. I had no singing experience whatsoever prior to last semester and I am riding on musical abilities in other areas and a ton of hard work. Some challenges I face are singing some low notes (C#/D/Eb 2) and also ending up border-line anemic with problems managing my breathing on difficult pieces. Also, even though my tone and control has been extended a lot by hard work, singing still is almost never that comfortable for me and my voice is being strained by my current demands. I don't want to end up with problems so soon in my singing life. I am looking to build my basic technique so I can sing more comfortably. I am looking for a basic routine to get there. I should also mention I trying out some voice lessons but I can only afford 1/2 hr a week and there's only so much I can get out of that until it has been awhile. Thanks ahead for any help you can offer me! edit: I also wanted to ask the person above (Copacabana), what is considered your true range as a singer? Is it the lowest to the highest you can sing or have sung, or is it only certain ranges? I've heard something say it's modal range only, but this doesn't match my experience at all - I'm asked to vocal fry low notes and sing high notes in falsetto all the time. If it's only some ranges, which ranges? Thanks! CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Apr 25, 2013 |
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Apr 25, 2013 06:31
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Fuoco posted:Hey singers! I took up singing last year, and generally speaking I'm happy with a lot of the improvements I've made, particularly with my range. However, there's been one issue that's followed me all the way through. Even though I can remember my lines in chorale and sing them a Capella from memory, I would still have this problem. The trick is to learn and perceive the harmony as well as the melody going on and understand your relationship within the harmony to the other parts, as well as your notes. This means hearing and learning the chords. For me this problem gets solved if I sit down at the piano and learn and play all of the harmonies of a piece while singing my part along with them. Of course, this takes a ridiculous amount of work and I often can't complete it, so I have to also rely on practicing singing with others which also results in improvement over time. I also practice singing against recordings or rehearsal tracks that I burn on CDs and listen to in the car.
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May 21, 2013 06:01
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Sogol posted:One theory about pitch is that it is simply memory. This is how you can get different versions of perfect pitch, which can really suck in an ensemble. This means that to improve pitch you need to do a lot of ear training. There are all sorts of ways to do this and even apps for it now. You must 'hear' what you sing before you sing it. Of course you must also hear what is happening. You must correlate muscle memory involved in sound production with 'hearing'. If you practice it is not too hard to master relative pitch. Perfect pitch is harder. If you can get relative pitch going and you can 'remember' where an A is in your apparatus then you are set. It takes hours and hours. The music basically has to be going on all the time to do it, for me at least. I've always felt that pitch is a spectrum skill rather than you have it or you don't, and that it's entirely based on memory. Also, I think it's likely that recognizing a pitch is similar to recognizing a spoken word in language. People with 'perfect pitch' have just learned the letter name corresponding to a certain sound, like a letter of the alphabet. For whatever reason it was drilled in their head early and sticks with them. In this case it's a long term working rapid memory versus something more short term. For some people pitches only remain in short term memory - they never make it to long term memory and so need constant outside tuning. However, I haven't met anyone who hasn't been able to remember some music perfectly on key when they've practiced it a lot. Therefore, learning it later in life is harder but still possible - They can use this fact to teach themselves pitches, which is what I have done. I've pretty much developed a perfect or near-perfect sense of pitch in a couple of semesters with some work. I am lucky to be able to recall music very well and on key, so using an 'incipit' for every pitch, I've taught myself what pitches are called. First I would hear a D, reference a piece of music I know that begins on D, and then I would know it is a D. Now I more or less hear the D and think "D" right away with no intermediate stage. Therefore I can recognize notes as fast as anyone with perfect pitch. A more difficult step is identifying the key of a piece of music - you have to be able to pick out a note in a chord, and / or listen for a cadence. Every time I hear a piece of music anywhere, I practice doing this. I'm also working on identifying entire chords and atonal clusters of notes. For chords you can use other ear training and relative pitch skills. If you hear a root position major triad and the root note is D, you know the other notes are F# and A without having to pick them out. Also, apparently not even people with 'perfect pitch' are 100% accurate - they still make mistakes in high and low octaves. I make mistakes rather more frequently that people with the 'classic' perfect pitch, but they are becoming rarer and rarer and I am improving all the time at this skill. But in addition to pitch, there is control of your voice. You can hear the correct notes in your head or know what they are in theory, but if you don't have the proper vocal control, you will have intonation issues with what comes out. I just got a recording device in the mail and listening to myself was humbling - after leaps I was singing notes flat constantly while not being aware of it. If I slowed down and gave each note breath, I would sing it perfectly, but I wouldn't notice my mistakes singing it in the context of the piece. Often I am very aware of my mistakes and am frustrated when I hit the wrong note, but the revelation was how often I was a quarter tone or so flat and not realizing it. I am not necessarily able to sing a note on cue on the spot - it might take me a couple of tries or a correction. I would know when I was wrong, and fix myself if I was, but nailing notes on cue every time requires more control than I have currently. My plan is to practice singing notes off the cuff in my range until I can nail any note on cue, which is useful for starting pieces. CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at 04:49 on May 29, 2013 |
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May 29, 2013 04:47
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I took a voice class over the summer and have had some one on one lessons, so now I'm better equipped to handle all of the ridiculous repertoire that gets thrown our way in Chorale. I now have a better idea of my vocal range. The zone: 1.5 octaves Low: F#2 High: C4 Quite comfortable: 1.8 octaves Low: E2 High: D4 Basic, practical SATB range: 2.25 octaves Low: D2 High: F4 Approximate limits of useable solo range, with training: 3 octaves Low: B1 Full Voice: A4 Falsetto: C#5 Absolute maximums: 3.7 octaves Lowest note sung with vocal fry: A1 Highest note sung in full voice: A4 Highest note sung with falsetto: F5 Not sure where this puts me classification wise, but I'm not at the point where that can be determined just yet. Most likely a baritone or bass with somewhat of an extended range. Right now for practice I'm working one a couple of German art songs, Leiderkreis #1 by Robert Schumann and Verborgenheit by Hugo Wolf (this piece is just just amaaaaazing). I'm also a member of an A Capella singing group and we are doing some sick jazz charts. Church choir also, which is hymns and gospel of course. Wohoo, singing! (By the way, I'm actually a piano major who needed to join an ensemble and walked into Chorale one day, then fell into this wonderful world!) CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Sep 9, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 23:19
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My holy grail song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYMmQlhQt4 In the "high voice" version the highest note is G4, which I want to learn to sing full throated as a Bass. I can already kind of do it and see getting there with a lot of practice. Oh my god is this song amazing. Oh my god oh my god *heart thumping like crazy*. The text translated: Tempt me not, oh world again. Lure me not with joys that perish...let my heart, unspoken cherish all it's rapture, all it's pain. Unknown grief consumes my days, t'is with eyes all veiled by sorrow that, when dawns each hopeless morrow, on the glorious sun, I gaze. Only dreaming brings me rest, only then a ray of gladness, sent from Heaven cheers my sadness, lights the gloom within my breast. Tempt me not, oh world again. Lure me not with joys that perish, let my heart, unspoken cherish all it's rapture, all it's pain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_W0QRy8_0 Yes. CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Oct 15, 2013 |
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Oct 15, 2013 07:26
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Semesters over, and I had some fine accomplishments. My A Capella group performed three times, once in a student recital and twice with our Opera workshop. All three times my first A Capella arrangement was performed, in the latter two there was some staging and choreography. I got to travel to San Francisco to sing Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols as part of the MACCC Conference celebrating his centennial and St. Cecilia's day, which was a blast. Our Chorale's own concert was a stunning success. Our own performance of the Ceremony of Carols was jarred somewhat by the harpist who had trouble keeping up with our lunatic conductor, but there was so much that was good (especially our soloists) that it hardly mattered. Our A Capella pieces were a wonder to behold, and we performed them surrounding the audience from the aisles. Our Eric Whitacre sounded as good or better than his own singers and we performed a piece composed by one of our own members that equaled any Eric Whitacre piece in beauty. Our spirituals and gospels as usual melted down the audience requiring an encore. For our individual numbers, one of our soprano soloists sang Holy Night and the whole audience was standing and applauding while she was still belting her high C#. My own vocal technique has improved enormously from the chorale experience, the voice class I took over the summer, a short period of private lessons, and my own study. Did I mention that my instrument is piano? In Fall 2012 walking into the Chorale group because there was no other ensemble I could join, I had no idea where singing would take me.
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Dec 18, 2013 06:37
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After being for a choir for awhile, I finally got some 1 on 1 voice lessons. The first lesson was such a positive experience. I never really thought of myself as a 'singer' before but now I do. I see how much potential there is to grow with hard work! Can't wait! My first piece that I want to serenade people with is the Canadian National Anthem. Hopefully in French as well as English! hehehe
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May 31, 2014 15:58
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Colonel J posted:I signed up for my school's choir for this semester! To everyone out there who feels they'll never be able to sing, I was you before and look where I am now, I practiced my butt off and now feel sort of confident enough to sing in front of other people Just be careful with choirs - they are notorious for teaching you awful technique. Consider a voice class or a few lessons to get your technique starting on the right foot. I joined an advanced choir after never singing before in my life, and I skated by on my general musical abilities and ability to figure things out. However, being a Baritony sort, they stuck me in the Bass section to pound those low notes and as a result my speaking / singing voice has hit the gravel. I've also developed laryngitis in part from improper singing. It's only been 4 semesters, there's no irreversible damage, and now that I have an excellent voice class textbook and instructor (and some good exercises) I'll be OK. It turns out I have a pretty decent voice and a great range, but I need to learn me some technique if I'm going to drive it and not let it drive me. Just a warning to you!
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Oct 5, 2014 03:54
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Hawkgirl posted:I may get to do some caroling gigs this year. I am unreasonably excited to walk around and sing in a giant heavy Victorian costume. Oh yeah? Me too. Which company?
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Oct 5, 2014 03:55
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 11:08 |
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It's actually been the most wonderful experience of my life, just not the best thing in the universe for my voice. Just be aware that choir technique in a way stands in opposition to proper singing technique. In choir, you are supposed to blend your voice with your section, but healthy vocal technique is singing in the voice that is natural to you. In choir, you are supposed to straighten your tone and vibrato, but a vibrato of around 6-8 pulses per second is natural and healthy. In choir, you are assigned to wherever you are needed, not necessarily where your true tessitura lies. Until your voice is fully developed and controlled by proper solo technique, your voice class is unknown and in one audition a director can't determine if you are a Bass, Bass-Baritone, Baritone, Tenor, etc. In choir, you are often asked or demanded to do things that are beyond the reasonable capabilities of a singer or just things that go against what you should be doing because they are required. A singer should not sing for more than two hours a day, and yet we have been asked in our group to rehearse for two hours and perform for two. There are notes that are written very low in some pieces and require and special extended technique called vocal fry (if true Basses are unavailable) which, if done properly and in extreme moderation, is OK, but is demanded in every sing through of these pieces. The director may ask you to darken or otherwise artificially alter your tone, and unless you know how to do this in the safest way possible, it's easy to go wrong. The thing is though, if you are aware of all of these things, you have nothing to fear from a choir. Just stick to proper technique and you can handle all of the demands of a choir because the human voice is very flexible and can adapt itself to any situation once you are in full control of it. In fact, that's exactly what the human voice is all about - different styles, different approaches, and diversity. But all of these fall around a nucleus of proper technique and the further away you move from that radius the more careful and thoughtful you have to be. In order to gain comfortable control of your voice, you will need solo repertoire and lessons or a voice class. You want to be driving your voice, not the other way around (or have the director drive your voice).
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Oct 23, 2014 03:46
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