Choir! Choir! Choir!

This group has made waves this winter with their "sing your heart out" approach to music making. They're an absolute treat to watch and listen to. Check out their performance on The Q!

Do you have a group you love to sing your heart out with?

Choir!Choir!Choir! is on Twitter, too: @choirchoirchoir

Choral Book Review

Carmina Slovenica

I had the pleasure of reviewing Carmina Slovenica, a vocal theatre ensemble from Slovenia directed by Karmina Šilec as part of this week's Voice and Choral Methods class. You can view my presentation, including excerpts from Carmina Slovenica performances, here.

Check out more Carmina Slovenica performances via Facebook, YouTube and their website.

Morning rehearsals

Our class will be generating discussion on topics stemming from ChoralNet forum postings over the coming weeks. This post will get us started with a look at the morning singing voice and what we as choral directors can do differently during early morning rehearsals:

Imagine that your choir rehearsals, which previously took place during lunch hour, have been rescheduled and will now take place at 8 a.m., before the start of morning classes. Knowing that morning can be a challenging time for vocal production, what techniques can you employ during warm-ups and rehearsal to prevent vocal damage?

Based on Choral Net Forum post, “Singing in the morning”.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments and ideas below.

Lead like the great conductors

Itay Talgam, international orchestral conductor and creator of the Maestro Program, delivered an insightful look at what makes for a successful collaboration between conductors (and/or leaders) and musicians at TED Global in 2009. In it, he explores what he calls the "ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word."

I found the notion of seeking the perfect balance of control between ensemble and conductor to be one of the most interesting ideas presented during Talgam’s talk. This concept introduced my strongest take-away: the importance of ‘gestures of music’ that allow players to add their own layer of interpretation combined with a level of professionalism. Balance between the two was best described in Talgam’s quote: “authority is not enough to make people your partners”. Further, I appreciated his description of instrumentalists as partners in performance along with audience members. 

Talgam’s presentation triggered a few questions and thoughts on how to implement his concepts into my own work as I look to refine both leadership and conducting skills. For example, the conductor who gave his oboe soloist such autonomy and demonstrated great appreciation for the resulting musicality demonstrated a level of trust that would certainly be appreciated by his instrumentalist. However, I wonder how, as a conductor, you reach this level where you are fully present, but not overwhelmingly commanding.

Welcome

This blog is designed as part of the Personal Learning Network component of Memorial University's E2520 Voice and Choral Methods. It will provide a space to continue class discussions online and share vocal and choral education resources.

Please also take a moment to visit the choral blogs created by my E2520 colleagues linked in the right hand column.