Choir Musings

I love my choir. Even though we don't get paid, the caliber is very high (I would defy anyone to pick it out of a group of New York choirs as being the one that's "amateur"); the music director is wonderful (I have never once heard him ask anyone to sing "straight tone", a vibrato-less way of singing that is the bane of most classically trained singers' existence); the people are really nice; and the Lutheran church has a progressive social justice message that appeals to this Unitarian, anyhow.

But I always appreciate having a break in the summer because taking a rest from trying to "blend" my voice (which for me means singing softly above the staff no matter what dynamics are written) is good for my vocal development.

For example I noticed when I came back to rehearsals a week or so ago I seemed to have more stamina and was able to sing a healthy pianissimo, or even hum on some of the higher notes rather than squeezing my larynx upwards and getting tired.

Part of the problem, of course, is that I sing in the soprano section.

Since I'm a mezzo who desperately needs every workout for my head register that I can possibly get, I avoid choral alto sections like the plague, because being stuck there, I would be lucky to get to sing an E (top space of the staff) every couple of months!! I mean I don't mind singing alto once in a while. Sometimes I'll do it if the piece we're singing is in four parts and the soprano part has a lot of "light" singing above the staff, if I'm singing a solo in a particular service and don't want to tire my voice, or if the composer has done something nice for us operatic mezzos and thrown in a note or two beyond the range of your average untrained choir alto (let's hear it for the Samuel Barber "Agnus Dei" where Alto 1 gets a high A flat!!)

But then of course singing soprano comes with its own set of problems.

I'm fine if the piece is in eight parts. Second soprano is really what a mezzo is so I'm in my comfort zone. Second soprano parts regularly go up to an E, an F, or even a G, but not above, and you rarely would have to sing softly above the staff. And since there's a part above me I can worry less about keeping the volume down.

Interestingly, Bach soprano parts are usually easy for me for some reason. Probably because they move. The "Halleluia Chorus" on the other hand is deadly. The only time I've gotten through it without choking was when I was a paid section leader (on one Easter only) and therefore felt entitled to sing as loud as was necessary to keep my larynx down.

In any event, coming back from my break I can see that I seem to get much less tired. Last night two of the pieces we sang had a high-ish tessitura (one had a second soprano part, but there were sections in four parts only with some G sharps meant to be sung lightly), but I really only ended up feeling the need to "cheat" (for me that means not singing the measure before any measure with a difficult high passage) at the very end of the rehearsal.

I will still probably stay home from choir practice the Wednesday before my concert, though, because I don't think choral soprano parts and the "Judgment Scene" are a good mix.