It is about 6:40 a.m. when my parents first hear me sing on a typical school day, and, since the acoustics in the bathroom are amazing, they can hear every note of the song. I have been singing since I learned to talk, and I joined my first choir in Kindergarten. Singing in a choir is something I will be doing until I die, whether it be with a professional or amateur ensemble. I have tried being a solo singer, and although I enjoy it, I find it more enriching to be a part of a choir when I sing. In the early years of singing in a choir, I thought this was a flaw. When I tell people I am in choir, I get the feeling that they think it is less impressive than being a solo singer. To them, it seems as though my choir is a crutch, a tool for covering up my own voice. However, singing as a soloist and singing in a group are two different activities that require slightly different skill sets. Although singing in my choir is my favorite of the two, I use both forms of singing to improve in both my regular life and my musical extracurriculars. …show more content…
Since the third grade, my musical training in choir has been thorough.
I have worked on sight singing, using solfege to improve my pitch and clapping to improve my rhythm. In addition, everyone in choir was given music theory workbooks. This training in my choir taught me everything I needed to know for my AP music theory class in school. Singing as a soloist with a voice teacher taught me things more related to vocal technique than sight reading. When I began taking lessons, the only constructive criticism I got from my teacher was that I was so quiet that she didn’t have any other advice for me. I never felt nervous performing in my choir, but this showed me that, without the support of a choir, I morphed into a timid girl who could barely squeak out the right notes. Years of working up to a louder voice taught me that I had been using the choir as a way to hide from my own insecurities, so as well as gaining volume, I gained
confidence. Both singing environments gave me opportunities, although they were vastly different. Singing with a private teacher gave me freedom of choice over the music I sang. I wasn’t just handed a binder full of music at the beginning of the year, because I chose the songs I wanted to sing and chose when I wanted to sing them. In addition, I had the chance to perform as myself, not as a group. However, being in choir gave me the chance to travel as a singer. I toured 6 countries with my choir, and this allowed me to meet new people and immerse myself in new cultures. We shared music with different choirs, and saw how we could use music to communicate when we didn’t have any spoken languages in common. Furthermore, I had the chance to compete at higher levels when I was a choral singer, which resulted in an extremely rewarding experience. Due to the time and work I have spent on being a choral singer, my choir is much more than a music theory class or a way to get to Europe. The members of my choir are extremely talented and motivate me to be a better musician. My conductor helps us create a unified sound, and brings us together. I am proud of my work within the choir, but I am also proud of the people I get to sing with, and, most of all, the music we make together. After all, two heads‒or about 45‒are better than one.
The choirboys by Joseph Wambaurgh is it a depiction of how ten urban police officers cope. This novel is a dark and powerful comedy with the ending of a tragedy. Five sets of Los Angeles Police Department officers on the night watch at Wilshire division come together after patrol at MacArthur Park and rewind from the past day. Spermwhale Whalen and Baxter Slate partners of 7-A-1, Sam Niles and Harold Bloomguard partners of 7-A-29, Spencer Van Moot and Calvin Potts partners of 7-A-33, Calvin Potts and Francis Tanaguchi partners of 7-A-77, Roscoe Rules and Dean Pratt partners of 7-A-85.
On March 13th the Rochester Oratorio Society and Houghton College Choir performed at the Hochstein Performance Hall in the city of Rochester. It was a predominately vocal concert with an accompanying pianist. The main performance of the evening was the Rochester Oratorio Society’s rendition of Johannes Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem,” in which vocal soloists Elena O’Connor and Benjamin Bloomfield took the front stage, and Linda Boianova joined Kevin Nitsch as a second pair of hands behind the piano.
made their own translation of the psalms. The Bay Psalm Book was the first book
Another technique we have to learn in choir practice is we learn now to pronounce vowels and consonants correctly. An example of that would be pronouncing out “D”s as light “T”s. We also have to keep our mouth round and you cannot smile while you’re singing or else it ruins the effect of the vowels. One thing we always always must do is to pronounce the consonants loudly. What our conductors always make us do to help us remember this is to say “We LoVe ouR CoNSoNaNTS!”.
Lefebvre, Eliza. "Choir gives voice to kids’ confidence." Buffalo News 14 March 2013, n. pag.
Many people across the world are affected every day by the gift of music. To those of us who let it into our lives, we truly view it for what it is. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes how powerful it can be. For me singing was something that I was always good at; I never really took it to heart. I never understood when people would talk about how music had changed there lives; I just didn't see how a few notes put together could affect anyone so deeply. It wasn't until last April when our choir was chosen among a select few to perform at Carnegie Hall that I would understand the indubitable impact of music.
BAND! CHOIR! NO BAAAAAND!! WRONG! CHOIR!!!! Does this conversation seem familiar? If you are a music person or a friend of a music person, you’ve probably heard some variation of this argument, and if you haven’t, well now is the great time to hear the true facts of this argument. Every person involved in band or choir at the highschool, knows without a doubt that their program is, of course, the best, however which one is actually? Band is far superior to choir for many reasons. You learn so much more about how to read and understand music, and you are able to more easily apply this knowledge to other instruments and have a much easier transition.
The begging of middle school our choir consisted of Sopranos, Altos. This was mainly due to the fact that we didn’t hit puberty yet. That year I found my niche. This was exciting for me because I wasn’t like my brothers who are athletic. My 7th and 8th grade year were the years I made a difference. To add on to the Sopranos and Altos the guys were now baritones and that was a big deal. During my 7th grade year we sang Phantom of The Opera. My friend Jon and I sang a duet and received a standing ovation. The following year was just as good due to the fact we sang Broadway medley. I sang Part in the South Pacific song aint nothing like a dame. Later in that piece I had a whistling solo for the king and I. this was so cool to do because people thought I was going to sing and I shocked the by whistling. High school was a big change because we now had 4 parts: Soprano, Alto, Bass, and Tenor. Our choir consisted of 50-60 students and 40 of them were girls. I was very intimidated by this but didn’t let this stop me. I sang tenor and our section was about five people but we were the strongest section. We hosted State Large group which is where judges rate your choir you can receive division 1, 2,3,4,5. One would be the best that you could receive. We also had honor choirs you could go to. I went to one in Waverly, Iowa at Wartburg College called the Meistersingers Honor choir. While I was there I sang tenor 2. This Honor choir was about 600 high school students plus the Wartburg choir. This particular honor choir was special because we sang with Simone Estes, the famous opera
Music has always been an important part of my life. Upon entering the fifth grade, my parents bought me a flute, at my insistence. After moderate success playing the flute, I saw greener grass on the other side of the musical fence. Singing just had to be easier than making music with a long metal pipe. My perception and reality did not exactly match. Singing has its own subtleties and complexities which are not readily apparent to the casual observer. Abandoning the flute for singing, I began taking voice lessons in the tenth grade. My voice teacher was very experienced and encouraged me to pursue my interest in music beyond high school. After much deliberation, I decided to major in voice during college. This path would be fraught with unforeseen difficulties and exciting challenges.
On Wednesday, May 23rd, I attended the College Choir concert in the Reamer Campus Center. The choir performed a variety of songs, ranging from pieces in Latin to traditional American folksongs. Two of the pieces featured solos, and one even featured percussion instruments. Mrs. Elinore Farnum provided piano accompaniment for each of the songs, and performed beautifully. I was extremely impressed by the talented choir members and their ability to sing such a varied range of songs.
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
thought of singing in front of strangers, completely freaked me out, I chose choir. Frankly, at
this is not to say that I have much musical talent. I did perform in the choir in elementary school, and I played the flute for four years through middle school, but one day I came to a simple decision. When it comes to music, I am a much better enjoyer of it than a producer of it. When I am alone in the car, my sing-along-to-whatever-is-on-the-radio voice is fab-u-lous. However, as soon as any else climbs into the car with me my talent suddenly dwindles. My larynx doesn’t seem to appreciate an audience when it is trying to perform. Thus, my musical enjoyment stems directly from listening.
However, not everyone has the “confidence” on their own. In life, we still see those people who are shy, lack of courage in themselves, or prefer to rely on others, on their parents, and leading to a lack of skills and knowledge. Typically, a number of young people, despite stepping to adulthood, is still not engaging in the world. As a result, they have to live the dependent lives, and they are still clinging to their parents. Some people who lack of “confidence” do not dare to accept the challenges in their jobs to seek for opportunities. Recently, I have struggled with confidence in one of the most important aspects of my life: singing. With schoolwork, I feel completely confident in my work, but singing is a different story. Lately, I have been displeased and uncomfortable with my performances, instead of the ease that I used to practice in my rehearsals. After every mistake, I would get down on myself. It has been hard for me to find out how to gain and reach confidence. Through several talks from my vocal coaches, I finally believe that I am a good performer, and I cannot let pressure get to me. Moreover, I have learned that if one cannot believe in being able to do something, one will not do it. I am slowly building my confidence by believing in myself and trusting in my abilities. At the same time, we need to understand that not only “confidence” is not enough
One of the areas that I am working on still is establishing in-charge authoritative presence in the classroom. I have a soft voice and it is limiting me to have the full charge and control of the classroom. I need to practice to have a strong voice and keep practice authoritative presences in the classroom. Also, I need to practice to use my voice in a different ways when I read or teach younger students. I need to practice my animating voice or tone by reading books to my Sunday school