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CHORTEACH
Rhythmic Integrity in

the Choral Rehearsal: REPLAY

A Bag of Tricks and More

THOMAS WINE

Thomas Wine is professor of music education and di- on the rest following the last pitch, for example, 1 & 2 & 3
rector of WU Choir and Shocker Choir at Wichita State & “t,” if the rest is on 4 and the concluding consonant is
University. He is a former director of choral activities at “t.” Variations on this method should also be utilized for all
Spartanburg High School. compound meters.
Understanding and having a method for solving counting
problems is vital to the musical health of an ensemble.
Robert Shaw, the legendary conductor, was tenacious
in his pursuit of precise rhythm in every ensemble he
conducted. From attacks and releases to the placement Rushing or Dragging Tempi
of diphthongs and consonants, Shaw instilled a sense of
rhythmic integrity with all of the musicians under his • Accent “ee”
direction. I believe one of the keys to his great success was
his belief that choirs shouldn’t merely feel the rhythm; they • Metronome
needed to think carefully about what defined the various
rhythmic components of any work. The use of count- • Get physical
singing became an important tool for developing group
musicianship in any Robert Shaw chorus. • Telegraph
Count-singing is the practice of rehearsing a choral
work on counts rather than singing the text. Singers use a • Recording
number on every beat containing a pitch, thus engaging the
singer for the entire length of long notes. When subdividing • Slow down
rhythms for eighth-note patterns in duple time, singers
should sing 1 & 2 &, etc. Shaw replaced the number “three” • Fewer beats
with the syllable “tee” to make the tongue move faster and
not slow the rhythm on that beat. For greater rhythmic • Count 8
definition, singers should count sixteenth notes as 1 ee &
ah, 2 ee & ah, 3 ee & ah, etc. To perform a cut-off more Accent “ee.” Start with count-singing. By accenting the
accurately, singers should place the appropriate consonant second sixteenth note in a beat group, stress is taken away

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 4 21 Summer 2023