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Stretching the Skills of Your Community Choir
Stretching the Skills of Y our Communit y Choir

Open Throats quality in their sound. It is helpful to note that singing with
Singing with an open throat should be the last concept a more open throat is also the primary solution to sharp
that a conductor mentions, and only if needed. There is a singing and vocal scooping.
danger that saying too much too soon to amateur singers
about open throats could be misinterpreted, causing tone
placement to slip back and down, instead of up and for- Getting the Rehearsal Started
ward. Singing with an open throat is not about opening Motivating our singers requires a stimulating rehearsal
the mouth wider, but rather about opening unrestricted plan. The opening of a rehearsal should reinforce the love
passage up and down the throat. Mention the open throat of singing, creating positive feelings that elevate the rest
concept only if the choral sound is shallow, and then speak of the rehearsal. During these initial rehearsal moments,
of it in terms of increasing the echo quality of the sound. avoid focusing on tedious musical brain challenges. Instead,
Shallow sound becomes an increasing concern as amateur use something melodious and singable to momentarily let
singers begin to age, but shallow singing can also slip into the voice “out to play.” The tedium of sharpening skills and
the sound of singers of any age, and therefore needs to be learning difficult notes needs to be faced eventually, but if
addressed. If the choral sound needs more warmth and the joy of singing has been reestablished first, then choir
depth, referred to here as a sound with a feeling of echo, members will sing whatever needs to be worked on more
consider this procedure (Figure 1). enthusiastically.
Have the choir sing this simple exercise on an “aw” vow- Rather than beginning rehearsals with extended expla-
el, keeping in mind the already discussed posture and breath nations and too much talking, simply begin the melody
support. Focus on sostenuto and use a small mouthed “aw.” of a canon that everyone knows and one they can quickly
Repeat the exercise, but this time have the singers cup their memorize and then sing without music while getting to
hands around their mouths, as if to shout at someone far their seats. An example is this four-part arrangement this
away. author made of Mozart’s famous “Alleluia” canon. I have
Singers will hear from their own voices a remarkably always loved this canon, but because it had only three parts,
echo-like sound. Repeat the melody once again, with it was impractical for an SATB choir. So a fourth part was
the cupped hands now held eight inches away from their created, which you are welcome to use (Figure 2 on the next
mouths, but instructing them do whatever it takes to sing page).
with that same echo-like quality as before. Then repeat the Warm-ups should not cover every aspect of the choral
phrase without using the hands at all, but still insisting on art. Save more complex musical exercises for mid-rehears-
an echo-like quality. al, finessing as the need arises. By focusing initially on vocal
This echoing quality is the result of singing with what we fundamentals, these skills become the default vocal tech-
call an open throat. Remind your singers, especially your nique of our singers, an automatic part of their singing
senior singers, of the importance of always feeling the echo habits, and our rehearsals reap the benefits.
How does warming up these fundamental skills help our
choirs? If appropriate posture and optimal breath support
become habitual, about eighty percent of common vocal/
choral concerns will never appear. Working initially on vo-
cal fundamentals solves most problems before you even get
to the music. Among those issues that can be solved in ad-
vance by developing a more reliable default vocal technique
are flatness of pitch, listless singing, thin sounding voices,
lack of agility, cracking voices, voices that tire too quickly,
lifeless phrasing, and an inability to project sound. Using
this approach will solve most of these common frustrations
so that you can move more quickly to aesthetic consider-
ations. Wouldn’t we all like to get there sooner?

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 2 21 Winter 2023