Session 5, finally
{Oops, I started writing this on 2nd Feb and only finished last night, on the 14th March. Anyway, it's finally done, along with some songs notated, which will follow this post.}
I wasn't sure how many of us would be there on the 13th January, as half of the country was still covered in snow (and most of the rest of the country, in ice) and there ended up being only eight of us, including Paul and Charles! I arrived as Paul was playing the piano, although as I went inside he was coming out of the hall with a member of staff. Susan followed shortly (she had arrived some 10 minutes earlier but had decided to leave Paul to it … until she was freezing in the car!) and we had a very helpful chat, actually. It was good to get to know her a bit, and we discussed CRB checks, volunteering, and Sign Up, so it was rather a fruitful conversation! (Sign Up still requires its own entry; but only after session 5 has been accounted.) The rest of us were: Malcolm, Ruth, Evelyn, Charles, and Matt.
We talked for quite a while before starting (some topics of note were: FCC trains see a snowflake and panic whereas EM trains are northerners so just get on with it; Charles being in Susan's mind? I didn't manage to work out quite what was going on there but everyone else was amused; Aces High - Charles had the CD with him [had only just been given a copy] and plugged the concert; Charles wanting Aled Jones' job … etc.) until we concluded that eight was going to be the attendance this time.
How did we start off? I'm not entirely sure; I know we definitely did warm-ups for the first half. We were to be in pairs and come up with warm-ups (again, anything we know or had already done; it wasn't essential to do something new). It was quite difficult to think, actually - surprisingly so. One would presume that by now, after all of the various warm-ups we've done, it would be reasonably easy to come up with something, but Ruth and I struggled a little to be honest. Anyway, Matt and Malcolm went first:
> Think of a percussive sound
> Go round the circle and make our sounds individually
> Pulse of 4; think of a rhythm within each bar for our sound
> Start with Paul (bass drum), go round the circle adding each sound: I know we had Charles' hi-hat, Matt's (I think) tom-toms, also a couple of … er, wooden scraped instruments (why don't I know the names by now?! Shameful!) a güiro, a clickit, maybe an agogo bell, and a cabasa … I'm not sure - Malcolm was keeping the pulse but I can't remember whether he was being an instrument as well.
> Listen to Paul, speed up and slow down, following him.
> We then discussed standing closer together to be better in time with each other: Voces8 stand 'uncomfortably close together' so not only can they hear each other but can feel the music too (discussed during the masterclass in October) so we tried standing closer together. It kind of worked, though personally I felt we were still being a bit English, not wanting to make anyone else feel like we were too close - maybe that was just me / the people nearest me; I don't know. But it definitely made the point.
> Next we tried listening to Charles, as it was a much easier pitch to distinguish. Interestingly that made us listen more to the ensemble as a whole, as Charles' rhythm had no definite markers for any particular beats in each bar (Paul's had a definite beat 1). Ruth commented that from Samba bands she's learned to work out where her part fits into the texture as a whole, rather than in terms of bars, and if she gets lost, to come back in again when it feels right. So for groups it'd be a good exercise, to get them subconsciously listening to the whole texture.
Susan and Evelyn's warm-up centred on 'My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean'.
> Learn the song first (for us it was simply a matter of singing it through; some groups may need longer though most people tend to know it whether they realise it or not)
> For every 'b' either stand up or sit down, e.g. if you start standing: 'my Bonny (sit) lies … my Bonny (stand) lies … my Bonny (sit) lies … oh Bring (stand) Back (sit) my Bonny (stand) to me.' Tip: whichever position was at the start, the finishing position should be the same. [Start standing => finish standing, and vice versa.]
> Next, clap for every 'o'.
> Combine the two!
Brain gym!!! Apparently, like Tony Chestnut, the kids can get it rather faster than we old fogeys(!) can, especially if they practise between workshops.
Ruth's and my warm-up: a snowy adaptation of 'See How I'm Bouncing':
(I have a feeling of déjà vu (or déjà écrit) writing this; my brain truly is frazzled!) See How I’m Bouncing originally goes:
See how I’m bouncing, bouncing, bouncing,
See how I’m bouncing like a ball
I never knew you could reach so high!
I never knew you could reach so low.
I never knew you could stand so still!
It’s designed to be changed for various actions, and our aptly snowy theme (for which all credit goes to Ruth) had us …
> Skiing down the slope - fast/slow
> Skating on the ice - far/near*
> Sledging down the hill - fast/slow
> Throwing a snowball - high/low
> Making a snowman - big/small
> (Flapping) Making snow angels** - wide/narrow*
*Grammar is not of particular concern to children; it needn’t make total sense! For example, on Stepping Stones we had some children come up with ‘wide-ing’ and ‘tall-ing’ - widing and talling like what, I don’t recall. It’s surprising how inventive children can be when it’s thrown open to them.
**I can’t remember what words we used for flapping arms in the snow to make snow angels. I did come up with something that made vague sense, about a month after the workshop, but that has eluded my mind - quite maddeningly so.
I’m unsure how exactly to go about teaching this successfully. I felt that for us it was a very ‘by the seat of one’s trousers’ exercise, trying somehow to communicate what opposites we’d use whilst actually singing the song - and a lot of guesswork / logical estimation on the part of the others. I can’t remember how we managed it in Stepping Stones, which is irritating, though I’m sure there is more than one way to go about it. Overall though, considering neither of us were quite sure what we were doing, it went pretty well. Everyone else seemed to be having fun, anyway!
One thing I noticed was that Charles nodded on occasion, regarding actions and opposites, and I was surprised at how encouraging that was! It unexpectedly gave me confidence that, at that moment in time anyway, it wasn’t going too badly. It wasn’t something I realised until reflecting upon the evening, but I was genuinely surprised at how remarkably helpful it was. (I now definitely don’t care whether I look like a Churchill dog car ornament, I’m going to continue nodding when I understand and/or agree!)
Charles' 'beans' warm-up: different types of beans and actions accordingly, e.g.:
> runner beans ( … self-evident!)
> french beans (put on a French accent and say clichéd French phrases)
> jelly beans (wibbly-wobbly, shake selves up and down)
> has-beens (lie on the floor and do nothing!)
> spring beans? (crouch then jump)
> bean casserole (lots of different types of beans all mixed together - group hug! [I like very much])
Bean casserole sparked a discussion about how tactile can we have the children, within the law and school policies. Charles was saying something about PE and team games - I can't quite remember what it was he said, but I think it may have been along the lines of that when children are more tactile with each other, they're more likely to work better in teams. And of course tactility (is that even a word? Shockingly the spelling check on here has allowed it, so maybe it is) helps to create a more relaxed, safe creative environment, taking away inhibitions, so it's bound to be useful anyway. [Personally I think in this country this is incredibly important due to the very staid and formal - stereotypically British - attitude that is still prevalent. I could harp on about this all day but for the sake of readers' sanity I shall desist!] If a group hug is deemed to be a dubious choice, there are worthwhile alternatives: they could hold hands, or have their hands on each other's shoulders, or whatever other idea seems suitable.
{A little side note: I'm currently listening to a version of Vivaldi's Autumn on ClassicFM - I'm not impressed. There's rubato/expression/interpretation, and then there's taking the mick. It's getting on my nerves, actually. - EDIT: I've since discovered it was Nigel Kennedy. Harrumph.}
The second part of the workshop was focusing on vocal technique. I shall have to wrack my brains to attempt to remember what we did though! I think there were three things:
> soft palate - resonance
> pharynx lift - to do with placing?
> vowels - placing => intonation
(I think I can remember the exercises we did; whether I can remember exactly what they were for is another matter!)
I have tried numerous times to finish the update, but at this point each time, my brain has turned to mush. So for now, I shall write the exercises and maybe add in the whys and wherefores at a later date, when I have got my head around it a little more. Though if anyone visits the blog and can remember what the technique was all about, please do leave a comment!
Soft palate:
Place your two little fingers on either nostril. Taking a proper breath (singer's breath!), move your little fingers in a curve round the side of the head up to the tops of your ears.
[I'm not sure whether the same is true on a warm day, or in a warm room, but it was a winter's evening and we felt the cold air filling the space at the back (the pharynx, I think). ]
That, when done properly, raises the soft palate in order to create more space for resonance, which is required for bel canto. In musical theatre and most pop, the soft palate is dropped so everything is against the hard palate instead. This is 'belt', and is how pop and musical theatre singers get that powerful sound - great in its place, but for bel canto an absolute no-no. (Think American, nasal, and twang, and that's all hard palate.)
Pharynx lift:
As usual, with a very hard palate 'ee' sound - 'he, not she', from as low as comfortable to as high as possible - it may be quite uncomfortable, and obviously there's a safe limit, but don't shy away from the uncomfortable top end of one's range. As Charles likes to say, it doesn't matter whether it sounds absolutely rancid - we're never going to use our voice that high anyway! But knowing that it will go that high helps us to have an understanding of our range.
The first time we did it, we were all very timid, and I made the elementary mistake of being far too quiet to actually get anywhere! I'm pretty sure I didn't even get as high as Paul that first time round (I was standing next to him), but the second time we were to feel the vibrations. So we put our hands round the back of our necks, and feel the vibrations moving upwards. This time I had to make enough sound to get anywhere, otherwise I'd not have felt anything much. So that was useful - plus there's some displacement there, concentrating on something other than the sound of the voice!
I can't remember quite what the purpose of us doing it then was, but for kids it's great to show them that although they may feel that they're a 'high singer' or 'low singer', they actually can reach high and low. Yes, there will be a part of their range that is more comfortable for them, but they CAN sing high and low. So once they've done the pharynx lift, they cannot then get a song and say 'I can't sing that high' or 'I can't sing that low' because actually they just did!
I think Charles also said something about extending our ranges, by practising the pharynx lift - whether that was extending our physical range or our comfortable range, I'm not sure. I should think it certainly would help for working on comfortable range, anyway.
Vowels:
We started with 'oo', and the exercise was, in a triplet pattern (numbers represent the degrees of the scale, because I really cannot remember what our starting note was - the pitch is long gone from my memory!):
121/232/343/454/565/as-high-as-you-wish-to-go/-and-back-down-again/454/343/232/121
(No breaks, the '/' are in there just so it's less confusing to the eyes; I'll have to notate it.)
Make sure the 'oo' is a uniform vowel, with the soft palate up.
We discussed other vowel sounds: the hard palate, nasal 'e' (as in 'egg'), then there's the open, English 'e' (almost 'air'), various 'i' sounds ('i' in 'it', 'i' as in 'eye', etc.) - there's the whole vowel spectrum. According to the International Phonetic Alphabet, there are 33 different vowel sounds in the English language alone, then of course singers sing in different languages too ... intonation's harder work than I'd ever have imagined!
Charles made the point that he can always tell a Scottish choir because of their vowels, and that in choirs regional accents are almost a no-no, but they're not too bad AS LONG AS everybody's vowels are the same. It's when everybody's singing different vowels that we run into problems - not only with auditory aesthetics, as it were, but for intonation of pitch too.
A little note: it was a FANTASTIC exercise for transition between chest and head voice (I sang at pitch, not the octave above; I couldn't hear what the other ladies were doing) and I've found it's useful in the upper reaches too - I'm so confused with what are registers and what aren't, but around D or E [above middle C] it feels like my voice goes into a different register; it's a useful exercise there. (I've been doing that in the shower, along with pharynx lifts - not sure what the neighbours think!)
After technique Charles taught us a song, while Paul spoke to us individually about how we were finding the course, what we were hoping to get out of it, where we're aiming, etc. There wasn't a great need to discuss those particular points, for me, because of keeping this blog, but we spoke about volunteering. The main issues were the CRB check (which looked to be fairly easily resolved; at the time of writing things have changed anyway so right now it's not an issue) and I was concerned about not finding myself in any situations that would compromise my conscience - i.e. not rehearsing or performing in a church / church hall, and repertoire. I was very pleasantly surprised that Paul seemed not only to accept that, but also recognise that it is important to me. (Susan had also earlier, when the subject of ministry came up during our chat before the session - it's very refreshing to find people who actually take conscientious decisions seriously, rather than just accepting it to humour the individual. So, thank you very much indeed to both.)
The song Charles taught, I almost completely missed, but I do remember one line was 'ain't no mountain high enough' which sounds familiar, so maybe that's the title of the song? I don't know - shall have to look on Sing Up. EDIT: 'Tis 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' - now, if only my registration on the Sing Up website would let me get to the files ...
... I think that was pretty much it. I must say, with fewer of us it was so much easier to hear than usual, as were were obviously all closer together; plus we spent longer discussing the warm-ups which was really helpful. And the wimpy, southern, WorstCC trains? They were running more to timetable than they had been during the day, oddly enough. Shocking, but it meant I hadn't to wait hours to get home - all was good!