Music theory and ear training
I was talking with my mother about my choir and wondering weather my musical training had helped me to learn to sing, and she thought that it was quite obvious. I attended musical play group weekly before I turned six and started to play the violin. We sang there, among other things. Then there was the classes of music theory and ear training (säveltapailu) that I took at the music institute where I had my violin lessons and orchestra. I was tallying up the years and I must have studied music theory and ear training (it was a combined class) at least for eight years. There was a couple of years of classes in music history in there as well, but we didn't sing in those classes.
Somehow I just completely managed to forget that we used to sing quite a lot during the theory and ear training lessons. We'd sing from notes doing sight-singing (like singing a new song from music sheets that you hadn't seen before, primavista) and also repeat what the teacher sang or played on the piano. We practised recognizing melodies, rhythms, intervals and chords (I sucked at that). We even sang the chords, not as harmonies like in a choir, but as separate notes (do-mi-so-mi-do and all that). At the end of each year we'd have this nerve wrecking exam where we had to write down the music that we heard based solely on what we heard, and in the later years we had to do sight-singing in front of... well it was a small panel of teachers. I had pretty much forgotten all about it. It was pretty awful as I was so nervous that my voice usually shook from nerves. Some to think of it... I was kinda worried that that might happen again in the choir, but I even managed the performance that we had without any problems. Sure I was nervous, but it didn't have a negative effect on my singing.
So yeah, maybe I should start counting all those years in as getting practise in singing. It's just competely different from singing in a choir. We had the music theory class to learn things that would help us with our instruments. It was never about teaching us to sing. We didn't even do voice openings (äänenavaus) at the start of the lessons. But those lessons probably go a long way into explaining why most people who have studied music like I have would know how to sing.
[EDIT]
On a slightly related note: my music stand (nuottiteline) comes in handy when I'm writing school stuff on the computer based on my notes, which are in paper format. I can put my notes on the stand and place it beside the computer, so that they're not between or under my hands while I'm writing, and I don't have to constantly look down to check my notes. There's no such simple solution for my tendecy to leave finishing school stuff for the very last minute. This is going to be a long night...
Somehow I just completely managed to forget that we used to sing quite a lot during the theory and ear training lessons. We'd sing from notes doing sight-singing (like singing a new song from music sheets that you hadn't seen before, primavista) and also repeat what the teacher sang or played on the piano. We practised recognizing melodies, rhythms, intervals and chords (I sucked at that). We even sang the chords, not as harmonies like in a choir, but as separate notes (do-mi-so-mi-do and all that). At the end of each year we'd have this nerve wrecking exam where we had to write down the music that we heard based solely on what we heard, and in the later years we had to do sight-singing in front of... well it was a small panel of teachers. I had pretty much forgotten all about it. It was pretty awful as I was so nervous that my voice usually shook from nerves. Some to think of it... I was kinda worried that that might happen again in the choir, but I even managed the performance that we had without any problems. Sure I was nervous, but it didn't have a negative effect on my singing.
So yeah, maybe I should start counting all those years in as getting practise in singing. It's just competely different from singing in a choir. We had the music theory class to learn things that would help us with our instruments. It was never about teaching us to sing. We didn't even do voice openings (äänenavaus) at the start of the lessons. But those lessons probably go a long way into explaining why most people who have studied music like I have would know how to sing.
[EDIT]
On a slightly related note: my music stand (nuottiteline) comes in handy when I'm writing school stuff on the computer based on my notes, which are in paper format. I can put my notes on the stand and place it beside the computer, so that they're not between or under my hands while I'm writing, and I don't have to constantly look down to check my notes. There's no such simple solution for my tendecy to leave finishing school stuff for the very last minute. This is going to be a long night...