Well, at this point, let’s just say that if there had been as much effort invested in the choir’s tone as had been the tuxedos and dresses, things would have sounded better. A LOT better. Friends, we’re in the choir business; and the choir business is about SOUND.
In his article “A Choral Director’s First Task” (SWACDA Common Times, Vol.27, No.3), Charles Chapman discusses this in greater detail.
“Many of our choral conductors have too little information about how to produce sounds different from those so-called “natural” sounds the students bring to class the first day of the year. The choral conductor is, in most cases, well served by altering resonator shapes, the changes of which are mostly visible, mostly directly adjustable, and may even be silently cued during performance, when [o] shapes begun by singers begin to turn into smiles. Teach your choir singers to sing vowels alike. Teach them first to sing a well-shaped [o]. Look at how many of them aren’t even rounding their lips!”
(To access the full article, simply click the highlighted title. For additional articles on a dazzling array of choral topics, visit ChorTeach.)
Tom Carter says