In response to the questions, (a) Do you have any preferences in terms of blend? and (b) In terms of blend, how do you handle an outstanding solo singer in a choral situation Howard Swan (California State University, Fullerton) replied:
(a) I made up my mind a long time ago while philosophically I could accept the idea of blend, I could not go as far with it as some of my colleagues. Probably blend is the most important choralobjective. We respond as listeners to the chorus singing as one voice. We work on blend by having sections sing alone a number of times in rehearsal. We don’t do this in sectional rehearsals, and we don’t try to go for a basic vowel sound, but there is a lot of tuning within the individual sections. If I feel that the basic production of a section is off, then I will work with the singers for a time employing various means to produce a consistency in production and pronunciation. I will not go so far as to say that we blend vibrato. Sometimes this happens, and we’re delighted when it does happen. We try to place singers within the section so that there will be a suitable blend, a pleasing blend to the audience, and so that the singing process will be easier for each individual singer. Placement does help. Sometimes I carryon an experiment if I’m not completely satisfied with the placement of singers in a section. There is much changing of position to find which placement seems to be best for a given year. I’m not one who stays with a particular seating arrangement year in and year out. We do these things for blend, but we don’t carry it as far as some other people do. I cannot go too far with blend because I feel that if I do, something very precious in an individual nature is destroyed, or at least is hurt very badly.
(b) I cannot think of a time when we have dropped a soloist from the choir. One of my reasons for working as I do with blend is to protect my solo voices. I believe that all young people who have talent and who are soloists should be allowed to let their voices develop properly. Now, if a voice is huge in size you have to ask the singer to reduce its amplitude. There has to be some give and take on the part of the solo voices; it cannot be just a question of a sort of “musical anarchy”. But I find that insofar as vibrato is concerned and insofar as size of voice is concerned, much can be done if there is an understanding between the director and the singer. You tell the soloist, “I want you in the group. You don’t want your voice to be standing out in an ugly fashion or in a fashion which will detract from the listening pleasure of the audience. Therefore, let us work together. When I hear that your voice is too prominent or the vibrato is prominent, then I will tell you so. You must not take offense at this. Let us recognize together what you have in the way of talent. Let us recognize together that there are certain objectives for the group as a group namely blend and balance – which we must appreciate and which we must attempt to achieve.” This is the way that we usually go at it in my chorus. I usually find that with this kind of understanding, with the use of the ears, the use of the mind, and working with the voice on the part of the individual singer, we can make things come out pretty well.
John Howell says