Intonation, Part 1

Choral music as we knew it will resume and endure, even if it’s next month or next year. But, there can be no doubt that a year of virtual singing has impacted the choral sound. Choral conductors will need to help their choirs rediscover their listening and intonation skills. Fortunately, Graphite has an excellent resource to help you through this process with Albert Pinsonneault’s “Intonation.”

Albert’s collection of intonation exercises grew from his own experience working with college choirs and developing singers. Often setting moving voices against drones, the exercises help singers to experience and intellectualize a beautiful sound. Pitch, volume, vibrato, and vowel shapes can all be improved. The exercises are designed to be sung unaccompanied, away from a piano, for maximum listening.

The exercises are also designed to be flexible. They are meant to be adapted and played around with. A conductor may change the keys, vowels, tempi, and is encouraged to experiment. Best of all, the exercises are fun. “I’m continuously surprised that singers find these exercises satisfying and enjoying,” says Pinsonneault. “They work well to focus people, to engage the mind, and are good for concentration.”

Looking to reignite your passion for choral music? Listen to this brand new recording of “Be Still, My Soul,” arranged by C. Rand Matheson. Stunningly recorded by Voces 8, this piece is a balm for the spirit. The music is available in our NDSU Challey School of Music series.

Voces 8 records C. Rand Matheson’s setting of Finlandia – “Be Still, My Soul.”

About the composers

Conductor Albert Pinsonneault (PEN-son-oh) is Associate Director of Choral Organizations at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where he directs the University Singers and teaches graduate choral literature. Dr. Pinsonneault is also Artistic Director of the Madison Choral Project, a professional chamber choir in Madison, Wisconsin. Their work has been hailed as “a bundle of pure bliss, unaccompanied choral sound at its most beautiful,” by Madison’s Isthmus newspaper. Additionally, he is Artistic Director of the Madison Chamber Choir, and was formerly Assistant Conductor of the Madison Symphony Chorus and Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Edgewood College. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota before completing his doctoral study at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) of the University of Cincinnati. His conducting teachers include Anton Armstrong, Earl Rivers, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Richard Sparks, Dale Warland, and Richard Westenburg. His published work Choral Intonation Exercises is available through Graphite Publishing.

The mission of The NDSU Challey School of Music is to provide academic programs and artistic performances that serve our students through professional preparation and fine arts enrichment. The School also strives to serve the world-wide community through the excellence of our widespread performances, opportunities and endeavors. The Choral Series is part of the mission to serve our world-wide community of musicians and supporters. One of the goals of the NDSU Challey School of Music Choral Series is to enable the creation of quality choral music for all types of choirs. The music selected for this series has a wide range of voicings and difficulties which can meet the needs of choral musicians everywhere. The NDSU Challey School of Music Choral Series is committed to publishing high-quality choral music written by composers and arrangers who believe in the power that choral music has to enrich and enhance the lives of all.

Our Contributing Editor

Jonathan Campbell received his B.A. from Luther College in 1998, a Master of Sacred Music degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota in 2002, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting in 2015 at North Dakota State University. As a composer, Jon has received numerous awards and commissions, including a Faith Partner’s Residency through the American Composer’s Forum, as well as first place in the Morningstar College Choral Composition Festival. From 2004-2012, Jon conducted the Honors Choirs of Southeast Minnesota Chorale and in the spring of 2011, served as interim director of choral activities at Winona State University. At Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN he recently served as faculty conductor of the Cedar Singers male chorus and the Masterworks Chorale. Jon is founder and was artistic director of the Minnesota Renaissance Choir, and is currently Director of Music and Fine Arts at Claremont United Church of Christ and Lecturer in Music at Pomona College, both in Claremont, CA.