Santa Barbara Music Working with Male Voices - Blackstone - DVD

Developing Vocal Techniques in the Choral Rehearsal

Author: Jerry Blackstone (featuring the University of Michigan Men's Glee Clee Club)
Format: DVD
Version: Classroom Materials

The topics covered include:

• Music-based choral tone:
  • repertoire and the musical challenges inherent therein determine the vocal procedures needed to communicate the composer's intent.


• Tone and the singing male:
  • beautiful/appropriate choral tone; warm-ups; rehearsals of works which utilize different timbres and which present particular challenges for the singing male, such as tessitura, register changes, and vowel colour.


• Voice classification:
  • what does one look for and hear when deciding in which sections singers should be placed?


• Tonal consistency throughout the range-a particular problem in men's voices:
  • warm-ups with the group which deal with the problem; demonstration using pieces in which consistency is problematic, particularly as it affects intonation.


• Intonation issues (probably the biggest issue for untrained singers):
  • discussion followed by a demonstration of warmups and rehearsal techniques which help.


• Rehearsal procedures:
  • using head voice, or falsetto, is highly effective in dealing with intonation issues and in introducing foreign languages.


• Communicative choral singing:
  • what makes a particular performance "moving" or "exciting"?


• Live performances:
  • starting with warmups, then progressing through an initial rehearsal, a rehearsal later in the process, and then a live performance to demonstrate what has been discussed; examples for playback in classroom situations.