Lessons with Impresario!

Woo!! Let's do this. Tell me your musical background, what you want for me to teach you in total, and where you would like to start.

Hey, I'm back!

I started Tenor Sax in grade 5 at school, played in the bands until grade 8 (Except 7, where the sub music teacher gave us crosswords half the time and didn't have band) In grade nine I joined jazz and concert band.

I know practically no theory at all, and would like to start with simple harmonization.

But if we could first talk about voices first, that would be great. For example, which voices should I worry about, SATB or more. Also, what is th epoint of each one in the choir.

I'm off to bed, be back tommorow.

Brilliant! Starting at the very beginning, 'cause it's a very good place to start!

So, you wanna know about the voices? (I PROMISE it won't be boring for very long... there is ALWAYS basics that get in the way of everything fun... we all have to deal with them if you want Well, first off, we'll talk about the VOICE itself. If you understand the basics of the voice, you will understand WHY it is so unique.

So, we will begin WITH a basic understanding. I am going to give you an article on the voice, and I want you to report back what you find that is interesting (Disclaimer: This is the only article you will have to read, any subsequent articles will be optional, but I will always try to back up my teaching with a reputable source):

Singwise - Anatomy of the Voice

NOW... this is an interesting article, and it REALLY provides insight into the VERY basics. It's very biological and you probably won't remember it, but it's necessary. So, tell me:

What have you learned that you didn't already know?

What do you LIKE about the voice?

What questions do you want ME to answer about the biology or anything covered in the article?

Any general comments before we move on?

NEXT LESSON: What types of choirs are there and how are they different?

What I thought of the article:

-Pretty much everything about how voice came out was new, I knew what the body parts did on thier own, but not together to make voice.

-I didn't know the vocal coards vibrated when we talk, or that more than the vocal coards vibrated (it says the skull vibrated, something I would've never guessed!) and that they help create different sounds, which I still don't quite understand...

-The larnyx was quite interesting, where the sound comes out, where it's munipulated and how there are so many things in the small neck.

-Finally, I didn't know the teeth or toung could change the sound articulation. Well I guess raising the toung makes quite a different sound, is that what they're refering to?

What I like about the voice is how expressive it can get so easily. How the same note can be loud, soft, mad, happy, sad or anything else. I also like how it can be used anywhere, at any time, and the sounds it produces (unless it's my brother XP)

That was a good lesson, I put that page under favorites so I can refer to it if I don't understand some words. The next lesson sounds helpful as well.

Umm... no questions so far, I think I'm good.

edit: Question: What do you use to compose? I have Finale 2009

Well... alright then! Very good answers. To answer your second point, and to clarify, YES the vocal folds are key in creating ANY sound you will ever make through your oral cavity. If they don't vibrate, NOTHING comes out. I repeat... "DON'T LOSE YOUR VOCAL FOLDS!!!" Even the sound your breath makes when you breathe HARD is because it catches along the vocal folds. Here. Let's try an exercise:

1. Please stand up

2. Exhale and Inhale 5 times in a set and notice what sound your voice makes.

3. NOW, force the breathe out (Ex. and In. 5 times) and see how your throat naturally contracts.. it's making this sound because it is making something vibrate and catching along the throat and vocal folds on the way down.

4. Next, (Ex. and In. 5 times) breathe without making ANY noticeable sound... Try and let the air go through as silently and as slowly as possible. As you get better at this, you can increase the speed silently. HOW does one breathe with no noise? Well, it comes from the term "Breathing from your diaphragm". If the air comes from the bottom of your body (not really, just if you think of it that way it comes more naturally and easier), you will be able to experience a very cool (pun...) effect. The air should seem colder (which it is because there is almost no air friction creating heat, which is cool, right? lolz sorry... bad pun). You should have no vibration (almost... cause it's impossible in physics to have anything move without friction of SOME sort) and it should be SILENT.

Now, tell me... (this is just a reinforcement question), which one is going to get you the most air? And, which one is going to be the best for singing? (They could be the same... hint hint)

BUT, HEY!! Stop that exercise, and think to yourself! Are you allowing your shoulders to come up closer to your ears? That's not good. Why, you ask? WELL, I will tell you, thanks for asking, Impresario! If you put constriction on your throat by raising your chest you are stifling the amount of air you can pass into your lungs. So, try and make your shoulders still at all times and then allow the air to fill your abdomen! If you can do that, you will have the most air you can!

AS for your last question: Yes. That short and sweet. We will discuss that MORE when we talk about Vowels and their purpose. haha.

Now: LESSON TWO!!

What types of Choirs are there? Well, first, we need to discuss how the voice divides. The biggest split is thus: Women and Men. Women have a naturally higher sound, and the Men generally have a lower sound. There is an exception to this: Some women have VERY low voices, and some men have MUCH higher voices. But, in choral music, we don't generally write for them. We write for a standard of Men and Women. Now in the women and men categories, there is another division: High Women, Low Women, High Men, and Low Men.

How does this translate?

High Women: Soprano.

Low Women: Alto.

High Men: Tenor.

Low Men: Bass.

That list above needs to be committed to memory cause it's VERY important. They are commonplace knowledge in choral music. Now, as for the ranges, it gets a little more complex. This has been a subject for debate for a LONG time. And, it is difficult to find a reliable range of each voice. However, what you need to be interested in RIGHT NOW is the VERY basics of the ranges. Later on I will introduce the idea of Divisi parts and their ranges, but for now, JUST focus on these following:

These are ONLY COMMON PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS!!! The real voices can go lower and higher most of the time! Please understand that for now though; we don't go beyond these parameters. Ignore the Mezzo-Sop and Baritone for now, you won't be writing for those. Generally, we try to stay in the middle of this range.

Lastly, before we do the assignment: Soprano is abbreviated: Sop. or S.; Alto: A.; Tenor: Ten., or T.; Bass: B.

There are two types of scoring for choir: Open Scoring and Closed Scoring. Open scoring looks like this:

It means that EACH voice part is on it's own line. See how S and A have a treble clef. T has a treble clef that is transposed DOWN the octave. And B has a Bass Clef.

Now look at Closed scoring:

BASICALLY, the SA share the Treble clef, and the TB share the Bass clef. That's ALL there is to it. We will be practicing using BOTH Open and Closed scoring in the next couple of weeks. You will gain a personal preference, and you will eventually stick with that. Usually Open is better for more independent and contrapuntal lines, and Closed is better for block scoring and very similar parts rhythmically, more like a 4-part piano writing. Notice how in Closed scoring, the stems go opposite direction for each part... you WILL do this. It makes it SO much easier to read. And, it makes for voice crossing much more acceptable and readable.

SO, now that you know these ranges and the clefs, I want you to do the following for me:

1. Take this lyric: "Set me under the New, Young Moon. I am waiting to be ascended."

2. Set it to 4 different melody lines. ONE Melody for each voice part and put it in the middle of each range. BUT, make the climax at the higher end of the range. So essentially you are going to make an arc! Please make each melody in a different key signature and at a different tempo. Try thinking about ALL the ways this line could be interpreted. It IS a supernatural lyrics... say a werewolf was singing it in a fantasy opera, idk. It's a pretty self-explanatory lyric. Not really deep or anything, just try and interpret it four different ways. (This is also working on your ability to look at one line is many different ways.)

3. Try, when doing this, to try and evoke a different emotion, and how you would do that with the voice. So for instance: If he was aggravated, WHERE would you put that line in the voice so it SOUNDS aggravated?

4. The lyric is very uneven so that you cannot fall into complacency when setting this. It should make you think.

5. On your score, make each part on ONE line (one staff only), but change the clef and tempo marking at each section. Put text up there that shows me what voice part and what emotion you are trying to evoke.

Oy... I think that's ENOUGH info for one day. haha. So, here are some optional articles you may comment on, or not:

Closed and Open Scoring: Score Formats

What IS a choir (some history): What is a Choir?

Fun if you wanna know more: Home - ChoralNet

A Choral Radio to get you used to the sound: "Sacred Classics" Weekly Radio Program on the Internet

BONUS:

There are more combinations of Choirs. Go searching and tell me what you think the OTHER types of choirs you think there MIGHT be besides SATB. Go for it! Self learning is good for you.'

-Morivou.

Okay, I admit I was letting my shoulders up, thanks for telling me not to XP

I think number 3 would give you most air, right? Is it because the amount of air makes the vocal folds vibrate faster? I think it would be better for singing, because you have to project your voice to the massive audience from the stage.

Lesson 2:

I have a question :D

Do Alto and Soprano sound the same? Like if they both sang a B would it sound the same?

Also, my finale doesn't let me do different times or key signatures in one document. Can I hand them in seperatly?

Finally, how should I hand them in? PDF?

Well, no. The problem with three is that it isn't going to give you the most air: unfortunately when the throat contracts it stifles the air flow, you cannot get as much as number FOUR. Why? If you don't let the vocal chords vibrate as much, there is a larger passageway for air to travel. AND, 3 sounds bad when singing. (try it. Breathe in loudly and sing something... If you make noise, it's distracting.)

and, what finale program do you have? Submit in .mus so I can make comments on the score.

As to your question:

I think that if a soprano and an alto were to sing the same note, the alto would "sound" lower. But, if a section of altos sang with a section of sopranos... The difference would be much less. I say this because I have never actually tried it, but in my experience the alto voice register (the timbre and tone) is always lower than that or a soprano. This is assuming these are both trained voices. Sometimes untrained voices don't have a "distinct" timbre.

Interestingly enough, the opposite is true for when boys sing the same note as a girl. Say a tenor sang a high F, and an alto sang the same F, the male would sound higher because it is high in the tenor range and set in the middle of the Alto range. See how that works? But, if a Tenor sang the same note as a bass, the tenor sounds higher.

Anoter exception... If a soprano sings a low note, say a Middle C. And an alto sang the same note. Altos sound higher cause it's in the middle of their range and it's at the bottom of theirs. Same with the guys. Yes it's a difficult concept, but I think you will be fine.

If you cannot submit the assignment via one staff, multiple documents is fine, I want you to practice writing the coeds for each part which is why I don't want it block scored.

Okay I get it now, you can do the noisless breathing without taking small breaths, so it would be better and less distracting.

As for my question, that makes sense, thanks. I'm done Alto and Soprano of lesson two, I should have all of them up soon.

Let's see if this attachment thing works...

The four songs are (hopefully) below.

The Soprano is like a prayer I think, like someone looking at the moon and asking God to be ascended.

The Alto is more funky in a way, I imagine a church choir to be singing it in a musical, where the soloist repeats parts of it over top of the background.

The Tenor is like a happy werewolf, asking to end his life, because he has completed his goal in life. It's sad, but happy because the song makes it happy.

The Bass is like the Tenor, except he has done something wrong, and is offering his life as payment for his bad deed.

Is that good? I don't think I looked at it in enough ways, all of them have the character asking a God to do something.

set me under the moon S.mus

set me under the moon A.mus

set me under the moon T.mus

set me under the moon B.mus

Ok! This is what I needed to hear! These are good for a first try! Now, there are some inherent things we need to work on.

1. Lyric Placement.

Is horrid... Usually you must think of where the line wants to go and let it flow to such. I can tell that you thought a little bit about where the words should go because of your lyric placement that you have. This is a necessary evil in music that we must allow the words to come as they would if we were to speak them in terms of accents.

Understand, you are not writing baroque music anymore (Even Handel's vocal placement was alright), but we have moved on in choral music to allow the words to formulate the way they were supposed to, and as musicians it is NOT our right to change the way the lyrics are interpreted: we are bound to understand that our music MUST reflect the lyric's intention. Intention is HUGELY important in choral writing. So, I have taken each part and moved the voices to a better position, and see how it doesn't change your purpose, but it also FITS the lyric's purpose and makes it more singable and more realistic to a listener. Now, look here... (I have attached the scores in .MUS at the end.)

Soprano:

With this setting, the voice more naturally follows a pattern of speech and prayer. One rule of thumb... NEVER PUT "the" on a strong beat... if you were to say "the" in a sentence, it would never have the arc's emphasis. Also notice how when you have two notes that cover ONE SYLLABLE, you are to place a slur to indicate that is how long you sing that particular syllable.

Alto:

I just noticed that all of these are in modes... interesting! You like to write in modes?

Here you made a fatal error... you placed the emphasis of "under" on "der"... And, in most gospel choir and funk music... it is in a compound time (which we will talk about VERY soon once we finish acquainting ourselves with the voice.) For now, I will just show you how to make this work. Instead of 4/4 time, we are gonna go with a 9/8. Watch how much better this melody flows with it this way. (If you cannot get 9/8 time with whatever you have, that's ok... just make sure and realize you should write this particular style of funk in a compound meter).

Tenor:

OK!!! First problem with the Tenor.. I think I misspoke. On that particular chart... the ranges showed the tenor in the Bass clef, as it would appear in closed score. You went out of the range. But, I will fix this for you, just compare these scores and you will understand what i've done. In measure nine, you outlined a tritone between beats one and two... which in choral music is a NO NO. At least not when you are starting out... it's hard to hear and has it's place down the road. I rarely have my singers sing tritones, and I only use them when it's Harmonically necessary. If I have them, it is usually homophonic (two or more parts singing the same rhythm but different notes of equal importance) so it just SOUNDS like a tritone. Which is cool! Also, NEVER repeat letttteeerrrs in wo-o-ords that are stretched out. Just write let-----ters in words______

You will see how this works when you see the score.

Bass:

Here there were minimal problems! So, you must have gotten better from experience here! My advice to you is to sing each of these lines as they WERE and as they ARE to get a feel for what's different. All I did was adjust some rhythmic things that sound more natural and I want you to notice something... LONG does not equate to strong. If you remember, I told you not to put the accent on the DER. And I have not, even though it is long. UN falls on the strong beat of 3. Which is cool! You have an unnecessary pause... I got rid of that.

2. Dynamics... ADD some. Put some interest in these lines now... give them some musicality. At least some hairpins. (crescendo and decrescendo)

3. Your meanings were FINE!! I liked them! Keep THAT up!

4. Tempo...

I didn't see one on every piece of music, I need to! I need to see what speed you are going at. I didn't use playback ONCE, and I need to be able to tell what you want musically without the use of a playback button.

5. Assignment:

Look at the fixed scores. Tell me what you like better about them and what you think you could do even BETTER at. If you can make my edits better, I can't wait to see them.

THEN, add dynamics.

THEN, add tempi for ALL of them.

THEN, sing the old ones, and sing the new ones... Tell me what you find.

Articles:

Same as last time. This time at least TELL me if you've looked at them or not.

BONUS:

Same as last time. Keep thinking and searching for those different types of choirs... I want at least 5 different types besides SATB.

Soprano:

With this setting, the voice more naturally follows a pattern of speech and prayer. One rule of thumb... NEVER PUT "the" on a strong beat... if you were to say "the" in a sentence, it would never have the arc's emphasis. Also notice how when you have two notes that cover ONE SYLLABLE, you are to place a slur to indicate that is how long you sing that particular syllable.

Okay, that's pretty straightforward, thanks. I didn't know the slur thing, I just put dashes, but I won't now.

Alto:

I just noticed that all of these are in modes... interesting! You like to write in modes?

Here you made a fatal error... you placed the emphasis of "under" on "der"... And, in most gospel choir and funk music... it is in a compound time (which we will talk about VERY soon once we finish acquainting ourselves with the voice.) For now, I will just show you how to make this work. Instead of 4/4 time, we are gonna go with a 9/8. Watch how much better this melody flows with it this way. (If you cannot get 9/8 time with whatever you have, that's ok... just make sure and realize you should write this particular style of funk in a compound meter).

So by an emphasis, do you mean the downbeat? I understand what you mean by placement of important words/syllables.

Also, what's a mode?

Tenor:

OK!!! First problem with the Tenor.. I think I misspoke. On that particular chart... the ranges showed the tenor in the Bass clef, as it would appear in closed score. You went out of the range. But, I will fix this for you, just compare these scores and you will understand what i've done. In measure nine, you outlined a tritone between beats one and two... which in choral music is a NO NO. At least not when you are starting out... it's hard to hear and has it's place down the road. I rarely have my singers sing tritones, and I only use them when it's Harmonically necessary. If I have them, it is usually homophonic (two or more parts singing the same rhythm but different notes of equal importance) so it just SOUNDS like a tritone. Which is cool! Also, NEVER repeat letttteeerrrs in wo-o-ords that are stretched out. Just write let-----ters in words______

You will see how this works when you see the score.

I should've noticed the bass clef thing, my bad. I understand the ranges though.

Tritone... *searches* I don't understand.

I haven't learned fifths or fourths or tones or anything, I'm really a begginer. Do you think you could explain tritone to me without any terms?

Bass:

Here there were minimal problems! So, you must have gotten better from experience here! My advice to you is to sing each of these lines as they WERE and as they ARE to get a feel for what's different. All I did was adjust some rhythmic things that sound more natural and I want you to notice something... LONG does not equate to strong. If you remember, I told you not to put the accent on the DER. And I have not, even though it is long. UN falls on the strong beat of 3. Which is cool! You have an unnecessary pause... I got rid of that.

Alright, great! I'll remember the placement stuff.

2. Dynamics... ADD some. Put some interest in these lines now... give them some musicality. At least some hairpins. (crescendo and decrescendo)

3. Your meanings were FINE!! I liked them! Keep THAT up!

4. Tempo...

I didn't see one on every piece of music, I need to! I need to see what speed you are going at. I didn't use playback ONCE, and I need to be able to tell what you want musically without the use of a playback button.

I'll add dynamics to future lessons, didn't know you wanted them sorry. And I thought you could see the speeds. They are -

S - 30

A - 120

T - 180

B - 80

All for a quarter note.

5. Assignment:

Look at the fixed scores. Tell me what you like better about them and what you think you could do even BETTER at. If you can make my edits better, I can't wait to see them.

THEN, add dynamics.

THEN, add tempi for ALL of them.

THEN, sing the old ones, and sing the new ones... Tell me what you find.

Articles:

Same as last time. This time at least TELL me if you've looked at them or not.

BONUS:

Same as last time. Keep thinking and searching for those different types of choirs... I want at least 5 different types besides SATB.

I'll do all of these in time, but for now, I have to go clean the bathroom >______<

Thanks for great feedback, I learned a lot!

Ok. I see what you mean by beginner. So, these thongs will be explained in time. I see we have gone too advanced, and before we can proceed with the voice, you will need to hAve a basic concept of music theory. I will have that first part up this afternoon.

So by an emphasis, do you mean the downbeat? I understand what you mean by placement of important words/syllables.

Yes. But, a measure is divided into strong and weak beats... if you count in 4/4 time, then you will find that 1 and 3 are strong, and 2 and 4 are weak. So, don't put emphasis (right now) on a weak beat. And, don't put a weak word like "the" on a strong beat.

Also, what's a mode?

It means you have a scale that starts on a note other than the tonic...

Scale: A series of notes that is found from the Key Signature (i.e.- the Key of F Major has ONE flat in it... so it's naturally occurring Major Scale: F G A Bb C D E)

Tonic: The note that is the 1st degree of a scale...

If none of that makes sense... DON'T PANIC. Relax. Music theory is HELL. It's like learning a foreign language (trust me... it is!!)

Tritone... *searches* I don't understand.

I haven't learned fifths or fourths or tones or anything, I'm really a begginer. Do you think you could explain tritone to me without any terms?

Yes. If you look at a piano... the distance between a pair of notes is known as an INTERVAL. This means that if you COUNT the number of notes, you can name MOST intervals. A tritone isn't the REAL technical term... but I will however sympathize with you here... We'll call it a tritone for right now.

This is a WONDERFUL interval to learn first because you can annoy your friends with it whenever you want! Just play parallel tritones up and down the piano and you'll have MUCH more fun listening to it than they will.

So, here's how you do it: Find a C, and count up the number of half steps till you get to Gb (or F#, they are the same). Then, take that number and do the same up the scale...

(ex. C and F#, C# and G, D and G#, allll the way up to B and F.)

NOW, play a C and THEN an F# in succession... TRY and sing it. You will find that it is unnatural. THAT is why we don't usually write tritones in the beginning of theory.

SOOO... now that THAT is settled. I will begin typing up your first theory lesson. So, be ready... it will come around 5 or 6 this evening. If you have any questions, ask them here and I will see them.

Okay, I understood everything in that post! That means I'm getting better!

Does it bother you teaching this basic theory? I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do.

And what about the other lesson, should I finish that first or do basic theory first?

Wow, you're on most every time I come on :O

Okay, I understood everything in that post! That means I'm getting better!

Does it bother you teaching this basic theory? I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do.

And what about the other lesson, should I finish that first or do basic theory first?

Wow, you're on most every time I come on :O

NOOO. I love teaching music theory from the ground up, because then I can put my little spin on it that can make it a little easier. i will post the first lesson soon.

Can't wait! Though I'm watching OZ later tonight so I won't be on ;P

Hahaha. Brilliant. Just check it in the morning. I might just lay off for now and let my brain rest. I will put up the lesson tomorrow! That way we can both be happy. How does that sound?

Awesome, no problem.

Edit: In my musical history, I forgot to tell you I played bassoon for about two weeks. Now it's summer though, and the one I used is at school, and my bands bassoon is at someone's cottage miles away so I can't play ;-;

Also, three days ago, I bought a trumpet with two valves for just 80$! The people I bought it from (antique store lol), nor me, nor long and mcquade people know what it is. Now I'm pretty sure it's a Bugle or a Flugelhorn.

I couldn't make noice for two days, nor could my mom and brother and dad. All we heard was the noise our lips made, but louder. Yesterday, I was oiling the valves and saw they had numbers on them, so I put 1 closest to the mouthpiece, opposite what it was before, and now it works :D

So I'm also a begginer flugelhorn player (I really hope it's a flugelhorn, that' such a cool word!)

I will now proceed to do this: as it will probably help me.

So, here are some optional articles you may comment on, or not:

Closed and Open Scoring: Score Formats

What IS a choir (some history): What is a Choir?

Fun if you wanna know more: Home - ChoralNet

A Choral Radio to get you used to the sound: "Sacred Classics" Weekly Radio Program on the Internet

BONUS:

There are more combinations of Choirs. Go searching and tell me what you think the OTHER types of choirs you think there MIGHT be besides SATB. Go for it! Self learning is good for you.'

-Morivou.

Article one -

Pretty straight forward, stuff you've already taught me. I found it interesting that you could make a whole score by putting three instruments to a staff. I would've never attempted this thinking the conductor would get confused.

I have a question about the paragraph right under "full scoring" and the advertisement. It says:

In the top staff of the short score, the stems up have been given to Violin I, and stems down to Violin II.

I don't understand. The stems go up on violin two, and both directions for violin one don't they? Oh wait, they're talking about the first one, nevermind sorry.

The second article was all stuff I knew, but it made me think just how hard a choir must be, in the sense that everyone hits the note exactly every time or in sounds off. It's truly talented.

The forums you led me to were very hard to navigate, but I have some questions I got from reading some stuff.

Can you go on vacations for choirs? How busy is the scheduale?

Also, what do you do at a conducting university? Seems like you can't do much to me, just conduct in different manners. Is it like job practice to see if you're good enough?

And thanks for that radio link! Is it only singing, or orchestra only as well?

Bonus:

I read in article two that there are mixed, men, womans, childrens mixed, childrens male and childrens female.

As for other than SATB, I found SSAATTBB or adding a Baritone (SATBarB) or with a lack of men, SAB or SABar or with high men, ConterTenor would be added as the highest.

Awesome, no problem.

Edit: In my musical history, I forgot to tell you I played bassoon for about two weeks. Now it's summer though, and the one I used is at school, and my bands bassoon is at someone's cottage miles away so I can't play ;-;

Also, three days ago, I bought a trumpet with two valves for just 80$! The people I bought it from (antique store lol), nor me, nor long and mcquade people know what it is. Now I'm pretty sure it's a Bugle or a Flugelhorn.

I couldn't make noice for two days, nor could my mom and brother and dad. All we heard was the noise our lips made, but louder. Yesterday, I was oiling the valves and saw they had numbers on them, so I put 1 closest to the mouthpiece, opposite what it was before, and now it works :D

So I'm also a begginer flugelhorn player (I really hope it's a flugelhorn, that' such a cool word!)

Ah. My advice to you is THIS:

Learn to at least recognize the piano keys. Reason: If you do, visualizing the distance between notes can become much easier.

I am proud that you are learning new instruments. I am a Piano only player (but I do sing, obviously). So we both play different instruments. That's not a problem. I will make sure all the playing exercises we do will be able to be done with your voice or your instrument, which I cannot tell you about... I am no instrument expert. I am choral pretty much exclusively except for some string stuff. And, one wind trio... haha.

Article one -

Pretty straight forward, stuff you've already taught me. I found it interesting that you could make a whole score by putting three instruments to a staff. I would've never attempted this thinking the conductor would get confused.

Yes, short score is very common for study purposes... and it isn't confusing because the conductor KNOWS the piece before rehearsals, he listens tirelessly to dissect the whole piece. Which I will speak of later.

The second article was all stuff I knew, but it made me think just how hard a choir must be, in the sense that everyone hits the note exactly every time or in sounds off. It's truly talented.

The forums you led me to were very hard to navigate, but I have some questions I got from reading some stuff.

Hahah. Yes, being in a choir is tough. And, this is what makes being in a GOOD choir different from being in a BAD choir. Singing together is ALL ABOUT BLENDING. (which is something we'll talk about later, but it DOES include singing in rhythm and hitting all the correct notes). However, that is no different than playing in an orchestra. :)

Can you go on vacations for choirs? How busy is the scheduale?

Also, what do you do at a conducting university? Seems like you can't do much to me, just conduct in different manners. Is it like job practice to see if you're good enough?

If it's a nonprofessional choir, say a church choir... go ahead and take off whenever. But, know it will break trust. Lot's of choirs have an off season for about a month where most people go on vacation. If you are being payed to sing... you had best be there or else you are FIRED.

Choirs usually meet once a week. Every week. Some more, some less... it just depends.

At a conducting university... you study a long time to get an art perfected. Conducting is JUST as hard as singing or anything else out there. Sometimes it's harder: you have to know how to keep up to a full choir and orchestra together for a long time. Think about it... You would get tired, right? Well, at conducting school, you also build up your stamina, which is cool! Look at it this way: There is A LOT that goes in to being a conductor. Maybe at one point we'll delve into the intricacies of waving your hand around (lolz), but for now understand that conductors DO A LOT in preparation, including but not limited to: Basic instrument studies, score study, listening to a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff, conducting day in and day out, preparing for very tough conducting exams, learning the millions of patterns of today's contemporary music, etc.

And thanks for that radio link! Is it only singing, or orchestra only as well?

I don't know. haha.

Bonus:

I read in article two that there are mixed, men, womans, childrens mixed, childrens male and childrens female.

As for other than SATB, I found SSAATTBB or adding a Baritone (SATBarB) or with a lack of men, SAB or SABar or with high men, ConterTenor would be added as the highest.

:) Very good. This is all right! Good job.

Theory lesson COMING UP!!

Ah. My advice to you is THIS:

Learn to at least recognize the piano keys. Reason: If you do, visualizing the distance between notes can become much easier.

I am proud that you are learning new instruments. I am a Piano only player (but I do sing, obviously). So we both play different instruments. That's not a problem. I will make sure all the playing exercises we do will be able to be done with your voice or your instrument, which I cannot tell you about... I am no instrument expert. I am choral pretty much exclusively except for some string stuff. And, one wind trio... haha.

Thankyou, and I'll take your advice. When I play the piano for fun I try and memorize the key names. Do the keys change to Bass clef names half-way through or not?

And great news! I can now play my bugle (that's what my band leader says it is)

I had the valves in the wrong sockets before, that's why no one could play it! XP

Yes, short score is very common for study purposes... and it isn't confusing because the conductor KNOWS the piece before rehearsals, he listens tirelessly to dissect the whole piece. Which I will speak of later.

Hahah. Yes, being in a choir is tough. And, this is what makes being in a GOOD choir different from being in a BAD choir. Singing together is ALL ABOUT BLENDING. (which is something we'll talk about later, but it DOES include singing in rhythm and hitting all the correct notes). However, that is no different than playing in an orchestra. :)

If it's a nonprofessional choir, say a church choir... go ahead and take off whenever. But, know it will break trust. Lot's of choirs have an off season for about a month where most people go on vacation. If you are being payed to sing... you had best be there or else you are FIRED.

Choirs usually meet once a week. Every week. Some more, some less... it just depends.

At a conducting university... you study a long time to get an art perfected. Conducting is JUST as hard as singing or anything else out there. Sometimes it's harder: you have to know how to keep up to a full choir and orchestra together for a long time. Think about it... You would get tired, right? Well, at conducting school, you also build up your stamina, which is cool! Look at it this way: There is A LOT that goes in to being a conductor. Maybe at one point we'll delve into the intricacies of waving your hand around (lolz), but for now understand that conductors DO A LOT in preparation, including but not limited to: Basic instrument studies, score study, listening to a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff, conducting day in and day out, preparing for very tough conducting exams, learning the millions of patterns of today's contemporary music, etc.

I don't know. haha.

:) Very good. This is all right! Good job.

Theory lesson COMING UP!!

Thanks for answering all my questions! I guess I misjudged the time a conductor spends analysing what each player has to do to ensure everything goes right.

Also, don't worry if I'm offline. I'm typing a story now and will be checking here every ten-fifteen minutes.

Ok... Your theory lesson is COMING. But... it might take a while to actually DO. I am going to have to split it up into two parts, cause the BASICS takes FOREVER....

Alright! I can't wait to learn all this because it will make me much better (I think) But no rush, take however long you want.

YAYYY!!! MUSIC THEORY!!!

This is absolutely my favorite thing in the WORLD to do... so don't be frightened if I get excited or if I you aren't as excited as I am. haha. Vocabulary is in Red. There WILL be a test (not a joke... but it might be open note. lolz.).

Lesson I: Note Names. How they fit together!

What IS Theory?

Music theory is the study of HOW music works. Music theory provides a language of ideas and possibilities of HOW to make music that works and sounds good (or bad... if that is your intention). SO, let's begin with the MOST BASIC of things...

Note names.

Look at a Keyboard.. you should see that the musical alphabet begins with A and ends with G. But, most people say it starts at C (because that is the most basic scale). Like this:

So, how does this fit with the staff... WELL, look:

So, what do you notice? OH, you see that there are NUMBERS on the notes? That's cool. Well, wait... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, you ask?? I'll tell you what it means. It means that the numbers are there to identify EACH note on the staff separately. C1 is in a different octave than C4. So, if you are just speaking to someone, they could say: "Please play a C5", and you could discern it from all the other Cs on the keyboard or on your trumpet or bassoon. So, HOW do we understand and memorize ALL of them?? It's actually more simple to get than you think. This is called: "OCTAVE IDENTIFICATION"

OK... this actually can be a BIT CONFUSING if you don't have a keyboard, but this is what this is based off of... The lowest note on your instrument or keyboard of WHATEVER you can play that is the lowest is your "FOUNDATION".

Please look at the worksheet I have attached and familiarize yourself with the O identification. BOTH methods are viable. BUT, most people use the second method.. just clarify if someone is confused.

Lesson 2: ENHARMONIC TONES AND ACCIDENTALS:

Ok. So, here is something that can be VERY USEFUL. Why is it that we have accidentals? Well, we must first define what they are, and to do that, we must be able to understand where all these tones come from. So, backing up, we now go to the VERY EARLIEST times of music. People could sing notes... but, they didn't understand why they could make the same sounding melody on different pitches. For example, relatively, C-D-E-F-G sounds the SAME as D-E-F#-G-A. Why??? Well, it comes from the very basis of the notes themselves.... Hertz. The measurement of notes and their frequencies. Here is a chart that you DON'T have to memorize but it looks cool:

Yeah... a lot of useless numbers. But, the IMPORTANT PART is that you understand Hz = Hertz = what frequency the note is to make it have its unique sound. So... where do these Hz come into play? Well, they have to do with a thing called: OVERTONES These Overtones are very cool little things that show that Notes are NOT only sounding their heard pitch, but they are actually a SERIES of notes that are generally unheard. Here is what I am talking about:

Read THESE Articles and tell me what you learn:

Overtone Series

http://home.tiscali.nl/multiphonics/what%20is%20multiphonics.html

Overtone

So, now that you understand how Overtones relate to the notes... I can tell you what's cool about them. If a WHOLE GROUP OF PERFORMERS IS singing the same note: You WILL hear the overtones if you are listening and you are blending. It just provides a nice echo and you FEEL the extra notes. It's almost like you hear a major chord. Knowing this, we can move to theoretical music theory. hahah. So, you must know by now that because the Hz covers MORE than just the white keys on a piano, you see that the there must be more notes. So, they came up with accidentals. These are variants of the normal white keys and allow more musical freedom for the listener. So, more scales and parallel jazz and what not... we'll now talk about how this works. Look at a CHROMATIC SCALE (a scale that has ALL 12 tones in it in conjunct oder) (side note... CONJUCT means stepwise) and I want you to read this article and this will EXPLAIN EVERYTHING about accidentals you could POSSIBLY want to know plus you will learn how to identify notes better. If you wanna do the exercises, go ahead... That's optional. But you DO need to learn this stuff.

Accidentals!

Enharmonic Spelling is quite easy. At this point, I shouldn't have to explain as much. You have the resources to understand this:

C# is the same as Db. It works ALL the way up the scale. Look here: