top ten complaints - presented by nats at acda - powerpoint

Sharon HansenAllen Henderson

Scott McCoyDonald Simonson

Brenda Smith

Choral Directors are from Marsand

Voice Teachers are from Venus:

Top Ten ComplaintsFrom Both Sides of the Aisle

Or “The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends”

Choral Directors vs. Voice Teachers

• A history of complaints• Are these complaints

substantiated? • Are we actually approaching

the same ideas with different language?

• How are NATS and ACDA working together?

GOAL

To build a common language that reflects our common goal of providing excellence in instruction and performance.

Tone Quality

“The voice teachers keep changing my vowels, and they tell my sopranos to

ignore my instructions about straight tone!”

“The choir conductor has the students singing straight tone for 45 minutes straight!”

Individual Sound vs.Group or Cooperative Sound

INDIVIDUAL SOUND•  Soloist develops best

individual sound that she can•  Soloist uses everything that

an individual voice can show (power, vibrato, range,

dynamic)

GROUP SOUND•  Homogeneous group sound•  Quasi-English boy choir, blended group sound •  Full-bodied group sound •  Cooperative sound

Questions

Do we know it all?

OR

Are we on a journey

of discovery?

People often look at the

exact same research and

draw widely differingconclusions.

Solo Selection

“This is a young, exciting, ringy voice that can easily negotiate the

tessitura.” 

“The choir director selected my student for a solo and that student has no business singing the Verdi Requiem solos as a Freshman!”

Common Ground

• Include voice faculty in auditions.

• Require voice teacher approval before audition.

• Communicate!

Age/Size Appropriate Repertoire

“The choral conductor thinks one size fits all. The repertoire in the top choir this semester is all over the map in terms of styles and periods. One voice does not fit all styles.”

“The voice teacher is teaching every student in his studio exactly the

same, whether the student has a naturally large instrument or a small

one. They all are learning huge Verdi arias this semester for their

juries. Most of these students are not going to end up at the Met!”

Repertoire Selection

“FABULOUS” Repertoire

vs.Repertoire selection according to the students at hand

Common Ground• Experience great master works• All have preconceived notions of what

those are.• Some masterworks are appropriate for

some students, but not all great masterworks are appropriate to all students at any one time.

• Whether students can adapt to tonal requirements of some repertoire should be a matter of discussion

• Neutral third party involved when inflexibility exists.

Voice Placement

“S/he placed my soprano in the alto section.”

“The student has the range necessary to sing

the lower part with ease. She will gain in musical

development and can contribute to the

ensemble’s success.”

Common Ground

• Communicate!• Placing in a lower part

MAY be acceptable.• Special instruction by

voice teacher on being successful singing another voice part.

Rehearsal Technique

“They don’t understand my limitations on rehearsal time.”

"What do choral conductors mean about ‘limitations on

time’? They have our singers for 4 hours every

week.  We only have 60 minutes with them weekly.

In the end, it is the solo performance that counts"

Rehearsal Technique

The choral director has MANY singers in mind at one time. The voice

teacher works with one singer

at a time.

Singers Must Be Taught

• The ART of Practice• How to concentrate• Responsibility for vocal

technique• Importance of resting

between periods of exertion

Dynamics

“They just sing loud all the time.”

“Voice teachers are asking my students

to sing too aggressively, their voices stick out in

my choir.”

Two Issues

Being asked as a group to sing at a dynamic level that is barely sustainable by a single voice Being asked to sing

at high dynamic levels while

minimizing vibrato and holding to “pure” vowels

Vocal Fatigue

“My students come from rehearsal and are totally worn out for their lesson.”

“The voice teacher keeps telling several of

my sopranos just to mouth the words.”

Two Types of Vocal Fatigue

• Muscle fatigue

• Tissue fatigue

D.D. Michael/Lyons Voice Clinic

• Like our bodies, our voices have individual strengths and weaknesses.

• Some vocal mechanisms are made of “cast iron”, some are made of “porcelain.”

• Cast iron is NOT BETTER than porcelain. A delicate vocal mechanism can be a good thing.

• Don’t compare one person’s vocal endurance to another’s.

• Louder voices are not necessarily more talented (nor do they necessarily have more stamina).

Avoiding Conflicting Statements• Variety• Cool down• LOOK as well as listen• Communicate• Vocal Distress

Meetings?• Students are still

learning to manage their voices

Vocal Fatigue

Poor planning on our part DOES create vocal emergency on our

students’ parts.

Terminology

“Voice teachers tell my students I am asking them to sing too quietly in the piano passages, and with too little vibrato in the loud passages.” “My singers are always

asked to ‘tone it down ,’ taking the ‘soloist’ out of the voice by reducing the

singer’s formant and inhibiting their natural

vibrato.”

Terminology

• Misunderstanding of acoustics and resonance is pervasive from both sides.

• Nasality• Formants

Vocal “Gold”“I hear the choir rehearsing the same phrase over and over, wasting vocal gold through needless repetition.”

“If singers are vocal athletes, I need to work

on timing and stamina like a sports coach

would. If we have to repeat sections to get

everyone on task, it simply must be done.”

Outside Activities

“The choir tour always rules and my students have to miss NATS auditions and other competitions.”

“The high school musical was scheduled the same weekend as NATS/MTNA/Music Club auditions preventing my students from participating.”

“During opera staging and tech week I basically lose two weeks of productive rehearsal because my singers are simply worn out.”

“I hear from students: ‘We are having a NATS competition and so I cannot sing in choir today.’”

Outside Activities

• HS directors: Involve voice teachers of your students in annual planning.

• Annual planning should involve ensemble, opera, AND voice teachers.

• Consider a cycle for major works/larger operas, etc.

• Be prepared for the inevitable “special opportunity.”

• Most NATS and choral events are planned well in advance.

THANKS!

Download this presentation and a handout version and

continue the conversation at:

http://acda.nats.org

allen@nats.org