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A Four-Part Journey through Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

Guest post by Curran Mahowald, a choral singer who participated in Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6 in May 2020

In the spring of 2020, Eric Whitacre assembled his sixth global virtual choir to premiere his new piece, “Sing Gently.” Following a series of virtual rehearsals led by Whitacre himself, 17,572 singers from 129 countries submitted videos of themselves singing their individual lines.

From there, a team of film editors and audio engineers from 59 Productions and Floating Earth assembled the individual submissions into one final virtual performance:

Here is what it was like to contribute my voice to that video.

Continue reading ‘A Four-Part Journey through Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir’

Singing With Clarity

Published July 26, 2013 General , How To Articles , Instrument Guides , Learn to Play Leave a Comment
Tags: about singing, about the voice, Choir, consonants, diction, how to be a better singer, how to sing, how to sing better, learn to sing, learn to sing better, music education, music student, music teacher, voice

By Judy Pringle

You and your choir have worked tirelessly on uniform vowel formation, well-tuned singing, focusing the tone, singing correct notes, beautiful phrase lines. You’re feeling good. But step back and give a listen and you’ll often find there isn’t a consonant to be heard. It is our task as singers to articulate so the listeners can share in the delicious words and message.

We want clear, well-defined consonants in our singing and it’s a challenge to achieve. When our listeners know the text as in a well-known hymn or carol, we are understood because the context is known. This is far from the case when the text is unknown.

The topic of consonants is far-reaching, but here are a few tips I use in rehearsing in the English language with my volunteer choir.

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Sing Better as You Age

Published June 5, 2013 General , How To Articles , Instrument Guides , Learn to Play 3 Comments
Tags: about singing, about the voice, Choir, how to be a better singer, how to sing, how to sing better, Judy Pringle, learn to sing, learn to sing better, music education, music student, music teacher, Sing Better as You Age, voice

By Judy Pringle

Sing Better As You Age

A music retailer is asked every day for assistance with repertoire. It can be both challenging and amusing. For example: I need a thrilling SATB anthem for Easter Sunday with brass accompaniment, and the sopranos can’t sing above an ‘e.’ Can you make a suggestion?

We smile at this request, but it can be a reality for a choral director. Those of us who conduct adult church and community choirs deal with the aging voice constantly. It is a fact that with age, our singing mechanism does not improve. Yet, it is my experience that senior singers are some of the most devoted choristers, and the joy of singing is integral to their lives.

If we, as directors, wish to optimize this lifelong joy for our choristers, and ensure that the aging singer is a benefit to the ensemble, we need to offer tools that will optimize the singing voice as the body naturally and inevitably ages. Continue reading ‘Sing Better as You Age’

How to Improve Your Vocal Range

Published May 22, 2012 How To Articles , Instrument Guides , Learn to Play , Teacher Resources 54 Comments
Tags: about singing, about the voice, how to article, how to be a better singer, how to sing, how to sing better, learn to sing, learn to sing better, music student, music teacher, voice

By Jennifer Kay

In my many years of singing, I’ve realized that the topic of vocal range can be very tricky, but always worth discussing. A singer should invest in voice lessons if they want to improve; however, if lessons aren’t an option, there are a few tips that can help. I can’t guarantee you’ll be hitting the high notes like Mariah Carey by the end of this article, but hopefully you will learn something new!

Tip #1: Proper Placement

You cannot increase your vocal range in a safe and healthy way without learning how to sing with proper placement. If you’ve ever sung in a choir, you’ve heard the terms “sing in your mask”, “sing through your eye balls”, “sing through your cheekbones”, etc. As a singer, you want to take care not to sing from your throat and that you, essentially, sing from the same place you naturally speak from. One great exercise for this is Continue reading ‘How to Improve Your Vocal Range’

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