Specialized Skills and Knowledge Flashcards
Explain the teaching goal of using intonation spot checks of different sections during a rehearsal.
During a rehearsal, the director should use various techniques to ensure the accurate intonation of the ensemble. Aside from beginning each rehearsal with accurate tuning, the director can use spot checks of each different section as teaching moments as well.
Isolating the instrument or vocal groups for intonation spot checks teaches the students to listen attentively to themselves and also to the surrounding students.
Students will have opportunities to practice the appropriate procedures of adjusting pitch on their respective instruments.
Brass instruments with slides can adjust their pitches through their slides.
Woodwinds can adjust their pitches through adjustments of the mouthpieces.
String instruments can adjust their pitches through tuning pegs.
Vocalists can adjust their pitches through minor adjustments of their vocal mechanisms.
When participating in intonation spot checks, students will learn to produce a consistent pitch with their breath or their open strings.
Describe the use of solfege in kinesthetic pitch learning.
Solfege (aka solfeggio in Italian), originate in the 17th century as a vocal exercise using solmization syllables for singing the pitches of a scale.
Solmization systems were found all around the world, but the most commonly used one in Western cultures stems from the Guidonian system of the 11th century. In teaching pitch names and associations, the use of solfege can greatly aid in the student’s understanding of high and low pitch, as educators such as John Curwen and Zoltan Kodaly have integrated a kinesthetic system and using both hand signs and spatial reasoning.
The solmization for the diatonic scale, from tonic to tonic, is as follows: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti (si), do. As each pitch rises, the corresponding hand sign also rises from the low on the body to high above the head. The spatial, kinesthetic association allows the learner to relate the rising pitch to rising motion.
List 3-5 vocalization warm-ups for choirs.
Before beginning any choral rehearsal, it is essential for the director to prepare the singers both physically and mentally through vocalization warm-ups.
Siren: All singers sing to the upper reaches of their vocal range and slide back down to their lower reaches.
Pentatonic Scales: Upwards and downwards using consonant and vowel-heavy sentences “Mommy Made Me Mash My M&M’s”
Choruses can also warm up by sliding their voices from a do to a sol and back down.
Yet another warm-up consists of singing do to the next do an octave up, back down to sol-mi-do.
A warm-up useful for vowels consists of singing a single pitch through the five vowels from open to close or vice verse : ‘ee’ ‘eeh’ ‘ah’ ‘oh’ ‘ooh’
Describe the importance of warming up on wind instruments.
Warming up serves sever important physical and mental functions for the wind instrumentalist.
Mentally, it has the effect of centering and adjusting the playing ton an appropriate mental state for performance and establishing proper physiological cues for posture, breathing, etc. before performance.
In addition to establishing the mindset for performance, the warm-up provides necessary functions at a physical level.
The warm-up promotes blood flow to the fingers and the structures associated with embouchure, making them feel loose and ready to respond to the demand of playing.
An instrument that has been sitting in an air-conditioned room is significantly colder than it will be during a performance. The warm air of the player’s breath passing through the instrument will create warmth and thus expansion.
An instrument should either be warm before turning or re-tuned after a thorough warm-up.
Discuss the importance of warming up for an instrumental or choral ensemble.
Warming up serves several important physical and mental functions for the group ensemble.
Mentally, it has the effect of centering and adjusting the ensemble to an appropriate mental state for performance and establishing proper physiological cues for posture, breathing, etc.
Warm-ups serve as a unifying tool for all members of the ensemble to begin listening to each other as a musical entity and adjusting sound according to the group.
Physically, the warm-up promotes blood flow to the entire body, making every member ready to respond to the physical demands of making music.
Whether a brass, woodwind, string, percussion, or vocal instrument, every instrument should be properly warmed and its mechanisms stretched and lubricated. Without a proper warm-up, singers could damage their vocal mechanisms, and the tonal quality of instrumentalists could suffer.
Describe the theory behind tuning an ensemble upwards from the bass.
One method of tuning an ensemble starts with careful tuning upwards from the bass.
Choir : The lowest bass voices.
Orchestra : The basses, cellos, bass clarinets, bassoons, trombones, and tubas.
Wind Ensemble : The bassoons, bass clarinets, trombones, tubas, barisaxes, and euphoniums.
Once the brass instruments have been carefully and precisely tuned, the next instruments higher in in the range would be tuned, and so on and so forth, until the entire ensemble has been tuned through the bass, middle,a nd soprano ranges.
The theory behind this tuning method holds that with precise tuning, the other instruments can more easily hear their tuning pitches because of the overtones and harmonics from the bass sounds.
The other instruments can more easily place their pitches within the context of a chord structure, as the bass becomes the foundational pitch of the ensemble.
Describe vocal techniques to achieve vowel uniformity within a chorus.
Vowel uniformity is an important aspect of singing, but within a chorus setting, it becomes all the more important, as there are a multitude of various timbres, ranges, and singers contributing, ideally, to a unified, homogenous sound.
Each singer should practice certain vocal techniques to assist in keeping each vowel sound as uniform as possible. The mouth should be open long, not wide, with the jaw falling low to open the oral cavity. The resulting vowels will be more open and resonant for better choral blend.
Singers should also sing with an open throat while lifting the soft palate for a more relaxed and smoother sound.
A singer should not ‘swallow’ his or her sound, but direct the sound forward in the head so that the chorus can achieve a uniform, vibrant sound.
Explain the physiology and musical goal of lifting the palate in vocal technique.
The soft palate, also called the velum, is the soft tissue at the top of the mouth cavity that rises and lowers as the mouth swallows and in speech.
The soft palate is responsible for closing off the nasal cavity while the mouth swallows so that any material in the oral cavity proceeds to the esophagus. In vocal technique, singers practice singing with an open throat when the velum is raised and the larynx is lowered. This allows the sound quality to be more relaxed and free while also easing register transitions and maintaining the health of the vocal mechanisms.
When singers left the soft the palate, the resulting space within the oral cavity enlarges, helping to achieve a more resonant, warm tone without restrictions. Since this action also relaxes the surrounding vocal muscles, the singer can transition between registers more easily, resulting in a consistently smooth tone.
Describe the various tuning strategies in an instrumental rehearsal.
There are a variety of tuning strategies for tuning an instrumental ensemble for rehearsal. For a beginning ensemble, the conductor may tune each student’s instrument, preferably before a rehearsal starts, or quickly and efficiently at the beginning of rehearsal.
If the ensemble is at a level of playing that requires proper tuning abilities, the ensemble may tune based on the pitch of the lead oboe or lead clarinet playing the concert pitch.
The conductor can also choose to have each section tune as a group at the beginning of rehearsal, so that musicians can match the pitch and timbre of the instrumental section.
Musicians can also tune based on a tuning machine that plays a pure tone concert pitch where the musicians must listen carefully to adjust their instruments to the proper pitch (harmony director)
Describe the role of the breathing warm-up and give examples of breathing warm-ups.
Before beginning any rehearsal, it is essential for the director to prepare performers both physically and mentally.
Breathing warm-ups engage the diaphragm for supported singing and help to warm the vocal chords for singing.
Not only will the breathing exercises physically prepare the lungs and vocal mechanisms for singing, they will also mentally center the singer to be mindful of breath during the rehearsal.
One choral breathing warm-up consists of taking in a deep breath over a specific number of counts, holding the breath, and then slowing letting out the air with an ‘s’ sound of a specific number of counts.
Another choral warm-up consists of having the singers exhale on a pulse with an open mouth ‘ha.’
Describe the ideal posture for singing.
Ideal singing posture should engage the entire body while avoiding any tension or restrictions on the vocal mechanisms.
Feet should-width apart, one food slightly in front of the other for balance.
Weight slightly forward onto the ball of the foot, not back on the heels.
Knees loose, never locked.
Hands relaxed and kept by the side of the body or engaged in expressing the vocal line.
Abdomen active and involved in supporting the breath.
Arms and shoulders relaxed and allowed to hang freely.
Chest held high to support the breath, not collapsed.
Chin held level to the floor so as not to obstruct the flow of air through the trachea.
Discuss proper brass embouchure for good tone quality.
Proper brass embouchure and good air support directly affect tone quality. Brass players must provide consistent breath support through deep inhalations, controlled exhalations, and a relaxed body. Breath foundation has to come first.
Proper embouchure has to be practiced for tone quality, intonation, endurance, range, and articulation.
The lips are the source of a sound wave’s motion and energy. The mouth cavity should be wide and open while the lips touch together as if saying “Mm.” When the player buzzes, the lips should stay relaxed with the corners of the lips staying firm, not too tight or too loose. Player should keep the chin even and pointed.
The mouthpiece should ideally be held equally between the two lips.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages for conductors to individually tune each student’s instrument.
For a beginning ensemble, helping to tune the students’ instruments can save time and confusion. Beginners are often familiarizing themselves with an instrument. Giving them some help with tuning will not only save time, but offer an opportunity to teach students how to tune.
If possible, the conductor should tune their instruments before the beginning of rehearsal so that it doesn’t detract from limited rehearsal time. If tuning instruments for middle or high school students, the director must encourage every students’ ability to tune otherwise tuning for them may be a hindrance in the students’ comprehensive music education.
Discuss the importance of long tones for brass players.
Long tone are critical practice for woodwind and brass players alike. The benefit of long tones lies in removing other aspects of the performance like reading, fingering, etc. This allows the player to singly direct their focus towards the production of those aspects that create a mature tone.
Long tones allow the performer to scrutinize and adjust pitch, timbre, vibrato, etc. The exercise has the additional benefit of increasing stamina and strength of the muscles involved. The maximum duration of the held note shouldn’t be the primary focus. Instead, the focus should be on the quality of the note through the coordination of the entire system that produces the note: diaphragm, throat, oral, and sinus cavities, embouchure, and the instrument.
Describe the correct use of breath for singing.
The breath plays an essential role in producing a controlled, robust tone while keeping the vocal chords in good health. To begin the breath, one must first inhale. Inhalation should be deep and initiated by the contraction of the diaphragm (the muscle tendon that runs along the bottom of the ribcage). As the diaphragm contracts and is actively engaged, it creates a vacuum in the lungs, beginning the intake of oxygen. The singers must then control the rate of exhalation, as the flow of air through the vocal chords results in sound. The singer must use great care not to allow the chest to collapse while managing the rate of airflow by engaging the abdominal muscles to achieve a steady stream of air through the trachea and larynx.
