All right! Which one of you wise guys sang that blues lick!
CHORAL PERFORMANCE
Some choirs sing everything in the same tone of voice, like an organ with only one stop. But the human voice is capable of a great variety of colors, from a stage whisper to a shout; from a covered, no-vibrato, subjective choral tone to what we like to call “the street gang sound,” in which all the singers belt it out in their best objective tone. As a writer, you might want to give some indication as to which way the music should be sung.
The bigger the choir, the harder it is to understand, especially if its singing is not absolutely precise. If there’s any lagging the consonants will be muddy and the message lost.
Bad acoustics or a poor sound system (or operator thereof) can also turn your message to mush.
Example: On the first night of our first U.K. national tour with our congregational musical If My People, we felt that the audience “didn’t get it.”
So on the second night we projected all the words on screens, and there was an immediate difference, so much so that we have projected the lyrics ever since. The audience experiences the message through the eye and the ear, and it can make a huge difference.
Conducting Your Choir
This is worthy of a whole book, but these are just a few generalizations. There are three ways a choir can deliver its message:
1. Sing to the conductor. This is appropriate in free-moving passages, like a capella. All eyes lock onto the leader, who is delivering not only tempos but nuances of expression, dynamics, etc.
2. Sing to the audience. Look past the conductor and deliver the message directly to the audience, especially in rhythmic songs.
3. Sing to the Lord. This is appropriate for worship singing, especially when the congregation is joining in. Each singer responds with their own expression of worship; some may lift their hands, or close their eyes, or bow down.The key word is appropriateness. Some churches like their worship team to maintain modest decorum. Others like them to come on like a truckload of turkeys. Which is appropriate for yours?
“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40 NKJV).
“Extracurricular” signals
All conductors use the standard vocabulary of conducting signals, but each gravitates into his or her own peculiarities. The closer you stay to the standards the easier you are to be understood.
And this is not just in the semi-conductor stage, where we all start out.
I (Jimmy) remember a major symphony conductor whose gestures got so mysterious that the players all had a secret agreement: when in doubt, follow the first violinist.
With volunteer, semi-trained church choirs, I’ve found it useful to develop a few separate signals that I’ve used “close to the vest” —in other words, right in front of me where the audience can’t see them:
Near the end of a long phrase:
Interlocked fingers = Don’t breathe where you’re about to breathe.
Approaching a high note (usually tenors):
Index finger pointing up = Don’t hit that note flat.
Intonation going rancid:
Finger pointing to your ear = Listen! Clean up the pitch.
(Check your monitor speakers. It might be because some of the singers can’t hear themselves or the accompaniment.)
And please don’t point bony fingers at your choir. Instead draw them to yourself by your gestures, not with splayed fingers but open-handedly.
Writing for choirs can be rewarding; it makes opportunities for your music to be sung by a lot of people.