On the Art of Singing I-19 'The Choral Conductor as Teacher of Vocal Technique'
As a 10-year-chorister, this article resolves some of my confusions. Especially what is claimed at the very beginning, there is no difference nor conflict between the training of the solo voice and that of a chorister. Even though, the voice today in modern music conservatories are different from the one of Josquin, Palestrina, or Gesualdo.
In traditional choral literature, it is required to be "blend" at all tessitura and dynamic levels which might be problematic because of the unbalanced voices between the professionals and amateurs and the unique timbre characteristics of each vocal instrument. What might be worse is that trying to submerge the voice into the surrounding bland sound threats to the professionals' vocal health. In order to solve such problem, the choral conductor should pursue the balancing voices instead of the blend voices.
The choral conductor is responsible to teach the choristers how to become efficient singers. "It is not necessary to be a professional singer in order to be a fine teacher of singing, but it is necessary that one achieve a good level of technical proficiency with one's own instrument." Three main areas of vocal technique should be developed including breath management/appoggio (onset, agility, and sostenuto exercises), free laryngeal function (vibrato) and resonance balancing (vowel definition exercises).
Here below are some useful points: - At the cessation of each sound, the vocal folds and the breath should be replenished in a synergistic manner. - In all onset, agility, and sostenuto exercises, the abdominal wall, although flexible while articulating the laughter-like impulses, remains stable and neither pulls inward nor presses outward at the moment of onset. - Many tuning problems in choral ensembles are the consequence of the singers' inability to clearly differentiate vowels. - Dropping the jaw tends to narrow the pharynx. - Singers need to learn to "track the vowel" by changing the shapes of the vocal tract to the corresponding target vowel and the laryngeal configuration. - The particular vowel, the tessitura, and the intensity determine the degree of jaw opening (and also the form of all the articulators). - An even vibrato, the result of relaxant laryngeal function, is an inherent characteristic of freely produced vocal sound which should not be avoided in a choir. However, of course, a too wide and too slow "wobble" sound or a too narrow and too swift vibrato should be avoided. - Musical accuracy is the major priority for each choral director.