Haslett HS Select Women's Choir - Observation #4

This being my fourth observation, I wanted to especially look at how Ms. Valla identifies and responds to problems in the choir's singing. I've noticed while observing that my ear can identify some issues with choir sound, such as intonation, balance, color, and blend, but not others. For example, it is very hard for me to identify issues with vowels. I know this is because my ears are geared towards instrumental, but it makes me nervous that I cannot identify these aspects of choral sound right now - especially given that I need to teach starting next week.

Since the choir is preparing for festival and performing on Thursday, most of the basic issues of the pieces have been worked through already. Today was a run-through with some final touch ups and observations to consider before festival. For the first piece (Duo), some of the parts were not quite balanced. Ms. Valla wants more sound from the soprano I section, which she has said on a few occasions. I wonder if this section contains more of the new freshmen that Ms. Valla admitted into Select this year to fill gaps as they appear younger than some of the other girls. She also wants more contrast in phrases and with main dynamics.

One thing I noticed is that the higher notes, the Es and F#s were going out of tune. This increased when Ms. Valla asked for more volume from the choir. Ms. Valla said the singers were losing the core of their sound and asked for more focused sound. I believe this has to do with breath and getting more air initially in order to better sustain on pitch.

In the second piece, Dance, Ms. Valla is trying to inspire more movement in the choir and more animation in their faces. Apparently, this is something that Select has been marked down on at festival in the past. Some of the girls are not acting while they are singing and their faces are flat. Others are acting a lot and are focal points in the group, which only makes the girls who are not doing it stick out more. Ms. Valla is trying to inspire movement in the girls by moving more herself when she conducts, but in the end, it falls on the girls to move themselves and respond.

A couple other things that were said this rehearsal was that the "oo" vowel was not matching across the voices, especially when parts when high. Ms. Valla said this is because the girls going higher are spreading the vowel a little too much so that it no longer matches the girls on lower parts. She asked that everyone be more conscious of their corners, especially when going into higher section, in order to maintain consistent vowel production. She also asked for more responsiveness in general to her conducting gestures, especially when she shows dynamics or asks for them to take in more breath.

I am nervous to lead warmups next week as this is an advanced group and my piano skills are not where I want them to be. Ms. Valla plays piano a lot during warmups, and that is something I can't do, so I hope it will go okay. I am also a little nervous to lead sectionals given that I can't hear the text inconsistencies well. I feel confident with blend, phrasing, and intonation issues, but I am nervous about modeling when I have not had formal training on my own voice in over 5 years.