Good will

We wanted to recognize and honor the hard work that the directors and assistant directors put in each week to keep us all singing the barbershop style of music. So our Board decided to offer a certificate, good for two free tickets to our annual show, to every director of a barbershop chapter in our state. This included men’s barbershop chapters, as well as Sweet Adelines and Harmony Incorporated chapters. This tradition is more than “losing money” on a few tickets, it is a way of building good will among the barbershop community in our area.

We obtained the e-mail address of every chapter in Colorado and sent a letter outlining the new tradition. All the director had to do was to respond to the e-mail with their mailing address (information that is not as readily available as an e-mail address) and we would mail the certificate to them. On the day of the show, they just presented the certificate, received two free tickets with our compliments, and went in to enjoy the show.

Recognizing our guests

Do you remember the Ed Sullivan show? (I’m dating myself on this one.) During the show, Ed would point out the celebrities and dignitaries that were in the audience, and have them stand and take a bow. That’s what we did. Not only did we offer the two free tickets, but when a person cashed in a certificate, word got to the MC backstage. Just before the second half began, the tradition was mentioned and the honored guest was asked to stand and take a bow. It was a lot of fun.

While the response to this offer was less than we had hoped, it did start a buzz in the local barbershop community. Those who did take advantage of the offer sincerely appreciated the gesture. As word begins to spread, we’re anticipating more response in the years ahead.

If anyone wants to have a copy of the e-mail letter and the certificate that we sent out, write to me with your request and I will send it to you.

We were probably more prepared for this show, musically speaking, than for any other show in recent memory. We got off of the paper in rehearsal earlier than we had in the past. We spent the final month or two polishing up each number. We sang music that was, for the most part, familiar with the singers, having done an Irish show about 6-7 hears ago. So what’s bugging me?

The music vs. the song

For the most part, we sang the music but not the song. We replicated the musical notes and words, but failed to capture the essence, the soul, of the song. Similar to an earlier blog post (see “Singing with Soul” posted on 10/29/06), I heard good harmonies and in-tune singing, but I didn’t hear much emotion.

A knowledgeable barbershopper was asked to critique the show for a program known as “Standing Ovation.” He commented: “The guys need to smile more, to emote more. It was an unsettling and sharp contrast between you [meaning me, the director] and the chorus.”

One of the biggest nuts that I am trying to crack is the notion that a non-competition chorus, such as the MountainAires, just needs to sing well. “We don’t want to do choreography or show emotion. That’s why we joined a non-competition chorus.” Getting the guys to even move during a song has been a challenge for me.

An example

One of the songs that we sang was Don Gray’s arrangement of “My Wild Irish Rose.” I felt that I had interpreted the song well enough to carry the meaning of the lyrics. Yet the louds lacked power, and the softs were weak. There seemed to be little emotion behind the music. One look at most of the singer’s faces and you’d see what was missing. There was no heartfelt expression to the lines: “Some day, to her I’ll propose. And if she will agree, that’s heaven for me!” That line, and many other lines that came before and after, cried out for some feeling behind the notes.

Willingness to be vulnerable

As singers, we need to be vulnerable. A dictionary defines vulnerability as “the state of being open to criticism or censure.” That’s not a state that we naturally want to inhabit. But vulnerability doesn’t mean that you will be wounded (the root of the word). Instead, the operating words are “the state of being open.” If we just allow ourselves to be open to express the emotion of a song – be it joy, loneliness, love, sorrow, excitement, broken heartedness, forgiveness – we can turn a piece of music into a wonderful experience for member and audience alike. Openness, in a safe and protected environment such as the brotherhood or sisterhood of barbershop singers, is a good thing.

Huh? I couldn’t believe my ears. So I perked up and listened more intently.

He explained that during rehearsals, it is the job of the director and music team to teach the members each song, such as the dynamics, interpretive plan, and mood. It is in the learning stage that the singers must depend on the director.

However, as we approach performance time – and here’s the part that hit me right between the eyes – the job of a music director is to get out of the way and let the singers sing.

Wow! Could that be why I sensed that the guys are not singing with confidence? I’m good at the teaching part, but haven’t been so good at the letting go part. So I took his advice back to my chorus, and decided to make a change.

I am my own road block

Some members of my chorus had confided in me that they were not confident in the songs in last year’s show. My first reaction was to somehow blame them. After all, I was confident. I was prepared. It must be their fault. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Once I explained that I was going to gradually step back as the learning phase moved into the performance phase, the guys began to realize that it was up to them to carry the song. There were some nerves and uncertainty, sure. But after a while, they knew that I meant it. I could hear them slowly take command of each song. I could hear them start to rely on each other more. In short, they started to “own” the songs. Is this what confidence sounds like?

Wean Thee of Me

It makes sense. The more that I empower the members to take control of the music, the more each song becomes theirs. After all, the director makes no sound! In rehearsal, I am the director. On stage, I am the facilitator – helping to start and stop the sound, and to assist in the interpretive plan of the music. The rest is all theirs.

Thank you, Dr. Drummond, for waking me up. What I learned is this: When singers take hold of a song and I get out of the way, beautiful things happen. My chorus is proof, and I couldn’t be more proud.

Musical potholes

Musical potholes are the little things in a song — note intervals, lyrics, word combinations, consonants — that make understanding the song a challenge to the listener.

Our job as singers is not as easy as we might think. We have to do extra work so that the audience doesn’t have to. What do I mean?

How often have you heard a song on the radio or elsewhere, and wondered: “What did they say?” Once you saw the lyrics printed out, or had someone else tell you what that line was, only then did you say: “Oh, now I understand!”

We must work extra hard to make the lyrics understandable so that the audience members don’t have to wonder what we just sang. Let me give you some examples from the music my chorus is doing on St. Patrick’s Day.

Examples

In the song At the End of a Cobblestone Road is the lyric: “from my Ireland, far over the sea.” If the singer doesn’t take the extra effort to pronounce the “r” in Ireland, the line sounds like: “from my island, far over the sea.”

The introduction to It’s a Great Day for the Irish contains another pothole. “March 17″ is difficult to sing because of the “ch” on the end of the first word, and the “s” sound on the beginning of the next word. The singer must put out the extra effort to pronounce the “ch” sound in the word March before singing the next word. It takes thoughtfulness to do this right.

Here are some other lyrical potholes to avoid:

• Sing hour whenever you see the word our — otherwise, it comes across as are.
• Sing your and you’re like it rhymes with sewer. Without that effort, it can sound like yore.
• Sing aisle whenever you come across the work I’ll — otherwise, the word sounds like ahl.
• Sing difficult words, like there’ll, with the extra effort that it takes to pronounce all the syllables.

There are other potholes that are hidden in our music. I’d like to hear from you about the others that you have come across, and how you avoid them.

Bottom line

The bottom line is this: Singing well is more than just learning the notes, the words, the choreography, and the dynamics. You must also make the conscious effort to find those potholes and do what it takes to smooth over them so that your audience doesn’t have a bumpy ride.

I realized that we sang the notes and words, but didn’t sing the songs! There was no soul in the music. One look in the mirror and I saw the reason.

Getting out of the way

In Director’s College this past August, I was instructed to turn the ownership of the music to the singers. During rehearsals, I am the director. The singers depend on me to convey how I want a song performed. At the same time, I must also encourage the chorus to take ownership of the music so they don’t depend on me on stage.

We barbershoppers drill on techniques, practice our breathing and vowel targets, do vocal exercises, and rehearse the choreography. Perhaps we don’t spend enough time on teaching how to sing with soul. I know I haven’t, but that will change.

To me, singing with soul means to first be able to understand what the music is trying to say. Then the singers must have the ability and training to convey that feeling through the voice, tone, body, and energy.

This crystallized for me today while listening to some very beautiful polyphonic chants on my local classical radio station. I realized that, although the harmonics were lovely and the singing accurate, there was no emotion in the sound.

We barbershoppers have the opportunity to sing with emotion, to sing with soul. I will not pass up another chance to train my singers in this valuable tool. Rehearsals are so much more than learning notes and words. Rehearsals are for finding the soul of the music and sharing it with the audience.