The Orange Spiel Page 1 April 2019
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Orange Spiel Page 1 April 2019 Volume 39 Issue 4 April 2019 We meet at 7:00 most Thursdays at Shepherd of the Woods Lutheran, 7860 Southside Blvd, Jacksonville, FL Guests always welcome Call 355-SING No Experience Necessary WHAT'S INSIDE SPRING CONTESTS Title Page A GREAT SUCCESS Spring Contests A Great Success 1 Editorial 2 e did well at two competitions last month. One Squirrel At A Time / Wall Of Sound 3 We would have liked a higher score, but it Why Did Bernstein Build West Side 4-5 was where we were for our new contest Performance Elements 6 Wpackage. At Sunshine District in Orlando, Proper Prep: Practice ≠ Rehearsal 7-8 with our PVP brothers, we (as Big Orange) sang away Magic Choral Trick #377 9 our chorus championship trophy and also sang for Chapter Quartets 9 score only (not being eligible to compete again this Free Your Voice 10 year). We received an overall score of 79.0. Free Singing Tips 10 How To Keep Your Cool Backstage 11-13 The following weekend we competed again with our Barbershop History Questions 61 13 PVP brothers (as Palmetto Vocal Project) at the Caro- 33 Most Effective Singing Tips 13 linas District in Charlotte. We won the plateau AA as How Do I Do A Vocal Warmup In Public 14 well as the overall chorus championship (opting not to Quartet Corner 15 be eligible to be the representative to Los Angeles in Chapter Member Stats 15 2020, as we already are the representative to Salt Board Minute Summary 16 Lake City later this year). We received an overall Barbershop History Answers 61 16 score of 79.3. Upcoming Schedules 17 Birthdays / Guests / New Members 17 We expect to Directing Team / Other Leaders 18 score well into Chapter Officers / Music Team 19 the 80’s by this year’s In- ternational Competition. It’s not too late to come join with us in the effort. The Orange Spiel Page 2 April 2019 2019 Board of Directors Committees EDITORIAL President: Show Chairman: Terry Ezell Jason Dearing The 3 Ms of Barbershop are: Music, Membership, and Money. We are doing well at Music, relearn- Immediate Past Pres: Webmaster: ing many basics and getting better at artistry. Brian Kerr Frank Nosalek Membership and Money, not so much. We need to bring more guests, be positive about what we Executive VP: Chorus Manager: do everywhere we go, and actually be there for Jason Dearing Jason Dearing rehearsals, shows, competitions, and special events. This must be our expectation and culture. VP Music & Performance: Uniform Manager: John Alexander Dave Walker Fund raisers only work if everyone is involved: paid performances, ticket sales, ad sales, Big O VP Membership: 2019 Music Team Bucks events, and so on. Daniel Proctor Music Director: What are YOU willing to do to keep us moving for- VP Marketing & PR: Jay Giallombardo ward? It doesn’t just happen all by itself. Robert Reeves Associate Director: Secretary: George Gipp Mike Sobolewski Music VP: Treasurer: John Alexander Gregg Flowers Section Leaders: Finance Chairman: Brian Kerr Tenor Rick Morin Steve Mullens Lead Daniel Pesante Lead Music Director: George Gipp Bari Jay Giallombardo Timothy Keatley Bari Daniel Proctor Bass Big O Bucks Alex Burney Bass Coordinator: Presentation Team: Mike Sobolewski George Gipp Mike Sobolewski Bookkeeper: Bob Stump Rick Morin The Orange Spiel is published monthly and is the official publication of the Jacksonville Big O Chapter of the Sunshine District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the home of the Big Orange Chorus. The chapter and chorus meet most Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm at the Shepherd of the Woods, 7860 South- side Blvd. For more information visit our website, http://www.bigorangechorus.com. Articles, pictures and address corrections may be sent to the editor. John Alexander, Editor For more detailed, 2429 Southern Links Dr timely information Fleming Island FL 32003 see my weekly [email protected] publication: 904-278-3987 Orange Zest The Orange Spiel Page 3 April 2019 ONE SQUIRREL AT A TIME THE WALL OF SOUND by Brody McDonald by Brody McDonald from choirbites.com from choirbites.com 've been frustrated at the lack of focus/discipline problem I face in rehearsal is that of muddy my freshman beginning choir has, and know that ensemble sound. This is most commonly no- their progress is stunted because of it. Today, Aticed in homophonic passages, where the Iwe discussed attention span and the fact that chords don't ring as clearly as I want. Poor they have so many devices these days that they are synchronization of word sounds is often the culprit. I hardly ever focused on just one thing. We joked that use this process (borrowed from barbershoppers) to when they try to focus, they see something shiny, clean up the vocal lines. It’s called THE WALL OF shout "Squirrel!" and get distracted. They agreed, SOUND, because it creates a strong, uninterrupted and we decided that we would experiment today, sound from the choir. Vowels are bricks and conso- and that they could only focus on one squirrel at a nants the mortar. In a strong wall there must be much time! more brick than mortar; the mortar must completely connect the bricks. I asked them how long they thought they could fo- cus for rehearsal without totally "losing it." They Step 1 - Model in unison: Sing the passage on one agreed upon 12 minutes. I told them that if someone mid-range note that is accessible to the choir (in oc- could not stay focused in that 12 minutes that I taves for mixed choirs). Sing it as you wish to hear it. would gesture quietly for them to leave, so we could Have the choir then sing it back to you on that unison continue with the experiment. They wouldn't be in note. Listen carefully for the treatments of consonants trouble. They thought that was a good idea. So, we and vowels, including diphthong turns. Make sure the worked on one piece for that 12 minutes. I kept choir is following your timing in all ways, and that the things moving, we had fun, and not one person had pitch doesn't bend or scoop at all. Make them tunnel to leave. They felt accomplished. No one wanted to forward with a constant stream of sound. The goal is be the one that had to leave, but it wasn't a negative to become one voice. If needed, slow the tempo motivator. It was a challenge to try to make it to 12 down to hear the timing of word sounds, then gradu- minutes with everyone still present. No one wants to ally speed up until you hit performance tempo. lose a teammate. Success! Step 2 - Spread to a chord: After the word sounds are 12 minute time-frames for rehearsal is nothing new, synchronized across the choir in unison, assign each and as directors we know that long rehearsal peri- section a note in a chord in the key of that section. ods of the same music can be too much, even for Example: F Major - basses/F, tenors/middle C, Altos/ older singers. The key here is that THEY decided F, sopranos/A. Sing the passage on this static chord, how long they wanted to focus, and made it a chal- working synchronization as you did in the unison. The lenge for themselves. If I had been forced to remove goal is to create a constant, ringing sound where someone, it would have hopefully been a motivator vowels are matched, singable consonants ring with for that student to do better next time. Tomorrow, true pitch, and plosives click together. Again, vary the we will try it again, but each voice section has to try tempo as needed to make sure everyone is moving to "keep all their teammates in the game." If the ten- together cleanly. If this is too ambitious, start with the ors lose someone, they lose the game. The funny cleanest section, then add others one at a time for thing is, they see it as a game right now, but in real- quality control. ity it was just what rehearsal should ALWAYS be. I'm actually not doing anything different in rehearsal Step 3 - Resume parts: Have sections sing their origi- at all except manipulating the situation so that the nal notes but in the new style of the static chord. The choir starts to view being disciplined as a fun chal- goal is to now hear THE WALL OF SOUND. Variation lenge rather than a chore. My hope is they will fig- of tempo is valuable in this stage, to ensure every- ure that out and be convinced they should always one’s word sounds are synchronized. "play the game" because it works! There are other considerations to maximize chords in Leigh Anderson is the director of choirs at Mt. THE WALL OF SOUND, but that's another bite. Vernon High School in Fortville, Indiana. Previously, she taught high school choir in Louisville, Kentucky. The Orange Spiel Page 4 April 2019 terval (between C and F sharp). It's an interval be- WHY DID BERNSTEIN BUILD tween two notes separated by three whole tones. WEST SIDE STORY AROUND For an in-depth explanation, have a look at our tri- 'THE DEVIL'S INTERVAL'? tone analysis: by Sofia Rizzi What is a tritone and why was it nicknamed the from classicfm.com devil's interval? eonard Bernstein's West Side Story is Why is it called the Devil's interval? based on and built around music's most unsettling interval, the ‘Devil's Interval’.