The Orange Spiel Page 1 March 2019 Volume 39 Issue 3 March 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 SINGING VALENTINES Title Page A GREAT SUCCESS Singing Valentines A Great Success 1,3-4 Editorial 2 his year we did fewer singing valentines that Better Vowels In An Instant 5 usual, but still performed 55 of them. We took Polluted Vowels 5 in $4485.00 and after expenses netted T $3092.65. The Wednesday quartet included Performance Elements 6 Singing Without Fear 7-8 John Alexander, Steve Mullens, Brian Kerr, and Magic Choral Trick #378 9 John Humble (with Mike Sobolewski substituting in). Chapter Quartets 9 The Thursday quartets included Terry Ezell, Eric Free Your Voice 10 Grimes, Jason Dearing, and Daniel Proctor; Brian Free Singing Tips 10 Kerr, Mark Graham, Mark Roblez, and John Alexan- Post Event Reflection 11-13 der; Brett Flowers, Gregg Flowers, Ken Mull, and Barbershop History Questions 60 13 John Humble; and Dave Walker, Steve Mullens, 33 Most Effective Singing Tips 13 George Gipp, and Mike Sobolewski. Good Singing Is Measured By Feeling 14 Quartet Corner 15 Chapter Member Stats 15 Board Minute Summary 16 Barbershop History Answers 60 16 Upcoming Schedules 17 Birthdays / Guests / New Members 17 Directing Team / Other Leaders 18 Chapter Officers / Music Team 19 (Continued on page 3) The Orange Spiel Page 2 March 2019 2019 Board of Directors Committees EDITORIAL President: Show Chairman: Terry Ezell Jason Dearing This is a busy month singing away the champion- ship as BigO in Sunshine District and competing Immediate Past Pres: Webmaster: the following weekend as PVP in Carolinas Dis- Brian Kerr Frank Nosalek trict. Then getting ready for our annual spring show and International in Salt Lake City. There’ll Executive VP: Chorus Manager: be new music. It’ll be a great time to bring guests Jason Dearing Jason Dearing (as if there were ever a bad time). VP Music & Performance: Uniform Manager: We’re re-learning lots of basics and learning to John Alexander Dave Walker add more artistry. Remind your friends who used to be members that now is a good time to return. VP Membership: 2019 Music Team Daniel Proctor Each and every man, improving just a little bit, Music Director: each and every day, will result in exponential im- VP Marketing & PR: Jay Giallombardo provements for the whole chorus. 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 Carolinas District 2019 Bookkeeper: Bob Stump Rick Morin Spring Convention 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 March 15 - March 16 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 March 2019 SINGING VALENTINES (continued) (Continued from page 1) (Continued on page 4) The Orange Spiel Page 4 March 2019 SINGING VALENTINES (continued) (Continued from page 3) The Orange Spiel Page 5 March 2019 BETTER VOWELS POLLUTED VOWELS IN AN INSTANT by Brody McDonald from choirbites.com by Brody McDonald from choirbites.com have noticed that my choirs often sing less-than- pure vowels when the end of the syllable/word owels, vowels, vowels. Choir directors are contains a singable consonant. R's, L's, and N's all about vowels. Vowels are all about Iare especially troublesome. I call these polluted Vshape. The biggest problem I encounter vowels. Vowels can also be polluted when anticipat- with vowels is that they lack height. An- ing the second half of a diphthong. other problem is that they lack structure. Here are some tips to help both problems. Imagine you have a bottle of drinking water. Now add just a bit of ink. It isn't like you dropped a dime into AW-ROO - your new best friend. AW-ROO came the bottle, where you can see it shouldn't be there but to me from Jean Barford, a champion Sweet Ade- can drink the water anyway. The ink has polluted the line barbershop singer/director. Just slowly say water throughout, turning what was once clear into a "AW-ROO." You should feel as if you are making murky grey. That's what singable consonants/ the shape of a cheerleader's megaphone, only diphthongs can do to a vowel - tainting the purity to facing backwards. The larger end (AW) is in the our ears. back of your throat. The smaller end (ROO) is in the front with your lips. The theory behind AW- My Men's Chorus is singing Laudamus, a Welsh ROO is that all vowels are inside that megaphone/ hymn, done in English. Many phrases end with the cone. Larger vowels (EH, AW, AH, OH) are in the word EVERMORE. When they hold the last note, I AW space and smaller vowels (EE, IH, OO) are can so clearly hear the R polluting the OH vowel. funneled through the ROO space. AW-ROO is tall and round - just what we want! Just saying AW- Just say the word MORE in slow motion. You'll feel ROO can remind your choir to guard against the point at which the OH has been compromised, "spreading" their vowels. Anything outside that but it comes before you are sustaining a pure R. Try cone is forbidden! the word bound, and notice the collapsed point be- tween the AW and OOH of the diphthong. These are VOWEL BLOSSOM - This is my code for when polluted vowels, and choirs sing them all the time be- singers take an especially long time to open their cause they cling their speaking constructs of the lan- mouths from a closed consonant to a target vowel, guage. thus creating a sound like an old record player get- ting up to speed. Say the word "swatch" in slow Fear not-I have a solution! It's called word switching. motion and you'll feel a vowel blossom. These of- Let's try it on this MORE scenario. I had my men sing ten occur when singers are attempting a cres- and hold the chord on MORE. Polluted. I explained cendo. They increase space and volume at the the concept of polluted vowels and asked them to same time, rather than forming a firm, structured only sing a pure MOH with no R. Didn't work. Then I vowel and increasing the volume independently. asked them to sing the word MOTION, which does The first step to eliminating vowel blossoms is to not have a singable consonant following the MOH. acknowledge their existence. The next step is... "Sing MO-TION, but hold the MOH until I cue you to go on to TION." BOOM! A crystal clear OH vowel! INSTABANG - another barbershop gem, and the cure for vowel blossoms. It refers to the process of It works for diphthongs, too. Having trouble with getting quickly from the formation of a consonant BOUND? Hold the first half of BOSTON. MAKE? Try back to a large, open, pure vowel formation. MEXICO. LIGHT? Try LOBSTER. Get the pattern? BANG! Snap that vowel open in an instant: IN- STABANG, as in, "Come on, choir - instabang By changing the English word, we are using our sing- those vowels!" (Notes: this was coined before In- ers' tendencies against them. It's a simple trick that stagram, but that can't hurt for tying this concept in can be used in the short term until singing the correct with young singers. If you are afraid of any gig- pure vowel becomes a long-term habit. Listen in your gles, you could also change the word to INSTA- next rehearsal and clean up those vowels. No one POP.) likes pollution. The Orange Spiel Page 6 March 2019 PERFORMANCE ELEMENTS by Jay Giallombardo part 2 of 4 SINGING ELEMENTS OF A WORD Consonants-Voiced/Unvoiced/Singable) Vowels – Primary/Secondary/Tertiary THESE ARE WORDS FOR SONGS YOU SING! COLOR Harmonic content of VOWEL Degree of Resonation OO Resonator th-EE-z Singable Consonant Voiced Consonant OH Resonator AH-ur Diphthong 75%-25% No Consonant The Orange Spiel Page 7 March 2019 Five Ways To Control Fear SINGING WITHOUT FEAR. THE CAUSES AND CURES Learning to recognize your fear and the causes of fear is one of the first steps in learning to control it. by Audrey Hunt from hubpages.com/entertainment 1. Your prediction about how well you think you will perform determines your failure or doom. The Four Causes of Fear That Attack Singers more you predict failure, the more fear you will ex- perience. In the Book of Lists, Wallace, Wallechinsky, and 2. Your evaluation of the importance of the conse- Wallace ranked fear of public speaking and sing- quences of performing determines the level of fear ing as the number one phobia in America.