Vocal Quality
Dissecting Vocal Timbre: A Proposal for Categorizing and Notating Sounds for Choirs
This session proposes a set of categories for choral timbre and a notation based on the spectrograph shapes of extended vocal techniques, thus creating an intuitive, scientifically derived, and analytically replicable set of timbres for choral compositions. Specifically, we will look at familiar and discernible types of ensemble singing such as Broadway belting, the Balkan […]
Fahad SiadatFahad Siadat
Singing with Big Ears: Using Vocal Jazz Exercises to Improve Ear Training Across the Entire Choral Program
Do you wish every singer in your choir was a monster sight-reader, had flawless intonation, and could learn advanced music quickly? Vocal jazz warmups develop high-level ear training for singing complex jazz harmony, and these same techniques can be used with any other kind of choir. This session will show conductors how to use simple […]
Kansas City MO.David von Kampen
Reposition Your Singers: Refine Your Sound
A live demonstration will show how strategic placement of singers benefits all types of ensembles, improving accuracy, balance, blend, and intonation. With the demonstration choir, Charlene Archibeque shares how to devise effective positioning. Factors influencing choices include repertoire, performance venue, and particular strengths and weaknesses of ensembles. “Before and After” segments show thirty different standing […]
Kansas City MO.Charlene Archibeque
The Journey to Pitch Perfect: Do-It-Yourself Grass Roots Vocal Strategies for the Singer and Conductor
This session will present practical exercises and techniques to facilitate individual and ensemble practice for the purpose of discovering each individual’s unique sound, which in turn creates an environment for more accurate intonation and pitch matching. Areas of presentation will include proprioception, audiation, use of body space, digital listening vs. acoustic, a skill set to […]
Pasadena CA.Jayne Campbell
Striking the Right Chord: Building a Sense of Harmony and Identity within the Non-Auditioned Choir
Choir directors face a myriad of challenges in building their choral programs, from recruiting and retaining singers to finding repertoire, to developing the desired choral sound in their choir. Directors of non-auditioned choirs, however, face a unique challenge: establishing a unified identify for their ensemble that makes students want to sign up for their choir. […]
Oklahoma City OK.Sheri Cook-Cunningham