[nabs-l] community choir question

[Sandra Gayer]

Hello Kelsey,
If you've got your singing teacher by now, he or she can show you all
this in a single lesson. It isn't difficult, it's just a question of
someone explaining it properly through speech and touching if
necessary. When I teach this, it's pretty quick. I agree with the
others, you can get an awful lot from listening to chorus men and
women, especially the soloists when they sing Oratorio because they
have to be absolutely clear.

Very best wishes,
Sandra.

On 11/12/13, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Kelsey,
> I think you need to be your own advocate. Its definitely important to  sing
> those vowels out clearly.
> Listen critically to classically choir music. Notice how vowels are held out
> or emphasized. For instance the letter A is sung like AH usually.
> Try to immitate this. Since I have vision and saw print, I knew the vowels.
> My chorus teacher in middle school had us practice vowels too.
>
> If listening doesn't work, talk to the teacher.
> Don't feel bad about asking. Its just a gap in knowledge.
> Simply ask them to explain how to do it. It’s a certain way of shaping your
> lips and breathing right.
> Make sure to stand or sit straight up as this will help in singing out
> clearly.
> If you need further guidance, ask them to let you touch their face so you
> are shown what its like.
> Also if you wish to know what print vowels look like, you can get several
> types of tactile alphabet sets. Some are plastic magnetic letters and I
> think some are raised letters on cards. Do you have contact with a teacher
> of the visually impaired or rehab teacher? They may know where to get
> tactile letters although you probably can find them at toy stores.
>
> Ashley
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kelsey Nicolay
> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 10:44 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] community choir question
>
> Hello,
> I currently sing in a community choir in my city.  I like it a
> lot and have really become good friends with people in my
> section.  However, I've been in choirs since fourth grade, but I
> still have trouble understanding vowel shapes.  I guess it's
> because my directors really didn't know how to explain that in a
> way that made sense.  Anyway, the director will tell the group
> something like: "Oo should look like ah." But if I don't know
> what that looks like, how am I supposed conform it? So my
> question to you guys is: Since this is a community choir, do I
> need to tell someone about this? They put me next to two very
> strong singers, one of which is a board member.  I feel
> comfortable talking to both of them and they do their best to
> help me out, but I just feel very uncomfortable bringing this up
> with anyone.  I think this is kind of a silly question to ask
> your director considering I've been in choir for this long, but I
> also don't want to stick out either.  Should the board know about
> this so they can figure out how they can help me understand what
> he's talking about? How can my neighbors unobtrusively show me
> this during rehearsal? Is there a good tactile clue that I could
> establish with them to let me know that the director wants the
> vowels to be more round? If it is at all helpful, I'm a tactile
> learner as well as an audio learner, so I need someone to
> actually show me how to do something.  Someone who has been in
> this situation before, please share your thoughts.
> Thanks in advance,
> Kelsey Nicolay
>
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