Voice 37

John Carter, Instructor

Vocal Development Tape

Example One: Older Elementary, Gentle Rivers Run. Simonson, Silver Burdett Company.

Note the unforced sound and the resonance of the high sounds.

Note how the vowels of the high tones are “open” and not closed.

What is the dynamic level to your thinking?

Note how the tone doesn’t lose energy from note to note.

Note the range and the tessitura of the selection.

Example Two: Older Elementary, All Through the Night, arr. Haydn. Silver Burdett Company.

Note the range and the tessitura of the selection.

Note the harmony part and the unforced quality of the singing of the harmony part.

Note how the sound is made with an open, relaxed jaw.

Example Three: Older Elementary. Fairest Lord Jesus, American Boychoir, (Professional)

Note the range and the tessitura of the selection.

Note that all the boys sing in their “soprano” voices

Note in the second verse, the quality of the solo voices.

Note the absence of vibrato (a characteristic of the English Boychoir tradition of which this choir is a part.

Note the tone of the singers singing harmony

Example Four: Older Elementary. Stille Nacht, Gruber, Vienna Boys Choir

Note, as in the American Boychoir the absence of changed voices. There are no basses or tenors and even the altos have a soprano quality to them.

Note the unforced sound of the lower voices.

Note how the singers keep the dynamic the same from the beginning of the note all the way through to the next note.

Note the range and tessitura

Example Five: Older Elementary Boy Soloist, A Die Musik, Schubert, from Vienna Choir Boys.

Note the presence of vibrato.

Note the lightness in the lower range.

Note the range and tessitura.

Note the ability to keep the dynamic of the note the same to the next note. There is not a

weakening of the sound unintentionally.

Example Six: Junior High Boys (Grades 6-9, with Changed voices. TT/BB), The Boatman Stomp, by M. Gray, Auditioned Honor Choir from Western United States,

Note the limited ranges and the tessitura of all the boys voices.

Note the “reedy”/breathy quality of the boys voices that was not present in the elementary group.

Note some inaccuracy of pitch.

Note that there are a large number of boys singing in a large, acoustically alive room.

Example Seven: Junior High Girls (Grades 6-9), “Credo” from Missa Pequena, by Nunez.

Auditioned Honor Choir from Western United States.

Note the full, energetic potential of this age

Note the more “mature” sound of the female voice at this age.

Note the tessitura and the range.

Note that this is a large choir singing in an acoustically alive room.

Example Eight: Junior High, Mixed Choir (Grades 6-9), At the River, arr. Burkhardt

Note the difference in maturity between the boys and the girls.

Note the different ranges of the boys and the girls

Note the different vocal quality between the parts.

Example Nine: Female Choir (Ages 10-17) Bist Du Bei Mir, J.S. Bach. An auditioned Honor Choir from the Western United States.

Note the difference in sound that comes with the addition of more mature voices.

Note the fullness of the tone compared to the elementary-choir.