Voice parts
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- CONING
- PRONUNCIATION AND ENUNCIATION
- MUSICAL INTERPRETATION
- STANDING ON RISERS
- RISER BEHAVIOR
VOICE PARTSFrom the bottom up, the four voices of barbershop harmony are bass, baritone, lead, and tenor. The female bass sings in the male tenor range, the baritone and lead are roughly in the alto range, and the tenor is in the soprano range. The leads usually sing the melody. Basses generally provide the root of the chord, tenors add the natural harmony, and baritones take what's left over to complete the chord. Lead is the melody and is sung in the range between A below middle C, and C above middle C. Lead singers need to be accurate singers with a full, authoritative sound. All the rest of us hang our harmony parts on the lead's melody. Most harmony singers hate to admit it, but the lead really IS the most important part - - after all, it's the melody! Tenor is a harmony part sung consistently above the lead. Although tenor is the highest voice in barbershop harmony, it should not be confused with soprano of conventional singing groups. The tenor should have a light, clear, pure tone that will compliment, but not overpower, the lead voice. Baritone covers approximately the same range as lead. The baritone harmony notes cross the lead notes, sometimes sung below and sometimes above. Baritones must constantly adjust their balance to accommodate their position in the chord. Many call the baritone part the "garbage part" because the musical line is often quite tricky, but baritones prefer to think of their part as vocal gymnastics. Bass singers should have a rich, mellow voice and be able to sing the E flat below middle C easily. Basses should not be confused with the alto of conventional groups. Many altos can sing the bass part, but others are much better suited to lead or baritone, depending on range and vocal quality. Because the barbershop style calls for basses to sing notes that are strong components of the chords, the bass part is really the foundation of the barbershop sound. Although the range is the same, a good soprano is not always a good barbershop tenor. In the choir, the soprano assumes the take charge role and everyone blends with her. In barbershop, the lead takes this role and tenors must harmonize with her. Also, many sopranos have been trained to add color and warmth to their voices through the use of vibrato, which is undesirable in a barbershop tenor. Barbershoppers work hard to keep this to a minimum, since chords cannot "lock" if voices are varying in pitch at different speeds. A slight vibrato or a tone produced with color is desirable in the lead voice. However, all other voices should strive to produce a clear tone without vibrato. Good breath support helps here. There are no soloists in barbershop harmony, so blending is the name of the game. Individual voices should not be discernible. If you can't hear people around you, back off the volume as you may be too loud. Conversely, if you can't hear yourself because of others around you, sing out. A successful barbershopper must listen to those around her, since there is no instrumental accompaniment to cover discord.
The basses at the bottom of the cone provide a broad foundation. Baritones are next on the cone, but must remember to lighten when they occasionally sing above the leads. Similarly, leads must broaden when they go below the baritones. Both baritones and leads will do a lot of mixing of head voices and chest voices as they sing the middle register (middle C to an octave above). Tenors need to be light. A heavy tenor might be better suited to the lead section if she has the range. When the director asks tenors to back off, basses to come out, etc., he/she is trying to achieve the proper balance according to the cone. PRONUNCIATION AND ENUNCIATIONMany who have sung in church choirs have been drilled to exaggerate consonants. In barbershopping, the consonants take a back seat to the vowels. In fact, only the leads are encouraged to strongly enunciate final consonants. As a rule, other sections should stress vowels and back off the voice consonants. Great emphasis is put on vowel-matching. Even if the notes are correct, a chord will sometimes fail to "ring" if the singers' vowels are mismatched. When barbershoppers sing their notes correctly and all pronounce their vowels alike then each chord will be in complete harmony and it will ring which means that overtones will be heard and you'll hear the vibration in your head. If you hear a perfect chord, you'll know it! Choruses constantly strive to ring chords. MUSICAL INTERPRETATIONBarbershoppers take great liberty with musical notations, so don't be alarmed if what appears as a quarter note on the page is actually sung as a dotted half. Changes in arrangements to adjust them to suit individual performers are frequently made and are acceptable if minor in nature. Learn to be flexible if your director decides to throw in a key change or reassign another voice part. While the director interprets a song through her/his hands, barbershop singers interpret with their voices, faces and bodies. Total involvement is required to "sell" a song to an audience. Barbershoppers must be actors as well as singers. If singers lean slightly forward (from the ankles, not the waist) they're energizing to add excitement to the performance. STANDING ON RISERSIt is important to have the proper stance when rehearsing or performing on the risers. Proper stance is achieved with the chin held level, shoulders down and relaxed, pelvis tilted slightly forward, knees slightly bent and feet firmly on the floor, a few inches apart. Depending on which side of the chorus you're on, place your outside foot slightly forward. Do not lock your knees as standing this way for an extended time can cause fainting. RISER BEHAVIORRehearsal goes much smoother if everyone can hear the director, so please save conversations for the break. If you have observations or suggestions regarding a song, talk with the director or your section leader after rehearsal. If you hear a neighbor making errors, don't attempt to correct her on the risers. This is the director's job. Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 10.03 Kb. Share with your friends:
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