FW: minstrel: RE: pitch (was solfege)

[Patricia Yarrow]

I'm attaching the original message entire, as I don't think it made it to
list.

I know there are references to *harps* going flat or sharp during playing.
I'll see if I can find the poem I'm thinking of and whether its date is
pre-1600.  Are others aware of other references to going off key in
performance?  Equally useful would be comments praising a singer or choir
for being on pitch.

On warmups, a familiar song is useful, especially if you're in a public
situation.  I recommend using a late-period catch, as they tend to be rangy
and everyone gets the same workout.

I like to use a warmup based on triads, but I could never get the group to
sing the notes in solfege, only as "ah" or "la."  Rather than going up by
half steps and keeping the triad major throughout, as most modern choirs do,
I prefer staying with basic notes (all white keys on the piano) and letting
them hear and feel the chord qualities.  Starting on C, solfege wise this
works out to

do mi so mi do - major
re fa la fa re - minor
mi sol ti sol mi - minor
fa la do la fa - major
sol ti re ti sol - major
la do me do la - minor
ti re fa re ti - diminished
do mi sol mi do - major

It can also be helpful before an individual song to run the "scale" of the
mode up and down, then the primary triad, then the seventh scale degree to
keynote (so they can hear if you have a  leading tone or not), then the
fifth scale degree below to keynote.  This grounds the group in the mode of
the piece.  For example, Dorian:

re mi fa so la ti do re
re do ti la so fa mi re
re fa la fa re
re do re (this is a subtonic rather than a leading tone)
re la re

Again, this is useful whether done with the solfege or not.

Vivien

-----Original Message-----
From: Terri Spencer [mailto:tarats at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 5:34 PM
To: yarrowp at mscd.edu
Subject: Re: minstrel: RE: pitch (was solfege)



--- Patricia Yarrow <yarrowp at mscd.edu> wrote:

> An aside:  there are those in the SCA who will state, categorically,
> that
> there were no external pitch references in the Middle Ages and
> Renaissance
> and therefore all pitch was relative.  However, most churches had
> bells that
> were rung several times a day (usually just before the singing of the
> appropriate chants for that time).   Also, the clefs were developed
> based on
> natural vocal ranges (minimizing the use of ledger lines).   There
> are
> certain sounds in nature (such as the sounds of certain birds and
> insects)
> that tend to be at the same pitch across time and place.  I
> personally don't
> agree that there was no so thing as absolute pitch in SCA "period."

Even more aside: Are there references to going flat or sharp during a
piece?  Perhaps not in those terms, but I'm wondering if music
treatises refer to it at all.  We have a local A&S judge with perfect
pitch who hears the slightest deviation.  A member of our group has
expressed the opinion that we should not be judged on this as long as
we all go flat together, that it is a modern bias and would not be
important in SCA period because there was no absolute pitch.  This
sounds wrong to me, but I don't have a documented reference to
contradict it.


> Choir directors:  how do you tune your choir?  My voice teacher
> recommended
> tuning in thirds - having the parts sing a third apart, and
> "brightening"
> the top voice to bring the group into tune.  One exercise we've used
> is to
> have singers stand so that they're touching (back to back works well)
> so
> they can feel the vibrations as well as hear them.  When the group's
> in
> tune, the harps and piano in the rehearsal room will "sing"
> (provided, of
> course, that they're in tune).  Do others have
> suggestions/techniques?

Please?  I'd really be interested in hearing them.  I've sung in many a
choir, but I don't think I've ever been "tuned".  Well, maybe one,
where   the director had us sing a 1-3-5-Maj7 chord (each part to a
note) then directed parts up/down to create different chords.  But that
was a large semi-professional chorus.  Chorusters is small and some of
us have been singing together for years.  However, we have some new
members so this might be a good way to "retune" with the new mix.

Also, can anyone recommend some good warmups.  We tend to warmup with a
familiar song - We Be Three Poor Mariners for some unknown reason.

Tara

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