FW: minstrel: RE: pitch (was solfege)

[Tibicen]

> Are others aware of other references to going off key in
> performance?  

Hmm!  I know of two pieces of choral music, the lyrics of which are
singers talking about how good they are, but for which I don't have
translations -- they might, but I don't know.  Let me see if I can
track them down.  One Italian, one French.

> 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 think maybe we're using "warmup" for different purposes?

To my mind, a warmup is not to get the group in tune (is that what you
are thinking of it as?), it is to limber the voice so it is
sufficiently agile and responsive as to be able to do what the mind
commands it.  When I fail to warm up properly, I sing out of tune and
coarsely, not because I don't know where the pitches are or how to
make a good sound, but because when I think "do that" at my throat, it
misses.

Thus, I like to start with stepwise motion over a very limited range
(e.g. a 5th), and slowly move that range through the middle of the
vocal range.  Or sliding.  Only then moving to jumps, only then ranges
of over a 5th (e.g. octave arpeggios).

The very feature of late-period catches -- their ranginess -- is
precisely why I don't like them for warmups.  They're the sort of
thing I need a warmup to do in the first place.

> 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

Yes, I'm a big fan of this, especially before a cold read, though I
think 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1-7-6-7-1 is sufficent.

-- Tibicen