Dear Vocalisters:
A lot of opinions about the makeup of a chorus have been expressed
and the effects of vibrato on choral singing. I would offer the
following.
Generally a chorus is intended to be an ensemble and as such no
individual singer is supposed to be heard as an individual. The
sound of the chorus is meant to be a collective sound. It is for
this reason that most choral directors do not want a solo voice in a
chorus because that voice, by its individual and soloist
characteristics would be heard individually.
If that definition holds then the problem within a chorus is how to
have the many individual voices blend together into one voice or at
least into one basic voice for each section or part sung. The
soprano section, for example, should sound like one extremely
wonderful soprano voice even though it is made up of many individual
voices each of which is contributing to the combined total of the
soprano section.
The ideal goal would be that each voice in a given section is able to
contribute his/her individual quality in such a way that the
combination of all of the voices in the section is greater than the
sum of the individual parts. This is done through the concept of
'blending' the voices.
Blending voices does not require that each voice attempt to sound the
same as other voices in the section. An excellent section quality
can be built out of a combination of many different vocal qualities
much as an orchestra can blend the sounds of many different kinds of
violins. Bright voices and dark voices CAN blend together to give a
superior combined quality, for example.
The three necessary elements that must be similar within a section if
a blend or unison of tone is to be achieved are pitch, vowel and
volume.
All voices within a section must sing the same pitch, exactly the
same pitch at the same time.
All voices within a section must sing the very same vowel
pronunciation. If, for example, some voices sing an open form of
the /e/ vowel and some sing a closed form of this vowel within a
section, the effect of these vowel differences will be that some
voices will sound out of tune even though they are singing the very
same pitch. The overtone qualities of the slight vowel differences
will conflict and the effect for the listener is a section that is
out of tune with itself.
All voices must sing within a very similar dynamic range. If some
voices sing softly and some sing loudly the louder voices will stick
out and the section will give a "stringly" quality to the overall
choral sound. If all voices sing within a similar dynamic level the
section sound will be uniform in intensity.
However, if vibrato rates or vibrato depths vary a great deal within
a section it is not possible for that section to become a blended
unit. An easy and immediate cure for this is to regulate the amount
of vibrato allowed but this places some of the voices in great peril
because a conscious control of vibrato over a long period of time is
counterproductive to the healthy development of the voice. A much
better answer is to select voices that have similar vibrato rates and
depths. This, of course, determines that the chorus is a select
group and not all choral groups choose to become this kind of
organization.
Large choruses such as those used for oratorios or are accompanied by
an orchestra can be less sensitive to the complexities of choral
blend because the orchestra tends to cover up or correct small
matters of lack of choral unity. In many chorus/orchestra works, a
sense of mass is intend rather than a sense of unified continuity
from the chorus.
The opera chorus remains a group of INDIVIDUALS. It is intended to be
seen as such not as a unified continuity, consequently individual
voices are encouraged to to be heard as long as some semblance of
choral ensemble can also be maintained. In this sense the opera
chorus still fulfills the definition of chorus as mentioned in the
first paragraph but only slightly.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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