leskayc@a... wrote:
> Our community chorus recently performed the
> choral part of Beethoven's 9th (which I wound up faking because I as sick.)
> and I found this extremely difficult. I cannot understand why if I have such
> a high voice-and my teacher recently told me that she would not be surprised
> if I ended up with an A6-then why is it so hard for me to sing up there?
EVERY soprano has trouble singing that passage. Even my soprano friend who
loves singing
high notes and who finds Mozart's "Dove Sono" easy (and sings that aria better
than many
I've heard live on the opera stage). And Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is even
worse - you
have to sing pages of B's. The reason it's hard to sing these choral passages
is that you
have to sing in an impossible tessitura for an incredibly long time without
your voice
being allowed to rest.
This type of singing - which doesn't happen in most works - is what can make
choral music
more challenging in some ways than solo music. In an aria, though there may be
difficult
passages that require incredible technique to get through, the music moves
around the
voice more, so that it isn't as hard on the voice as singing Beethoven's 9th.
Right now
I'm singing the Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, and in one movement, Haydn gives
sopranos an
impossible tessitura for a very long stretch. It never gets higher than a G,
but it
doesn't go lower than the B below that, until the very end of the movement
(cool text
painting by Haydn, though, because its about descending from heaven). But I
feel like I
have to use every bit of technique I have to get through that section, as the
voice gets
SO tired by the end.
The good thing about the chorus as opposed to solo, is that there are lots of
singers on
your part, so it takes the pressure off any one singer. One thing to do to
preserve your
voice when you have to sing these Beethoven high passages is to sing the high
notes for a
few measures, then rest for a few beats while your companions sing, then slip
back in. If
everyone does this (staggered, of course), the choral sound will also be much
better in
those passages, because it gets harsh and screamy-sounding otherwise.
Another thing to do in this and other challenging choral music is my voice
teacher's
choral singing rule: "Never sing louder than mezzo forte." This is not meant
as a
literal dynamic, but how your voice feels. With all the loudness around you in
a chorus,
the tendency is to sing loudly unconsciously. Then you find yourself hoarse or
sore at
the end of the rehearsal without knowing how you got that way. So one has to
consciously
sing not by what you hear of yourself and by by the right feel in the voice.
As my choir
director says, even when asking for more volume, "Never exceed the beauty
threshold!"
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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