Notes from the Huntsville Community Choir: Shaping the songs

By Peeter Sild (from the bass section)

Last week we got CDs with individual soundtracks (i.e. bass soundtrack).

A godsend. Why? Well, a good number of the choir members are not fluent (I include myself in this thought) with musical sight reading.

Before anyone gets uppity on me, I am making an observational guess and not asking everyone their competence with sight reading. This cuts down on embarrassments or suspicions about me. So . . . then all I need do is just memorize the bass soundtracks? Not so, dear reader. That would be like making a cake with only flour, water, eggs and yeast. A cake to be sure but very bland or tasteless. No individual tastes or nuances. No spices.

What are the spices? In a musical sense, these would be music dynamics: crescendo <, decrescendo >, forte f, piano p and so forth. Even though the music dynamics are in the recipe or musical score, the chef or director decides when and how much “musical spice ” to add into the mix.

I was going to continue the pastry analogy . . .but . . . you get the point.

Other techniques our choir director Louis Tusz has introduced are to intersperse the soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections, improve musical diction, and shape notes by altering mouth and throat. Another way of describing them: swimming with a different school of fish, have a My Fair Lady experience and vocal contortions with calisthenics.

A lot of factors are in play when “shaping the songs”. Break it down and it looks like this: learning the notes for your respective part, learning the words of the language sung, using the proper diction, following the musical dynamics, breath control and, finally, doing all of these as a group. Seems daunting yet these necessities seem to occur as though through a process of “musical alchemy”.

Let me leave you with a thought by looking at the big picture:

The whole spectrum of music demonstrates a universal presence on our planet and has shaped the songs and woven itself into the very fabric of global cultures.

For more information on the Huntsville Community Choir, visit huntsvillecommunitychoir.com.

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