Whole Notes Are Like Potatoes

WHOLE NOTES ARE LIKE POTATOES

I have always preached that long notes grow (see "Long Notes Grow" here: bit.ly/2suzwym), but over time I thought of another way to say the same thing, and I believe my choirs find this one more "sticky." WHOLE NOTES ARE LIKE POTATOES.

Why do I say this? First off, a whole note looks like a potato. There. Now you can't unsee it, like the FedEx arrow (if you never saw that before, now you can't unsee that either - you're welcome). I don't know about you, but I never eat a plain potato. Just imagine it now - a boiled potato with nothing on it. No salt, no butter, no cheese or sour cream. No bacon. No nothing. Filling? Yes. Appetizing? Not likely.

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And so it goes with whole notes (big Russet potatoes), half notes (smaller, red-skinned potatoes) or even strings of quarter notes (fingerling potatoes). They need something to make them more appetizing to the ear. The more "potatoes" you have in a row, the more you have to dress them up! Garnish your potatoes with crescendi, decrescendi, tone color, vibrato, you name it! Bigger potatoes can be topped by themeselves. Smaller potatoes get seasoned all together as a group.

I have hammered "LONG NOTES GROW" with my choirs for a long time (and still do), but there's something so sticky and visual about calling such note "potatoes." You can look at a piece of music and just see all those potatoes jumping out at you. And if the choir forgets? Just shout "potatoes!" while they sing and hear results in an instant. In fact... that might be the only time I like instant potatoes. *groan*