Two Voices

My hands are up like sock puppets. The class is too young to really know the full impact of Robin Williams, but nonetheless I feel like I’m channeling him. My left hand moves and I speak in a casual, low voice: “Hey... what’s up?” My right hand moves and I sing a forte AAAAAHHH on a B-flat. Not a high B-flat. I’m not channeling Pavarotti.

Why is this happening?

Some years back I got good and tired of my choirs sounding great, then losing their tone after a rest. I noticed that if one phrase ended and the next phrase came in on the same note (or higher), there were scoops up to pitch, or just lackluster tone. WHERE DID IT GO? IT WAS JUST THERE!!!

It hit me like a ton of bricks. At the beginning of the song, the singers were purposeful with their singing. Over time they would mentally slip. During rests, they allowed their singing voice to fall back down into speaking position. (I know we could go down a pedagogy rabbit hole here; stay with me.)

What helped me realize this was when I would have the students count rhythms. In the absence of pitch, it was like the entire choir was comprised of James Earl Joneses. (Now I say “chant” the rhythm so they know to stay out of the basement, or just have them count-sing on a unison pitch, but I digress.) My experience with middle- and high-school singers is that most of them talk in the bottom of their ranges.

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Back to my hands. I tell the choir they have a speaking voice and a singing voice. I demonstrate. Then I ask them to make the two different sounds when I cue them with my hands. We go back and forth. “Hey, what’s up?” “AAAAHHHH” “Hey... what’s up?” “AAAAAHHH” Back and forth, faster and faster. I shake up the pattern at the end so they are tricked and laugh.

Then I ask them: “Can you feel the effort it takes to shift from speaking to singing voice? You must engage quickly, right? IT WOULD BE FAR EASIER TO JUST MAINTAIN SINGING VOICE POSITION THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SONG. And that means across each breath, and then also to be mindful during long rests.” It’s a bit of a mental trick, an awareness builder... but it works for me.