Choral Reconnaissance: Knowing What You're Looking For

For the last six months I've been exploring choral options in my locale, the SW Washington-PDX area. For nearly 13 years I'd belonged to a small (10-16 singers) madrigal group, and was mostly happy with that. Like any group, it had its issues, and at times I'd felt stuck in a box (not an unusual situation when you're an alto), but we did interesting & challenging music. Times were changing, though, and when three of our men departed at the end of summer, we realized that we couldn't keep trying to work with the balance problems that had been building for several years. We decided to take an indefinite break.

It was tempting to rush in and fill up the musical hole with the first group I could find. However, I quickly found out that being part of a small democratic group can spoil you; going back to a cast-of-thousands chorus where the director's dictum is law isn't appealing anymore. The last time I sang in such a chorus, the only people I got to know well were the two women who sat on my left and right - kind of an isolating experience.

Time to go a-hunting.

In a small town, singers are usually limited to one community chorus but in most major metropolitan areas there are numerous choral choices, not even counting the bezillions of church choirs everywhere. How do you decide where to focus?

Here's what I've learned to keep in mind:

• Motivation behind wanting to sing with a group. Is it purely for enjoyment? Is it a crucial part of your social life - are you seeking friendships that extend beyond rehearsal nights? Do you want a serious challenge, musically speaking? Or do you want to keep it light? Are you hoping for solo or small group opportunities? Do you love performing for its own sake? I suggest taking a few minutes to write down your goals, no matter how informal they are. 
• Preferences, which are as individual as each singer. Over the years I've discovered that I like (and seem to do my best work) in small groups of 20 or fewer. I have a friend who loves being part of an enormous group that can carry off impressive works like Beethoven's Ninth. Consider your own preferences: do you gravitate towards classical repertoire, barber shop, Broadway or a mix? What directorial style suits you best - meticulous and detailed or loose and easy? 
• Skills and abilities. After completing a survey of smaller groups within a 50-mile radius (we choristers will go to great lengths...) I realized that I'd have to "up" my skill level in order to have a chance at a slot in about half of them - members were, if not paid professionals, advanced singers with serious training and experience. If you're aiming for a non-auditioning chorus, you can just show up. But if you're aiming for a selective group, consider getting vocal coaching even if for a limited time. It can really pay off when audition time rolls around.
• Finally, there's your budget. Membership in a choir can be free (church), affordable or prohibitively expensive. While working overseas in a notoriously expensive city, I joined a chorus that required members to purchase 5 tickets for each performance - hopefully you'd recoup your money by selling the tickets to friends...but if your friends weren't fans of classical choral music you were out of luck. Ouch! Know what you're willing and able to pay. Find out from current or former members whether the group tends to spring surprise expenses beyond the quarterly or seasonal fee. And try to determine how much time members spend in fundraising activities. Can your schedule handle extra commitments?

If you find out as you explore that your requirements are so narrow that you're not finding anything, you can always broaden them. But unless you're a total novice at choral singing, it helps to start out small, with a few first and second-tier possibilities, plus a Plan B in case you don't find what you're looking for at all. 

And while you're seeking, keep singing, even if it's just to yourself, in the shower or car. Or hook up with a casual community chorus that doesn't audition. Ot take lessons and pick your teacher's brain. Stay in the game. Finding a group is like finding a job: if you're already active in something, you're more likely to make the sorts of connections that can lead to the perfect-for-you opportunity. 

Different but Equal: Music that Challenges & Inspires All Parts

This past week I started attending rehearsals for the performance of a Bach cantata shortly before Christmas. I've been reminded of one reason why I'm drawn to early music: certain composers wrote great parts for everyone. Italian madrigals (and quite a few English ones), Renaissance polyphony in general & many of Bach's works contain lines or phrases that allow one part to strut its stuff, and altos generally have a fair share. In fact, polyphonic music of any era tends to have more interesting possibilities for harmonizing parts than does "four-square" (as a friend calls it) music simply because each part is essentially doing its own thing.

Masters of Renaissance polyphony include Palestrina, Lassus, Tallis, Byrd and Sweelinck, among many others. If you're looking for music that lets everyone shine at some point, it would be hard to beat 16th-17th century composers.

Repertoire for Altos: Bach Cantatas

Here's a YouTube compilation of performances of Bach arias suitable for Alto solos.

Amazing Altos: Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (Feb. 27, 1897-April 8, 1993) was a pioneer in more than just music; she served as a United Nations Human Rights Committee goodwill ambassador by giving concerts worldwide, and she was active in the civil rights movement. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership in the Daughters of the Revolution when the DAR refused to let Anderson perform in their Constitution Hall in 1939. Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial instead, for an audience of 75,000.

Her early career in the U.S. was thwarted by segregationist policies that kept her from performing in many venues, and she ended up going to Europe, where she sang to enthusiastic audiences and began collaboration efforts with such noted musicians and composers as Jean Sibelius.

A-List of Top Alto-Voiced Popular Artists

Ladies, we are in great company! Here is Wikipedia's list of non-classical singers who would qualify as altos. This list includes some of my own favorite singers, including both women in Fleetwood Mac; I hope you find a few of your favorite artists here.

The Forest or the Trees?

A music director I worked with years ago once remarked to me that too many musicians fixate on "getting the notes" when they first tackle a piece, assuming that attention to phrasing and expression should come only after the notes have been mastered. This, he insisted, only insures that the piece probably won't come together at all, since the notes may never be perfect.

"Getting the notes" is kind of like seeing the trees, while working on phrasing is akin to seeing the forest. Both are important. I know that when I'm listening to or watching a group perform, the first thing I tend to notice is whether the singing is expressive or wooden and, if it's a live performance, how well the group members engage the audience.

My music director friend tried to get us, his choir, to cultivate an ability to focus on both the trees and the forest simultaneously. It's not an easy skill to develop. Most of us find one focus easier than the other.

 I'm a forest person myself, and so find that I have to work harder at getting the notes themselves nailed. We big-picture generalists often find it difficult to pay sustained attention to minute details. My pianist friend Sandi, on the other hand, is as detail-oriented as they come; she admits that seeing things through a wider lens is a challenge for her, particularly when she's struggling with a particularly difficult piece.

The trees-and-forest approach to learning music is similar to blending left-brained and right-brained thinking styles when strategizing or problem-solving. Relying heavily on one or the other creates an imbalance. Cultivating both approaches is hard work but I'm finding that the results are much better.

(Thanks, Tim, for pointing all this out to me!)

Leaving the Do-Wop Chorus: Knowing When it's Time to Break Out

The reason why choral singers join choirs is that we love singing with others. But for an alto, choral singing can be pretty limiting if it's the only singing you do and if the music is basic. Boredom can set in quickly once you're able to master intermediate-level music quickly. What to do?

Several years ago I found myself in that position and decided to explore new musical genres. I signed up for a jazz vocals class and continued studying under the teacher as a private voice student after the class ended. This teacher held a Sunday afternoon open mic twice a month for her students, with a guitarist for accompaniment. Each participating student had the opportunity to sing a solo song or two. This challenged me in a way I'd never experienced before.

Here are a few things to try when you're ready for further challenges that your current group can't provide:

• Take private lessons if it's in your budget. Many instructors keep tabs on opportunities for vocalists and can notify you of auditions as they come up.
• Explore music outside of "your" genre. I chose jazz because I'd always sung in traditional choral groups that focused on classical choral repertoire. 
• Get friends together for a karaoke party or a trip to an open mic event. 
• Find out if your local paper (or its online version) has a weekly arts insert that includes audition notices. Choose something that looks appealing and try out. Having to prepare for an audition challenges you to work harder at developing certain skills such as sight reading. 
• Round up a few musical friends who may also be ready for new challenges or post an ad on a site that draws singers, and try out new-to-you material for small groups. 

If you try several of these options, one thing will probably lead to another and soon you'll be out of the doldrums.

Here's an Amazon Listmania list of recordings by women with good range and color for altos.