This is a visual thing, this clip, how can it not be, in an increasingly visual world?...Did you see how the lack of a uniform distracted form the musical statement? Did you see the soprano the end moving like it was a slow song at a high school dance?...They were so spread apart that it made it harder to hear, I'll bet, and they moved like they weren't an ensemble. They were all trying to move the piece, but that wasn't the idea the director had in mind. Much to be learned here, but not much musically. I was so distracted by the visual lack of continuity that I had to re-listen to really get a handle on what they were singing. It was very "vertical," I think, No leading in the phrasing. It was pleasant enough, but not necessarily really musical...
Thanks for letting me lurk on your blog; this is my first post. This is a good example of how NOT to stand when you sing. Look at all the slumped shoulders and caved-in chests. How can you BREATHE that way? No wonder the pitch sagged! Michael Korn used to say (perhaps quoting Shaw) that there's no such as good choral singing or bad choral singing, just GOOD singing and BAD singing. Keep setting the bar high!
Wow...this is pretty painful to watch...I mean there is definitely much to take away from this...how about the need to be unified and constantly away of where the piece is going...there's no focus whatsoever...I like what harry said about the soprano soli...and throughout the entire piece I could hear the sagging pitch...lower and lower as if they were lulled to sleep by their own voices...faces people, lots of faces...
I think they would have been better if they would have spent more time practicing and less time learning how to appear and disappear like that. Just my $.02.
I don't know about you guys but I thought that they were pretty awesome! This choir actually won the 2007 Choir of the World competition in Llangollen, if you didn't know.
11 comments:
Gosh-I almost hate to be the first comment...
This is a visual thing, this clip, how can it not be, in an increasingly visual world?...Did you see how the lack of a uniform distracted form the musical statement? Did you see the soprano the end moving like it was a slow song at a high school dance?...They were so spread apart that it made it harder to hear, I'll bet, and they moved like they weren't an ensemble. They were all trying to move the piece, but that wasn't the idea the director had in mind. Much to be learned here, but not much musically. I was so distracted by the visual lack of continuity that I had to re-listen to really get a handle on what they were singing. It was very "vertical," I think, No leading in the phrasing. It was pleasant enough, but not necessarily really musical...
It's too bold. There's not much subtlety or sensitivity to the piece.
I completely agree with you. I didnt find it spectacular in any way. It was a mediocre performance, in my humble opinion.
I think this performance reveals what is difficult about the work, especially the difficulty of keeping the pitch up at the end.
More later. Soccer time.
i liked the guy's sound, but i felt the chicks were waaay too heavy.
it was like using a sledgehammer to crack open an egg.
~Sadie
ps. they had consonants!
i agree with sadie- the female voices were too heavy; plus, the outfits were very distracting.
katie h.
Thanks for letting me lurk on your blog; this is my first post. This is a good example of how NOT to stand when you sing. Look at all the slumped shoulders and caved-in chests. How can you BREATHE that way? No wonder the pitch sagged! Michael Korn used to say (perhaps quoting Shaw) that there's no such as good choral singing or bad choral singing, just GOOD singing and BAD singing. Keep setting the bar high!
Dr Mosteller
You guys are talking some serious smack. Let's see YOU disappear like that after singing O Sacrum!
But, since we're at it...
Most of this performance sounds like a big Soprano Soli to me.
Pretty loud on the ol' "No-bis Pig-nus Da--tur". I like the mischievously quiet take we have for that section.
They did point out that cadences are a great place to lose pitch. We can indeed learn from that.
Wow...this is pretty painful to watch...I mean there is definitely much to take away from this...how about the need to be unified and constantly away of where the piece is going...there's no focus whatsoever...I like what harry said about the soprano soli...and throughout the entire piece I could hear the sagging pitch...lower and lower as if they were lulled to sleep by their own voices...faces people, lots of faces...
I think they would have been better if they would have spent more time practicing and less time learning how to appear and disappear like that. Just my $.02.
I don't know about you guys but I thought that they were pretty awesome! This choir actually won the 2007 Choir of the World competition in Llangollen, if you didn't know.
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