Group Voice: Classification and Seating Arrangements, Individual

Voice Classification, Unison Singing

By Valerie Straus and Ahdia Bavari

Classification

•  Listen for boys singing an octave below

•  Whole group and smaller groups sing well-known song in different keys to hear different voice qualities, registers, ranges, tones, etc.

For Girls

•  Listen for •  Clarity and strength of sound in lower and upper

ranges

•  Location of vocal tessiturae

•  Voice quality

Seating Arrangement

•  Do not mix junior high with high school singers - Could create competition and vocal problems

•  Chart A:

Girls I All Baritones Midvoice IIA Midvoice II Unchanged Midvoice I Girls 2

Seating Arrangement

•  Chart B

High School Sopranos

High School Basses

High School Tenor I, II

High School Altos

Middle School Girls 1, Some Unchanged Boys

Middle School New/Settling Baritones

Middle School Midvoice II, IIA

Middle School Girls 2, Midvoice I, Some Unchanged Boys

Seating Arrangement

•  Chart C

High School Sopranos

High School Altos

High School Tenors

High School Basses

Middle School Girls I, Unchanged Boys

Middle School Girls 2, Midvoice I

Middle School Midvoice II, IIA

Middle School New/Settling Baritones

Individual Audition

•  What to listen for: •  Tessitura

•  Voice quality (breathiness, constriction, resonance)

•  Register development (when and where falsetto begins)

•  Speaking Fundamental Frequency (SFF)

•  Posture and breath control

•  Volume capabilities

•  Dynamic-rhythmic agility characteristics

•  Vocal strengths and weaknesses

What to include in audition

•  Listen to speaking voice (good starting pitches p. 31)

•  Match pitch

•  Determine voice classification and range

•  Tessitura, diction, vocal problems, breath control, volume, intonation

•  Flexibility exercises – moving melodies

•  Tonal memory test

•  Rhythmic memory, sense of tempo

Unison Singing

•  Aid in: •  Pitch-matching exercises

•  Developing proper tone, energy, and breath support for singing

•  Teaching concepts of phrasing and dynamics

•  Conductor quickly establishing rapport, “conducting” technique control of new choir

•  Teaching concepts of expressive singing, elements of control and refinement in tone