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DISCOVER CHORAL MUSICAn Introduction to Choral Music/FAQ As found at http://www.pacificchorale.org/discover_choral_music/introduction.php Choir. Chorus. Choral. Chorale. What do they all mean? A choir is an ensemble of singers. Not a group of soloists competing with each other. That's American Idol. No, a choir is an ensemble. The word "ensemble" comes from French and means "together." And that's what the singers in a choir do. They sing together. A chorus and a chorale are pretty much the same thing, when you get down to it. In fact, they've come from the same root word, but passed along to us from ancient Greece and Rome in several different forms. The word "choral" is an adjective describing what choirs, choruses and chorales all do. They sing. Together. Thus, choral music. In practice, people do make distinctions between the words, but there are no hard and fast definitions keeping them separate. "Choir" often refers to a choral group associated with a church or school. "Chorus" is often used in a theatrical context, such as opera or musical theater, for the group of singers (and often dancers) who "back up" the featured performers. "Chorale" can refer to a particular type of church music, or simply be another name for a choir or chorus. Like Pacific Chorale. Your favorite choir / chorus / choral ensemble. "Chorale" shouldn't be confused with "corral." (Yes, they're pronounced the same way.) A corral is where you pen your livestock. A chorale is, well, where you pen your singers. As it were. Pacific Chorale does not have any horses for rent. And "choral" shouldn't be confused with "coral." Coral is an underwater creature that builds reefs. "Choral" is a description of a type of singing, which is hard to do underwater. SATB Soprano is the high female voice. They usually sing the melody. Because our ears are calibrated to hear higher pitches more clearly, the soprano is usually what we hear first when we listen to a choir. Alto is the low female voice. They sing harmony, which usually means lots of work and little glory. You'd certainly notice the difference, though, if they all got tired and left. Altos add warmth and richness to the sound. Tenor is the high male voice. The tenor voice is relatively rare, which is why tenors are valued in the choral world. They add brilliance to the sound. Bass is the low male voice. Don't pronounce it to rhyme with "grass"—that kind of bass is a fish! "Bass" sounds just like "base," and that's what they are: the base of the choir's sound. A few other voice types you might encounter are treble, mezzo-soprano and baritone. "Treble" is usually used for boys who sing in the soprano range. "Mezzo-soprano" is the medium female voice, higher than alto and lower than soprano. It is not commonly used as a category in choral music, but is frequently applied to soloists. "Baritone" is the medium male voice, higher than bass and lower than tenor. In many choirs, baritones act as a subset of the bass section. INTRODUCTION TO CHORAL MUSIC
WHY WE SING
We Sing and We’re Proud! by Knight Kiplinger If you're like many choral artists and administrators, you might have a little inferiority complex about your artistic medium. You might wish that your chorus enjoyed the same media attention — and donor support — that is lavished on your more glamorous rivals – the local symphony orchestra, opera, or ballet company. My message for you today: Get over it...and fight back. It's time to assert choral music's rightful place as the noblest — and socially most important — of all the performing arts. How is choral music the superior performing art? Let me count the ways. The voice was the first musical instrument, before humans began beating on drums, blowing into gourds, and plucking gut strings. Choral music is a universal art form — a distinction it shares with dance. The massing of voices, whether in spoken chants or sounds with musical pitch, is practiced by virtually every society on earth. Of all the musical arts, choral singing is the most democratic, because the voice is the one instrument everyone owns...the one instrument you don't need money to buy. . Choral music is how people express their most powerful and deeply felt emotions. Choral singing is the sound of celebration. In the joyous concert at the demolished Berlin Wall, after the fall of East German communism 15 years ago, what was the featured masterpiece? A choral work, of course — Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Throughout history, choral music has exhorted people to social action and human liberation: The great Negro Spirituals of the early 19th century. The powerful hymn of the Civil Rights movement, We Shall Overcome. The raucous union organizing songs of the 1930s. Choral music is how people express their patriotism, from the Marseillaise of the French Revolution to the Battle Hymn of the Republic in the American Civil War. Throughout history, group singing helped laborers build camaraderie and endure the hardship of grueling work: The sea chanties of sailors, the rhythmic songs of railroad crews and prisoners on a chain gang. Choral music is how people soothe their grief at the passing of loved ones, with familiar hymns shared at funerals. Choral music is how people give voice to their spirituality. For the serious choral singer, performing the great sacred works can be a personal religious experience like no other. Is there any other musical composition, in any medium, more sublime than the Bach Mass in B-Minor? More dramatic than the Verdi Requiem? More triumphant than Messiah? I know of none. Now, I like orchestras as much as the next guy, and many of the greatest choral works — from the Monteverdi Vespers to Orff's Carmina Burana — were made richer by instrumentation. But great choral music doesn't require an orchestra. Indeed, some of the most sublime choral works of the 20th century are a cappella works, such as Maurice Durufle's Ubi Caritas and Franz Biebl's Ave Maria. In a time when society is becoming more fragmented, when individuals are feeling more isolated and alienated, choral music brings people together. It is the music of social cohesion, the music that builds community. It brings together people of different ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds, united in a love of great music. How do summer camps bring the shy campers into the fold? With group sings, at meals and around the camp fire – everything from nonsense songs to the ubiquitous Kumbaya. How do colleges make their returning alums feel at home? With glee club concerts of the old school songs. In the hit French movie of last year, Les Choristes, what was it that tamed those incorrigible delinquents at that vile reform school? Well, it wasn't ballet lessons. It was teaching them the joy and discipline of choral singing. Choral music is the music of jubilation, of grief, of toil, of worship. It is the music of protest and patriotism, the music of religious passion. It is the only kind of music that connects people in the most profound ways. This is the social capital possessed by choral music, and no other performing art can match it. So check your inferiority complex at the door. It's time to develop in ourselves, and communicate to others – the public, the press, your funders – a well-deserved superiority complex. Express your Choral Pride: Say it Loud: “We Sing and We're Proud!” Author Credit Knight Kiplinger has sung with The Washington Chorus for more than 30 years, also serving as a trustee and board chair. Professionally, he is editor in chief of The Kiplinger Letter and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. This editorial is adapted for the Voice from an address he delivered at the 29th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 8, 2006. This article is reprinted from the Voice of Chorus America, Fall 2006. Past issues of the Voice can be ordered from Chorus America by going to the Publications page of our website: chorusamerica.org/publications.shtml |
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