Welcome Home by Warren Bull

Welcome Home

With my trip to New Zealand, I had not gone to a voice lesson for two months. It had been even longer since my last choir rehearsal. I had my first returning choir rehearsal last night and my first returning voice lesson that morning. I did not realize how much I missed them until they were back in my life.

I acted like a rookie with the choir. I did not bring my music folder or that essential tool for singers everywhere — a pencil. It’s used to note where to take breaths, where to put emphasis, and where to use the pronunciation the director directs. Of the four songs practiced I’d heard one before.  I was sight-reading almost all night. Still, I was pleased by my general performance. The choir has a new young director with a lot of energy, interesting ideas and high expectations. I really like the companionship with other singers.

My first voice lesson reminded me why I like lessons so much. My teacher made suggestions that I implemented then and there. She always gets me singing better and better. I can hear the improvements as the lesson progresses. Sometimes I can end up singing better than I thought I could. There are moments of beauty and art, which lift me out of my day-to-day living.

Like writing it gets better with practice and with feedback from a knowledgeable and trusted teacher. There are not many activities that allow you to experience marked improvement in a skill in such a brief period of time.

I have been singing long enough that I can hear differences in my voice from recordings I made a while ago. The skills are additive. I noticed in choir how much my ability to sight-read has improved.  I don’t know how good I can be eventually. That’s part of the attraction of the whole experience. At my age there are not a gigantic number of behaviors that continue to improve. Writing and singing are two. Writing better is a slower process, but then I’ve been doing it longer so improvements take more time. The amount of change is less too.

What raises you out of the ordinary and gives you a sense of accomplishment?

Singing My Lyrics

Singing My Lyrics

After writing lyrics http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2015/02/writing-lyrics.html and preparing to sing http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2015/02/preparing-to-sing-my-lyrics.html I sang my lyrics on 2/22/15.  I ran through the song twice before services with the accompanist.  The first time was close to what I wanted.  The second time was even better so I stopped there.  For one thing, the accompanist said he was not feeling well.  He clearly wanted to stop.  For another thing, I wanted to end the practice with the correct notes and rhythm fresh in my head.  I had been limiting my practice so I would not practice the wrong notes, which I had done earlier by mistake.  The minister who was arranging the alter cloth for the first day of advent commented that he had, “never heard that before.”

The accompanist answered that these were lyrics I had composed.  The minister looked impressed.  Like the two other solos I’ve sung, the time during the service seemed to drag along slowly until the offertory, when I was scheduled to sing.  There was a brief pause at that point.  I was sitting next to the choir director.  He gets up to direct us two or three times each service so he always takes the outermost seat, which he did that Sunday. He looked at me and asked, ”Are you going to sing?” I said, “Yes.” He then realized he would have to move or I would have to crawl over him to exit the pew.  Luckily for both of us, he moved.

The song went well. I timed my entrances correctly, which was where I made the most mistakes in practice. I kept sheet music in front of me.  That helped me sing the latest version of the lyrics, not the earlier versions that popped into my head from time to time when I was singing from memory.  I was off key noticeably only once and I recovered on the next note. 

Afterward people told me they enjoyed my performance.  Half a dozen people asked for a copy of the lyrics.  I didn’t get too flattered by the requests.  My wife and a close friend told me they did not hear some the words clearly.  All in all I was pleased with what I did.  I think I will ask the church secretary if she could put a copy of the lyrics in the next bulletin.  I have already sent the lyrics off to the US copyright office. 

As a lyricist, I would have liked a better singer to show my work.  As a singer, I would have liked easier lyrics and fewer changes. Still, writing lyrics has been an interesting experience. It has broadened my knowledge of things musical.  What are you exploring these days?

Preparing to Sing My Lyrics

Preparing to Sing My Lyrics

I’ve blogged about writing lyrics before.  The next step after writing is preparing to sing them.  I had some difficulty with that.  I revised the lyrics several times to insure that the important words fall on the musically stressed notes (on the beats of each measure.)  I also revised my writing like I revise my prose, i.e. examining every word and pause (punctuation) to see if there was a more precise or meaningful alternatives.  I kept changing the lyrics until the final practice. I don’t think I would do that if I were doing a reading, but the final change simplified things. Lord knows I could benefit from simplification.

When writing prose I can just delete the old and replace it with the new.  Unfortunately for singing, the old words and punctuation stick around in my head.  I have to read the text to get the new version that I’m singing.  As part of the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus, I wanted to differentiate between the two in the song.  In some music showing Pilate and Jesus interacting, each man’s words are sung by  different singers. To emphasize the difference each singer uses a different range.  For example if Pilate’s lines are sung by a tenor, Jesus’ lines would be sung by a bass.  I finally decided to speak Pilate’s part and to sing Jesus’ response. While I speak the piano is quiet.   Stopping singing is easy. Coming back in at a precise point and more or less in tune is difficult. 

It is more difficult because I got lost reading the sheet music at home. I practiced singing the wrong notes, which reinforced the error.  Pausing to remember in the middle of a song does not work well.  Silence from me while the piano plays on is quite noticeable to the audience.

Fortunately I will be singing at church.  The accompanist is excellent.  My church does not practice excommunication.  And the lyrics are new.  My performance will be the world premier.  If I mess it up people might think it was meant to be like that. 

This dabbling in music is expanding my knowledge base.  I think I will stick with it.

Have you started down a new path and, if so, what were the results?

Sustaining Notes

Sustaining Notes

I am learning quite a bit in my singing lessons.  There is more to singing than I expected.  I didn’t know each breath needs to be planned. Pauses to breathe are called, “lifts.” In a chorus you can’t have everyone breathe at the same time.  That would put a moment of silence into the music. 

There is a way to stand and a way to hold your mouth to pronounce different vowels.  The “aw” sound in the word straw is different than the “aw” sound in ought. I discovered that by watching myself sing in the mirror.  (You can try it out yourself.)  Just listening, it’s hard to hear the difference.

My coach says vowels are more important than consonants.  I am supposed to sustain the vowel sounds and clip off the consonants.  Sometimes I manage that, usually when I forget my lifts.

Another problem for me is where to look on the sheet of music. I practiced on my electronic keyboard by looking at the notes on the treble clef, which is where the melody is.  Bases look at the base clef.  Even then the baritone notes and the base notes are both on the lines of the base clef. Bases sing the lower notes.  I have a tendency to slip into the melody, which is easier, for me at least, to hear.  At times I go one note at a time.  I try to pay attention to the tone, the rhythm and the lyrics while planning when to take a breath.  Watching the bass notes keeps my eyes focused away from lyrics. 

I’ve chosen a song for my first solo.  At this point I’ve sung it so many times that it’s getting boring.  Unfortunately I have so many things to work on in my singing before I’m scheduled to sing that I expect to sing it many more times.  Many many more.

I like learning things I know little about, like singing.  What would you like to know more about?

Warming up

Warming up

As part of my singing lessons, I have been taught warm up exercises.   One starts with me making a sound rather like an older person snoring lightly while he or she naps.  From there I am supposed to sound like a old hand-cranked siren getting ramped up, heading up into my “head voice.” I then reverse direction and drop my voice into the, “Luke, I am your father” range.

Another warm up sounds like a cat food commercial.  Do you remember the food, “Cats ask for by name?”  Meow and Mee-ow up and down the scale.  I watch myself in a mirror making vowel sounds.  My coach talks about the physical aspects of singing, which is surprisingly helpful.  Surprising to me anyway.  For me whole lot of learning to sing is learning and practicing the physical requirements. 

Then there is the activity in which a single breath powers five descending but discrete consonants followed by a sustained note.  Sometimes it does and other times it does not.

At the moment I am trying to voice the vowels ah to i (as in it) to e (as in bee) moving only my tongue.  I can more nearly successful when I start with the e and then move to i and finally ah. I haven’t achieved more than an occasional success but I am tired of sticking my tongue out at my reflection in the mirror.