Following my experience with the Cantabile ensemble, I
observed the Young Men’s Chorus which was comprised of approximately two dozen
young men between the ages of 12 and 18. This ensemble is also directed by Kyle
Zeuch; however, unlike Cantabile, there is no teaching intern to assist him in
instruction. In many ways this was a far more informal music making setting
than the Cantabile rehearsal. The room was not set up prior to the arrival of
the young men, and there was a great deal of chicanery and shenanigans prior to
rehearsal. In many ways, the atmosphere was one of playfulness and fun syphoned
through the filter of music, which I think goes a long way in creating a
cohesive ensemble.
One of the first things I noticed about this ensemble was
the collegiality between the ensemble members. As the young men were trickling
in, they began joking around with each other, dancing, and occasionally
engaging in random acts of “peacocking”. When the younger members of the
ensemble began to arrive, the attitudes of the elder boys changed: suddenly
they were seeking out Kyle to ask if they could set up the rehearsal space,
giving the younger boys directions on how to set up the risers, and putting the
rehearsal space in order. This mature behavior lasted for the duration of
rehearsal, even though they were performing fully-choreographed musical theatre
selections that required a great deal of humor and smarminess. I was actually
rather impressed.
This being my first experience listening to an all-male
ensemble sing since my sophomore year of undergrad, I was expecting a bunch of
insecure, changing voices, with the occasional “woofy” bass and a few tenors
who really were baritones in disguise. I was not expecting, however, well
supported and resonant basses. There were moments in rehearsal where this was
not the case, particularly when they had to sing either above or below their
comfortable singing range. In one instance, the “Bass One’s” had to sustain a
pitch in the “break”, and the pitch went unbelievably flat. This is not
surprising, given what we discussed in class, however it made me wonder how to
address this issue if it is only one pitch that really creates issues in a
piece. I also wonder if the rich, resonant sound was more a function of the
fact that there were nearly twice as many of them as there were tenors—in fact,
I could barely hear the tenors for the most part of rehearsal. Unfortunately,
this seems like a pretty common problem, as throughout my high school and
collegiate choral experience the tenors were always the weakest section in the
ensemble, both in terms of numbers and sound. Is this a normal issue, and what
can I do as a choral educator to “balance” the tenor and bass sounds in my own
ensemble?
With respect to the tenors, Kyle had an extremely successful
teaching sequence that reminded me just how important differentiated
instruction is in the classroom. During one of their four part (TTBB)
selections, both tenor sections were not producing a great deal of sound.
First, Kyle attempted to get the sections to sing out. Upon realizing that it
was a pitch confidence issue (mainly a result of unsupported sound), Kyle tried
a few vocalizing exercises. When these did not work, he asked the basses to
keep an aural beat on a hiss for the tenors to sing over. This also did not
work, so Kyle decided to pretend that he had a super-soaker squirt gun and
asked the kids to “fill up” their super soakers and make sure they empty all
their air out when they sing. This, surprisingly enough, worked! It was the
first time all rehearsal that I heard the tenor section, and they actually
sounded pretty fabulous!
What is the take away?
(1) Supply and demand: There seems to be too many
basses and not enough tenors.
(2) Boys will be boys, until suddenly they are young
men.
(3) If at first you don’t succeed, there is always
the super-soaker analogy!
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