Choir Critique
Period 1 Bella Voce
Holiday Concert Makeup
1-22-13
To make up for the holiday concert I missed, I went to church on Sunday, Jan. 20 to critique the choir there. It was at Life Center in Tacoma, with the choir being made up of about 20 people; there were equal amounts of men and women singing. The service started at 10:30 a.m., with the first song, (which was more of a hymn) Bless the Lord Oh my Soul contemporarily sung by Matt Redman. The songs which were sung that day did have contemporary versions, but were sung usually acapella or with only a piano. There was one instance where the audience was expected to sing with the choir, too. What I noticed from the choir during this first song was that every single person was singing with pure emotion, naturally swaying with the beat of the song throughout. I could completely tell that they felt the rhythm of the song because they kept the tempo at a steady pace, but filled their voices with energy. The next song was The Only One being sung by a man named Anson Dawkins, who was the soloist. This song wasn’t considered as classical choral material, but Anson did an excellent job at keeping the same tone quality through the different ranges of the song; when the notes were starting to get a little high for his range, he didn’t force the notes out, but instead let them naturally flow through. Next, the choir sang We Wait by Don Moen, with Matt leading the song with the piano. When the choir broke into the five part harmony, however, the men were overpowering the women and could’ve listened better to improve their intonation. In other words, they were really sticking out among the other parts. Another song was Nothing but the Blood, also a hymn. In this song, the choir blended so well because everyone’s vowels matched. It made it easier to understand the text, too, because of that. One imperfection I heard was that at the end, everyone finished their note at different spots, making the ending sound a little sloppy.
Holiday Concert Makeup
1-22-13
To make up for the holiday concert I missed, I went to church on Sunday, Jan. 20 to critique the choir there. It was at Life Center in Tacoma, with the choir being made up of about 20 people; there were equal amounts of men and women singing. The service started at 10:30 a.m., with the first song, (which was more of a hymn) Bless the Lord Oh my Soul contemporarily sung by Matt Redman. The songs which were sung that day did have contemporary versions, but were sung usually acapella or with only a piano. There was one instance where the audience was expected to sing with the choir, too. What I noticed from the choir during this first song was that every single person was singing with pure emotion, naturally swaying with the beat of the song throughout. I could completely tell that they felt the rhythm of the song because they kept the tempo at a steady pace, but filled their voices with energy. The next song was The Only One being sung by a man named Anson Dawkins, who was the soloist. This song wasn’t considered as classical choral material, but Anson did an excellent job at keeping the same tone quality through the different ranges of the song; when the notes were starting to get a little high for his range, he didn’t force the notes out, but instead let them naturally flow through. Next, the choir sang We Wait by Don Moen, with Matt leading the song with the piano. When the choir broke into the five part harmony, however, the men were overpowering the women and could’ve listened better to improve their intonation. In other words, they were really sticking out among the other parts. Another song was Nothing but the Blood, also a hymn. In this song, the choir blended so well because everyone’s vowels matched. It made it easier to understand the text, too, because of that. One imperfection I heard was that at the end, everyone finished their note at different spots, making the ending sound a little sloppy.