Art of Ensemble

I know Amanda will give me crap about writing about this but I think I have some valid ideas, thoughts and concerns. To preface this post I will give some background to show where I am coming from. When I was little, I sang in church for our kids choir because my Grandfather was the Pastor and my Father, the Music Pastor. I hated it and thought it was "dumb" and "for girls". My entire family sang and played instruments so I was around music all of the time but I wasn't interested in following in family tradition.

Then came 12,13,14,15, etc. and my voice wasn't that nice and I had no interest in music or at least on stage music. At the age of 12 I was the sound engineer for my Father's road choir and small ensemble at a Bible College in North Carolina. My Dad gave me the rundown of "what does what" and then left me with a lot of old equipment to go through and see what still worked. I learned a lot from that but what I was actually training for was hearing and blending voices. Now fast forward to my junior year in high school, I started singing in my Dad's church choir because the church we were at already had a sound guy. It was hard because for the past 4 years prior I was behind a board and loved it! I was descent but not great...really high and awkward tenor. I learned everything by repetition.

During my senior year, my Dad talked me into joining a community choir he was starting at a local college here in Orlando. I was pretty bad but it began a path for me that I never thought I would take. I started learning to read music, blend, balance and be in choir. Then I joined a small ensemble that my Dad started (see a trend here?) and started learning to hold my own. For whatever reason, I started singing Bass one day (still don't know why), I think because the Bass Section always sucked and I was ignorant to music and said "I can do that". I then joined yet another group and this was a singing and dancing group that put on 30 minute shows...breathing lessons 101! One day we moved the dancing group to a cappella along with the other small ensemble. One became a ladies barbershop group and the one I stayed in became a vocal orchestra of 12 part a cappella music similar to the Voices of Liberty at EPCOT. I even became the Bass Section Leader for the choir and I am now directing all of the groups from time to time...

So I said all of that to say this: I feel the Art of Ensemble has become a thing of the past. You see I grew up opposite of the natural path of today's singer. I grew up listening and training my ear behind a soundboard so when I started singing in an ensemble I could match and blend faster as I realized what I needed to do to make it sound better. In case I don't say it I want it to be said that to this day I sing little to no solos not because I sound bad but because it isn't fun for me, melody is not as challenging as a tight jazz chord and rhythmic/low Bass line. Moving to a small ensemble made me have to learn a part and have to be dead on, no one to lean on and I couldn't fake it, I wasn't good enough! Singing Tenor and then training myself to sing Bass made me understand chords and harmonies better (I hear 2-4 parts if the guys split) and I have a nice range something like a Eb above middle C to a low D below the C below middle C, that doesn't cover my falsetto which isn't too bad either. In some songs I go from Soprano to low Eb in two to three measures.

When I say "the Art of Ensemble" I mean the discipline, art, complexity and training it takes to make 2-200 voices sound like one. When I watch American Idol, I cringe when they have a group piece because it is horrible and it is because they haven't been together and may not hear harmonies plus they are competing and can't submit to the each other's sound. Today high school chorus is basically Soprano and Tenor training and pampering with the Altos as a dumping ground and all of the off pitch guys faking Bass. Why? Because it is easier to train the Sopranos and Tenors because they have a lot to listen to (radio, MTV, etc.) and practice with and truly many teachers are Sopranos or Tenors and know what to tell them to do. Altos aren't too popular, Nina Simone, Stevie Nicks and Momma Cash are a thing of the past so Altos just make the Sopranos and Tenors shine! Unfortunately, Basses aren't always true to there part they are mostly tone deaf and the ones who have a low range can't be trained because telling a Bass to "support and push" is stupid because Bass notes are natural and they flow naturally if you push then you are driving the pitch! Believe it or not most guys Tenor or Bass have a great falsetto because of the fact that 9 out 10 songs on the radio are high male or female songs and we adapt. Those who make it through to college sing in some great choruses but if you haven't been to a campus lately for college/university choir you may not know that they too are dropping in skill and sound!

The other issue I have found is that you can't find reliable people to make the commitment to rehearsals...you can't learn ensemble by yourself at home. Then there is the fact that we are all too busy and time is not available. Find a great group and ask them how much time they practice together and alone, you may be surprised the best groups learn the notes and rhythms at home and come in to blend, tweak, balance and refine. If you find people with dedication and time, you then must also find people who will adjust their sound to match the group. We warm up with our vowel sounds, matching to out 1st Soprano down to me matching the voice part above each other. If your vowels are the same, you sound like one voice. If not, you may sound flat or off a little bit which isn't good. Vibrato is also restricted as it takes a note a waves it up and down just enough that when you are doing it with a bunch of people you hear the sound wave clash (speed of vibrato as well as the pitch) and sound off or flat. We also work on crazy things like when to breathe or if someone is saying when like "when" or "win". Believe me blending a low Eb and a high one (Soprano range high, three octaves apart) takes time and sacrifice. It takes me time to make a low note sound descent and I know that the Sopranos say the same things about their high notes but then to blend them with others...it takes time.

There is room for all kinds of ensembles and music out there and I listen to a lot of it. It was explained to me this way, "it's like you have a musical house and you adding on another room". You have a bedroom and living room in your house and in your musical house you have your gospel and classical room. To do what my group requires, you have to add on to your house. As I close this post, I want say this: We have "team builders", Myers-Briggs, Group Study & Work Groups and all of these things in school and the professional world but we singers could learn a lot from the orchestras and bands out there who must tune and play as one to make good music. Watch American Idol and see who wins...I am but I am also doing what I can to keep ensemble alive. Don't wait for Boyz II Men, 'Nsync or Backstreet Boys to have a reunion tour or wait for the next version of those groups. Don't leave good ensemble music to the big churches and universities, start or join a choir or a group and you will become a better singer, it worked for me.