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prusikThis week has turned out to be busier than I'd expected. The way things turned out, I'm doing something just about every day this week. (Of course, what I want to do, go climbing, I don't get to do this week...)
I'm spending most of today waiting for the guy from the gas company to show up and replace my gas meter. (There's nothing wrong with the meter, as far as I know. They need to do this every so often as a matter of state law.) Right now, I'm wondering if I can work from home more often.
Wednesday is the D&D game that I'm now in. (Meets weekly.) Thursday is the writing group I'm now in. (Meets monthly.) Nothing on Friday (but climbing partner is busy).
Last night, I spent at choir rehearsal. A bunch of us are going caroling at the airport in mixed quintets. (Yes, the choir is being paid for this.) So, we figured it'd be nice if we at least practiced once in our quintets. Unwary travelers deserve better than to have unrehearsed mixed quintets inflicted on them. (Why it's mixed quintets when it's all 4 part chorale style arrangements? I have no idea. I didn't put this together.)
Anyway, my quintet was the only one who happened to have a pitch pipe at rehearsal, so I practiced giving pitch. (Why, of course, I have my pitch pipe with me at all times. It's on my key chain. I mean, where do you keep yours?) Who knew there would be a dispute over what pitch to give?
Ok, maybe I'd underestimated my quintet when I played tonic on my pipe pitch, then sang everyone's starting pitches. However, that's what our choir director does most of the time. The soprano of one of the other quintets suggested that I give only one pitch. I'm ok with that. That's what I would have done in college, singing with the music majors. (If they couldn't find their starting pitch from the root of the chord, they shouldn't be music majors.)
At that point, we, of course, had to have the discussion about which pitch I should give. I hadn't actually realized there was anything to discuss. Maybe it's an article of faith for me, but if you give just one pitch, you give tonic. (i.e., the key the piece is in.) Given that for every carol we're doing, everyone starts on some note in the tonic chord, it's actually the most convenient pitch reference for everyone. (Also, this is what our choir director does on those occasions when he trusts us to find our own pitch. This is also what I've been doing for years.) The tenor thought I should give the starting note of the melody. I guess the rationale is that, at least, the soprano was on pitch. (He didn't actually say that.)
When I insisted that, if I give only one pitch, it should be tonic, his response was, "What is tonic?" Ok, it's not exactly common jargon, and my mere two years of Harmony and Counterpoint in college means I, sadly, know more music theory than most. However, I shouldn't know more music theory than someone in an auditioned choir. (e.g., you do have to show that you can sightread before you get to join.) Apparently, I'm wrong about this.
This is a rehearsal, not a group discussion, so I give tonic. Since we're in the key of D, I state at the same time, "This is a D." I end up doing this several times before everyone realizes that I've given them a D. Unfortunately, I have the patience, and sometimes, the attention span, of your average puppy. So, after a couple rounds of this, I go back to doing what I wanted to do in the first place. I give myself tonic, and I sing everyone's pitches. I do this reflexively. (Everything we do starts with a tonic chord. I've given myself tonic. There are only two other possible pitches. If these carols are hard, it's because they sound stupid unless you nail them. They're not hard because opening pitches are tricky to find.)
Of course, because I'm not thinking about it, I sing the free, and easy high F# that I never manage to sing when it would actually be useful. *sigh* (If honor demands that the only pitch I take from the pitch pipe is tonic, it apparently also demands that I give everyone their exact pitch, not just the correct pitch class. Why doesn't honor warn me of these things ahead of time? Since my falsetto sucks, I may not go there for some of the soprano pitches. I don't think honor absolutely demands that I thoroughly humiliate myself for no reason.)
The good news is that this past weekend's choir Christmas concert and Monday's rehearsal has turned into a writing prompt. It's still stewing in my head. I hope to get a story out of it...
I'm spending most of today waiting for the guy from the gas company to show up and replace my gas meter. (There's nothing wrong with the meter, as far as I know. They need to do this every so often as a matter of state law.) Right now, I'm wondering if I can work from home more often.
Wednesday is the D&D game that I'm now in. (Meets weekly.) Thursday is the writing group I'm now in. (Meets monthly.) Nothing on Friday (but climbing partner is busy).
Last night, I spent at choir rehearsal. A bunch of us are going caroling at the airport in mixed quintets. (Yes, the choir is being paid for this.) So, we figured it'd be nice if we at least practiced once in our quintets. Unwary travelers deserve better than to have unrehearsed mixed quintets inflicted on them. (Why it's mixed quintets when it's all 4 part chorale style arrangements? I have no idea. I didn't put this together.)
Anyway, my quintet was the only one who happened to have a pitch pipe at rehearsal, so I practiced giving pitch. (Why, of course, I have my pitch pipe with me at all times. It's on my key chain. I mean, where do you keep yours?) Who knew there would be a dispute over what pitch to give?
Ok, maybe I'd underestimated my quintet when I played tonic on my pipe pitch, then sang everyone's starting pitches. However, that's what our choir director does most of the time. The soprano of one of the other quintets suggested that I give only one pitch. I'm ok with that. That's what I would have done in college, singing with the music majors. (If they couldn't find their starting pitch from the root of the chord, they shouldn't be music majors.)
At that point, we, of course, had to have the discussion about which pitch I should give. I hadn't actually realized there was anything to discuss. Maybe it's an article of faith for me, but if you give just one pitch, you give tonic. (i.e., the key the piece is in.) Given that for every carol we're doing, everyone starts on some note in the tonic chord, it's actually the most convenient pitch reference for everyone. (Also, this is what our choir director does on those occasions when he trusts us to find our own pitch. This is also what I've been doing for years.) The tenor thought I should give the starting note of the melody. I guess the rationale is that, at least, the soprano was on pitch. (He didn't actually say that.)
When I insisted that, if I give only one pitch, it should be tonic, his response was, "What is tonic?" Ok, it's not exactly common jargon, and my mere two years of Harmony and Counterpoint in college means I, sadly, know more music theory than most. However, I shouldn't know more music theory than someone in an auditioned choir. (e.g., you do have to show that you can sightread before you get to join.) Apparently, I'm wrong about this.
This is a rehearsal, not a group discussion, so I give tonic. Since we're in the key of D, I state at the same time, "This is a D." I end up doing this several times before everyone realizes that I've given them a D. Unfortunately, I have the patience, and sometimes, the attention span, of your average puppy. So, after a couple rounds of this, I go back to doing what I wanted to do in the first place. I give myself tonic, and I sing everyone's pitches. I do this reflexively. (Everything we do starts with a tonic chord. I've given myself tonic. There are only two other possible pitches. If these carols are hard, it's because they sound stupid unless you nail them. They're not hard because opening pitches are tricky to find.)
Of course, because I'm not thinking about it, I sing the free, and easy high F# that I never manage to sing when it would actually be useful. *sigh* (If honor demands that the only pitch I take from the pitch pipe is tonic, it apparently also demands that I give everyone their exact pitch, not just the correct pitch class. Why doesn't honor warn me of these things ahead of time? Since my falsetto sucks, I may not go there for some of the soprano pitches. I don't think honor absolutely demands that I thoroughly humiliate myself for no reason.)
The good news is that this past weekend's choir Christmas concert and Monday's rehearsal has turned into a writing prompt. It's still stewing in my head. I hope to get a story out of it...
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-18 05:24 pm (UTC)1) Give whatever pitch or pitches the way the director does in rehearsal, except using a pitch pipe or tuning fork instead of a piano. At the worst, everyone should be able to work with this, if they do in rehearsal. It may sound less professional than just one pitch, but messing up the song sounds worse.
If I didn’t know what the director did, but the music was still harmonically well-behaved, as you said:
2) Give the tonic with a pitch pipe or tuning fork. Hum individual starting notes, within a comfortable range for me, while making eye contact with the singer(s) in their respective sections. Only include starting notes for sections that start the song together, give or take a measure. If they enter later, they should be able to take a pitch from the other sections who are already singing.
3) If the singers are capable, give only the tonic with a pitch pipe or tuning fork. Let them find their own notes from a single pitch, preferably without audible humming. This looks better than the above, as long as no one bungles it.
4) If the singers are even more capable, let them each find their own pitch with their own tuning forks. No humming. Impressive for music geeks, but lost on most of your audience.
5) If the singers are supremely capable, let them each find their own pitch with their own tuning forks for the first song. After the first song, each singer should mentally find the pitch for the second song from the first. This is something like chain-smoking, except it’s good for your lungs. Take another pitch only when there is a significant time lapse between the end of one song and the beginning of the next. This is as close to foolhardy as I get, but yes, I’ve done this on the concert stage. (I believe we took one pitch from one singer’s humming, not personal tuning forks.)
I would not do the following:
1) Give only the starting pitch for the soprano or other melody part. For choral music, that strikes me as just plain weird.
2) Let someone with absolute (aka "perfect") pitch give everyone their pitches. This goes double if everyone claims to have absolute pitch and thinks they’ll all just start singing. Someone gets a little nervous when their getting their pitch, and suddenly everyone’s sharp and the soprano sounds like someone stepped on Mariah Carey’s foot. Why is this more foolhardy for me than number 5 above? Maybe because I have (or had) good relative pitch but have never had absolute pitch.