I hope that you have had a good week; most of us are probably vaccinated by now. Thanks to those who have replied concerning Christmas. Newstead Abbey Singers have us in their diary for 12th December.

There is a choir zoom meeting this Friday, 12th March; you will be sent the invitation separately. A reminder that that if you have Inheritance Tracks to send to Rhoda to do it soon.

In this this week’s Technical Work we are looking at Expanding the Range. This Technical Work series is devised for both you and Southwell Choral Society: this one is based on their repertoire. Most of you will have sung Messiah so, hopefully, you will be able to access it. There are are two videos from me for you to work through and a video of a performance, that is not too fast, for you to sing along with. For those of you unfamiliar with Messiah there are also audio tracks for you to work on the notes and the music if you haven’t got your own copy of Messiah.

We should be fairly comfortable with our voices now. So far we have not gone out of a comfortable range for for most voices. Choral compositions and arrangements will have some notes out of our comfort zone. If your voice is healthy it will have a natural range of about an octave and a half – 12 or 13 white notes on a piano. The challenge is that in a choral setting the natural ranges of individuals will be different. Natural range is determined by individual physical attributes that can’t be changed. Training can only extend natural range by a few notes either way but it can make the extremities more accessible.

The advantage of a choir is that the combined natural range of a section will be wider than any individual’s. Sopranos and tenors should be able to sing from D – AI comfortably, some pieces have Bb or B and sometimes a C for sopranos, but that is usually optional. Interestingly altos and basses need to have wider ranges. Altos should be able to go from G below middle C up to top line E with an occasional F. Basses need a full two octaves from E to E plus occasional Ds at one end and Fs at the other.

You will need this sheet of Range Exercises.

Here is the Technical Work video ; the rehearsal of And the Glory of the Lord. and the performance by Brussels Choral.

Here is the score of And the Glory of the Lord and the audio tracks:

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday and listening to the Inheritance Tracks.