Choral Cacophony Podcast Season 2 #2 - By Heart

This weeks Choral Cacophony Podcast is a wee lecture from our director Pierre on "getting away from the book".

Besides the fact that The Stairwell Carollers are known for connecting with the audience in a way that many choirs don't - we sing to the audience, rather than at them, knowing your music by heart is a great strategy to improve performance and musicality in general.

Here is the first page of the sheet music for El Grillo - a fun  15th century Italian madrigal which celebrates the cricket. This song was Pierre's jumping off point for the discussion.

Chapter 1 - The Stairwell Carollers practice El Grillo - an Italian Renaissance Madrigal all about a frog.
Chapter 2 - Pierre encourages the choir to work on memorizing the music - Why? He explains...
Chapter 3 - Another try -- much better just with the encouragement to look up from the book!  Pierre suggests you compare the two performances.

Speaking personally, I memorize my parts as best I can. My performance is always better when I am most familiar with the music.

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About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.