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.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events ! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

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.

New Ear Challenge! Movable Do Choral Cacophony Podcast Season 2, episode #1

On your way to visit the Peace Tower? Check this out first!

Can you hear your part?

Pierre warms up the choir with a simple arpeggios then starts some Movable Do work.

Your task is to figure out what your part is. Along the way there are some hints!
Use this to warm up your voice and test your listening skills.

Then, guest conductor Mark Sirett takes over with a direction to bring less sound neutrality with changes in lip position.

He also discusses the tendency to slide from Re to Do and the significance of the movable Do hand signs.

Book Mark Sirett to workshop your choir!

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events ! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

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.

Choral Cacophony Podcast #12 - The Julie Andrews Connection

For some reason, Pete always calls this warmup the "Julie Andrews" one. 

Despite searching, I haven't found an actual connection between her and the exercise. 

That doesn't mean there isn't one -- in my mind--- Imagining Ms. Andrews doing this warmup seems to encourage me, at least, to help my pronunciation be a bit more British- ey and crisp. Whatever, it has a good result and is a nice variation on a scale warmup.

Chapter 1 - Warmup in unison on vowels, then  Pierre teaches the simple tune for the warmup.

Chapter 2 -  Incorporating the words with the tune.

Chapter 3 - A little faster and moving up the scale - still in unison.

Chapter 4 - and finally different notes for basses/ altos and tenors/sopranos to make it a round - ear-training!!!

The words:

I just want to sing today

And sing correctly all the way

Because to sing correctly is the way to sing

Here, as a bonus, is a great compilation video illustrating Ms. Andrews awesome voice and her amazing range.

Please DONATE to support our 40th year workshops! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

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

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

Choral Cacophony Podcast #8 - Minor... is there anything Finer?

Nothing could be finer, than to sing Harmonic Minor in the mo-o-orning...
Well, maybe not the MORNING (cough)

Harmonic Minor Scales are tricky to say the least. They sound spooky too -- just in time for Hallowe'en.

Oooooooooo
Ahhhhhhh

I could go on, but now I'm just being silly. This short and sweet warmup will test your ear -- don't be scared to do it over and over until you've got it right!

Guaranteed to improve your feel for Minor scales and give you confidence in recognizing intervals :)

Chapter 1 - Warm up with scales - on Ah and O in thirds
Chapter 2 - Starting lower with a Minor Scale - Pierre explains Minor and avoiding the term "natural"
Chapter 3 - Harmonic Minor scale on La and the Arpeggio
Chapter 4 - Minor Scale in thirds - Pierre demonstrates, then the choir
Chapter 5 - A new note, another Minor scale, and then in thirds again

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa U. 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 help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to for our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Choral Cacophony Podcast #7 O Claire De la Lune Cacophony!

When Pierre presented us with a warmup that he invented (I think) using an old favourite French children's song, O Claire De la Lune, we thought he had lost it.

Maybe he was yearning for his childhood. simpler times.

But I digress...

He made us sing it in a round. All four parts, soprano, alto, tenor and bass on the same note. Cacophony!

it's an incredible exercise for our ears. The challenge of staying in tune with your section ( I'm an alto) and then not drifting out of key is right up our stairwell, I mean alley, a cappella-wise.

Here are the words so you can sing along with the podcast.

Au clair de la lune

Mon ami Pierrot

Prête-moi ta plume

Pour écrire un mot

Ma chandelle est morte,

Je n'ai plus de feu.

Ouvre-moi ta porte

Pour l'amour de Dieu.

Find your part, find your note and train that ear!

Chapter 1 - Warmup scale
Chapter 2 - Sections singing sustained notes together on different vowels - tuning through dissonance.
Chapter 3 - Warmup O claire de la Lune - getting the notes for the sections
Chapter 4 - O claire de la Lune in 4 parts - first all together, then as a Round.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa U. 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 help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Please DONATE to for our 40th year events! 

All Donations receive a charitable receipt.