Abandoning the high notes
  • tsoapm
    Posts: 79
    I’m contemplating a change of choir for a variety of reasons. When I started singing in my university’s choral society, I joined the basses, since that felt right. The conductor subsequently moved me to the tenors.

    I currently sing as a tenor and I’m quite happy with that (I’m the only one who doesn’t complain about the high notes). The choir I’m contemplating joining is pretty new and small; there’s currently only one male part, and I’m told that’s not likely to change quickly (I think there would be 3/4 men in total with me). I infer that the male part would be baritone.

    All else being equal (it is not), would it be foolish to start singing lower down on a regular basis?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,515
    Hi, do you have an especially large range? If both bass and tenor feel right, you might have.

    Is your voice brighter or richer? (If that makes sense.)

    Also, if there are other issues, have you brought them to the conductor's attention?
    Thanked by 1tsoapm
  • tsoapm
    Posts: 79
    I don’t think I do; university was quite some time ago. I feel more comfortable towards the upper end now.

    I’m not sure I understand the question, I’m afraid. I’ve mentally weighed up what they might mean to me, inconclusively...

    I have bought various issues to the conductor’s (and choir’s) attention in the past, but it’s not that easy to get her attention. Some of it has to do with favouring a different general direction, and I can’t see the whole choir shifting on my account.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    If you are happy and vocally comfortable singing tenor why would you change to a choir in which you are expected to sing bass?

    If changing choirs is needful for you perhaps you need to keep looking for one that is better for you.
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    It's really not wise to sing out of one's tessitura. If your tessitura better fits the tenor part, and your voice fits tenor parts better than bass, it's probably wiser to stick with singing tenor parts. I'm a former baritone myself (I was told I was a baritone, but after studying my teacher confirms I'm a tenor), and I used to really force the voice singing bass parts. Singing tenor parts is just easier for me now.
    Thanked by 3M. Jackson Osborn tsoapm Casavant Organist
  • tsoapm
    Posts: 79
    why would you change to a choir in which you are expected to sing bass?
    Baritone, I believe, rather than bass. In brief, my issues with the choir are:

    • Lack of communication, including cancellation of rehearsals. I’ve turned up on foot to a fair number of inexistent rehearsals in recent years.
    • Lack of rehearsals in general. A temporary logistical problem, one hopes, but one which is already pretty long-term. Rehearsals are sometimes cancelled due to lack of choristers, which might perhaps be excusable a few times, but seems like a pretty serious issue to me if unchecked, which it absolutely is in this case.
    • A tendency towards performance rather than liturgy. This isn’t usually so drastic, but this year has been particularly unbalanced, with very few rehearsals for mass and a huge rush of rehearsals for a Christmas concert. I’m sure this is an exception. There is, however, a somewhat offhand or insensitive approach to the liturgy to my mind: I may be wrong, but the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus at communion seems liturgically unhinged to me: we did that. Again, that’s a dramatic exception, but perhaps an illustrative one.

    We don’t have a car. It’s hard to imagine finding better choirs in my range of travel, unfortunately.

    Thank you for your thoughts.
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