Blending female
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,547
    I have a simple choir. We sing simple music. I have two female sopranos who don't blend well. One cannot be helped and I easily "manage her" by telling her to sing quieter when necessary while I'm happy that she sing out for hymns. The other is new and I suggested she sing alto, but she begged to sing soprano. She is the most lovely woman who really works hard to learn music. She is taking singing lessons too. But she just doesn't blend. Do you have any thoughts as to what to do with her voice that would be a general idea that works for anyone? She has an Indian accent, which also may be part of the issue. I have many immigrants in my choir, but I've not come across this yet. I do tell everyone to listen more, but maybe I need a one on one conversation. I'm going to speak with her about switching to alto again. I know that I'm the director and what I say should be the rule, but I'm not that assertive.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 257
    A music prof told me to find the vowel she sings better than others (he said there's always one), praise how well she sounds on that vowel, and help her to feel the difference between how she sings that one versus the others.

    Much faster to put her in alto, though.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • iMalton
    Posts: 10
    I don't know how big your choir is, but I had a choir director (albeit for a university choir) who would place each section in "pods" of 3-5 people within the same vocal section, of a mixture of "blending" voices and "colour" voices. He could get better blending near instantly by rearranging the voices and playing around with the placement of those voices in the pod. It did involve the work of taking a whole section at once, and listening to each voice individually (i.e. sing O Canada opening bars) to identify the voice type, and then he would pick a colour voice and have that person sing alongside one other in the section, moving down the line, and then add a third voice. Everyone got to listen along and provide positive feedback about the combinations of voices that worked better or worse beside each other. It was all about finding the best arrangement for the section and the choir at large.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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