Outside of the musical technique, I'd work to shift the attitude of everyone from "we're too old to learn anything new" to "this is the coolest experience we've had for a long time!" Whenever you're tempted to use "too old" as some kind of excuse, try to blow it away. It's just not relevant.

And that will show up in the way people sing. When they have energy in their minds, they'll have energy in their voices.

And no matter what the age, try things that are suggested by the choir themselves. They want to try a particular song? Go for it. It's your responsibility to ensure that it's good enough quality to actually sing at Mass, and you can tell them that. But that kind of involvement will help people to know that they are valued and important. That generates the energy you need.

Carl

Adam, I've done significant research on the aging voice (and I think all church choir directors should study this thoroughly); from a physiological standpoint there's almost nothing you or they can do about the existing quality of their voice. Vital capacity decreases. Muscles atrophy - all of them! The larynx, which is cartilage, is in the advanced stage of ossification. Ranges change dramatically - some go up, some go down.

Here's what you can do:

- During warm-ups, encourage stretches and pysical movement. It accomplishes so much. Ask singers to breathe "into your lower back" - which is of course, impossible, but it will encourage deep breathing and get all of those respiratory muscles (both abdominal and intercostal) working again.

- Do articulation exercises - the facial muscles also atrophy, causing sluggish diction, which will wreak havoc on your tempo and phrasing desires.

- Airflow, airflow, airflow.

- Make peace with the fact that their vibratissimo (my word) isn't going to go away. Ever. It's not intentional and half of them wish they didn't have it. It's an artifact of weakened muscles that control the movement of the arytenoids, which operate the vocal folds.

- If someone's in a section they're no longer fit for, and they're just there because they've always been, move them. If they protest, vocalize them and you'll have the facts on your side.

- Don't be afraid to change the key of a piece if physical barriers are causing intonation problems.

- If they complain, you're doing something right. :)

If I think of anything else I'll add it later, but it's late. Changing the musical culture of a church sounds like a good topic for a doctoral diss. :)

Cheers,
Dan

I directed a choir very much like this; You are probably going to have to put away the polyphony, or, if you want to use some, concentrate on some of the two and three part pieces that are easier and possibly accompany them.

I did a lot of unision with my group as well as things with simple two part harmony. No, we weren't practicing the "ideal", and I was well aware of it - but we weren't assulting the ears of the congregation and were performing music that was beautiful and that everyone appreciated. We were also able to do the rare piece that they had been singing for years and years and knew VERY well and could still sing in parts, such as Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus.

No one in my choir is in their 80's yet, but there are lots who are sure not 'Spring chickens' NO ONE sings with a wobble or vibrato and my best bass is well over 65. IN fact, two of them are.
I have an aunt who is closing in on 90 and still sings beautifully. Has a lot to do with genes and early training.
I still get compliments when I cantor and I am over 60 also. It is easy to generalize, but every situation is different.

Donna

I'm with CharlesW - first of all, love your singers.

Stretching, vocalizing, visualizing, passing a note around in a circle - do all of these things, but don't do any of them too much. Teach them to listen to you and to each other. Work with the men and then with the women separately. English chant is a good place to start because you at least won't have language problems. Then find pieces that work in two parts - there are some that put the sopranos and tenors an octave apart, likewise the altos and basses.

Be prepared for the long haul on this. Be delighted when things improve and philosophical when they don't.

Yurodivi,

Yes, this is the "problem" with BFW...people try to "sing" it and interpret the words based upon their wailing of Respond and Acclaim.

But if they are taught to do it cleanly it can be very effective.

This is a good observation - narrowing the vowel choices makes it easier to gain unity in vowel shape, and when your choir achieves that, magic happens!

the pitch she sang warbled around the pitch we were trying to achieve and didn't really hit it.

I've heard singers whose vibrato fought against the tempo of the piece. Their subdivision of the beat wasn't the same as everyone else's.

I'd suggest talking to the singer in front of the other singers (wait, don't get crazy yet!) and tell the group that blend is something that only you are able to create since they cannot hear themselves as a group while they are singing. Each voice has a different ability to blend and stand out depending upon the timbre of the voice and the level at which they sing.

"For example, Bill here has a voice that is naturally louder than others, great for singing by himself, but in the schola, you will see me gesturing to him, giving him hand signals like this (show them) to back off a bit at times, while I may gesture to others in the group to bring up their sound a bit or even more. (demonstrate) It will take awhile to build this ensemble of sound, but as we work on it, our voices will join together in a sound that will become the sound of our group.

As you work with him and the group, make him sing softer than he should, and then bring him up to a level that works. This way he will not feel that he is being shushed, but made an important part of the group.

This should solve all the tempo problems, since he will be able to hear the singers around him better.

This way you will not hurt his feelings, but rather show your support and interest in having him in the group.

I'm currently dealing with multiple problems, this just one among them.

1) The choir has never been properly trained in things like breathing, diction, vowel formation or even basic rhythm and counting. In fact, they've never in their history had any kind of regular rehearsal schedule or obligation, and aggressively resisted attempts last year to set up a day and time for rehearsal that didn't "fit" with their schedule.

2) The choir is made up of primarily middle-aged and elderly voices; some can read music but can't match pitch, some can't match pitch and learn by rote, one in particular has what I call a "car-alarm" vibrato; most of them have learned their part incorrectly on hymns and songs that are a core part of their cultural music (Polish "village-style" singing wherein the altos sing what they believe is the alto part, whether it matches what's on the page or not.)

3) I believe there is a "literacy" problem for many in situations similar to mine. When you say "unison" or "melody only" they believe this to mean "their" melody, that is, "their part". To get them to understand that melody only means melody only produced more heel-digging and goad-kicking than I've every witnessed anywhere.

4) As I indicated earlier, I serve a national parish for Polonia (by canonical definition), and have a constant struggle with "tradition" and "custom" and the use of these labels as vehicles for excusing care and attention to preparing the music so that it is well-done. They seem to think things like, "louder is better" or "this is the 'traditional' way to sing these hymns."

Combined these with the fact that the older or more ossified members constantly insist "that's not the way we learned it" when presented with the actual notes on the page, implying that that's the end of the story and don't waste your time teaching anything different. The younger folk, and those who may be interested in singing in the choir I believe are often frustrated by these elements, and some may know of these problems and decide not to join the choir at all.

I've been at this parish for one year, and have seen and heard all I need in order to put into place a systematic program to turn these problems around. It won't be easy, and it will take patience and a certain degree of persistence when saying "no" to certain things. Fortunately I have the full backing of the Pastor.

For David: at my parish, the choirmaster has handled the scheduling problem by placing the rehearsal in the hour immediately before the Sunday Mass.

Yurodivi and I both work in parts of the country where every vowel is a dipthong, especially if the note is longer than an 8th note. Thus, Latin can be a better vocal solution.

Alas, I have found that the only way the "singer with a problem" knows that you are talking about him or her is to speak to that individual directly and the Frogman's script is excellent. A general "the altos need to pull back a bit" means that the altos you want to come forward will all get quiet while Foghorna Leghorn continues to bleat.

The non-rehearsing choir is an opportunity to take years off your time in Purgatory (and possibly off your life, if you let them drive you nuts). I don't think it's possible to correct mislearned parts or "traditional, but non-notated" versions. The only hope is something they don't know beforehand, but without rehearsals when can they learn anything new?

Whenever I have to deal with this situation, I just remind myself that I will most likely be in their place someday sooner rather than later: proud, experienced, wanting to do something that I've loved my whole life, and unable to do it as well as I used to. I apply the Golden Rule in the hope that some whippersnapper will let me sing, even though I'm not particularly good at it anymore.