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  • mjcurtis
    Posts: 62
    click here to try ChoralTracks free for 7 days!

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  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    I really like the site and want to use it. Thanks so much for your hard work.

    What keeps me holding off for now is that I don't want the women in the choir I direct imitating the male falsetto tone. Yours is really lovely, and the recordings I heard were fine.
    And yet, amateur women learning from the tracks can do damage to their voices if they sing along and imitate without staying true to their own
    voice. This is true with any recording, but more so with the timbral
    differences between women and male falsetto use.

    Considering the vast majority of choirs in the US will have women singing S and A, are there any plans to use female voices on future tracks?

    (This is not intended as 'male/female hour' criticism, please understand. I am purely interested in pedagogical concerns.)
  • mjcurtis
    Posts: 62
    Thanks Mary Ann!

    The concern you bring up is definitely a concern and one I thought about when starting the website. I definitely agree that if used incorrectly, it could be harmful to a woman's voice. However, I don't think it could lead to vocal damage. Yes, it is more so the case with my recordings than other recordings.BUT,

    ...consider this. What if a professional countertenor moved in to your city and wanted to sing at your church. It's not like the women around him would sing like him. Maybe they would. As with everything in life, singers have to be smart when using a tool such as this. I think it is a valid worry that they might not use it well, but kind of an underestimation of their own learning process as they get to know their voices. I challenge you to consider at least giving it a try with your choir during the 7 day free trial just to see what they think and clarify to the sopranos not to sing like me!

    If I could speak to the countertenor voice - I don't see a woman imitating a countertenor voice to be completely bad. It is if done constantly over time without any knowledge of how a woman's voice is different. I think it could be valuable for the simple fact that countertenors use the SAME vocal technique as any other voice part. It is "falsetto" but a falsetto that is very connected to the breath and the body. My point is that the tone is the only pedagogical issue that I see.

    So it might not be for you, but it would be interesting to see what your sopranos thought if they at least tried it.

    I'm curious what other think on this issue as well.

    Matt Curtis
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    My wife says that good vocal technique is good vocal technique, no matter whether the singer is female or male.

    I agree with her.

    But further, since it is a male voice singing in their range, they are not about to sing like Matt...and they should find it easier than listening to a woman, since they will not be listening to how she sings the notes but rather how the music is sung.

    Hearing a piece played on a different instrument opens up possibilities that otherwise might never he realized.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    I'll take the 7 day trial and see. Thanks for your input, and I agree that falsetto straight tone would have the potential to negatively affect sops more than altos.
    And I agree that it can stretch the amateur singer to distance themselves from the technique and tone, etc., heard on recordings. (I have to point this out with Solesmes recordings all the time.)

    The aural issue for the conductor is the tone. But for the health of the singer, the bigger issue is the strain involved in *producing* the tone. This is what concerns me.

    But I think your work is really good and you are generous to give a free trial, so why not do a short experiment with a choir?

    Good vocal technique has levels, Noel. The vast majority of volunteer singers, even if their directors know about and pay attention to technique, do not have near the amount of training that soloists (not talking about Aunt Rose at midnight Mass) and realistically will not. Just reality.
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,184
    Since I coach women and children in vocal technique, I do not share the concern that Mary Ann has. My current project soprano, who is preparing her Met regional audition, has never had a problem with male high voice coaching. While I could see that an untrained high voice male could cause problems, I return to the notion that good singing begets good singing. Whether children, sopranos or God forbid, MEN, good examples support singers to make a good sound. Yes, a conductor can lead his or her singers down a good path or a bad path regarding the tone, but thats another days topic.

    Kudos Matt. Great project and fills a need.
  • mjcurtis
    Posts: 62
    Thank you Kevin!

    I agree with you all that it is healthy, but must be used wisely by women especially. My introduction to learning tracks such as these started 3 years ago in the barbershop quartet world. I remember having my learning CDs not really for learning purposes but because they sound awesome and perfect, and I would blast them in the car and sing along constantly. I think choir directors who decide to use my learning tracks just need a simple discussion with their singers about the issue when introducing the tracks to them. I will probably at some point blog about it on my site too, because it is great choral discussion.

    Matt
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Having spent some time listening to these, I'm really impressed with the fact that they are very musical performances with dynamics based on sound musical principles.

    It's like listening to a small ensemble that has perfectly matched voices under the direction of a director who undertands and uses the human voice as a musical instrument, unlike some singers who have not been exposed to music sung this well. Many singers can produce a lovely tone, but in choral work they struggle. These recordings should have a great influence over the sound of Catholic choirs!

    To get a choir excited about singing, I have made CDs of the works that I wanted them to learn and many members listened to them over and over again. The recordings that I chose varied in quality.

    These do not.
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