UselessNews

The Island of Lost Choristers: It's a Chor'Us' not a Chor'Me!  I am indeed in this picture!  I have been thinking about this topic for a long while. Choir has played a major role in my life. My love for music started organically, and by that I mean I was captivated by the music of Disney at a very young age. I would sing along to the opening of The Circle of Life , and of course I couldn’t resist the vocalises of Ariel and Aurora. Then my parents discovered a community choir (led by Ann Cooper-Gay) that was an accessible and affordable — at the time — after-school activity for their four children. My older siblings were in the “Big Kids” choir and my other sister was in the children’s choir. At this point I was too young to join. You had to be eight. So my mom or dad would come to rehearsal with all four kids, and while my siblings were rehearsing, I would sit, squirm, and watch. Eventually I learned all the songs — well, all the melodies at least — and really enjoyed m...

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! How to Mark in Rehearsal (and When Not To)           Anyone who has worked with me knows I am guilty . I have a really hard time marking in rehearsal, and I almost always end up singing full voice all the way through the process. Some of that is enthusiasm, some of it is adrenaline, and a lot of it is simply loving the music. Still, it’s a habit I’m actively trying to get better at. For readers who may not know what marking is, it’s one of the most essential tools a singer has for surviving long rehearsal periods. It’s how we save our voices through many, many hours of singing. Why would a singer need to do that? Isn’t it our job to be able to sing for hours on end? Yes—but it’s also our job to maintain a healthy voice, and a voice that doesn’t sound tired. Right now, I’m firmly in gigland . I’m rehearsing Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera York (opening February 27), and I’m also heading to Owen Sound this week to rehearse and pe...