River in Judea

The piece is being performed is "River in Judea"by Linda Marcus and Jack Feldman. This group is the SCMEA (Suffolk County Music Educator's Association) Division II All-County Choir. The students in this choir are in grades 7 and 8 and I believe this is an SAB arrangement.

In general the choir has only a few dynamics that consist of loud and louder. There is very little dynamic contrast that makes the piece not interesting to listen to. The choir also doesn't have very solid breath support. A lot of the notes sound either very airy or forced. The overall blend is ok at times. Sometimes I do hear all of the parts but a lot of times I can barely hear the baritones or the altos and it is very soprano top heavy. The boys voices are undergoing a lot difficulties that occur with the adolescent voice that we have discussed in class and in readings. The boys lower notes aren't very clear in their singing. It's funny how I say I "think" this is SAB arrangement cause sometimes I feel like I hear bass and tenor rather than just baritone but I honestly can't tell. Many of the vowels are also very nasal and are not appealing to the ear, which causes a lot of the intonation to suffer as well.

The overall expression is very mixed. Some students are very into the piece and some are definitely just standing there and singing. The sound is very full, but a lot of the phrasing does not seem like it is going anywhere. Even though this is an honor's choir they do have a lot of issues. Granted they probably sound a lot better than most choirs their age, but overall I am not blown away by this performance.

Nothin' Gonna Stumble My Feet

The piece being performed in this video is "Nothin Gonna Stumble My Feet" by John Parker and Greg Gilpin. The group appears to be an auditioned group of some kind and the students seem to be in High School. This an SATB arrangement and there are 16 singers so my guess is that the director has 4 voices on a part.

The reason I chose this recording is because it is fairly decent recording for a high school group. The recording relates to many of our class discussions regarding high school choir. I additionally chose this recording because the piece is a very specific style of music and we have had many discussions revolving around appropriate ways of singing specific styles and genres of music in class as well.

I don't have a lot complaints about this recording. A couple things I don't like is the posture of some of the students While they are standing with appropriate body alignment with their arms at their sides, a lot of them their necks tilted very far forward. This closes their space where their air and breath is supposed to travel, and by having their chin down and the tone sometimes for it. Additionally sometimes the vowels are a little bit too bright. Sometimes they generate the nice "smokey" and darker vowels that are used frequently in spirituals, but at times the vowels are too spread and not as focused. Particularly in the words "My feet." The "eeee" is very nasal and the word "My" is sung right on the diphthong where the should just go to an "Ah" vowel and sing "Ma Feet."

What I do like about this recording is the choirs' engagement and love for the piece. They are very clearly inspired by the style of the music and are really putting on a performance. The blend for the most part is very good, especially for such a small group. I also think the choir has very nice dynamic contrast throughout the piece that makes the extreme fortes in this spiritual more exciting. They also do a nice job of pulling back when the descant singer comes in. Also the singers maintain tonality throughout and have a nice modulation in the middle of the piece. Overall this a very nice performance in my opinion and the students seem to really be enjoying themselves in their music making process which is a vital aspect to successful choral music.

"This Marriage"

The piece being performed in this video is "This Marriage" by Eric Whitacre. This is a high school Select Choir Grades 9-12. This an SATB chorus and there are six voices on a part.
The reason why I chose this recording is because it directly relates to a lot of the issues we have discussed in class regarding high school choirs.
Some of the things that I like about this sound is that singers have a very confident and full sound. The blending is actually quite nice. There are a couple of individual voices here and there but in general it isn't bad. The choir also is very attentive at watching the conductor and following the direction. Their pitch doesn't suffer a whole lot and the choir generally maintains tonality throughout the piece.
What I don't like is the posture from some of the singers. Particularly the girls in the first row with their hands clasped in front of them. There is also a lot of issues with vowels, particularly the singing on diphongs. If you watch the articulators, the choir does not match their vowels in a lot of spaces if you pay careful attention. This relates directly to the issues of vowels not matching. I also feel as though the choir is attacking every entrance very heavily and that all of the phrases don't really have any line of direction. There is also issues that come from the director's mistakes and not mistakes of the choir. There is no contrast in dynamics and a lot of very awkward pauses that don't give the piece the legato and smooth connected feel it is meant to have.