Director's
Notes, Page 2
by Catherine Robinson
In graduate school at California State University, Los Angeles, my voice and conducting teacher, Donald Brinegar, refers to a singer with a more resonant quality on the forward vowels [i], [e] and [a] as a Voice I type. A Voice II type would have a more resonant tone on the back vowels [a], [o] and [u]. The vowel [a] functions as both; when it is put with [i] and [e], it functions as a forward vowel and when placed with [o] and [u], it functions as a back vowel. A singer who achieves resonance on all five vowels is called a Matrix Voice. A choir cannot afford to have all Matrix Voices; it needs the shimmer and brighter characteristics the Voice I singers bring, as well as the warmth and darker color the Voice II singers produce.
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Don would situate the Matrix Voices in the middle of the section (or ensemble) and the Voice I and Voice II singers on either side. I am "left-eared" (which means I hear better, more clearly and easily, as well as stronger) in my left ear. However, I am "right-handed." It's an interesting concept to get used to, but it works when seating a choral group. A singer will tell me what works best for him or her and it's usually what I like better as well. |
| They know exactly where they feel most comfortable vocally, whether they are to the right or left of another singer. The seating process is always interesting, and often entertaining. I use my singers as an "extra set of ears" when I am placing singers in sections or quartets.
Placing (or seating) the singers is the other part of the process. I first discovered the seating process at a choral conducting workshop in Oregon with Rodney Eichenberger. What amazed me about it was how much difference it made to the section when singers were placed based on their sound, not their strength. Rod believes that if you separate your strong singers, you dissipate their strength. I know many times I have wanted to put a strong singer next to a weaker one to help the weaker singer. Rod places the strongest singers in the center of the group in the back, perhaps to get them out of the way. But, seriously, that sound (which is more than likely a Matrix Voice sound) moves through the choir or ensemble rather than "over" it.
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