One of the essential skills of a choir member is teamwork. How important is teamwork in group singing?
Members of a choir play different roles in the performance. As they hold different positions, their strengths and weaknesses are not the same.
Everyone needs to work well together to achieve a balance. The strengths of one member can make up for the shortcomings of others. In this way, their performance can be perfect.
In this article, we will give you more details about coordination in group singing. Let’s check out together!
How Important Is Teamwork In Group Singing?
Singing in a group is similar to attending a team sport. All the choir members have to learn how to work together, from preparation to performing.
Each member of a choir holds a position such as sopranos, altos, tenors, or basses. They form sub-groups to be in charge of different parts of the song.
If anyone sings out of tune, it will be difficult for the others to keep up. So, they have to listen to each other to keep in tune.
Besides, the members of each sub-group need to adjust the volume of their voices properly. Teamwork will let them know how loud is enough and blend their voices better.
Moreover, teamwork will help solve minor problems in the group, such as timing or differences in pitch. Everyone can talk with each other to find the cause and work on it together.
By sharing comfortably with each other, group members will also know each person’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, some are good at holding high notes than low notes. Some others have a sweeter voice but can only sing at a low volume.
In this case, teamwork will help them make the proper adjustments. So, everyone can show their talent and hide their limitations.
In addition, a well-coordinated choir will always ensure the quality of the performances.
If one member may be absent due to sickness or family issues, the others can fill the vacancy. Thanks to teamwork, they always have a plan to avoid affecting the song’s quality.
How To Achieve Blend And Balance In Choral Performing
Teamwork is essential in group singing as it will create the vocal blend for the choir. But how to work together and achieve a unified sound?
To blend the voice of the choir’s members, you need to have volume balance and tone quality.
Volume balance
A music piece consists of different parts performed by different sub-groups of a choir. The mission of the director is to listen and balance the volume of these parts.
Volume balance here means that each part has a proper volume. Depending on each piece, this volume can be equal or different among the passages.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that the most highlighted thing is the melody.
Generally, the part with the highest vocal range, such as Soprano, will be the most dominant. But sometimes, a lower part may overpower. It’s time for the choir director to make adjustments to achieve the balance.
Balancing is not the job of the director alone. Singers should also know the desired volume balance of the whole team. Besides, they need to pay attention to their singing and make proper adjustments when necessary.
Tone quality
The tone quality is more challenging to optimize than volume balance. It depends mainly on the singers as they have to agree to have a unified tone.
Two factors that determine the tone quality of a singing group are tone style and word pronunciation. All the singers need to achieve a general agreement about these factors to get the best tone quality.
Solutions for this issue include listening to each other, doing some warm-ups, and practicing as much as possible.
Listen to each other
Choir members have to know what each other sings to agree on tone style and pronunciation. Otherwise, the voice of someone will be too loud and break the overall tone of the group. Therefore, listening is the first thing they need to do.
Listening is more than a skill, and it needs to be a habit. If you are the choir director, you should recommend the singers to listen to their parts regularly.
In this way, they will be aware of how they contribute to the overall sound of the team. In rehearsals, singers should listen to others’ solo parts and compare them to theirs.
Do some warm-up
Warm-up exercises are good for blending voices in a choir. This activity helps the choir members find a suitable overall tone style and listen to each other’s voices.
This video is an example of a choral warm-up exercise:
After this exercise, singers can remove tension in the vocal cords and establish a commonly used enunciation.
Practice
To attain blend in a choir, singers should listen to each other as much as possible. The more they practice, the better tone quality and balance they will get.
Some Tips To Sing Well In A Choir For Beginners
We have just learned about teamwork in choir singing. Now, let’s move on with some things beginner choral singers can do to sing well in a choir.
Improve your vocal skills
The quality of the choir’s sound depends on the singing ability of the singers. So, if you can sing better, you also contribute to improving the sound of the whole group.
The most straightforward way to enhance your vocal skills is training with a vocal coach. You can also learn some basic techniques to develop your voice.
Practice with a mirror
A mirror will help you practice vocal techniques effectively. You can adjust your singing posture, observe your mouth and expression, and so on.
Besides, practicing in front of a mirror will give you the feeling that an audience is watching your performance. This action will help improve your confidence gradually.
Define your trouble spots and work on them
In a choral performance, vocal blending is what the whole choir aims to. If you find that your part is overpowering the others, you should work on it.
It’s better to focus on listening to the others’ parts and correct yours. Feel free to speak up about your weaknesses so that other members can help you.
Always follow the directions of the conductor
The choir conductor will control the song’s tempo and divide the parts for each subgroup. You need to follow the directions of the conductor to keep the vocal blend of the team.
These directions will help you make the best out of your part and improve your role in the group.
Note your music part
You should mark your music if possible so that you can make improvements. Noting your music part also helps you to track it more easily in tricky sections.
You can bring a pencil to make notes. In this way, you can erase the marks if necessary.
Learn about the song you sing
Each song comes with a story, and you should know about what you will sing. Learn the signification of the lyrics and find the emotions hidden in the text. Then, you can transfer the storyline of the song to your performance.
A good singer will know how to express the emotion of the song when singing. Moreover, when you are clear about the music, you can define your target audience.
The Advantages Of Singing In Group For Team Building
As we mentioned above, being a choir member means that you are playing a team sport. So, group singing brings you many benefits for team building as follows.
Improve communication with each other
Choir members need to communicate and listen to each other to have a good performance.
Typically, many people just sit in the office to work and then go home. Communication with colleagues may only occur during the short lunch break.
However, if they learn to sing a song together, they will talk to each other more. Singing in a group is an exciting way to develop communication.
Reduce tension
Belting out a tune can help people feel more relaxed, especially when singing with others.
Besides, in choral performing, not everyone has the same beginnings. Similarly, in working, the difference in levels can raise tension. But by chanting together, the atmosphere will become more comfortable.
Increase positivity
When the whole group learns a new song, they talk more and work together to perform better. At the same time, their success in choral singing gives them a lot of positive feelings.
In this way, they transfer more positivity into the workplace and improve the mental health of everyone in the team.
Create a bonding community
People who have something in common tend to team up, such as being of the same age or the same sex. However, the work will be more effective if there is interaction from many sides.
Choir singing is an ideal team-building activity for people to interact more with each other.
There will be no discrimination in any aspect in a choir since each person has their talent. As a result, the whole team will be a bonding community and get closer to each other.
Final Words
Via this article, you know about the importance of teamwork in group singing.
By cooperating well with each other, the choir’s members can keep the sound quality of their performance. Teamwork skills from choir singing are also beneficial for working.
If you want to be a part of a singing group, don’t forget to learn to blend your voice with others. Hopefully, you can do your best as a choir singer.
Thank you for reading!
