| Links to Organizations,
Choruses, and Singing Groups |
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The Barbershop Harmony Society - the worldwide organization
for men's barbershop quartets and choruses. Information (singing,
administration, training, chapters, districts, quartets, international
conventions, etc.), music, sheet and program music, society articles,
CDs and DVDs available. |
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Ontario District - for the Barbershop Harmony Society. Information
on conventions, training, chapters (choruses), and more. |
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Harmonize for Speech - The charitable branch of
Ontario District - supporting a variety of speech projects. |
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Capital City Chorus - Our cross town brothers in
harmony. |
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Barbershop and A Cappella choruses and groups in
Eastern Ontario.
The emphasis is on barbershop. Looking for a place to sing? Looking
to contact a barbershop chorus - mens or ladies? Look here. |
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Barbershop Harmony Web Ring - web sites of quartets
and choruses, male and female that are part of the world of barbershop
singing. |
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A Cappella Web Ring - web sites that relate to a
cappella singers, quartets, and choirs and related information. |
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Yahoo Mail - Our e-mail hosts |
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Northern Stars Chorus Members Only Area |
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Affiliate Organizations |
| AAMBS
- Australian Association of Men's Barbershop Singers |
| BABS
- British Association of Barbershop Singers |
| BinG!
- Barbershop in Germany |
| CASA
- Contemporary Acapella Society of America |
| DABS
- Dutch Association of Barbershop Singers |
| HI
- Harmony, Incorporated |
| IABS
- Irish Association of Barbershop Singers |
| LABBS
- Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers |
| MENC
- Music Educators National Conference |
| NZABS
- New Zealand Association of Barbershop Singers |
| SAI
- Sweet Adelines International |
| SNOBS
- Society of Nordic Barbershoppers |
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| Singing Skills,
Preparation, and More |
| The
Barbershop Society - staying healthy, vibrato, interpretation,
motivation, tuning, etc. information |
| National
Centre for Voice and Speech - voice tutorials and learning
aids. And links. |
| Information
for Singers - from the National centre for Voice and Speech |
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| Other Sites of
General Interest |
| A
Cappella Music Site - A cappella music from a vairety
of groups. For purchase and downloading. Some mp3 sound clips
available. |
| General
Tips - Tips to Help You Maintain Youself and Body in Good
Shape |
| Music
Theory - plenty of information of all types, trainers,
and utilities |
| Vocal
Information - Exercises of many types, voice training
information, and many links. |
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A full site list is available
here. |
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| Additional Information
about Singing |
| We present articles from e-mails received
and links to articles about singing
improvement, singing techniques, vocal warmup, a cappella groups,
etc. |
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How to Memorize Vocal Music
by Bruce Schoonmaker |
| 1. Brute repetition. Speak the text repeatedly. Sing the
text repeatedly. |
| 2. The rule of three: Work a long phrase until you can
repeat it perfectly from memory three times consecutively.
Do the next phrase the same way. Combine the phrases and
work them as one longer phrase. Build by phrases until you
sing perfectly from memory an entire section of the aria/song
three times consecutively. Build by sections until you have
memorized the whole song. |
| 3. Memorize the text without the music. In other words,
memorize it as a poem, rather than as a song. Then put it
with the music. |
| 4. Speak the rhythm. Sing the rhythm, on one pitch. |
| 5. Try memorizing while lying on your back. Studies have
shown that actors memorize roles faster while working on
memorizing in a supine position. |
| 6. Memorize the song backwards. Memorize the last section
first, then the next-to-last section, working your way forward.
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| 7. Reward: Reward yourself with each song memorized. Get
a frozen yogurt or goody that you really like. Don't get
it until you've sung the piece successfully in the presence
of others (in other words, performed it from memory under
pressure). |
| 8. Write the words on paper while repeating the song from
memory. |
| 9. If you visualize the words in order to memorize, visualize
the words in the upper left quadrant of your vision. I read
this in a book on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Oddly enough,
it seems to settle in the memory quicker and more deeply
by using the upper left quadrant. |
| 10. Try to "hear the piece in your head," and
to "listen" to it, preferably right before you
go to sleep -- or to "hear" it while you are listening
to something else. |
| 11. Delay Gratification: When working on an entire role
(opera, musical, or song cycle), memorize your favorite
piece last. Memorize the most difficult music first. Memorize
ensembles before solos. In other words, delay the gratification
of memorizing your favorite parts until the other sections
are memorized. |
| 12. Try working on memorization while doing some mindless
chore. Repeat phrases over and over again while cleaning
up or washing dishes or sweeping. Refer to the score when
necessary, then return to the mindless task and work the
memory. |
| 13. Get a friend to "repetiteur" for you, playing
the piano accompaniment over and over again while you sing,
in order to memorize. Don't try to make the song technically
perfect while doing this kind of drill; you may even "mark"
the voice. Just repeat the music many, many times in order
to drill it into your mind. |
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| How do I sing more loudly? |
Trying to "push" your voice to be loud is counter-productive.
The best way to achieve more volume is to learn to sing
with forward placement (sometimes called "the mask"
or "masque").
A good singing teacher, who can work with you one and one,
is the best way to learn proper placement; it won't happen
overnight, so be patient. It usually takes months to truly
master this part of technique.
To find what forward placement is, hum until you feel your
front teeth and/or lips vibrate. Once you have that buzz,
take note of the sensations in your mouth. Then, go directly
from humming to singing vowels: "Hmmmmmeeeee. Hmmmmmaaaay.
Hmmmmmoooo." Etc.
Again, take note of those sensations and try to duplicate
them when you sing a song. Some people feel very subtle
vibrations, while others feel the vibrations intensely.
Your teacher can give you additional exercises, tailored
to your personality and voice, to help you with placement.
(Singing with forward placement should never sound nasally
or thin.) |
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Learn the Secrets of
In-Tune Singing
Why can't I sing
in tune? |
| (This is an article previously available
from the Barbershop Harmony Society web site and that no
longer appears in the Singing Skills section. It is provided
here on the assumption that it was missed when their web
site was revised last and not that it was incorrect with
its information.) |
Singing out of tune is a recurring problem that we
hear from performers. An important element of the barbershop
"lock and ring" sound is in-tune singing. We
need to sing quality musical tones that are specifically
in pitch to the anticipated melodic line. To make this
happen, we must sing in tune both horizontally and vertically.
Do we sing out of tune because we can not hear the pitch
we are trying to sing, or because we just can not support
the pitch in good quality in which we are trying to sing?
The answer is support. Chest breathing or shallow breathing
causes the pitch to sag at the middle or end of every
phrase. A freely produced, well supported, resonant quality
tone with a good head voice will solve many tuning issues.
Poor posture, mental and/or physical fatigue can also
have significant influence on horizontal and vertical
tuning. Spend time on good diaphragmatic breathing exercises
every day to help develop better support and, therefore,
better tuning.
Singing with a heavy vocal production throughout your
range can also cause flatting, especially as you carry
the weight of your chest voice up into your head voice.
Learn to keep your head voice in your voice throughout
your range. Furthermore, the use of warm air to support
every pitch of every phrase will open up all the spaces
needed for quality singing.
Some other more obvious reasons: singing wrong intervals,
or taking too small of a step in an ascending line, or
too large of a step in a descending line. Spend time singing
major, minor and chromatic scales, both ascending and
descending, with accuracy. Relaxing support when you're
singing descending lines can also allow you to flat. Reaching
for high note without lightening up and using your head
voice can also cause flatting.
Scooping is another cause of tuning problems for your
quartet, especially for the lead. Spend rehearsal time
duetting in your quartet practice. It will make a difference
in the overall sound and tuning of your quartet.
Lastly, it is important to pick songs appropriate for
your quartet's vocal range and to sing them in the right
key for your group. Avoid songs written too low for the
quartet to sing comfortably. Be warned that if the melody
has too many thirds or sevenths, there is a good chance
the quartet will go flat |
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| Clip art of singer and bird from Clipart
from Clipartheaven.com |
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