Casey

Tecklenburg

EDU 486

Vocal Production Analysis

High School Bass Choir (10th 12th grade)

NAfME Standard(s):
MU:Pr5.3.E.8a: Develop strategies to address technical challenges in a varied
repertoire of music and evaluate their success using feedback from ensemble peers
and other sources to refine performances

Overall Objectives: Improve the sound of the choir by improving the individual
technique of the singers; equip students with skills necessary for improving tone
quality, vowel unification, and intonation; train students to hear the difference
between desirable choral sound (tone, vowels, and intonation matching) and
undesirable choral sound (disagreement of tone, vowels, and intonation)

Content Objectives:
Cognitive: Students will analyze their ensembles uniformity of tone,
vowels, and intonation
Kinesthetic: Students will listen to and adjust their own tone, vowels, and
intonation
Affective: Students will improve their definition of ideal choral singing


Materials needed: Recording of performance, sound equipment, listening guides

Music: Cover Me With the Night, Andrea Ramsey; 2009 JEHMS, Inc., A Division of
Alliance Publishing

Application:

Young singers often confuse desirable tone with a certain vowel shape, and sing
everything through a static positioning of the vocal tract. The students in this lesson
have been instructed about desirable tone coming from behind the back teeth (tone
factory as a released vocal tract and relaxed laryngeal position) and vowel
manipulation coming from in front of the back teeth (vowel factory as the tongue,
lips, and minimal jaw movement to create the articulator process). These concepts
come from Katharin Rundus vocal pedagogy book Cantabile: A Manual about
Beautiful Singing for Singers, Teachers of Singing, and Choral Conductors. The
students know that muscle tension in the neck, jaw, and tongue contributes to tone
that is shrill, covered, breathy, or overall unbalanced. They also know that ideal tone
does not change with different vowels.

Casey Tecklenburg

EDU 486

1. Play recording of performance of the Bass Choir from the previous

rehearsal. This recording has many examples of the students singing
without matching tone, vowels, and intonation.
2. Instruct the students to listen as the recording plays and indicate any
musical characteristic of the performance on their listening guide.
3. Ask the students what they heard and indicated on their sheets:
a. Vowels that did or did not match
b. Tone that did or did not match
c. Intonation: the good, the bad, and the ugly
d. Expressive choices: dynamics, articulation, enunciation
4. Discuss whether these characteristics of the recorded performance are
strengths or weaknesses; what causes these characteristics?
5. Play the recording again and instruct the students to answer the next four
questions:
a. What is one strength of our choirs sound?
b. What are two things we could do to improve the sound of our choir?
c. What are two things you can do individually to improve the tone
quality of the choir?
d. How will you go about making these changes? (this question ensures
the students go deeper than just saying Sing with better tone. How
will you sing with better tone? Will you focus on breathing better or
singing with tension? Specific aspects of singing are asked for in this
question.
6. Find spots in the piece that were commonly mentioned by students in the
evaluation and apply discussion results to achieve a better sound product.
**Post-lesson Update**: The majority of students identified two aspects of
the performance The disagreement of vowel from the baritones at m. 56,
and major disagreement of vowel and intonation from the tenor entrance at
m. 6 & m. 38. These characteristics were the first to be addressed following
the discussion and were noticeably improved.
7. Collect the listening guides from the students for analysis post-lesson

Assessment:
The teacher will find specific characteristics in the listening guides.
Students will receive credit if they indicate at least one specific
characteristic in the performance. (i.e., basses are flat at m. 26, tenors
are not matching vowels at m. 6)
**Post-Lesson Update**: Students were given an example of this when
instructed to complete the listening guide

Casey Tecklenburg

EDU 486

The teacher will actively listen to the rehearsal following the discussion
for improvement of tone, vowel agreement, and intonation. The teacher
will also engage the students to decide for themselves if these three
aspects improve by listening to other sections and listening while
singing.
The teacher will identify language used by students during discussion
and in listening guide responses to determine if they understand the
sound product of uniform tone, vowels and intonation in choral singing,
as well as the variables that affect the manipulation of all three
(breathing, tension, active listening, correct pitch and rhythm)

Adaptations for Student with Special Needs:
Students may be allowed to work in pairs or groups of three if the
teacher anticipates any student with special needs being unable to
complete the guided listening on their own
This group contains one student who does not sing on pitch and can
often be heard in rehearsal searching for notes. Another student has a
very shrill tone and can also be heard over the group often. Discussion
will be directed towards individual improvement and sectional
improvement, so as not to single any one student out.

Post-Lesson Reflection
Analysis:

The students identified that good tone comes from breathing correctly,
correct body alignment, and release of tension in the vocal tract. Five students were
found to still associate individual tone with vowel manipulation, and two students
provided answers that were too vague to gather any definite appreciation of their
synthesis of the application of balanced singing to achieve ideal choral sound. Every
student mentioned listening on their guide, suggesting that they understand the
need to listen actively for unification of vowel, tone, and pitch while singing. This
will be a quick way to remind them of the concepts from this lesson in the future.

Conclusion:

A major goal of this lesson was to clarify the definition of good tone as a
product of releasing the vocal tract, separate from vowel as a product of
manipulation of the tongue and lips. When students confuse the two, they sing with
a stuck vocal tract that is often a hyperextension of a certain vowel that they think
is giving them an ideal tone. Choral educators often use phrases like drop the jaw
or more space, and inexperienced singers will often engage in an effort-laden
process of squeezing resonance out of their vocal tract like a lemon. Teaching

Casey Tecklenburg

EDU 486

students to release tension and engage breath to create appoggio (correct air
speed/vocal fold adduction ratio) will improve their tone and ideally teach them to
sing in a way that is easier for them.

The guided listening activity provided an opportunity to practice listening for
the tone vs. vowel concept, while also analyzing the effects of disagreement in vowel
and tone. Students were able to hear discrepancies in pitch when vowels and tone
did not match between individuals and sections. After discussing these
characteristics, they rehearsed and achieved a proper balance of tone and vowel
unification, leading to desirable intonation. They redefined ideal choral singing fro
themselves through listening and putting into practice the results from their
discussion. By actively listening to their section and the rest of the choir, each
student will contribute to the overall success of the choir through singing with
balanced tone, clarity of vowel, and correct intonation and rhythm.


References:

Rundus, K. (2009). Cantabile: A manual about beautiful singing for singers, teachers
of singing and choral conductors. San Pedro, Calif.:
Pavane Pub.

Casey Tecklenburg

EDU 486

Appendix: Guided Listening Worksheet

What do you
hear?
(pitch, rhythm, dynamics,
expression, tone)

Is this a strength What is the

or a weakness of cause?
(vowel, breathing, tension,
the choir?
balance)

-----Evaluating Sound----1. What is one strength of our choirs sound?

2. What are two things we could do to improve the sound of our choir?

3. What are two things you can do individually to improve the tone quality of the choir?

4. How will you go about making these changes?