Wholikestuning

Zakk Wooten Varsity Concert Choir/High School

This lesson is designed to help counteract one of every choirs biggest issues that will, most likely, always need plenty of fixing. The idea of tuning to each other rather than to a piano or any other instrument(s) is something that every choir struggles with. This exercise is intended to help students to start to hear their notes in a more “vertical”, rather than “horizontal”, way. Each section tends to just read their part, and focus so much on their specific part that they lose awareness of the other sections singing around them. This lesson is centered around the warm ups in order for the students to demonstrate understanding before moving on to implementation of the new technique.

Sing, Evaluate, Read/Notate, Listen

Students will be able to sing through "Aint That Good News" and "The Heavens Are Telling" with more awareness of parts other than their own. Students will also be able to evaluate the difference between their sound before and their sound after the warm ups. -I will take the students through “The Heavens Are Telling” by Joseph Haydn and “Ain’ta That Good News by William Dawson and record both of them. -I will start with a warm up we have been doing. Five note ascending scale but moving up and down in a random way…not chromatically. First as a group then a few individuals. -I will then build a 1351 chord with the sections splitting in their receptive places. I will move this up and down but half step and maybe eventually whole step. -I will then build a 1351 chord and have different parts move up and down half steps to make different chords. B-1 T-5 A-3 S-1 (Exact progression can be determined based on piece of music.) -I will then explain that the reason for the warm ups is to now start paying attention to the music as a whole rather than just their specific part. How do their notes line up with everything vertically rather than horizontally. -I will then take them through "The Heavens Are Telling" with this in mind. Just a run through. No Stopping…and record it. -If there is time I will go through the same thing with "Aint'a That Good News" No Stopping…and record it as well. -I will have the students give me things we did better and worse, citing specific examples with measure numbers.

This lesson is most effective when the pacing between each task is very very quick. The students will, most likely, not be used to hearing music in this sort of way. It is important that while doing the action we not allow their ears a chance to rest but while evaluating and remembering or “learning” the action we allow them to physically, not mentally, take a break.

Zakk, I would suggest to add a warmup that puts each section on a different note of the chord, and then have the students sing a different part of the music than they normally do, while still listening to their usual part. I totally agree with doing warmups in random keys because then they truly have to listen, and also doing multiple recordings so they can hear the difference is awesome. - Rachel Pischnotte

Great lesson. Making the students think veritcally is a very good concept to improve tuning. When explaining how the notes in a chord line up vertically, I would have them write in their music at key spots what quality of chord it is, so they remember. You could also make a game out of it -- have students figure out what chords they are and what voice has the most important note in the chord. Using solfege is also a great way to improve tuning and a way to assess their understanding of the vertical harmonies -- knowing whether they should sing sol, mi, do etc. Great Job! Jessica Rajewich