Notes for Vocals!
NOTES ON GENERAL VOCAL HEALTH:
FOR ALL: remember that rest, hydration, posture and breath support are key to taking care of your voices during this show.
Posture: be sure you are not raising your chinwhen you sing. That puts a strain on your vocal cords and is not healthy.
Letting the breath ‘go up into the head’, ‘feeling the vibration in the nose and cheekbones’
(those phrases are a combination of sensation and mental images) will take the focus off the
throat and use the breath to best advantage - getting the most with the least amount of resourceBreath Support: this is the key to singing. Be sure that when you inhale, you can feel your
torso expanding all the way around - ribs spreading sides and back - like a fireplace bellows!;
with a relaxed belly that expands, concentrate on ‘powering’ the sound with the muscles in the
back and torso that control that breath, rather than trying to push the sound with your neck.
The neck and shoulder should remain as relaxed as possible. The neck is merely the hollow
tube through which the air that produces the sound must pass. It must be relaxed and open.
The power to push the air past the vocal cords comes from the muscles in the torso.
Placement: Terminology is different when discussing the female and male physical voice.
Females sing in generally three voices - belt is the lowest register, mix is the middle, and
head encompasses the high notes; males sing generally in two voices - the ‘legit’ (legitimate/operatic)
and the ‘falsetto’. Male legit is comparable to female belt voice. Female head voice is comparable
to male ‘falsetto’. They are basically produced the same way in the body.
If a note feels too high in the lower, or belt, region of the voice, flip the note into the higher register.
The more you use those higher registers the stronger they will be and ultimately they will be as
strong as the lower registers.
NOTES ON RUN THROUGH 3/28-29/2022
GENERAL NOTE FOR ALL:
DICTION!! Remember that we all know the story and the words in the scenes and songs. The AUDIENCE, however, get ONLY ONE CHANCE! to hear it, so make sure you are speaking clearly at all times and at a pace that can be understood. Be especially careful that the last word of a sentence doesn’t ‘drop off’, either because you have run out of sufficient air or because the tone of the last word is lower than the rest of the sentence. Remember that the last word of a sentence is often the most important word in that sentence.
As we run through from here on out, I’d like to encourage you all to beef up your sound and perform
your songs (and lines in scenes, too!) as if the audience was full and your sweet granny is sitting in
the last row. You’ll want her to hear everything for sure!
;-)
Nuns: things to remember when starting to sing offstage/continue singing offstage:
We need to remember that sound travels - so,
line up in quartets so full sound is heard right away as the first quartet is in the door;
Don’t start singing until you are at the door!
Listen carefully - if you start singing before you get in the space, you will be singing behind
When you exit singing, cluster around the door so that the full sound is heard in the auditorium
When walking, keep moving. Remember, you are going somewhere in a reverent manner,
(do you know where you are coming from and going to each time? You should.)
Alleluia (both times you sing it) 2ND SOPS AND 1ST ALTOS - please don’t slow down at the
end of the first half of the song when you repeat ‘alleluia’ when 1st Sops and 2nd Altos are holding
their notes. The tempo doesn’t slow down and you need to finish that phrase and be finished by
the time the others are launching into the repeat of the tune…
Sister Berthe - #3
Review notes at Measure 17
Red Maria - #2
Review notes at Measure 23 & 38
White Maria - #7
Review notes at Measure 37-8
Both Marias - let’s review Alt. #7
Goatherd - The “guitar” playing is generally confined to the first 8 bars; as soon as the
accompaniment starts the “oom-pa” bass line, then the guitar goes out.
Marias, and Captain - #16
Both Captain and Maria sing at m. 43
#18 - Captain - harmony at M. 28+
#alt 34 - don’t forget lines in the interlude; you both sing at M 73
Marias - #40 - check first note of M.5 beginning of both those phrases are the same.
Captain: #31 - you are interrupting the children’s singing too soon - let them sing also “the hills
fill my heart” (those are the words that make you not want to hear more)
Rolf - 16/17
“To” not “tuh”
The “H” is pronounced in the title, “Herr” (Mr.) like “hair”
Red & White Casts - Goatherd
Several corrections to be made here. Let’s review the whole number
Red & White Cast - DoReMi
Let’s review this whole number
Kids - remember to be very quiet on the stairs. Scenes go on while you’re exiting.
Some notes on German Pronunciation:
Bremerhaven - BREH-mer-hah-ven
Anschluss - AHN-schluss
Nonnberg - NONN (‘o’ as in ‘olive’) berg (as if ‘bear’)
Kaltzberg - KAHLTS - berg (as if ‘bear’)
Herwegen - HAIR-veh-gen
A burg is a city; A berg is a mountain - pronounced differently.
If you have a German word in your dialog, there are pronunciation guides all over YouTube, or ask me.
ROMAN CATHOLIC SIGN OF THE CROSS:
If you are called upon to make the sign of the Cross in your roll, please be sure to do it correctly
and fully - with your right hand index and middle fingers and thumb together, touch your forehead,
breast bone, left shoulder, then right shoulder. If your character is called upon to make this sign,
please commit fully to it, don’t rush through it, especially if your character is a nun!
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