Count Singing

Count singing as a method of learning music is something I learned (as did countless [forgive the pun] other choral directors) from Robert Shaw.  Mr. Shaw knew how to run an enormously efficient and productive choral rehearsal, always careful to save our voices for performance rather than squandering them during rehearsal.  One of his methods for accomplishing this was to use the concept of “count singing” during much of a rehearsal, and especially during the first few rehearsals of a work.  The idea was to save the words until much later in the rehearsal process, concentrating instead on the pitches and rhythms provided by the composer.   Mr. Shaw’s goal was to do everything he could to ensure that we honored the composer by singing exactly what he or she had put on the page.  I’ve never known a conductor who took this more seriously.  We would usually sing the primary beats (substituting a “t” for three) along with their divisions, e.g., 1 & 2 & t & 4 & for a piece in 4/4 time.  Should the piece have a lot of 16th notes, we might sing 1 ee & uh 2 ee & uh, etc., or 1 & 2 & t & 4 & twice in the measure (to keep down the confusion of “ee” and “uh.”  For those of you acquainted with count singing, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  For those of you who have not encountered it, I hope this at least gives  an idea of how it is done.

MOS has now completed its first two rehearsals of the Brahms Requiem.  We will have approximately ten rehearsals to learn the piece, and for that reason every rehearsal minute must be used wisely.  While I am a big fan of count singing, I don’t usually use it to the extent that Mr. Shaw did.  However, in these first two rehearsals we have sung almost entirely with numbers and that will continue for the next several rehearsals.   I can think of no better way to attempt to do justice to this masterpiece than to begin with correct pitches and rhythms. 

I’m interested in hearing from my readers (both MOS members and others) about your opinion of count singing.  Have you found it helpful?  If so, why?  If not, why?  If you’re a conductor, do you use count singing, and, if so, how often?   Whether you’re a singer or a conductor, how do you like to approach a new piece of music if you do not use count singing?

OK, let the ideas start rolling in (but if you’re a member of MOS, make sure to spend some of your time rehearsing your part!).

A Requiem for Our Time

The Michael O’Neal Singers last performed the Brahms Requiem in October of 2001, just one month after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.  Little did we know when we began rehearsals on September 10 that this amazing offering to humankind from Johannes Brahms would become such a source of personal healing and comfort  for us during the somber days and weeks that followed.   Almost ten years later, we are about to begin rehearsals again on this masterpiece, in preparation for a March 13 performance.  The troubled world in which we live today needs the message of consolation offered by this wondrous creation no less than it did ten years ago, or in fact in any year since it was composed.  Below are the comments I made to the audience that afternoon in October 2001 prior to our performance.

A year ago, when The Michael O’Neal Singers decided to perform A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms as the first concert of our 2001-2002 Season, we had no idea that our world would change on September 11, 2001.  But change it did, and all our lives have been affected.   Some of you have been affected directly, most of us indirectly, but each of us has been changed – ‘”in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” – forever changed.

The piece we are about to perform was written with an understanding that we live but a short time on this earth, and we grieve for those who leave this life before us.  Brahms knew the sorrow experienced by those who grieve and he selected texts that provide comfort to the living in their time of loss.  We have learned that often the individual grief we feel is more completely “worked through” in a community, and especially in the collective grief we are now experiencing as a nation, it is imperative that we encounter it in community.  Perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts of music; especially live performance of music that is profound in its depth and meaning, for we experience it in community – a community of performers – a community of listeners – and a combined community of people this day, who mourn and remember.

The Brahms Requiem offers us a chance to grieve together.  I encourage you to follow the text printed in your program, to hold your applause until the end of the final movement, and to accept this musical offering as a tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11 (in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania).  May this music, and the words that accompany it, provide encouragement to us as we hope for, and seek, an eventual and lasting peace in this world.

A Choir Member’s New Year’s Resolutions

In the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I offer these ten for choir members to consider.  Feel free to add your own to the list.

A Choir Member’s New Year’s Resolutions

1. I will listen to my director.
2. I will be on time for rehearsal.
3. I will come to rehearsal having studied any assigned spots.
4. I will bring a pencil to rehearsal and will mark my music as appropriate.
5. I will transfer (outside of rehearsal) any markings provided in a master score.
6. I will pay attention to the sound I make and how it fits into the overall ensemble.
7. I will talk during rehearsal only during approved breaks.
8. I will silence my mobile device prior to rehearsal, and will refrain from reading or sending e-mails or texts during rehearsal.
9. I will resolve to learn something of value at each rehearsal.
10. I will listen to my director (bears repeating).