Hi everyone,
Our latest article on EasyEarTraining.com, "Practical Listening Skills for the Developing Choir" explains the listening skills required by choral singers (especially at school age)
In every elementary classroom across the globe, teachers try to create a room full of good listeners.
Any teacher worth their salt knows that when a student opens their mouth to talk, their ears magically shut off and they stop listening. Unfortunately, this applies all too often to singers as well!
When we open our mouths to sing we tend to focus only on what is coming out of our mouths. We begin to ignore everything going on around us: other singers, the accompaniment, fire alarms… and any other noise that might distract us from listening to our own voice!
It’s no wonder that most singer jokes revolve around the idea that singers are self-centered! This madness has to stop. In order to function as a member of a choir, singers must listen to the other voices singing around them.
If you sing in a choir or lead one, I’m going to share some ideas that I hope will help you open up those singer’s ears.
The article also presents two warmup exercises you can use to help build up these skills in your own choir:
1. “Half-steps by part”
and
2. The “Magic Chord”
Find out more about these and listen to examples of them in use in the article!
I'd love to hear how you approach this subject in your choir.
Do you sometimes feel people are singing without really listening?
Are there any exercises you use which help?
