MGS Choir Expectations (Quality of a good choir)
1.Each and every choir member must have musical independence and good discipline:
- do the right thing even though nobody is around you
- open your mind and no judging on arts (music pieces, in this case)
- "Excellence is a habit. You can't switch it on and off" - Mr Tay
2. Remember the choir mission and values at all time.
3. All performances put up by the choir must be of high standards regardless of
- the magnitude of the performance (i.e. be it an overseas choral festival competition or performing for our school's prefects' installation, we must maintain the same standard)
- the circumstances you are performing in (i.e. even if the performance venue is very noisy and nobody is paying attention to us, e.g. in a pasar malam, we must perform to the best of our ability)
- who the conductor is
4. Quality of a good performance
- professional behavior
- good characters: strong, powerful, confident, introspective, reflective
- visual aspects: body language (this shows the character of the musicians (us), hence showing how professional our behaviors are), facial expressions, mood
5. Sound-wise, take note of... (the aural aspects)
- diction (text pronunciation)
- prosody (rhythm, stress and intensity of words)
- dynamics
- coming in on time/ cutting off on time
- rhythm (keeping in time)
- awareness and sensibility to others (following the conductor's gesture well)
- expression of music and phrasing (comes with understanding of text)
- projection of voice (vocal production)
- balance (balance of volume among the four sections)
6. Musicality-wise, take note of...
- intonation
- phrasing
- articulation
7. Technically...
- precision (entries and cut-offs must be together and accurate)
- resonance
- spatial distribution
- positioning on stage (make sure that everybody has a window)
8. As for internalization and memorization...
- memorization should be done immediately after you have learnt the piece during choir session, without waiting for student leaders or conductors telling you to do so
- internalization should be done regardless of hoe foreign the language is, how difficult and piece is or how much you like/dislike the piece
- we should all exercise individual responsibility by self-revising old pieces and self-learning new pieces without being told to do so
9. Ways to exercise individual musical independence
- from an individual level: soloists, pianists, and every choir members should know their stuff well enough to perform as a soloist
- as a group: octets and main choir should possess the ability to self-run without conductors or student leaders around
- in terms of note-taking: notes taken must be detailed, systematic, and in pencils, not pens
10. Last but not least, improve your vocal techniques!
- it is highly recommended to go for outside vocal technique lessons, especially so for members whose voices are not tall enough
- members' voice range should remain consistent and flexible at all times
Quote of the day: "think from other's perspectives, be considerate for people around you" - Mr Tay
So that's all for today. Also, do take the above listed expectations seriously, as the choir members, teachers-in-charge and the conductors are actually working as a team, hence the choir will only progresses well when we, the choir members, who make up the largest proportion in this team, exercise our individual responsibility as a good choir member. Quoting from Mr Tay (again), "a choir is only as strong as its weakest member", so let's live up to the expectations of our teachers and conductors and maximize our potential as a better choir! Yayy! :D
Love, Wen Yi
