Practicing Choral Music: Ten ideas for the singer who doesn’t think they can practice on their own

----------This is a mirror post from Doreen Fryling.--------------

Congratulations! You’ve now been told for the millionth time to practice your music for your next choir rehearsal. But if you are someone who hears that and thinks, “I don’t play piano. I can’t do this without someone helping me,” here are some ways you can practice on your own and improve your singing.
Grab your music and a pencil. Many of these steps can be done in a public place. No need to head to the practice room (stop using that as an excuse).

1. Start with the text. Make sure you know what you are singing. Think about the text. Find a translation if it is in another language. Write the poetic translation above/below the lyrics. If you want to go deeper, use a translation site to translate word for word (especially if there’s a word that you sing over and over again. You should know what that specific word means). Do you know who wrote the lyrics and why? Can you put the piece into historical context?
2. Listen to a recording. We live in a time of unbelievable access to recordings. Find them. Listen to more than one recording and compare them until you find one or two you really like. Follow along with your score. Listen while paying attention to all of the parts. Listen while paying attention to just your part.
3. Analyze your music. How is the piece organized? Does it have sections? Are there repeated parts? Does your part occur in another voice part? Are there key changes or meter changes? Is there a repeat sign/first and second ending/coda? How would you describe the organization of this piece to someone who has never heard it?
4. Find your starting pitches. For every entrance you have, figure out how you are going to find the starting pitch. Maybe another voice part just sang the note. Maybe it was just in the accompaniment. Do you know what note of the chord it is (e.g. I’m singing the root of this chord)? There is nothing worse than “sheep singing” (blindly following what the person next to you is singing). Take responsibility for being able to enter on your own.
5. Don’t just sing through the parts you already know. You’ll be wasting your practice time. Identify problem areas, analyze why you’re having a problem with that spot, figure out ways to solve the problem area.
6. Solve the problem area. Break it down to something you CAN do. Then add something to it. Practice with repetition, but only if you’re sure you’re doing it right! Start with just the pitches slowly (dare I say on solfege syllables?). Then add the rhythm to the pitches. Next, add in the lyrics. Make sure you slow down the tempo each time you add another layer. No need to practice with dynamics, articulations, and breaths until you have mastered pitches, rhythms, and lyrics.
7. Work backwards to forwards. How many times have you felt great about the beginning of a piece, but completely unsure of the ending? During your own practice time, work on the ending section and progressively add sections, each time going through to the end. If you think of your piece as “ABCDE,” practice E, then DE, then CDE, then BCDE, and ABCDE.
8. Audiate your part. Sing your part through in your head. Do this while you are walking somewhere. Do this in your car while you’re waiting for someone. Do this before you go to sleep. Do this ALL OF THE TIME. (Friendly reminder: Audiating is virtually impossible if there is other music playing. Carve out some quiet time in your life.)
9. Use your pencil. Mark your score while you’re in rehearsal so you remember what was giving you problems. This will save you time when you plan out your next practice session.
10. Just practice. 99% of the time I don’t want to practice. No one does. But 99% of the time, once I start practicing, I get stuff done. I stop when I lose focus or I run out of time. I NEVER regret spending a little time practicing something. Do yourself a favor and make it part of your daily routine.

You have the ability to do these ten things. Do them. You will reap the benefits of being more confident with your part, which will allow you to contribute to the ensemble in a more meaningful way. And your own vocal technique will improve, because you’ll be able to concentrate on how you sound instead of always worrying about how your part goes. You’ve got this.

-Doreen Fryling (lifelong practice avoider)

Insomnia vs. "Yeomen of the Guard"

When I get insomnia, usually triggered by doubts and worries in real life, my creativity takes weird turns, both in the dreams and visions that come at night and the ideas I get during the day.   Lots of remedies, such as the ones here, https://greatist.com/health/cant-sleep-advice-and-tips are helpful.   I've only recently started using #25, journaling worries when the mind is too anxious and active to rest, adding items to my to-do list and calendars and notebooks, and giving the things that are running around in my head a time to be addressed.

Here's an example from early June when I was uncertain about how much more work I'd have to do to memorize and play Fairfax, my part in Marylhurst University's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Yeoman of the Guard".   The memorization techniques that worked perfectly for me 30 years ago left me blank and going up on my lines in rehearsal, so I had no idea how much more work I'd need to do to catch up.   Yikes.  Most of my sleep-deprived dreams were about the lines and scenes of the play, but many of them were about the characters actions after the play.   Here they are, organized as a fan-fiction narrative. I make no apologies for continuity or dramatic errors, since this is, essentially, a delirium.


SPOILER ALERT:  see the opera, read the script or a synopsis first.   I'm told by attendees that they found the opera's end too tragic, so here's a small consolation:

Yeoman of the Guard, Act III

Precis:

To free his children from a detestable marriage and life-long anonymity, Sergeant Meryll confesses to releasing Fairfax two months earlier.  He and Leonard are sentenced to beheading in half an hour.  Dame Carruthers-Meryll, newly wed to the Sergeant,  leaves to arrange their rescue.  

Wilfred reveals a living but apathetic Jack Point.   Phoebe jilts Wilfred.  Jack refuses to teach Wilfred jesting.  Kate,  having no sense of smell and respect for Wilfred's care of injured prisoners, mollifies Wilfred and cleans him up nicely.

Phoebe, with Jack's help, stalls the beheading until Dame Carruthers-Merryl appears with proof that Sergeant and Leonard Meryll are innocent of treason.  They are restored to their due positions to everyone's joy.

Numbers:

3.1   Trio "A Fate Worse Than Death",  Phoebe, Leonard, Meryll
3.2   Aria:  "My Own Name", Leonard
3.3   Ensemble: "Hail the Wedded"  
3.4   Aria:   "Not today",  Dame Carruthers-Meryll
3.5  Aria:  "Dear Jack", Kate
3.6  Duet:  "'Every Dirty Job", Kate and Wilfred
3.7  Song:  "Alas, my love",   Jack
3.8  Chorus:   "The Pris'ner's come"
3.9  Duet with Chorus:  "Brave Men of England",  Meryll, Leonard 
3.10  Duet with Chorus:   "Alas My Love", (reprise)  Phoebe and  Jack
3.11  Scene:  "These two scrolls"  Dame, Lieutenant, and Ensemble
3.12  Ensemble:   "Joy Unalloyed"


Synopsis, Act III

Two months after Act II, on the Tower of London green, Phoebe, Leonard and their father, Sergeant Meryll lament "A Fate Worse Than Death": to keep their secret, Leonard may not claim his own name or position, Phoebe must marry a man she loathes, and the Sergeant is to be wedded this hour to the old Dame Carruthers.

Kate gives the Sergeant an envelope addressed to Sergent Meryll's son, Leonard and fetches Sergent Meryll and Phoebe to the wedding.  Leonard, not invited to the wedding, finds a letter inside to Jack Point and another to himself from Colonel Fairfax granting him a thousand marks and an offer of employment.  Leonard still wants "My Own Name" and the Yeomancy he'd earned.

Sergeant Meryll returns with Dame in wedding gown.   Leonard congratulates them while the Dame reminds him to keep his true identity the secret, since everyone has concluded the real Leonard Meryll ran away with a broken heart when Fairfax claimed Elsie as his bride.   Phoebe returns, pursued by and fending off Wilfred, to warn Leonard and the couple that their guests are coming and eager to congratulate them.  Phoebe insists that Jack is dead, but Wilfred says he is not:  he cared for Jack after the collapse, using the healing skills an assistant tormentor must ply.  Wilfred exits to fetch Jack as proof. 

The Lieutenant, Kate and crowd enter to "Hail the Wedded"  Sergent and Dame.  The Sergeant, desperate to resolve his children's sorry fates, turns to the Lieutenant and resigns his post as Sergent and confesses to freeing Colonel Fairfax himself two months ago.  Sergent Meryll claims that Leonard simply stayed away as asked, while Pheobe accepted his word that Fairfax was her brother Leonard.   Leonard steps up to confess that he himself knew of his Father's deception and is equally guilty. Phoebe lets them.  Dame Carruthers-Meryll berates her new husband for this foolish act of sacrifice, but the man is adamant he will have no more deception.

The Lieutenant reluctantly condemns the two men of high treason and the required penalty of death by beheading in one-half hour.  After warning the Yeomen and crowd that aiding their beloved Sergent will bring further deaths, he disperses the crowd and Yeomen, and himself escorts the two men to the tower for their final confessions.

Dame Carruthers-Meryll entreats Phoebe to delay the beheading because she has a plan to free both men, but it will take every minute available and more to prepare it.  The Dame proclaims she will not become a widow,  "Not Today" on her wedding day,  and heads off on her mission.

Wilfred brings a listless, sour shell of the jester Jack Point.  Kate reveals she put a note about Wilfred tending Master Point into Dame Carruthers' bill to the Fairfax family for the cost of their wedding.  Jack has no interest in anything, but allows Kate to read the letter from Elsie aloud. In "Dear Jack", Elsie thanks Jack for caring for her mother, teaching her manners, and prays for Jack's future well-being. 

Phoebe tells Wilfred she needn't marry him, since her father's confession exonerated her.  Wilfred reminds her that he knows of her actual guilt, but Phoebe rants that she will not we wedded, but would rather be beheaded or banished instead, even with Jack: since they don't love each other and both know what lost love it, they're perfect for each other.  Jack then tells Wilfred he cannot now teach jesting, it's not in him to teach the jailer to jest. 

Angered at the loss of a tutor and a wife, Wilfred declares he'll be a great tormentor and accosts Kate, who accepts his advances willingly.  After all,  Kate says, she admires his gentle care for the wounded prisoners. Further, she has no sense of smell and Wilfred isn't half as dirty as the chamber pots and "Every Dirty Job" that needs doing.  They exit to give Wilfred what he needs most: a bath.

Phoebe asks Jack for help in stalling the beheading.  Jack says he's no good for jesting, only composing melancholy rhymes and melodies, and sings a verse of his newly made "Alas My Love", but quips some nobleman will likely steal it away, too. ("Greensleeves" was anonymously written about 1510 and dubiously attributed to Henry VIII.) 

The funeral bell chimes.  While the people chant "the Pris'ners come", the block and headsman arrive.  The Lieutenant with Yeomen lead in Leonard and Meryll.    Asked for last words, Meryll at the block praises "Brave Men of England", joined by Leonard, then the Lieutenant,  the Yeoman and finally the crowd.

To stall, Phoebe speaks of their love of family and love of duty, then begins to sing "Alas, My Love", but falters. Jack completes Phoebe's chorus and carries on, improvising verses.  As the listeners join in and Jack is starting yet another verse, the Dame returns.

The Dame shows the Lieutenant "These Two Scrolls": the June tenth order for Fairfax's execution on July tenth, 1517, and the July tenth order for his immediate freedom.  The Lieutenant agrees that he'd gladly have complied had the second reached him that day.   The Dame argues that since the Sergent was following legal orders when he freed Fairfax on July the tenth, her husband and step-son are innocent of treason.  The Lieutenant agrees, cancels the execution, restores Meryll's rank and freedom, and orders that the real Leonard Meryll be inducted into the Yeoman of the Guard this very minute.

As all share "Joy Unalloyed", the block and the ax-man leave, Phoebe thanks and embraces Jack for his life-saving performance, and Kate escorts in a surprisingly clean Wilfred, with flowers in his hair and beard.   Leonard, now dressed as a Yeoman, receives his halberd and sword from his father, then thanks the Dame for saving his life.  Sergent Meryll finally, admiringly, embraces his new wife .

End.