If a singer, as they often say, “has neither voice nor hearing,” but wants to sing and is ready to learn, then it really is impossible to kick him out. Yes, and this is inappropriate. All church choirs they rely on singers who once couldn’t sing, but then learned. The best singer for the choir is the one who gradually learned to sing and reached the top right on this very choir.

But so far such a diamond has not even been cut... It is hidden somewhere in the depths under layers of limestone and clay, called the words “secondation”, “falseness”, “dirt”, etc.

In general, my answer to the question posed... Leading singers should be made from such people!

Every person needs individual approach. This, however, is obvious.
In words. In fact, regents (and myself first) rarely work individually with choristers. I will give the generally accepted regency method of training novice choristers, who cannot be kicked out, and then we will see how it can be improved.

• First of all, a novice singer is not allowed to sing at all: “like, listen first.”
• Then they begin to connect it to large composition choir, where falsehood is not so noticeable. They put him next to an experienced singer and ask him to sing quietly and blend in.
• Sooner or later, an experienced singer does not come to this or that service, and - since there is nowhere to go - it is sung from beginning to end by one novice singer. After this, they begin to take him seriously, and in an instant he becomes an experienced one from a beginner.

There are at least two disadvantages to this conventional approach. The first is that a beginning singer has to learn on his own. Not everyone will overcome this barrier.

Second, the beginner has to decide more difficult tasks than experienced singers.

Even a beginning singer may have a naturally beautiful voice that cannot be “adjusted” to general timbre choir. On the contrary, the entire choir should be adjusted to the timbre of such a singer. Moreover, choir “choirs”, as a rule, are not choirs. The choir consists of at least three people per party. And on the choirs there are often no more than eight people. This is no longer a choir, but an ensemble. And ensembles need to adapt to the best, and not average.

How can the method be improved?

First of all, saying “listen” is an understatement. We need to set the task more specifically. How to set the task more specifically? We need to find out what the beginning singer hears. In other words,

“Like, listen first,” the regent should say not to the singer, but... to himself!

And in order to hear what a beginning singer can and cannot do, he needs to sing something. The regent's hearing and intuition should work here. There are practically no specific recipes. But the most general provisions I'll bring it.

The regent set the tone and asked the novice chorister to repeat (not in the service, of course). He hit (or didn’t hit, it doesn’t matter). You must definitely ask: “Did you sing correctly or not, as you hear?” If he hears, right or wrong, that's half the battle. If a novice singer hears that he missed the mark, he should definitely ask: “Was it higher or lower than necessary?” (above is more squeaky, for those who don’t like musical terminology). If a novice singer hears this, it means that he is actually able to learn to intonate purely on his own. You just need to give him the right task.

It's done like this. We explain to the aspiring singer that

"B. When you start singing, immediately determine whether you hit it or not. If you hit it, everything is fine; if not, immediately turn off the “volume” and determine whether you sang higher or lower than necessary. And then make the next attempt, etc. "

But! Beginning singers may also have poor coordination between hearing and voice (like me, for example). Something else needs to be explained here:

“A. Before you start singing, imagine the sound in your head, sing mentally, and only then sing out loud.”

After a certain number of consecutive repetitions of instructions A. And B. Anyone can learn to intonate accurately!
Of course, many will say that this approach does not solve the problem with seconds. Like the singer hears “higher or lower,” but only to a certain limit. With a certain, so to speak, error. What needs to be understood here is that the quality of choral structure is never too good! You can always improve something. Therefore, working with points A. And B. must be constant. Sometimes it would be nice for experienced singers to do it too.
First, the singer must learn to be in unison. What happens next is beyond the scope of the question.
Now let's complicate the task. A beginning singer does not hear “higher or lower.” Especially if the regent is a woman and the choirmaster is a man (or vice versa). Then you can try to repeat what the beginner sang, and then sing again what you should have. And again ask to determine whether it is higher or lower. In addition, in our ordinary life There are so many sounds that you can practice determining what sounds higher and what sounds lower even without choir practice.
Let's complicate the task even more. A beginning singer wants to sing, but cannot. This is also being resolved. He does talk, after all. This means there might be some sound. We close the doors more tightly, gather in some narrow circle of singing lovers and begin to sing “Aaaaaaa...” on some convenient note, to which everyone gradually joins in. The technique works almost flawlessly.
Over time, even the most voiceless can independently produce some sound in a narrow range (usually at the bottom of their actual vocal range). The problem arises of how to explain to a beginning singer what it means to sing higher or lower.
To begin with, you can ask him to sing louder. And if he can’t sing, speak louder.

Louder usually means higher

This is the difference he needs to remember.

Of course, such beginning singers need special training. This is not the option when a piece is sung a couple of times at a rehearsal - and it is learned. This is a job for several years. But the results will pay off for you in unheard of percentages!
The regent can always force the chorister to study, and do this delicately and in some cases not even noticeable to the chorister himself. The easiest way is to constantly adjust it. In principle, any singer can be taught something. And if you constantly teach everyone, then those who don’t want to learn will also learn. Simply because it cannot be otherwise.

It can even be treated star fever. You can always kick him out. But sometimes it’s enough just to ask to be silent. An individual approach is required.

Of course, when a singer gets into the choir who “doesn’t fit in” (I mean in this case only musical meaning) into the existing group, and the regent can only either tolerate him or ask him not to sing... In this case, this is not a real regent.

It is in such groups, by the way, that the most big problems. They gathered like several people, musical literacy they know, they have learned the routine, the voices, they have learned several complex works, everything sounds clean and beautiful... But alas... Such a choir will quickly be covered with torn galoshes. Sooner or later, someone from the sung cast will not be able to come. There will be a replacement problem. And there is no one to replace it! Of course, there will always be those who want to sing, but they do not fit into the structure-repertoire-composition-...-..., etc. But the regent did not develop the ability to study: it was not needed in that composition. The regent is trying to find a replacement among those with whom, again, there is no need to study and so that the new singer “fits in.” Found. In 3 months. But then another singer from the old lineup moved to another city, and... in short, hello. The regent's ordeal begins again. About maternity leave and qualified soprano-altos with infants With this approach, I just remain quietly silent. And each such problem forces the regent to struggle with despondency, because he feels that he does not have a stable composition, and nothing is getting through.

Therefore, I advise everyone to study constantly with everyone without exception. So that this is normal practice. Then the composition will always be there, and it will be easier to introduce newcomers, and in general, in this case, the moral climate will be healthier.
Taken from the site

Beautiful church singing, which accompanies almost any divine service, can hardly go unnoticed. Such design of the service invariably attracts the attention of parishioners and even people who are far from music, at least for a minute, dream of joining the church choir.

The choir is a temple area intended to accommodate choristers (singers). If earlier church singing was one-voice and monotonous, today it is a complex polyphonic choir imitating angelic singing.

To become a church choir member, you need:

• have a good ear for music;
• to be the owner of a beautiful-sounding voice.

It is desirable, but not always necessary, to have a musical education. Church singing is accompanied by rapid reading of notes, and if musical notation unknown to you, you will have to master it.

TO musical accompaniment Singers prepare for divine services at least 5 - 7 hours a week. During rehearsals, your position in the choir is determined, which depends on the pitch of your voice.

Choral singing comes in different forms. Highlight:

• Znamenny (hook). The choir sings with one voice.
• Partesnoe. Presented by multiple voices.
• Daily life. During the chant, simple scores are performed.

Church chants are either constant or variable (vocal). In the first case, the tunes are classical and are performed the same in all churches without exception.

Voice or modified church hymns include troparia, canons, stichera and others. They are also published in book form. But each temple has its own own traditions performance of voices, which are transmitted by the singing regent.

Basic Rules

Russian singing Orthodox Church not only very beautiful, but also extremely difficult for an untrained singer. Therefore, the regent (the head of the church choir) will be happy to accept a new vocalist, if he does not have a professional music education, then at least having basic knowledge and skills.

To master church singing, you need:

1. Learn to read church books written in Old Slavonic language. To do this, you need to read out loud several pages of the prayer book every day. This will help not only learn how to pronounce words correctly, but also understand the text itself. The main assistants will be such publications as the Menaion, Book of Hours and Octoechos.
2. Study the notes yourself or seek help from professionals.
3. Be sure to take solfeggio lessons.

You need to stop trying to master osmoharmony on your own. The fact is that they are different everywhere and then it will be very difficult to relearn. It would be wiser to immediately start learning the tunes of the temple in which you plan to act as a singer.

If you are allowed to join a choir, stand next to an experienced singer and listen carefully to his singing. This way you will be able to understand melodies, understand how accents are placed and learn other nuances.

When singing as part of a choir, you need to strive to hit the notes as accurately as possible, carefully monitor the sound of your voice, the pronunciation of words, the volume of the chanting and the correct breathing.

To master church singing, it is important not to stop practicing at home.

• Ask the regent for notes and start learning the parts at home, but instead of words, you need to sing the notes in the prescribed sequence.
• The melody itself should be soothing. You should want to listen to church singing and understand the words spoken by the singer.

With due persistence and daily work, church choral singing can be successfully mastered in 1 year. Classes with an experienced teacher who will point out mistakes and correct them will help speed up the learning process.

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Good day to everyone who is now in touch and reading this post of mine.

The writing of this article was facilitated by my new obedience as a regent - a psalmist on weekdays on weekdays in the monastery church in the village of Bezrukovo, which is not far from my beloved Atamanovo.

I wrote about the fact that I now serve in the monastery on weekdays. Little by little I’m settling into my new parish, there’s a lot of work, of course, but have I ever been afraid of it?! Especially in the choir.

New obedience.

The level of singing at the choir in Bezrukovo, in my opinion, is rather weak, but then I understand why I was there. To with God's help raise it (level). Therefore, I can now boldly declare publicly that I am a practicing regent - an experienced psalmist, and one who practices everyday singing in the choir, and not notated choral singing.

No, we still sing according to the notes, despite the fact that one of the nuns has no musical education. But she understands notes and has a musical ear, so it will definitely be useful. I will try very hard to achieve this or I am not Alena Semyonova.

It’s just that, it seems to me, no one taught the mothers to sing correctly. And where could they study? So, just like they caught it by ear and okay. And I consider this negligence. No, not what was caught by ear. It’s even very good that they can perceive it by ear, and singing from the notes will follow. I consider it negligence in singing to sing a piece of music, even if it is everyday, but somehow with your own variations.

I sing as I remember. But I remembered it wrong. My mothers try very hard, I practice with them, though only once a week, but at least it’s something. The nuns have many obediences of their own; one of the mothers does not attend some evening services because she is busy.

It’s good that the three of us sing the Liturgy together. To learn how to sing correctly, we chose several simple chants that the mothers sang without me, and which, as they said, were familiar to them, and for now we only sing them. There is no point in learning something new, since many mistakes happen in these chants that people seem to know.

Learning to sing in the choir correctly.

I, as a hearing regent, point out shortcomings, and even better, correct them immediately after the Liturgy (we stay for ten minutes each time). Then we take this chant, which we couldn’t cope with or sang with errors, and work through it during the rehearsal. That is, we learn it again, but this time correctly and according to the notes.

And I also sing them with the same chant that came by mail to you, my family, in the singing mailing list and which is here on my blog page. This is where we learn to sing correctly. The position of vowels in singing can be shown at a rehearsal without harm to the service. It is also appropriate to work on diction during singing.

And all the comments and wishes for improving singing in the choir, which arise in the middle of the week during services, are also during the rehearsal.

And learning to sing correctly without rehearsing is almost impossible. I mean correctness not only vocally - choral technique, but also spiritual euphony. “One mouth and one heart.” After all, you can sing vocally, but not prayerfully, not churchily.

My nuns help me a lot with singing. They help with the power of their prayer, as the chosen brides of Christ. There is no vanity in their sound, prayerful detachment and at the same time concentration on the word and sound. Their calm euphony is transmitted to me, and sometimes I am carried away to Heaven and with them.

Sometimes I am “brought down to earth” by the fact that one of my singers “goes” to the wrong place. But this happens less and less. And the other day they sang Cherubimskaya very well. I didn't even swear. Kidding. In general, I stopped swearing at the singers, because if the choir (choir) sings poorly, then the regent is to blame. If the choir (choir) sings well, then this is the merit of the choir itself.

This is my opinion, I don’t impose it on anyone, so you can express your point of view on this matter. I don’t often write about how to learn to sing correctly in the choir. I just try to do it, and do it clearly. My chanting is aimed at forming the correct singing sound specifically in the choir in the church.

This is my many years of experience as a choir director, which I have summarized and give here on my blog in free access to everyone who wants it. Please use and apply. Because it’s very embarrassing, sometimes it happens when I go into a church that I don’t know, and the choir there sings weakly.

You should have heard, my dear ones, how the sectarians sing. You will listen. And where do they get so many votes, I was always amazed by this. And I’m offended for our faith, for the Orthodox Church. It’s insulting and unpleasant when you come to church to pray, and there is only one person singing at the service. He sings well, otherwise he actually reads everything...

Therefore, all of you who are learning church hymns and vocal singing on my blog, and those who already know how to sing in the choir and do it well with God’s help, then all of you have already been rewarded by being chosen to glorify God on earth. And God willing, you will be worthy of this fate in Heaven.

And I sincerely wish this for you and myself.

Sincerely yours, Alena Semyonova.

Addition to this post dated 04/12/2013

“She understands notes and has a musical ear, so she will definitely be useful. I will try very hard to achieve this or I am not Alena Semyonova"

I declare publicly that I am not Alena Semyonova, because I cannot teach someone who categorically does not accept this. The rehearsal with one of the nuns ended as soon as it began. She has good musical abilities, but the skill of improving church singing is not at all developed and there is no desire for this very improvement, so I wash my hands of it.

It is impossible to raise the level of singing where there is opposition to it, since they believe that a secular musician cannot teach a nun anything musical or good. I’m not going to convince anyone, and if any of the “great prayer books” are now reading this post on the blog, close the page immediately and run away from the blog. Since Anfir 70 dot ru is led by a secular musician, not at all humble and not spiritual. And also sharp and categorical, strict and soulless towards lazy people and freeloaders, whose name is Alena Semyonova.

And I, unspiritual and non-church, will pay attention only to those who truly deserve it. This statement also applies to teaching church singing online. The second nun comes to the singing and tries in the fall together with other secular singers of this monastery. My secularism and non-ecclesiastical nature does not in the least prevent her from improving her choir skills. And for this I bow deeply. And if you consider that she is already over seventy!!! God bless you, Mother Mary.

Moreover, I could no longer endure the goat-like singing of a mother who was negligent in singing and teaching, and I come to services when she is somewhere in obedience. I prefer to sing together with M. Maria, as it sounds better than the three of us. Because the three of us sound more and more uncoordinated and bad.

Have you long wanted to know all the ins and outs of the guys from the choir? Who sings, what he sings with, what he thinks about while singing, what he dreams about and who the brutal bass guys look at during the service. The legendary regent from Astana Anastasia Dubinskaya will tell you!

ALT IS DESTINY

If you are lucky enough to be born with ears and the rare ability to hold your own even when bullets are whistling around you, then you will be an alto until the end of your days. Congratulations!

And no one will ever care that you, you see, are a coloratura soprano. Viola is not a timbre. Viola is destiny....

I love this game with a special reverent love. After all, a choir without a viola is like a house without light, like dumplings without minced meat, like a hollow tree without a woodpecker! Without you, the chord sounds empty and lonely. And it would be boring in the choir without the eternal rustling of the altos. It always amazes me how they can sing, chat, leaf through a magazine and knit a hat at the same time!

Nice viola- this is, if necessary, a decent soprano and some kind of tenor. After all, violas have a huge range! They can sing almost anything...

This may be due to the fact that violas physically cannot stand in one place. They always need to go somewhere, knocking over the bedside tables with their butts, then jump up to the bass to angrily blow into the ear: “FA”, show something on their fingers to the tenor. Violas are simply ubiquitous...

They know everything that others need to do. And therefore they do not always have time to strike their note on time. But it is absolutely impossible to be angry with them, because they are always sincere, like children, and truly support our common choir cause...

"MEN AND TENOR SING"

This phrase was said during a rehearsal by a conductor I respect very much.

A tenor man is like a million dollars. Someone probably has it, but the vast majority of humanity can only dream of holding it in their hands at least once in their lives.

So if your choir has at least one male tenor, consider it manna from heaven! And if he can not only bring his body to the liturgy, but is also able to sing at 8 am - then it’s almost like meeting a unicorn!

For a male tenor, by and large, it doesn’t matter what he sings, because he’s too lazy to bother with the text. And why is the regent quibbling again? Does it really matter what syllable one note is played on for eighteen bars?!

Whether it’s Kherubimskaya or a song about Lenin, it will always be the same. High and loud. And even if it’s not very high... even if it’s frankly low, it’s still loud.
Sometimes it's so loud that you want to jump out of the balcony....

After all, even the first voices, in a fit of despair, begin to scream so much that the light bulbs in the chandelier explode... nothing personal, but no one dares to shout over the soprano! Our women are like that! They never want to yield to men in anything. Perhaps this is why there is a special breed of female tenors in the choir.

You won’t find this in Europe, because only a Russian woman can work for a man, drink like a man and sing like a man. Any vocal techniques are powerless here: if a woman needs to sing in tenor, she will sing. This is a matter of principle, even if she is actually a soprano.

What has always fascinated me about tenors (regardless of gender) is that they have their own metric system, in which a quarter can be longer or equal to a half, and the dot next to a note is always equal to an eighth.

It’s also funny to watch how they are thrown into a stupor by ligated whole notes. Tenors can only count to two! The remaining durations, tricky rhythmic patterns and variable meter - all these are the machinations of the enemies! That’s why the tenor’s piece sometimes ends a couple of bars earlier than the rest of the choir.

I haven’t had time to test one more feature of tenors in another choir, but mine suffer from this, just like everyone else. They don't recognize the notes.

We take the everyday Cherubimskaya, rewrite the notes by hand, or simply find an edition with a different font.... and the tenors freeze. And at least learn everything again! Tenor in general unique people... that's why they are valuable.

GREAT-GREAT GRANDS

Well, what choir can do without the silvery tints and sonorous trills of the soprano?! You are like caviar on a sandwich, like cream on a cake... like lace on panties!

And therefore, when, instead of confidently and purely singing the melody, you wander at an unnamed height, the entire choir begins to panic. The regent's eye twitches out of time, the tenor, like a steam locomotive, hums loudly and protractedly, the bass randomly jumps between the dominant and the tonic, and the cunning altos are thinking through a plan for an emergency evacuation from the choir...

Today the melody suddenly disappeared from the antiphons...

Soprano!!! Have you started your maternity leave???
-We are looking for the “Only Begotten Son.”

Amazing!!! Why, when your hands are busy, your mouth also becomes silent???

Once upon a time, while still working in opera house, I noticed one feature of the soprano -
if, according to the director's idea, they need to take a step to the right, two steps back, then sit down and turn to the left...., then they all (all of them) forget that they NEED TO CONTINUE SINGING! Everything automatically flies out of your head at once: text, music, libretto... and instead Italian words someone starts chanting their home address.

And only sopranos turn over notes not one page at a time, but ten at a time, so as not to waste time on trifles. And then, at the speed of a machine counting out bills with a wild whistle, they begin to feverishly flip back.

There is also an enchanted minor third down, which no soprano can sing from sight. I do not know why. Up - please! But down only a second or a quart, but never a third. Who even came up with this interval?!

And still we love you and forgive you everything. For the timbre, for the lightness, for the beauty, and especially for the surprised batting of eyelashes!

BASYATA - BESYATA

Well what can I say?! The wildest, most fun and mischievous part is the bass. Even if it's time for the guy pensioner's ID receive, he still frolics in the choir like a child! And just like children, basses are inquisitive.

Everything around them seems interesting and unknown. Having fallen out of the balcony onto the floor, they are trying to closely monitor what is happening in the altar, or to examine and count all the pretty parishioners.

The bass notes are of much less interest... because "C-G-C-G - C-F-G"... Just understand that these three notes need to be sung not only correctly, but also ON TIME - the basses don't given.

The bass doesn't flip notes on its own. Never. And the hands seem to be there... but behind the music stand the basses, like the Venus de Milo, stand like motionless marble statues - neither go around nor move!

Even during a second pause, the bass is irresistibly drawn to sit down. And if the pause is too long, then lie down. Well, after a minute of inactivity, the bass goes into “sleep mode”.

You need to wake up the bass very gently. Otherwise, there is a risk that when he suddenly wakes up, he will crush the bench, drop the folder, and knock off the chandelier with his head.... no one will be able to sing after this.

Basses know how to make you laugh. Moreover, you never know what exactly will make the bass laugh, but this laughter is so contagious that everyone starts laughing.

Bass are big babies. Sometimes you go for a walk with a child, take with you a whole bag of cars, buckets and balls, and he finds some kind of lid in the dirt and plays only with it, imagining that it is a flying saucer...

Same with basses. Any object in their hands turns into a toy, be it a tuning fork, a pen or someone's scarf. And they are so naive in their pranks that it is impossible to even scold them!

But the most important thing is that the bass will always help, always help out, and will never let you forget that you, although a regent, are just a girl who needs to be taken care of, not allowed to carry heavy notes and fed with chocolates.