Choir Fun Facts #1

Singing fun fact:

Do you ever yawn especially when singing?

If your answer is "yes" - then consider this - it is primarily because there is air in your lungs that isn't getting used very well. Either you're not breathing deeply enough or you're not exhaling all of the "used" air. To remedy, make sure that when you sing musical phrases that you are expelling all of our air (in a healthy way) and not taking too many shallow breaths. You might also notice that you are having to breathe every measure or two - if so, you're not breathing deeply enough!

Theory fun fact:

"I haven't read music all of my life in choir. Why should I learn to read music?"

The way I usually address this is to ask that you imaging that you were going to have an extra room built on to your house and you already had the plans all drawn up. What would your reaction be if the person that you hired looked at the plans and told you that they didn't read blueprints - but not to worry, he/she has done this a long time and they were sure it would look something like what you had in mind?

I know what my reaction would be... I'd send them packing! Just because church choirs are generally volunteer, that doesn't affect the importance of having the tools necessary to do our very best job. If doing our very best involves learning to read music, then that is what we should be committed to doing. Also, I can promise you that if you learn how to read music, even rudimentarily, you will learn all of your music faster, more accurately and feel much more confident about your singing altogether.

Philosophical Fun Fact

"We've got so much music already! Why should we learn more?"

One of the most reiterated verses in the entire bible is "Sing a New Song..." There are dozens of Psalms that mention that - once... twice or sometimes even thrice or more. That's not to say that singing the "old" or familiar songs is bad - not at all! However, I think we need to be cognizant that we don't get caught in a rut just singing those familiar songs simply because they are familiar. (There's a lot of good reasons to sing familiar songs - but comfort level isn't one of them...)