Why You Must Watch Your Choir Director
Have you annoyed your choir director by not watching him or her? Do you bury your eyes in the music and never look up? You may think that you can just feel the beat and sing. Well, for much choral music you must watch the director.
Unlike most popular music that you hear on the radio, most of the choral music that we sing has tempo variations and varying dynamics. The music that you hear on the radio is compressed so that you don’t have to adjust the volume controls during a song. Live music has a wider dynamic range than recorded music. That is one way that your ears can tell the difference between a recording and a live performance.
What is dynamic range?
Dynamic range is the difference between the softest and loudest passages in the music. For technical and (un)aesthetic reasons, recorded music is compressed so that the soft passages are made louder. This compression reduces the volume difference between the loudest and softest passages. The amount of compression generally depends on the genre of music. For example, some rock music is so compressed that there is no difference between soft and loud, so everything is loud on the recording. Classical music is hardly compressed at all, so you may find that when listening to a classical CD you have to turn the volume up to hear the soft passages, then you have to turn it down on the loud passages.
Why Does The Tempo Change?
The tempo varies in music to make it more expressive. Again, this depends on the genre. Dance music typically has a steady tempo while certain kinds of art music have varying tempos. However, even if music is written with a steady tempo, the tempo will vary because most humans cannot keep an even, steady tempo, and everyone in the choir naturally varies the tempo differently from everyone else. By watching the director, everyone in the choir can keep the same tempo. Only computers can keep an even, steady tempo.
The Director Needs To Control Tempo And Dynamics
The director needs for you to look up from your music so that you can see the tempo and so that you know how load or how soft to sing. The director wants to control the expression of the music, and he or she cannot do that if you don’t watch. So, look up and watch your director.
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