The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey - My Musical Musings Blog | betsyleebaileymusic.com

Actions in Songs vs. Wiggle Songs

3/28/2023

Adding actions to a Primary Song is not necessarily the same thing as doing a Wiggle Song. Remember that the Primary Children have just been sitting in Sacrament Meeting for at least one hour. The little ones need time to stretch and wiggle to settle themselves for Singing Time. I use the little ones' needs as the excuse, but truth be told, the older kids enjoy doing wiggle songs, too.

Wiggle Songs in Primary have a specific purpose. The good ones will provide opportunities for stretching and movement in a controlled climate. They encourage singing and following the leader which is engaging the brain. They also will end with getting back into a reverent attitude.

One of my favorites is "My Hands" CSB 273. I actually prefer to lead this one without piano accompaniment. My plan with this is to quickly get the kids attention, allow them opportunities for stretching and movement, but especially to get them to follow the leader. I plan holds and pauses in the singing and movements to see if they can follow me. I will also go faster or slower to check if they are keeping up. It ends with "Clap, clap, clap, then 1, 2, 3. See how quiet they can be" while we fold our arms and sit down. I usually do this song three times through. This takes less than one minute and is amazingly effective.

Sometimes, I throw in a quick stretch, breathing exercise or wiggle song whenever I see the children need it. Just one minute can work wonders.

Adding actions to Primary Songs can be a nice change, but they are not designed to do what a wiggle song can. Many times, adding movements to songs that have a lot of lyrics can actually shut down the singing.

For example, I have seen well-intentioned Music Leaders give the children rhythm patterns to clap during a song (that has many verses and a chorus) intending to help the children memorize the words. Unfortunately, most of the kids could not do both. So they dropped the singing altogether and focused solely on the movements.

Just because the song has been given movements doesn't qualify it as a Wiggle Song.

The Singer's Comfort Range

3/24/2023

Once in a while, someone will ask me to help them with a musical problem. A friend texted me this morning wondering about arranging a hymn for a typical Ward Choir. The problem was that her singers complained that what she had written was uncomfortable for them to sing. She asked me what the vocal ranges are for typical Ward Choir singers.

Well, the problem may be more complicated than writing to stay within the typical ranges for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. Truth be told, an arrangement may be written sticking to those guidelines and still be uncomfortable for the singers to sing. That's because of something called TESSITURA.

To a singer the word TESSITURA describes the human voice finding its comfort level or its HOME in a song. Every MELODY or HARMONY part is made up of PITCHES, RHYTHMS, and TEMPO. A SONG also adds LYRICS. Trying to sing a lot syllables on quick rhythms on pitches that straddle the PASSAGIO (mid-range shift between registers) or are in the extreme high or low registers can just feel uncomfortable to the singer.

For example, the Soprano part towards the end of Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus dances on Treble D for many measures at Forte. Treble D is right on the PASSAGIO for a Soprano. Lots of repeated notes on Treble D can get very tiring. She would prefer notes in that part of her register to be soaring on long open vowels with no busy lyrics.

Music written that looks like it lies perfectly within the singer's range, may actually be deceiving. A Tenor's speaking voice may fall right around Middle C. He may feel perfectly comfortable singing "speaking lyrics" on those notes that if written in Treble clef are right around Treble C. So, because those notes are well within the Soprano range, they should feel comfortable for a woman to sing, too. Right?

Not necessarily. For a Soprano, those notes fall right on her PASSAGIO. Those pitches are NOT in her "speaking" range, and depending on how fast the lyrics are, they surely require a lot of jaw action to form the consonants. This can definitely cause strain and discomfort.

So, if you are arranging for the various voices, ask your singers if those parts feel comfortable. If they say that they would feel more comfortable if the music was transposed a little lower or higher depending on the TESSITURA, believe them. The pain is real!

"I Know that My Redeemer Lives"- duet for Sop/Sop is an example of a hymn arrangement that was written especially for two high Soprano voices. Even though the melodic ranges are very high, the words soar on the pitches. The TESSITURA is comfortable for both singers.

Tried and True Planning Strategies

3/20/2023

What do you say about a special program that was well-prepared and the actor/singers gave good performances, but the concert was still lacking? As an audience member, I wanted to give appropriate applause to show the performers that I appreciated their efforts. However, I could not bring myself to give the show a standing ovation.

There seemed to be two major problems. The first was that the individual songs went on too long! Each one was over 4, maybe over 5 minutes. The second problem was that all of the songs used many of the same musical ideas. Those few rippling flute lines and other motives were nice in the first song, but quickly got old by the later songs. And those same accompaniment figures and chord progressions were very reminiscent of the love themes from 1990's soap operas and movies. They just seemed out of place for a sacred program performed in a chapel even when the subject matter included love stories from the scriptures.

Our directors used to tell us during Tabernacle Choir rehearsals that planning a Music and the Spoken Word program, whether you believed it or not, was SHOW BUSINESS. All of the elements had to fit in the proscribed time period and follow accepted norms. However, there always needed to be elements of surprise to keep the audience engaged.

People really have short attention spans. They need to have VARIETY as well as FAMILIARITY. They like what they know and they only stay engaged for the amount of time they expect. Even the best prepared and executed performances can suffer if they stray from certain expectations. Who knows when the audience will decide to lose interest?

So, how does a director or composer put together a pleasing show? According to sources I respect, they should always remember the 2-3 minute attention span limit. Plan VARIETY into the program --- periods of new material followed by familiar material, vary TEMPO, MOOD, ACCOMPANIMENT and MELODIC IDEAS while not straying too far from what is known and expected. This is a tried and true programming strategy.

Some songs CAN go on for more than 3 minutes and still provide enough VARIETY to stay interesting. RONDO, for example, is a song form where one section comes back between other melodic adventures.

"O That I Were an Angel" is a Sacred song in RONDO form. The text is from Alma 29:1-9 and are the words that Alma the Younger spoke as he shared his desire to cry repentance to every people. The repeating Rondo section contains the following text and is used to tie the other sections to the whole:

O, that I were an angel that I might have the wish of mine heart,
O, that I were an angel that I might have the wish of mine heart.
That I might go forth to preach with the trump of God,
With a voice to shake the whole earth!
With a voice to cry repentance to every people, every people!
O, that I were an angel that I might have the wish of mine heart.

Thoughts About Using Songs in Primary Lessons

3/19/2023

For the past couple of years, I have been serving in Nursery and Sunbeams. Teaching the lessons in Primary have been interesting to put together. I have been glad that each lesson tends to include the singing of various Primary songs. The trouble is that so few of these songs have been taught by the the Song Leaders during Singing Time. That means that the children probably don't know them unless they have learned them at home.

I find it sad that the children learn so few of the songs from the Children's Songbook. Some song leaders only teach a few songs during the entire year! Many song leaders opt for teaching new songs from videos that they have found online. There is nothing wrong with these new songs, although some of them tend to be very long and wordy. However, the longer the song, the more time it takes to teach it to the children.

That means that when we try to sing the suggested songs during in our class time, I sing solo. Part of that is because the children are so young and every song is new. I understand that. So, my companion teacher and I have decided that we will just dedicate part of our class time to teaching and singing Primary songs.

My understanding is that the point of having a Children's Songbook is to provide a foundation of songs that will be consistently learned and used throughout the Church. This cannot be accomplished if the Primary Song Leaders in each unit only teach a few songs per year and those songs are NOT from the Children's Songbook or other approved sources.

I know from moving around a lot throughout my life that the songs currently sung in Primary tend to be different from Ward to Ward. It is frustrating for children who go visiting who cannot join in the singing because they have never been introduced to the songs. I sure hope more Song Leaders in Primary will come to understand this problem and will do something to rectify it!

Congregational Singing

3/13/2023

For the past few weeks, our chapel has been minus an organ. We were informed that the organ was getting updated with some new registers. Okay. We'll see if any of our organists will know what to do with them. At least one very accomplished organist will know, but will the others?

In the mean time, the organist has been playing the piano for our services. I gave a talk on the first week of this situation. Then, I actually was gone on a trip last weekend, so this Sunday was the first week that I was in the congregation during Church. What I'm getting at is that without the organ, the voices in the congregation were easier to hear.

As we sang the hymns, I was delighted to hear all of the vocal parts -- Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. Sure, I heard a few male voices singing melody with the Sopranos, but mostly, I could distinguish the parts in a remarkably equal distribution. And even though we sang a couple of less familiar hymns, they still sang!

What surprised me the most was how joyfully the congregants sang out --- IN TUNE!!! In other chapels where I have attended recently, the people in the congregation hardly sang or they sang out of tune. Many people didn't sing at all. Not my ward. They really sang and we have many really beautiful voices among us, too. Now, I was seated on the second row up front, so all of the voices were aimed my way. I loved it!

One of the hymns we sang was "How Wondrous and Great." I have loved this hymn since I was a young teenager. I eventually made an arrangement of it for Choir using Classical styling. At the time, I had a very fine pianist who loved going off on some grand musical adventures through many keys. So each verse gets a modulation. Since the choir I was writing for had an Alto section that always begged me for a featured part, I gave them the melody on one verse and bumped the Soprano section up to a descant. A win-win for everyone!

Remembering the Fun Grandpa

3/11/2023

March 11th is always a difficult day for me. It is the anniversary of the passing of my dear husband. But it is also a time to remember all of the wonderful times we had as a couple and as a family. Ellis was a builder, a hiker, a surfer, a story-teller, a "foodie," a swing dancer, an engineer, a problem-solver, and could play harder than any of the kids.

Even before we had children of our own, the neighborhood kids would come by our house and ask, "Is that big kid home yet? We want to play with him." When we were just new parents Ellis grew out his beard. At one family reunion where there were many extended family members who didn't know Ellis, some of the second cousin's kids came into the house asking to play with that "fun" grandpa. Nobody knew who they were referring to until they said, "No, the grandpa with the beard. We want to play with him!"

It has been fun to go through all my photos in hopes of organizing them into some sensible arrangement. Pictures of Ellis having fun with the kids and grandkids are so numerous. He looked as good in a Hawaiian shirt as in a Tuxedo. I love pondering those good times. It makes me happy that we have so many pictures to remember him by!

But of all of the good things that Ellis was, he mostly was a missionary. He never shied away from sharing his love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I like to think of him now preaching to the souls in the spirit world who never had the chance to learn about the Gospel while they were on earth. These words of Alma in the Book of Mormon make me think about Ellis. He's probably having fun preaching right now.

"O, That I Were an Angel" vocal solo based on Alma 29:1-9

Grandchildren's Concerts

3/7/2023

As a grandmother, I go to a lot of concerts -- elementary, middle, and high school band, orchestra, and chorus concerts as well as other types of shows that my grandkids are performing in. Some of the groups are well prepared and give fine performances. Others are a bit painful, but I go to support them anyway.

This past weekend, I got to go to a very well-prepared concert. SOGO (Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia) presents exciting concerts with their three tiers of student players. My grandchildren's local schools do not offer orchestra, but after some hunting they found and joined SOGO. (The High Schooler plays viola and the Middle Schooler plays Bass Viol.)

The Conservatory level for more advanced students played beautifully. The Academy level also played well, very well for young teen agers. The Debut level was made up of beginners mostly in elementary school and did fine, too.

Each level of orchestra has professional artists that play along within each section and help the students learn their instruments and how to play better. What a difference to have the exemplar playing in amongst the students! That helps make the sound so cohesive. Some of these professional artists are also private teachers for the students or trade off conducting rehearsals and concerts.

The pieces chosen to be played were varied and selected from impressive repertoire. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert, including a re-voicing of Gershwin's "An American in Paris" done by the 17 members of the professional artists. So incredible to see these few instrumentalists cover for an entire orchestra!

I am so happy that my violist and bassist grandchildren get the opportunity to play with such a great group!

Rounding the Bases to Home Plate

2/27/2023

During my music classes in college, we were taught that a good composition opens in Tonic and ends in Tonic be it either in a Major or Minor tonality. Sure, after that opening, the chord progression takes off on adventures but always comes back to Tonic. In fact, we were taught that these chordal adventures were like rounding the bases in a Baseball game. And in order to emphasize that we are coming into Home Plate, the Dominant 7th chord is employed right before the last chord.

We were told that rounding those bases and coming into a strong finish at Home Plate gives the audience great satisfaction. These Western notions of TONALITY and what makes up a pleasing composition, especially a SONG, over many centuries, have been very well entrenched.

And then we were told that all of these ideas could be thrown out for EFFECT if we wanted to make the audience feel uneasy, uncomfortable, or upset, or many other emotions.

Experimental Music is just what it says it is. Composers in this arena turn many of the entrenched procedures upside down, inside out, and any which way. Norms are thrown out the window. And much of the music is meant to be improvised by the performer on the spot. I listened to one such composer perform and then explain some of his sacred compositions. He said that this was how heard and felt the texts and how they came to him in musical form. Some were quite beautiful, but I would have appreciated the music better if it had had more predictable structures and singable melodies, and some repetitions that reinforce the message.

Call me old school, but I like to have STRUCTURE that I can count on. I think there is plenty of room for improvisation and experimentation, but I like the idea of eventually coming HOME.

Sometimes composers of experimental music, especially those who set scriptural TEXTS believe that the texts should remain unaltered and never be repeated such as in Baroque or Classical music. They say that melismas or repeating of phrases for poetic reasons just slow down the action and disrupt the flow of thought.

On this point, I have to disagree. I think that repetition for poetic reasons is very good. Some repetition helps with PATTERN and RHYME schemes as well as providing additional EMPHASIS for important points. (And besides these, for a singer, the melismas are such fun to sing!)

Give me a tune that gets into my mind and won't go away any day! I love melodies and chord progressions that take me around the bases and let me slide into Home Plate! So satisfying!

Here is an original setting of the scriptural text found in Isaiah 52:8-10, Mosiah 12:22-24 and 3 Nephi 16:18-20 complete with structure, repetitions, poetic alterations of text, and even a few melismas. "Break Forth Into Joy."

Peace, Peace Be Still

2/23/2023

After reading the accounts of many people whose stories tell of times when they have been in real peril, I look at my life and think how blessed I have been. Yes, my husband has passed, and there are many things I am having to learn that he took care of that are difficult for me. Besides, I miss him. But all in all, I have family members close by that are very willing to help me.

Still, last month was hard. The cold and grey of January was just bringing me down. My neighbor wrote an article for our Ward news letter about how to deal with the "doldrums" and it sounded just like how I felt. Turning to the Savior with renewed energy of heart and serving as He did really helped. When the storms of life seem too much for us, we can take hold of the Savior's promise that we can find peace in Him.

In Maryland, when I was serving as the Stake Music Coordinator and Choir Director, I was amazed that every time Stake Conference was on the horizon, I would be inspired to write an arrangement. I never knew if the music that was going around in my head would be on the theme the Stake President wanted. And sometimes it wasn't. Still, it was nice to get some inspiration to write a song or create a choral arrangement of a hymn.

One time, the Stake President asked me to have the choir sing two specific hymns. I shook my head and said, "You realize that these two hymns are very similar, in fact they have the same tempo and feel. Don't you think you need a little variety?" We did a little compromise and settled on slower hymn near the beginning and "Master, the Tempest Is Raging" SATB to lead into his talk.

It just so happened that it was the arrangement I had been working on. Because it has such a narrative text, I decided to treat each verse with a little different flavor. The first two verses are sung mostly in unison with urgency and in a minor tonality. The accompaniment has motion as if the boat is riding terrifying waves. The first part of chorus is sung in parts rising to a big crescendo. Then, the mood changes at, "They all shall sweetly obey His will. Peace, peace be still."

The transition is reminiscent of the parting of storm clouds with the sun shining over a calm lake. The third verse, "Master the terror is over, the elements sweetly rest..." is sung lyrically with relief in the voices. The chorus follows the shape of a crescendo, but with testimony instead of fear. Ending very quietly with the Savior's words, "Peace, peace be still."

"Look to me in every thought. Doubt not. Fear not." D & C 6:36

"Master the Tempest Is Raging" Solo

Singing with an Orchestral Conductor

2/21/2023

Choral conductors and Orchestral conductors often have very different styles. For example, an orchestral conductor often sets the beat to get things started, then expects the players to stick with the set tempo and count. He will then use his motions to indicate dynamics and articulations and the general "feel" of the composition. He will only beat time when a tempo change is needed or working through a difficult passage.

On the other hand, a choral conductor understands that the choir is made up of many individuals who need guidance for entrances and cut-off's, especially when they involve tricky consonants like "ch," "t," or "s." Vocalists also depend on the conductor for guides to shaping vowels and phrasing, as well as overall help to keep the lyrics crisp and understandable.

When I have sung under the batons of orchestral conductors, I remember how hard it was to cue into their moves. We singers could hardly distinguish an ictus let alone interpret other conducting maneuvers. Sure, we got that they were indicating mood and pathos, but we definitely were used to more spoon-feeding from our regular choral conductors. We depended on precise preparatory beats for breaths and entrances, plus clear cut-off's. Many singers do not have the training that band and orchestra players do when it comes to counting. Besides, it helps to be able to get to know the conductor and get used to his style. Usually, our choirs only got to sing with the orchestral conductor for special projects or a one-time performance. Not really enough time to truly get to know the conductor.

While attending a concert the other night, I enjoyed watching the conductor who was a world-renown orchestral conductor. Again, he was mainly conducting for the orchestra who did not need preparatory beats for taking breaths, or clear cut-off's to unite difficult consonants. I was proud of the choir to be able to do as well as they did without the benefit of beat patterns or even cue indications. They all had to count as precisely as clarinets and violins. Their diction was good, but maybe I could understand them because I knew the piece pretty well. Who knows.

Kudos to the choir for holding their own!

The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey copyright 2020