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

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

11/11/2025

Last night I went to a lecture presented by the creators of "The Roots of Knowledge" stained glass installation at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Tom and Gail Holdman and the artists at the Holdman Studios have created a breathtaking creation that is both beautiful and educational. Well worth visiting if you are ever in Utah!

The stained glass panels take up about 200 feet of the gallery in the Library on UVU campus. The artists Tom Holden and his wife Gail gave an informative tour of how they went from concept after 12 years to completion of this magnificent work of art. I am so glad I got to hear their story of each of the panels and what they tried to depict.

One panel that really impressed me was of a giant with a tiny Issac Newton standing on his shoulder. The idea was to illustrate how he said that everything he had done was because he was building upon the work of those who came before him. And all that we do and enjoy is because of what has been accomplished by those who came before us. And the message in the end panel is that hope in the future for those who will come after us and continue to build.

Another panel illustrated how the printing press allowed music to go from the precious and rare manuscripts scribed by monks to Masterworks created by the Master Composers and disseminated throughout the world.

Indeed we modern composers and performers have great respect for the work that was done before our time. We stand in awe of the technology that allows us to be able to create music nowadays that can be instantly downloaded and enjoyed by others.

We also revere the first musicians who created the systems of writing music. Some of the first notated music was for early Church services. Gregorian chants were probably sung for years and passed on through aural memory. Finally one of the monks created a system of staff lines and spaces to notate how the pitches moved up and down in the melodies. Then came the movable "Do Re Mi" solfege systems, and on and on. We musicians really do stand on the shoulders of giants!

One favorite Christmas piece is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." The music is derived from an ancient chant. VENI IMMANUEL was originally music for a Requiem Mass in a fifteenth-century French Franciscan Processional. Composers and performers today may thank John Mason Neale (1818–1866) for his first English translation. Other writers have modified the text over the years.

This arrangement was commissioned for a church choir that wanted to sing mostly in 2-part mixed chorus with piano and cello accompaniment. They wanted to honor the tradition of early chant music. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" SATB, piano, and cello.

It's a Lift, Not a Fermata

7/21/2025

Putting nuances, phrasing and style into a performance can be hard to achieve. And yet, that's what makes a performance engaging for the audience. We've all heard music that seems flat or boring. That's probably due to the lack of interpretation put in by the performers.

Yesterday, my sister was getting a group of 9 ladies ready to sing together in Church. When I got there, one of them was asking about how they were to sing one of the phrases. "It seems like we aren't doing this part the same." And that was true. Some were holding the note, some were holding the pause, and some were just confused.

Then she tried to explain the difference between a lift and a breath after a fermata. A FERMATA is when the note is held extra long, usually followed by a definitive breath, long enough to regroup for the next phrase. A LIFT, however, is a very slight stretching of the tempo to accommodate a quick complete breath. And everybody must feel this lift the same for it to be effective. Sometimes a LIFT is used as an ARTICULATION that just stops the sound between words with NO BREATH.

Music is made up of periods of sound and periods of silence. Most people think that the notes are all that matters in music, but the rests are important, too.

Comments like "I couldn't understand a word they sang," or "that music was so complicated it sounded messy," or "listening to them sing made me uncomfortable because they never took a breath."

These kinds of comments sound funny, but those critiques come about when the choir doesn't respect the rests. It may take extra work for the conductor to convince the choir to practice taking the breaths --- when, where, how, and how long.

Working to get the choir to execute clean musical phrases together matters and taking breaths or observing the rests properly is very important.

By the way, my sister's singers performed very well, including the lift.

Agreeing on Choral Vocabulary

1/11/2025

Like our guest conductor said today at our workshop, teaching vocal technique is a dark art. It requires a lot of black magic to get it right. Whenever a choir gets together to sing, they bring all sorts of variations in singing experience. A conductor usually spends a good amount of effort making sure that the singers in his choir can agree on the sounds he wants them to make.

Blending, vowel formation, breathing, articulations, and many other techniques cannot be taught the same way a stringed or brass instrument is taught. A person's individual vocal instrument doesn't have buttons or strings that can be pushed a certain way to produce particular sounds the same way every time. And each personal instrument can sound different.

Voice teachers and conductors may resort to telling some abstract visualizations to help. The vocal mechanism is basically a tube from the lungs to the mouth where the sound is controlled by the vocal folds in the larynx and modified by the tongue, teeth and mouth shapes to created tones and words. In order get the students to produce good breath and tone quality, he may use instructions like "breathe from your diaphragm," use a "sky hook" to maintain good posture, or "imagine focusing the tone from your raised soft palate", etc. They may never use the actual anatomical terms because most people don't remember difficult words like that.

Dr. Brent Wells who currently teaches choral music and directs two choirs at BYU, gave a lot of good advice today in our workshop. I appreciated how he wanted our choral group to learn to agree on vocabulary so that we could more easily adjust our tone production during rehearsals.

For example, he wanted us to learn five different positions to be able to produce our blended choral sounds. For instance, #1 would be a very bright, nasal sound. He demonstrated this by touching the tip of his nose and singing like "Ado Annie" from the musical "Oklahoma." That character's sound was not a good choral sound because it cannot easily blend with other voices. He had us try to replicate that sound. (Not pleasant.)

#5 sound is created by singing deep in the throat (or lowering the Adam's apple). This is too dark of a sound and not easily blended.

He had us also practice singing in the other more pleasing positions. #2 would be imagining the sound focusing forward by touching either side of the nose. It is a bright, forward tone, ringing but not nasally. Position #3 is a high-cheek position or what some teachers call "singing from the mask," still with a bright buzzing ring. #4 is focused more from the soft palate in the back of the mouth. Most choral singing ranges from #3 and #4 positions.

He worked with us to do a better job of pulling air into our lungs using the muscle of the diaphragm. (Incidentally, the diaphragm is a flat muscle like a pancake that only has one job -- to pull air into the lungs. It cannot help support the tone.) We worked on keeping our breastbones high and still, and supporting the tone with our abdominal wall muscles.

Getting a blended beautiful sound from a choir takes a lot of effort from everybody and it starts with having all the singers agree on choral vocabulary and how to use it.

On Top of the Pitch

10/28/2024

One of the most difficult things to work on in a small choir is matching pitch. In a Ward Choir, for example, the singers are generally untrained and older, so they may already have issues.

Untrained voices may have trouble with vowel formations, unruly vibrato troubles, or just lack of concept of how to blend with other voices.

Older singers may just not have the breath control to do the singing they used to. Sagging pitch or tone quality is the result.

As a conductor, you may have to do more vocal warm-ups and teaching to get the voices to adjust their vowel placement, support the tone better, and encourage staying on top of the pitches.

However, as a conductor of a small choir with older voices, you can also choose music that avoids issues that cause problems for older voices. For example, LONG SLOW Held-Out PHRASES, big variations in DYNAMICS, extremes in EXTENDED RANGES, and the need to use fancy VOCAL TECHNIQUES.

You could start by sizing up your group. If you generally have less than three in a section, avoid any music with split parts such as SSAATTBB. In fact, you may be wisest to use songs with mostly unison or two parts with occasional splits to SATB in some sections.

Be careful if you have a few great voices that overpower all the rest. Those singers may have fragile egos and will not stay if they cannot sing mostly in their natural full voices. This makes it hard to manage a blended sound in the choir.

So you may need to choose the music you perform with this situation in mind. If you have that one baritone that has a great sound but is louder than the rest of the men put together, make sure you use that to your advantage. Put all of the men on the same part as that baritone. Strength in numbers --- as well as the hope of a more blended sound.

It's all up to you as a conductor to navigate the delicate egos and enthusiastic less-trained singers you may have in your small choir. To be successful, you must keep everybody happy. Good luck!

Always have a few 2-part pieces ready to rehearse in between your more challenging pieces. Two part hymn arrangements are excellent for practicing choral techniques such as matching pitches, blending tone quality, and staying on top of the pitches. See Easy 2-Part Mixed Chorus

Getting Into a Groove

9/30/2024

Occasionally I have been asked to fill in for our ward choir director. I actually enjoy directing choirs, so that is not an imposition. But this week I wasn't sure if I could even get there on time. I lead the singing in our ward for Sacrament Meeting at 9:00, then drove 40 miles to get to my granddaughter's Primary Presentation by 11:00, then drove back to my town for choir practice at 1:00 pm. I got to my choir practice a few minutes late, but hardly anyone was there yet. We decided to start anyway even though we just had one Bass, 6 Altos, and two Sopranos. Eventually a few more men came.

We took a vote on which song we thought that our director was most likely to choose for us to perform in a few weeks. (None of us remembered exactly.) Our director has been having us read through many pieces just to get the feel of what she really wants us to do, so we have a lot of music in our folders. The one we decided to work on the most was a version of "This Is My Father's World." It has a lovely violin part as well as the SATB and piano parts.

This not my recommended way of trusting a substitute to run a rehearsal. Usually the substitute is given some instructions on what to work on at least. Unfortunately, I felt unprepared. I don't recommend sight-reading the parts you are supposed to be teaching.

Anyway, I decided that I would default to my usual choral conducting strategies. We began with a few vocal warm-ups. Then we dove into learning the piece. This was the first week during this Fall season we had so many altos there at the same time. It became evident right away that this particular group needed work on matching vowels and pitches. So, we worked to modify "ah" and "oh" sounds and the hard one -- the short "a" as in "cat." Soon, they were doing much better.

Another big part of this piece was the need to hold out notes for impossible lengths of time. We had to do a lesson on "Staggering Breaths 101." We practiced coming in and out of a line fading out the notes, sneakily snatching breaths at different times, and then quietly coming back in. Soon they were working as a team.

The last note of the piece suddenly becomes unison from a dissonant 4-note chord. That took some effort to realize that on a sudden unison soft note EVERYONE has to become even softer than the pianissimo they were positioned on in the previous measure.

It took some work, but we made some good progress. The problem will be that the next time we meet, we may have a completely different leader and voices, many who have never worked on these issues before. But at least our efforts were lending some consistency to get our ward choir into a groove this Fall season.

Comments from the accompanist, "You are quite the pistol," and "Do you have a lead foot?"

(He was referring to how fast I ran rehearsal and how I must have broken a few speed limits to get back in time for our rehearsal. Which I didn't, there just wasn't much traffic.)

The Art of Phrasing

6/8/2024

Conductor giving clean cut-off

Most choral conductors try to get to the point in rehearsals where they can suggest (and hope to get) good PHRASING from their choir. Sadly, this aspect of singing takes a long time to master. Many willing Ward Choir singers are just regular folk who happen to like to sing. They probably have never had lessons to improve their voices. They likely have never had the opportunity to actually hear their own voices. They might not really understand what PHRASING is or why it is important.

Good singing is made up of so many techniques such as POSTURE, BREATHING, PITCH, DICTION, TONE, RHYTHM, BALANCE, BLEND, and the list goes on. Choir directors have to choose their battles when preparing their groups for performance. At first they have to make sure the singers know their PITCHES. They might work on standing up straight to improve POSTURE and BREATHING. They might encourage memorization of the words and do a few tricks to help with DICTION such as singing on the VOWEL and getting clean CUT-OFFS. He might even ask for the group to follow the DYNAMICS (the louds and softs) as marked in the music.

And then they run out of rehearsal time. The Performance comes and goes, just like that. On to the next project.

Getting to the good stuff like PHRASING might always be just out of reach. PHRASING happens when all of those other techniques are already in place and then the musicality and interpretation can begin.

As a singer, especially when singing in a language I really didn't understand, I learned to trust the composer. When in doubt of the message in the text, I could follow the musical setting the composer created. The composer did the work of interpretation through his music. All I really needed to do was trust his judgement. If the music gave dynamics, and slurs, and crescendo/diminuendo marks, I followed them. Those were the indications for PHRASING.

For a Ward Choir Director, getting his group to intuitively add musicality and PHRASING may be long in coming, but it can come. Just try adding nuances a little at a time or choose music that lends itself to including PHRASING from the get-go.

You might even record the group during rehearsal. Let them hear themselves and be the judges of whether they are singing with good PHRASING.

In an effort to record some of my own arrangements, I have tried multi-track recording. There are built-in problems with singing with yourself. Getting the feeling and interpretations right is nothing like what you can do in a group. It is definitely not the same result as having a conductor pull out a performance from the group all watching and feeling together!

"Love at Home" for SSAA, Piano and 2 flutes.

Bel Canto Singing

1/15/2024

Apparently opera singer Luciano Pavarotti was a real fan of Frank Sinatra. When he met Sinatra for the first time, he actually bowed to him. He called Sinatra the best singer in the world because he sang with beautiful bel canto stylizations. (Frank Sinatra was a big fan of Pavarotti, too, and they became great friends even though they didn't share the same language.)

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the definition of bel canto singing (Italian: “beautiful singing”) is a style of operatic singing that originated in Italian singing of polyphonic (multipart) music and Italian courtly solo singing during the late 16th century and that was developed in Italian opera in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.

But it is so much more than that. When I was studying Vocal Performance in college, my teacher said that bel canto singing techniques can be applied to almost any style of singing. He said that bel canto should be built around beautiful interpretations of the lyrics and the vocal line by using good breathing, proper intonation, classic vowel formations, and expressive phrasing. Although Frank Sinatra sang mainly popular songs, NOT ITALIAN OPERA, he certainly followed these techniques.

Breath Control is so important for solo singers especially. Posture, support, and breathing are the foundational techniques needed for beautiful singing. Where choral singers may be able to sneak breaths when they need them within the context of a large group, the soloist needs to plan breaths to support the tone as well as to make the phrasing understandable.

Proper Intonation helps with singing the musical line as well as singing in tune. Often I hear singers who just don't pay attention or get lazy, and allow their voices to go flat, or don't stay with the rhythm, or don't listen close enough to match pitches with other singers or instruments well.

Vowel Formations need to be consistent. Singers usually begin their practice with warm-ups using particular vowels (the Italian vowels a, e, i, o, u). English has 11-22 vowels plus dipthongs and tripthongs, depending on the regional dialects. Professional singers (soloists or choral) really should learn to sing so they can transcend all of the dialects and blend well with others. So to start with and continue staying up with vowel sounds, the 5 Italian vowels are used. If a singer can master those, the other vowel formations come quite naturally.

Probably the most recognizable part of bel canto singing is the Expressive Phrasing. This is where attention to dynamics, emotional feeling, and all of the other techniques come together. That's where Sinatra and Pavarotti were both experts.

(If you don't believe me, just look up Luciano Pavarotti or Frank Sinatra on YouTube or Spotify and listen with these techniques in mind.)

I studied Opera, but also got to sing choral, musical theater, and pop, as well as jazz over the years. I never forgot how my teacher encouraged me to always remember to sing with bel canto techniques. Here are a couple of excerpts from my performances, one as a soloist singing John Rutter's "Magnificat" with a local Master Chorale in Maryland (where I wished I had been adequately mic'd. It was so exhausting to sing against the choir and orchestra.) The other is a recording of a jazz tune, "Misty" with a jazz trio.

Thinking Big, Possibly Too Big?

9/25/2023

Some hymn arrangements were definitely written for large choirs. For example, think of a piece that has the 1st Soprano section holding a note high above the Treble staff for 8 measures at the end while the orchestra does the play out big finish. Yeah, well that doesn't exactly work well for a small 12-15 voice Ward choir with only a piano for accompaniment.

And what about the arrangements that start out pretty straight forward, possibly in unison for the first verse, then suddenly split into 4-part Men or 8-part full choir. That doesn't work so well for a group with only 4 Basses, 1 Tenor, 5 altos, and 2 Sopranos.

Sometimes even with a "bigger" group, or a small group with "bigger" voices, the balance just doesn't work out right. Sure those pieces that are performed so well by the Tabernacle Choir or a fine College Choir seem fun to pull out for a Ward or Stake group. But should you? Really?

There is quite a temptation to think big when planning for a special event such as Stake Conference or Christmas. A choir director who knows there are some great voices in her ward or stake might feel that "certainly, if I choose some grand choral works I will attract those singers to come." Realistically, though, people have issues in their lives that sometimes make it impossible for them to support even the most worthy projects.

And even if some of those good singers say they will come up from the audience just for the performance (because they already know the song or they can sight-read well), they don't really contribute to helping the group be cohesive. Plus, there is merit in having those good singers at rehearsals to help the stalwart singers feel more confident.

My advice is to make sure you have the SUPPORT you need before you choose the music. Once you reasonably can judge your REHEARSAL attendance you can responsibly select music to suit your group.

As an audience member, I would much rather hear a simple hymn or arrangement sung well-blended with the Spirit than hear ambitious music done poorly.

Christmas in July

7/19/2023

Can't help but notice all of the "Christmas in July" action going on right now. From Hallmark movies to special sales, for good or bad, Christmas is the biggest holiday to be commercialized.

For musicians, though, they have to look ahead to get prepared for shows and concerts six months out. For schools, music teachers HAVE to prepare in July for the end of Fall semester concerts. It's just the way things work.

I have been noticing people asking for help and guidance to find new music and programming ideas for their shows. This doesn't surprise me. THERE IS SIMPLY SO MUCH STUFF OUT THERE to sift through. Teachers and Choral Directors have quite a job trying to come up with fresh material year after year.

Some schools don't have a dedicated music program, so the classroom teachers must provide their own numbers for the "Christmas Sing" Concert at the school. Most teachers just do the same songs each year. Now as a grandma of many, I cringe at going to hear the same songs year after year, concert after concert. Maybe try a five year rotation...

There is something to be said for having a few numbers on the program that are TRADITIONAL. But, if just for the sake of the long-suffering audience, it is so refreshing to have most of the program different from year to year. That said, you don't want all of the songs to be completely brand new, either. Singing at least a few old favorites helps the audience appreciate the show better.

Having a THEME to help unify the show is ultimately the best programming device the teacher or director has. Many times through the years, finding a good THEME for a concert has been the best and yet hardest part of my job as a director. I have spent days, perhaps months, scouring music stores for just the right theme songs for my shows. (That was in the olden days.) Now, having access to online sources and many chat groups for advice, the job seems so much easier.

Some of the Christmas Holiday show THEMES (songs) I have used are "Holiday Harmony," "Be a Santa," "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," "Caroling, Caroling," and "Under the Christmas Tree." Another theme song that became a fun show is "The Greatest Christmas Card in the Whole Wide World." These last two theme songs I actually wrote because I ran out of time searching.

Fortunately at my schools, we did not have to worry about being "politically correct." We just sang a wide variety of songs --- from winter fun songs to Nativity songs, even a few Jewish songs. All were appreciated.

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