16 Principles of Choral Music

1. Always have a pencil in rehearsal and use it.
2. Plan to breathe.  Mark it in your music and always breathe there.
3. Never less than half-a-tank.  Plan your breathing; never run out of air.
4. Good diction begins with good rhythm.  Subdivide the beats and keep a careful, steady pulse.
5. Any note longer than a dotted quarter must be shaped (usually < >).
6. Note shaping applies to phrase shaping.  Keep the target word(s) in mind.
7. Word Stress.  Every word with two or more syllables must have one strong syllable.
8. Choral sound is Tall, Dark and Forward.  95% of energy is on sustained sound, 5% on vanishing sound.
9. Always tall, uniform vowels.  Unify WITHIN the section, then unify BETWEEN the sections.
10. Voiced consonants have pitch and length.  Examples are "B"  "V" and "N"
11. Aspirated consonants require air and must be heard.  Examples are "H" and "F"
12. Singing soft is harder than singing loud.  Decrease volume and increase intensity (breath support).
13. Rubato means "Free with Time".  Speed up or slow down depending on the phrasing of the music.
14. Prepare for Entrances.  Think the pitch, form the vowel, breathe through the vowel shape.
15. Crescendo requires a slight drop of the jaw.  Don't warp the sound.  Build from the bottom up.
16. De-emphasize syllables using "schwa".  Examples are "the" and "station".