Music Mysteries

Music plays a big part in human culture. I've been involved in music all of my life. As a small child it was singing Bible school songs. I learned to play the violin, viola and oboe as I went through school. While I was placed as an alto in the school chorus in elementary school (it was based upon your grade, not your vocal range if I remember correctly), I really did not learn to sing alto until junior high. I originally learned alto by moving to the alto line when the soprano and alto shared a note.

For the last 15 or so years, I've been singing on Wednesday with our church's chorus. I am amazed at how many ways people learn to sing. Back in my elementary school years I went to a song workshop at one of the area churches. One of the sessions was learning to sing with shaped notes. Each shape represents a different part of a scale.

For more information about this system and its history (and it has been around since 1847) check out James Tackett's page. While I went to that class, it did not "take", I don't use the shapes. I can tell you which note (the name -C, B flat, etc), but that is also not how my mind converts the notes on paper into the music that comes from my lips.

Even though I read music, I have been discovering that each of us has a unique approach to how we sing. I've known a long time that it is easier for me to sing my alto part when the sopranos are singing along. I seem to sing "relationally." Somehow, instinctively, I know where my note fits in with the rest of the chord. Likewise, even though each song is written in a different key, without conscious thought, I automatically read the music and don't have to think about whether this shoud be a C natural or a C sharp. I don't know how I do it, it just happens. I'm always surprised when I talk to a strong singer (especially one who sings a part besides soprano) who does not read music. The melody is easy to learn - our minds just do it. Parts are harder. And while some harmony just follows the melody a couple of steps down, other harmonies do not. So when I hear someone next to me "sightread" a new piece of music accurately without being able to read music, I am impressed. Some people need to hear someone else sing their part before it becomes natural. Some people find it easier to learn their part after they've heard the soprano or melody. I find it fascinating how each person's brain works differently to produce the same music.

Most of the time I can sight read new music, but I do it better when all the other parts are singing, because some part of my brain "knows" where my note should be in relation to the other notes. It is not conscious. While I can sightread a part by myself, it is often harder. There are times though that this automatic sense of where my note should be vanishes into thin air. Usually it is when a composer throws in some naturals and sharps that create a strange chord. Sometimes it is during a key change in the middle of a song. And sometimes when this happens, it becomes much more difficult to learn those measures of music in a song.

This happened at chorus last night. We are learning new music for the annual Christmas program. Since I"ve been out of town, they had already been working on the song. I was sight reading. It went well until the key change. It was a song written in a key with 5 flats (yes, my music theory should help me know which key that is . . . . but remember, there is that mystery, I just sing it, I don't have to know the key to be able to make the music) . The trouble started with a low B that was flat in the key signature, but was made a natural as part of a coming key change. The next two notes were also changed to lead into the new key. My brain just could not figure it out. I could not "hear" it. It took a number of times with Dan playing the notes on the keyboard and then another few times trying to sing it with the sopranos, another couple of times with the keyboard. Ahhhhh, finally it worked with the rest of the parts.

We worked on another song last night. I remember it well from some years back. The men start, and the women come in. The first time we sang this, Dan would try to give the altos their note. But for reasons I can't explain, I could never hold onto the pitch while the men sang their three notes. I spent a lot of time that year with my keyboard at home singing the men's entrance and placing my notes in relation to those. And the night of the performance, I was still worried. That year, Cindy Dodsen had the note nailed - if I stood next to her I could either get it, or at least get the next notes and then make it on into the song. She's not here this year. As we were having problems getting the note last night, I mentioned that the only way I "got it" last time was to find it as part of the run with the men's part. That may have helped some other altos this year. We'll see. It is a great song, if you can get through the first few measures and the ending which repeats the beginning.

I need to bring home a copy of the music to practice, because I worry that my brain may not remember that funny key change next week. Because of our travel schedule, I won't get to practice as many times. But hopefully, by the time of the program, I'll have it down.