THE WRONG TIME TO STAND AND SING

Presumably, one of the best ways for a vocalist to position him/herself to perform is by standing to sing. Standing to perform 'ignites' energy; there are no doubts our choirs always perform on the stage while standing. Standing is better for singing, it allows you to project more.

Most at times, at our choir practices, we ask choristers to stand and sing; and we can all attest to how the singing goes. It is either they sing well genuinely or they put in much effort so that they can sit down early.

 

But we need to take note that not all the standing-to-sing during choir practices help, some of them drain our energy to sing.

Sometimes, choristers get tired already before attending practice and so if you always insist they should stand and sing, without considering their ‘situation’, in the middle of the choir practice, you are just doubling their tiredness; you will never get the feedback you want.

The practice activities can also make them tired and so if you ask them to stand and sing to be able to correct a particular challenging section of a song, you add loads to their loads. Some directors don't even sing the correct thing to them and so the choristers stand to sing, and continue to sing the wrong thing, and waste the time.

In another situation, choir directors sometimes ask choristers to stand as a means of ‘punishment’ for talking during the practice session. For all you know, they might be tired and are just chatting to release some tension. One of the ways to make use of their situation can be asking them to listen, follow, and be judges of the part that is singing, while they keep mute.

Standing is always better for vocal performance, and I've never heard of any exceptions to this. But you must always study your choristers to know when ‘load’ is good or isn't good for them. If you put much load on them, especially during the practice sessions, their vocal folds are affected; and you will never get the sound production you expect.