Chorus art has the following characteristics
1, with a wide range. The range of chorus is the sum of all participants' ranges, and it can reach three and a half to four octaves from the lowest pitch of male voice to the highest pitch of female voice.
2. Rich timbre. Chorus can include all kinds of dramas and lyricism of male and female high, middle and low voices, and it can also include different timbres and different combinations of timbres of each person.
3. The strength varies greatly. From the weakest ppp to the strongest fff, it is the strength range that the chorus can be competent, and no one can compare with it.
There are many sound levels. As chorus is a kind of multi-part music, different chords, different chord modulation, different voice combinations, different intensity and different timbre changes will produce different acoustic effects and levels.
5. Strong expressive force. Chorus can express all kinds of works, whether melody music or polyphony music, no matter any historical period, no matter any emotion, no matter any style of works, it can be perfectly expressed through chorus.
Basic knowledge of chorus
Chorus overview
Two or more groups of singers who sing two or more tunes at the same time are called chorus.
Chorus is a vocal performance art form with multiple voices in groups. Wide range, rich timbre, strong harmony and grand momentum, with multi-level and three-dimensional sound effects. It expresses feelings with human voice and music with human voice, so it is very powerful and infectious. It is a high-grade and easy-to-popularize vocal performance art form.
Types of chorus
There are two types of chorus:
1, Chorus: This form of chorus includes three different types:
(1) Children's Choir, a choir sung by boys and girls.
2 male chorus, pure male chorus.
3 female chorus, a chorus sung by a pure female voice.
2. Mixed chorus: A chorus sung by an adult male voice and an adult female voice.
The form of chorus
The forms of chorus can be roughly divided into two categories:
1. Chorus accompanied by band, piano or other forms. Such as The Yellow River Cantata (Guang Weiran's Ci, Xian Xinghai's Qu), Long March Suite (Xiao, Chen Geng,,, Lu Yuan Qu), Alamuhan (Xinjiang folk song, Xie Gongcheng's chorus), Guerrilla Song (He Lvting's Ci), On Taihang Mountain (Gui Tao's Ci, Xian Xinghai Qu) and Blue Danube.
2. cappella, such as Pastoral (Inner Mongolia Folk Song, Harmo Ci, Chorus by Qu Xixian), Climbing the Mountain in Half Moon (Qinghai Folk Song, Cai Yuwen, Yang Jiaren Chorus), Echo ([Bi] Lasso), Jinyunhua Night ([] lermontov Ci, Qu) and Jinyunhua.
In the form of chorus, it can also include male and female solo, chorus, duet, recitation, male and female chorus, mixed chorus and other forms of vocal performance, thus forming a whole chorus.
Chorus organization
Chorus organizations are divided according to the classification of human voices. According to the different voices, chorus is generally divided into two categories, one is simultaneous chorus and the other is mixed chorus.
First of all, chorus
Simultaneous chorus is a chorus composed of parts of the same part type. According to the classification of voice parts, simultaneous chorus can be divided into three types: children's chorus, female chorus and male chorus.
1, children's chorus:
(1) Children's voice two-part chorus: all composed of boys and girls, divided into high and low parts.
(2) Children's Tri-chorus: composed of boys and girls, divided into three parts: high school and low school.
In order to sing more complicated works, two basic voices are sometimes divided into four parts: the first treble, the second treble, the first bass and the second bass.
2. Female chorus:
① Female voice two-part chorus: all composed of adult women, divided into two parts: treble and bass.
② Female Trilogy Chorus: All of them are composed of adult women, divided into three parts: senior high school and junior high school.
In order to sing more complicated works, two basic voices are sometimes divided into four parts: the first soprano, the second soprano, the first alto and the second alto.
3. Male chorus:
① Male voice two-part chorus: all composed of adult males, divided into high and low parts.
(2) Male chorus: All of them are composed of adult males and divided into three parts: high school and low school.
③ In order to sing more complicated works, two basic voices are sometimes divided into four parts: the first tenor, the second tenor, the first bass and the second bass.
Second, mixed chorus.
① Mixed voice two-part chorus: composed of adult male and female voices, divided into high and low voices.
(2) Mixed voice four-person chorus; It consists of adult male and female voices, and it is divided into four basic parts: female high, female low, male high and male low.
In order to sing more complicated works, the four basic voices are sometimes divided into eight parts: the first soprano, the second soprano, the first female bass, the second female bass, the first tenor, the second tenor, the first bass, the second bass or more.
The voice of chorus
Chorus is an art form of vocal performance. Vocal music is music expressed by human voice. Human voice is the most attractive, expressive, acceptable and communicative voice in music performance. Therefore, chorus performance requires high quality of sound.
The performance of an excellent choir requires not only good sound conditions, but also scientific and strict sound training, with unique norms in the concept and application of sound. In this sense, the chorus voice has two requirements: one is the general requirement of chorus voice, that is, whether the voice quality and voice application of each member of the chorus performance group meet the requirements of vocal performance in the general sense, such as relaxed and natural singing state, firm, full and smooth voice, rich voice and pure timbre. The second is the special requirements of chorus quality, that is, whether the voice of each member of the chorus performance group meets the special requirements of chorus art itself, such as the consistency, integrity, coordination and plasticity of chorus voice. This is very important for the glee club.
First, the general requirements of chorus voice
Chorus, like solo, duet, duet and other vocal performances, requires singers to have good voice conditions, which can be fully utilized and developed through training and scientific vocal methods. With full breath support, when singing, the voice should be firm, full, round, smooth, elastic and * * *, with bright treble, generous alto, solid bass and full timbre. It has certain flexibility, plasticity and penetration, can make strong, weak, bright, dark, rigid, soft, continuous and jumping changes, can achieve a certain degree of relaxation and free control under the condition of dense notes and large interval jump, and can maintain good timbre and * * * sense in complex changes. It can be said that the sound quality of chorus is the basis of the overall sound quality of chorus, and the sound quality of chorus depends on the sound quality of everyone in chorus.
The sound quality of chorus is not constant, it is a sound expression process which is produced by the combination of voice conditions and singing skills, and it has obvious instability. Excellent chorus performance requires not only high-quality sound conditions, but also comprehensive, mature and stable singing techniques to ensure that chorus performance can obtain and always maintain excellent sound quality. People's singing state and voice state are often influenced by people's emotions, physical condition, singing time, difficulty of works and other factors. Chorus performance requires keeping a good voice when singing. It can be said that only by keeping a good voice in the chorus performance can we really sing well.
Second, the special requirements of chorus voice
The quality of the voice can not be evaluated without the special requirements of music and chorus art. No matter what kind of voice, only when it fully meets the needs of music and the special requirements of chorus art can it be considered as a good and beautiful chorus voice.
Chorus, as an art form of collective vocal performance, is performed by the collective rather than the individual. Therefore, his voice requirements are naturally different from those of soloists with personal performance themes. It is an important feature and special requirement of chorus voice to clearly emphasize the * * * of chorus as a whole. Chorus performance requires a high degree of unity of voice, and every singer should turn off his own voice, strive to overcome his individuality and seek the beauty of the voice of the group. Everyone should be close in singing volume, timbre, singing method and so on. Coordinated and highly integrated, through careful adjustment, the voices of different singers are well combined to form a brand-new, complete, high-quality and beautiful voice belonging to chorus performance. Every chorus singer should have such a clear consciousness, and create a voice with distinctive chorus performance characteristics through the cooperation of Qi Xin of the chorus.
Good singing gives people's diet an infectious group sound, which is the unique color of chorus. It can most effectively express people's voices and emotions, be understood by the audience, and arouse the audience's voices. As a chorus part, so is the chorus as a whole composed of several chorus parts. When many chorus parts are combined, attention should be paid to the connection between the high-pitched part and the low-pitched part. When the voices alternate, the voice transition should be natural, the treble and bass, the male voice and the female voice should be well integrated to form an inseparable whole, and the chorus performance should be completed together. Different choirs have different requirements for conducting and vocal music guidance, different training methods, different sound concepts, different individual conditions of performers, and different sound quality and color. Therefore, different team concerts give people different acoustic feelings and produce different chorus performance effects. To evaluate the sound quality of chorus performance, we should not only see whether it has overcome individuality and achieved * * * to the maximum, but also see whether it has created the voice of chorus performance group with good * * * * *, that is to say, there should be * * * between each individual in the singing group, and each individual singing group should have its own personality.
Chorus accompaniment
1, the accompaniment form of chorus
Chorus can be divided into cappella and accompanied chorus. Accompaniment chorus, there are two main forms of accompaniment: one is keyboard instrument accompaniment, which mainly includes piano accompaniment and accordion accompaniment, among which piano accompaniment is the most common form, and piano accompaniment is used in general professional chorus competitions and special chorus concerts; The second is band accompaniment, which mainly includes three kinds of accompaniment: western orchestra, national orchestra and symphony orchestra. Symphony orchestra is the most widely used form. According to the specific situation of each team, there are also examples of using Chinese and Western mixed bands or electro-acoustic instruments mixed bands to accompany the chorus.
2. Placement of chorus accompaniment instruments or bands
When using piano accompaniment, it is generally customary to put the piano in front of the chorus, that is, the left front of the conductor is in an appropriate position between the chorus and the conductor; When using band accompaniment, according to the size of the band, it can be placed in front of the chorus, that is, in the middle position between the conductor and the chorus, or in the left front of the chorus, that is, the right front of the conductor is in an appropriate position between the chorus and the conductor. Generally, the big belt (according to the former) is placed in the middle, and the small belt (according to the latter) is placed on the side.
3. Seating arrangement of the accompaniment band
According to the needs of the conductor to control the chorus performance including accompaniment instruments as a whole, it is customary to put high-pitched instruments (such as violin of western orchestra, Gao Hu, Banhu, Erhu and Qin Liu of national orchestra) in an appropriate position between the right front part of the chorus and the left front part of the conductor, and put low-pitched instruments (such as viola, cello and double bass of western orchestra and national orchestra) in the chorus. Based on the position of the chorus, wind instruments are placed in front of the chorus and between the treble and bass stringed instruments from right to left (the treble is close to the treble part and the bass is close to the bass part), percussion instruments are placed in the last row in the middle of the band (behind the wind instruments), and colored instruments are placed in the middle of the band or near the right front of the treble part of the chorus.
4. The basic requirements of chorus accompaniment
The band or musical instrument that cooperates with the chorus is an important part of the whole chorus performance, which plays the role of paving the way, setting off, contrasting, supporting and supplementing the chorus sound. As your own requirements, you should handle your intonation, rhythm, speed, strength, balance, style, timbre and discretion, just like pure instrumental performance. In contrast, the band or instrument accompanying the chorus must handle the relationship with the chorus, and the main problem to be paid attention to is how to control the volume. Chorus is the main part of the performance in the whole performance. In all the sound relations, the chorus needs to be properly highlighted. The task of the band is to accompany. Since it is an accompaniment, it is necessary to highlight the word "accompaniment". As a conductor and every performer must clearly understand this. The basis of the band should be to make the chorus sound better and more powerful, not to cover it up. The band's performance cannot create a sound barrier, nor can it overwhelm or cover up the sound of the chorus because of the excessive volume. Generally speaking, the places that need to highlight the band are mainly in the prelude, interlude, ending paragraph or where there are phrases that echo the chorus and the band. All other music should be determined according to the changing needs of chorus sound.
Chorus formation arrangement
Chorus formation can be arranged in various forms, but no matter which arrangement method, we should follow a principle, that is, from the perspective of the voice that is conducive to chorus, the coordination between chorus parts, chorus and band, piano accompaniment and other accompanists, and the conductor's control of the overall situation. According to this principle, there are the following arrangements for reference:
First, the formation of chorus
Second, the formation of mixed chorus
From the above arrangement forms, they all follow the principle of mutual cooperation: that is, from the perspective of acoustic effects, but each has its own main aspects to emphasize or focus. However, the above arrangement is by no means the only fixed form. According to the characteristics of the choir itself (such as the proportion of people, what kind of effect the work emphasizes, the organizational form and scale of the team, etc.). ), you can create more and better arrangements that meet your own needs, so as to obtain a more perfect chorus effect.
The formation of chorus
When forming a choir, we should pay attention to the following questions:
First, at the beginning of team building, we must first determine the development direction of the choir through argumentation, such as setting up a male chorus, a female chorus, or a mixed chorus, so as to determine the voice category and the number of people to absorb.
The second is to determine the singing style of the team: for example, whether the development of the team is devoted to singing China folk songs, Chinese and foreign art chorus songs or pop chorus songs, or diversified development, so as to determine the voice color category and singing style (method) category of the players to be absorbed.
Third, we should check the quality of the staff: for example, carefully check the player's sense of pitch, rhythm, speed, music reading ability, voice control ability, music expression ability and so on. And add one or two of the above requirements to determine the choice of players.
Fourth, pay attention to the balance of voices: the important content of the basic requirements of chorus art is the harmony and balance of voices, which should be paid attention to in the team-building stage. Generally speaking, each section should have the same number of people. In order to highlight the two external parts, namely, the melody part (female treble part) and the bass part (male bass part), the female treble part and the male bass part can usually be made one or two more than the female bass part and the male treble part (these two parts are often arranged as internal parts by composers in mixed four-part chorus), so as to ensure that the melody part can be clearer when singing. Of course, there will be more and more complicated problems in the process of forming amateur teams, especially the personnel situation will vary widely, and it is difficult to unify the natural volume and singing skills, resulting in special situations in the proportion of personnel. So when you form a choir, don't copy the numbers, but determine the specific number of people according to the actual situation.
Chorus performance
First, preparation before the performance
The conductor should make full preparations before the performance. Including music, clothing, makeup, rest and psychological adjustment, of which rest and psychological adjustment are the most important.
The preparation of music score depends on the situation. For some performances with piano accompaniment, the conductor often doesn't look at the score and doesn't have to prepare. For the chorus performance accompanied by the band, the conductor should prepare the music score, and don't forget to bring the music score because of the busy rehearsal, so as not to affect the performance.
The preparation of clothes is mainly to remember small accessories such as ties and handkerchiefs, and check whether the clothes have obvious wrinkles and need ironing. If necessary, they should do it well in advance. The conductor's makeup is very simple. Because the conductor's back is facing the audience most of the time, under normal circumstances, the face can't be drawn, only when video close-ups are needed. However, the hair should be carefully combed and shaped with mousse or other styling tools to avoid messing up the hair and affecting the image due to wind or other reasons on the way.
The preparation work before a performance is mainly rest and psychological adjustment. Long-term rehearsal and performance will make the conductor in a state of fatigue, especially for non-professional chorus, and the conductor has many problems to worry about. Before the performance, if the conductor still can't relax, it will inevitably affect the performance of the conductor during the performance. In serious cases, it will also lead to the conductor's performance mistakes, especially in the performance of the game, and its influence will be more obvious. Therefore, before the performance, the conductor should have a full rest, avoid being distracted by business, relax, concentrate on recalling every detail that needs attention in music performance, and devote himself to the performance with a clear mind and abundant energy. Ensure that the best performance is presented to the audience.
Second, psychological control.
Performance is a complex artistic activity process, which is dominated by mental and psychological control, based on technology and adequate rehearsal preparation, and its result is irreparable. It is difficult to be foolproof in the performance. Many factors will cause performance to deviate from the expected requirements or goals to varying degrees. However, mistakes are not terrible. It is important to keep them to a minimum, especially to avoid the influence of mistakes on unfinished performances. Psychological factors play an important role in producing or solving these problems. The psychological tension, worry or panic caused by mistakes may spread the mistakes to a wider range. And experienced players and commanders will not and should not be too nervous and panic. In particular, experienced conductors can give appropriate hints calmly, calmly and decisively to lead everyone to continue singing. At this time, the performer should pay close attention to the conductor, and under the inspiration of the conductor's gestures, expressions and emotions, quickly stabilize personal emotions, unify everyone's emotions, avoid or reduce the influence on the unfinished performance, and make the performance continue in a normal and stable mood and atmosphere.
Third, curtain call.
After a professional performance group performs in a regular performance venue, the audience will generally give a long warm applause to show respect and congratulations to the actors for their hard work and wonderful performances. At the same time, the prolonged applause also expressed a request for extra performances. At this time, the conductor may have to thank the audience many times. If the applause lasts for a long time, most performing groups will dedicate extra tracks carefully prepared in advance to the audience. There are as few as one or two additional tracks and as many as three. However, among the two or more additional tracks prepared, a short, pithy and atmospheric song is usually chosen at the end to end the performance, thus further pushing the atmosphere of the concert to a new climax. Due to the emotional rendering of the curtain call, although the concert is over, the audience's heart will stay in the concert hall for a long time, and will be further infected by the final emotion of the concert and remain in the memory for a long time.