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Unit

The Breath Of Life

When we sing for any audience, breath is life – literally of course, but also the life of the sound depends on HOW we breathe. Leading breath of the song: breathe in the pitch, breathe in the vowel. Take natural,

Jo May 27, 2009April 6, 2020 Barbershop Blog Read more

A Note On Unity

More than any other vocal ensemble, the barbershop chorus requires total unity of voices. As the First Violins of a chamber orchestra must sound like one instrument and not vie amongst each other with individual ‘soloist’ character, so each voice

Jo December 29, 2008November 18, 2014 Barbershop Blog Read more

Building Unit Sound

Here’s one way of looking at Unit Sound. Listening Skills provide the foundation to all good ensemble singing. You need good ears to hear and adjust to the others in the group, but you’ll find that as you get better

Jo November 3, 2007June 9, 2022 Barbershop Blog Read more

Learning Songs – Mark Your Target Vowels

Want to get a step ahead and learn your songs at the level you’d like to sing them? There are a couple of easy things you can do to improve your chances of success, and all they require is preparation

Jo October 27, 2007April 4, 2020 Barbershop Blog Read more

Spelling Vowels

The key here is BE CONSISTENT. Whatever you choose as your example words, make sure vowels are never spelt with more than one vowel (EE is the same vowel twice, so that’s OK, but AY is not – that’s a

Jo October 27, 2007April 4, 2020 Barbershop Blog Read more

Blog Subjects

Audiation audience-rapport Breathing changing-voice-parts Choosing Repertoire Choreography Duetting dynamics Interpretation Learning Music Personal Improvement Pet Peeves Philosophy Pitch Quartets Showmanship Singing Lead Unit Visual Plan Vocal Freedom Vocal Skills Vowels

Recent Posts

  • Brain Before Voice
  • Is this music difficult or easy?
  • The Curly Q
  • Tension vs. Intensity
  • The Breath Of Life
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