Another year has gone by, and my country is now forty-one years old. Not as old as the almost thousand-year history of England, and not as old as the more than two hundred years of American Independence, but at least we are an independent small country that tries its best in nation building.
No doubt lots of things have to be improved on, especially where the people are concerned, but in just a matter of forty years, it is already good enough to have been able to build up in such a short period of time.
I went for the choral audition yesterday, after postponing from last week. As expected, I think I botched it. :-( When I went in, there were a panel of judges, and I had to stand facing them with an accompanist on the piano.
I had to sing my first song "Think Of Me" together with the piano, then they tested my voice range, then sing my second song "On My Own" and finally the judges gave me a musical piece to sight-read.
The sight-reading was without accompaniment, which means I could only glance through the line for a minute, then sing the line according to the pitch, rhythm and tone. Not an easy feat!
With the judges all being trained in vocal performance and specialising in this area, I was so nervous when I went in! My hands were practically shaking, resulting in the paper vibrating!
When they tested my voice range, I managed to hit the highest E note. However my voice started cracking after the C, so when I tried hitting D and E, they were not projected very well. Darn! Just one more note to the F, the highest of the Soprano scale, yet I was not able to make it this critical moment!
What surprised me was that I could actually go very low. I managed to reach the lowerst D-minor note, something I have never done before! I always thought I could never go lower than a middle C, and anything lower was a struggle to me, thus I could never sing any song in low pitch. Yet somehow I managed to go so low yesterday.
It was not the highest I ever reached, since I had reached the highest F note before, but it was definitely the lowest I have reached. Almost one octave lower than normal. In this case, will they make me sing Alto then? I am not comfortable singing in low range, having been "trained" to sing higher range.
I was the first to be auditioned, since I was the leftover from last week. But when I went in, I never expected it to be this way. I thought it was just singing to the pianist and choral director, as was in other voice placement tests. But the scenario was worse than musical examinations and Singapore Idol!
At least in music examinations, you just go to the piano and start playing, you do not need to face the examiners. In Singapore Idol, you just need to sing a ca pella any pop song, not any of those harder musical songs!
Somehow I am not that hopeful this time round, since there are much stronger singers than me. Some of my choral mates are involved in other choirs as well. The Lyric Opera Chorus is not the only chorus they are in.
Besides, their voices are more polished, since a lot of them receive formal voice training, and there are stronger soprano voices as well. WIth competition like this, I sure do not stand a chance!
After the audition, my friends and I went to eat dinner, and enjoyed the sound of the fireworks at the same time. It had been quite some time since I last hung out with them. Really miss their company. It was good to go out and enjoy again with this cool group. Being around artistic people is really different!
No doubt lots of things have to be improved on, especially where the people are concerned, but in just a matter of forty years, it is already good enough to have been able to build up in such a short period of time.
I went for the choral audition yesterday, after postponing from last week. As expected, I think I botched it. :-( When I went in, there were a panel of judges, and I had to stand facing them with an accompanist on the piano.
I had to sing my first song "Think Of Me" together with the piano, then they tested my voice range, then sing my second song "On My Own" and finally the judges gave me a musical piece to sight-read.
The sight-reading was without accompaniment, which means I could only glance through the line for a minute, then sing the line according to the pitch, rhythm and tone. Not an easy feat!
With the judges all being trained in vocal performance and specialising in this area, I was so nervous when I went in! My hands were practically shaking, resulting in the paper vibrating!
When they tested my voice range, I managed to hit the highest E note. However my voice started cracking after the C, so when I tried hitting D and E, they were not projected very well. Darn! Just one more note to the F, the highest of the Soprano scale, yet I was not able to make it this critical moment!
What surprised me was that I could actually go very low. I managed to reach the lowerst D-minor note, something I have never done before! I always thought I could never go lower than a middle C, and anything lower was a struggle to me, thus I could never sing any song in low pitch. Yet somehow I managed to go so low yesterday.
It was not the highest I ever reached, since I had reached the highest F note before, but it was definitely the lowest I have reached. Almost one octave lower than normal. In this case, will they make me sing Alto then? I am not comfortable singing in low range, having been "trained" to sing higher range.
I was the first to be auditioned, since I was the leftover from last week. But when I went in, I never expected it to be this way. I thought it was just singing to the pianist and choral director, as was in other voice placement tests. But the scenario was worse than musical examinations and Singapore Idol!
At least in music examinations, you just go to the piano and start playing, you do not need to face the examiners. In Singapore Idol, you just need to sing a ca pella any pop song, not any of those harder musical songs!
Somehow I am not that hopeful this time round, since there are much stronger singers than me. Some of my choral mates are involved in other choirs as well. The Lyric Opera Chorus is not the only chorus they are in.
Besides, their voices are more polished, since a lot of them receive formal voice training, and there are stronger soprano voices as well. WIth competition like this, I sure do not stand a chance!
After the audition, my friends and I went to eat dinner, and enjoyed the sound of the fireworks at the same time. It had been quite some time since I last hung out with them. Really miss their company. It was good to go out and enjoy again with this cool group. Being around artistic people is really different!
5 comments:
Hello, I'm a chorister who happens to read your blog and can't help but comment.
It is possible you really don't know much about voice and singing. A a soprano should sing comfortably to a high C, not only to an F. Even altos can easily do Fs. And an untrained person can easily do 2 octaves. So it is very normal to go all the way down to a low F at least - with audible good tone. But I must say, there are also people who can squeak to a high note and croak to a really low one and think they have such a big range.
Sounds like you're not confident to pass the audition. It seems that you feel the trained singers have a better chance of passing the audition. I'd think it's fair if they do, considering they put in effort to improve and upgrade themselves. If you're really keen on singing, why don't you join a choir and start learning from there? I'm sure there are many community choirs around that are looking for members.
But uh, how did you get into SLO if your range was C to F - 1.5 octaves only?
I wouldn't know where to place. Not in Sop since you can't hit above an F and certainly not alto when you cannot go below a C.
If you truly enjoy singing, try joining a community choir or sing with your church choir. Hopefully from there you can train up your basics.
If SLO gives you a chance and passes you, then you'd better get some help to improve.
~SL~
I think you misunderstand. The note I could reach was up to the highest F on the piano, even higher than the C. And normally I could go down to the G below the middle C, which means I can sing about 2.5 octaves or more.
I already am a member of SLO. I passed the audition without any problems two years back, and have been performing as a soprano with the chorus.
But since SLO is undergoing a new management, everyone has to be re-auditioned again, so those people who auditoned are also members of the same chorus.
I was nervous about the audition this time because it was a much more formal one that required musicality, sight-reading, pitching and toning, not the voice placement last time round.
And anyway, I never think I am that good a singer in the first place. So yes, I do believe I may not stand a chance since my fellow choristers have been singing much longer than me, and have received some sort of official training.
I had voice training before, only for half a year. I could continue the lessons except my teacher had to leave for further studies so I am still currently finding a new teacher and making time for lessons.
Thanks for your feedback. I am trying to improve myself. Except I do know my limits, and how talented (or lack of) I am in this area.
Hmm...think you shouldn't have a problem since you've got such a strong music background and some stage experience?
She lacks confidence. (Although I myself have this problem)
I wish I could be like the China guy I had in my Japanese class. Whenever he had a point, he would state it very confidently, regardless of the chance that it might be wrong. Even if it was proven wrong in the end, he would accept the correct answer, and proceed with his next point confidently. Being wrong never blunted his confidence.
He is exasperating, but admirable at times.
wow.... I wish I can be like that too! But I'll be more afraid of offending others (unless for those who really deserve to be told off), so normally I'll just keep my mouth shut.
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