the orange spiel page 1 may 2019 - big orange chorus · the orange spiel page 2 may 2019 the orange...

The Orange Spiel May 2019

Volume 39 Issue 5 May 2019 We meet at 7:00 most Thursdays at Shepherd of the Woods Lutheran, 7860 Southside Blvd, Jacksonville, FL

Guests always welcome Call 355-SING No Experience Necessary

WHAT'S INSIDE Title Page Bread & Butter PR 1 Editorial 2 # Shine Bright Like A Diamond 3 Make Your Voice Work - The Right Way 3-5 33 Most Effective Singing Tips 5 Performance Elements 6 What Singers Can Learn From The 7 Atlantic Harmony Brigade 8 Magic Choral Trick #378 9 Chapter Quartets 9 Free Your Voice 10 Free Singing Tips 10 How Exaggerating Technical Errors Can 11-13 Barbershop History Questions 62 13 Spring Show 14 Quartet Corner 15 Chapter Member Stats 15 Board Minute Summary 16 Barbershop History Answers 62 16 Upcoming Schedules 17 Birthdays / Guests / New Members 17 Directing Team / Other Leaders 18 Chapter Officers / Music Team 19

BREAD & BUTTER PR from barbershop.org

B eat the, "Hey, I didn't know you sang!" phenome-non by sharing your barbershop stories in your industry and trade publications.

Sometimes barbershop itself isn’t the story, but rather, a surprising switch of context. People who know you as a Realtor, for example, might never guess you’re also a world-class singer. Example: Gary Raze, tenor of Social Insecurity (EVG), was nicely profiled in this story on PR Newswire following the quartet’s tenth-place finish at the 2019 International Seniors Quartet Contest. Actionable public relations is more than home run ap-pearances on TV and big name press. It’s also in the niches of our lives as citizens, workers, and members of clubs, churches and professional organizations. You probably have access to many channels like this. Your stack of mail will guide you. Look for any of these that run occasional profiles of their members. Hitch your story to the particular interest of the channel. • Church newsletter: Your participation in barbershop

has philanthropic dimensions. Another way congre-gation member is a force for good in the world.

• High school and college alumni magazines: “Hey choir friends! Remember that quartet in the senior concert? That was just the start for me!” Alumni notes are great for these, too

• Local/regional/national service club magazines (example: The Rotarian): Highlight the similarities of missions.

• Company newsletter: “Our coworkers have exciting lives outside work. She may look like Brooke from sales on Monday morning, but on Saturday night she was leading a 100-singer chorus at youth bar-bershop festival.”

… and that’s just a start. Dig - there's someone ready to hear your story.


The Orange Spiel is published monthly and is the official publication of the Jacksonville Big O Chapter of the Sunshine District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the home of the Big Orange Chorus. The chapter and chorus meet most Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm at the Shepherd of the Woods, 7860 South-side Blvd. For more information visit our website, http://www.bigorangechorus.com. Articles, pictures and address corrections may be sent to the editor.

EDITORIAL The lifeblood of our organization is three-fold. Mu-sic, Membership, and Money. Music is improving under Jay’s tutelage. Membership needs help. More men will not only help our sound be fuller, but also much needed depth for performances (no more turning down gigs because we don’t have enough men available on a given day). It will also make the administrative load easier with more participation from more guys. Money is the most dire need. We needs funds to keep the lights on. Until membership grows enough, all must help in the fund raising ef-forts, one way or another. Ticket sales help, show program ad sales help, working Big O Bucks events help, getting sponsorships and grants help, making (tax deductible) donations help, making purchases on Amazon Smile and Flip Give help, and perhaps even others. What are YOU doing for the chapter?

2019 Board of Directors President: Terry Ezell Immediate Past Pres: Brian Kerr Executive VP: Jason Dearing VP Music & Performance: John Alexander VP Membership: Daniel Proctor VP Marketing & PR: Robert Reeves Secretary: Mike Sobolewski Treasurer: Gregg Flowers Finance Chairman: Rick Morin Music Director: Jay Giallombardo

Big O Bucks Coordinator: Mike Sobolewski Bookkeeper: Rick Morin

Committees Show Chairman: Jason Dearing Webmaster: Frank Nosalek Chorus Manager: Jason Dearing Uniform Manager: Dave Walker 2019 Music Team

Music Director: Jay Giallombardo Associate Director: George Gipp Music VP: John Alexander Section Leaders: Brian Kerr Tenor Steve Mullens Lead Daniel Pesante Lead George Gipp Bari Timothy Keatley Bari Daniel Proctor Bass Alex Burney Bass Presentation Team: George Gipp Mike Sobolewski Bob Stump

John Alexander, Editor 2429 Southern Links Dr Fleming Island FL 32003 [email protected] 904-278-3987

For more detailed, timely information see my weekly publication: Orange Zest


SHINE BRIGHT

LIKE A DIAMOND by Brody McDonald

from choirbites.com

D iamonds are valuable, cherished items... sometimes. Sometimes they are relatively inexpensive utility tools, like in the case of record needles and grinding wheels. Valu-

able diamonds, the kind that inspire TV commer-cials backed by orchestras, are priced based off of what are known as the “4 C’s.” COLOR - is the diamond white, off-white, yellow, blue? CUT - is the diamond cut well to maximize light re-fraction and to maximize sparkle? CLARITY - is the diamond clear or cloudy? Does it have defects? CARATS - how large is the diamond? I was recently rehearsing Michael McGlynn’s “Dulaman” with my Men’s Chorus. The piece is in three parts and relies heavily on a brilliant, ringing sound to exploit a combination of major seconds and open fourths/fifths. I told them I wanted their sound to “shine bright like a diamond” (hat tip to Sia/Rhianna). What are the “4 C’s” when it comes to choral singing? COLOR - What tone color is appropriate to the mu-sic? Is it the rich classical tone befitting Brahms or the brassy sound of Broadway? Is it a crystalline tone appropriate to Renaissance or the powerful tone of gospel? CUT - I think of “cut” as how well the singers do with rhythmic integrity. Not only in terms of note/rest val-ues, but the cleanliness of attacks and releases. CLARITY - Clarity refers to vowel purity and match-ing, as well as tuning (overall tuning as well as maximizing fine-tuning to make chords ring and sparkle) CARATS - Dynamics - how much tone is there? Big diamonds and little diamonds can be equal in qual-ity save for their size, and singing should be the same way. Piano and forte sounds should be equally well-produced, just different volumes. By paying attention to the 4 C’s, we can help our singers “shine bright like a diamond!”

MAKE YOUR VOICE WORK

THE RIGHT WAY by Anne-Marie Speed

from voicecouncil.com Anne-Marie Speed is a world-class vocal coach who teaches singers and actors & works as a vocal consultant for Sony Re-cords, Universal and others. In 2011, she was asked to be the vocal coach on Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor and also worked on BGT in 2012. She is also one of the world’s most experienced Estill teachers and one of the lucky few to have worked with Jo Estill herself. This detailed research on the voice has changed the landscape of voice training for singers of all genres. In this exclusive interview for VoiceCouncil she ex-plains her teaching philosophies and sets the record straight on technique myths.

F or the regular pop/rock singer, who may do a couple of small gigs of a weekend, what core factors do you recommend they master and embody?

Understand that abdominal pumping is not support and too much air pressure is actually harmful to effi-cient voice production. Understand the importance of being able to produce clear tone, that is, voice with-out any breathiness in it as an indicator of both vocal health and efficiency of voice production. It is useful practice to make sounds that are completely clear af-ter performances that are breathy. Breathiness is per-fectly alright, just not all the time and not if that is all you can do. What is the one piece of advice you find yourself giv-ing to singers time and again? Hydrate! Most singers do not drink enough water or in time for it to benefit the voice. It can take up to four hours for water that you drink to reach the larynx so a quick swig before a gig is too little too late. Singers should be sipping up to two liters of water throughout the day. Steaming is also excellent practice but with-out adding anything to it and you should leave about

(Continued on page 4)


(Continued from page 3)

20 minutes between steaming and performing. Anything else? And stay away from ALL celebrity endorsed throat sweets. They are really terrible for the voice. They are often highly mentholated which is very harsh to the soft tissue that lines the throat. They can also irritate the larynx. If you must have some-thing, have a fruit pastille. Or a sip of water. (Sorry, that’s TWO pieces of advice …) From your observations, what are the most com-monly practiced bad habits or techniques in sing-ers? Far too high air pressure and poor head and neck posture. The two of these together create a double whammy of unhelpful behavior for the larynx which then has to try to function with air blowing the true vocal folds apart while being pulled out of align-ment and with asymmetry usually thrown in for good measure. It is rare that I don’t have to ad-dress either or both in any lesson. I know you work a lot on text and diction. Do you think this is an overlooked aspect of voice train-ing? Unquestionably. For me, diction is so much more than simply clarity of speech, as important as this is. I also think of lot of teachers are uncertain how to teach it now. So much interpretation comes from the text or lyric. A singer has to understand how to make the lyric work for them, how it informs character choices and assists in the expression of the emotion and drama of the song. Good Diction properly understood, practiced and applied is in-separable from ‘good’ singing as far as the audi-ence is concerned. Voice and lyric come together to create a seamless whole. There are some unusual vocal styles in the pop charts these days. What would you say to a stu-dent who was determined to sound like their favor-ite pop star? Imitation is the way we learn but every singer needs help finding their own sound. If you don’t then you will always be a pale imitation of the original and why have that when the real thing is

so accessible? Commercial music is about individu-ality and novelty to a certain extent. Everyone is al-ways on the lookout for the next new thing. So de-veloping your own sound and style is essential if you want to work in that field. This applies to all singing of course but it is particularly true in commercial mu-sic. It can really work for you and is the only way for-ward if you want to be a recording artist. Who are your favorite singers? Can you name one male and female singer and explain what it is about each one’s vocal work that you find meaningful? There are certain singers I always come back to, de-pending on my mood but I love Frank Sinatra, the Swing era, especially his collaboration with Nelson Riddle. Two geniuses coming together in a glorious moment of serendipity. Sinatra makes it sound so easy but it is tremendously skilled. He traveled with his lyrics written on small cards so he could work on them easily. Shirley Bassey is another favorite. What’s not to love??? Rock music is infamous for excessive lifestyles and burnt out voices. Do you think contemporary genres could learn from classical or theatre performers who may be more aware of their health and technique? Well once again I think that many more singers are eschewing the supposedly typical rock star life be-cause they know it isn’t sustainable. My clients are all pretty clean living and highly disciplined because they want to perform well and to have longevity. They know that they have to look after themselves because the scheduling is often absolutely crazy with travel, promo and performances. But this isn’t good copy for the newspapers of course. Studying the Estill Voice Model is quite an intense and eye opening journey! Can you describe your journey? What was it like to learn directly from Jo Estill? It was and continues to be an extraordinary journey, one I feel enormously privileged to be on. Jo was my mentor, teacher and friend. She taught me as much about teaching as she did about voice. I truly believe that she was a genius. She would have pooh-poohed that but to be able to identify the key ele-ments of voice production so clearly and then de-velop exercises to help everyone understand and use their voice better with such simplicity is unique. She became one of the greatest voice researchers of the twentieth century while also being a singer of great beauty and artistry.



(continued)


ing certain key psychological aspects in learning and performing. My objective at the outset was to write the book that I wanted when I was training as a voice teacher, that gave me concrete answers to questions that seemed impossible to find; why is posture so im-portant, what is resonance and how do we practice it, how do I know what my true range is, what is support and if people are breathing already, why do we need to teach it? Something along those lines.


Were there any Estill philosophies you initially dis-believed or found hard to grasp? I remember on my first course being completely overwhelmed as I didn’t come from a scientific background; I was an actor who sang a bit who had just completed my training as a voice teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama. And al-though there was so much I didn’t understand let alone could attempt to perform, I connected with her as a person and with what she was talking about. It just made sense to me. At the time, the work was only presented within the context of teaching singing but I knew that it could apply to the training of the actor’s voice so I set out trying to find out how. Subsequently, I have worked in applying it to both the actor and singer across a range of gen-res and performance media, and it has never let me down. Do you think there is resistance to modern voice research amongst singers? Actually I think that many more teachers are curi-ous about voice research and are willing and eager to use what they can in their own practise but so much of it still seems irrelevant in the voice studio or teaching room. Most research is academic with-out guidance as to how to use it or why it even mat-ters. There are exceptions but it is still difficult for a teacher without a scientific background to know to apply the research or how to pick out what is impor-tant. Why is posture so important? What is resonance, and how do we practice it? How do I know what my true range is? I keep hearing that you’re working on a book, how will it be different from other vocal books?+ Yes I am working on a book – this is my project for the rest of the year! I hope it will be a synthesis of the most important elements of the work I do in all of my teaching, both in the studio and working with artists in the recording studio, theater and film. It will be my approach which takes in not just the anatomy & physiology, particularly as described in the Estill Model, but also approaches to learning and practice, diction of course, while also address-

33 MOST EFFECTIVE

SINGING TIPS

from how2improvesinging.com

#20 by Mary Walkley

Air Management “I think the most common mistake beginners make is in the area of air management. Everyone blasts too much air as they ascend in pitch, which blows their vocal folds apart & hikes their larynx. My solution is to first demonstrate and implement proper diaphrag-matic breathing, and then introduce singing exercises for beginners that limit the amount of air, such as lip & tongue trills, squeaky door, “ng” exercises, etc. Also exercises that trick the diaphragm into dropping are good with beginners too.“

#21 by Sonia Jones

Work Out The Core Muscles “My tip for beginners is to work out the core muscles and practice breathing techniques every day for ten to twenty minutes. I have seen incredible develop-ments and everyone can do it at home.”


(continued)


PERFORMANCE ELEMENTS by Jay Giallombardo

part 4 of 4

Artistry in Presentation

Generating a meaningful impact for the audience member

The Artistic Expression is enhanced with:

Facial/Body compliment of the lyric

Gesture

Choreography

Facial/Body Compliment is related to body language.

Natural body language is observed at the speed of “speech”.

The movements compliment the speed and (if truthful) are in sync with the lyrics of the song

Musical Delivery is slower: The technique is to capture the natural body language expression at the tempo of the musical

delivery.

Gesture adds Emphasis to the nuanced “Facial/Body” Compliment

This includes:

Weight Shifts

Feet Placement

Hand and Arm Gestures

Body Angles

Choreography is essential full bodied, dance or dance-like moves often put together in a routine that compliments a sec-

tion of the music (i.e. 16 or 32 bars)

PRESENTATION

Micro

To

Macro


WHAT SINGERS CAN LEARN

FROM THE

RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS by Rachel Bennett

from voicecouncil.com Their harmony and their timbral blend was simply a magic recipe for breaking hearts and sending our emotions soaring. Coupled with the ‘Phil Spector sound’ their voices were the icing on the cake of their biggest radio hit, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling: https://youtu.be/uOnYY9Mw2Fg …and here they are in 2002 when they were in their 60s – not bad for 40 years on! https://youtu.be/p5J24Ssi-k4 I think we get more than a loving feeling from the way the Righteous Brothers approached their ca-reer: 1. Use material in line with your real singing capa-bilities How, after decades of touring and ‘living the tour-ing life’, could they still produce such a great vocal sound? I sincerely believe it’s because someone recog-nized how well their natural ranges worked to-gether – they were like one feeling and one voice in two. In the opening verse, Bill Medley’s deep sob qual-ity is almost operatic, but totally natural. It’s then complemented in the harmony by Bobby Hatfield’s stunning tenor voice. Initially like a teaser, then at the break section Bobby flies. Their songs were produced to match their capabili-ties but their skills stretched far beyond their vocal power. They had real duet skills! That level of awareness takes time and commit-ment to nurture. But one thing all singers can do is to ensure the material fits your strengths. 2. There’s together and there’s together! The duo was renowned for their acute attention to

timing and blend in those harmonies. Their phonetic shapes, their breath intake and the length of their phrasing was absolutely synchronized. Because they had this ‘down’ they could also appear very relaxed. This effortless unity of voices really builds to a level of excellence, leaving us breathless and in awe. Whether you are in a duo or a set of background vo-calists, timing, phrasing and phonetic shape (those Ah’s and Ooh’s) need to be practiced to perfection. That’s what we call ‘tight’ in the industry, and a tight performance is always respected by the professionals and admired by the fans. 3. Explore the power of togetherness We’re in an industry that promotes the rock star or diva – the solitary singer who exercises a magical power over a crowd. But listening to the Righteous Brothers reminds me of another kind of power – the power of ‘more than one voice’. We experience this power at a football match, but we can also experience it when we commit to singing with someone else. The Righteous Brothers always sang as if they were ‘in agreement’, as if they were in a harmonious con-versation about someone they loved, We could completely relate because this outpouring of two voices at the height of passion in the song’s cli-max allowed us to sing along, or cry, but definitely to really feel! If you’ve been solo for a while, maybe its time to re-experience this feeling by collaborating with another singer as a duo on a track or two…or perhaps you can just offer to do some background vocals for a friend’s band! I can’t resist one last Righteous Brothers song, per-formed in their uniquely tight and together way: https://youtu.be/Wa4sDx-OXxU


ATLANTIC HARMONY BRIGADE from atlanticharmonybrigade.com

T he Atlantic Harmony Brigade (August 9-11, 2019 in Wilmington DE) is a weekend of wall-to-wall, chord cracking, barbershop quartet singing.

If you: • Are a strong, independent singer who learns all

the notes and words to your part • Have a pleasant voice that blends well with oth-

ers to ring chords • Are known for singing in tune (holding pitch) • Yearn for singing challenging songs while quar-

tetting with like-minded, accomplished singers • Would rather stay up and sing all night in quar-

tet after quartet rather than go to sleep on Sat-urday night

Then: The Atlantic Harmony Brigade was made with you in mind! The AHB Rally is a weekend event of non-stop quartetting and quartet partner switching on twelve great international competition level songs. Partici-pants sing in dozens of quartet combinations. If you are not an AHB member, you must apply to be in-vited to this event that attracts singers from around the globe. Note -The AHB embraces the notion of Everyone in Harmony while singing songs pitched in traditional Men’s keys. We encourage any members of the Barbershop Harmony Society, Sweet Adelines or Harmony Incorporated who meet the criteria noted above to apply like any other attendee and fully par-ticipate in the weekend. In early April, participants will receive their music and high quality part-dominant learning tracks for the songs to be used in the Rally. People count on each other to be 100% prepared, with all the notes, words, and interpretations fully memorized before the Rally begins. The cost for the weekend is all-inclusive. For 2019, $329 covers registration fees, double occupancy hotel accommodations at the Crowne Plaza Wil-mington North, meals, and all the learning materials.

Brigade Activities

Quartet Contest: There are two rounds of good-natured quartet competitions (with randomly selected quartet members and randomly selected songs from those provided). Judges are well known BHS coaches, singers, or quartets. Midtown, M-AD 2018 quartet champs, will be our guest judges. Dance Card: All participant receive a "Dance Card" with the names and voice parts of all other partici-pants. The participants use these cards to document everyone they sing with. Attendees that sing with all the other participants receive special recognition. The Big Show: The AHB presents a show for the pub-lic to educate about and entertain in the Barbershop Style. Participants sing as part of a 100+ person cho-rus and have the opportunity to audition to appear on the show in a quartet, as well. A headliner, guest quartet, or other vocal act usually entertains, as well. Informal Quartetting: If you love singing in quartets and enjoy trying various combinations of voices, this is for you. The heart of the Brigade is hours and hours of informal quartetting. Since everyone knows all 12 championship style arrangements cold, there's no problem finding lots of songs to sing. The AHB is non-stop quartet singing from Friday to Sunday morn-ing. They only time you'll want to stop is to eat! Our attendees consistently say that their least favorite ac-tivity of the weekend is sleeping! The Masters Class: Spend an hour with a barbershop hero, learning tips and how-to's, and getting the low down on some barbershop history or just hearing some great stories. This is a weekend highlight. Scholarships: A number of full scholarships are avail-able each year for talented young vocalists. Barber-shop experience is helpful, but not required. Scholar-ship applications are available until April 15th for the coming year's Rally. (Editor’s note: because of the influx of female tenors and leads, there are still a few openings for baritones and basses)


MAGIC CHORAL TRICK #378

ALIGNMENT by Janet Kidd

from betterchoirs.wordpress.com

T his is less of a trick and more of a lifestyle shift that involves checking in with your body mul-tiple times a day.

I’ve included the best Youtube video I could find on singers’ alignment – because video really is much more effective than just descriptive words. However, I have to add a couple of things…. A quick and effective posture check is to stand with your back flat against a wall, with feet about 1 foot out from the wall, for balance. I know that some teachers recommend standing with feet against the wall, but if singers are carrying any additional ab-dominal weight, I find that this just makes them feel as if they’re about to topple forward. Which creates tension – the one thing we need to get rid of when we sing. I’ve also found that when people have carried ten-sion in their shoulders for many years, there’s no way that the back of the head is going to be able to touch the wall and keep the chin in the correct, re-laxed, slightly lowered position required for good singing. If this is the case, a small pillow, or a couple of books may be needed to bring the chin into align-ment. This will allow us to feel that slightly lifted and length-ened back of neck that is so magical for a fuller, richer sound. Doing at least some of your singing practice against the wall like this will eventually coax your body into realizing that singing in an aligned position really is more fun! And here’s the short, very professional video that says the rest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epNEiWCpslo

CHAPTER QUARTETS

Facts Only

Brian Kerr, tenor Mark Graham, lead Mark Roblez, bari

John Alexander, bass

Slice!

Terry Ezell, tenor Eric Grimes, lead Jason Dearing, bari Daniel Proctor, bass

On Point

Gavin Andrews, tenor Daniel Pesante, lead Timothy Keatley, bari Alex Burney, bass

No Name Yet

? tenor ? lead ? bari ? bass


FREE SINGING TIPS by Mick Walsh

from a2z-singing-tips.com N. Nodules. These are nasty little suckers that grow on your vocal folds if you don’t learn how to use your voice organ properly. Dehydration, alcohol abuse, shouting, screaming, smoking ( especially if all of the above are done simultaneously) can ruin your folds and you end up with having to have them scraped. Many of the old school of “screaming” rock stars have had nodules removed. In my opinion once this happens the voice organ is never quite the same again. Better to avoid nodules in the first place by learning to sing correctly.

FREE YOUR VOICE by John Newell, Lead, Realtime

from Let It Out ©2013 Used by permission Allow new ideas to be absorbed into your personal way of doing things. Welcome them and incorporate them into your natural style. We singers are over-achievers sometimes, like when we respond literally to an idea and use too much effort. For example, a singer who is asked to raise the soft palate will likely raise it as high as possi-ble, which is overkill and way beyond the bounds of what is natural. There is a fine line between subtle adjustment and tension. Was it absolutely necessary to raise the soft palate to its maximum height or could the singer have started with a smaller, subtler and more comfortable adjust-ment? Your coach may ask you to open your mouth wider, or raise your soft palate, or flatten your tongue, or inhale more deeply,. But are you really supposed to ‘power’ those muscles? Or should you add a hint of the action into your own natural style? Lastly, be patient. There are no quick fixes or tricks. Becoming a proficient artist requires years. Let expectations go and enjoy the journey. It is about the journey, not just the destination. We live in a society that moves quickly, changes quickly, communicates quickly, shares information quickly, and expects everything to be done quickly. When one is not familiar and skilled with certain funda-mental skills, any help is grasped at eagerly. But many students are looking for a quick fix rather than a mindset and process that will build long-term success.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Yvonne DeBandi

from a2z-singing-tips.com N = Never sing if it hurts to swallow.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Nicole LeGault

from a2z-singing-tips.com

N is for Name. What’s in a name? Lots if you’re a singer! You know how there are just some names you remember easily, and some you don’t? Many musicians have “stage names”, also known as “pseudonyms” (“pen names” are for authors). You do not need to legally change your name; it is extremely common and ac-cepted for musicians to have an a.k.a. if they so de-sire.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Teri Danz

from a2z-singing-tips.com

N = Not Efforting -- This is a concept of using your body as an instrument. Not efforting in-volves holding up (standing straight, having a support of air in your body), doing a proper placement of pitches, dropping your jaw, riding the air up and over, and relaxing into the groove.


HOW EXAGGERATING

TECHNICAL ERRORS COULD

IMPROVE YOUR TECHNIQUE by Dr Noa Kageyama

from bulletproofmusician.com

I recently had an interesting conver-sation with a trumpet player, who described an unusual strategy that he used to help students overcome

technical roadblocks in their playing. Specifically, in situations where a student might be struggling to hit a note consistently because they couldn’t quite figure out how to get the doz-ens or hundreds of little muscles involved to do the right thing at the right time. Rather than focusing on honing or refining the “correct” mechanics, he instead would ask stu-dents to play things the “wrong” way. To essen-tially demonstrate all of the technical what-not-to-do’s in that particular passage. Oddly enough, students would often go from be-ing unable to hit the note, to being unable to miss the note. The counter-intuitiveness of the strategy really intrigued me. So I was curious to see what I might be able to find in the research related to this. Like, is this some sort of weird fluke? Or could this really be a thing?

Golfers, at all levels of ability A team of Italian researchers (Milanese, Corte, Salvetti, Cave-don, & Agostini, 2016) recruited 34 male golfers at various levels of skill (handicaps ranging from 0 to 15+), to participate in a study comparing the effectiveness of two different types of instruction on improving their swing. A third of the golfers were randomly assigned to training group A. Another third were assigned to training group B. And the remaining third were assigned to a control group.

Baseline assessment

Everyone began with a little warmup, and then took 7 practice swings, hitting a ball into a golf net 2.5m away from the tee, to establish a baseline level of perform-ance. The golfers’ swings were videotaped, so that there could be some qualitative evaluation of their swings by a PGA coach – but the quantitative side is a little more interesting here, as the researchers also measured a) the speed of the club head at impact, and b) the speed of the ball immediately after impact.

Training swings Next, the golfers performed 6 training swings, where on swings 1, 3, and 5, the coach provided specific feed-back and technical instructions on how to modify their swing. While on swings 2, 4, and 6, the golfers were simply asked to swing freely, and do their best with no specific instructions.

Amplified error group Those in training group A (the amplified error group), were given instructions that essentially involved exag-gerating the primary mistake the coach identified in their swing. For instance, if during the backswing, the golfer shifted their weight to the rear foot so much that their front foot lifted up onto the toes instead of staying flat on the ground (an error), the coach asked them to lift their front foot off the ground completely while performing the backswing (an exaggeration of the error).

Direct instruction group

Those in training group B on the other hand (the direct instruction group), were given feedback and specific instructions on how to fix the error. For instance, if the golfer in group B made the same error of lifting their front foot off the ground just like the golfer in group A, the coach would make a note of this to the

golfer and simply tell them to keep their front foot flat on the ground during the backswing instead.

Control group Golfers in the control group weren’t given any feedback or instructions, but simply told to do their best on each swing.




Then, a test

After completing their 6 training swings, golfers per-formed 7 more swings, where they were simply asked to do their best, to see if the training led to any im-provement in performance.

And another test And to see how much of their practice translated into long-term improvements, the golfers were asked to come back a week later, when they performed 20 last swings, with only the instruction to do their best. So was there any difference in the two types of in-struction?

Results The short answer, is yes. The direct instruction group, given tips on how to ad-dress their swing errors and swing more correctly, increased club head speed 1.26% and ball speed 1.37% from their baseline performance to the test im-mediately after training. And from baseline to the test 1 week later, there was an improvement of .08% in club head speed and 1.37% in ball speed. These numbers are going in the right direction – but, the improvements were not statistically significant. The amplified error group, on the other hand, who were taught how to exaggerate the things they were doing wrong, increased club head speed 4.22%, and ball speed 7.5% from baseline to the first test. And managed to retain their performance gains one week later too, with an improvement of 4% in club head speed and 7.48% in ball speed from their baseline performance. These numbers were statistically significant. So that’s kind of weird, right? Especially after such a short practice session. And yes, keep in mind that this was a relatively small sample of golfers. But…why would exaggerating er-rors – basically doing something even more wrong than you were doing it in the first place, result in per-

HOW EXAGGERATING TECHNICAL ERRORS

(continued)

formance improvements? Isn’t that like the exact op-posite of how things should work?

Why? Well, when you think about it, anytime we play out of tune, miss a shift, or chip a note, it’s a sign that we’ve made some kind of movement error. But even if our teacher tells us exactly what we’re doing wrong and how to fix it, changing things is often eas-ier said than done. Because even if we know we’re squeezing our thumb, or clamping down with our chin, or tensing our wrist on an intellectual level, once we start play-ing again, we may not be quite as aware that we’re doing these things on an experiential level. Kind of like how my kid often thinks he’s chewing with his mouth closed, but alas, he is not… Indeed, previous research on error amplification suggests that exaggerating the error makes it easier to see exactly what happens when you do some-thing the “wrong way.” And that it also helps you feel the impact of the error more vividly when you do it blatantly wrong on purpose, as opposed to when you do it only slightly wrong, but largely out of con-scious awareness. This contrast seems to be part of what helps you get better at avoiding the particular movement error, and almost intuitively finding a more effective move-ment pattern instead.

Take action The researchers note that there are a few key things to keep in mind when trying this learning method.

Key thing #1: Identify main error Whether through video analysis of your own playing, or through feedback from a teacher, it’s super im-portant to identify the main mechanical error that is causing the issue. Like, you might be squeezing your thumb, and your shoulder might be scrunched up, but the main error that’s causing a big shift to end up flat may be related to the scroll of your violin pointing too far down and to the right.

Key thing #2: Exaggerate error It’s important to really exaggerate the heck out of




the error, so you can feel the difference between what you were doing, and what the really wrong ver-sion feels like.

Key thing #3: Free trials Remember how golfers were given a free swing with no instructions between the swings where they were instructed to amplify the error? Turns out these free “do your best” swings are important too. Because when you perform these free trials, you should see an improvement in performance relative to your performance before exaggerating the error. If nothing changes in the free trial, it either means that a) the error that you or your teacher identified wasn’t the main one causing the issue, or b) you didn’t am-plify the error enough to really see/feel a difference. If you think it’s the former, you can go back to the video, take a closer look to see if there might be a more primary or fundamental error that’s causing the problem, and try again. Or if it’s the latter, just repeat the passage, but really amplify the error up to 11.

BARBERSHOP HISTORY

QUIZ 62 by Mark Axelrod

from probeweb.org In my last quiz I noted that Harlan and Todd Wilson represent the only father-son combo ever to sing in international-level first place quartets. The wording of that question would have been clearly improved had I made specific reference to two different quartets, as to this day the Wilsons remain the only father-son combo ever to have sung in two different champion-ship quartets. Let's not split hairs, however, and give proper recognition to our 2003 champs, Power Play. Although this is obviously one quartet, it consists of a father, Jack Slamka, his sons, Michael and Mark, and his nephew, Don. Several regular readers of my his-tory quiz advised me that the Slamkas should have been cited along with the Wilsons. I thank them as accuracy is the name of the game in the history quiz business. On another topic--a sincere thank you goes to society membership director, Charlie Davenport, for lending me his personal copy of Deac Martin's long out of print Book of Musical Americana, the

HOW EXAGGERATING TECHNICAL ERRORS

(continued)

source of this month's Q's and A's. Martin was a re-nowned musicologist who was born in 1890 in Iowa and grew up in Missouri during barbershop's glory days, especially so in the rural Midwest at the turn of the last century. He joined the society in 1938, founded the Cleveland, OH, Chapter in 1940, wrote a column "The Way I See It" in the "Harmonizer" for many years and authored Keep America Singing in 1948, a history of the society's first ten years. QUESTIONS: 1- In the Book of Musical Americana, Martin notes that barbershop harmony and another type of American music enjoyed a remarkable rebirth start-ing in the 1930's. Identify this other home-grown musical genre. 2- Martin states that barbershop and that other type of music mentioned in question #1 above share many common characteristics. Name as many as you can. 3- Notwithstanding all they share socially, are there any musical similarities between the two? 4- There is an abundance of references made in books, articles and oral histories as to the powerful relationship between rural barber shops and barber-shop harmony during barbershop's golden age (1890 - 1920). From this can we surmise that sel-dom (or never) was the ring of locked in barbershop 7th chords heard in urban barber shops? 5- In addition to providing the premier venues for singing barbershop harmony, in what other ways did late 19th/early 20th century barbers contribute to-ward the development and improvement of barber-shop harmony?

answers on page 16


QUARTET CORNER No reports from quartets for last month. What is YOUR quartet doing? Don’t have one? Find three other guys and start one! Can’t find a match? Drop me a line and I’ll run a list of guys looking to quartet up here in the bulletin. It’s one of those really fun things that you don’t fully under-stand until you’ve done it. It’s never too early to be thinking about Singing Val-entines. Quartets are always needed, officially formed or pickup. It’s only a few easy songs. Learning more than one voice part to these songs can help make you easier to fit into a quartet. Men who have indicated interest in forming quartets (entertain, compete, or both) include: Don Hartsfield and Ken Moyer ...and hopefully more who haven’t contacted me yet.

CHAPTER MEMBER STATS

T he following are our current membership statistics: type active lapsed

Lifetime 50-Year 1 0 Lifetime Regular 0 0 Regular 30 2 Senior 50-Year 4 0 Senior Legacy 2 0 Senior 14 1 Youth 1st year 2 0 Youth 6 2 Total Membership 59 5

PAST DUE MEMBERS

T he following members are listed separately on the BHS website as past due or within two weeks of due. They will automatically be removed from the society roll at 180

days overdue. Gavin Andrews Ryan Henry Jeff Packer Robert Pucciariello Ken Tureski

COMING DUE MEMBERS

T he following members are coming due in the next 60 days. Alex Burney

Timothy Keatley Wyatt Ledford Ken Mull Frank Nosalek Joe Russ


BOARD MINUTE SUMMARY The Executive Committee met on 15 April. Team Leaders reported. Spring Show status, fundraising efforts, and alternate rehearsal dates were dis-cussed.

BARBERSHOP HISTORY

ANSWERS 62 by Mark Axelrod

from probeweb.org Answers to this month's history/knowledge quiz: 1 - Folk music. 2 - Both have European ancestry; both are music of, by and for the common people; both rose phoenix-like from the musical ashes; both enjoyed a tremen-dous surge in popularity during their revivals in the 1930's unmatched in earlier times; and both became musically respectable, entering the concert hall for the first time. 3 - Not according to Deac. That's probably an over-reach, however, as many of the same songs are in the repertoires of both styles. Clearly, however, the manner in which they respectively treated the music, particularly with reference to arrangement, was not at all alike. Certainly the significance of musical instru-ments in folk music and the absolute prohibition of same in barbershop on one hand, and barbershop's lusting after ringing dominant 7th chords and folk mu-sic's nonchalance regarding them on the other hand, represent two huge stylistic differences between the two types of music. 4 - Although I cannot definitively say yea or nay on this point, I can say that there's no logical reason to assume it, and, more importantly, it was not indicated to be the case either in Deac Martin's book or in any other barbershop history source I've ever read. 5 - Being at the epicenter of the barbershop harmony universe as they were, barbers with musical talent naturally gravitated toward becoming skilled quartet coaches; the first such coaches I have ever seen ref-erenced in any source. They also served in an impor-tant promotional capacity, as they would invite peo-ple to stop by their shops at a particular day and time to hear the latest outstanding new quartet.

Here’s a simple way to financially support the Big Orange Chorus, at no cost to you! If you shop on amazon.com you can sign up for the Amazon Smile program, and designate the Big O as your charity of choice. Then anytime you make a purchase on Amazon (Smile), they make a donation to us! No cost to you, and a donation to us: win win! To sign up, visit smile.amazon.com/ch/59-1981228 and sign in to your Amazon account. From then on, any Amazon (smile) purchase you make will help the Big O. Thanks in advance!!

Here’s a simple way to financially support the Big Orange Chorus, at no cost to you! If you shop at any of the more than 400 merchants or like to purchase eGift Cards, FlipGive will give us back from 1% to 20%, depending on the mer-chant. To sign up, visit https://www.flipgive.com/f/570688 and start shopping. Thanks in advance!!


REHEARSAL SCHEDULE Thu 02 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 09 May Shepherd of the Woods Sat 11 May Mt Pleasant SC Thu 16 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 23 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 30 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 06 Jun Shepherd of the Woods Sat 08 Jun Savannah GA Thu 13 Jun Shepherd of the Woods Thu 20 Jun Shepherd of the Woods Sat 22 Jun Mt Pleasant SC Thu 27 Jun Shepherd of the Woods

BIRTHDAYS Bob Thau 05 May Mike Sobolewski 13 May Frank Nosalek 28 May Sean Barry 29 May

NEWEST MEMBERS Tom Frutchey Apr Dillon Tidwell Apr David Scott Feb Seth Brewer Jan Collin Clark Nov Cyrus Dillinger Aug Wyatt Ledford Jun

RECENT GUESTS Bob Ice Charlie Young Barry Flynn Pat Eimers Juan Stegmann Grant Gladden Ted Louckos Shamus McIver Matt Watts Jake Stonecypher Josh Sanders Matt Setor David Pesante Pat Glenn Dale Pratt Cary Quick John Kerr Bruce Allison Jeff Verhoot Juan Stegman Mike Pruitt William Watts James Matti Paul Williams James Langford Steve Woodbeck Joe Plumlee Keyton Rentz Erik Petroni Jerald Carter Steve Moody Winkie DeLoach Wyatt Ledford Robert Hall Wayne Futon Rodney Herlong Tom Rooney Hunter Stanford

WELCOME

{ Big O Buck$ }

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Sun 02 Jun Annual Spring Show Fri 05 Jul International Contest Thu 08 Aug Jumbo Shrimp ??? ?? Oct Icemen Opening Night Sat 26 Oct Sunshine District Contest Sat 07 Dec Christmas Show

BIG O BUCKS SCHEDULE Mon 06 May Bryan Adams Thu 09 May Greta Van Fleet Sat 11 May Star Trek Live Sun 12 May Bob Seger Sat 01 Jun Lionel Ritchie Fri 28 Jun Tideschi Trucks Band Sat 06 Jul Rob Thomas Tue 09 Jul Train and Goo Goo Dolls Sat 13 Jul Fight For The Fallen Sun 14 Jul Mary J Blige Thu 18 Jul Dierks Bentley Sat 20 Jul Anuel AA Fri 02 Aug Why Don’t We Sun 04 Aug Dirty Heads Wed 07 Aug Moe & The Blues Traveller Thu 15 Aug Jags v Eagles (pre-season) Fri 16 Aug Brad Paisley Sun 18 Aug Bush & Live Sat 24 Aug Pentatonix Thu 29 Aug Jags v Falcons (pre-season) Sat 31 Aug Florida State v Boise State Wed 04 Sep Peter Frampton


EDITOR’S NOTE Article and column submissions are solicited. Help make this a better bulletin. Send me stuff! The deadline for June is 26 May. Items without a byline are from the Editor. The Orange Spiel John Alexander, Editor 2429 Southern Links Dr Fleming Island FL 32003 Back issues are available online at: www.bigorangechorus.com/newsarchive.htm More specific and timely performance information is in my weekly sheet, Orange Zest.

2019 DIRECTING TEAM

Jay Giallombardo Front Line Director

Chuck Griffith Director Emeritus

2019 OTHER CHAPTER LEADERS

Dave Walker Uniform Manager

Jason Dearing Chorus Manager

Frank Nosalek Webmaster Technology

Mike Sobolewski Big O Bucks Coordinator

John Alexander Bulletin Editor

Rick Morin Big O Bucks Bookkeeper

George Gipp Associate Director

Print off two copies of this newsletter

to share - one with your family and

one with someone you are bringing to a chapter meeting. Let them know they

belong here!


2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Terry Ezell

President

Daniel Proctor

VP Membership

Gregg Flowers Chapter Treasurer

Mike Sobolewski Secretary

Jay Giallombardo Director

Brian Kerr Immediate

Past President

2019 MUSIC TEAM

John Alexander VP Music

Mike Sobolewski Presentation Coordinator

George Gipp Associate Director

Imagine 80 men on the risers

Be a singer-bringer

Daniel Proctor Bass Sec Ldr

Daniel Proctor Learning Materials

Coordinator

Steve Mullens Lead Sec Ldr

Brian Kerr Tenor Sec Ldr

Rick Morin Finance Chairman

Robert Reeves

VP Marketing/PR

John Alexander VP Music

Jay Giallombardo Front Line Director

George Cipp Bari

Sec Ldr

Jason Dearing Executive

VP

Daniel Pesante Lead

Asst Sec Ldr

Tim Keatley Bari

Asst Sec Ldr

Alex Burney Bass

Asst Sec Ldr

John Alexander, Editor

2429 Southern Links Dr

Orange Park FL 32003

«FirstName» «LastName»

«Address1»

«City» «State» «PostalCode» ÿPostalCodeŸ

the orange spiel page 1 may 2019 - big orange chorus · the orange spiel page 2 may 2019 the orange...

Documents