What is the difference between solo and ensemble

At Luther, students are required to participate in ensemble work six semesters because of the outstanding opportunities in learning musical concepts and repertoire. There are options for our upper-class students [as to in] which ensemble they might wish to participate, given options of rehearsal time commitments, touring, and graduate school preparation. Likewise, whether our students are music majors or not, most all of the singers in our choirs study in private applied voice lessons.

It also is important that our students have opportunities as solo singers and chamber musicians as well as stage singers. Very few students choose not to participate in choral groups, yet Luther students offer hundreds of solo recitals, annual opera productions, and some musical theatre, giving our students an important balance in their singing experiences and opportunities. KE: I find that with my high school and college students, those who are active participants in a choir do progress faster than those who merely perform solo literature.

The first benefit is simply the amount of time spent singing. Even the best-intentioned students are apt to slip in their practice, but a choir requires daily or almost daily accountability and participation. Secondly, a choir student is likely to be in close proximity to other capable singers, including hopefully the director, and can learn healthy habits through listening, mimicking vowel formation, etc.

If the director is knowledgeable and allots time for vocalization and technique improvements, then the student has the opportunity to have good vocal technique reinforced and perhaps explained in a different and helpful way. TLP: Examples include rhythmic vitality, listening while singing, exploration of tonal production based on repertoire by genre and time period, hearing or listening to those around you, following a conductor, harmonic and theory exercises, and sight-reading skills.

KE: While choral singing has its potential adverse effects, I would contend that most of the dangers of choral singing for the soloist are just as likely to be found in private voice studios.

A pushed tone, singing in an unhealthy range, or singing literature that is not appropriate are all issues that I have observed in voice studios as well as choirs. Singers should take great care therefore in both choosing a private voice teacher and in choosing a choir in which to perform. I recognize that, unfortunately, sometimes college students are at the mercy of what is offered or required of them. TLP: Lack of individual connections, vocally. A retreat in breathing techniques. What are some important things soloists should remember to maintain a healthy technique when singing in an ensemble?

KE: While listening to the entirety of the choral sound, make sure to stay aware of your own voice and what it is telling you. If you experience soreness, then you need to discover the cause. Having a sore voice is not a sign of a good vocal workout! Perhaps you are pushing too much to try to produce a volume that is beyond your capacity.

Remember to relinquish the need to hear yourself over others, and instead listen to the collective sound. Or perhaps you are mimicking some techniques around you that are not conducive to relaxed tone. If the director makes suggestions or requests that strike you as vocally unhealthy, then be wary of their implementation, and ask your voice teacher for advice. You also should speak to the director in case you simply misunderstood the direction. Ultimately, if the director is not promoting healthy technique you should seriously reconsider your participation in the group.

TLP: Breath, breath, breath! Physical freedom and muscular relaxation. An important factor at Luther is each singer is important and their vocal contributions, rooted in good vocal production, matter.

At Luther, we also stand in ensemble rehearsals quite a bit. Megan Gloss is a classical singer and journalist based in the Midwest. There are many differences between choral singing and solo singing. Here are three important differences to consider:. Blend: One of the key factors in choral singing is blending many voices to sound as one. This involves modifying vowels, matching voice colours, and decreasing vibrato, all to make a seamless sound. In solo singing, the objective is to make the voice stand out against the other instruments.

Blending voices with other singers is not an aspect of singing on which a soloist needs to focus. In order for the parts to end simultaneously, the canon may break down at the end of the composition. The canonic parts may occur at the unison or some other interval. Row, row, row your boat.? Diatonic intervals are found within this type of scale. Major scales are used. Minor scales are used.

Singing in octaves is considered a monophonic texture. Heterophony often occurs in non-Western music and sometimes in folk music. Related to tempo: consult the Oxford Music Online commonly in Italian from the 17thth c. Related to musical forms: Generally capital letters are used to distinguish different sections of a composition.

A capital refers to an exact repetition. A lowercase letter refers to the same music but new text. A prime number after the capital refers to a variation of the music from the original section.

The musical form is repeated using different verses of text, as in a hymn or folksong. Many hymns use the far form.