1. Artistic/musical aims ahead of our current technique/ability to deliver (JS)

This is, actually, a very positive point. While we obviously want to develop our skills to support our artistic aims, there is a sense in which I hope our imaginations are always ahead of our technique, since it is the imagination that generates artistry.

Action: to simultaneously work on our skills to deliver our intentions, and expand our musical horizons to the next level.

2. Occasional synchronisation problems (JS)

This has improved from frequent synchronisation problems at Glasgow. The improvement has come from both more accurate direction, and from greater attention being paid to it. The problems that remain come from a residual desire to sing on ‘autopilot’, or ‘sing the plan’, rather than living in the moment and making each rendition of a song a unique occasion. The anticipation of directions also relates to the sing-speak effect (see point 13), since it can lead to the early closing-down of vowels.

Action: to continue to enhance our precision as a performing unit through the development of our mutual responsiveness.

3. Develop greater nuance within the broad dynamic shape of the songs; more colouring of the lyrics (JS). (Also see RB’s discussions of subsidiary climaxes within the growth of individual phrases.)

We had just started looking at this a couple of weeks before Prelims, but had not done very much with it beyond introducing the concepts. It is good to have this verified as one of the next areas for us to develop, and to see that we are already showing traces of it despite relatively little work on it.

Action: to develop nuance in the delivery of lyrics through consideration of :

• Patterns of stress and release
• Poetic qualities of lyrics
• Techniques of consonant enunciation

To address this in tandem with our consideration of word-connection and rhythmic stress (point 13 below).

4. Overemphasis of phrase ‘Here comes the bride’ in Churchbells. (JS)

This is at least partly due to over-direction leading to excessive emphasis. It is worth noting since it also happens in some other songs in our repertoire.

Action: Liz to trust the chorus to follow without her having over-direct; the chorus to respond to subtle direction so as not to incite Liz into directorial excesses!

5. Improvement of posture (RB)

Absolutely – and interesting to note it was Presentation rather than Singing who raised this issue. However, we should note that Ron’s prescriptions for posture are only valid for those few who are leaning back and/or dropping their chests; for everybody to lean forward and raise their chests will impede good singing. Rather, we need to focus on bodies well-balanced and well-aligned, with straight backs and long necks.

Action: to spend rehearsal time working on good posture; to spend time as individuals practising it between rehearsals. Perhaps to have input from an Alexander Technique teacher?

6. More facial involvement; more bodily involvement (RB)

Another case of ‘you’re doing the right things; we want more’. We need to be careful, though, that we don’t try to take a short-cut to this by just flailing around more and spoiling our singing posture. The issue here is of bodily involvement, not simply bodily movement. To do this effectively, we should approach this through our commitment to our song’s message and characterisation, rather than through a simplistic formula of ‘moving our hands will get more marks’ (which it probably won’t!). Interestingly, the stillness that some (including RB) read as insufficient emotion, was seen by others (such as Mike Warner, also on the panel), as contributing to a sense of imperative in our performance.

Ron picked our Rick as an example of good practice – we should note that Rick’s performance is effective not because he moves a lot per se, but because he commits so unreservedly to a song’s message. It is this capacity for empathy that we can all afford to learn from and emulate.

Action: to develop our sense of characterisation and commitment to a song’s message so as to enhance our visual impact and believability in performance.

7. Interpretation of ‘Churchbells’ as a ‘wrist-slasher’. (RB)

RB is entitled to this opinion; however, I note from para III.4.a of the Presentation Category description that:

‘ Each performance must be judged on its own merits. Neither personal preference nor comparison with other performances (by the same performer or anyone else) may be considered.’

Action: to revisit our vision of this song in the light of RB’s suggestions.

8. Poorer section unisons (some cluster-toning) in the second song (JG)

This was a general point last year, and the fact that it has shifted from an overall issue to an intermittent one represents considerable progress. John gave us some useful pointers to help develop our consistency of technique further (see points 9 & 11 below), but we also need to consider psychological factors such as commitment to the song’s message, confidence in our ability, and distraction of the occasion, since we achieved better section unity in the first song.

Action: to continue our work on section unity, incorporating rehearsal techniques suggested by JG; to continue developing our focus in performance as a means to deliver the best of our technique at will.

9. Use of strategically chosen duetting to tighten up passages of parallel movement between pairs of parts in the music (JG).

This is a good idea.

Action: Let’s do it (cue: ‘Yes let’s!’)

10. ‘There were flashes of very nice singing, which if you can take those flashes and just spread them out over the whole of the two songs, then you are actually capable of scoring quite a lot more.’ (JG)

This point is absolutely key to our development: it is about learning to recognise the magic when we make it happen, taking ownership of it, and working out how we can recreate it at will. This is partly to do with the confidence that increasingly secure technique gives us, but also about our attitude to our music: we have to set ourselves that standard, and decide to live up to it.

11. Harmony support – both in terms of vocal support and the musical support the harmony parts give to the melody. (JG)

It is interesting that John links these issues of individual vocal production and interaction within the performing unit. Although he does not make it explicit, he implies that we can develop both these aspects together through the concept of ‘support’: that asking the harmony parts to support the leads more in a musical and empathetic sense could help develop vocal support in individual voices, and developing the physical techniques of supporting the voice can enhance the solidity and balance of our cone of sound.

Action: to explore methods of linking individual and corporate development through the use of linked concepts.

12. Use of the cold air/warm air technique to prevent constriction in the voice, particularly where quiet. (JG)

This is a really useful technique that will help us not only in quiet passages, but also for tone onsets, and for maintaining warmth and breadth of tone in louder passages.

Action: Let’s use it a lot (cue: ‘Yes let’s!’)

13. ‘Sing-speak to me is when people shorten the vowels too much. The are three reasons for chopping: one is not connecting the words together, one is too much accent on the down beat, and the third one is not singing the vowel sound through. So keep the sound running.’ (JG)

This analysis of the ‘sing-speak’ effect is very useful, since it both identifies the potential sources of the problem, and thereby proposes means with which to address it. Anvil tends to the first and third type more than the second, I think, although we do have isolated examples of number 2 as well. We can usefully link our work on this with our work on colouring the lyric as suggested by Jean, since connecting words and giving them their full value can only contribute to projecting the subtlety and variety of their poetic content.

Action: To use JG’s analysis of sing-speak to help us in our musical delivery of lyrics, and JS’s thoughts on dynamic nuances of lyrics to help us connect words and lengthen vowels.

14. The need to ‘buy into’ the songs to make the performances convincing (JS/RB).

We could respond to this in either of two ways: either (a) we should only perform songs at contest that the chorus adore, or (b) we should learn how to find the value in any and every song.

(a) is a strategic response rather than a musical one, and by itself is in danger of limiting our contest repertoire to those types of song we already understand how to love. (b) is a musical response that recognises that emotional engagement is itself an area of competency that we can develop to make ourselves capable of richer and more varied performances.

Action: to develop our emotional skills such that we can empathise intelligently and musically with a wide variety of expressive worlds; at the same time to recognise our current emotional competencies when choosing repertoire for specific contests.