Search Results for: william baker

Part 2 The human voice: an instrument in residence

Breath trivia:

The diaphragm descends anywhere from 1.5 cm at rest to 6-10 cm during exercise.

There is no air going into the abdominals! The role of the abs is to relax and allow the thoracic cavity to be more spacious.

Breathing allows you to take in the oxygen and expel carbon-dioxide waste. But when you exhale, you also breathe out a lot of water. Humans exhale up to 0.59 fluid ounces of water per hour and about four times that amount during exercise.

The Human Brain and the Influence of Music

Are you looking for a great book to add to your holiday reading list? By Developing Voices Author Jamea J. Sale, MME Are you looking for a great book to add to your holiday reading list? I suggest Musicophilia (2007) by Oliver Sacks. Musicophilia explores the wonders of the brain, neuroscience and music. In any other … Continue reading The Human Brain and the Influence of Music

Making the Most of Practice Between Rehearsals

MAKING THE MOST OF PRACTICE BETWEEN REHEARSALS by Special Contributor Dr. William O. Baker What is the difference between rehearsal, the work accomplished corporately when the ensemble is gathered, and practice, the individual preparation each member engages between rehearsals.  I believe the distinction to be a critically important one, especially in the world of excellent … Continue reading Making the Most of Practice Between Rehearsals

Build Technique with a New Routine

You’re a month into teaching your choir students.  You have established your classroom routine and are in the thick of learning concert music.  You are encouraged by their progress, but you sense that your students are about to hit a late-September wall.  So how do you keep building fundamental singing technique without losing student engagement? … Continue reading Build Technique with a New Routine

Conducting A More Effective Audition

CONDUCTING A MORE EFFECTIVE AUDITION The modern choral leader has many irons in the fire.  The dreams we all had in graduate school of long hours studying scores and reading scholarly commentaries have fallen to the reality of constant administrative tasks like raising money, promoting events, raising more money, organizing staff and volunteers, raising even more … Continue reading Conducting A More Effective Audition