Choral education is a great addition to any student’s music education and piano lessons. For those who are shy but love to sing, a choir is a great place to practice your vocal chops in a large groups of music lovers. Every choir is different; look into their visions and goals to see what choir might fit you the best! There are many choirs to join in Victoria, B.C; Choirs can be found on the B.C Choral Federation Member list here.
For piano players, here are 3 ways how joining a choir might help you improve on your musicality:
Singing Helps You Develop Your Musical Ear
Using our fingers to press down physical keys, piano players can often develop muscle memory to performing a piece. Because our fingers are so capable, piano players sometimes forget to be expressive in how we create our sounds. Our vocal chords are invisible to our eye, but can be trained to hit different notes and rhythms, if our ear can understand and hear the music. If we are able to sing a phrase, it is because we understand the right intervals and patterns enough to be able to repeat it with our voice.
Singing in a Choir Teaches Polyphony
Polyphony means there are two or more independent melodies simultaneously happening. This is one of the best parts of singing in a choir. Each vocal part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass) has their own part to sing, that merges with the other parts to create multi-part harmonies. Throughout a piece, a vocal part can go from performing background harmonies, to becoming the lead melody. This is much like the different instruments of the orchestra coming together to form one piece. Choral music can teach the piano student the importance of every line in a piece of music; piano players use their 10 fingers to represent many different parts!
Singing in a Choir is Large Ensemble Experience
Singing a group of people is a valuable experience. Not only do choristers learn to communicate musical ideas with each other, they learn to work with each other in a professional manner. Being a chorister also means being able to follow the ideas of the choir director. Being able to interpret conducting and react accordingly is a skill that can be learned by practicing and participation.
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Eric Ng (B.Mus, A.R.C.T , ECE ) is a piano teacher based in Richmond, B.C. Mr. Eric has taught in a variety of early childhood education styles, including Reggio-inspired, Montessori, Play-based, and Outdoor-based settings. Along with his formal classical music training from the RCM curriculum and the University of Victoria, Mr. Eric brings a unique perspective to teaching music to young children today.