(Reprint: Articles from Members - MENVI News 2, Fall 1997)


         SO YOU WANT TO SING IN A CHOIR
             By Maureen Carole Young (MENVI Advisor)

So you want to be a part of a dynamic, unified sound
that makes sound larger and more wonderful than anything
you could make alone. You want to speak as if you were
a single string vibrating in an ensemble of violins--you
want to be a part of that human instrument called the
"chorus."

I suggest a 3-pronged approach to getting in and
staying in the group: Learn to love, to listen, to
memorize, and to read braille music. 

While you're waiting for that bulky box of braille
magic to arrive from your transcriber, there's lots you can
do. Listen to everyone around you. Take your tempos from
their breath cues. Learn entrances and cut-offs from your
neighbors' voices. Memorize the bare bones of the score
from the predictable repetition of passages in rehearsals.
Bring a cassette recorder to practice sessions so you can
jog that memory muscle of yours during the week. 

In the early stages of this learning process, you will
want to make your entrances a millisecond after the other
voices. You will want to cut off just a hair before they do.
This is just while you're learning. The goal of the choral
conductor is to create a blended, oneness of sound, so
don't "stick out." 

When the braille music arrives, you can attack, hold,
and cut off as the music suggests, fully enjoying the
singing of each measure. And by the way, while you're
skimming the score to check how well your memory has
served you, look for patterns. So many choral works have
an "A", "B", then another "A" section or some other
consistency in structure. Help yourself by reading for that
framework FIRST! This will simplify any learning left yet
to do.
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      Maureen Carole Young is a blind professional
Concert and Opera Singer. She made her debut in 1979
as "Mimi" in La Boheme with the Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra, which was heavily reviewed. This was the first
time that a blind person was accepted as lead in a major
opera company. She was a featured prima donna  in the
New York Grand Opera, and has also sung with Beverly
Sills.

In 1971, Miss Young was a  professional chorister
with The Grand Parks Symphony Chorus in Chicago. She
is currently working as soprano Soloist in "Carmina
Burana" with the San Francisco Choral Society. Her
braille music transcriber for over thirty years has been
Bettye Krolick, internationally recognized as Braille
Music Specialist, and  Music Technical Committee Chair
for "Braille Authority of North America" (BANA). Miss
Young currently resides and teaches in San Francisco.