How do you read music/ tips on singing/ audition tips?

Question

I'm in the general chorus and about to audition for a harder and better chorus. I really want to get in, but I'm scared to death about auditioning in front of the whole chorus and my friends (et all) so tips on auditioning in the first place would be helpful. I also would like singing tips-sometimes my voice strains when I sing even normal notes for my (?) alto section. Plus, I'm very rusty on reading music, so tips on symbols and especially counting rhythms and beats and time signatures, help would all that would be GREATLY!! appreciated. I would really like to get in easily, even though only about 1/3 of the people who audition get in. Please help! Thank you for your time and (hopefully) your great answers!

Answer 1

One of the most important things to remember when sight-reading is rhythm. If there's a scarry time signature, such as 7.5/64 (not that I've ever seen anything like that; Sorabji didn't write choral music anyhow), you can pretty much ignore it and count the same way. That one would mean that there are seven and a half beats in a measure, and that a sixty-fourth note gets ont count, so there are seven and a half sixty-fourth notes per measure. You probably won't see anything other than 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 or 2/2. C stands for common time; 4/4. The C with a line through it is read exactly the same way as common, even though it means cut time. So, when you count, there's a little word you can assign every beat;
If there are quarter notes, count it as one, two, three four...
Eighth notes; One and two and three and four and...
Sixteenth notes; One-ie and-a two-ie and-a...
If you get a three on two (which is three notes in one beat instead of, say, two eighth notes), think of the beat pattern One, two-and three. The 'and' there would be where the eighth note would fall if there were two notes instead of three.

As for actuall notes. Practice singing major and minor scales and arpeggios, which are going up and down the chords one note and a time. Make sure you can distinctly sing a half step and a whole step. It wouldn't hurt to practice other intervals too, you're likley to see a fifth, which is the strongest and most basic cadence. You could really have some fun and sing in tritones, which is the most dissonant interval. A C to an F# is a tritone, and so is any progression with the same distance between notes. So, if you're singing classical like mozart of vivaldi, make sure to get down the fifth, the half-step and the whole step. If it's jazz, learn the jazz scales and sing in minor thirds, whole steps and tritones. Good luck!

Answer 2

Definitely work on breathing exercises. Do not strain your voice, if you are having a hard time hitting a note then loosen up a bit and maybe warm up more. Do are really good vocal warm up before your audition (scales, sirens, breathing). Try not to let yourself get too nervous, because you will tense up and not reach your full potential. As for reading music, you should be able to find a lot online. If you are in school you might be able to ask your teacher for help, depending on size I suppose. Time signatures are the fractions at the beginning of music, the top number tells you what note gets the beat, the bottom number tells you how many beats in a measure. So in 4/4 time there are 4 quarter notes in each measure. That's a pretty general outline, but hopefully it will help you out a bit.

Answer 3

Work mostly on your breath support. If you;re straining to get even the lower notes, you need more air - Here's one tip.

Lay on the floor and put 3 or 4 heavy books on your abs. below your belly button. As you take a slow deep breath make the books move up. After you get the hang of this, try hissing out after you get the books up. As you hiss, don't let the books sink down. This is the diaphramatic breathing your director is (should be) always talking about.

Once you have the hang of that, practice your warm ups with your new breathing style. Then sing along with the radio and let your voice free up. Don't be afraid of hitting wrong notes at this point. Just let your voice go. You'll get the right notes sfter a few tries, just by imagining what the note should sound like. You'll end up there automatically.

There are some websites to help you learn to read music, but the basic jist is when the notes move in steps, sing it like a scale. If they skip, just move the pitch further apart.

www.notationmachine.com/how_to_read_sheetmusic

I just breezed over it, but it looks pretty good.

Good luck with everything!

Answer 4

This may sound crazy, but I swear it works. Before your audition take a piece of music that you are familiar with and sing it, but with your ears plugged. When you comprimise your ears you dont compromise your throat as much and everything will flow. Record yourself without your ears plugged and then do it with your ears plugged and you will be able to hear the difference. Remember to breath! I have been working with Mark Baker, a veteran of the M.E.T. for the last 20 years and he taught me this trick. I hope it works for you!

Answer 5

I donot know how to read music but push your voice louder by pushing in your stomache and opening your mouth. also to hit high notes easier raise your eyebrows. go ahead! try it! good luck getting in!

Answer 6

IDK I just do and something in my brain clicks