VENEZUELA, Serg Dominic S.

MUSED4
4MUS-ME

OBSERVATION REPORT
For this homework, I decided to watch the rehearsal of the Lincoln University Concert
Choir. The first thing I noticed of this choir is that it is composed of Black singers. For me, black
people have this distinguished vocal quality that is specialized for their race. Additionally, the
choir is an adult choir since they are part of a university.
The rehearsals starts with a warmup consisting of physical and vocal. For the physical
warmup, the choir did stretching and massaging the back of their peers. These physical warmups
lasts for around 40 seconds in total. Afterwards, they proceeded to do vocal warmups. The vocal
warmups consists of singing the “e” vowel with hand and arm movements. The vocal warmups
lasted for at least 4 minutes. The vocal warmup also is set to the key of G major. The vocal
warmups are also done in unison, meaning all voices warmed up together.
For me, the physical and vocal warmups helps the singers to be relaxed when they are
going to sing. Additionally, doing the physical warmups will help the singers’ bodies be relaxed
throughout the rehearsal. The vocal warmups also helps the choir to be familiar with the key
signature that they will sing in. Additionally, the vocal warmups will help the choir to produce the
sound that 20th century choral music demands.
The rehearsal space of the choir is adequate for their size. The choir’s arrangement is
divided according to sex with the females positioned on the right hand side of the conductor while
the males are positioned on the left hand side of the conductor. I also observed that the choir has
their own pianist. The conductor mainly gives instructions to the choir and is positioned in the
middle of the choir but not behind a piano or keyboard.
The conductor also gives clear instructions to the choir on which sections of the music
should they be clearer. One such goal that the conductor keeps reminding the choir is to produce
an open, forward-moving sound. Given instructions, the choir also does their best to fulfill the
conductor’s instructions.
In this video excerpt of a Lincoln University Community Choir, we can see how well-
mannered in a way the choir is. They show full respect to their conductor who gives clear
instructions on how they are going to execute a choral piece from the 20th century. From this video,
we can see the typical flow of a choral rehearsal. The group starts with physical and vocal warmups
to help relax the singers throughout the rehearsal. The size of their rehearsal space is decent for
the size of the choir and they follow and fulfill the instructions that the conductor gives.