Choral Coaching

Answers to some of the most often asked questions about Choral Coaching:

Why should our group consider choral coaching?

SingIsrael choral coaching is a systematic approach to improving and enhancing a singing group's performance ability. It encompasses assisting in the improvement of basic singing skills, as well as the overall concepts of musicianship, performance ability, and the delivery of a successful and highly entertaining performance. In short, choral coaching is the most effective way of ensuring strong "choral development" of a group.

For a singing group to truly improve its singing and performance ability, it must develop a long-term education plan. A long-term education plan requires improvement in four areas: Vocal Techniques, Musicianship, Stage Presence, and Choreography. And, for this plan to be most effective, it must include a program of consistent, regular coaching, as the "outside" eyes and ears of a choral coach always see and hear different things than does the conductor. Thus, the end result of consistent coaching is the best possible rendition of a song in front of an audience.

What SingIsrael Choral Coaching is not is a "one-time only" event, nor is it a replacement for the choral conductor.

Don't you work a lot with a cappella singing? We don't do much a cappella.

Yes, our approach to choral coaching is unique in that we focus nearly all of our vocal work through teaching a cappella singing techniques. While some groups find singing unaccompanied difficult, this is usually because they have not been introduced to the basics of this unique singing style. Once the singers in a group learn the basics of a cappella, they find it to be relatively easy, and they find it is great fun, too.

Basically, the SingIsrael philosophy revolves around the concept that any choir that sings a cappella well can sing any style of music well.

That makes sense. So, how does coaching work?

Before beginning an education and coaching program, each group must assess its abilities in each of the four areas of choral singing. These are, once again, Vocal Techniques, Musicianship, Stage Presence, and Choreography. And, while many conductors are able to sit back and evaluate their groups, the "outside" eyes and ears of a choral coach are often able to see and hear things that a conductor might otherwise miss. Therefore, when a group decides it is ready to launch an education program, we recommend that group invite us in to conduct an Assessment Session.

In the Assessment Session, your SingIsrael coach will: 1) listen to the group perform two or three songs of contrasting styles, 2) present the "Introduction to Unit Sound" and "Introduction to Successful Performance" sessions, and 3) provide suggestions for developing and implementing a long-term education program. Most importantly, the "Introduction to Unit Sound" and "Introduction to Successful Performance" sessions will show immediate results to the group, and will provide the desire within each singer to see the group develop a long-term education plan.

Naturally, as each group's needs are different, no two groups will require the same amount of work in any one area as another group will in that same area. Naturally, too, groups with more highly advanced singers may progress at a more rapid rate. But that should not discourage less advanced groups. SingIsrael Choral Coaching will show improvement in groups of every level, and all groups will greatly benefit from on-going coaching.

Since each of the four areas in the education plan builds on the others, we begin by introducing the basics of a cappella singing in the initial Vocal Techniques sessions. As the choir improves its singing ability, we begin to introduce other aspects of the vocal craft, which brings about improvement in overall Musicianship. Additionally throughout the plan, work on Stage Presence and Choreography are also on-going, with the result being sustained, and consistent, growth.

Improvement is also dependent on the degree of difficulty of the music a group is attempting to master. Those working on very difficult or complex music will find that improvement may be slower than those singing "lighter" or easier music. All musical styles will benefit from coaching, but groups should be realistic in their expectations, based on 1) the ability of the group, and 2) the difficulty of the material to be worked upon.

Once a group has made the decision to explore an education plan and choral coaching, we recommend promptly scheduling the Assessment Session. Following the Assessment Session, SingIsrael will provide a comprehensive outline of recommendations detailing the steps we suggest your group should follow to achieve its desired improvement. We will meet with your conductor and/or the leadership team of a group to discuss our findings and recommendations and, after allowing a week or so for the group to digest these, we will help you craft an action plan.

The end result is a team approach towards improving your choir. We all – individual choir singers, choir conductor, choir leadership team, and your SingIsrael coaches – work together to build your choir into the best singing ensemble possible. By working as a team, we help you achieve your goals, so you can have a whole lot more fun singing together.

Because, let's face it … it's a lot more fun to sing and perform well, isn't it?

Yes, that's true. So, what types of things will we work on?

Good question. Let's take a look at each of the four areas of choral development. Click here to see how it works.

One last question … What does it cost?

That depends on how often your group wants to be coached, a decision each group must answer for itself. There are many groups around the world that have a coach come in every two to four weeks, and we know of some very large groups in the USA that have a coach in almost every week. Ideally, a group would look at having one coaching session per month, but this may be financially difficult.

We do, however, recommend that a group should look at a minimum of four (4) coaching sessions per year, and we offer a significant discount on our regular prices to groups that contract for at least four sessions.

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