Jo-Michael Scheibe presents an approach to the placement of individual voices; essential to the success of every choir.

1. Seating, Placement, and Vital
Colors for Your Choir
An Approach to the
Placement of Individual
Voices
Jo-Michael Scheibe, DMA
Chair and Professor
Department of Choral and Sacred Music
USC Thornton School of Music
scheibe@thornton.usc.edu

2. Choral Schools and Procedures*
• Westminster – John Finley Williamson
• Paulist Choir – Father William Finn
• St. Olaf – F. Melius Christiansen
• Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians – Fred
Waring
• “Voice Science” – Joseph Klein, Douglas
Stanley, John C. Wilcox
• Atlanta Symphony Chorus & Earlier –
Robert Shaw
*as defined by Howard Swan in the early 1970s

3. Weston Noble Approach
I. Voice Seating within the Section
A. Importance of Personal Experience
B. Seating within a section
1. Ears
2. Strength of Voice
C. Ingredients of Blend
1. Tone Color
2. Vibrato
3. Pitch
4. Physical Height
5. Size of Voice
6. Rhythm
D. Model Pair
E. Blending of Opposites
F. Individual comfort of singer
G. Advantages as well in Middle School, but need to make
frequent adjustments
H. Discipline
II. Seating of the Choir Combinations

4. Taking Time to Seat Your Choir
• You don’t have the time NOT to seat
them
• Singers have a place
– individual singer knows they have value
• Acoustical adjustments may be
necessary

5. Thoughts Regarding the Term “Blend”
• Blend vs. Bland
– Pointillism & the small brush strokes of
Impressionism
– All colors are necessary
– If everyone sounds alike, that’s bland, not
blend.

6. Thoughts Regarding the Term “Blend”

7. Thoughts Regarding the Term “Blend”

8. Thoughts Regarding the Term “Blend”

9. Voices
• Variables
– Color: dark, bright
– Resonance: forward, nasal, back
– Ear dominance
– Rhythmic, non-­rhythmic
– Vibrato rate
– Size of voice
– Tonal memory
– Sight reading
– Comfort level of individual singers

10. Voice Matching and Placement
• Musical Choices
– If homophonic, perform mixed
– If polyphonic, perform in sections
– If orchestral, consider how vocal lines are
doubled by instruments
– Not always in the best interest of the music
to sing in mixed formation
• Victoria/Palestrina-­ linear independence
• Mozart, Handel, Bach
• Brahms:
– Mixed-­ Liebeslieder Waltzes
– Sections-­ Requiem
• Choral/Orchestral Works

11. Voice Matching and Placement
• Vocal Choices
– Color of your sound
– Placement of rows to change color