I talked with my students about a specific type of vertical awareness today.
I think it’s really essential to train ourselves as choir singers to be able to see beyond our own staff – it’s one of the gifts of being in a choir rather than a band or orchestra, whose members don’t typically have access to the full score they’re playing.
I was reminded of it by a spot that reflected a challenge choirs always seem to be facing – voice parts cutting off too early when a single part has a moving line. How many times have you said something like “You can’t cut off on beat 3 – altos have a moving line until beat 4!”
That can be solved when we have vertical awareness of the music the other parts are singing. Conscientious singers would never put fellow singers in that position – so long as they were aware that it existed.
There are so many advantages vertical awareness can bring to a choir’s members – it’s honestly one of the most useful parts about really developing musical literacy.