discovering the d
Early on in my career, I was the music director for a youth summer arts camp. It was a fantastic experience and I think I may have learned as much as if not more than the students I was teaching. At this point, I had been teaching primarily instruments… a LOT of percussion and band; mostly brass. So the topic of which key was best to sing in had never come up. For the wind instruments, it was mostly about which key was easiest to play in and how we could challenge them with relatable keys. For example, one of the easiest keys to play in for wind players is Bb (B flat… you know, just in case you have little to no musical experience). In the Key of Bb you have two flats, Bb and Eb. A relatable key they can easily play in would be F. This key removes one of the flats so now we only have one flat. A key that would be a little more challenging would be Eb because it adds a third flat, Ab. Now they will be comfortable playing in three different keys. Easy, peasy, One Two Threesy.
So now I am in charged of teaching voice to around 150 young children in ages ranging from 6 or 7 all the way up to around 12 or 13. And none of them played instruments. This was a little out of my wheelhouse, but I am up to the challenge. I had been in choir since I was a freshman in high school and all through undergrad. I am a classically trained vocalist; I have performed all over the country, so I am FULLY confidents I can do this… Breathing and sound production. I am going to teach them how to take care of their voices and I am going to make it fun so they keep singing as they get older.
Now it’s the first day and I break out my keyboard for warm ups. My philosophy on education is that “…students don’t know what they don’t know” which keeps me from placing barriers and limitations on them. I also like to make things a little more challenging and complex. I do not like the sound of a whole youth choir singing in unison. I find that you can challenge the students and they will always rise to the occasion. Who says that young children can’t sing in harmony? I had them singing in harmony and ultimately in counterpoint. I am getting away from day one and my discovery…
I sit at my keyboard and we start the warm ups. I start them in the key of C because it’s “supposed” to be the easiest key. It just doesn’t sound right. It sounded little anemic. I need to change the key, but I don’t want to take it too high and hurt their voices… I take it up just a half step to C#… Is this going to be a huge mistake? I don’t want to keep playing in C#.. That is a ridiculous key… And they still sound anemic… Let me try going down to B… Singing in the Key of B sounded worse than any of the other keys… I am going to try one more key. Let’s move it up to D… Two sharps… not real difficult to play in (remember that I am NOT a piano player). I count them in and… They have seemed to transform! They sound bright and full. They sound like a choir of little angels! I am completely blown away at this point… They sounded so anemic in C#; but in D, just a half step away, they sound SPECTACULAR.
Did I really just make this discovery? Usually I would overthink this and try to figure out why this is working, why they sound so much stronger than in any other key. Nope, for now I am just going to go with it.
The next thing I do is to break them up into simple two part harmonies. D and F#. They sound even better. I absolutely LOVE the sound of a youth ensemble singing in harmony… I think it is time to separate the voices into sections… I get them all sorted out and now I have something with which I can really work! I add the fifth… Three Part Harmony and it is GLORIOUS!
It’s time to have some fun. The first song that comes to mind is “Betelehemu”. Yeah, I know it’s technically a Christmas song, but I can get away with it because it’s in Yoruba- I think… And they sound beautiful. At this point I can not believe that I am standing in front of them… directing them. I can’t believe that no one is older than probably 12. This is a fantastic experience.
When a composer writes in a particular key, they do it for a reason. sometimes it just sounds good to them. I did not understand that until the day that I discovered what young voices sounded like in the Key of D.
