Coaching with Kym Vaughn - 14th November 2012

                                                            A bit about Kim:

"Kim Hulbert Vaughn is one of the most well known women in the field of barbershop harmony.
As Musical Director of the San Diego Chorus since 1985, she has led the chorus to multiple successes, including the International championship in 2002.
The Coach of many male and female quartet champions, she is also Musical Director
of Pacific Coast Harmony, a men’s barbershop harmony chorus in La Jolla, California.
 A Sound category judge as well as International Faculty for Sweet Adelines, Kim is
often traveling not only to coach choruses and quartets, but also to teach or judge.
Kim’s talents lie not only in her directing and teaching skills, but also in her performance accomplishments. She has won the coveted International Quartet Champion title
three times, and is the first woman to ever do so.
She won her first title in 1976 with High Society, again in 1988 with Savvy and most
 recently in 2001 with a cappella Gold.
A vocal teacher and member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing,
 Kim holds a B.A.in Music Education and an M.A. in Vocal Pedagogy from
San Diego State University."

Kim coached both the chorus and Jan ... it was hard work for everyone but much appreciated.
 
Jan and Jill with Kym .....
 

Kim Vaughn's advice – 14^th November 2012
From the vocal warmups:
* Sing UH not AH
* OH should always have lots of resonance – lips forward.
* When singing the LOO-LEE exercise, keep the OO resonance in the EE
* Have fun! Your face should look as though you're having a good time.
Only 'idiot' is enough.
When working on Toora Loora:
* Don't lower your body at the same time as you start to sing.
Hold still and start.
* When taking a breath, have your mouth in the shape of the vowel
you are about to sing.
* Your mouth belongs to the singing part of you.
Your eyes smile and perform while your mouth sings.
* Brighter doesn't mean louder.
Don't be heavy and out of tune for louder. Add more head voice.
* Make the right choices about good vocal production.
* Some places in songs can pull you into the wrong place.
Don't let them.
* Sing every singable sound with no spaces.
* Don't sound like a 'warped record' going around when singing
 "over in Killarney”, sing all sounds

* “over in” - stretch the N out a little to make it more 'barbershop'

* GOH-OO – sing the diphthong, add resonance and breath support.
* Take the breath out before “in her good old...”
* Use the word “old” to turn the dynamic to softer for “Irish way”.
* No slide on “Irish” or “world”
* There should not be too much 'R' in “hear”
* Take the breath out before “hush”.
* In bar 24 the basses, baris and tenors sing their own timing for “way” (turn the diphthong), straight into “give” after the breath, while the leads take a snatch breath before singing the pickup “and I'd”.
* For the CHORUS section sing in tempo the whole way until the tenor/bass move in bar 59/60 when we slow down.
* For the lead pickup in bar 60 follow the same technique as already mentioned for bar 24.
* When singing Toora make sure it is TOO then RAH.
* Basses need to be in tune for those tricky notes in bars 49 – 51
When working on How Many Hearts (which we didn't have much time for):
* Too many sloppy attacks and releases.
* Everyone must know the correct duration of each breath,
whether it's a snatch breath, a longer breath, etc.
* Too many synch errors caused by the breaths.
* Don't slide on “tell” (bar 13) - keep a straight pitch.
* Everyone must start together – don't wait to come in after
everyone else gets going.
* Everyone must breathe together, especially before “va va va...”
* Everyone (except tenors) must breathe before “I fell in love” bars 46/47
* Everyone must know the breath plan, including where
NOT to take sneak breaths.
* Don't oversing so that the sound is harsh for this song. Keep head voice and resonance in the sound – more like the sound Kim heard for Toora Loora.