The Economy of Choir Size by Ingo R. Titze
The
purpose of this article is to discuss the reasons behind choirs of various
sizes, and spends most of it’s time talking about how efficiently choir size
correlates to volume. It states that the characteristic “choir sound” can be
achieved with a relatively small number of people, and that when it comes to
tuning harmonies a smaller choir is easier to handle.
The
author states that larger choir sizes tend to be driven by the need to increase
a choir’s volume to fill out a large space or match orchestral accompaniment. His supposition is that of the three ways to
increase a choir’s volume (more people, greater dynamic range per person,
acoustics of the performance space), increasing the size of the choir is the
least effective. He gets somewhat technical at this point, but the gist of his
argument is that for every doubling of the number of people in the choir, the
volume of the sound only increases by roughly 41%. This means the marginal gain
in volume decreases very rapidly as the total choir size increases, making it negligible
by the time you reach 20 people. He also points out that seeking to increase
overall dynamic range by adding people is futile unless you can strategically
have certain singers drop out in order to make your piano and pianissimo
softer.
Since a
trained singer can produce a much larger dynamic range than the average person,
the author posits that working with the choir to increase each individual’s
dynamic range will have a much more pronounced effect than simply adding more
people. For performance space acoustics he presents no factual data, but
considers that aspect to also have more influence on a choir’s volume than its
size does.
This is so interesting! Your video made me laugh. I had no idea there were so many different dynamics (pun intended?) when dealing with choir size.
ReplyDeleteWho knew that size really doesn't matter when it comes to choirs (I swear I'm not trying to make a pun). I know some high school choirs want their top choir to be huge in order to get that "big sound: but in actuality, that is probably not the smartest idea. It is better to have less singers who have great dynamic range. I will keep this in mind when I have a choir of my own.
ReplyDeleteMy high school was really small (500 students) and sadly the choir director had a quantity over quality mindset. However, the choir director at the community college I went to knew everything this article said basically. The tuning was better, and unequally balance sections did not effect the overall sound. This article is a great reminder, the scientific facts help me to solidify it as knowledge now that I know it wasn't just my previous choir director's opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis article gave me a lot of information, a big sound doesn't mean they are good quality of sound. Is better to have more high quality singers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this article. I have been in a few choirs that just wanted quantity over quality and it was a constant struggle to sing in tune and get the voices to balance. And it is just painful to get a large choir to sing pianissimo unless you have many people not sing that section.
ReplyDeleteYes! I love Chamber Choir, but I sometimes wish we had an even smaller group of people who easily learned music. I know that UofO only meets once or twice a week, and this is because they have less quantity so that they can focus more of the quality. I definitely agree with this.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article, and so true. I agree with Kat's comment that the quality of our chamber choir would greatly increase if we had a smaller number of well-trained singers rather than a larger group of people who are OK.
ReplyDeleteQuality over quantity for sure, but quantity is not a bad thing if you have the quality! :-) I think the author is not trying to say that all choirs should be small because of diminishing returns, but that the focus on quality should be prioritized. Also, the idea that if quantity is a big deal, achieving lower dynamic levels should maybe be made with a smaller quantity of the larger whole. Lots of interesting info to consider for sure when creating a choir. Obviously in your high/middle schools, participation is a big deal, so you won't want to limit participation, but still focusing on developing quality voices will hopefully be a priority. Be great voice teachers AND great choral directors because at that level, you have to be! ;-) It's a lot of responsibility! :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I never would have thought that more people doesn't necessarily mean bigger sound. In high school, our concert choir had over 100 singers in it to create that "full" sound. Not always did we achieve the desired outcome though. Often, we were hindered by students inability to match pitch or sing something accurately. Quality over quantity for sure!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that choir size has little effect on volume. I wonder if it has other effects that can be used. For instance, I've believed for a long time that smaller ensembles have an easier time achieving a true blend because there are less voices to manage (I'm wondering right now if that actually makes sense... leaning towards not.) Things to think about and experiment with!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping sound physics would be brought up in this article! =) It's always interesting some directors, especially some of the directors I've had in the past, always thinking adding that one, or maybe two, extra singers will make such a dramatic difference in the sound of the ensemble. While this may be true of the vocal "balance" in the choir, as with amps, and instruments, and all other things that create sound, we would need more people than expected to make more sound in that manner. Better trained musicians should always be a simpler, and often more cost effective, method than adding more bodies.
ReplyDeleteIn high school I was in two school choirs and several ensembles outside of school, including the Pacific Youth Choir: Chamber Choir of about 24. I was always amazed as to how we could be louder than my high school's choir of 60. But after reading and watching this it makes more sense. Its not necessarily about the quantity of voices.
ReplyDeleteSo you're telling me that with singing, it's a matter of quality over quantity? Who knew?
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder how important your key voices are. Take them out, and the sound of the section can diminish severely, but that's a confidence thing. Interesting new dimension to the concept!
ReplyDelete