What are types of choir meant to express? by Sasha L.

What are types of choir meant to express?

My blog will be about some of the types of choir that I personally like to listen to and/or participate in. I love music in general but what I do love most is the variety you have to listen to or perform. Some people join choir in school and decide they dislike choir because it's simply a type of choir they don't enjoy singing in. Luckily for them, there are many different types of choir. Each of these choirs have different music and different music parts, they all sound different and are beautiful in their own way. There’s Gospel, Barbershop, show, vocal jazz, and symphonic which isn't even an actual voice, there's always going to be a type for everyone. 

First I will be talking about Barbershop music, a personal favorite of mine. Barbershop is an acapella group with usually 4 singers or parts, it's a bit show-y but really just expressive. Barbershop can be sung by both female and male, the two main types of groups are TTBB and SSAA. These symbols stand for Tenor I, Tenor II, Bass I, and Bass II, the SSAA stands for Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto II, and Alto I. TTBB is most popularly male and SSAA is mainly for females although it is possible to have female/male switch because of their voice part. The history of Barbershop came from mainly African American folk art, where immature musicians toured in the 1800’s and mixed their own music with more complicated music to add harmonic value. The musician would sing a song while others would add lip harmonies to create a very beautiful sound. Tags can also be very important in the barbershop culture because it's a great strategy to teach a song to someone by ear with no sheet music, although today it's not used with specific songs anymore, it's just standalone in music. This all wraps together to create one big chord!

Vocal Jazz is one of the calmest types of music I know, especially with smooth jazz, which can be quite different from normal jazz. If you look at the history of Jazz you can see how it's come a long way but has kept the same idea and even some of the music is still iconic. Jazz mainly focuses on how you sing and the way you sing it and the accompaniment is only supposed to compliment you. Jazz became known in the 20th century, this began in 1910/1920’s where scat singing was becoming popular. Scat singing is the singer singing nonsense syllables to showcase specifically your voice. Soon, the golden era approaches and many performing jazz vocalists and traditional pop vocalists start to employ singers for their bands. Continuing on to the 1970 and 80’s, Jazz still is present and the solo vocalists are still slaying for the members of their past. 

Next, Gospel choir, a more religion oriented type of choir. Gospel can really sound like any style of music, it just has to have lyrics related Christianity or worship of god.  African music-making and spiritualities deeply inspired the hymn harmonies in gospel music. Gospel music is often presented with a quiet hush and hums, to give the impression of a soft and caring voice. There are also powerful phrases and tones to express the amount of devotion the singer wants to portray. In active performances, the singer and listeners often dance or sway to the music naturally depending on the beat. Gospel music is also commonly performed in a group with other singers and musicians with instruments such as guitar or drums. Gospel choirs were closely related to slaves working on plantations; they often used call and response song lyrics to communicate because they were not allowed to speak. These gospel songs even brought hope to the slaves, and it did help them communicate secretly to help each other escape. Not only was the purpose of this music to send the message of god, it helped tremendously in the sanity of slaves and their freedom. 

All of these choirs are different in how they sound and what they are meant to express, but each is perfect and enjoyed by many. Barbershop is meant to portray beautiful harmony in song and harmony with people too. Jazz is meant to express variety in the way everyone sings and show the beauty in everyone. Gospel music is supposed to express one's love for Christianity and have expressed, in the past, freedom for slaves. There will always be a choir for anyone and everyone and if there isn't, someone will create it, that's why there's something for everyone.