Alberto
tenzi

Educational Programs

SUBJECT 1: RHYTHM FOR SINGERS 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 

It is very important for singers to be able to express themselves rhythmically with ease, especially in the lexical context of the different genres of modern music. The path is characterized by the execution of rhythmic readings to be performed on easily available percussion instruments and on one's own body. 

Experiential analysis of the main rhythmic designs of modern musical styles, through the understanding of the different instrumental languages. Construction of rhythms for percussion, through listening and analysis of musical arrangements. Music theory of the rules governing the rhythm. 

METHOD 

• Rhythmic reading used mostly in American schools, through the decomposition into conventional syllables
• The beat of the foot keeps the tempo constant
• The hands perform in alternating sequence, the different rhythmic subdivisions synchronizing themselves with the syllables of the voice
• It is played on percussion instruments or on your own body
• The different exercises are carried out with the help of backing tracks in loop 

This path greatly improves and stimulates one's motor independence, in order to make one's ability to produce rhythm more natural and instinctive. 

Performing solo rhythms and rhythms combined with multiple sections of multiple people to play drum-like patterns. 

Rhythmic theory: 

• Time and rhythm; 
• Rhythmic music notation; 
• Simple, compound and irregular tenses; 
• Divisions of binary, ternary and irregular rhythms; 
• The signs of prolongation of the notes; 
• Typical rhythmic subdivisions with shifts of ordinary accents; 
• The signs of progress, agogic, dynamic, of expression and repetition; • Metric structures typical of songs. 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 

• Increase your sense of timing and groove through the achievement of greater motor independence of one's body. 
• Improve your listening skills and rhythmic production. 
• Achieve a good level of rhythmic reading on a staff. 
• Allowing singers to interact competently, consciously and creatively with other instrumentalists during group sessions.

 

SUBJECT 2: BACKING VOCALS 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 

Every solo singer must always be able to harmonize in the context of vocal arrangements, in order to improve the perception of their melodic and harmonic role. Within a choir it is necessary to know how to intone different secondary and complementary vocal lines, harmonious with the melody of the piece. 

The path includes the study of covers arranged in new a cappella versions (voices only) without or with the aid of backing tracks. 

METHOD 

Harmonization exercises for several voices in the major and minor scales, in order to become familiar with the group and understand the potential of the vocal ensemble. 

For the study of the a cappella pieces the teacher will provide: 

• The text of the individual parts
• The audio recording of the individual voices of the vocal arrangement
• The complete backing track on which to train to sing your own part
• Upon request, musical transcriptions on staff will be provided. 

During the meetings the single voices will be rehearsed individually, then in groups in unison and finally, in progressive relation until reaching the complete simultaneous performance of all the parts. 

Particular attention will be given to the general intonation and to the timbral-dynamic relationships. 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 

• Improve your musical ear
• Improve your intonation and sonic memory
• Increase individual self-listening skills in real time
• Keep the overall perception of the other voices of the piece active simultaneously
• Gain a greater overview
• Knowing at any moment what one's timbre, expressive and dynamic relationship is in relation to other voices and other instruments. 

The experience of knowing how to work in a choir also facilitates the creative aspect in knowing how to invent and improvise melodic variations on the theme of a piece. 

The personalization and characterization of a melody is determined by the expressive, timbral, dynamic and rhythmic interpretation, but sometimes it can also make use of melodic variations on the theme.

 

SUBJECT 3: VOICE TECHNIQUE FOR SINGERS 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 

The best technique is always the one that allows us to obtain the maximum result with the least effort and expenditure of energy. By always applying this principle, you are able to avoid harmful behaviors to your voice and vocal cords. 

The study of vocal technique allows you to make the best use of: 

• Diaphragmatic breathing
• The support of the air pressure to be kept constant during the emission of a sound
• The intonation
• The natural internal resonances (resonance boxes) of the face and body
• The timbral and expressive differences
• The strength and power of sound (dynamics)

Through this path one is able to discover and progressively learn about the natural characteristics of one's voice and the sounds that are often hidden within us, up to the place where the key is found that can definitively open the door. 

METHOD 

• Analysis and application of the Body Posture: relaxation, retroversion of the pelvis, position of the legs, shoulders, neck and head. 
• Speech analysis: the intervention of the autonomic and voluntary nervous systems, diaphragmatic breathing, emission, support, attack, masked resonances, change of register. 
• Vocalizations of progressive difficulty with the aid of backing tracks.
• Repertoire of songs. 
• Characterizations of the passage considered. 
• To imitate or not to imitate the singer of the original version? 
• When do we choose to sing while observing the correct diction? 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 

• Achieve the ability to emit free sounds to vibrate naturally
• Correct intonation
• Using the right body posture
• Using the right phonation 
• Sing without the involuntary muscle tension 
• Making the acquired techniques completely instinctive

 

SUBJECT 4: MUSICAL THEORY 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 

The study of music theory is to be considered on a par with the study of grammar in the spoken language. 

The study of musical writing is not to be considered the end, the goal to be achieved, but rather a training tool through which the mechanisms that govern musical language can be acquired, understood and rationalized. 

For this purpose, didactic material written by the teacher will be provided. 

METHOD 

• Ear training
• Basics of music notation
• Sung, spoken and rhythmic readings with the aid of musical bases and accompaniments
• Study of the main scales and tones
• Study of the main chord structures in the context of keys

Each topic treated will be supported by practical and experiential exercises through vocalization and, if necessary, exercises of practical harmonization in groups. 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 

• Understanding the score
• Aware formation of the musical ear of the melodic and harmonic structures
• Understanding of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic parts of a piece of music
• Knowledge of the rules to be used to create vocal improvisations.

 

SUBJECT 5: PREPARATION OF FINAL EXAMINATIONS IN THE RECORDING STUDIO 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 

The work that takes place during a session in the recording studio is highly educational, as it allows you to verify the real quality level achieved. 

In addition to this, it allows, through continuous listening to one's own recording, to improve and further refine one's technical and expressive qualities. The type of work is supported by the teacher who will follow the entire performance in real time with great attention and meticulousness, making a continuous screening of intonation, intention, interpretation and timing of the entire execution. 

METHOD 

• Recording on instrumental backing track
• Care of the execution and continuous verification of the result in real time 
• Using punch in (correction overdubs of single words or parts of sentences)
• Recordings of secondary tracks to insert choir parts if necessary
• Care of interpretation, vocal technique, timbre and dynamics. 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 

• Improvement of one's ability to listen to oneself in real time 
• Greater ability to self-correct in real time
• Increase in self-criticism and correction of the work done
• Progressive acquisition of the selective ear
• Fine tuning improvement

The work done in the recording studio is a continuous training ground that allows you to test every single element of your personal vocal preparation. 

For this reason it is always a moment of inner research that progressively leads to a greater capacity and artistic maturity.