The Shepherds were pretty much thrown into the deep end last night because the songs that they had to learn was among the most difficult rhythmically, as it involves six different performers singing simultaneously, overlapping one another. This was also a song that the Wise Men did just last week (they're the other three, arf). The plan is basically to rehearse it in the two separate groups, introduce a third group who are involved in the song (but aren't involved, thankfully, in the overlapping-voices section), and then put them all together at a later stage to see how they gel.
Already I can see how it's going to be quite a challenge - the Wise Men have pretty much tenor voices, capable of hitting the higher notes; the Shepherd sisters are in the alto range, meaning they sing in the lower register. Now, this would be fine if the songs comprised four-part harmony (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). But what happens when the same performers of differing vocal ranges have to sing separate, distinct melodies in one song? The answer? Transpositional chaos. ("Oi, don't be so technical laaaaah," I hear some people snapping already, though it would be funny to hear you say it if you weren't, like, Asian.) Well, basically this means adjusting the keys of the songs so that it fits the vocal ranges of the performers. In such a case as above, where performers of different ranges have to sing together, the trick is to find a compromise that works for everyone. It's not always easy, but where there's a will, there's a... oh, you know the end of that cliche. I can't wait to put everyone together and see how it works out.
Incidentally, I'm not sure that the method we're working with - i.e. trying to change the songs to suit the ranges of the singers - is really the most orthodox way. Certainly, I can't imagine this being the approach bigger used in musicals, especially those the likes of the West End and Great White Way. In those cases, the songs are fixed in a certain key, for a certain voice type, i.e. "This particular song needs someone with a sweet, innocent soprano. This particular song needs a deeper, earthier female voice." The songs don't change; the performers have to fit what's written.
In our case, however, this approach I'm using is due to a couple of reasons: first off, that I tend to write my music in a vocal range more suitable for me to sing, which makes for easier demo recordings. But maybe every composer does that and then transposes the music to fit the characteristics of the character, so perhaps that's cool. More pertinent, however, is the rather dampening truth that the talent pool in the performing arts industry here is sizable but not vast. So it's difficult, say, to write a song that requires a deep bass voice and then go out and find people who fit the bill.
Similarly, it was hard to write for specific vocal type in FTL when the majority of female performers we approached and auditioned were altos; the majority of male performers were tenors. And when the choices are few, we go with what we have. I think it's a shame when songs are performed on stage which could have been fantastic, except they were out of the performer's range. And this, sadly, has happened in certain productions here in Malaysia, so we're aiming to avoid that. Thus we make do with that we have. Thankfully, what we have are top-notch, despite, and thanks to, their vocal ranges. So, we'll make it work. ;)
Sometimes this process involves transitions that I, as the composer, hadn't planned for. Take, for instance, this moment from our rehearsal yesterday with the Shepherd boy. While rehearsing with our performer, I realised it made more sense to lower the key of the chorus to allow him to effectively cover the wide range of the song. So it was done, and while it might sound strange to those who are closely familiar with the melody (all two of you), we ended the rehearsal convinced this would be the right way to go. For those who are still with me, check out this clip - the first eight seconds are an abridged section of a demo performed by yours truly. The next few seconds are with our Shepherd boy. See if you can hear the revised modulation into the chorus ("God above" etc):
The Lost Sheep Experiment
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