Choirs are vocal groups that sing compositions in a coordinated manner.
Chorus , from the Latin chorus (although with more remote origins in the Greek language), is the group of people who, in a musical performance, simultaneously sing the same piece . For example: "Valeria sings in the church choir" , "The Canadian artist arrived in the country with his musicians and a ten-member choir" , "After the instrumental introduction, the choir must begin to sing the first verse" .
The choir, therefore, is the vocal group that performs a piece in a coordinated manner . Typically, the choir is made up of different types of voices (that is, voices with different chords).
In a professional choir, the soprano carries the main melody, being accompanied by mezzo-sopranos , contraltos , tenors , baritones or basses . The most common formation of a choir includes sopranos, contraltos, tenors and basses.
Choir types
It is possible to classify the choir in different ways. An a cappella choir is one that sings without any instrumental accompaniment, which is opposed to the configuration of a concertante choir .
The choir, depending on its members, can be a mixed vocal quartet (with four singers, one per tessitura ), an octet (a doubled mixed quartet), a chamber choir (with between ten and twenty singers) or a symphonic choir (with more than twenty members).
Culturally, the vocational choir can fulfill a very important function in a society, since it usually brings together many people with a passion for music but without the technique or training necessary to aspire to a professional one. Although they are not usually well regarded by academic music purists, who look for highly prestigious groups, more than one choir of this nature surprises with the quality of their performances.
The choir director guides the vocalists.
Knowledge and skills
In academic music there is great contempt for the lack of theoretical knowledge typical of the popular environment; However, knowing how to read sheet music has not been and is not the key to interpreting a piece properly. On the other hand, it is true that ignorance of musical language represents a barrier that only a few can successfully cross and without their limitations becoming evident. And the complexity of certain compositions makes it almost impossible to learn them by ear, unless you have an unusual talent.
Singing in a choir requires a series of skills, which are possible to acquire if you have basic musical skills . Firstly, there is the need to sing in coordination with a group of people; This is especially difficult when the works present rhythmic irregularities or very complex harmonies.
But in addition to the purely musical level, choirs generally address pieces in several languages , among which is Latin, which is why it becomes necessary to learn the meaning and phonetics of many terms, seeking to understand the author's intention, to offer a good interpretation.
The choir director
The role of the director is perhaps the most difficult, and also the least appreciated, since he is the person in charge of guiding all the choristers in the difficult process of learning the works, giving them advice to improve the technical and interpretive aspects.
As if coordinating dozens of singers were not a complicated enough task, the conductor must pay attention to the tuning and execution of each voice at all times, to notice and correct errors before they become vices.
Other uses of the concept
Chorus is also a piece of music with diatonic melodies and simple rhythms or a monodic chant that is developed in the liturgy of churches (such as Gregorian chant ).
The term, on the other hand, is used to name the fragment of a song performed by a group of voices ( "The structure of the song includes three verses, a chorus, three other verses and the repetition of the chorus" ).