Video transcript
@The Arts Unit Art Bites – Choral singing tips – 08 Ahead of the Grand Old Duke

[Music playing]

IAN JEFFERSON: (SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only half way up, they were neither up nor down.'

That's 'The Grand Old Duke of York', a very short nursery rhyme, which I've managed to turn into a one and a half minute fun choral piece for treble voices.

[music playing]

In today's video, I'm going to be showing you how important it is to be slightly ahead of your choir, by a few milliseconds, so you can help them and always show - AND ...

... it's in G major. It's in cut common, which is the same as 2/2. And, the minim speed is 120 minim beats per minute. That's quite fast.

[metronome beating]

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York' ...

It goes along at quite a clip. So, as I'm teaching it to you, I'm going to slow down the tempo to 100 beats per minute, just to make it more manageable.

[metronome beating]

About there. My advice to you is to sing this song with an open, posh mouth to enhance the comedy, irony. And, to clip the words in each phrase. So ...

[metronome beating]

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again.'

Down. Down. Be very careful of the word down. Keep it open and posh.

[piano playing]

(SINGING) 'B, B, A, A, G. March them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.'

The main tune is performed 4 times. It is only the second time where harmony is used. But first, this explanation about orientation.

Whenever I want you to copy something of my conducting, I will generally go to reverse cam, which will look like this. My right hand appears on this side. But, normally we go back to normal, and this is my right hand.

My sopranos will be on this side, and my altos will be on this side. But, if we do do a swappity swap, my sopranos will be on this side, and my altos will be on this side. So, back to normal vision at the moment.

So, when I show this now, my sopranos will be the 'Ian wearing the red top,' and my altos will be the 'Ian wearing the renowned green top.' So, let's do it. This is the second time through the song, which splits into parts. Sopranos, altos.

[piano playing]

Here we go.

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up.

They were up.

And when they were down, they were down.

They were down.

And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.'

And, then we come to a grand waltz section. It's too fast to conduct this section 2,3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1 ... instead we conduct the down beat of every bar, instead in our head, thinking 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. This is called a 'waltz in 1.' So, the third time through the song sounds like this.

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He' ... then it goes back into cut common straight there.

'Marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again.'

And, then we do a little bit of subito dynamics, which means soft and loud. Basically volume changes that are sudden.

(SINGING) 'And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.'

The last time through is up a semi-tone, into A flat major, and continues in unison. The only complication is that every time we would normally sing 'up' we clap our hands.

[clapping]

And every time we would normally sing the word 'down' we stomp our foot instead.

[stomping]

This is fun, and makes this song a good warm-up concentration song. So, I'll try and sing it now. I'll do it G major, so we don't lose the tonality for now.

(SINGING)

'And when they were (clapping) they were [clapping] and when they were [stomping] they were [stomping] and when they were only halfway [clapping] they were neither [clapping] nor [stomping].

It's that easy.

'And' is very important in conducting. This is the preparation beat before something happens. It may be the breath in before singing. It may be the beat before you want the choir to stop singing. The choir should never have to guess when to start or to stop singing. They need to feel confident. And, you, as a conductor, need to provide that reassurance.

'And' sing ... 'and' stop. Always give at least one beat of 'and' before starting or stopping. And, it should be in time. You shouldn't go ...

[breath]

Uh. It should be in your head. [clicks tongue] 'And' sing. 'And' stop.

The time signature is 2/2 which means the first singing entrance is 1 ... (SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke' ...

The 'Oh' happens on beat 2 of the bar. So, the first beat is the 'And' ... 'Oh the Grand' ... 'And' 1, 'Oh, the Grand' ...

So, you have to give it a lot of power by taking in a breath and launching beat 2. Now, in the context of the song, the first bit of singing is preceded by the choir yelling, 'And' halt. 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York' ... which doesn't give them much time for a breath.

So, you add the 'And' halt ... and take a breath before that. So, you would go ... 'And' halt. 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men.'

The next little entrance cue to practise is the 'And when they were up, they were up.' The pick up to this section is only a crotchet anacrusis on the word 'and.' 'And when' ...

In this instance, when you're rehearsing this section, you still need to give a full beat's warning, because the word 'and' is not accented. I'd give it a little lighter pulse on beat 2. I use a flick and a forward motion. Others use different systems. But, this is my system. I would go, 'And' ... 'And when' ...

Try that again.

[clicking tongue]

'And when' ... 'And when' ... little flick forward ... 'And when' ... 'And when' ...

Often I put a stop sign there too, to stop them coming in early. 'And when they were up, they were up' ...

The second time through, which has the soprano/alto split - it's very similar to the first verse. So, you just need to give the launch at the beginning. 'And' (breath) 'Oh the Grand' ... boom. 'Oh the Grand' ... boom. 'Oh the Grand' ... Of course, you don't say boom, but you might breathe in.

'Oh the Grand' ... like this. And, then you might give a wry glance to the altos to remind them that they've got harmony coming up. So, you'll go, (voom) ... 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of' ... look. 'He had 10,000 men. He'd march them' ...

Back to the sopranos to remind them about their 'march them down again.' You might just look at them, 'march them down again.' And, then maybe a little stop sign to the altos, to stop them coming in on this next bit, which is just the sopranos.

'And when they were up, they were' ... and you give a very strong down beat. That's not where they sing, they bounce off that beat.

'And when they were up, they were ... they were up. And when they were down, they were ... they were down. They were down. They were down.'

So you give the beat, the strong beat before they bounce off it. So, they're not going, 'they were down.' They go ... (vomp) ... 'they were down' ... (vomp) ... 'they were down' ... (vomp) ... 'they were up' ... (vomp) ... 'they were down.' So, you give a strong beat prior to them singing.

And, often this doesn't have to be very big gestures. It can be a little look, just a little pulse in the hand. And, when you're doing a fast song in 2/2 the conducting can be quite small. It's not big waving like this. It's nice and tight and light and bright.

Then we come to the grand waltz section. The cut-offs are a little bit tricky here. You may need to work on this with the choir. Doo, doo, doo, doo. (singing) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He' ... and then it goes back into the 2/2.

The final time through, which is up a semitone, can have kids suddenly yelling out and making mistakes. Clapping or stomping in the wrong spot. Don't be concerned if it goes wrong in a performance. Because it's always kind of funny.

Let's see if I can conduct the entire song in G major at speed at 120 beats per minute.

[music playing]

Left, left, left, right, left.

And halt.

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.'

[music playing]

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. They were up. And when they were down, they were down. They were down. And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.'

Left, left, left, right, left.

[music playing]

And halt.

(SINGING) 'Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.

Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them [clapping] to the top of the hill, and he marched them [clapping] again. And when they were [clapping] they were [clapping]. And when they were [stomping] they were [stomping], and when they were only halfway [clapping] they were neither [clapping] nor [stomping]'

You may be thinking, 'this song requires far too much signalling. And this might lead to confusion.' And, you may well be right. So, during a rehearsal with the choir, you will realise what's required and know what's superfluous. Sometimes a raised eyebrow is all that is required to send a clear signal.

Just stay calm, and be there for your choir. Now, my top tips. Don't sing along with your choir, because they get very used to hearing your voice. And, if you suddenly don't sing, that might throw them.

Don't bury your head in the music. Try to have as much reassuring eye contact as is possible. Use small gestures for fast songs. Have a constant, steady beat in your head when you're teaching and rehearsing a song. So, you don't have to have a metronome going click, but in your head, you've got that, like this. Saves so much more time than if you just go off waffling like this, and then try to get back into this tempo.

It's much better to go, 'stop, let's do that again.' And, do it again. 'No, that's not quite right. Let's try it again.' And jump. So, you've always got that [clicking tongue] driving you along.

Another thing is, don't constantly count out aloud, or click your fingers to bring the choir in. Because they get used to hearing that, and that means they don't need to look at you. So, try and use your hand gestures, and make everything visual. It's OK to click occasionally, or go 1, 2. But other times just go, "Watching' ... it forces them to watch.

I hope you had fun with this song. Good luck with it all. And remember, keep singing.

[music playing]