Video transcript
Festival of Choral Music repertoire 2021 - 05. Naughty - teaching tips

[music playing]

RACHEL KELLY: Hi, I'm Rachel Kelly. This video is part of a series on tips for conducting your choir. This version of Naughty has been arranged to be accompanied by a stage band, so the feel and the rhythms might be a bit different to the version that you already know.

The singing is all in unison. That means the sopranos and the altos always sing the same thing. The time signature is for 4/4 .

That means we conduct four crotchet beats in every bar, like this, down, across, out, up. Down, across, out, up. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.

(SINGING) Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

The quavers are all swung. So instead of dividing the crotchet beats into even quavers like this, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, we swing them like this, 1 and two and three and 4 and. It's written as though the quavers are all straight, but the instructions at the beginning tell us to swing them all in the accompaniment and in the singing parts.

I would learn these rhythms by listening really carefully to the teaching track and then teaching them to your choir a phrase at a time. So you could sing a phrase for them to echo, or you could play a little bit of the teaching track for them to copy a phrase at a time. Listen to the way they sing it and make sure it's accurate before you go into the next phrase.

For example, even in the first bar, there's a rhythm to watch out for. So the original version of this song went (SINGING) Jack and Jill. But this version goes (Singing) Jack and Jill. So the end comes on the second beat, like this, (SINGING) Jack and Jill.

Sometimes, the differences in rhythm in this song from the original version are only small, but it's really important to get them right and have everyone singing them the same way. And if your choir are singing the incorrect rhythm for a while, it can be really hard to fix it up. Look out for all the rests in the vocal line in this song. There could be a quaver rest or a crotchet rest or a minim rest, or even a whole bar rest.

When you see one of these rests, the sound has to completely stop. You don't always take a breath on a rest, but a lot of the time you do. So the first section goes like this, (SINGING) Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, so they say. The subsequent fall was inevitable.

And then, when there is a phrase that doesn't have a rest, make sure the sound keeps going. (SINGING) They never stood a chance. They were written that way. Your choir will sound really unified if all the rests happen exactly together, and if all those phrases that stay connected are together, as well. And it's much more satisfying for them to sing that way.

There's a few tricky spots melodically, as well, in this song, that you may want to do some slower practise on. So at bar 17, we sing, (SINGING) Like Romeo and Juliet, 'twas written in the stars before they even met. So it really jumps around quite a bit, and it can be helpful just to practise those jumps a bit more slowly. (SINGING) Written in the stars before they even met, just to get the pitch nice and accurate.

At bar 25, we've got another example of little rests where we don't necessarily take a breath, but the sound stops. (SINGING) The endings are often a little bit gory. And watch the rhythm of gory, (SINGING) gory. The rhythm of gory there is what's called syncopation, which is a really big feature of this song. Syncopation is when the notes are accented off the beat instead of on the beats. So instead of (SINGING) gory, it's (SINGING) gory.

Usually, the best way to conduct syncopation isn't to conduct the syncopated notes themselves, but to emphasise the beat just before the syncopated note. Let's look at a few examples. Back in bar nine, the word was is accented between beat three and beat four. So we can help with this syncopation by giving a stronger gesture on beat three, like this. (SINGING) The subsequent fall was inevitable. I'll show you again. (SINGING) The subsequent fall was inevitable, rather than giving a gesture right on the word was like this, (SINGING) the subsequent fall was inevitable.

At bar 14, the word story is syncopated like gory that I mentioned before. So the syncopation comes right at the end of the bar, and you can do a gesture on this note to help your singers, like this, (SINGING) innocent victims of the story. This little rhythmic pattern is repeated in a lot of other places, like gory at bar 26, story at bar 29, surely at bar 32, and naughty at bar 36.

Another syncopated rhythm that's used a lot is first found at bar 40. (SINGING) Even if you're little, you can do a lot--you. So except for the word do, all the rest of those words come in between the beats. (SINGING) Do a lot-- you.

So you can be a bit sharper or bouncier with your conducting in this bar, just to help with that feel. (SINGING) Even if you're little, you can do lot-- you. The same rhythm happens at bar 42, (SINGING) little stop you, at bar 44 (SINGING) get on top, you, at bar 48, (SINGING) life's not fair it, at bar 50, (SINGING) grin and bear it, and bar 52, (SINGING) chin and wear it.

Just watch out for the one at 44. It's the only one that doesn't have a little rest after it. So it joins on to the next part, (SINGING) get on top, you won't change a thing.

I'll just point out one more syncopation for you at bar 57, (SINGING) and if it's not right. So the word not is coming in early there. It feels like a bit of a surprise. And you can give a sharper beat just before that word, to help with the feel of it. So for bar 55, you'd go one, two, (SINGING) and that's not right. And if it's not right--

At bar 70, We have a contrasting middle section. And although it's softer, it still needs to be full of energy. (SINGING) In the slip of a boat, there's a tiny revolt.

And give a strong downbeat on that quaver rest to help kick off their rhythm, (SINGING) in the slip of a boat. You can use both hands for it, (SINGING) in the slip, in the slip.

Look at the phrase that starts at bar 76 and see how long it is before you get to take a breath. (SINGING) The tiniest mite packs the mightiest sting every day. So they have to join sting to every, and you can use your left hand to show that connection, (SINGING) mightiest sting every day.

Most of the rest of the song is just repeating parts they already know. When we get to the end, the last note is a long one, so we hold it for almost two bars. It cuts off right at the end of bar 116, with that syncopated piano note. And then, we keep conducting the final two bars while the piano plays. And we remind the choir to stay nice and focused to the very end.

So I'll show you from bar 113. We'll go, (SINGING) sometimes, you have to be a little bit naughty. Bum, bum, ba, da, da, bum, bum, ba.