Video transcript
2021 Primary Proms repertoire - 07. The Candy Man - 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 song from the movie 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' is all in unison, so the sopranos and the altos always sing the same thing.

The time signature is 4/4, which means we conduct four crotchet beats in each bar. So we go down, across, out, up, down, across, out, up, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. (SINGING) Who can take a sunrise?

Now, this arrangement does quite a bit of swapping back and forth between a straight feel and a swung feel. So straight quavers would go like this. (SINGING) Who can take a sunrise?

So they fit evenly into the beats, whereas swung quavers are like this. (SINGING) Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two So they have a long, short, long, short pattern, like the first and the third note of a triplet.

Now, the crotchets are the same whether you're singing straight or swung. It's only the quavers that are affected. So the default in this arrangement is for the quavers to be straight.

Now, by the way, quavers are the notes that are joined together by one beam. Or when they're by themselves, they've got that little tail. Now, they can also be called 8th notes. And that's why sometimes we see in this music, the term straight 8s. It's just another way of reminding us that for that section, the quavers should be straight and not swung.

So as you progress through the song, it will switch around quite a bit. So keep singing straight quavers or swung quavers as indicated, until it tells you to change again. So from bar 6, it goes like this. (SINGING) Who can take a sunrise Sprinkle it with dew --being nice and clean with our cutoffs there.

So from bar 10, we're a little bit faster, indicated by the term piu mosso. And the quavers are also swung. So we go, (SINGING) cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two, the Candy Man 1, 2, 3, 4, (SINGING) The Candy Man can The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

And then, the piano jumps straight back into doing straight 8s. And we also go back to the slower speed that we were at before, indicated by the term meno mosso. So at bar 20, we're in straight quavers again, like this. (SINGING) Who can take a rainbow? And then, we continue like verse 1, switching to swing at bar 24, and also getting faster.

Then, at bar 34, we've got a contrasting section. Now, be really clear with your cutoffs here, because they all involve S's. And it will sound really sloppy if everyone's not exactly together here.

So we go like this. (SINGING) The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious Talk about your childhood wishes You can even eat the dishes And notice how we changed to swing just for that last phrase.

Then, at bar 42, we've got an instrumental section that involves some changes of time signature. So we're going to need to change our conducting pattern here. The first two bars are still in 4/4. But then, we have two bars of 6/8, then back to one bar of 4/4, and then, a bar of 2/4, before the singing is back in our usual 4/4 again.

So remember, when we're in 6/8, we conduct two beats in each bar, each of those beats representing a group of three quavers. Now, I'm going to show you how I'd conduct this whole instrumental section with the changes. But I want you to watch how the 6/8 bars are different to the 2/4 bar, even though each of those bars has two beats.

So from bar 42, it would go, (SINGING) da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, dum, da-dum, da-dum, dum. Ba, da, da, who. So did you spot the difference? In the 6/8 bar, because each beat was representing three quavers rather than two, it took a little bit longer to get there. So it looked slower.

Now, even though we're only conducting the crotchets, it's really important to have that subdivision of the quavers going inside your head or at least be listening to it in the piano part so you get your beats in the right spot. And we need a nice, clear cue to bring the choir back in at bar 48 and give them a bit of warning that it's coming up, because remember, it's only a 2/4 bar just before they come in. And so, it could take them by surprise. So from bar 46, I'd go dum, da-dum, da-dum, dum. Ba, da, da, who can take tomorrow?

So now, we're into a new verse with new words. It does switch to swing halfway through like before. But it doesn't get faster this time, because we're actually still at the faster speed.

And then, at the end of this verse, at bar 61, we go into a slower tempo. And we pause on this piano chord on beat 3. And then, we have to bring in the choir clearly on beat 4, which is our upbeat. So that bar would go (SINGING) da, da, da, da, pause, and the world.

Then, at bar 63, we have a molto rit., which means we slow down a lot. And then, we have these two parallel diagonal lines. This is called a caesura, sometimes known as tram tracks, and it means we have a complete break in the sound.

Now, the last word that we sing there is it, before the caesura. And I would actually show the cut-off on that word. I'll show you what I mean. (SINGING) Candy Man thinks it-- so I'm cutting off as we sing that word. Candy Man thinks it --rather than-- Candy Man thinks it

Then, we freeze our hands in the air for a moment of silence. And then, we give an upbeat to bring everyone back in on the word should. (SINGING) Should So this final note should sound lovely and pure in a beautiful head voice. We can hold them on with one hand and keep the beats going with the other one.

Now, it's quite a long note. And there's no need for them to do it all in one breath if that's too difficult. We can do what's called staggered breathing.

Sometimes, it's called sneaky breathing. I've heard it called secret agent breathing. And what it means is each member of the choir can choose where they want to take their sneaky breath without anybody else noticing.

So because they're all doing it at different times, the overall sound of the choir should stay the same. They just need to remember that after they've taken their breath, when they come back in, not to make it obvious, so to come in gently, and also, don't repronounce the start of the word. So you'd sing (SINGING) Shou-- --ould, like that.

So as an exercise, I often get them just to sing that word. And I hold it for ages and ages and ages. And I'm trying to catch them breathing. And they love being secretive about it and hiding that from me.

So when we cut the choir off their final note, it's also at that moment that the piano player plays their last chord. So you can cue both things at the same time, the cut-off and the last piano chord. And then, don't forget to cut off that final chord on the piano as well.

And that way, they know when to finish. And it gives a signal to the choir and the audience when your hands go down that the song has finished. And just insist to your choir that they remain frozen in place until the song ends.