User:Deuane1

Deuane Kuenzi

Deuane Kuenzi has conducted choirs for the past 31 years. This has included high school, collegiate, church and professional choirs. Kuenzi is founder and artistic director of the professional choir, Gloriana. Since September of 1983, Gloriana has established itself as one of the finest choral ensembles in the country. Gloriana, a member of the association for professional choirs, Chorus America, has been featured on National Public Radio, The First Art, the CBS show "Touched By An Angel" and was the featured choir at The 1998 New York International Choral Festival at The Lincoln Center. In 1997 the choirs compact disc, Songs of America, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Deuane Kuenzi has had choirs perform at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. He has guest conducted in such cities as Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Vancouver B.C., New York, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis and in Honolulu at The Pacific Basin International Music Festival. In 1994 he served as the Artistic Director of the National Invitational Choral Festival held in Washington D.C. at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1996, Kuenzi was a guest speaker and clinician at The World Symposium on Choral Music in Sydney, Australia. In November 1997 Kuenzi was appointed Artistic Director of The Capital Invitational Choral Festival held at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. During 1998 to 2008 concert seasons, Kuenzi was the guest conductor at festivals and concerts in Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Montreal and Calgary. Most recently, Deuane Kuenzi has been the founder/director of Cora Voce. Three times a year singers travel from as far away as Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles to the Seattle area for three nights of rehearsals followed by two concerts. Cora Voce has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today. In addition to his choral performances, Kuenzi has been very active in the recording studio for several film and television projects, primarily with the FOX network and Dreamworks. Deuane Kuenzi is well known for his ability to arrange singers in any choral ensemble maximizing their warmth and blend of sound. The following article was written by Kuenzi in 1993 further explaining his process.

Choral Voicing 

I want to explain in detail the method of arranging our singers, which we call "choral voicing". I say ‘we’ because my wife, Karen, and I have developed this method over the past 25+ years. Really, nothing you are about to read is new, but you may have not heard it discussed in quite the same manner as we will do so here. Our primary choral influences have been Maurice Skones, Paul Saulamunovich, Roger Wagner, Joseph Flummerfelt, Eph Ehly and my high school choral director, Bob Thornton, who above all taught us that music must be fun or why bother, and boy, did Bob make it fun. I will in the next few paragraphs give credit when credit is due to these individuals because everything we do, chorally speaking, I received from someone. I suppose we are all this way to a certain extent, unfortunately to many of us are content to do things the way we were taught without trying to step outside the box. If I can get you to try one thing new then all the effort of this section is worth it. While Maurice Skones was the supreme disciplinarian, and why not since the famed Choir of the West of Pacific Lutheran University was known as one of the finest programs in North America, the greatest lesson I learned from him was to also push the envelope. To step outside the box and try something new just to see what kind of sound you might find. For this attitude and attention to detail I will be forever grateful. Let’s begin back in 1975 when I had my first teaching position in Oregon. As all new teachers, I was full of excitement and enthusiasm. It was during this first year that we began to feel that there had to be a better way than making sure all the chorus members learned how to blend with those around them. I realized that in order for everyone to blend, the individual singer had to give up a great deal of his or her own voice to do so. I would estimate that you can only use 70% of your voice to blend with your neighbors, which also means that you only use 70% of your soul, spirit and everything that is the individual. I remember hearing someone say that if we were all meant to sound the same God would have given us all the same voice. That was a powerful statement. How then does a choral director achieve and find the blend that they want. In 1993, I had the opportunity of spending four days with Dr. Skones at their home in Tucson after he had retired. We spent a great deal of time talking about the choral sound and how voices interact with one another. One afternoon we were discussing the influence that one voice has over another. He said to me, "Cup your hands over your ears and then respond to my question." When he spoke to me, softly, I could not hear him so I said, "What?" in a slightly louder than normal voice. I realized that I spoke louder than normal not because I couldn’t hear him, but because I couldn’t hear myself. Voices to either side, behind or in front of us have the same affect. When we can’t hear our own voice we tend to push and strain creating a less than desirable sound. If we can’t hear ourselves how can we make our best sound? So, from this Dr. Skones explained that there must be space between voices, preferably 24 to 30 inches. This gives each singer the ability to hear him or herself. Another aspect of the Skones tradition I will use as long as I’m directing choirs is to stand in two rows. Not the traditional three or four rows that so many choirs use. I know this can create a logistical nightmare, but experiment with the space you have. You might be surprised at the sound you create just with this one simple adjustment.

Paul Saulamunovich and Eph Ehly have got to be two of the finest choral motivators I’ve ever seen. They, of course, come from two totally different points of view, but they achieve basically the same result. I remember once sitting in on a rehearsal of Paul’s church choir at St. Borromeo Catholic Church in North Hollywood, where he has been for 50 years. While he is a technical taskmaster, he is brilliant when it comes to getting his choir to sing with their spirit and not their brains. "God deserves your best and you had better give it to him", I remember hearing him say. Eph works along the same spiritual lines, but with a softer approach. When you look at Eph’s face you can’t help but sing from the heart because that is where Eph is coming from. I have never seen such passion in a director as Eph Ehly. I tell you about these influences because I believe it will help to understand how we got to this point in our choral music making. First, forget the word blend. It should never again be a part of your choral vocabulary. It will simply be a by-product of this new method called "choral voicing". Don’t misunderstand me. A gorgeous blend is what we are striving for, but the road we are about to take in getting there will be quite different. The members of your choir must first understand that they are now free to use their whole voice. I don’t mean they can sing at the top of their lungs, but rather, they need not worry about how they sound next to those around them. Believe me, it will take your singers a while to get used to this, especially if they are adults that have been told blend, blend, blend their whole musical lives. Once they have learned to relax and use all of their voice the real fun begins. Have one of your singers come to the front of the rehearsal space and stand next to you. Together you are going to sing "My Country Tis of Thee" or any other well-known melody you like. Tell the singer not to blend with you, but you will blend with them. As you sing, move from one side of the singer to other with the singer not moving whatsoever. Only you will move. Ask the choir on which side of the singer did they prefer you stand. There will be a variety of opinions, I’m sure. Now instruct the singer to again sing the same melody. This time, however, you don’t try and blend with the singer, but still you move from one side to the other. Watch the eyes of the choir as they hear the difference moving from side to side makes. I guarantee that one side will be infinitely more pleasant to hear than the other. This is because, just as we all have a dominant eye, we also have a dominant ear. Your sound will change dramatically depending on which side you are on. That will be the side that you hear the best and consequently can make your best sound. Now, just imagine arranging and entire 60-voice choir like this. It will not take you that long to arrange the singers because remember - you are arranging them the way you want the sound to be. And please, do not be concerned about which voice part you are putting next to one another. Only be concerned with placing the voices, not the voice parts. When you are done voicing you will have a mixed choir. It will happen as a natural by-product. If done properly, when completed with the choral voicing, you should be able to change only two voices in the entire choir and immediately hear a difference. It is that dramatic! Make sure, as we discussed with Dr. Skones, that there is plenty of space between the singers. The sound will be larger and warmer. I guarantee the singers will love this new-found freedom and they will be able to fully express themselves, within your technical parameters, of course. The best part is that you longer have to work on blend because you have created a choir that naturally blends together. The only thing now is to make sure they all sing the same vowels. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to spend much more time on actually making music than creating a sound? The sound will take care of itself.

There is one aspect of choral voicing that we have not touched on and it is extremely important. A few years back I was asked to attend a rehearsal of a well-known choral group in New York City. It just happened to also be the first night of a new soprano. It was the director’s intent to take a few minutes at the beginning of the rehearsal and find the best place for her in the group. I noticed when she first came in the room that she had a bit of an attitude. I’m sure you know the type. Well, the director started placing her in different parts of the ensemble to see where she would fit the best. It was absolutely amazing that no matter where he put her in the group the sound was changed dramatically and not in a good way. After several minutes the director walked over to me quite frustrated and asked if I had any ideas as to why she wouldn’t vocally fit in. It was then that I realized the importance of being comfortable with those around you when you sing. No matter where he put her, the singers around her felt her negativity and affected their sound. Remember, no matter how a singer is feeling, physically or emotionally, it always comes out in the voice. No one liked her so consequently they could not sing next to her. The rehearsal went on for another two hours with no change in the sound whatsoever. A few weeks after my visit the director called and told me he had to let her go. It wasn’t her voice that didn’t work out, but rather her personality. Remember to keep this in mind when you are arranging the singers. This is just as important as how they vocally go together.

I have on several occasions visited a number of choral programs and worked with the singers and director on this new way of arranging singers. If you would like me to visit your rehearsal sometime, please give me a call at the Gloriana office. I would be happy to assist you. If you do the voicing on your own, please call or email and tell me how it went. I would greatly appreciate your input, as this is an ongoing process of development.