Adjudicators urge choirs to add facial expression, stronger dynamics and clearer diction

Visiting adjudicators and guest clinicians gave detailed coaching to multiple middle- and high-school choirs, urging singers to use more facial expression, clearer consonants and stronger dynamic contrast to improve audience connection and musical shape.

The guidance was practical and demonstrative: an adjudicator told one choir, “I really wanna see more involvement, facially. I just wanna see that you love singing,” and later advised, “If you lift your eyebrows, it'll brighten your face.” Across sets the clinicians repeatedly stopped groups to work a single phrase or measure (for example, a dynamic drop around measure 74 in “Sit Down Servant”) and had students try the change immediately.

Why it matters: clinicians said these are small, repeatable adjustments that alter how an audience receives a piece. They paired technical instructions about breath support and vowel shaping with stagecraft notes — where to face, how to move off risers and when to “cheat out” to keep sound projecting — so musical and theatrical choices reinforced each other.

Major coaching points included: - Facial engagement and acting: clinicians encouraged intentional facial expression and “cheating out” (turning slightly toward the audience) so listeners perceive phrasing and emotion. “When we get our faces involved… it gives us more expression and we sound more connected,” one clinician said. - Dynamic shaping and phrasing: judges worked with choirs on large-scale and small-scale shaping, asking singers to give phrases “a little bit of shape” and to grow space in vowels during crescendos (measure 32 in one comment) to avoid an overly bright, thin sound. - Support and breath: clinicians demonstrated physical cues (hand positions and gentle pressure on the abdomen) to help students feel core support while singing softly; one exercise was framed as making the “abs forte” while the voice sings piano. - Diction and consonant clarity: several clinicians emphasized strong consonants even when the dynamic was soft, recommending techniques like “shadow vowels” and moving final consonants slightly later in a phrase to preserve clarity. - Stagecraft and spacing: clinicians asked some ensembles to move off risers or change formations so performers had more freedom to move, and suggested coordinated clapping and uniform gestures to reduce visual distraction.

Directors and performers responded in real time: clinicians routinely asked choirs to repeat short passages and to try contrasted approaches (for example, opera-like vowels for sopranos versus articulated tenor/bass lines in a polyphonic section). Daniel Amrazian, identified as the choir director at Butler Middle School, introduced his group’s program and conducted rehearsals after comments; Melissa Quinones, director of Mount Jordan Middle School, and other directors accepted and experimented with the suggested adjustments on site.

Clinicians also noted production details that influenced performance choices: one ensemble was missing a planned train-whistle effect for “900 Miles,” which the clinician said affected a textural color in the piece but did not change the technical feedback given.

The clinic concluded with clinicians and guest directors encouraging students to keep singing and to use the suggested techniques in rehearsal and future performances. “You guys are doing some incredible things,” a clinician told performers near the end of the session.