If you perform in a chorale then it is important to know what it takes to stand out and make your performance great. Preparation is the key to a good performance and it is important to know what to do and what to avoid if you are an amateur choral singer. 

Warm-up before singing 

It is important to do anything from sirens to lip trills. Anything that can take your voice out of the normal speech pitch will help you out. You want to wake up your muscles involving an extended breath flow. Stretch your body and face and exercise your tongue. You can stick your tongue out and roll it around to the right and to the left. The tongue is a huge muscle that goes down into your neck. When singing, the tongue is best positioned slightly forward in your mouth with the tip over the bottom teeth. When saying or singing certain vowels, the back of the tongue rises up. It is therefore important to ensure that the front of the tongue stays near the teeth. 

Carry a pencil 

I might be old fashioned but you can still carry your iPad or tablet. You need something that can draw and write instantly. A photo or a simple stick figure drawing can spark the right-side brain of storytelling and creativity. Mark the beats in – score some light lines down through the stave to show the beat during the fast passages with a lot of syncopation or that are tricky rhythmically. While this might sound like an activity for the left brain, it allows the right brain enough freedom and provides some visual crutch to help one sing with groove and in time. This will enhance your performance during a chorale in California. 

Find the tune 

You should listen to the other musical parts and you will notice where you can take your leads from them. You might enter with them canonically and need to bounce their energy off or they might give you your note or indirectly lead you to it. Music takes itself from nature where there is symmetry, limitation, groupings and even odd and structure. You should try and hear the limitation as the tune passes from one voice to the next and notice when you are the accompanying part. 

Breathe when necessary 

You can sell a breath anywhere in a musical phrase if you have the imagination. Breathing in the middle of the sentence is not encouraged but you should breathe if you must. You have to make up a good reason to breathe – is it for drama, emphasis, show confusion or emotion. When you breathe, mark the breaths in using a tick between the words or notes. If the conductor asks you not to breathe somewhere, you should mark a little line to show this and appropriately plan where you might take breaths around that particular point. If the chorale conductor asks for staggered breathing, they are probably looking for no discernible breaths to listeners.