Mastering Blend for Small Choirs

Does your choir struggle with achieving a good blend?

Do you struggle with some voices "sticking out" while others you can't hear at all?

In this article, I want to give you my BEST strategies for fixing choir blend issues

I don't want to waste your time, but before we start, I want to tell you that I am offering my exclusive Choir Essentials Training Program with a massive bonus!

Choir Essentials is an online training program which gives you the skills of professional choir directors so that you can get your choir sounding great

For every order before Ash Wednesday 2025, I am offering free access to my "How to Sight Read Music" online course  for your entire choir.

All you need to do is put in your order here before Ash Wednesday, and you can massively improve your choir

The singers who take my course "How to Sight Read Music" will first learn the basics of reading music - staff, notes, steps, skips.

After that, they will learn how to use the solfege system to understand music theory and be able to sight read new music

I can't think of a better gift for your choir, and you can get it for free when you order the Choir Essentials program before Ash Wednesday

All they will need to do is set a password and log into the course!

Click here to access this special offer

Now for the meat and potatoes...

We've all been there:

Twice as many sopranos and altos than tenors and basses

Some voices really stick out, while other singers you aren't sure if you've ever even heard their voice before...

Here are my best strategies for solving this issue

You can try these RIGHT AWAY and watch your choir transform...

1) Blend through Active Listening

My favorite strategy for blend is to promote active listening

Let's take that really loud soprano or bass voice you have

The next time they sound a bit overpowering, help them to self-adjust by directing their listening

You could say:

"Basses, in this section, I want you to really listen to the altos"

or

"Sopranos, your part lines up well with the basses, try listening more than you're singing to line those parts up well!"

By listening more, they will automatically sing with more control and balance with what they are hearing

It's an awesome trick!

2) Blend through Active Blending

Choirs usually understand the concept of blend

They know that it sounds good to have their voices mixing well together

We can take advantage of this 

Try these phrases with your choir:

"See if you can blend your voices together more - I want you to sing so that no one sticks out and everyone is heard"

"Sopranos, try to fit your sound into the Bass sound" (use any combination of parts here)

"In this section, we need to protect the Altos because they have the melody (or a beautiful harmony)"

By saying these things, your choir will start listening more and fitting their voices together

3) Blend through Positioning

This is clever....

We can use the position of our singers to create a better blend!

In many choir setups, certain positions can be heard more than others

Sometimes, it's the acoustics of the room that create more favorable positions

Other times, the singers in the front can be heard better because their voices aren't impeded by people in front of them

Either way, I like to put my stronger singers towards the middle or the back

This often solves two problems

Firstly, it reduces their volume a bit because again, they will be singing through others before their voices gets to the congregation

Yes, it does depend if you have risers/stairs or what your exact physical setup is

Secondly, I find that softer voices will sing louder when they are next to louder singers

This solves another problem - giving strength to the softer voices so they can blend with the louder voices

Strategically, you could place a louder singer in the 2nd row and then 2 softer singers just in front of them

Bam!  Better blend....

You may also find that 2 strong singers get really loud when they are next to each other

It's almost as if they are trying to keep up with one another

You can help them by splitting them up a bit - put some softer voices in between them

At first, your choir might get a little grumpy about changes in position

That's OK

I would suggest telling them that people hear differently in each ear (which is true), so you want to try different positions to get the best sound

That is completely reasonable 

Just be sure not to make it seem like you are picking anyone out in particular if possible

In other words, don't just ask your loud singer to move around from here to there

Also switch folks with softer voices so they feel included and important

We want to avoid hurt feelings while we are working on choir blend, right? :)

---------------

Ok, I hope this was helpful!

These are tools you can use this weekend or at your next practice

With my decades of experience directing choirs, I can honestly say that the Choir Essentials Program is the best online choir training program for choir directors

By taking my course, you and your choir will get a major boost of skill and confidence

And when you order before Ash Wednesday, your entire choir can receive free access to my training course "How to Sight Read Music"

Before you know it, you will have grateful singers that have learned to read music - what a gift!

Click here to order now and receive both programs together!

Best wishes to you for a good season of Lent and Easter ahead!

Mike from Music Ministry 101