The Most Interesting Anthem Guy in the World
The goatee. The shiny dome. The trademark "point". And most importantly, the voice that gets you riled up to watch some hockey. Doug Allen has cemented himself as a key component of Sabres hockey. He is the rare case of an anthem singer the fans actually look forward to hearing. As I found out though, Doug is more than just an anthem singer. He is a family man, proud Buffalonian, and all around great guy. I contacted Doug by email to see if he would answer a few questions, and he kindly agreed.But first, some background info on Doug. From his website :
Born on a dairy farm in Cattaraugus county of Western New York, I grew up pulling weeds, picking beans, eating fresh corn on the cob, doing chores, and swimming in the farm pond. And one more thing, singing. I was always singing. Every Saturday my family would gather around the piano and learn a new song for Sunday at church. About the only times I didn't sing were when I was fishing and hunting, you had to be quiet, then the songs stayed in my head
Doug attended Gowanda High School and graduated in 1982. Immediately out of High School, Doug studied at Houghton College to be a music teacher. After getting into teaching however, Doug found that he yearned for a bigger stage ("I loved kids, hated teaching"). Following his stint as a teacher, Doug put together an impressive resume starring in community theater plays such as "West Side Story" and "My Fair Lady". It was in the early 90’s that Doug sent an audition tape to the Buffalo Sabres , which would begin his almost 20 year journey of singing the anthems before home games. I asked Doug a handful of questions about his experience doing the anthems, and his life away from the rink:
You started doing the anthems occasionally for the Sabres in 1992. How did it eventually become a full time gig?
Free Vocal Warmups For Choir - News
Other ice-breaking activities include "pink day" (everybody, including staff, must wear pink) and vocal warmups for tenors held while they're out jogging. Courses cost £420 to £560, with a one-off joining fee of £50 to £105. Students can seek financial
I do some vocal warm-ups in the penalty box. I also sing and hum to the radio on my drive to the arena. I usually bounce on my feet to the song they play just before I go out. It helps build my energy. I also thank God for giving me such a cool gig!
Vocal Warmups in the Choral Rehearsal - Energizing the Ear/Voice ...
In the latest in a series of articles on heating power, we focus on Energizing the ear and the voice as well as exercises for both. Employing these exercises constantly with a dedicated chorus will result in a marked difference in the effectiveness of repetition and progress.
AudiatThe warm-up should focus on energizing the ear / mind. Stegman believes that listening exercises and auditory skills in the warm up is essential to the development of auditory consciousness. Audiation—mentally hearing a pitch and cognizing its function—is an important concept in a singer’s mental awareness and helps with sight-reading. The relationship of audiation and hearing is analogous to visualization and seeing. Write on the board a sixteen bar passage and conduct the singers as they sing the passage on a neutral vowel. Stop conducting and have the students continue to audiate the passage. After two measures, begin conducting again and direct the singers to pick up where the the passage resumed.Ask singers to sing a scale using numbers from one to eight years and then leave out certain numbers in the sequence so that they are forced to Audiat notes omitted. Play a triad on the keyboard and after giving them time to Audiat notes, ask students to sing one of the three notes of the chord. For advanced choirs, students sing in the range of a half-step beats four, eight, twelve and sixteen. These exercises are particularly important in the music for unaccompanied singers do not have a "crutch" in an accompanying instrument. “Teaching parts by note-pounding reduces a choir to rote memorization at the expense of improving aural skills—not to mention reading skills.” Energize singers’ minds to increase confidence levels and thus, allow singers to support the breath more fully and sing with more poise.