CJ - April 2007
90
Transcript of CJ - April 2007
April 2007 Vol. 47· no 10
Brahms's A German Requiem and the Matter of Aesthetic Meaning by Michael Moore
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New Music For Chorus With Overtone Singing Interactive Article
by Stuart Hines
Twentieth-Century Nigerian Composers ' .. by Godwin Sadoh
Repertoir~ & Standards Articles
Introducing MC3: The Male chorus Commissioning Corisortium by Ethan Sperry
$ how Choir Competition and the Impact on Male RecrJitment by Doran Johnson
lumns Choral Music in the Junior High/Middle School by Carolyn Welch .
. Teaching Choral Uteraturewith Foreign Language Texts ..
Student Times by Joshua Vliilliam Mills. An Open Letter to the Profession The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Corn poser
Book Reviews by St~Ph~~'~~:n Compact Disc Reviews by'-alJVre~ce Schenbeck
Choral Reviews byLyn Schenbeck
is 155 From t~J ~~e~utive Director
.' From·thePresident· .
Fromth~ ·Eclitor. Letters to the Editor
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From the x irector
ast month, another wonderful ACDA National Convention took place in Miami, Florida. Along with the beautiful weather, attendees enjoyed
performances by world-class choirs, as well as fascinating interest and reading sessions. The displays and exhibits presented by the music industry in the ACDA Exhibit Hall also further enhanced the overall experience of all who attended the 2007 ACDA National Convention in Miami.
cutive
Gene Brooks
In addition to all of the tremendous performances given by the invited choirs to the convention, attendees also had the opportunity to experience an inspiring concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; they performed A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Nocturnes by Claude Debussy. In combination with the tremendous acoustics of the new Knight Concert Hall at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, the performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus was truly remarkable and, along with the other wonderful concerts, will make the convention in Miami one to be remembered by those who attended. My compliments to Norman MacKenzie and Robert Spano for the h'emendous job they did in bringing the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to Miami. I also want to thank all the other choral directors who brought choirs to Miami. Without your hard work and dedication in preparing your fine choirs, the success of the 2007 ACDA National Convention would not have been possible.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my most heartfelt congratulations to Hilary Apfelstadt, Paul Drummond, Galen DalTough, RebeccaReames, and the entire 2007 ACDANational Convention Committee for the tireless effort and dedication they each exhibited in bringing the convention to all of us in ACDA. It is through their dedication and hard work that the convention was such a wonderful success. Weare deeply indebted to them for their hard work in Miami.
As I have said before, ACDA conventions are wonderful opportunities to grow professionally. Not only does one have the chance to see some of the best choirs in the world, but also the educational and networking opportunities are invaluable. To those who attended the 2007 ACDANational Convention in Miami, thank you for helping to make it such a success. I hope that it enriched you both personally and professionally. For those of you who were unable to attend the convention in Miami, I encourage you to consider attending one of the 2008 ACDA Division Conventions, and to start making plans now to attend ACDA's 50th Anniversary celebration in 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
National Officers
PRESIDENT Michele Holt.
Providence College 401/822-1030 (voice)
Vice-president Mitzi Groom
Western Kentucky University 2701745-3751 (voice); 2701745-6855 (fax)
President-elect Hilary Apfelstadt
The Ohio State University 614/292-9926 (voicer
Treasurer Julie Morgan '
Arkansas Tech University 479/968-0332 (voice)
Executive Director Gene Brooks
405/232-8161 (voice); 405/232-8162 (fax) <acda@acdaonline:org>
Central Division President Michael Schwartzkopf , Indiana University
8121855-4044 (voice) <[email protected]>
Eastern Division President Brent Miller
9081735-4429 (voice) <[email protected]>
North Central Division President JoAnn Miller
North Dakota State University 701/231-7822 (voice)
Northwestern Division President Scott Peterson
Yakima Valley College 509/574-4836 (voice); 509/574-6860 (fax)
Southern Division President , ,'Sara Lynn Baird
Louisiana State University , 225/578-2571(voice)
Southwestern Division President Jeff Sandquist
Rolla High School 573/458-0144x 1 (voice); 573/341-5985 (fax)
Western Division President Edith Copley
Northern Arizona University 928/523-2299 (voice)
Industry Associate Representative , Joe Keith
Music Mart Inc. Albuquerque, NM 87190-3278
505/889-9777 , <[email protected]>
, P~st Presidents' Council' David Stutzenberger
University ofTennessee 865/974-8608 (voice); 865/974-1941 (fax)
National Past Presidents Archie Jones t Colleen Kirk t Elwood Keister t Maurice T. Casey Warner Imig t Hugh Sanders t J. Clark Rhodes t David O. Thorsen Harold A. Decker t Diana J. Leland Theron Kirk t William B. Hatcher Charles C. Hirt t John B. Haberlen Morris D. Hayes t Lynn Whitten Russell Mathis James A. Moore Walter S. Collins t Milburn Price H. Royce Saltzman
From the President
As choral directors, we all know so well the value of teaching young "to-be" conductors about the standard literature of our profession.
We want to be sure that our students learn the repertoire of Mozart, Haydn, and Brahms. Do we, however, instill in them the desire to learn new music, or even to consider commissioning new music? Do we value the production of new contemporary choral literature enough not to overlook its value when developing our own concert programs?
Michele Holt
In the past several months, I have pondere'd this question often as I took part in a recent American Masterworks Festival, co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Providence Singers, Andrew Clark, Artistic Director. Works by several American composers were performed over a two-day festival that featured works by Corigliano (you may remember the wonderful article published in the Choral Journal about Fern Hill, October 2005), Lucas Foss (The Prairie), and Carlisle Sharp (Proud Music of the Storm). Several other composers were con'lrnissioned to compose works for the festival. Trevor Weston and Christopher Trapani were two composers whose challenging works were performed as part of the festival. Anticipating this exciting event led me to think about the importance of ACDA's role in nurturing .new choral works. '
Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commissions have been a highlight of national and divisional conventions since 1993. For the first time at an ACDA National Convention held in San Antonio, a composer was honored by receiving the first Brock Commission. That first composer was Carlisle Floyd. Each year, the ACDA Executive Committee has selected and commissioned a recognized composer to write a choral composition in an effort to create and perpetuate quality choral repertoire. Funds for this commission are paid from the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Endowment. The Brock Memorial Endowment funds made it possible for choral directors to have the privileged to hear the works of major American composers such as Whitacre, Menotti, Clausen, Adler, Hailstork, Lauridsen, Walker, and Wilberg (to name a few), and this year in Miami, David Conte. (A full listing of the Brock Commissions can be found on page 25 of the December 2004 issue of the CJ . Also look for a more detailed list in an article about ACDA and the ACDA Endowment in the May 2007 issue of the CJ) For me, hearing the Brock Commission performed is one of the major high- ' lights of the convention, whether it be a national or division convention. Hearing David Conte's commission was one of the most exciting memories of my trip to Miami. ,
(Continued on page 4)
National R&S Chairs
National Chair Nancy Cox
580/482-2364 (voice); 580/482-1990 (fax) <nrcox@swbeILnel>
Boychoirs Thomas Sibley
Raleigh Boychoir, Inc. 919/881-9259 (voice)
<rbc@ipass,net>
Children's Choirs Lynne Gackle
Gulf Coast Youth Choirs, Inc. 813/909-1099 (voice) <lgackle@aoLcom>
College and University Choirs ' , Kevin Fenton Florida State University 850/644-2317 (voite)
Community Choirs W. Robert Johnson 301/654-3380 (voice) <w~ohnson@aoLcom>
Ethnic and Multicultural Perspectives Lawrence Burnett '
Cartton College ' 507/646-4351 (voice); 507/646-5561 (fax)
Juriior High/Middle School Sandi Gesler
Waynesfield-Goshen Local School 419/568-5261 Ext. 212 (voice)
Male Choirs Frank Albinder
Washington Men's Camerata 202/986-5867
Music in Worship Paul A. Aitken
The Cathedral of the Rockies 208/343-7511 (voice); 208/343-0000 (faX)
Senior High Choirs Sal Cicciarella
8601749-7693 (voice) , <[email protected]>
Show Choirs . Ken Thomas Auburn High School
334/887-4999 (voice); 3341887-4177 (fax) <kthomas@auburnschools,org>
Two-Year Colleges Larry L. Stukenhollz
SI. Louis Community College-Meramec 314/984-7638 (voice)
<Istukenholtz@stlcc,edu>
Vocal Jazz Kirk Marcy
Edmonds Community College 425/640-1651 (voice); 425/640-1083 (fax)
Women's Choirs Lisa Fredenburgh Meredith College
9191760-857,7 (voice); 9191760-2359 (fax) <[email protected]>
Youth' and Student Activities Jeffrey Carter
Ball State University 765/285-3599 (voice); 765/285-5401 (fax)
<jrc@jeffreycarter,us>
From the President (continued from page 3)
In 1988, prior to the establishment of the Brock Commission, in an effort to find another means for furthering its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, ACDA established the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest. The objectives of the contest are three-fold: (1) to acknowledge and reward outstanding undergraduate and graduate student composers, (2) to encourage choral composition of the highest caliber, and (3) to further promote student activity at ACDA division and national conventions. The January issue of the Choral Journal congratulated the 2006 Student Composition Contest Winner, Dominick DiOrio then from Ithaca College, now studying choral conducting at Yale. The encouragement of young composers is crucial, if the composing of new, quality choral music is to continue.
Choral directors who take the risk and commission choral works are to be applauded. If not for them, we might not have our attention drawn to new and exciting choral pieces. If you have never corrnriissioned a work, it is an exciting venture, one that every choral director should experience at least once in their lives. Find a friend that has commissioned a work and talk to that person about,how to get started. As I thought about participating in the American Masterworks Concert in March, I looked forward to singing three new choral works. I anticipated meeting the composers who set the incredible poetry of Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, and Dylan Thomas. I was excited to discover how and why these new works were born. As a choral conductor, the event was a heightened aesthetic experience ..
During the week, of our dress rehearsal, our conductor, in a letter to the choir, quoted the Austrian conductor, Nicholas Harnoncourt: "The essential decision each artist must make is not between risk and safety, but between beauty and safety. No risk, no beauty." Clark quoted Harnoncourt because he knew what all of us must discover: that we must learn to take risks if we are to reach for the aesthetic experiences in our lives.
One Final Note The February issue of the Choral Journal featured a wonderful article
about the San Francisco-based composer, David Conte, and an interview with him about his new work, The Nine Muses which was premiered at the ACDA National Convention inMiarni in March. If you look to the page directly left, his interview was printed next to "In Memoriam" for one of American's beloved choral composers, Daniel Pinkham, who passed away in December of 2006. Daniel Pinkham composed a Brock Commission in 1995 for the ACDA National Convention in Washington D.C. titled Alleluia for the Waters.
MkheteHoit
Editorial Board
Editor Carroll Gonzo
. University of StThomas 651/962·5832 (voice); 651/962·5876 (fax)
Associate Editor to bEl filled
Managing Editor Ron Granger
ACDA National Office 405/232·8161 (voice); 405/232·8162 (fax)
Editorial Assistant David Stocker
. 281/291·8194 (voice) <[email protected]>
Patricia Abbott Assn. of Canadian Choral Conductors
514/351-4865 (voice) <[email protected]>
Richard J. Bloesch 319/3512·3497 (voice)
<richard·bloesch@uiow!i.edu>
J. Michele Edwards SI. Paul, MN 55116
. 651/699·1077 (voice) <[email protected]>
Sharon A. Hansen University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin
414/229-4595 (voice) <[email protected]>
Janeal Krehbiel Lawrence Children's Choir
785/832·5550 (voice) <[email protected]>
.Edward Lundergan SUNY·New Paltz
845/257·2715 <[email protected]>
Donald Oglesby University of Miami
305/284-4162 (voice) . <DOglesby@miamLedu>
Robert Provencio Cal. State University-Bakersfield
661/654·3073 (voice) ·<[email protected]>
Lawrence Schenbeck Spelman College
404/270·5482 (voice) <[email protected]>
Lyn Schenbeck Coweta County Schools 770/683·6837 (voice)
Timothy W. Sharp Rhodes College 901/843·3781
<sharp@rhodes,edu>
Ann R.Smali Stetson University
386/822·8976 <[email protected]>
Magen Solomon University of Southern California
2131740·3225 <[email protected]>
Stephen Town Northwest Missouri State University
660/562·1795 (voice) < info.nwmissouri.edu/-stown/homepage.htm>
rom the Editor
Carroll Gonzo
In This Issue
The Brahms's Requiem has re-'
, ceived a great deal of attention in the Choral Journal, over the years. The primary focus of
this attention has been mainly theoretical and stylistic analyses. Michael Moore's interest in the Requiem has more to do with the nature of Brahms's intellectual, psychological and religious grounding,
and the social, political, theological, and philosophical currents extant in Brahms's day that interfaced with that grounding. Moreover, although Moore addresses these issues, he seeks to link them to Brahms's complex personality traits and then proposes how the c01pbinatorial nature of these relationships is manifested in the Requiem . .t?t bottom, the aesthetic nature of the Requiem finds its roots in the complex personality of Brahms's shaped, to a great degree, by those asp~cts of his culture he chose to embrace.
Overtone singing is relatively new to the music-going public, and has been received with interested fascination, and even enthusiasm. Stuart Hinds, a performer and composer of the music that employs overtone singing, offers the reader a systematic introduction to Tuvan/Mongolian throat singing. The purpose of his article is to provide several recent compositions for chorus and overtone singing. Hinds writes that the relative difficulty of the various technical demands in overtone singing are explored, and explanations are given, as to what can be expected of singers venturesome enough to attempt overtone singing. Readers will also find this article to be, interactive, which means musical and
(Continued on page 6)
The Choral Journal is the official publication ofThe American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). ACDA is a nonprofit professional organization of choral directors from schools, colleges, and universities; community, church, and professional choral ensembles; and industry and institutional organizations., Choral Journal Circulation: 20,000. Annual dues (includes subscription to the Choral Journal): Active $85, Industry $135, Institutional $110, Retired~45, and Student $40. One-year membership begins on date of dues acceptance. Library annual subscription rates: U.S. $45; Canada $50; Foreign 'Surface $53; Foreign Air $85. Single Copy $3; Back Issues $4. ACDA is a founding member ()f the International Federation for Choral Music. ACDA supports and endorses the goals and purposes of Chorus America in promoting the excellence of choral" music throughout the world. ACDA reserves the right to approve any applications for appearance and to edit all materials proposed for distribution. Permission is granted to all ACDA members to reproduce articles from the Choral Journal for noncommercial, educational purposes only. Nonmembers wishing to reproduce
_ articles may reguest permission by writing to ACDA.The Choral Journal is supported in part by a grarit from the National Endowment for theArts, a federal agency.© 2005 by the American Choral Directors Association, 545 Couch Drive, OKC, Oklahoma 73102. Telephone: 405/232-816,1. All rights reserved. The Choral Journal (US ISSN 0009-5028) is issued monthly. Printed in the UniteClStates of America. Periodicals postage paid at OKC, Oklahoma, and additional mailing office: POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Choral Journal" P.O. Box 2720, OKC; Oklahoma 73101-2720.
Affiliated Organizations
INDIANA CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION,
President - Marie Palmer 12664 Avocet Drive Carmel, IN 46033
Treasurer· Paula J. Alles 1471 Altmeyer Rd Jasper, IN 47546
IOWA CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Tim Watson ' 9271stAve SE
Le Mars, IA 51031
Secretaryrrreasurer· Joleen Nelson 209 Oak Ridge Dr
Mount Vernon, IA 52314
AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA
President· Mary Kay Geston 5717 Woodstock Ave
Golden Valley, MN 55422
Treasurer· Charles Hellie 306 North Elm
Sauk Centre, MN 56378
MONTANA CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Kevin Allen Schmid 644 4th Ave. West
Klllispeli, MT 59901
Treasurer· Scott Corey Billings Senior High School
425 Grand Ave Billings, MT 59101
NEBRASKA CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Fred Ritter 167331stMe
Columbus, NE 68601
Treasurer· E.J. Gardner 2810 18th St
Columbus, NE 68601
OHIO CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Mark Munson College of Musical Arts
Bowling Green State University' Bowling Green, OH 43403
Treasurer· Kent Vandock P.O. Box 84
Delta, OH 43515
TEXAS CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Danny Detrick Colleyville Heritage High School
5401 Heritage Ave. Colleyville, TX 76034
Treasurer· Mary Jane Phillips 6401 Hightower Drive Watauga, TX 76148
WISCONSIN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
President· Bob Demaree University of Wisconsin-Platteville
1 University Plaza Platteville, WI 53818
Treasurer· James A. Carpenter 2730 Hickory Dr
University of Wisconsin Plover, WI 54467
From the Editor (continued from page 5)
video models can be observed on our growth, dynamics, and transformation. ACDA Web site: <www.acdaonline. . The author conCludes that a diachronic org/cj/interactive/apr2007>.
Godwin Sadoh asserts that choral music in Nigeria can be broadly divided into two categories: (1) traditional choral singing and (2) Western influenced choral works known as modem Nigerian art songs. Sodah takes a chronological approach as a means of introducing four contemporary Nigerian composers whose works reveal
discourse of Nigerian choral composers . and their crafts reveals a systematic and gradual transformation of the musical style, and its tonal language. Nigerian choral composers have their local audiences in mind when writing their songs, because the songs are to be performed by Nigerian choral groups for local audiences. It can be concluded, based upon Sa:doh's article, that there is a
, pride, patriotism, confidence, and a nationalistic solidarity that accompanies the warm support for choral works in Nigeria.
Also in this issue is a special sec:tion titled "Until We Meet Again" by Amy Thomas, a member of the Choral Journal staff. Amy has been consistently delighting our authors, ACDA officers, and, in particular, -our readers and advertisers with her dazzling graphics. Her artistic eye, camera savvy, and layout design acumen combine to give us a visual encore of the 2007 Miami convention. Bravo Amy!
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I am grateful that Shapiro studied my December 2006 article on the choral music of Eric Whitacre in such great detail and wrote a very astute letter to the editor in the February 2007 issue. I thank him for pointing out a mistake in the data that I gave the Choral Journal (data that the J Durnal reproduced faithfully based on my own proofs-the error was mine alone!). In Figure 11 on Page 32 of the December 2006 issue, the repeated number 7 beneath measure 13 should indeed be 6 (the bass 1 and tenor 2 sing the same pitch). Measure 14 of that same figure reads 5 beneath the score and correctly reflects my numbering intention.
I can assure Shapiro that neither the linear graphs nor their creator bear any scientific pretense. The graphs represent a sort of "bean counting" approach to music that was composed intuitively. Against Dr. Shapiro's other assertions I make no defense. I agree with him wholeheartedly! Perhaps the article's greatest weakness is that it fails to distill my entire dissertation
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effectively. I have tested my (simple) . system of analysis and graphing on more composers than Whitacre. The inclusion of such a grand comparison was neither in the scope of the article nor the dissertation. Whitacre stands alone in the consistency and frequency at which he varies textural density, again considering his oevre as a whole and not comparing one composition by Whitacre with isolated compositions by another. I did not intend to imply the Whitacre's music is popular because of what the graphs indicate. Again, what my dissertation clarifies and the article perhaps does not is that his music is attractive because it is .accessible and bears a compositional process intuitive to singer and listener.
Shapiro correctly suggests that most of Whitacre's "chords" or vertical harmonic structures can be· reduced to versions of I, VI, IV, or V. Nine of the
13 works analyzed have the IV chord in some form as the most commonly-used chord. The other four used the I chord in some form as their most, prevalent sonority. The third most prevalent chord in the 13 works is a fairly even divi-
sion among VI, V, and II. I have detailed statistics for anyone interested. My intention is for readers to realize that because the harmonic language dwells around so few chords (however elaborately embellished or combined with other chords to create polychords) a functional, common-prac-
tice analysis does not reveal much about Whitacre's process.
The "other process" in Whitacre's music that Shapiro is correct about is a simple voice-leading process. The graphs show that there is a process and it is consistent among 13 works, but I concede that they fail to directly show the rhythmic and linguistic intricacies. that make the music live.
Andrew Larson DeLand, Florida
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
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1J his author first sang Johannes Brahms's A German
. Requiem during his senior year in college, Although the initial rehearsals were tedious, the music became more appealing as its complexity and depth were
revealed. It had begun to assume a kind of urgency. By the time the chorus was ready for performance, it had become part of his life.
Traveling to Chicago with the chorus for a concert, he learned that a friend was in the hospital and was not expected to live. When he saw her that afternoo.n, she was barely recognizable beneath all the tubes running in and out of her, yet her spirit still showed through. We talked a while about inconsequential things, knowing that our good~byes would be final.
That night, by the time we got to the final movement, Selig sind die Toten die in dem Herren sterben ["Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"], the reality of Jo's impending death finally came through and it was hard to get thrpugh the rest of the piece. To this day, nearly a half-century later, it is impossible for me to sing that movem~nt without seeing her on that hospital bed.
At a subsequent performance, the last movement literally lifted me into a different and higher plane of consciousness. It was not only a transcendent moment, but also a transformational one that has remained undiminished in my memory, inextricably intertwined with Jo's death but seen from a different, more abstract, yet more comprehensive, perspective. It was a consummation described by John Dewey. It signaled something about aesthetic truth: insights that cannot be adequately expressed in ordinary language; truths that are beyond literal facts; truths that deal with the intrinsic qualities of emotions; truths that cause one to ask what is of value in this world and how life should be lived.
Two years later, the author encountered the Requiem again, this time as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, under Robert Shaw. The humanism encountered in the Chicago performances was now complemented by a more analytical and professional approach to the score, as we worked on myriad details of enunciation, pitch, intonation, long phrasing, rhythm, tempo, and ensemble singing, details for which Shaw was famous in emphasizing. It was his firm (almost absolutist) belief that if a chorus mastered the details, the beauty and the passion would emerge. "You don't have to be great singers to be a great chorus," he said at a rehearsal one night, "just intelligent singers." He (and Brahms) would take care of the rest. And they did, so long as we paid strict attention to the score.
We learned much about the structure of the seven movements and how each movement could stand on its own as a separate anthem, yet look like an arch that was anchored on either end by
Michael Moore, associate professor of American history emeritus from Bowling Green State' University, also directed Arts Unlimited, an interdisciplinary aesthetic education program for the schools in collaboration with Lincoln Center Institute, New York. <[email protected]>
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
"Blessed are .... " The keystones of that arch were the fourth and fifth movements: expressions oflonging, peace, and serenity in the midst of a musical reflection on death and dying. Although there were no transcendent experiences this time, there was a much greater awareness about the relationships between words, scoring, and their emotional effect.
This awareness, moreover, created the desire for a deeper understanding of aesth~tic perception. Not only was a personal.reflection important, but also it now became necessary to "connect" with Brahms by: (1) looking at his personal life and struggles; (2) surveying the cultural milieu in which he operated; and (3) examining more closely what the score had to say.
Personal Life Johannes Brahms has been described as a humanist, an ag
nostic, a misogynist, and a malcontent with a ferocious temper. The editor of his letters characterized him as: "tender, rough, erudite, intelligent, irascible, sarcastic, kind, clear-headed, tactful, tactless, funny, generous, idealistic, shrewd, romantic, cynical, enthusiastic, pessimistic, ruthless, sentimental, expressive, uncommunicative, conventional, spiritual, and free-thinking." 1
To which a book reviewer added: "mean-spirited and magnanimous, lonely and independent, reactionary and progressive, petty and grand.,,2
In short, he was human-intensely human. Surprisingly, however, both annotator and reviewer omitted the one word that in my opinion goes to the core of Brahms's life: vulnerable. Even if Brahms had not been pulled out of bed at night in his allegedly poverty-stricken home to play piano in waterfront brothels (an oft-told story until recent research dispelled it)3 there is other evidence to indicate the deep contradictions and struggles that marked his life.
He seemed to go out of his way to alienate those who loved him most. He had bouts of intense melancholy. He never married, despite several close calls. Photographs of him after the age of forty show him aging rapidly. In 1897, he died of liver cancer, the same disease that killed his father.4
One author wrote that when Brahms was composing the Requiem, he "was a man in desperate need of comfort ... pathetically seeking it from the Book [the Bible] he knew so well."5 Yet, when Karl Reinthaler, the choir director of Bremen Cathedral, where the Requiem was to be premiered on Good Friday 1868, suggested that the text needed more religious doctrine in it (a suggestion he made with some trepidation, considering the composer's te'mper) Brahms replied: "As far as the text is concerned, I confess that I would gladly omit the word German and instead use [the word] Human; also .. .I would dispense with places like John 3:16."6
Dispense with John 3:16? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," etc. If not that, what was left? Neither is there any mention of Jesus Christ in the text; nor any reference to the salvation of the soul or a Day of Judgment; all central themes in Christian theology. Small wonder then that his friend Anton Dvormlk threw up his hands regarding Brahms's suspension of belief, exClaiming, "He believes in nothing!,,7
Brahms's mother died in 1865, which may have prompted
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his writing of the fifth movement of the Requiem. He may also have continued to grieve over the death in 1856 of his mentor Robert Schumann. Although both losses were profound, one would be hardpressed to say that Brahms expressed his reaction in the conventional Lutheran theology that prevailed in his hometown of Hamburg.
He did know his Lutheran Bible well, however, and took a North German, Protestant pride in studying and quoting from it at length. He was exacting in selecting, compiling, alTanging, and cross-referencing biblical verses "apparently to help organize his thoughts about possible musical settings"S Such interest was, in large part, due to his friendship with Robert Schumann, which in turn influenced his composition of the Requiem: "Brahms learned from Schumann not only to read the Bible, but also to use Luther's text to rise above nalTOW religious dogma and express a decidedly mqdern, humane view of the weightiest questions, in this case mortality."9
When Schumann and his wife Clara first met Brahms and heard his music, they were overwhelmed by it and practically adopted him into their family of seven children. They recognized his
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genius and were detelTnined to encourage and promote it throughout Europe. Brahms, however, was more than just a protege. A series of events that climaxed in Robert's insanity and death enmeshed Brahms and Clara in a liaison that milTored his lifelong, confused attitude toward women. Was Clara to be his bride, his lover, his sUlTogate mother, his older sister, financial advisor, his social mentor, his professional colleague, or some impossible combination of all these? As much as he admired (and loved?) her, however, he refused to take her professional career as a concert pianist seriously. She was neglecting her higher duty as a wife and mother to ldrche, kinde!; kuchen. He seemed 'to ignore the fact that, with Robert incapacitated, Clara had to return to the concert stage to support her family. Brahms's attitude was a sore point with her. 10
Complicating the relationship further were their temperamental natures: Clara's moroseness and Brahms's frequent lapses of good manners and sensitivity to the feelings of others. Brahms also showed an interest in Clara's daughter Julie that
. seemed more than avuncular. He also romanced other women - trained singers, mostly-and actually gave an engage-
ment ring to Agathe von Siebold. Yet nothing came of any of these romances, and even though he simply visited his prostitutes, he died a bachelor. I I
His confusion regarding women involved a degree of self-loathing. When he was in his fifties, he burst out: "I could not help despising a girl for taking me for a husband. Surely, you are not going to persuade me that anybody could fall in love with [me], as I am now?"12 Small wonder that other biographers found Brahms's personal life to be in disalTay, and that he could find order only through his music. 13 It may have been the only thing to which he could truly commit himself. But, what kind of music?
The Changing Cu·ltural Scene Brahms stood in the middle of a clash
between the Classical and Romantic styles of making music that rested on different philosophies and perspectives. "The Classical era admired restraint, practicality, the practical present; the Romantics exalted the emotional, the idealistic, and the mysteries of past and future. The eighteenth century exalted Greek architecture and formal gardens and ironic detachment; the nineteenth prefelTed savage forests; castles in ruins, and a different ki~d of irony. "14
Brahms was not about to discard prior centuries of music history and compositional styles. Yet, he could identify with the passions and sentiments sweeping Europe in the nineteenth century. It was a tribute to his genius that he was able somehow to incorporate both sides into his music, but it was not easy.
This clash between Classicism and Romanticism not only OCCUlTed in music, but it also described a fundamental shift in the way that people looked at the range of human existence, social organization and thought, providing a cultural and intellectual challenge to Brahms. Classicism had embodied the Age of Reason (or the Age of Enlighteriment), which saw a physical
. and social universe kept in balance and harmony by laws and axioms of physics, politics, architecture, and government. Discoveries by Newton, Boyle, Kepler, and Copernicus described a physieal universe that challenged traditional dogma. Political scientists like Locke,
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
architects like Wren, and economists like Adam Smith assumed such laws existed in their respective fields of endeavor and proceeded to construct realities like naturalrights in politics, symmetry in architecture, and laws of the market place in economics to illustrate those laws. Bach and Handel's music captured the spirit, metaphysical assumptions, and optimism of such an era.
That order of thought, however, was giving way to the vision of a darker, shifting, and less optimistic world being described by thinkers such as Darwin, Marx, and Freud (who lived just a short trolley ride from Brahms's flat in Vienna), all of whom lived and wrote during Brahms's lifetime, and Einstein, who appeared shortly after. Their view of nature was very different: organic; tentative; risky; evolutionary; and struggling for survival in an amoral environment.
At about the same time that Romanticism emerged alongside Classicism, the political and diplomatic landscape of Europe was undergoing no less an upheaval. The attempt by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to stitch the Old Regime of monarchies back together after the Napoleonic Wars was threatened by recurrent waves of political revolutions and the restlessness of a middle class emerging out of the Industrial Revolution. The Seven Weeks' War of 1864, occurring as Brahms was in the middle of composing the Requiem, signaled a shift of power frol1:1 the Austrian Empire to the German, with enOlmous.consequences for central Europe. Although Brahms opposed the war, he later supported the German side in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and
German unification afterwards. This latter war was an event that the ardent na'tionalist celebrated in his Triumphlied in which he favorably compared the "New Kingdom" of the Book of Revelations to the Kaiserreich. 15
. The wars and unification fed a resurgent German nationalism that had been growing throughout the nineteenth century. It was a nationalism whose identity and vitality rested upon the German language that was seen as more than merely a means of communication. An acquaintance of Brahms, Wilhelm Scherer, wrote:
The history of our language is, to a certain degree, the history of our people itself. Language is the truest reflection of nationhood .... The totality of all spiritual power enters therein .... But language is more still. It is also an educational power for the life of the state. It is the primary connection that binds a nation and through which comes their consciousness of an inner unity. Language serves statisticians as the surest sign of nationality. 16
That "surest sign of nationality" was reinforced by the expropriation of Martin Luther's translation of the Bible, which "was often understood as the cornerstone of the modem German language."17 To that extent, Luther's Bible served nationalistic and religious (Protestant) agendas. Beller-McKenna argues that Brahms "echoed a well-developed impulse among nineteenth-century Germans to place their language at the center of
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culture and, by extension, what it meant to be German." 18 That echo resounded in the Requiem. But while Brahms later cheered the unification of Germany under Bismarck,19 he feared the "romanticism without the restraints" and loathed the anti-Semitism that was emerging in Vienna, with its large Jewish population, where he was soon to live.2o It may have been one reason he was ambivalent about Wagner's music.
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Could he incorporate Romantic ideas within a Classical tradition? It took him awhile to resolve these two conflict- -ing approaches because, like the god Janus, he had to look back to the past and forward into the future.21 How did this forward-backward tendency, when combined with his personality, play out in the Requiem?
A living Score
on life,and it loomed larger as he grew 01der.23 For, as the texts of the second and third movements assert, we humans don't
. have much to work with:
All flesh is as grass and all the glOly of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereoffadeth away .... Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is nothing before thee. Surely, every man walketh in a vain shew .... 24
Brahms insisted on the freedom to work out his relationships with the universe, and he wrote his music to give us the same freedom of interpretation and decision. That freedom of interpretation also extended to the choice of textual Words like these are more akin to the material, which is culled from widely elegiac dirge of his Niinie than to Chrisscattered verses in the Bible, alternat- tian hope: "Even the beautiful must die! ing between the Old and New Testament That which conquers men and gods / does but reflecting no particular order. It does not touch the brazen heart of the Stygian reflect, moreover, the North German and Zeus .... See! Then the gods weep, all the Protestant influence of his upbringing. goddesses weep/Because the beautiful
Brahms revealed to Reinthaler what perishes, because perfection dies. "25 . his criteria were when he "selected, sirn- The Requiem does contain statements plified, clarified ... according to his inter- of faith and hope, but they are more est" the various textual elements in the humanistic, spiritual, tentative, and perRequiem: "[B]ecause I am a musician sonal than theological or dogmatic. In the because I needed it, and because with Romantic spirit of naturalism, Brahms my venerable authors I· cannot delete or rejected explicit religious dogma because dispute anything."22 It was as a musi- he sought a personal freedom, with its cian first who built upon and then went risks, to ask and to explore. As such, he beyond his life experiences to an artistic joined Romantics on both sides of the formulation of those experiences, that Atlantic who found existing institutions, Brahms sought a God that would allow philosophies, and conventions too confinhim to make sense out of and accept re- ing. Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville are sponsibility for his own life. While shed American counterparts to Brahms's frame· of institutional or purely theological con- of mind. Their world "nature," was more straints, it would, however, be a lonely frightening in its possible consequences quest in a risky world, but it was still . than was the world of orthodox religion Brahms's path to the freedom of his own and thought. But it was a world worth artistic individualism: If there is a God risking because it held out the possibility we will be comforted when we mourn' that we could realize our fullest potential and safe when we die. This was his hu~ and freedom, even though, like Ahab and manism. The best we can do, however, his crew, we might forfeit our lives in is to hope, and accept what comes. Fate seeking it.
26 Was this an act of courage,
played a large part in Brahms's outlook folly, or blasphemy? Or was it, as the
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distraught father in the gospel of St. Mark once prayed, "God of my belief, help my disbelief." The frequent crescendos and diminuendos throughout the score suggest such a yearning, a reaching for somethin <Y
that is just beyond one's grasp. Indeed, in the third movement, there is almost a breakthrough when the chorus sings the transitional passage, . "I hope ... I hope ...
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
Brahms insisted on the freedom to work out his relationships with the universe,·'and he wrote his music to give us the same freedom of interpretation and decision.
I hope ... in Thee" and then breaks out into a mighty fugue.
In the sixth movement, the chorus sings (from St. Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth): "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
all be changed." Changed, from what? Changed into
what? St. Paul is specific about the nature of the change; he equates the sting of death with sin and he praises Christ for the victory. For Paul, the mystery is a quality of the Known. But Brahms did not include those verses in his text. For him, the mystery was a quantity of the Unknown.
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What does Brahms's relationship and attitude toward women reveal in the Requiem? In the fifth movement, a pure and virginal soprano voice sings: "I will free your heart and no one will take away your joy." While underneath, the chorus gives context to the phrase by singing: "As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you."
To whom does the "I" refer? Is it God? Christ? The Virgin Mary? Brahms's mother? Clara Schumann? Some romantic notion of womanhood that conflicted with his string of broken marital promises? Does it speak to the conflicts we may have with those whom we love, yet hate? It is ambiguous. But if Brahms's music is as personal as one critic asserted 27 , perhaps he deliberately left it up to each listener to decide. Where do we find our comfort in the midst of our yearnings? In whose arms?
The theme of snuggle, hope, and triumph is dramatically emphasized in the famous (or infamous) pedal D and fugue
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of the third movement. Musically, that section gave Brahms no end of trouble. Clara Schumann (who usually was the first to critique his drafts) felt that it was
. troublesome and urged him to drop it. It nearly sank him in Vienna during its first airing. The timpanist got so carried away that he drowned out everyone else, and the reviewers raked the peliormance over the coals:
During the concluding fugue of the third movement, surging above a pedal point D, [one] experienced the sensations of a passenger rattling through a tunnel in an express train. 28
Ever sensitive to his public, Brahms quickly corrected the score and added three movements to the three already written for the 1868 performance at Bremen Cathedral. The final (actually the fifth) movement would appear shortly after.
Despite its ominous debut and re-
14
write, the pedal-D fugue remained, occupying the final part of the movement. All the low instruments in the orchestra: D trumpets, trombones, tuba, tympani, contra-bassoon, double bass, 'cellos (in part), and organ-play that D for 36 uninterrupted bars to a thundering conclusion. Although the chorus is singing of the souls of the righteous resting in God's hand, free of torment, we also are cognizant of Brahms's tenuous faith in a God who might exist. The text recalls Schiller's text in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: "O'er the starry world, a loving God must exist." Not as a settled fact, but that God must exist. Perhaps this is the essence of Brahrris 's faith.
But, what does that D represent or evoke from within us? Is it God? Or some metaphysical Oneness with the universe? Is it the search for something solid that enables us to confront our disbelief? The persistence of that D demands that we decide. It is one of several points in the Requiem that its call to refine our
experiences into a definition of ourselves resounds.
Alienation and the struggle to close that gap also figure in the fourth movement. The reference to God is, to be sure, more explicit. But it is a personal, not a corporate, God for whom ·"my soul longeth" and "my heart and flesh crieth out." It is Brahms's vulnerability crying out, as well as our own.
The way in which we attend to the text affects the way we listen to or perform the music, and vice versa. Connotative meanings are crucial to aesthetic understanding. For example, if one were asked to draw the word "blessed" (which occurs in movements one, four, and seven) what would the picture look like? What would one want to express in the drawing? Would it be the same in each of the movements? With respect to phrases such as, "for all flesh is as grass," or "as one whom his mother cornforteth," what quality of emotion would a drawing attempt to capture? After such an exercise, would
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singing the words be the same experience as before, or would the singing now try to express some aspect of the drawing?
These questions apply to other aspects of the score. In the fugue over the pedal D of the third movement, for example, how fast or how slow should it be sung? There is no indication in the score. In one performance by a chorus, the tempo was a joyous allegro. Robert Shaw conducted, however, a tempo of andante. He wanted his chorus to sing the 36 bars as one long phrase and crescendo, slowly building in dynamic intensity until the singers were fairly shaking with emotion by the end. It required enormous concentration and physical effort. .
In the sixth movement, the score is marked vivace at the beginning, but by measure 127, the situation is more than just lively. The lower instruments tear along in a succession of eighth notes. All hell is breaking loose in the text.29 Fire and brimstone are leaping up from the abyss as the chorus stands at the edge, looking damnation in the eye, and proclaiming with all the defiance and faith it can muster:
Death is swallowed up in Victory ... Death, where is thy sting! Death, death, where is thy sting? Hell! Where is your victory? Where is your victory? Hell! 0 Hell! Where is your victory? Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Hell! Where is your victory? Where? Where? Where? Wo ist dein Sieg?
The desire to sing at breakneck speed is compelling, thanks to the intensity of the text and the urgency of the lower in-
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struments. Brahms marked the score accel from bar 68 to the vivace at bar 82, setting the mood and tone, but not necessarily the speed. By contrast, Brahms was clearer about dynamics and expression. 30
Immediately there follows a fullfledged fugue, as if the preceding section were not enough to create an apocalyptic moment "that belongs neither to earthbound time nor to divine eternity.,,3! The fugue, with its 4/4 march-like tempo,
describes the creation of a new world out of the destruction of the 01d.32 Despite the chorus's passion and feeling for the words, a trade-off is necessary between speed and volume on the one hand in an effort to achieve clarity and musicality on the other, yet retain the intensity of the text.
Where lies the trade-off? "If Brahms ever said a kind word about the metronome, we have no record of it."33 Pre-
he way in which we attend to the text affects the way we listen to or petiorm the music, and vice versa.
recalls the fugues of the second and third movements, which deal with the themes of joy of the redeemed and the righteous in the hands of God respectively. This time the fugue drives through to complete the thought of God as creator of all things and deserving of all praise. In so doing, it anticipates a time of blessedness and comfort to come in the seventh moment, completing the paradigm that
publication scores contained metronome markings (MM) and one score also added the timing of each movement and its subsections. But Brahms seemed conflicted about the usefulness of the markings. He expressed a low opinion of their value, yet he retained them for 25 years.34 The result? A compromise of sorts. Brahms had in mind a framework of tempi forthe sections, allowing a degree of flexibility
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for specific circumstances of a performance. The two early pre-publication scoresjndicate quarter-note MMs of 92, 1l2, and 100 for the andante (langsam), vivace, and allegro subsections respectively in the sixth movement. . But, as Musgrave observes, "there are many kinds of langsam, andante, and allegro" (the basic tempo markings in the Requiem) and they are inconsistent within themselves.35 (Compare the langsam of the sixth movement to that of the fifth.)
Brahms is entitled to at least two comments. The first is: "the so-called elastic tempo is nothing new, but as with everything else should be handled can discrezione."36 His second lies within the score, when the chorus encounters triplets at measures 84, 91,130, and 136 of the sixth movement. Those triplets in effect, say: "Not so fast! You have to sing us distinctly!"37 Tempi must serve expressiveness, not vice versa. The encounter recalls a comment once made about Shakespeare's plays. The Bard did not need to write out
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stage directions, the speaker said. They were clearly delineated in the text, if one took the trouble to read it closely. Shakespeare was an actor, Brahms a musician. Both men knew their work had to adjust to time, personalities, circumstance, and venue can discrezione.
The eulogies were not unalloyed, however. One critic dismissed Brahms's contributions: "Against the symphonic world-ideas of Beethoven, Brahms's symphonies express only the private thoughts and private meanings of a clever man."39
We must understand the culture from which a composition emerges, while, conversely, we must understand how that may be, in paJ1, an expression of that cultural milieu.
The Requiem secured Brahms's reputation at age 34, and catapulted him to . the forefront of European composers. He became famous within his own lifetime and even made enough money from his subsequent compositions to live comfortably (Clara Schumann invested his money wisely for him). When he died, he received the equivalent of a state funeral and a grand parade to the Central Cemetery in Vienna, where he lies buried alongside'Beethoven, Schubert, and Johann Strauss, Jr. in a circle at the base of a monument to Mozart. 38
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The criticism was meant as a put-down by modernists who decided that Brahms was too personal, individual, idiosyncratic' or perhaps too casual. A German Requiem? ("A Human Requiem, as Brahms once suggested?) To what did that refer? The new music was to express universal truths on a grand (Wagnerian?) scale, supposedly capturing the essence of an historical epoch. The music of the past was, in a word, passe, and it was time to grasp the future, or so the modernists claimed. Part of their music was nationalistic and extolled the legends, folk history and glories of the German Fatherland. It was also dogmatic and patronizing, qualities that repelled Brahms.40 It presaged the Gotterdammerung of the Third Reich.
Brahms conjoined religion and nationalism in his music, particularly in his major choral works. But he did not allow his nationalism to drown out the reftec-
. tive and philosophical messages of his deeply held and personal spirituality.41 Most important, he subsumed all the elements of his life and thinking to the language of music, but he did not forget the humanistic amateurs who are charged with singing it. This placed the Requiem in a universal realm, allowing us to see our struggles in his struggles, our hope in his hope.
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
I I
I I
________________ ~L
Brahms and Aesthetic Meaning "Art imitates life." John Dewey
breathed a little more meaning into this concept when he wrote that artists create something when they select experiences from their own lives and connect them ip such a way as to create a unified aesthetic experience. If it is to be seen as aesthetic, it also has to make emotional sense allowing an audience to connect with the works of visual art, music, theatre, or dance: art, music, and dance forms that give expres-
. siveness to those emotions. "Emotions are qualities, when they are significant, of a complex experience that moves and changes. [E]motion is the moving and cementing force that unifies disparate experiences into an aesthetic experience. It provides unity in and through the varied parts of an experience. "42
The performance of a particular composition can evoke concepts, memories, and images that range from momentary excitement and passion to deep-seated
qualities of feeling and perception that reach into the depths of our being. This phenomenon in music conjures up· associations from our lives that are outside the world of music-not to be found in the score, or necessarily in the intentions of the composer or performers.43 Absolutists argue, however, that true musical meaning is to be found in the musical score, without reference to what else is going on in our lives. To the absolutists, the structure of the score and the use of musical devices to create responses are sufficient.
The two approaches, of course, comingle and are difficult to separate.44
Indeed, each is necessary to achieve an informed understanding - or aesthetic perception-of a piece. We must understand the culture from which a composition emerges, while, conversely, we must understand how that may be, in part, an expression of that cultural milieu. It is the pairing of artistic experiences with life
(or humanistic) experiences that interface with each other. .
The emotional/aesthetic experience may bear little resemblance to the actual (lived) experiences that the artist, composer, choreographer, or playwright underwent. Oftentimes, an entire series of lived experiences-perhaps a lifetime's worth - is used and compressed into a painting, play, dance, or requiem. It is, in music, the act of compressing ordinary (lived) time into aesthetic time and then measuring it out over met~rs, rhythms, tempi, and bars. The emotions that may be expressed in a composition assume some kind of objectivity that is manifested by the singers, instrumentalists, and the audience. The compression of the lived experiences into a composition, the expression (or release) of those experiences through a pelformance to create impressions and images.45
No aesthetic experience is complete, however, unless the audience or perform-
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ers attempt to understand its impressions by re-living somehow the expressiveness evoked by a work of art. In so doing we attend to the performance, starting with the details.46 We see what there is to be seen, and hear what there is to be heard so that we may understand what there is to be felt. It is a process of experiencing and almost immediately reflecting on that experience that lies at the heart of an aesthetic perception.
But, from which of our life's experiences do we choose when we hear or sing something significant? Most of them are so fragmented, fleeting, and disconnected that it seems impossible to find any coherence that would allow us to make sense of them. Few events in our lives seem to be carried through to any kind of wholeness or resolution. "We drift," John Dewey observed; "Things are experience [in our daily lives] but not in such a way that they are composed into an experience."47 Not only do "things happen" in our daily
. lives, but also they happen at a rapid
18
and accelerating rate. Television and the entertainment industry seem hell-bent on stripping language of meaning, leaving us with only fleeting images that bypass our minds, causing us to react blindly, and thus be more willing to spend money on the newest fad without bothering to ask Why. We are encouraged to divorce feeling from thought.
In contrast to such fragmented experiences in day-to-day living, Dewey noted:
[W]e have an [aesthetic] experience when the material experienced runs its course to fulfillment. Then and only then is it integrated with and demarcated in the general stream of experience from other experiences. A piece of work is finished in a way that is satisfactory; a problem receives its solution; a situation ... is so rounded out that its close is a consummation and not a cessation.48
For musical amateurs who have been fortunate to sing in good or even great choruses, the act of re-creation is two fold: (1) approach the Requiem as a professional, harnessing whatever level of formal training one possesses to learn the score; and (2) look at and think about the score from a humanist point of view, speculating on what Brahms has to say and what that reflection might, in turn, bring to his music. Each time singers perform it, the artistic and humanistic elements act on one another to create yet another experience, communal as well as individual.
There is tension in such a relationship that creates an aesthetic experience, reflection and consummation. But there is also the anticipation of yet another and even deeper consummation in the next performance. And the next. Therein lies a key ingredient in the greatness of the Requiem.
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
NOTES
I StyraAvins, ed., Johannes Brahms, Life and Letters (New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1997), xxvi. 2 James Oestreich, "Brahms Galore and
a Myth Debunked," New York Times Review of Books, Jan 5, 1998 <http://
query.nytimes.com>.
3 Avins, 2, convincingly refutes the myth
about Brahms's supposed dalliance with
prostitutes during his youth. As for the
stories that Brahms lived in poverty, see
Kurt Hoffman, "Brahms the Hamburg
Musician," in Michael Musgrave, ed.,
The Cambridge Companion to Brahms (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press,
1998),7-8. The family's income, though
not large, was well above a subsistence
level and rising. Their neighbors were
"predominately middle class people,
minor tradesmen and respected artisans."
Each time the family moved during the
years 1830-1 857, it was to a larger and
. more expensive apartment. "
4 Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1997),
358-359; 615.
5 A. Craig Bell, Brahms-The Vocal Music
(Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1996), "204.
6 Quoted in Swafford, 317.
7 Malcom MacDonald, Brahms (New York:
Schirmer, 1990), 193.
8 Daniel Beller-McKenna, Brahms and the German Spirit (Cambridge: Harvard
Univ. Press, 2004), 54. 9 Ibid., 40.
10 MacDonald, 40. II Peter F. Ostwald, "Brahms, Solitary Altruist,"
in Walter Frisch, ed., Brahms and his World (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press,
1990), 29-31, doubts that Brahms had
sexual relations with prostitutes, and
suggests that his youthful encounters with
the so-called "singing St. Pauli's girls"
existed only in his imagination. 12 Swafford, 548.
13 MacDonald, 52; Ostwald, 27~29. 14 Swafford, 37.
15 Beller-McKenna, 2.
16 Quoted in Ibid., 45. 17 Ibid., 43. 18 Ibid.
19 Brahms kept a bas-relief of Bismarck on the
wall of his study in Vienna. 20 Beller-McKenna, 76-77. While he was proud
of his North German Protestant heritage,
Brahms initially feared that the title of
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
his work, Ein Deutsche Requiem might
be misconstrued as taking sides against
Catholic Austria during the Seven Weeks'
War. He allayed his misgivings, however,
by the time of the Franco-Prussian War
in 1870.
21 Brahms took 11 years to compose the
Requiem. Fifteen were required for his
first symphony. 22 Quoted in Swafford, 317.
23 Cf. Gesang der Parzen, quoted in Swafford,
476-477.
24 Translation by Eusebius Mandyczewski, ed.,
Johannes Brahms, German Requiem in Full Score (New York: Dover, 1987), xv.
25 Quoted in Swafford, 464.
26 Cf. Perry Miller, Nature's Nation (Cam
bridge: Belknap Press, 1967), for a fuller
discussion. 27 Swafford, 623.
28 Quoted in Ibid., 315.
29 Beller-McKenna, 88-89.
30 Michael Musgrave, "Performance Issues in A
German Requiem," in Michael Musgrave
and Bernard Sherman, eds., Peljorming Brahrns: Early Evidence of Peljormance Style (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003),147.
31 Beller-McKenna, 93.
32 Ibid., 94. The author reminds us that Brahms
chose the passage from Revelations out of
"poetic necessity" rather than Christian
faith. It was spiritual, not theological,
truth that was important. 33 Musgrave and Sherman, 99. 34 Ibid., 135.
35 Bernard Sherman, "Metronome marks,
times, and other period evidence
regarding tempo in Brahms," in Musgrave
and Sherman, 107. The author found little
evidence of any proportionality among
Brahms's tempi. 36 Ibid., 136.
37 In Ibid., 107, Brahms did write that he want
ed a slower tempo for his fifth movement,
"set according to the eighth notes in bar
21." Perhaps this comment indicates his
attitude toward the sixth movement. 38 Swafford, 621.
39 Ibid., 623.
40 Beller-McKenna, 42. 41 Ibid., 2.
42 John Dewey, Art as Experience (New York:
Capricorn Books, 1958),42. 43 Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in
Music (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,
1997), 1.
44 Ibid.
45 Dewey, 66.
46 Ibid., 54.
47 Ibid., 35.
48 Ibid., 40.
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Editor's note: Examples of some of the figures in this article and video clips of overtone singing can' be found on the ACDA national Web site at <www.acdaonline.org/cj/ interactive/apr2007> .
I: .. " n recent years, overtone singing has become more widely , known and appreciated. In the West, choral music has
been a major part of this evolving trend. :Initially, we heard small vocal ensembles directed by an overtone
singing specialist/teacher; several such groups are still active today. But overtone singing is also making a mark in mainstream choral literature. By now, most of us have heard an adventurous choir incorporate overtone singing into a performance at an ACDA convention or similar professional gathering.
The models for overtone singing are from central Asia. Two distinct traditions developed there: the khoomei or "throat singing" styles of the Tuvan and Mongolian herders and the yangstyle chanting of Tibetan Buddhism. Throat singing has been practiced for centuries by central Asian nomadic peoples, most notably the Tuvans and the Mongolians. They developed these techniques in response to natural sounds in their environment such as running water, whistling winds, and animal sounds, not as music for its own sake. Throat singing was virtually unknown outside native areas until recently. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, information began to move more freely, and news of the Tuvan culture has spread quickly. A rich throat singing tradition still survives, and there are now internationally recognized performers of Tuvan folk music.
A different style of overtone singing is practiced by certain Tibetan Buddhist monks. Their tantric chants, called yangs, are tone-color chants that feature an extremely low-pitched fundamental and a style of overtone singing in which the "melodies" consist of sequences of smoothly and continuously varying intonational contours, including changes in pitch, loudness, and configurations of resonance (overtone) mixtures. Hundreds of vowel modifications are used to change the overtone contour and timbre. The melody is defined not by sequential relation-
, ships of pitch levels, but by the sequential configuration of its intonational contours.
In the West, the first composer to use the harmonic partials of a sung fundamental note as discreet elements in a composition was Karlheinz Stockhausen. In Stinunung for 6 vocalists (1968), the performers vocally produce harmonic partials of the pitch B~. Although not a choral work, Stimmung is of seminal importance in the development of overtone singing music, not only as the first work of its kind, but also for the composer's recognition of the vowel basis 6f overtone singing.
.The best known, and by far the most-often perfOlmed and recorded composition for chorus with overtone singing is Sarah Hopkins's Past Life Melodies. The piece exists in several ver-
Stuart Hinds is an overtone singing composer, performer, and teacher. He is director of choirs at Ball High School in Galveston, Texas. <[email protected]>
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
sions with and without instruments, but the unaccompanied SATB and treble choir versions are the most commonly heard; Despite divisi of up to eleven parts, the piece is relatively easy to learn, and can be effective, even for choirs of moderate ability. A pamphlet and CD are also available from the publisher, New World Music Australia, to assist a director in preparing the piece for perfOlmance.
Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to introduce several recent compositions for chorus with overtone singing. The relative difficulty of various technieal demands in overtone singing will be explored with an explanation of what can be expected of singers trying overtone singing for the first time, and, what
, is possible with singers who have developed a higher level of technique. The musical examples presented demonstrate some' of the ways that overtone singing can be effectively 'incorpo-
, rated into a composition. But before proceeding, a few remarks about overtone singing follow.
Overtone Singing The term "overtone singing" refers to techniques that allow
a singer to isolate one (or more) of the natural harmonic partials in the overtone series of a sung fundamental pitch, thus making audible two discreet pitches simultaneously: the fundamental pitch and one of its natural harmonic partials. This is accomplished by altering the shape of the tongue and vocal tract in the same way that a singer uses vowels in speech or singing. The singer creates a drone-based musical texture with a "melody" of overtones over an unchanging fundamental pitch.
Overtone singing is natural and safe for the voice when done properly. The only potential concern is for those who practice the Tuvan/Mongolian "throat singing" techniques in which muscular pressure may be applied to the larynx in an attempt to cover the fundamental in favor of the overtones. It is possible to produce overtones without any such stress on the throat, and teachers must carefully monitor their students to make sure that no vocal abuse is taking place. All the vocal tract manipulations occur in the resonating area of the vocal tract, not the phonating area. The types of vocal tract shaping used in overtone singing are the same as those used in traditional singing when changing vowels, registers, or timbre. None of the adjustments of the vocal tract in overtone singing are inconsistent with good "open throat" singing. .
There are several advantages in using overtone singing with a choir. First, is the potential benefit of overtone singing relative to improvements in normal singing, particularly the effects on vocal resonance and increased understanding of the relationships between overtones, vowels, resonance, and timbre. Second, the value of overtone singing contributes to better musicianship in general, as a result of training the ear in interval recognition and intonation. (For milch more detailed information about these topics, see "Argument for the Investigation and Use of Overtone Singing," in the Journal of Singing, Fall 2005). Consider also that overtone singing is a multicultural activity, and an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the music of other cultures. Overtone singing can add variety to concert pro-
21
grams and to rehearsal regimes. Singers will enjoy doing it and benefit from the experience.
Of course, the main reason for using overtone singing in music is the beauty of the sound. That distinctive sound is effective and affective; it can be a powerful means of expression. When people hear overtone singing for the first time, the universal reaction is one of amazement. With its otherworldly quality, it is easy to see how the sound of overtone singing is often associated with sacred utterance.
It should be emphasized that anybody can learn to sing in this manner. Moreover, one does not have to be either a virtuoso singer or a specialist in overtone singing to enjoy overtone singing. In fact, most choral works with overtone singing
do not call for a particularly high level of overtone singing technique. As the genre continues to develop, a repertoire will be generated, including works demanding a wide range of skill levels.
Choral Music Overtone Singing
The first step in composing choral music with overtone singing is to discover what the singers can be expected to do successfully without extensive practice. The second step is to find a musical context in which those techniques could be effective, not mere special effects. It was initially hypothesized that beginners would be able to:
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• glissando through the partials of a given -fundamental, ascending or descending, fast, or slow;
• use vowels/text for relative pitch gestures on indeterminate partials, specifying the given shape without specifying particular partials;
• improvise on partials of the given fundamental, ad lib., freely, or in a given style or manner;
• find and sustain a particular partial (requires interval recognition); and
• by extension, move to an adjacent partial, above or below, and alternate between the two.
Singers should not be asked to change the fundamental pitch while overtone singing and changing partials should always be to an adjacent partial. When a particular partial is to be specified, time should be allowed (a beat or so) for the singers to get the harmonics to "speak" and find the correct one.
Naturally, the vocal ability and experience of the singer is a major factor in learning to perform overtone singirig. One who is already proficient with breath control and tonal focus will learn the techniques more readily than one with less experience. A well-trained musical ear is also a great advantage but not required for success.
At the time of this writing, the author has composed nine works for chorus with overtone singing based on the criteria outlined above. These works vary widely in the level of difficulty of the overtone singing and the music in general. There are works designed for choirs learning overtone singing for the first time and for groups with more substantial overtone singing experience. In some of the pieces, the use of overtone singing is elaborate and pervasive while others use the technique sparingly. In all these compositions, an attempt was made to incorporate and integrate overtone singing in musical and meaningful ways.
For this article, several works by the author have been selected that demonstrate some of the ways overtone singing can be used in choral music. They show
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
how various overtone singing techniques have been employed for musical effects such as timbre conh'ast, dramatic gesture, and the creation of texture. Additionally, how overtone singing can be evocative of the text (or better, evoked by the text) is presented. The initial examples demonstrate the use of relatively simple techniques that can be done by singers who are learning overtone singing for
51 J = 120 fl
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fl
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~ lui
the first time, while successive examples progress to more advanced applications. Difficulty level in the overtone part does not necessarily correlate to the level of difficulty of the entire composition and attendant expressive demands.
As an example, consider the composition Autumn Moon (SATB and piano, with some divisi). This is a relatively simple work in terms of the ovelione
mf
lui mf 0----------luI
singing parts, but the close harmonies and occasional chromaticism of the piece make peliorrinng it challenging. Most of the piece has no overtone singing at all. There are· two brief but effective spots where overtone singing is used as text painting ("or when it hides for a moment behind a passing cloud" and "I hear the song of the wind in the branches"). In these passages, the singers are given only
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l", "~: ::v I ~"4-': ., • Co' .. .. I
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Figure 1. Stuart Hinds, Autumn Moon, mm. 51-60. Used by pennission
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL 23
pp -====== f 0 gliss.
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rrvpfalsetto belld
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the fundamental pitch and allowed to improvise on the partials that work best for them, thus creating a subtle but complex and colorful texture. Overtone singing is prominently featured only in a passage where the melody and harmony are taken over by the piano, while the choir creates a harp-like texture of overtone glissandi, with the i women's voices alte~nating and overlapping with the men's (Figure
Figure 2. Stuart Hinds, Beauty, rom. 1-4. Used by permission
1, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/interactive/apr2007». The singers need not be precisely in unison on the partials of these glissandi as long as they create the desired shape, ascending or descending, at the proper time metrically. The small circle over the notehead indicating harmonics is a notational technique found in string music and scoring. The 'Vowel lu:1 is specified to produce a lower partial as
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a starting point for the glissando, not to be sustained.
The unique tone color of vocal harmonics can also be used to good effect. In Beauty (SATB unaccompanied, with some divisi), tone color tremoli are created with the overtones alternately sounding and not sounding in a given rhythm. In measures 3-4 (Figure 2), the men create this effect by using the consonant Iw I to articulate a measured tremolo on the 2nd partial. The importance of tone color contrasts in this passage is further developed by the use ofjalsetto voice in
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CHORAL JOURNAL" April 2007
16 1111[1 -===f 0 o ====- -=:::::::::
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the men's vocal lines and the entry of the women on the same pitch as the men with a more nasal timbre and a dynamic gesture that culminates in overtone glissandi in contrary motion. Later in the piece, a similar effect is created, this time with indeterminate high partials, indicated by the vowel Iii. The onloff effect is facilitated by the use of the sustainable consonant In/. The complex rhythmic texture of the passage is enhanced by the use of vocal overtones. (Figure 3)
Another approach to making overtone singing works accessible for both beginners and more accomplished overtone singers is to specify harmonic partials in the score with the understanding that they may optionally be treated as indeterminate partials by beginners. Essentially, this means that there are two versions of the piece: one version with specific partials for advanced singers, and one version for beginners using indeterminate partials. In the latter case, the singers fol-
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
Figure 3. Stuart Hinds, Beallty, mm. 16-20. Used by pennission
low the indicated shape of the overtone line as best th~y can without having to be in perfect unison. The effect is more gestural than melodic, but it can work well for beginners whose overtone production may still be a little insecure.
One example of this type of work is Spring (SA and piano). The linear contours· of the overtone lines are evoked by the fragrance of flowers on the breeze referred to in the lyrics. In this context, treating the overtones as indeterminate
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25
26
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is just as effective as the more difficult version using the specified partials, The harmonics are notated with diamondshaped noteheads on the same staff with the fundamentals, and they sound two octaves higher than notated. (Figure 4)
Another way to use indeterminate partials to good effect is to create musical gestures or linear contours defined by vowels or text. Since the vocal tract position used to produce any given harmonic can be thought of as a vowel position, it makes sense to employ vowels and text in this way. With any number of singers shaping the same vowels while overtone singing, the partials may not be in unison but the contour will be the same for all. A simple realization of this idea is found in Beauty. (Figure 5) Vowels indicate the relative pitch of the harmonics, generating indeterminate chords on three relative pitch levels: lu:/= low: le:1 = medium, and Iii = high, The use of nasal consonants helps the harmonics 'speak," No harmonic can be produced on an la:1 vowel.
An excerpt from Winter (SATB unaccompanied) shows the use of text to generate overtone-singing effects (Figure 6), In the bass part, measure 45, diphthongs
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2001
~ •..... '
~ 43 if 0_
s
A
ID __ i: ___ _ ID_ U: __
T
a: ___ e: __ ID __ i: ___ _ ID_ U: __ _
if B
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in the words are elongated to produce glissandi of overtones, descending - "fierce" and "fearful," and ascending-"voices." The x-shaped noteheads in the soprano and alto parts indicate unvoiced sounds (whisper), and the women are also asked to improvise on the highest partials possible for bright, piercing sounds. All these text-sound effects illustrate the imagery of the lyrics.
Awakening (SATB and piano) focuses specifically on overtone singing; there is no text at all. The entire work is devoted
41
s
(highest partials) mfo
Figure 5. Stuart Hinds, Beauty,rnm. 43-45. Used by pennission
to exploring the musiCal possibilities for overtone singing in choral music. As in Spring, many of the harmonics are specified, and the piece can be performed as written or the harmonics may be treated as indeterminate, following the indicated contour without perfect unison. Given an indeterminate performance, there is nothing particularly difficult in the overtone part, but the sheer amount of overtone singing involved makes this piece less· effective for singers performing overtone singing for the first time.
f p<:::::.f :
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# ~------~
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InAwakening, a variety of musical textures are created using overtone singing techniques such as those in the previous examples. Figure 7, <www.acdaonline. org/cj/interactive/apr2007>, provides a passage in which a type of shimmering chordal texture is created by altematirig between two adjacent partials in specified rhythm. The changing of the fundamental pitch while singing in this passage, though carefully handled, raises the performance difficulty level for the piece. In looking at the example, note that the
voi - ces . frOID the
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Figure 6. Stuart Hinds, Winter, rnm. 41-46. Used by pennission
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL 27
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28
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II~
Figure 7. Stuart Hinds, Awakening, mm. 44-47, Used by pennission
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CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
s
A
T
B
sOllnds 15ma 9 10
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soprano, alto, and tenor parts are notated on single staves with the harmonics sounding two octaves higher, but the bass part is notated on two staves-the upper (treble clef) for overtones sounding one octave higher and the lower (bass clef) for the fundamentals.
Up to this point, we have been looking at relative pitch gestures and effects because those are the types of vocal skills that singers can sing with little experience in overtone singing. But the most typical use of overtone singing in general is to sing a melody in the overtone part above a steady and unchanging fundamental pitch. Of course, individual singers can improvise
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
Figure 8. Stuart Hinds, Pacem, mm. 40-44. Used by pennission
melodies according to their ability, but to sing in a group requires a higher level of' overtone singing technique and a more developed ear. If a group of singers is to sing overtones together, each member must be able to produce overtones with control and in rhythm, while recognizing which partial to sing at any given time.
Afairly simple example is found in the work, Pacem (SATB unaccompanied). The piece is based on a melody reminiscent of Gregorian chant. At the end, this melody is sung in unison in the overtone part over a fundamental drone (Figure 8, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/interactive/ apr2007». As before, the harmonics are notated with diamond-shaped noteheads
and sound two octaves higher. The numeric notation refers to the partial numbers of the first two melody notes.
The Sound of Forever (SATB unaccompanied), with text drawn from Rabindranath Tagore, is definitely a work for
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Figure 9. Stuart Hinds, The Sound of Forever, mm. 25-31. Used by permission
singers who practice overtone singing tion to indicate partIal numbers. Chords regularly. Composed for the Aachener of up to eight notes are used-four fun~ Obertonchor of Germany, this piece damentals and four overtones. Because takes full advantage of singers with of the demands of the overtone singing, extensive overtone singing experience. the piece is rather simple melodically All the vocal overtones in the piece are and harmonically. Great care was taken clearly specified, using numeric nota- by the composer to maintain step-wise
30
voice-leading in both fundamental and overtone parts when overtone singing is introduced. In one interesting spot (Figure 9, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/interactive/apr2007», four different fundamental pitches produce a unison overtone using different partials.
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
Directors of choirs of all ages and singing ability are strongly encouraged to consider trying overtone singing. The . basic technique can be taught in just a few minutes, and it does not require music rehearsal time to make good progress.
Overtone singing can easily be incorporated into the warm-up regime, and is an outstanding platform for the teaching of vocal resonance and intonation. The time spent on' overtone singing will pay dividends in improved awareness of the
voice, increased musical cognition, and the enjoyment of singing.
Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia, Smithsonian Folkways CD 40017.
Tuva, Among the Spirits: Sound, Music, and Nature in Sakha and Tuva, Smithsonian Folkways CD 40452.
Huun-Huur Tu - 60 Horses in my Herd, Shanachie BOOOOOOE38
Tibetan Buddhism: The Ritual Orchestra and Chants, Nonesuch H-72071.
Stockhausen - Stimmung, Collegium Vocal Cologne, Wolfgang Forman, conductor, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne, 1970.
Stockhausen - Stimmung, Singcircle, Gregory Rose, conductor, London: Hyperion Records Limited, 1986 (CDA 66115).
Hopkins - Honour the Earth (includes Past Life Melodies), New World Music Australia, NWCD 570:
Hopkins - Reclaiming the Spirit (includes Past Life Melodies), New World Music Australia, NWCD 777.
Past Life Melodies is also recorded by Chanticleer and the St. Olaf Choir.
Hopkins - Sarah Hopkins Rehearses Past Life Melodies, St. Peters Chorale, Toowong, Old: Morton Music, MM3001.
Stuart Hinds - Harmonx, available from the composer: www.stuarthinds.com.
Ellingson, Ter. "Don Rta Dbyangs Gsum: Tibet;:ln Chant and Melodic Categories." Asian Music, 1979q.
Hinds, Stuart. "Argument for the Investigation and Use of Overtone Singing." Journal of Singing, Fall 2005.
Hopkins, Sarah, Past Life Melodies (scores, various instrumentations), Toowong, Old: Morton Music, 1992.
Hopkins, Sarah, Rehearsing and Performing 'Past Life Melodies': A Resource Guide for Choristers and Choir Directors, Toowong, Old: Morton Music, 1998.
Levin, Theodore C. and Michael E. Edgerton. "The Throat Singers of Tuva." Scientific American, September 1999.
Siobin, Mark. Music of Central Asia and of the Volga-Ural Peoples. Bloomington: Indiana University Asian Studies Research Institute, 1977
Stockhausen, Karlheinz, Stimmung for six, vocalists (score), Vienna: Universal Edition No. 14805, 1968.
van Tongeren, Mark C., Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West, Amsterdam: Fusica, 2002.
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL 31
by Godwin Sadoh
~. '. horal music in Nigeria can be broadly divided into
.
.... .... ..' two categories: (1) traditional choral singing; and . .. (2) Western influenced choral works known as ' .• ,., modem Nigerian art songs. The former has been
in existence since the formation of the country. Choral singing permeates every aspect of Nigerian cultural life: social; political; economical; or religious. It is a communal experience that binds the people together as a nation. Consequently, traditional choral singing can be observed in naming ceremonies, funeral rites, religious worship, children's activities, folk tales, royal events, wedding ceremonies, and recreational gathering in the evenings. Each ethnic group has a distinct harmonic structure to support the melodic lines of their songs. The performance techniques of indigenous choral songs include call-and-response, hand clapping, dancing, and instrumental accompaniment supplied by diverse kinds of drums, iron bells, sekere [maracas], or other types of idiophones such as bottles, calabash, sticks, and wooden clappers.
Western influenced choral music was introduced to Nigeria through the churches established by early missionaries. from America and Great Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. It was in these churches that the first converts to Christianity were exposed to simple English church hymns in four-part harmony, and later, to advanced choral works such as Messiah by George Frederick Handel and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah. In addition, talented Nigerian musicians received lessons in piano and organ playing, theory of Western music, and singing at the mission schools and churches established by the foreign ministers of the Gospel. By the turn of the twentieth century, Nigerian composers had begun writing indigenous choral songs.
Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian organist/composer, choral conductor, and ethnomusicologist with several articles
. about Nigerian music published in various journals. He is an assistant professor of music at LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee. <[email protected]>
April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
A chronological exposition on Nigerian choral composers from four generations reveals growth, dynamics, and transformations. Prominent among these composers are Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips (1884-1969), Fela Sowande (1905-87),Ayo Bankole (1935-76), and Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005).
Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips is regarded as the 'grandfather of art music' in Nigeria. He was born in 1884 at Lagos, and he belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. Phillips studied piano, organ, and violin at the Trinity College of Music, London, from 1911 to 1914. On his return to Nigeria, he was appointed as the Organist and Master of the Music at the renowned Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos;l a position he occupied for forty-eight years (Trinity Sunday 1914 to Trinity Sunday 1962).2 He administered his duties at this church professionally and brought the Cathedral Choir to a very high level of excellence during his tenure. Phillips composed several hymns and anthems based on indigenous music elements for his choir and for choirs in other parishes. One of Phillips' most significant accomplishments was the training of future organists for Nigerian congregations. His students include Fela Sowande, Ayo Bankole, and his son and successor, Charles Oluwole Obayomi Phillips. In 1964, Phillips was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in music by the University 'of Nigeria, Nsukka, for his immense contribution to the development of church music in Nigeria. Phillips represents the first generation of Nigerian choral composers, and his compositions are simple, tonal, short, and exclusively sacred. All the compositions in this era were written for divine services in the church.
Among Phillips's numerous choral compositions is Samuel, a cantata for soloists, choir, and organ. It was specifically written for the Cathedral Church of Christ Choir, Lagos, in 1944. The text is taken from the Old Testament, First Samuel in the King James Bible. The cantata is divided into three parts: (1) a musical narration of the birth and childhood of Samuel; (2) the ministry of Samuel as the Prophet of God in the land of Israel; and (3) an account of how Samuel crowns Saul as the first King of Israel. The work is conceived in diatonic scale with several modulations to related and remote keys.
One of the most popular choral works by T. K. E. Phillips is Emi 0 Gbe Oju mi s~Oke Wonni [I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills], based on Psalm 121 from the Old Testament of the King James Bible. This choral setting is extremely popular
at the Cathedral Church· of Christ, other Anglican parishes, other denominational churches, and independent choral groups throughout the southwest region of Nigeria. The Cathedral Choir is an all-male chorus (following the traditions of British Cathedrals in England), where the young boys sing the soprano line. Accordingly, Phillips wrote the anthem for four-part male chorus, baritone solo, with organ accompaniment, and the text is in the Yoruba language. Nigerian languages are tonal, and the melodic shape of songs follow the rising and falling inflections dictated by the indigenous words. If the melodic shape does not mirror the patterns indicated by the words, the intended meaning of the text is altered drastically. Hence, it is not surprising to observe the melodic contour consistently imitating the tonal inflections of the Yoruba words in this choral work.
33
" u mf
1"'""'= -""" - r--= Boys I
'~ r -- I
;-. ~b . . k - ITIl o_g e 0 - JU- ITIl . SO - e WC;lO - ni: . ni-boni i - ran-I<;> - w<;>_ rni yio ha it wa.
f\ /I
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:
I I I I I r
5 mf .. f!:. 11-' 11- -----Men I :
I - ran -1<;>- wo mi ti <;> - w<;> 0 - Iu - wa wa, ti o· da <;> - run on_ ai - ye;
" I
tJ I r r r r r r r r It r r :
" u 1""'"""'1 r-F=i - rr==:; I .. .~
9 f Boys
tJ - - '-!' - - L.......J 1.....1=1 I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ rni I - ran -1<;> - w<;>_ rni I - ran -1<;> - w<;>_
f!. f!.' cresco .,. .,., .. .. Men :
........ . - - II I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ ITIl I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ rni - ran - 1<;> - w<;>
f\ /I Manual colla voce ad libitum 1"""'""1 ..rJ=i
) " cresco .I .I J J
- - r I I Ped.
Figure 1. T. K. E. Phillips, Emi a gbe aju mi sake wqlllli, mm. 1-11.
Other creative techniques employed by the composer include alternation of melodic phrases between the boys and men, call-and-response, monophonic and homophonic passages. In addition, Phillips creates a descant for the boys against the men's monophonic passage on page 3 of the composition, and a brief canonic imitation involving all the voices on the text of verse 7 of the Psalm, "Oluwa yio pa 0 mo kuro ninu ibi gbogbo" [The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil]. Apart from a brief tonicization of C major in the baritone solo section, the song remains in G major. The anthem closes in a fortissimo dynamic with a plagalcadence on
34
Used by Permission
the word Amin [Amen]. Figure 1 shows the opening section of Emi 0 Gbe Oju mi
s'Oke Wonni.
Fela Sowande Fela Sowande belongs to the Yoruba
ethnic group of southwest Nigeria like Phillips, and he represents the second generation of Nigerian choral composers. He was born in 1905 at Lagos,into a musical family. His father, Emmanuel Sowande, was an Anglican priest and one of the pioneers of Nigerian church music.Sowande received his first lessons in music from his father and later
traveled to England in 1935 to study as an external candidate at the University of London. While in London; he received private lessons in organ. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO) with credit in 1943, making him the first African to earn the Great Britain's highest diploma in organ playing. He emerged as one of the prominent figures in jazz, organ performance, composition, and broadcasting in London between 1930 and 1950. On his return to Nigeria in 1953, Sowande was appointed as the Director of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos, honorary organist at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos,
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
and later as an ethnomusicology professor at the University of Ibadan. He emigrated to the United States in the 1960s and taught at several institutions such as Howard University, the University 'of Pittsburgh, and Kent State University.3 Sowande's era introduced the pan-African and global intercultural phenomena into the vocabulmy of Nigerian art music. Unlike his predecessors who integrated Nigerian and Western music elements in their works, Sowande goes beyond the shores of Nigeria to other African countries, Europe, and America to seek' musical resources. He employed Ghanaian popular songs' by Ephraim Amu and African-American Spirituals into his compositions.
Sowande arranged several AfricanAmerican Spirituals for solo voice and for four-part chorus with piano or organ accompaniment. Of his numerous Spiritual an'angements, the most popular in Nigeria are Wheel, Oh Wheel4 and Roll De Ol' Chariot.s They are regularly performed at church services, choir festivals, and public concerts throughout Nigeria. The Cathedral Church of Christ Choir rendered the two settings on September 27, 1985, at a special service in honor of Fela Sowande's eightieth birthday. Wheel, Oh Wheel is set for four-part voices without accompaniment. It is in strophic form, that is, stanzas alternate with refrain sections in the piece. Sowande maintains the key of E minor without modulation throughout but retains the call-and-response interaction between the voices in the opening and closing sections respectively.
Roll De Ol' Chariot is arranged for five voices (SATBB) with piano ac-
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Roll De 01' Chariot
Roll de 01' Chariot along (3ce) If yo' don't hang on behind, 0 Christians.
If yo' mother's in de way Just roll right Over (3ce) An' yo' must hang on behind, Hallelujah.
If yo' mother wants to go She shall wear a starry crown (3ce) An' she must hang on behind, 0 Christians.
Roll de 01' Chariot along (3ce) If yo' don't hang on behind, 0 brethren.
companiment. Structurally, it is divided into three main sections: (A) refrain in homophonic style with repetitions; (B) contrasting middle section with new text in call-and-response; and (A) final return of the refrain in homophonic texture, first with all the voices in unison, and second appearance in polyphony. The piano accompaniment maintains a strict ostinato throughout the piece. However, the accompanying ostinato from the opening to the end of the middle section is different from the ostinato assigned to the final returp. of the refrain that is in triplets. In terms of tonality, the song stays in the key of E~ without modulation. One' significant African/African-American
compositional device employed in this work is the syncopated rhythm; a prominent feature of traditional African music and African-American jazz, Spiritual, and gospel music. Indeed, Sowande's settings of the Spiritual songs demonstrate one of the philosophies of choral composition in twentieth-century Nigeria, that is, global intercultural creativity-the amalgamation of musical idioms from various continents.
Ayo Bankole Ayo Bankole was born on May 17,
1935, at J os in Plateau State of Nigeria. He belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. In August 1957, Bankole left Nigeria on a Federal Government Scholarship to study music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He concentrated on piano, composition, organ, harmony, and counterpoint. While at Guildhall, Bankole experimented with simple works and works based on twentieth-century tonal devices. After four years of intense studies at Guildhall, Bankole proceeded to Claire College, Cambridge University, London,where he obtained his first degree, a BA in music. While at Cambridge as an organ scholar (1961-64), Bankole earned the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists
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35
(FRCO), making him the second and last Nigerian to receive the highest diploma in organ playing given in Great Britain. At the end of his studies at Cambridge University in 1964, Bankole received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship' to
, study ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969, he was appointed Lecturer in Music at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he embarked on research into Nigerian traditional music and presented scholarly papers at conferences. At the University of Lagos, Bankole combined the role of
Female Choi1: 7 The first song, "OrisaBi Ofun ko Si" [The Throat is the Greatest God, that is, humankind has to eat to stay alive] is written for two female choirs of three-parts each (SSA). The two choirs make a statement antiphonally and simultaneously, as if to affirm the
Exalts Himself Shall Be Abased-Luke Chapter 14:11] is set for three female voices (SSA) with piano accompaniment. Both the vocal and instrumental accompaniment are arranged with scintillating dance rhythms that set the performers and audience into a mood for shaking
>",
:~s~u~!~~~~~:~. 6c~:fct~~;:~n~~~~:~::~ ":;~an.(1';,tob~lltM;;.iflto,,,. the ·Nigeri~·b,;:Jj]Us.lGaJ:;;;' g§:~?§:f~~~~Iij '~t~,g~?gfJjj'~'~~;,j;~!~~?l: .. " .. ,.. "i'e., .'. ' .
Lagos and Saint Peter's Anglican Church, Faji, Lagos.
The third generation of Nigerian choral composers injected new genres and tonality into the Nigerian musical language. Secular choral works for performances in new venues such as public concert halls, secondary schools, colleges and universities were all introduced during Bankole's era. Prior to this period, choral works were exclusively sacred and their performances were restricted to religious occasions and the church. Furthermore, Bankole introduced new tonalities into Nigerian choral works such as poly tonality, whole-tone scale, chromaticism, and tone clusters. Manifestations of these new compositional devices are best exemplified ill Bankole's Three Part-Songs for
,Phil Mattson
truth of the message. The development of the theme is treated as an independent tonality producing poly tonal clashes that suggests the pangs of hunger. The second song, "TIe Iwe Nikan 10 ri Yungbayungba" [The Glorious Days of School] comes from a popular song of young ladies in which they recollect their youthful days at school. Bankole wrote an original melody for this song that besttreats it poly tonally between the two topmost voices. The accompaniment that is scored for four lower voices is typical of the rhythmic clapping that goes with Nigerian singing. The coda' is a poly tonal fugato that combines the speed and the shouting typical of excited young' women. The third song, "Enikeni to Ba Gbe Ara Re Ga" [For Whosoever
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their bodies and dancing. Bankole uses a whole-tone scale to color the words patapata iresile [completely humble] in the middle section of the piece.
Bankole's choral work that is very popular among choral groups in Lagos is a well-researched song titled, Fun Mi N'Ibeji [Give Me Twins] for four-part choir without instrumental accompaniment. The composer brought into play his years of research into Yoruba traditional music in this work. The song is divided into three distinct sections: (A) the opening passage is characterized by ostinato in the bass and tenor lines and clashing seconds of the Ijesha Yoruba infused between the soprano and alto voices; (B) the juxtaposition of simple duple patterns against triplets; and (A) a return of the ostinato in bass and tenor voices. Bankole transforms choral music in Nigeria from the sacred enclave of the church to the secular public concert auditoriums. From the selected works, we could deduce that Bankole's choral songs are mostly in the Yoruba language, the mother tongue of his Nigerian ethnic group. His targeted audiences are located mainly in the Yoruba southwest part of Nigeria. Bankole's Fun Mi N'Ibeji is shown in Figure 2.
Joshua Uzoigwe Joshua Uzoigwe represents the fourth
generation of choral composers and he
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
7·
s
A
T
B
I
f be- ji wa ____ _
be ji ___ _
sai - yo mi 0, k'o mu
wa 0 __ _
i be ji mo fe,c-- 0 lu wa _____ _ wa _______ _
be ji mo fe,_ 0 lu wa _____ _ wa _______ _
Figure 2. Ayo Bankole, FUll Mi N'lbeji, mm. 1-13. Used by Pennission
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April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL 37
a tempo (spoke/! softly, allllosl a whisper) ,-3---, ,-3---,
S~~~~~~~~~~~~ Soft as cat' ~ paw san-daJled in vel - vet in
o' ________ ~ ____________________________ ___
T
0 ____________________________ _
13 cresco
S
fur So we must go,
cresco
eve - mist on should - ers Sun's dust of com - bat with
A
cresco So
T
cresco
B
So
belongs to the Igbo ethnic group in the southeast part of. Nigeria. He studied piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, from 1973 to 1977 .. Uzoigwe went on to study ethnomusicology under John Blacking at Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland, in 1977 and subsequently receivedhisPh.D. degree in 1981. Upon his arrival in Nigeria, Uzoigwe was appointed as a music lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-Ife, from 1981 to 1991. He later taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of Uyo, Akwa !bom State, where he was an associate professor of music and the head of the Music Department until his death in October 2005.8
Uzoigwe brings into Nigerian choral literature a barrage of contemporary innovations, mcluding the use of poetry as the text of his songs, speech/song tech-
38
we must go, eve - mist on should - ers sun's dust of com - bat with ,.---3----, ,-3----, ,-3----,
------- --- --,-3----,
we must go, eve - mist on should - ers
Figure 3. Joshua Uzoigwe, Siren Limits, mm. 8-17. Used by Permission
nique, and secular concert compositions. He wrote only three choral works that are suitable for performances in public concerts. In regard to tonality, Uzoigwe uses various types of pitch collections in his compositions, including tetratonic, pentatonic, octatonic and diatonic scales, atonality, and the twelve-tone row method. Unlike Ayo Bankole and Ekundayo Phillips whose songs are mostly in the Yoruba language, Uzoigwe's choral pieces are in English and not in the Igbo language. His Siren Limits for six voices (SSATTB) without accompaniment is representative of his most mature contemporary choral work. Uzoigwe uses various types of twentieth-century compositional devices that he acquired from his musical training in England. Prominent among these features are the speech/song technique,9 canonic imitations, homophonic passages against contrapuntal textures, frequent
,.---3--, ,.---3--,
sun's dust of com - bat with
change of meter, clashing seconds, harmonic intervals of fourths and fifths, and polychords. In this work, he uses "free atonality" characterized by successive chromatic progression, diminished intervals, and continuous extirpation of the tonal center. Uzoigwe employs word painting to interpret some of the words of the song such as the placing of soft [p] in measures 8-9 to color the words "silent, ~ilent fall." He also uses full polyphonic texture in measures 26-31 to interpret the words "making harmony among the branches." Figure 3 shows an excerpt from the Siren Limits.
Siren Limits is one of the few atonal . compositions in the Nigerian choral repertoire. It is an experimental work Uzoigwe wrote in 1976 while studying at the Guildhall School of Music. The work is original in the sense that Nigerian traditional musical elements are not borrowed;
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
it is European in conception. Most Nigerian choral composers write more simple songs based on a diatonic scale that amateur singers can sing without much difficulty, thereby making the works more accessible to several interested music enthusiasts and a larger audience. To my knowledge, Uzoigwe's Siren Limits has never been performed in Nigeria. It was premiered in 1976 by fellow music students at the Guildhall School of Music, London. Siren Limits is an exception and a great leap from the normal practice in Nigerian choral literature.
Conclusion A diachronic discourse of Nigerian
choral composers and their crafts reveals a systematic and gradual transformation of the musical style and its tonal language. Every age contributed new ideas and idiomatic expressions to move the genre to the next level. Nigerian choral
composers have their local audiences in mind when writing these songs because the songs are to be performed by Nigerian choral groups for local audiences. The appreciation of their works by fellow country men and women gives the composers the zest and boost they needed to continue to write such works. Apparently, there is a pride, patriotism, confidence, and a nationalistic solidarity that accompanies the warm support for the choral works in Nigeria. In addition, a good reception for these works at home means that the songs are indeed Mrican.
NOTES
I. The Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, is the
headquarters of the Anglican Church and the seat of the Archbishop of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria.
2. Akin Euba, Modern African Music (Bayreuth: Iwalewa-Haus, University of Bayreuth, 1993),17.
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April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
3. Godwin Sadoh, "APr6file of Nigerian
Organist-Composers," The Diapason 94, No.8 (August 2003) : 20.
4. Fela Sowande, Wheel, Oh Wheel (New York:
Ricordi, 1961). 5. Fela Sowande, Roll De Ol' Chariot (London:
Chappell & Co. Ltd., 1955). 6. Afolabi Alaja-Browne, "Ayo Bankole: His
Life and Work" (M.A. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1981), 15-30.
7. Ayo Bankole, Three Part-Songs for
Female Choir (TIe-Ife: University of Ife Press,1975).
8. Godwin Sadoh, "Intercultural Creativity in
Joshua Uzoigwe's Music," Africa 74, No. 4 (December 2004) : 638-43.
9. Uzoigwe combines singing phrases with
spoken phrases. The spoken phrases have
pitchless stems consistently arranged on a single line of the staff, indicating that the words are to be spoken and not sung.
39
WHO AND WHAT IS
We are a nonprofit organization whose goal is to promote excellence in choral music.
We are a group of choral professionals whose joy comes from the performance, composition, publishing, research, and teaching the fine art of choral music.
From the smallest towns to the largest cities across America, we strive to elevate the role of choral music and the way it touches our society.
We inspire and lead over a million singers nation-wide, combining individual voices into an instrument of incomparable beauty.
We are the American Choral Directors Association. Join us ..
For information about ACDA and how you can become a member, visit us on the Web at <www.acdaonline.org>, write to us at P.O. Box 2720 Oklahoma City, OK 73101.
tion, Miami, Florida
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r
Male Choirs
Introducing MC3 The Male Chorus
Commissioning Consortium
by
Ethan Sperry
Editor's note: Ethan Sperry, associate professor of music at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is the Conductor of the Miami University Men's Glee Club, the Miami University Collegiate Chorale, and Global Rhythms.
new consortium of male choruses presented their first commissioned work this past March! The Male Cho
rus Commissioning Consortium is an association of male choirs, conductors, and institutions. The Consortium's overall goal is to enable all male voice choirs the chance to commission and perform works with minimum financial commitment and of the highest order by the world's most influential composers.
The consortium was formed in 2004 to link male choirs across the globe through the common goal of the creation of new works and to promote male choir singing in three ways:
• The consortium seeks to increase audi-
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
ence interest in male choir repertoire by the creation of new, engaging, and influential works;
• The association hopes to increase fellowship between singers by provid. ing a shared repertoire experience for male voice choirs everywhere;
• The consortium strives to increase the legitimacy of male voice choir singing in the musical world through the creation of critically important artistic works.
Specific goals of the Consortium include stipulations that commissioned works must be in English, and should be singable by and appealing to most high school level male choirs.
Ten member choruses along with several private individuals, and Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, Inc. collaborated for the Consortium's first commission: a new work by Lee Hoiby titled Private First Class Jesse Givens. Army Private First Class Jesse Givens, 34, of Springfield, Missouri, was killed May 1,2005, when his tank fell into the Euphrates River after the bank on which it was parked gave way. After the events of September 11, 2001, Given~ enlisted in the Army to support arid serve his country. The text of Hoiby's piece is a letter written to be delivered to Givens's family if he died. With the permission of Jesse's widow, Melissa Givens, the letter was printed in Life Magazine in their series "Last Letters Home." Hoiby was very moved by the
letter and received permission from Ms. Givens to set the text to music. For more information on Pfc. Givens, visit <www. fallenheroesmemoriaL com! oif/profiies/ givensjessea.html>.
Private First Class Jesse Givens is a very touching and approachable work, lasting about six minutes. Writing for three-part male chorus throughout with no use of extreme ranges, Hoiby uses simple harmonic sonorities in novel ways that echo Mr. Givens's use of simple language to convey tremendous emotional weight. The letter opens, "I searched all my life for a dream, and I found it in you. I would like to think I made a positive difference in your life: I will never be able to make up for the past, I am so sorry," which Hoiby sets in triads alternating from C major to A~ major with surprising fluidity, keeping tonality ambiguous without any use of dissonance. The piece moves through various tonalities as Jesse takes his time t6 address portions of his letter to his wife Melissa, Melissa's son Dakota whom Jesse adopted, and their son Carson who was not yet born at the time of Jesse's death. Hoiby returns to the beautiful alternation of C and A~ as Jesse ends his letter asking his wife to remember all the beauty that is still left in the world, "Do me one favor after you tuck the children in: give them hugs and kisses from me. Go outside and look at the stars and count them: Don't forget to smile."
Hoiby has had his most notable successes as a composer of vocal music-he was one of Leontyne Price's favorite
49
composers and wrote a great deal of music for her. He truly understands how to find the music implied by a text and then set it in a singable and lyrical manner. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment in this work is that he is able to perfectly capture the speech rhythms of Givens's letter without ever resorting to use of multiple meters. The entire piece is in 3/4 time.
Private First Class Jesse Givens was premiered in March, 2006 by the professional male ensemble Cantus in Minnesota, with subsequent multiple performances at the Intercollegiate Men's Choruses National Seminar in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Melissa Givens, Jesse's widow, spoke with all choirs present at the IMC Seminar by teleconference shortly before the work was performed by. three of the MC3 member choruses: Cantus (Erick Lichte, Artistic Director), the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Singing Statesman (Gary Schwartzhoff,
Conductor), and the Miami University Men's Glee Club from Oxford, Ohio (Ethan Sperry, Conductor). Other member choruses gave local premiere performances in their home venues throughout the spring.
Current membership in the Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium includes the choirs listed above, male choruses from Cornell University (NY), the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Bowling Greim State University in Ohio, and the University of Virginia, as well as the Turtle Creek Chorale from Texas, Chor Leoni and Amabile from Canada, the Washington Men's Camerata (DC), the Golden Gate Men's Chorus (CA), the Gay Gotham Chorus (NY), and the United States Army Chorus (DC). The consortium plans to commission works from Steven Sametz and Aaron Jay Kernis over the next two years and as the Consortium grows, hopes to be able to commission works from composers who have not con-
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tributed to the male choir genre as of yet, including Philip Glass, James MacMillan, Steve Reich, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. At least two recordings have been made of Hoiby's piece so far, by Cantus <www. cantusonline.org> and the Washington Men's Camerata <www.camerata.com>. For more information on MC3 or Private First Class Jesse Givens, contact Erick Lichte at <[email protected]>
Submitted by Frank S. Albinder, National R&S Chair for Male Choirs
Show Choirs
Show Choir Competition and the Impact on Male Recruitment
by
Doran Johnson
Editor's note: Doran Johnson is the choral director at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska. He currently serves as the R&S Chair for Show Choirs for the North Central Division. This study was part of his graduate program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
ne of the issues that all choral directors must face is' the recruitment of male singers. What are the fac-
:ors that motivate males to participate ,n choirs? Are there certain aspects of a ~horal experience that are attractive to nale singers? Does show choir competi-
, :ion have an impact on male recruitment?
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CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
These questions were the basis of a study conducted as part of this author's masters thesis. The results provide choral directors a brief glimpse inside the mind of today's male singers;
Summary of the Study The purpose of this study was to in
vestigate the relationship between competitive show.choir and male enrollment in high school choral ensembles. The study specifically addressed folir research questions.
• What components of their programs do directors think are most important and is there a correlation between their ratings and male enrollment?
• Do choral programs with a show choir component have a greater male enrollment than those that do not?
• Do choral programs with competitive show choirs have a greater male enrollment than those that do not compete?
• What do male students indicate as motivating factors to enroll in choir?
This study was conducted in two parts. Part I involved the completion of a survey of twenty-five choral directors in Nebraska and Iowa. The survey was designed to gather demographic information, male enrollment information, and ratings of the importance of nine elements of their choral program. Part II was a survey of male students currently enrolled in those high school choral programs. Fifty-seven male students completed the survey. The first part of the survey gathered demographic information. Subjects were then presented with a list of fourteen potential influences on their decision to join choir. They were instmcted to rate the importance of each factor.
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Results of the Study Responses by choral directors showed
all-state participation, superior ratings at contest, and presenting a musical as the top three elements of importance in choral programs in this study. Honor choir participation and show choir competition shared the bottom of their lists. It would appear that directors placed an emphasis on elements that are perceived by many to be established capstone components of a quality choral program. All-state is a highly competitive process in Nebraska and Iowa' and is an honor earned by only a select few. Superior ratings are a mark of competence in choral performance and are the direct result of performances that are deemed outstanding in nearly every detail. School musical productions are connected to the local public perception of the quality of a choral program.
In this study, choral programs that had a show choir component had the same average male enrollment as those
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52
programs that did not have a show choir component. Both types of programs had an average enrollment of 5 percent of the total school population. It would appear that the choral directors in the schools without show choir are attracting males at the same rate as those who have show choir.
A significant statistical difference was found between schools with competitive show choirs and those with non-competitive show choirs. Schools that compete in the show choir arena have a male enrollment of 5.6 percent compared to 2.8 percent for those that do not compete. However, this only suggests a significant relationship between the two. It cannot be determined if schools compete simply because they have more boys which, in tum, allow them to be more competitive or whether the boys are enrolled because of the competitive element.
While it may have seemed obvious, male students identified their enjoyment of singing as the top motivating factor to enroll in choir. This is a sign that males are motivated intrinsically to participate in choral singing and to sustain participation throughout their high school careers. Their love of singing seems to also be linked to other top influences such as "choir is fun" and "my friends are in choir." It would appear that males are motivated by the enjoyment they receive from choral participation.
Another very strong factor appears to be the personality of the director. Stu-
dents ranked "I like the director" very high. This is a tribute to the work of the directors participating in this study and is also closely related to the culture of excellence being promoted in these programs. Students indicated that their choral program had a tradition of excellence and ranked this factor very high. It can be assumed that quality of the product and enjoying the experience is very important to high school males.
Directors ranked the musical as the third highest factor well above show choir competition. However, male students indicated being in the musical as a relatively low influence on their decision to enroll. This would appear to suggest that while directors are placing high emphasis on the musical, this is not an effective means of motivating male singers. This could explain why many schools struggle with getting a large number of males actively involved in their musical productions.
Other less motivating factors were family influences and the perception that choir was an easy class. Extrinsic factors like taking trips and show choir competition placed in the middle of this list. This indicates they were indeed motivating factors but not as powerful as quality and enjoyment.
Educational Implications Several conclusions can be drawn
from the results of this study. First and
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CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
foremost is the perception of quality. If males perceive a program as successful and achieving a high level of competence in performance, they appear to be more willing to become involved. Choral directors need to capitalize on every opportunity they may have to promote their program to the student body and community at large.
Second, the director is the guiding force behind the quality of the program and has a strong influence on the enrollment of males. The personality of the director.· is very important. in recruiting males to the program. Directors are not more successful because they have a higher percentage of males, but they are able to sustain a different level of quality because of it. The irrelevance of show choir's effects indicates that males are willing to experience all facets of choral performance with quality and enjoyment as top priorities. Directors that do not have a passion for show chon: should not add it to their programs just to boost enrollment or because they think it will attract males. Show choir done pooily can have exactly the opposite effect.
On the other hand, directors must be realistic that show choir is one component of their choral programs which can be perceived as enjoyable by its participants and could meet the needs of students. Including a show choir as part of the choral offerings of a school should not create a stigma for the program or its director. Show choir excellence does not have to be achieved at the expense of other more traditionally accepted components. Good singing is good singing, whether the choir is standing still or heavily choreographed. Show choir can challenge students to be good musicians in all genres of choral music. Directors seemed a little hesitant to "jump on the show choir band wagon" in this study for fear of being perceived as having a program that does not have primary concert ensembles as a top priority. A quality choral program can and should involve a show choir component, but it does not have to be "the tail that wags the dog."
Show choir competition does fit in with the elements of quality previously mentioned. By competing, show choirs and, in turn, entire choral programs are given an opportunity to display a certain
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
level of excellence and competence. This author is not willing to make the leap that participation in show choir competition is the most important factor in influencing male enrollment, but its role should not be discounted. Competitive activities in all areas of vocal music can serve to enhance the quality of the program and allow participants to gauge their progress on the road to excellence.
As directors seek to entice young men to join their programs, they must realize that strategies and techniques can be helpful to "get the guys through the door," but they may not necessarily keep them there. Directors need to do all they can to advocate for their programs and then deliver a quality music education to all who choose to make it a part of their high school education.
There were also several alarming trends in this study that music educators need to address. First, choral programs in general need to do a better job of reaching a larger portion of the school population. Programs in this study, while selected initially for the quality of their program, are only servicing an average of 15 percent of the entire school population. From an advocacy standpoint, this is somewhat disturbing. Even when
. including students that are participating in instrumental ensembles, a large portion
of high school students graduate without an experience in music. Music educators need to become more actively involved in increasing student participation regardless of gender.
Another statistic that raises a red flag is the lack of concern regarding male enrollment indicated by directors in this survey. The majority of directors reported their level of concern to be "concerned" or "slightly concerned." No correlation was observed between a director's concern rating and male enrollment. It appears that directors have accepted the reality that the percentage of boys will always be lower than girls and do not consider it a cause for alarm. If we are to fulfill the mission of "No Child Left Behind," efforts must be made to reach all segments of the school population, especially males. Show· choir is just one vehicle available to choral directors today to raise the profile of excellence associated with their programs.
Submitted by Ken Thomas, National R&S Chair for Show Choirs
ertoire tandards
c MIT TEE
National Chair Vacancy
The National Women's Choirs Repertoire & Standards Chair is being vacated. If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a resume and short
"Statement of Intent" to:
. Nancy Cox, National R&5 Chair 824 E.Elm
Altus, OK 73521 [email protected]
Applicant submission deadline date is April 20th, 2007.
53
should ....
.~ ,,:. ~ ',-' < -. ' - . . '-',
. ::/ .. };::~!'; ·:.H~0lill ~[ill0~:
Yourinputis'vital to ACDA>'.~:, .. as we:pl a nforthefuture.of 9lJ r:o rga n i~c.tio n.
Your home state: -----------------
Primary Area of Choral Work: (please check one) Current Teaching Level:
o o o o o o o o
Boys Children
o o
College/University 0 Community 0 Ethnic/Multicultural 0 juniorHigh/Middle School 0 jHMS/HS 0 Men
Music in Worship Senior High Show Choirs Two-Yr. College Vocal jazz Women K-12
o Elementary o Middle School o High School o College/University o Community o Church o Professional
Years conducted/taught. 0 1-5 o 6-10 011-15016-20 o 21+
I) I attended the 2007 ACDA National Convention in Miami. o Yes 0 No (If you answered "No," please skip to # 12 on the next page.)
2) Reading sessions at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met professional needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
3) Interest sessions at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree o Disagree
4) Concerts I attended at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
5) The 2007 ACDA National Convention overall met my professional needs and expectations. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
6) The exhibits are an important part of why I attend a national ACDA convention. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
7) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my performance repertoire needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree .. 0 Disagree
8) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my ensemble touring needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
9) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my profeSSional reading needs. o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
Survey continues on the next page
:'i:!;'::. :-;·:'~·:~,·;~~~.~~Y,F.~,-::,·~,~,\~+i~t,:~:~,,:,J,,:l,~~,=,',::":,:,;:,",,,,;,,:~,:,'.',~,',.';,,:,.,~;," ;._ h ~:::.::r,-(§&l:t.;:j \<::,\:::,~:~,,~:,~: '''\:-.:,:; ! ~ ,:.' ~. _~{~.\ .~~:,~::.;~. \:, ::~~::..::~ , >'-1:~;'~f}~:rj~~~~2,;;;>.~:;·~~f1~i'!$JKPi;/.t4:;; :,~-.: ;~~. .,' - '. -:<' ':'" ">~ .. :;:i:_ :.·)'~-~~~~~j~:~:i~~~i:;~):i '.'.: \ ~,:S·:~71-i;~~·. ;~\::f ~ :-'~ '-.. ·~~'.:\;~§i~{{~~j;t-r~~'-::·;;-'~:tA·.} ~ .,;:-~+',: :.
"';'~1~hi*.'SPrill~!;;II:a'NatiJnalSUrJP'fi I 0) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my professional CD listening needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
I I) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my overall professional needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral .0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
12) I attend national ACDA conventions.
o Always o Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
13) I find the registration process for national ACDA conventions manageable and efficient.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
14) I find the ACDA membership renewal process manageable and efficient.
o AgreeD Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree o Disagree
15) The alternate-year rotation schedule of national ACDA conventions meets my professional needs.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
16) Registration costs fornational ACDA conventions prohibit mefrom attending.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0, Never
17) Transportation and hOUSing costs for national ACDA conventions prohibit me from attending.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
18) When I attend a national ACDA convention, it is primarily for the
o Concerts 0 Interest Sessions 0 Reading Sessions 0 Networking Opportunities
19) My work/performance schedule conflicts with national ACDA conventions.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
20) I access the ACDA Web site <www.acdaonline.org>. o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
21) I subscribe to Choralist. 0 Yes 0 No
22) I use ChoralNet <www.choralnet.org>. 0 Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
23) I access the MUSICA choral music database <www.musicanet.org>.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
24) Please attach any written comments you wish to submit concerning national ACDA conventions and the organization's Web site.
Please return this survey to: ACDA National Survey; PO Box 2720, Oklahoma City; OK 731 ° 1-2720 or fax your survey to: 405/232-8162. You may also complete the survey online at <www.acdaonline.org>.
Call for Nominations
The subcommittee for the Julius Herford Prize, given annually by the American Choral Directors Association; is now accepting nominations for the outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music for 2006. Projects are eligible if they comprise the principal research component of the degree requirements, whether the institution defines the project as a "dissertation," a "document;' a "thesis," or "treatise," etc. Eligibility is limited to doctoral recipients whose degrees were conferred during the period January I through December 3 I, 2006. The winner will receive a $1000 cash award and a plaque.
Nominations must be approved by the dean, director, or chair of the music unit. An institution may submit only one document. In the event that there are two nominations of equal merit from one school, the administrative head of the unit must submit a letter justifying the additional nomination~
A letter of nomination signed by the administrative head·of the music unit and one unbound copy of the dissertation must be submitted no later than June 30, 2007 to:
John Silantien, Chair . Julius Herford Prize Subcommittee
Music Department . University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249 Phone: 210/458-5328; fax: 210/458-4381; e-mail: <[email protected]>
****************
Correction: On page 60 of the February 2007 issue, Laurier Fagnan and Christopher Jackson were listed as the co-winners of the 2006 Julius Herford Prize. The were actually the winners of the 2005 prize, which is awarded in 2006.
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Building Brighter Futures
Teaching Choral Literature With Foreign Language Texts
U· ....... .. eaching Ch. oral literature with . foreign language texts can be
daunting. It takes longer to teach, it involves extra study
and preparation on the director's part, and some of us have a higher comfort level with the process than others. But, oh, the rewards! Through singing the music of other cultures, our singers are exposed to the world beyond the familiar. They develop their ears and their minds, and they gain coordination in articulation as they grapple with unfamiliar vowels and syllabic patterns. If they learn it thoroughly, they'll probably remember the song for years to come (their foreign language teachers will thank you!)
Carolyn Welch has a bachelors degree in music education and a bachelors and masters degree in vocal performance. She teaches vocal music at Southwest Junior High School in Lawrence, Kansas, and has assisted Janeal Krehbiel with the Lawrence Children's Choir for the past 10 years.
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
by
Carolyn Welch
. The Director's Pregaration Your preparation should include a
thorough study of the text and its pronunciation so that your own comfort level with the text is as high as possible before you begin to teach your singers. The pronunciation guide frequently found on the inside cover of an octavo is only a bare-bones starting point and, unless it's completely transcribed into IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols and you know IPA well, it will not suffice. To do a good job, you'll need to seek out additional resources.
Find a Recording of Your Piece
Look for a recording performed by a top-quality group likely to have a language coach. Study their pronunciation carefully.
Translate the Text, Word for Word, and Write It into Your Score
If you have some background in the language, you may be able to do this with the help of a foreign-language dictionary.
However, most verb conjugations won't appear in the dictionary and if you don't know the infinitive form of the verb, you may not be able to translate some words. If you can't translate the text yourself, get help from a language teacher or other person who speaks the language. Also, recordings often provide translations in the program notes.
Your music may have English text underneath the music, but keep in mind that this is a singable translation, and not
. a literal one, and the two are very different. The purpose of a singable English translation is to provide text, which, while it conveys the general meaning and sensibility of the original, is constrained by rhythm, melody and rhyming scheme of the original.
Write· the Pronunciation into Your Score
If you don't know IPA, it's well worth learning. There are many resources available, including many books and internet sites. You don't have to learn every single symbol; even just the basic vowels and
59
consonants "in German, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish will take you a long way.
Teaching Your Singers
Have Them Write in the Pronunciation
Avoid writing English words which contain diphthongs for foreign language words which do not. For example, the word "de" in Spanish ("of') is frequently transcribed as "day." But that pronuncia7 tion is wrong, because we pronounce the word "day" with a distinct diphthong: "deh-eee." Instead, teach your choir the IPA symbol for that sound - [e] - and have them write the symbol.
Be careful not to overwhe~ your singers by teaching them too much language all at once.
Younger Students
It's been my experience that teaching songs in foreign languages to younger students (upper elementary and early middle school) requires a different approach than older students (late middle school or older.) If I'm working with younger singers and the song is fairly simple, I will generally teach the language by rote, without letting them see the printed language. They need to learn to hear the sounds and to listen carefully. Sometimes I find that their eyes overwhelm their ears. For example, the pronunciation of the Spanish word "con" ("with") is easy enough, with a long "0"
vowel, or [kon]. But most 5th graders, upon seeing the word, will give it the English pronunciation, even as you stand in front of them and repeat the Spanish pronunciation over and over.
Don't Try To Teach Notes, Rhythms, And Language
All At Once
Practice speaking the language very slowly, and then gradually build up speed as you practice speaking it in rhythm. Learn the rhythm and notes separately (sing on a neutral syllable) before putting
60
them together with the language.
Take A Kinesthetic or Visual Approach To
Learning The Language
For a few students, simple repetition will be enough, and they'll have the text memorized in short order, wondering why everyone else is taking so long, but most students will find additional strategies helpful (and fun.)
Make sinlple pictures of key phrases in the song and have students line up across the front of the room, holding them up in order. Then hold up the pictures randomly and. challenge the choir to speak the phrase that goes with the picture.
Have students volunteer to act out each phrase' (or short section) of the song. Have fun with it and let them laugh. This can be especially helpful ifremembering the order of phrases is a challenge. Five minutes of watching their classmates pretending to be weeping. willows or birds flying away while they practice singing the difficult phrases can equal fifteen or twenty minutes of laboriously reciting what to many of them will simply seem like interminable strings of endless, meaningless syllables.
Make Sure Your Students Understand the
Meaning of The Text
The singers do not have to understand the exact translation of every single word, but they should have a good grasp of the overall message of the song and an understanding of each phrase: They should understand the exact meaning of key words in the text.
Be Vigilant Despite your thorough preparation and
careful teaching, over time your singers may gravitate toward a certain degree of "Englishization" of their words. Whereas last week they were singing in German with finesse and subtle precision, now they're sounding like they've never heard of an umlaut. Be vigilant about correct pronunciation.
Common Pitfalls in Common Languages
Following are some of the most common pronunciation errors. Obviously, this is NOT a comprehensive pronunciation guide, but rather an alert to the most common glaring errors.
• In German: Consonants not strong enough or pronounced incorrectly. Incorrect pronunciation of umlauts.
• In Spanish and Italian: Americansounding "Rs," and "0" and "e" vowels pronounced with diphthongs. "T" and "D" not articulated correctly.
• In French: Incorrect pronunciation of "u" and the nasalized vowels. Incorrect treatment of final syllables.
• In Latin: American-sounding "Rs." Incorrect pronunciation of the "0" vowel.
Don:t worry! With preparation, research and help from friends and colleagues (and very often, students), you can successfully lead your singers to discover and master a wide variety of languages.
CINCINNATI CHILDREN'S CHOIR announces its first annual
COMPOSITION COMPETITION to promote outstanding repertoire for
. . children's choirs . Cash Prize: $1 ,000
Premiere Performance: March 2008 With CCC, conductor/artistic director Robyn lana
Submission Deadline: October 15; 2007 Winner Announced: December 2007 . . Judges: Universit;y of Cincinnati .
College-Conservatory of Music facult;y and Cincinnati Children's Choir artistic staff. Guidelines and Additional Information:
Cincinnati Children's Choir .. PreparatoryDepartment
College-Conservatory of Music Universit;y of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0236 E-Mail: [email protected]
Online: Ci~cinnatiChoir.org
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
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April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
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61
Galen Darrough is director of choral activities at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), where h.econducts the 65-voice Concert Choir, the 50-voice Men's Glee Club, and directs graduate choral studies. In his 25 years as a choral director, he has directed or adjudicated groups throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, including regional or all-state choirs in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. His UNC Men's and Women's Glee Clubs have appeared for ACDA conventions in 1996 and 2006, and state music educator conferences in 1997, 2002, and 2006.
Within ACDA, he has served as Colorado State President and in regional and national offices. He is currently co-convention chair for the 2007 ACDA National Convention in Miami, Florida. In 1999, he was designated the Scholar of the Year for the UNC College of Performing and Visual Arts, and in 2003, was granted sabbatical leave to Stockholm,
Sweden to study male chorus repertoire. He received his DMA from Arizona State University.
William McMillan is associate professor and director of ·choral activities in the Department of Music at the University of Texas at EI Paso. He conducts the University Chorale and the Men's Glee Club, teaches conducting; and supervises student teachers. He is the assistant chair of the music department and the chair of the voice division.
McMillan received his RM. from Chapman University, his M~M. from the University of Redlands, and his D.M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado. He has extensive experience in the areas of public school teaching, church music, and community choruses. Presently, he is director of music ministries at First Presbyterian Church in EI Paso, Texas. He is frequently invited to serve as clinician, judge, and guest conductor throughout the United States.
He has served ACDA at the state, division, and national levels. He has served as the Alabama State President, the National R&S Chair for Colleges and Universities, and has been the Program Chair and Assistant Convention Chair for national conventions. He holds memberships in NATS, MENC, TCDA, TMEA, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
An Open Letter to the Profession
The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Composer
by
Editor's note: Joshua Mills writes a passionate argument. We present it here as an open letter to all of us who love to commission new works, to find new and interesting literature, and who value the heritage we're building.
• :, . ;, medIa, I believe the unac-0 ... " ...... ,10··.'.· .•. '.'·."·;'.·.·.': .. ·,.' •. ' .•. '.;. f all. possibl~ performance '; .) companied choir is both the '::.;./: easiest and most difficult for
which to write. It is easy because composers need not worry about transposition issues, awkward fingerings, orchestration problems, or any of scores of other issues they must be aware of when writing for orchestra, a solo instrument, chamber
Joshua William Mills is a composition student at the Houghton College Greatbatch School of Music, where he studies with Mark Hijleh and Sun Mi Ro. He is a bassist with the Houghton Phil harmonia and Southern Tier Orchestra,a clarinetist with the Symphonic Winds, and a bass in the Houghton College Choir.
April2007 0 CHORAL JOURNAL
Joshua William Mills
ensemble, piano, or organ. With only four parts with which composers must work, or perhaps eight if they like, entire hosts of orchestration issues are eliminated, and the blend is instantaneous. A good choir can make even the most basic harmonies sound heavenly; the composer need only put pen to paper and the ensemble will wrap the audience in the natural beauty of the human voice .
But what then sets good choral writing apart from the mediocre? Setting aside issues of musical content, it is things including sensitivity to the ranges and characters of different ranges in different voices, the way the text is set, and the freedom allowed to the conductor to tease out the music from the score. Choristers and their conductors can recognize when a composer doesn't really know what she is doing with a choir, and they wisely try to avoid such pieces regardless of their musical content; perhaps the music would work brilliantly recycled into a string quartet or an organ solo, but for a choir, it might just not work. Perhaps the text is dull, awkwardly set, or in such a texture that it becomes impossible to hear. Voiceleading in complex harmonic languages can easily go from being challenging to being practically unsingable. Maybe the tessitura is too' uncomfortable for
extended periods such that it will cause vocal strain in some voices, or possibly vowel choices in extreme registers are unreasonable. This is why choral writing is so difficult.
Now of course every medium has its nuances to which composers who would write well for it must be sensitive. (Pianists are acutely aware of this phenomenon when it comes to music outside the established corpus of piano literature, especially accompaniments.) But the fact of the matter is that the background of most all composers is in the instrumental or keyboard realms rather than the vocal, and thus most typically do not have much first-hand experience from a performer's perspective when it comes to choral music despite the fact that these experiences are invaluable toward developing the necessary sensibilities needed for writing well for any performance medium.
Why is it that the best composers tend to not write much choral music, a domain too often left to a small handful of specialists or others who tend to be far more intimately involved with the choral art, especially choral conductors who know expertly what good choral music is but, with all due respect, for whom composition is clearly not their first gift? Now do not misunderstand me-I in no way mean
63
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Niagara International Music Festival (Choirs, bands & orchestras) July 4-S, 2007 • July 9-13, 2008 2007 Conductor. Dr. Z. Randall Stroope
ABC Toronto International Choral Festival ·March 27-30, 200S • Conductor: Stephen Hatfield
International Youth Festival, Bavaria JUly 19-26, 2007, mid July 200S
Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod, Wales July 3-8, 2007, July S-13, 2008
Aberdeen International Festival, Scotland August 1-11,2007
64
CONTACT Lois Harper, BA, M.Ed, ARCf
Arts Bureau for the Continents 350 Sparks Street - Suite 207 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K 1 R 7S8
TF: 800-267-8526 Tel: 613-234-3360 Fax: 613-236-2636 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.abc.ca
to denigrate Alice Parker and so many other wonderful musicians like her in the least, but the reason their compositions and arrangements are so effective and popular with choirs and their conductors is because they understand choral music in a way that most composers do not. A few luminaries aside (such figures as Arvo Part, Ned Rorem, and James MacMillan come to mind), the most brilliant contemporary composers are usually not well known in choral circles. I think of figures such as Christopher Rouse, John Adams, Joan Tower, George Tsontakis, Richard Danielpour, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Michael Daugherty, Philip Glass, and Lowell Liebermann, all of whom have written large quantities of excellent music but only a comparatively tiny sliver of unaccompanied choral music.
Now I can already hear choral musicians and conductors crying out that I am mischaracterizing the entire choral music scene, that there are in .fact myriad contemporary composers writing plenty of new choral music, and not the sort of choral fluff of which I have already spoken. And indeed there are. However, I am speaking here from a composer's point of view, and so what I am speaking of is slightly different. True, there may be mountains of choral scores written in the past fifteen years, but how many of these actually find their way into that elusive canon of 'standard literature' where they will live significantly past
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their premiere and a few more scattered performances by those lucky enough to stumble across the work - works that even those who are not vocalists begin to recognize and know? Few actually do. Contrast this with other media which are warming more and more to contemporary music as the stranglehold of the modernist-academic elite upon serious· composers continues to wane. Thanks to dedicated performers, a category of standard contemporary literature has even started to emerge in some realms, much to the delight of composers; every young composer dreams of her piece finding its way onto a performer's or a conductor's bookshelf a few places down from that Beethoven sonata or Stravinsky score as an official 'standard repertoire' work. From the eyes of the emerging composer hoping that maybe this will be the breakthrough piece to launch her career, c:horal music is far removed from where the action is happening. .
For emerging composers (i.e., composers under thirty or so still in the process of learning their craft and developing their careers), a performance of an orchestral work is a significant professional landmark; a performance of a choral work, on the other hand, is nice, perhaps not even a great deal more notable than a performance of a work for woodwind quintet or piano trio. In circles of serious composers, to specialize in choral music makes not much more sense than to specialize
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in string quartet music-it is artistic and professional foolishness. This is simply the result of the musical culture and the training that serious concert music composers are receiving and perpetuating.
The answer to the question of why the top composers, those whose reputations and careers are already established, generally write so little for choir, I think, is fairly simple: they lack incentive, and in the world of professional composition, this means primarily commissions. (Because choral scores are generally not very profitable to publishing companies, publication tends to not be much of an incentive either.) And one of the main reasons they lack commissions is because they are unlikely to receive them until they have proved that they are capable of delivering high-quality choral literature. If is indeed a vicious circle.
Young composers who want to write for choir find the same forces at work on a different scale: it will take a few pieces, several maybe, or more, before they begin
to understand how to write for a choir, and even this does not guarantee mature sensitivity to the things which separate good choral writing from the mediocre. And as the number of unsung choral works in a composer's catalogue grows (lack of incentive), she will give up on the genre for ones (especially solo and chamber works) in which she can arrange performances of her works without the cooperation of a seventy-voice choir and its conductor. (One must keep in mind that while this is also true of orchestral music to a degree, because the symphony orchestra is still the standard-bearer in the world of concert music and contemporary composition, it is an altogether very different situation.) To complete the circle, without actually writing choral music, the composer does not develop the specific skills needed for choral writing, and the end result is that choral music has lost another promising composer to far more fertile grounds.
Conductors, make careful note of this
principle: while these forces at work pose an artistic frustration to composers who love and would write choral music, should nothing change and they never break into that realm, they will find music to write for other performance media-it is the future of your art which is at stake.
The solution as I see it is twofold:
First, it is incumbent upon choral conductors to offer their expertise in choral writing to emerging composers. Composers need to hear about the nuts and bolts of choral music from one who knows. They need to be told that the tenors will have trouble with that descending leap of a minor ninth in bar twenty-four; that the alto line will never'be heard with the sopranos in that range; that the voiceleading in this passage is incredibly problematic; that this line should be a solo for best results, but with this one, double the sopranos with the altos; that the low basses won't really be able to sing that vowel on a low D, and with the rest of the
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April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL 65
chou"jortissimo, a satisfying balance will be terribly difficult to· achieve.
Second, nothing teaches the emerging composer what works like hearing something of her own that doesn't. With notation software, composers can hear poor simulations of what an orchestral score might sound like, were it to be played by an ensemble of robots on cheap instruments, but the only thing MIDI can offer the aspiring choral composer is what the notes sound like-only a single vowel, no consonants, no difference between voices and different ranges, no change in vocal color, no problematic passages for intonation issries, or missed notes due to terrible voice-leading, or unbalanced chords due to the limits . of the voice, etc. The only way for composers to get a true sense of these things is to hear their works read. Even the most experienced with finely-developed ears and uncanny score-reading abilities can have trouble
. knowing how a new piece truly sounds until musicians take up the score and begin to sing. Believe me when I say that there is no substitution for this.
So directors, from the high school through undergraduate and upper-lever conservatory and university ensembles, must make this opportunity available to emerging composers and let them know
. of it. Offer your expert opinion on their pieces. Have new composition reading sessions-even twenty minutes is better than nothing. Should a composer be suffi-
66
ciently talented, entice her with a possible performance: nothing excites composition students like having their work performed or recorded by ensembles or individuals that they don't have to pay 01' organize themselves. With emerging composers, a performance is often payment enough for a commission, and the choral librarian can simply copy the score (and do so with the complete and legal permission of the copyright holder!) instead of purchasing enough copies for the choir.
Above all, the conductor must keep in mind that this is an investment-an investment in the future of choral literature. ' Reading sessions cost valuable rehearsal time, and preparing a student's work for performance means the exclusion of some other, and surely more worthy, composition from the program. But the conductor cannot think in terms of ShOltrange profit; the investment will be repaid many times over when the result is a mature choral composer, the works of whom will bless the entire choral community.
Everybody wins in this situation: composers leam about the intricacies of choral writing from first-hand experience (the only good way to do so) and maybe even get a work performed; choristers have the opportunity of engaging with 'music that is truly new and fresh; the conductor can forge professional relationships wIth composers while young that could prove amazingly profitable should the composer become quite successful;
and the choral art gains for itself another potential composer of a breed not seen nearly often enough-one who is both brilliant at her craft and sensitive to the nuances of choral music.
And this is why I have titled this "The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Composer." It is not because I have a grandiose conception of the role of composer in the music-making process, some romanticized dream of the composer as a kind of Ubermensch, or the notion that for some God-ordained reason, the choirs of the world owe me-and my fellow composers-their services merely by reason of my existence and vocation. No, it is your responsibility, choral conductors, only insofar as you are obligated to your art.
At the risk of being accused of arrogance, I say to you that composers do not need chou's if there are others with whom we can work, but choirs do need composers if they hope to sing with a: sound voice rooted in our present age. Emerging composers are the future of choral literature, and if the best of these never write true choral music, then the greatest choral music of our time will. never be written. The highest quality literature available to choirs of today will remain· the work of masters long dead, the echoes of a time long dead-still beautiful, still good, and, dare I say, still hue, but never again contemporary. For such a timeless instrument as the human voice, and even more so for a full choir of voices singing as one, to be forever trapped in the past would be a terrible fate indeed.
New Chapters Welcoine to these new student chap
ters who received their charters in January 2007:
California State UniversitySan Bemardino San Bemardino, Califomia Andrew Crane, advisor
Montclail' State University Upper Montclair, New Jersey Heather Buchanan, advisor
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
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In an effort to fmd another means for furthering its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, the American Choral Directors Association initiated the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest.
The Raymond W. Brock Commissions had been in place for some time and were awarded to established composers only. The ACDA officers thought young composers should have a chance to showcase their talents as well. As a
result, the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest was created. After establishing criteria and protocol, and providing a prize, ACDA solicited the first student compositions. Many
young composers responded to this opportunity, motivated not only by their love of composing music, but also by the prospect of having their work premiered at an ACDA national or division convention and of receiving a cash award
for $1,000. Interest in the competition continues to grow each year.
Previous Winners are:
1998 Paul A. Aiken, University of Oklahoma Flanders Field Performed at. the 1 999 National Convention by University of Mississippi Concert Singers, conducted by Jerry Jordan
1999 Daniel Pinkston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Nunc Dimittis Performed at the 2000 Southwestern Division Convention by the Ouachita Baptist University Singers, conducted by Charles Fuller
2000 Aaron Garber, University of Tennessee Stabat Mater Performed at the 2001 National Convention by the East Texas Baptist University Concert Choir, conducted by James A. Moore
2001 Michael Conti, Michigan State University Cboric Song Performed at the 2002 Central Division Convention by the Milliken University Choir, c~nducted by Brad Holmes
2002 Joshua Shank, Luther College Musica Anima Tangens Performed at the 2003 National Convention by the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants, conducted by Captain Chad Steffey
2003 Brian Schmidt, South Dakota State University Lux Eterna Performed at the 2004 North Central Division Convention by the Luther College Collegiate Chorale, conducted by Timothy Peter
2004 Kentaro Sato, California State University-Northridge Kyrie Performed at the 2005 National Convention by the California State University Northridge Singers, conducted by Paul Smith
2005 Dan Forrest, University of Kansas Selah Performed at the 2006 Southwestern Division Convention by the Houston Baptist University Schola Cantorum, conducted by John Yarrington
2006 Dominick DiOrio, Yale University The Soul's Passing Performed at the 2007 National Convention by the Houston Baptist University Schola Cantorum, conducted by Kevin Fenton
THE RAYMOND W
Memorial Student Composition Contest
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
The Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest will be held for the tenth year in connection with the 2008 ACDA Division Con
ventions. The annual contest, underwritten by the Raymond W. Brock Composition Fund, was inaugurated at the 1999 ACDA National Convention in
Chicago, illinois. , The objectives of the contest are three-fold (1) to acknowledge and reward outstanding undergraduate and graduate student composers, (2) to encourage
choral composition of the highest caliber, and (3) to further promote student activity at ACDA divisional and national conventions.
The winner of the composition contest will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize, airfare to the ACDA convention, hotel accommodations, convention
registration, and a performance of the work on the main stage by a choral ensemble selected by the association.
QUALIFICATIONS Applicant must be an ACDA student member, full-time undergraduate or graduate student, and no older than twenty-seven on the application
deadline.
COMPOSITION CRITERIA Submitted work must meet all the following criteria:
1. Voicing. Composition must be set for a combination of voices that may be found in a single choir with members of similar ages.
2. Accompaniment. Composition may be unaccompanied or accompanied by a single piano.
3. Text. Any sacred text or ~ text that is sacred in nature may be used with the following provisions:
A. Text must be in the public domain, or the text must be accompan,ied by the written permission of the author.
B. The source for the text must be accurately and completely documented.
C. Non-English language texts (except Latin) must include a phonetic pronunciation guide underlaid in the score. Non-English language texts
must include both poetic and literal translations.
4. Copyright. Composition must conform to all U.S. copyright laws. Those works in violation will be disqualified.
5. Format. Composition must be submitted in a computer-generated typeset format.
6. Duration. Length of composition must be between three and five minutes.
7. Past Performance. Composition must have received no public performance.
8. Past Publication. Composition must be unpublished anywhere.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE Applicants must complete the application and submit it with the following documentation. An incomplete application will disqualify the applicant.
1.. Verification of the student's full-time status by an active ACDA member on the music faculty at the applicant's institution of higher learning.
2. Seven copies of composition. Only one composition will be considered from each applicant. A recording of a private performance may be included, but is not required.
Mail application materials to:
Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest c/o ACDA
P.O. Box 2720
Oklahoma City, OK 73101
Applications must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2007. All application materials become the property of ACDA and will not be retumed.
CONTEST JUDGES The Student Composition Contest will be administered by the ACDA National Office. An independent panel of distinguished choral musicians will judge
all entries submitted. The decision of the judges is final.
DISCLAIMER No person connected with the Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Contest, nor any judge connected with the selection process shall be involved with
a decision involving that person's 'student (over the past three years) who has entered the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest.
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Francisco J. Nunez, Guest Conductor Austria & Czech Republic • July 10-21, 2008
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Capacity Audiences
Yale Alumni Chorus audience at Teatro, Municipal, Rio de Janeriro, Brazil
Prestigious Venues
Choral Arts Society of Washington at Royal Albert Hall, Proms Festival, UK
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Choral Pedagogy, 2nd Edition Brenda Smith and Robert T. Sataloff Plural Publishing, 2006 246 pp. $50.00. _ ISBN: 1-59756-043-X (paperback)
hen the first edition of Choral Pedagogy was released in 2000, the Choral Journal review
began by stating, "Everyone involved in conducting and choral music should read this book. It is the most complete publication in its field that has come out in many years" (February 2000; pg. 72). Six years later, the second edition has arrived and those statements remain true.
Three sections of chapters provide the organizational architecture of the text. The first presents an introductory, philosophical framework concerning the relationships between vocal physiology, vocal health, the singer, and the conductor. The second and third sections relate a great deal of information about vocal health to the processes of teaching and rehearsing. The chapters on "Anatomy and Physiology of the Voice" and "Medical Care of Voice Disorders" are formatted as series of questions and answers. These include everything from "what is the larynx?" and "how do we control pitch and loudness?" to "what is new in medical care of voice disorders?" and "do allergy and postnasal drip bother the voice?" The answers are offered as forthrightly as the questions-simple, clear, and understandable. The third section contains
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
chapters designed to demonstrate how this knowledge might affect teaching and learning in choral ensembles. Chapters here include "Voice Building for Choirs" (based on the work of Wilhelm Ehmann and Frauke Haasemann), "The Singing Voice and the Choral Tone," "Choral Singing Techniques," "Choral Dictlon," and "Rehearsal Techniques."
Four new chapters have been added to the second edition. The scope of the book has been expanded to include chapters on "The Aging Voice" of adults and "Choral Singing and Children." This presents a more comprehensive view of singing across the lifespan than wa~ prominent in the earlier edition. The chapter on the aging voice provides a good, basic orientation to the challenges faced by singers as they grow older. The chapter on children's choral singing focuses on the challenges faced by conductors of young singers and provides numerous ideas for adapting rehearsals to meet the needs presented by child voices. Neither of these chapters presents detailed information or research-based resources, and readers may wish to consult other texts and journal articles as supplementary material. Despite the extension of Choral Pedagogy's scope to encompass the child and aging adult voice, information about the adolescent changing voice is completely omitted. This unfortunate oversight limits the appeal of Choral Pedagogy as a primary text for undergraduate choral methods classes.
Of the new chapters, "Choral Pedagogy and Vocal Health" is outstanding. I know of no other brief reading that so immediately captures both the joys of choral music and the responsibilities of
those leading it. This chapter introduces nearly every topic encountered in a wellrounded choral methods class, from warm-up/cool-down procedures and the teaching of repertoire to the "breath gesture" of conductors and discipline issues presented by large ensembles of enthusiastic singers. This chapter appears in the middle of the second section on vocal health, and, despite its title, the content seems oddly placed here; it would work much better as a prelude to the chapter on voice building. In any event, this chapter just became required reading for the first week of my choral methods classes.
. In this new edition, the original twelve chapters and bibliography appear largely without revision or extension. Two brief . exceptions are the substitution of new photographs to illustrate vocal disorders (pp. 42 and 50) and a slightly updated discussion of drugs used to treat vocal dysfunction (pp. 50-52). Smith and Sataloff are the primary authors, with contributing material offered by Margaret Baroody ("The Aging Voice"), Richard Norris ("Seating Problems of Vocalists"), Mary Hawkshaw ("Medical Care of Voice Disorders") and Richard Miller ("Historical Overview of Vocal Pedagogy").
The citing of reference material is handled unevenly throughout the text. While some chapters contain a large number of citations and references (e.g. "Performing Arts Medicine and the Professional Voice User," and "Historical Overview of Vocal Pedagogy"), others lack reference material (most notably the newly added chapters). For instance, the authors state" ... falsetto is an extension of the upper range, available to voices of both genders" (p. 173). A review of the
73
vocal physiology texts on my personal bookshelves produced a variety of opinions about this, probably related more ~o disagreements about terminology than actual physiological evidence. Researchbased references would have been warranted here and elsewhere.
The strengths of the first edition are intact; this remains a comprehensive, authoritative text presented in an accessible manner for singers, conductors and teachers. Our field needs texts that meld the knowledge of voice scientists with the experience-born wisdom of choral practitioners. Choral Pedagogy fills a pressing need in this regard, and even more overt links would be welcomed in future editions. Choral conductors, university instructors, and students might find value in reading Choral Pedagogy with other types of texts that similarly draw upon a research base to recommend practical implications for a broad range of vocal instruction. Some suggestions include Bodymind and Voice: Foundations of Voice Education, revised edition (edited by L. Thurman and G. Welch; National Center for Voice and Speech, 2000), Teaching Kids to Sing (by Kenneth Phillips; Schirmer, 1992), and Your Voice: An Inside View ... Multimedia Voice Science and Pedagogy (by Scott
···23- 21, 2007 ~ ,~ , . : ~" . ;
'Historic Christ Church Alexandria, Virginia
McCoy; Inside View Press, 2005; <www. voiceinsideview.com> ).
One additional item-the price of the first edition of Choral Pedagogy had risen dramatically in recent years. At fifty dollars, this second edition is priced slightly lower than the last available price for the first edition, making this text· all the more accessible for choral directors and teachers.
Patrick K. Freer Atlanta, Georgia
Practicing Successfully: A Masterclass in the Musical Art Elizabeth A. H. Green, Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2006 147 pp. $23.95 ISBN: 1-57999-510-1 (hardback)
any are familiar with. Elizabeth A. H. Green's outstanding books on conducting and bowings. This
book is her final gift to the musical community, a guide on "how to practice." The introduction sets the tone for the text:
You have picked up this book
A 5-Day Professional Development Workshop for Conductors of Choirs at All Levels
74
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because you are a person who practices .... Because you have practiced, you have already experienced the monotony of unvaried repetition. You may also have experienced the phenomenon of the repetitions continuing unabated while the mind roams at large elsewhere. A good practice method must, therefore, accomplish two things: it must add an efficient variety to the repetitions in order to capture your interest, and it must force the mind to concentrate. Cp.S)
The genesis of the book was early in the author's career, during the summer of 1933:
Fiddles in hand, a fellow student and I slipped into one of the basement ,Practice rooms to check on several difficult passages before the evening's rehearsal.
About twenty minutes into the hour, this serious effort to attain perfection was rudely interrupted by the equally serious efforts of a pianist next door.
Someone was belaboring a frustrating run that started below middle C and galloped upward for several octaves ... When he arrived at a certain spot in the third octave, his fingers tangled, forcing him to stop .... each time the pianist fumbled, he started back at the beginning of the run only to break down again at the same place.
Further, he was practicing at full tempo. Never once did he isolate the offending notes, play them slowly, find out how the passage should sound, and locate which notes were causing the trouble.
After another dozen failures, the frustration increased ... Finally: the breaking point! In sheer desperation, two clenched fists came down on the keyboard with a magnificent crash that all but sent the ivories flying off into space ... Then a door slammed, and the footsteps faded into oblivion.
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
What a staggering sum, in trillions of hours, the devotees of music must have employed during the centuries as they impatiently drove their skills toward a perfection that seldom an'ived! (p. 15-16)
Although this book focuses on keyboard, string, and wind instruments, the choral musician will find new strategies to deal with challenging phrases in a score. In chapters which range from practicing sight-reading, modern innovations, and accentuation, Green provides step-by-step methods to use with our ensembles. Of special note are the sections on "Defeating Monotony with the Rhythmic Motif', and the fascinating writing about "The Brain and the Learning Process". The following is an example of the techniques suggested in the book:
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
There is a logical order for applying the practice rhythms. The first step is absolutely imperative:
1. Play the passage through very slowly, sustaining each note until the ear has it firmly in mind .... Nothing can be gained from rhythmic practice until the ear has first clearly established the . sequence of the notes.
2. Apply the first rhythm, and repeat until you can play the passage with ease. This rhythm speeds the transition between notes two and three.
3. Reverse the rhythm to add speed between the first pair of notes. (p. 22)
Practicing Successfitlly: A Masterclass in the Musical Art is an invaluable tool not only in facilitating the learning of
. repertoire, but also in the structure and
methodology of the rehearsal.
Gregory M, Pysh Midland Texas
Bach Malcolm Boyd New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 312pp. $19.95. ISBN13: 978-0-19-530771-9 (paperback)
adz, released in April 2006, is a paperback reprint of the third edition of this comprehensive biography, first pub:'
lished in 1983 as part of Oxford's Master Musicians series. Essential reading for any student of the Baroque period, the late Malcolm Boyd alternates chapters narrating Bach's life with insightful commentary on the entirety of the composer's works. The arrangement of the text enables the reader to see how the circum-
75
stances of the composer's life shaped his music from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig.
The breadth of the book gives the author opportunity to delve into significant events in Bach's life. Included are his encounter with bassoonist Johann Heinrich Geyersbach, whom Bach called a "Zippel Fagottist" (translated by some as 'nannygoat' bassoonist); Bach's musical duel with French organist and composer Louis Marchand (which ended when Marchand left Dresden· by stagecoach the morning of the competition); and the author's conjecture about the composer's domestic and social life.
Bach seems to have been warm-hearted, generous, and hospitable in his own home. A man who enjoyed a pipe, who liked his wine and beer, and who fathered twenty children cannot have been indifferent to sensual pleasures, and during the
period of his greatest celebrity in Leipzig, he was always ready to receive the many visitors who sought him out. C.P.E Bach, in his autobiography, wrote:
In my youth ... no master of music was likely to travel through this place [Leipzig] without making my father's acquaintance and playing before him. My father's greatness as a composer, organist, and keyboard player sui generis was much too renowned for a musician of standing not to get to know the great man better when the opportunity arose. Among such visitors were the organist. .. Johann Balthasar Reimann, who later recalled Bach's cordiality towards him, and the composer Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch, who was impressed by his 'politeness and kindly reception'. (p. 229)
The author also dispels the myth that Bach was a reluctant choice by the
Leipzig city council, a fallacy perpetuated by a misinterpretation of the town council minutes.
The reader will discover Boyd's consideration of the somewhat controversial subjects of "parody" and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia, bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) were thoroughly revised in this edition to take account of more recent research undertaken by Bach s<;:holars, including new information uncovered in the former USSR.
The book is recommended not only for preparation of the composer's work, but as an informative document in the musical education of the choral musician.
Gregory M. Pysh Midland, Texas
Choral Q,rche,s.tral Re·pertoire and Condu.cting
76
Tuesday, July 31st to Saturday, August 4th 2007 at the University of Toronto
Victoria University
Technique, Style, and Interpretation featuring Doreen Rao
with the University of Toronto Bach Festival Singers and Chamber Orchestra
• multi-movement repertoire for young choirs and orchestra presented in reading sessions, choral workshops, and conducting master classes
-conducting master classes on Bach's Cantata BWV 4, Christ Lag in Todesbanden, Mozart's Magic Flute, Act II Finale, and Britten's St. Nicolas, Op. 42
- review of contemporary Canadian and American repertoire with an emphasis on extended works
• teaching emphasis on technique, style, and interpretation
• classes onyoice building in the choir with Lorna MacDonald
• classes on score reading, orchestral transpositions, bowings, and articulations with Lee Kesselman and guests.
lItis residential course is open to all choral conductors and perfoT):nance teachers including university students and emerging professionals. 1110se interested in a conducting master class position should submit a current resume with their application deposit. The repertoire will include music for treble and mixed voice choirs with an emphasis on works that combine both voicings. We encourage early applications for those interested the conducting master class. [email protected]
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
The Twelfth Annual
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S CHOIR FESTIVAL July 8 - 15, 2008 Henry Leck, Artistic Director Oxford Coventry London
Dr. ROLLO DILWORTH and Dr. DAVID FLOOD, Festival Conductors
The Eleventh Annual
BRITISH AMERICAN CHURCH MUSIC FESTIVAL JUNE 12 - 18,2008 Dr. Gerre Hancock and Michael Harris Edinburgh York London
TUCSON BOYCHOIR FESTIVAL JUNE 16 - 21, 2008 In cooperation with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus Tucson, Arizona
FERNANDO MALVAR-RUIZ and Dr. JULIAN ACKERLEY, Festival Conductors
MASTERWORK EXPERIENCE WORKSHOP & CAMP JUNE 16 - 21, 2008 For High School Students and Choirs - perform Mozart's Requiem with a professional orchestra and solosits!
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Handel: Messiah Christine Schafer, Anna Larsson, Michael Schade and Gerald Finley, soloists Arnold Schoenberg Choir (Erwin Ortner, Artistic Director) Concentus Musicus Wien Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 82876-72039-2 (SACD; 2005; 69'31" & 71'24")
t takes a very special Messiah to merit space on my overcrowded CD shelves, but this 2004 live performance from the Musikver-
einssaal deserves the attention of every conductor seeking a fresh perspective. Not every musical choice made by Harnoncourt will please, but what is clear is that they are choices - this experienced pioneer of the Historically Informed Performance movement has obviously rethought virtually every phrase and found new delights at every turn. Nothing here is routine. If, as they say, tradition is the last bad performance, this realization of Handel's masterwork is the embodiment of non-traditional.
It is impossible in a short review to
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April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
catalog every ear-catching moment. Throughout the performance, Harnoncourt never loses sight of the underlying , pulse of the dance. His tempi tend to the swift, although not always: some (such as a sudden slowing down for "and peace on earth" in "Glory to God") are 'surprisingly slow. "And the Glory of the Lord," for example, moves along fleetly in one, making ~ore point than usual of the hemiolas. Still, the music-making is never superficial- the dramatic essence is always there. Harnoncourt's soloists certainly deserve their share of praise; for once their texts sound lilce genuine storytelling; one can hardly picture them holding scores! Tenor Michael Schade sounds genuinely comforting in his opening recitative (note his careful shadinG of b
dynamics and willingness to sing piano rather than play to the balcony). Bass Gerard Finley summons all the rage of the nations (helped by the aggressive playing of the Coocentus strings), not to mention the thrill of that last tmmpet! The women are excellent, too. Ornamentation is extensive but not excessive; it is always kept at the service of the drama.
The chorus sounds superb, and their subtly-accented English seems somehow appropriate for the German-born Handel, whose own English was, by all accounts, thickly accented. Harnoncourt never allows them to sing a boring phrase. Consider the long melismas in both "And He shall purify" and "For unto us": they are rhythmically and pointedly shaped
rather than seeming like run-on sentences. In "And with His stripes," the three anacrusic notes are short, the rest of the phrase legato, making the texture more interesting. Even the brief "Their sound is gone out" is enhanced by dynamic swells on "and their words unto the end of the world." In chorus after chorus, the rhythmic energy becomes physically involving (when is the last time you found yourself tapping your feet to Handel?) and brings the text into strong relief. Messiah's most famous chorus begins in a surprisingly subdued manner, but by the final phrases any audience would (unfortunately) be on its feet! Harnoncourt's tendency to taper the dynamics of final cadences will seem like a mannerism to some listeners, but for the most part it can be attributed to proper syllabic stress and makes total sense in context.
The CD presentation is slightly marred by silly notes, mostly about finding Handel's elusive personality in his handwriting (complete with two visual examples!), but the SACD sound (especially in surround) is outstanding. An all-too-blief note from the conductor refers to performance details gleaned from a study of the autograph but raises more questions than it answers. This may not displace your favorite version, but every
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conductor should experience its many pleasures and study the insightful ways in which Harnoncourt's chorus; soloists and orchestra serve the drama.
Frank DeWald Okemos, Michigan
Pierre Villette: Motets Holst Singers Stephen Layton, conductor Hyperion CDA67539 (2006; 62'42")
·~1I he style of French composer Pierre Villette (1926-98) furthers a lineage established by Debussy, Faure, Poulenc, and
Messiaen. A classmate of Pierre Boulez at the Conservatoire National Superieure de Musique,. Villette's compositional approach avoided the dominant French modernism of the middle-twentieth century. Instead, Villette combined retrospective influences ranging from Gregorian chant to the provocative harmonies of Poulenc and Messiaen, resulting in a sound image which runs the gamut from ethereal to feral. Villette's main occupation as an academic administrator, first as head of the Conservatoire de Besan<;:on and later as director of the Conservatoire d'Aix-en-Provence, necessitated a parttime career as composer. His oeuvre of about eighty pieces includes small-scale works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and chorus, the latter represented handsomely in this recording, by Stephen Layton and the Holst Singers.
While recordings of a few Villette mo-
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tets are available as part of larger sacred collections, this recording offers the most comprehensive compilation of Villette's choral music in print. Layton's interpretation skillfully supports the composer's intent, especially in terms of text-music relationships. The Holst Singers' diversity of tone color, pristine intonation, exploration of dy- . narnic range, and nuances of rhythmic flexibility are
, consistentlyexcellent. Noteworthy successes include the mysterious 0 sacrum conVlVlum, sublime Hymne it la Vierge, tenebrous Attende, Domine, troubled Salutation angelique, gentle 0 salutaris hostia, and pious 0 magnum misterium. With a twenty-part divisi at its apex, Inviolata is the most complex work among Villette's choral output. Layton's balance of every tone in the twenty-part texture achieves an outstanding sonority, a highlight of the recording.
Though not particularly well-known in this country, Villette's choral music is not meant for choral aficionados or academics alone. Beauty and accessibility unite here, making his works relevant to myriad ensembles and a broad listening audience. I 'recommend this recording enthusiastically and without reservation.
Sean Burton Lincoln, Nebraska
Transient Glory VI will feature the YPC in world premieres and new arrangements from some of today's most distinguished (omposers.
BRUCE ADOLPHE MICHAEL GORDON TARIK O'REGAN NED ROREM GEORGE CRUMB MEREDITH MONK STEVE REICH
Green & Pleasan,t Landi The Journey Opus Anglicanum OACD 003-004 (2004; 73' 33"/2005; 71' 36") <www.opus-anglicanum.com>
ince the advent of the King's Singers and their numerous heirs and imitators, England has been associated with a
particular style of male voice ensemble; descriptors such as suave, witty, and "vibrato-free" come to mind. On this side of the Atlantic their counterparts, such as Chanticleer and Cantus, have added an American vigor and sheen to this genre. Thus, nowadays, new ensembles are measured by those exacting standards, and from Seattle to Singapore their audiences are better educated than ever before. However, in its wake, this brings a certain sameness to many recordings; comments are made such as "their diction was perfect, reminding us of the early King's Singers-no, wait, the Swingle Singers!" and so on. It is very difficult for an ensemble in this niche to forge a unique identity, develop a fresh approach, and position itself as adventurous but accessible.
Recognizing this challenge, John Rowlands-Pritchard set out to build a distinctive ensemble rooted not only in the English choral tradition, but also with a strong sense of British literature and topography. The group, Opus Anglicanum ("English work," or "creation"), was blessed to have as its artistic founder a true Renaissance man: RowlandsPritchard studied English at Cambridge
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
and sang bass in the cathedral choirs of Ely and Wells; he has also long enjoyed an enviable reputation as a painter and calligrapher. With several Wells friends, he began in 1988 to create some of the most profound and stimulating programs imaginable. Driven more by artistic adventure than commercial success, OA took several years to hit its stride, which al-
. lowed RowlandsPritchard adequate time to fashion and hone several distinct presentations. However, by the mid-1990s, the group of five male singers and one reader were ready to begin recording their "sequences." They began with some issues on the Herald label, including Medieval Carols and The Seeds Of Love: Collecting English Folk Music, but soon transferred to their own OA label. The two CDs reviewed here are among their latest releases, conveying the
beautiful ambience of both the Bishop's Chapel at Wells and a nearby village church at Chewton Mendip.
What makes these recordings so different from the King's Singers and the like is that the listener is invited to eavesdrop on a coherent and entire presentation, though with no compromise over recording quality. And what presentations! The singers, ranging from countertenor to deep bass, sing beautifully together but never sacrifice their own vocal timbre. On the other hand, this is no "battle of the vibratos"; Rowlands-Pritchard has carefully enlisted not just voices, but also musical personalities that work together. Good as the singing is, however, the magical element to these recordings is the contribution of former BBC newsreader John Touhey. Here is a voice that could make The Joy of Cooking sound like a lost work of Shakespeare. His tone and characterization is always just right, neither over the top nor bland. And Rowlands-Pritchard is inspired in 'how he incorporates this
spoken element: inserting an account of how Anglo-Saxon King Offa was named between Stanford's "Blue Bird" and the anonymous part song "The Vicar of Bray" works beautifully, while John Moore's hysterical "The Red Lion Bar" monologue is perfectly placed between the vaudeville song, "0 Mr. Porter," and the pub sing-a-Iong "Where Did, You Get That Hat?" Mention of these pieces should suggest how eclectic is Rowlands-Pri tchard' s taste and knowledge: Green & Pleasant Land also includes music by Dowland, Purcell, and Elgar.
The more recent sequence, The Journey, maintains a broad range of styles and sources, and features Touhey's faultless recitation of Chaucer and Agi Ruben (an Auschwitz survivor), with several excursions on the side. The music travels
Enjoy a Holland America cruise along the Mexican Riviera while preparing for a concert in San Diego with Duain Wolfe and Sir David Willcocks,
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
The tour program includes: • Rehearsals that don't interfere with optional shore excursions during the cruise
• Seven night Mexican Riviera cruise aboard Holland America's ms Oosterdam, with stops in attractive ports of call including Cabo San Lucas, Mazaclan, and Puerto Valhrta
• The opportunity to meet and perform with choir members from the United States and, beyond
• Receptions aboard the ship open only to ACFEA cl).oral cruise participants
• San Diego sightseeing tour upon completion of the cruise
• Farewell dinner the final night of the tour • 'Grand finale concert in San Diego
• Final night's accommodation, including breakfast, at the Embassy Suites in San Diego
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81
further afield than OA's earlier British explorations, and includes Heinrich Isaac's "Innsbruck" and a new work by one of OA's trustees, the distinguished British composer Judith Bingham. "Uppon First Sight of New-England" is a setting of an ecstatic poem by Thomas Tillam, a seventeenth-century English seeker of religious freedom in America, and alone is worth the price of buying the disc. It takes The Journey to the New World, with readings
by Whitman and Robert Frost. The quality of this latest disc is such
that it will surely bring Opus Anglicanum on its own journey to these shores. As one who has been lucky enough to hear them in person, I believe that Opus Anglicanum is one of the most intriguing and entertaining ensembles currently performing. Anyone who purchases these discs will be eager to attend their performances or at least lobby for the sequences to be
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placed on DVD. The King's Singers and their ilk are wonderful entrees, but Opus Anglicanum offers us the full feast.
Philip Barnes St. Louis, Missouri
Rosa das Rosas (Cantigas de Santa Maria and other Spiritual Songs for the Virgin) The Rose Ensemble Jordan Sramek, Artistic Director
. Rose 00007 (2006; 70'15") <www.roseensemble.org>
he Rose Ensemble is a Minnesota-based early music group which, like the Waverly ConSOlt, weaves folk, medieval,
Renaissance and Baroque music (both instrumental and vocal) into a rich and dramatic tapestry as entertaining to see as to hear. Rosa das Rosas is their seventh CD, available on their Web site, on Amazon.com, and from select Minne~ota dealers. The program is centered on six cantigas from the collection of Alfonso X, around which are grouped Italian laude and pieces from the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. All are unified by some textual connection to the Virgin Mary.
There is splen": did variety !J.ere. Although much of the music is monophonic, the ensemble utilizes discreet instrumental accompaniment, including harp, psaltery, vielle and percussion. The numerous stanzas of the cantigas are varied by timbre, range, accompaniment and the occasional use of primitive harmonizations; two of them are performed by instruments alone, and one is recited rather than sung - in the manner of a monodrama. Even the longish (over nine minutes) Una safiosa porfia of Juan del Encina is kept interesting by the alternation of various voicings and subtle percussion. There are 11 singers in the group; they typically sing in an unaffected manner, sometimes adding a slight edge to the tone. Tuning is impeccable. The performances, based on thorough and up-to-date research, are impassioned and vibrantly alive.
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
The presentation is attractive (forgoing the usual plastic jewel case for an appropriately decorated cardboard sleeve) and the ambient acoustic (Webster Music Hall at the University of Minnesota, Duluth) is appropriately church-like. Notes, texts, and translations are provided. Highly recommended to lovers of this repertoire.
Frank DeWald Okemos, Michigan
Carl Heinrich Graun: Te Deum, Motets L'arpa festante, Basler Madrigalisten Fritz Naf, Conductor cpo 777 158-2 (SACD; 2006; 59'17")
kay, confession time. Initially, I did not like this CD at all. It contains what seemed to be a relatively
uninteresting large work (the Te Deum) plus several short motets for chorus and continuo by a minor composer. Perhaps it had been relegated to the backwaters of music history for good reason. I tried to listen to it on several occasions, and each time I found my mind wandering. Were it not for the fact that I had been asked to review it, I would probably have put it in my CD collection and never played it again. Only a sense of obligation compelled me to continue listening, but I'm very glad that I did. This is not a disk that easily gives up its riches. For me, the moment of epiphany finally occurred on a long drive from upstate New York to New England over the holiday break.
Carl Heinrich Graun (c. 1703-59), although now considerably overshadowed by composers such as Bach and Telemann, was considered one of the preeminent composers· of German opera in the eighteenth century.J. S. Bach himself even looked favorably upon his work. Also known as a gifted singer, Graun spent most of his career working for Frederick the Great of Prussia. He composed his Te Deum in 1757 in celebration of the Prussian military victory over Austria in the Seven Years' War.
The music is certainly charming, but on first hearing it may seem to lack depth of meaning and a compelling sense of drama. Despite the triumphal nature of
April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
the few fugues, overall the mood is happy and playful, which seems at odds with the military nature of the commission. This sense is amplified by Graun's omitting the trumpets and timpani that are so often used in celebratory music of the period. However, as I got to know the music better, I came to appreciate its lyricism. The harmonies are simple and diatonic, the melodies singable and joyous. Cast in eleven movements, the Te Deum alternates choral movements that contain passages in which a solo quartet either trades phrases or joins together as a small ensemble, with solo arias written in the operatic style. It is in these arias that the composer shines the brightest, bringing to bear his full range of skills honed as an opera composer. Here, he crafts exquisite coloratura passages that demand the utmost of the singers ..
The three motets on the disk provide a nice contrast to the Te Deuln. Composed between 1721 and 1725, they are written in an older style than the larger work. Whereas the Te Deum is nominally celebratory and composed in the fashionable galant style that Frederick encouraged,
these motets are lovely devotional pieces that make use of Baroque-style German counterpoint and basso continuo.
The quality of the performances is generally quite high, if at times a little restrained. Especially remarkable are the sense of unison within each section and the clarity of texture throughout; the musicians' technical mastery is undeniable. This is especially true of the soloists, who really shine in the difficult passagework of the arias. This sense of technical perfection is heightened by the high quality of the production. The cpo production team has created a wonderful warmth and depth to the sound which gives the listener the illusion of being in a cathedral-like space. However, this recording's greatest value is probably historical; the contrast between the compositional style of the motets anq that of the Te Deum provides the listener with a window into the development of classical style. For those willing to give this disk the attention that it so richly deserves, the rewards are well worth the effort.
Stephen Kingsbury Wan·ensburg, Missouri
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Let Me Fly . Arr. Robert DeCormier SSAA Hal Leonard Corporation #08744632, $1.60 <www.halleonard.com>
s a long-time proponent of American music, Robert DeCormier has arranged
folk songs and spirituals for mixed chorus. This unaccompanied SSAA version of Let Me Fly adds yet another title of a lesser-known text to his catalogue. The covert meaning for this spiritual is escape from slavery. Cloaked in language like "let me fly to Mount Zion, Lord," heaven might be the ultimate goal, but "T'was the good 01' chariot drawin' nigh," usually referred to escape through the Underground Railroad.
Reminiscent of a "ring shout" style, the arranger builds the spiritual from a unison call-and-response with the repetitive phrase, "Let me Fly," to a four-part divisi, homophonic texture on the fourth stanza. Beginning with the unison simplicity through the key change in the third stanza, to the density of the final stanza, the music reflects the flight of .the slave to freedom. The fourth stanza, especially, sets the stage for the escape with the lower voices on a stylized wail of "Hoo." beneath the solo soprano line. This setting of the text reflects the strong
April2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
emotion of the time and situation. Commissioned by the Meredith Col
lege Chorale, voice parts range from g_c3, indicating performance by more advanced ensembles. Using a tertian harmonic palette, seventh chords are added for textual emphasis and color. Relaxing the eighth notes to triplet swing adds to the authenticity of the arrangement. Syncopated rhythms throughout the work are emphasized by an optional tambourine part on the back beat.
With each stanza set in a little different manner, DeCorrnier seems to have cap
. tured the essence of this highly emotional text. By the end of stanza four, the singers and audience will be ready to "Let Me Fly."
Jane E. Andrews Waverly, Iowa
"Some Folks" Christmas Greg Gilpin (incorporating Stephen Foster's "Some Folks") 3-part mixed, piano Carl Fischer CM8892 $1.60 <www.carlfischer.com>
reg Gilpin has taken a simple 16-mm. song of Stephen Foster, composed a contrasting section of his
own, and added folksy, secular words for the Christmas holidays. Musical interest is maintained by the hint of chromaticism. Gilpin has added to Foster's plain tune, by frequently switching the melody between treble and bass voices, using a
series of modulations building to the end and an almost Baroque-like piano accompaniment. Apart from its sheer entertainment value, this publication gives students the opportunity
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to learn something about our musical heritage. It is also available in a version for two-part mixed voices.
Frank K. DeWald Okemos, Michigan
Our .Father (Notre. Pere) Maurice Durufle SATB Available for Unison Chorus & Keyboard Hal Leonard #50600002 $1.60 From Durand Editions Musicales A new series titled European Masters
any choral directors yearning to restore some romantic luster to the choir's repelioire will be delighted
with this work by the French composer Maurice Durufle. In addition to his well-known and beloved Requiem, the Notre Pere, one of Durufl6's last known compositions, stands as a testimony to his meticulous·approach to music.
As director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris, Durufle infused his musical works with chant-like melodies. This choral arrangement of the Lord's Prayer is no exception. Appropriately reveren-
85
tial. this octavo maintains the easy accessibility demanded by the significance of the text, known as the prayer of the people. Here Durufte chooses to establish a completely homophonic texture, nar': row voice ranges, and intelligent voice leading in all parts. Composed in F ma-
. jor, the piece is mostly in 3/4 time with occasional shifts into 2/4. This edition has an Andante cJ = 66) tempo indication and is not overly laden with dynamic suggestions. Rather, the harmonic/melodic undulations suggest the appropriate dynamic changes.
Hal Leonard's clean edition provides the choral director with an anthem whose primary text is English, with French in italics underneath. This results in a few of the original rhythmic phrases being altered to fit the text. A piano-rehearsal score is provided throughout. It would have heiped had the editors included some historical background and/or a
simple pronunciation guide for directors and choristers unfamiliar with either Durufte or with French.
Easily accessiblt:;· for church choirs, high school and college groups may be interested in adding this to a French romantic program. Undoubtedly the unison edition would be suitable for children's choirs of all ages.
Ed McCall Wan-ington, Pennsylvania
I Did not Die Jerry Ulrich SSA, piano, optional oboe (or other C instrument) Hinshaw Music, Inc., HMC2084
erry Ulrich composed this poignant secular work for wom~ en's chorus "in memory of ... Mount Tabor's lost sons."
Between March, 2002 and April, 2003, six boys from Mt. Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, tragi-
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blow" (mm. 17-18) and "gentle morning rain." (mm. 24-25) The syllabic vocal writing follows the natural accents of the text, which lends itself well to expressive diction.
The ladies sing predominantly in simple unison or two parts throughout the piece, with one short three-part passage. Vocal ranges may lie outside the limits of younger voices,. with the first soprano ascending to g2, and the alto descending to g. The text of this three-minute work conveys the idea that deceased loved ones are not truly gone, but live all around us in nature. A dramatic moment comes at the end of the piece, when the altos, in rather low range, sing "Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die." (mm. 41-47)
The oboe part (or other C instrument) can be easily performed by a talented young player. A separate instrumental part is included in the octavo. Ifboth conductor and choir respect the maturity of the piece, I Did not Die can be a powerful addition to a memorial service, concert or festival.
R. Andrew Crane San Bernadino, California
Choral Music by fA;
~ visit www.wertsch.com
CHORAL JOURNAL • April 2007
For Heaven's Sake Arranged by Paris Rutherford SATB Hal Leonard 08744665, $1.70
You're Everything Arranged by Paris Rutherford SATB Hal Leonard 08744716, $1.70
In the vocal jazz genres, Paris Ruthelford has consistently supplied. outstanding, arrangements over the years. His work has spanned
the stylistic gamut, from tasteful ballads to complex up-tempo tunes. These newest pieces once again illustrate his outstanding technique and creativity. Rutherford scores his pieces in an accessible and predictable manner: harmonies are either root position chords in open voicing or in close-position inversions. Vocal solos are generally an important feature. His pieces are replete with scat syllables but, as in all of his work, your singers don't have to be professionals to sound great. Such is the ease of his high, quality vocal writing.
For Heaven:S- Sake is a beautiful1940s ballad which transitions into a gentle bossa nova. Textural variety will command the attention of singers and audience alike. You're Everything is a jazz samba of Chick Corea. Harmonies are advanced, but textural variety (everything from unison lines to an extended scat and vocal percussion section) again provides interest. Vocal ranges are very accessible in both pieces, either of which might be paired with another contrasting Rutherford anangement (but probably not with each other due t6 the common Latin. Accessing the Hal Leonard Web site immediately pulls up over two dozen Rutherford arrangements for your consideration.
Rutherford's alTangements are most suitable for advanced high school or college small ensembles. The pieces provide
April 2007 • CHORAL JOURNAL
excellent teaching tools for intonation, and singers should be selected for their ability to achieve sectional and ensemble blend. Rutherford systematically provides performance notes which address detailed musical aspects, and his suggestion to get singers familiar with style by listening to recordings of original artists is crucial (the Show Trax CD features a demo recording made by Rutherford's University of North Texas Singers, a premier vocal jazz ensemble). The Show Trax CD also provides a performance accompaniment, but lining up a live rhythm section would be most desirable (a competent pianist with an understanding of jazz styles would also be effective).
Paris Rutherford is one of only a handful of truly gifted and accessible jazz arrangers readily available in print. His high quality arrangements provide a smooth transition into the world of vocal jazz. IT your advanced ensemble is up to the stylistic challenge, let Rutherford take you there-it is not a world to be' feared.
Dale Rieth Ft Pierce, Florida
When Jesus Was Born Stephen M. Hopkins SATB, soloists, and optional conga drum(s) Hinshaw, HMC2077, $1.80
ingers will really love this Christmas piece. It sounds like a spiritual, and it invites full-throated, energetic sing
ing. The lively refrain is set offby stanzas for soloists or small groups. While tbe written-out conga part is optional, the performance will be greatly enhanced by the energy that the drum(s) will provide. The composer encourages experienced percussionists to improvise. The choral parts are homophonic and easily learned.
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High school and church choirs will find this composition appealing and reward-ing.
Michael Connolly Portland, Oregon
Henry Leek • July 3 - 10, 2007 "Musica Mundi's festivals nre phe1lomenal ill all aspects."
Henry Leek, Founder and Director, IneUanapolis Children's Chorus
Jean'Ashworth Bartle • July 1- 8, 2008 UOn a scale ofl to 10, the TuscallY International Children's Chorus Festival is an 11!"
Jean Ashworth Bartle, Founder and Director, Toronto Children's Chorus
1 800 947 1991 [email protected] Muska Mundi Concert Tours
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Ph 650 9491991 • Fax 650 949 1626
www.musicamundieom
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Articles submitted for publication in the Choral Journal should meet established specifications. Although the length of articles varies considerably, submissions generally consist of ten to twenty typed, double-spaced pages. Referenced material should be indicated by superscript and end notes. Any artwork and a one-:- to twosentence professional identification of the author should also be included. For complete writer's guidelines write to: Managing Editor; Choral Journal; P.O. Box 2720; OKC, OK 73101. Articles submitted via e-mail attachment should be sent to <[email protected]>.
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E-mail <[email protected]>
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It is a select, volunteer body which continues to commission numerous choral compositions from both noted and student conductors, offers prizes and awards to student conductors and student ACDA chapters, and helps fund the new Media and Research Center located at the ACDA National Readquartes in Oklahoma City. It is a valuable adjunct to ACDA, which depends upon your continued generosity to maintain these resources.
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15962 ACDA 1- 09'/2007 _ PHILIP L COPELAND --1254 BUCKHEAD CIR BIRMINGHAM flL -35216:"3800
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