Choir blogs spreading . .

Choir,

You might want to take a visit to the Kilgore College Choir blogs and welcome them into the blogging world. The director just started a couple. (he had posted a question about blogs/forums on the ACDA website)

KCC
ETCC


I also found one that started one after the ACDA LA convention . . . can't remember where i saw it, though. (found it!)

Also saw one here, but it is more political in nature than musical! And the director seems to hate republicans and our president. I refrained from commenting on the posts although it was difficult!

Oscar Thoughts

Leigh and I are having a great time watching the Oscar's.

No choir thoughts, just movie star watching . . . comments that need to be said:

1. Way to go Hillary Swank. My hero.
2. Sean Penn is an idiot.
3. P. Diddy is a bigger idiot. I've never seen a guy that has a higher opinion of himself.
4. Was Beyonce lipsyncing?
5. Loved the tribute to Johnny Carson.
6. YoYoMa and tribute to actors who passed away very touching.
7. Loved Jamie Foxx with daughter. And he won! Just won. Classy. But what about Clint? Oh well . . . didn't see Ray but I really like Jamie Foxx and the Ray Charles legacy.
8. Loved the Oprah/John Kerry comment.
9. Loved the tribute Jamie Foxx gave Sydney Poitier. And wow . . . honoring his grandmother. Leigh cried.
10. Julia Roberts . . . now a mother of multiples.
11. Clint Eastwood . . . way to go Clint! Glad i saw this movie. if you haven't seen it . . go! And he honors his mom . . . at 96. wow.
12. Enough of a choir director's view of the movies. Learn the French piece!

preparing the score(s)

I've devoted much of my energies lately towards our opera: Mozart's Figaro.

I've never conducted a work that lasted 2.5 hours and it has been quite a mammoth task to just get the score ready to conduct.

For every cut in the vocal/piano score, a cut had to be made first in the conductor's score and then in each orchestral part. Finding and making the cut in the CS is harder than it sounds. For one thing, nothing matches up because the CS is in German/Italian, not English.

I've been surprised at the amount of concentration that had to be devoted to the task: any mistake will cause a major problem during the sitzprobe and dress rehearsal.

Lately, the task has been marking dynamics and cues within the conductor's score. The task isn't yet complete, but will be soon.

And last night I began listening, closely listening, to the opera. My, what a glorious work it is. I'm getting excited about the performance, even as I get nervous that preparation time will soon end.

Doing the work of music is quite difficult at times, especially in the middle of everything else. But the payoff--the joy of doing what we do--is transcendent.

But . . . isn't this a choir blog?

Yep . . . but the work . . . and the payoff . . . is the same.

No Music?

Got this quote in my email this morning and I thought I'd share it with you. It comes from a daily email service provided by Bruderhorf.com in case you are interested (Daily Dig).

No Music?

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are as dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus;
Let no such man be trusted.

--William Shakespeare

midsemester blog drought

Apologies for the recent pause in blogging.

Enjoyed clay's recent post. It seems that all the UAB choir bloggers have taken a break; I guess school is getting to everyone. Now is the time to persevere, I guess.

At least February is nearly over. March and April will fly, and then we travel to France.

The highpoint of my week: two evening meals from PFChang.

SMU performing Richte in B'ham

Press release:

Thursday, March 17
7:00pm
Independent Presbyterian Church
3100 Highland Avenued
Birmingham, AL

The Meadows Chorale of Southern Methodist University, under the direction of Alfred Calabrese, will be performing on Thursday, March 17 at 7:00pm at Independent Presbyterian Church, 3100 Highland Avenue, Birmingham. Admission to this concert is free. We would be honored to have you and your choir members/students in attendance.

The program will include "Abendlied" of Rheinberger, Psalm 43 "Richte mich, Gott" of Mendelssohn, Britten's "Festival Te Deum," selections from Vaughan Williams "Mass in G," Ravel "Trois Chansons" Whitacre's Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine" and others.

The Meadows School of the Arts Division of Music offers the Bachelor of Music degree and Master of Music degree in performance and music education. For information on these programs, or on the maste'sr degree in choral conducting, or the master of sacred music degree through the Perkins School of Theology, visit our website at www.smu.edu/choirs or www.smu.edu/meadows.

Program:

PROGRAM Heavenly Visions

I. Cantantibus Organis……………………………………………………..Peter Philips (1561-1628)

II. Three Motets from the German Tradition

Abendlied, op.69, no.3……………………………………………..Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901)
Geistlicheslied, op.30……………………………………………….Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Richte mich, Gott, op.78,no.2……………………………….....Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

III. Three Works from the English Cathedral Tradition

Festival Te Deum, op.32……………………………………………Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Rest…………………………………………………………Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Sanctus from Mass in G Minor………………………………………………….Vaughan Williams

Intermission

Earthly Expressions

IV. Two by Brahms

In stiller Nacht
Nachtwache I, op. 92, no.3

VI. Trois Chansons……………………………………………………….Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

VII. Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine…………………………………..Eric Whitacre (b.1971)

VIII. To be chosen from:

Wondrous Love……………………………………………………..arr. Robert Shaw/Alice Parker
Lux Arumque…………………………………………………………………………Eric Whitacre
Shenendoah………………………………………………………………………..…arr. James Erb
I can tell the world……………………………………………………………………Moses Hogan

Million Dollar Baby

This reviewer said it best: I deem a movie to be worthwhile if I need time to recover after seeing it. Million Dollar Baby is such a film. It does not easily release the viewer, and it demands a time of reflection and contemplation afterwards.

It was a great movie and I highly recommend it. Not a modern day Rocky movie at all . . . and it does take you a while to recover afterwards.

There is a great poster on the gym wall in this movie with a phrase that goes something like this:

Winners simply do what losers don't want to do. (or something like that) It is a great quote and one we can learn from. (the quote looks to be derived from this one by Albert Gray: Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do..

Do yourself a favor. Go see this movie.

Upcoming tests and current work

Tuesday: Testing memory on Richte and notes on Radiosfer

Current work:

Allelujah: releases, proper note length (especially basses and tenors)
Radiosfer: notes must be solid Monday. Every note.
Redz Kur: Feels solid to me. If it isn't to you, fix it.
Clap Your Hands: The next piece we break down.
Selig: solid, fine tuning.
Lux: solid, fine tuning.
ITYJ: relearning, notes and releases.
Daniel: relearning, notes and releases.

Un Hemisphere: We will learn this language next week. DEFINITE. Test language on Thursday!

Regaining Momentum and Frequent Flier Miles

Choir,

Great rehearsal yesterday. It seems as though we regained our momentum and are back on the right track.

I thought that everything we attempted got better. Make sure that the changes "stick" by thinking through the rehearsal again and marking your music.

Mr. Berg (via David) gave me some information from Witte Travel regarding frequent flyer miles. If you are interested, please check my office door for more information.

Basics:
United: 800.421.4655
Northwest: 1.800.447.3757
American: 1.800.882.8880
UsAirways: 1.800323.2323
British: 1.800.955.2748
Continental: 1.713.952.1630

Contagious blogging

Welcome Lambuth Univeristy Choir to the blogging world!




I encourage you to check out the choir blog for Lambuth. So nice to see choir blogging catching on!

I've invited them to do New York with us. Maybe they will join us in Birmingham and NYC next year! A little Irish Blessing for us all!

12 Weeks: Contributors and Dead Weight

Tonight, Leigh and I watched an Oprah show. Now, we don't watch Oprah much. Actually, I never watch Oprah.


However, Leigh has started US on an exercise routine that is supposed to culminate in a better you at the end of 12 weeks. This guy, Bob Greene, talked a little about why 12 weeks was a good time period . . . he said things about how that amount of time was the "perfect" time for humans to really focus on a goal.

Guess how many weeks until the competition?

13 weeks from Friday. When you factor Spring Break into it, that gives us the magic number.

We have a diverse group of singers in our choir. I am convinced that every singer in our choir has the ability and potential to be outstanding in every way.

It seems that we are coming to a point in our organization when people need to step up their efforts to achieve their potential.

Translation: Some of you need to get with the program, and I don't mean the Bob Greene version. We are quickly approaching the time when you are either working with the group to achieve something wonderful or you are working against the group and holding us back.

My advice: GWTP. NOW.

An Aesthetic Experience

I begin each day with an aesthetic experience.

It isn't the normal experience of engagement in art or submergence in music listening. Instead, it is gazing at the beauty and uniqueness of my three daughters. They are each perfect pictures of beauty, individualism, joy, and infinite possibility.

Before children, I thought my life was full and had meaning . . . I didn't have the slightest idea of what life could really be like, to tell you the truth.

Triplet girls, what a concept.

Life is beautiful.

How to call France

Found this site today, and though you may be interested if you ever make international phone calls.

It helps you deal with all the unfamiliar numbers and codes.

And . . . it even tells you what time it is over there. (I have problems remembering that France is 7 hours ahead of us.)

Bon jour!

Lux defined

Found a great Latin dictionary site and used it to dissect Lux. Read about it and see if it gives you other images and other interpretations besides the one we already have.

Lux: light, daylight, light of day; (prima luce => at daybreak); life; world; day;
Calida: warm, hot; fiery, lusty; eager, rash, on the spot; having a warm climate/place
Gravisque (gravis): heavy; painful; important; serious; pregnant; grave, oppressive, burdensome;
Pura: pure, clean, unsoiled; free from defilement/taboo/stain; blameless, innocent; chaste, unpolluted by sex; plain/unadulterated; genuine; absolute; refined; clear, limpid, free of mist/cloud; ringing (voice); open (land); net; simple;
Velut: just as, as if;
Aurum: gold (metal/color), gold money, riches
Canunt: sing, celebrate, chant; crow; recite; play (music)/sound (horn); foretell;
Angeli: angel; messenger
Moliter: It may be two words written together mol + iter
calmly/quietly/softly/gently/smoothly/easily; w/out pain/anger/harshness; weak
iter: journey; road; passage, path; march
natum: born, arisen; made; destined; designed, intended, produced by nature; aged
modo: only, merely; just now/recently, lately; presently;

Honor Choir Order

Call Time: Saturday, Feb. 11th, 2:00, choir room

Order:

• Selig sind (Schutz)
• Lux Aurumque (Whitacre)
• Richte mich, Gott (Mendelssohn)
• Redz Kur (Kalnins)
• See What the End is Going to Be (Staheli)

See you there!

Pep talks

Eleven comments on my previous post; and one from Leah! That makes twice that she's spoken out today!

Some are referring to a "pep talk" that I gave last semester.

Actually, I don't really give pep talks, I just speak from my heart/mind/soul and trust that what I say/feel/think connects with you.

Just so you know, I was very pleased with choir rehearsal today. The extra 5-10 minutes that the choir put forward in looking over the text of Redz Kur before rehearsal paid off in a stunning performance, even during a rehearsal period.

My, what we would be if everyone knew their part intimately! And we will, soon.

Remember what we learned today: as a group, we sounded fabulous. When I broke it down to the individual level, it wasn't solid. When the parts are solid in every soul that sings, we will be a tremendous choir.

We will continue to test; it does what it needs to do.

Our next test comes Saturday, when we sing for people who know what singing is all about. I already know that we will do a good job . . . but greatness will only come from knowing and performing from that intimate level of music making--with our bodies, minds, souls, and faces.

I can't wait.

Motivation: Sugar or Cattle Prod?

What does it take to motivate you? Is it someone gently coaxing you into doing the right thing or is it the cattle prod?

As I've told you in the past, the conductor is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of his/her group. Translation: if we fail to do our best, it is my fault.

We are currently in the preparatory phases--through today's work, we determine right now if we will succeed or fail at the end.

So the challenge for the conductor is a serious one: what is the best tool to use to achieve the desired result?

We'll find out, won't we?

Another Special Visitor: Ross Bernhardt !

Another outstanding composer of a work we've done has visited our blog in the previous entry "LA great BHM better."

He's sent a message to you, the UAB choir, and I wanted to make sure you knew about it! We are honored that Ross has visited us. He paid you a wonderful compliment and talks a little about his piece "Irish Blessing" that we performed last year.

Thanks, Ross!

LA was great BHM is better

Greetings once again!

A few short notes:
It is great to be home. The 2005 ACDA convention is now history. I'm glad I went, and my presentation went well.

Best choir that I heard: BYU.
Great choirs that I didn't hear, according to other attendees: Iowa, Norwegian Women.
Maybe St. Olaf was good on Saturday night, didn't hear them or anything about them.

The best part about coming home was to be with the girls again. We've had a great time today catching up on the playtime that we missed.

The next best part will be to rehearse my choirs once again, and to listen to what Dr. Jordan did last week. Can't wait!