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Technology: Focus on Communication

Technology: Focus on Communication

Presentation for Choral Music Teachers of Jefferson County, Birmingham, AL. July 31, 2007

Presentation - PowerPoint.
Presentation - PDF.

Sites/Technologies I referenced in the presentation are listed below. If I told you that I would post something on this blog and you don't see it, please let me know!

Google Email
Fetching Email from Other Mail Accounts

Google Calendar
Searching Google Public Calendars

FolderShare

Blogger.Com
Bloglines
Copeland Blogline Feeds
Google Blog Search
Understanding RSS Feeds

Emailing Cell Phones: Sending text messages from your email
Emailing Cell Phones: The Long List

Nike + Ipod
Nike + Ipod on Amazon
Nike + Ipod Shoe Pouch (for those who already have jogging shoes!)

Emusic.com

ChoralNet

YouTube

ChoralNet Podcast - Brad Holmes, Milligan University

Skype
HotRecorder
Audacity

Podcasting - E-Rehearsals

Presentation for Jefferson County Teachers

Thanks for being such a great audience today, teachers!

I'll be posting today's presentation here very soon, but for now you can look here for most of the links . . . . it is a previous presentation where I talked about many of the same technologies and concepts that I gave you today.

facebook

I am certain that my students will be interested in this post about Facebook.

We are not using the privacy settings of Facebook, and are too polite to say no to invitations from people who want to friend us. No wonder, the social environment is starting to resemble a crowded nightclub. (You go to clubs to be seen, not talk.)

However, if you treat Facebook more like a dinner gathering, inviting only the closest friends and family, it can be a rather efficient way of staying in touch.

What we need is something more intimate, more private. It’s not about the number of friends, but it’s about connection. (My previous post about Privacy also touches on some of these issues.)

Lets put it another way: do you go hang with hundreds of people, accept every invitation for coffee or try out everything that is new in your real world? Do you invite everyone you meet to your house for dinner? So why would you do that in Facebook?

The second problem is that we are treating Facebook as a tool for communication (my inbox on FB is filled with invites for conferences and other junk, just like my email inbox) when we should be treating it as a tool for real time interactions. RTI tools are those that save time and yet let us remain connected to those who matter the most.

Facebook if used properly, in one quick glance can tells us what our friends are doing, new photos, who has broken up, and who needs a little wink and a smile. Instead we are spending time declining invitations from random strangers, or trying to deal with events that we are unlikely to attend anyway.

Needed: Brilliant Spanish Student

Can anyone help? Source.

Nadie me salvará de este naufragio

Si no es tu amor, la tabla que procuro,

si no es tu voz, el norte que pretendo.

Getting close: fall repertoire 2007

Here's what I'm thinking right now:

I.
Regina Coeli
R. Twardowsky
Manuscript?

Salve Regina
V. Miskinis
Edition Ferrimontana
EF 2734

Justorum Animae
Charles Stanford
CPDL

II.
Three Choral Balads (W. Stenhammar)
2. The Garden of Seraglio
3. If I Had
Walton W2720

Dresden Meditation
Ross Bernhardt
Manuscript

Jede Sedlák
Arr. Jaroslav Krček
Alliance Publications, Inc. AP-1104

III.
In the Silence of Time
Arr. Darmon Meador
UNC Jazz Press

Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
Arr. Rene Clausen
Walton WJMS1067; HL0801551

Laura
Arr. Raymond Liebau

IV.
If I Got My Ticket
arr. Robert Shaw

Beautiful River
arr. William Hawley
(repeat from last year)

Witness
arr. Jack Halloran

V. Likely additions:
Prayer of St. Francis
Ross Bernhardt

Irish Blessing
Ross Bernhardt

Dziedot Dzimu, Dziedot Augu
Alfred Kalniņš

CD Review: Into the Light

Into the Light--The Sixteen and conductor Harry Christophers

See and hear this review by Julie Amacher of Minnesota Public Radio.

A little of the review:

On this latest release, "Into the Light," The Sixteen are joined by classical guitarist Kaori Muraji, an award-winning performer from Japan. By their own account, these musicians were thrilled to make this recording together. Their combined enthusiasm generates moving music tPublish Posthat spans the great European choral tradition. Add to that the gentle simplicity of the classical guitar and you have a unique choral album that lives up to its title; it transports you "Into the Light," to an inspirational place that opens a window beyond the mundane.

Bob Chilcott, formerly of the King's Singers, arranged several works specifically for this recording. One of my favorites is an abbreviated version of the famous Pachelbel Canon. Chilcott turns this familiar instrumental piece into a prayer for the dead by adding text from a poem by Oscar Wilde, titled "Requiescat." Kaori Muraji's delicate guitar accompaniment guides The Sixteen through this heartfelt prayer.

"God Grant we Grace" is a blessing from a hymn by 16th-century English church composer Thomas Tallis. The mixed voices of The Sixteen blend beautifully in this touching canon. Harry Christophers conducts a slow, yet sweeping tempo. Once again, he lifts the listener "Into the Light" to a mystical place beyond this world.

Full review here.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

My favorite line of the hymn . . "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love . . . "

Professor Says Textbooks Are Too Expensive, Quits Using Them

Ron Hammond, Phd, professor at Utah Valley State College, has quit using textbooks in his classes. Why? They're too expensive.

The cost of textbooks is rising faster than inflation and Hammond doesn't feel right forcing his students to purchase ever more expensive books on top of their already expensive tuition and fees.

"I think it's immoral because of the cost of it," Hammond told the Central Utah Daily Herald.

More here.

Did I ever share this with you?

For my choir:

Nunc Dimittis No. 2, Vytautas Miskinis
Recorded November 16, 2006

Mortal Kombat in Central Park

Found on A Capella News:

Copeland = Podcasting

Choir,

You probably don't know that I've gotten into podcasting over the summer for the ChoralNet website.

You may be interested:

Podcast #1: Interview of Brad Holmes, conductor of incredible choir at National ACDA Convention
Podcast #2: First of three podcasts with Alice Parker, composer. Subject = her work with Robert Shaw, her music, and her new book.
Podcast #3: Second of three podcasts with Alice Parker, composer. Subject = music publishing

Dale Warland Archives on St. Paul Sunday

Don't miss this archive of Dale Warland recordings available on St. Paul Sunday.

Some of what is available to hear:

Wilhelm Stenhammar: The Garden of the Seraglio (from Three Choral Ballads)

Herbert Howells: Requiem (excerpts from)

Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque

Vytautus Miskínis: O sacrum convivium

Ildebrando Pizzetti: Due Composizione Corali (Two Choral Compositions)

Chanticleer on St. Paul Sunday

Chanticleer, originally uploaded by philipco.

Chanticleer was on St. Paul Sunday earlier this month. Look here for the links and video!

School is getting closer

Can you believe it? It won't be long . . . .

Silence of Time

The Silence of Time

In the silence of time,
on her face there's a sign,
as she passes she'll ask what you know.

Never changing her mind,
Is she cruel, or kind?
When she keeps you there
and I'm alone.

A moment ago, you came to my fancy
What's left for us to show?
Is it farewell, or what could be?

My reverie
Your fantasy
Stories untold

So sing morning dove!
Can we find and know love?
So must it take flight
Can we keep love in sight?

In the silence of time,
on her face there's a sign
as she passes she says:
You will know.

Technology 2007 Presentation - Alabama ACDA

Here are the files I promised to post regarding the presentation I gave at the Alabama ACDA Summer Convention on July 9, 2007.

Link to a PDF of the presentation.
Link to the PowerPoint presentation.

Sites/Technologies I referenced in the presentation:

Google Email

FolderShare

Blogger.Com
Bloglines
Copeland Blogline Feeds
Google Blog Search
Understanding RSS Feeds

Emailing Cell Phones: Sending text messages from your email
Emailing Cell Phones: The Long List

Nike + Ipod
Nike + Ipod on Amazon
Nike + Ipod Shoe Pouch (for those who already have jogging shoes!)

Emusic.com

ChoralNet

YouTube

ChoralNet Podcast - Brad Holmes, Milligan University

Skype
HotRecorder
Audacity

Podcasting - E-Rehearsals

Google Calendar
30Boxes.com

Solidified Trinity UMC Performance

We will definitely sing at Trinity UMC for both morning services on October 14, 2007.

See all dates here.

Literature Performed, 2006-2007

UAB Choirs 2006-2007 Literature

UAB Women’s Choir

Cantate Aleluia
Jan Míšek b. 1976

Examine Me
Bengt Johansson (1914-1989)

Los bilbilicos
arr. Paula Foley Tillen

Deo Gracias
Jim Leininger (b. 1942)

There Is No Rose
Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953)

i thank You God
Gwyneth Walker

There Is Sweet Music
John Clements

UAB Men’s Choir

Brothers Sing On
Edvard Grieg 1843-1907

God Be In My Head
Jackson Berkey b. 1942

Ave Maria
Franz Biebl (1906-2001)

O Sacrum Convivium
Gregorian Chant

O Sacrum Convivium
T.L. de Victoria

The Farmers Boy
arr. R. Vaughan Williams

UAB Concert Choir

Requiem
Giuseppe Verdi

Singet Dem Herrn
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750

Kyrie, from Mass in Eb Major
Josef Rheinberger 1839-1901

Nunc dimittis No. 2
Vytautas Miškinis b. 1954

Deep River
arr. Norman Luboff (1917-1987)

Joshua
arr. Norman Luboff

Ave Maria
Javier Busto (b. 1949)

The Three Kings
Healy Willan (1880-1968)

Choose Something Like a Star
Randall Thompson (1899-1984)

Jingle Bells
arr. Ben Parry (b. 1965)

Of the Father's Love Begotten
arr. Paul Wohlgemuth (1927-1987)

Dziedot Dzimu, Dziedot Augu
Alfred Kalniņš

O Vos Omnes, Lamentations of Jeremiah
Alberto Ginastera

Ave maris stella
Trond Kverno

Flower of Beauty
John Clements

Si, ch'io vorrei morire
Claudio Monteverdi

Rise Up, My Fair One, op. 314
Healy Willan

Beautiful River
arr. William Hawley

McCay, from An American Thanksgiving
arr. Carol Barnett

Sleep
Eric Whitacre

UAB Chamber Singers

Regrets Sans Fin
Josquin des Prez c. 1450 - 1521

David of the White Rock
arr. Ben Parry b. 1965

There Will Never Be Another You
arr. Anders Jackeus b. 1962

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
arr. Philip Kern (b. 1957)

Alleluia
Algirdas Martinaitis

Jaglied
Felix Mendelssohn

In Stiller Nacht
arr. William Hawley

Suite de Lorca, Op. 72
Einojuhani Rautavaara

UAB Kaleidoscope Deals with Marrying Young

Saw this tonight on the UAB Newspaper page:

According to Patricia Dentea, sociology professor and graduate director, there is a high divorce rate among marriages of young couples, but Dentea adds that the rate mostly applies to people who marry extremely young and are not necessarily college students.

“Those who marry early have a higher divorce rate than those who marry later. This is, in part, because they may not finish their college degree once married. College degrees lead to better jobs with more earnings,” she says.

“The older you are, the more emotionally, socially and fiscally stable you usually are. All of those things are associated with better choices of a partner for life,” she says. “You are still changing a lot in your late teens and early 20s. By your later 20s, you typically know yourself better and have learned from your experiences more.”

Whole article here.

Bach @ ACDA

This is a brief snip of the East Carolina Chamber Choir's performance of Bach's motet "Der Geist hilft" (BWV 226). They did an incredible job on the motet--it was fluid and full of a feeling of dance. What I thought was particularly creative was their placement of the instrumentalists within the choir. We'll be doing this work this year and I expect to use their model when we do it. Enjoy!

More information on the Bach Motet here.

Info on Daniel Bara, conductor of the choir here.