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!

A Special Substitute Teacher

Choir,

Awesome to have Eric Whitacre visit our blog, isn't it? Again, thanks to Delia for stepping out and inviting him to read our thoughts about his piece.

NOW . . . .

This week another important person will visit you, and this time in the rehearsal hall. I have no doubt that you will be on your best behavior and that you will learn much. I regret that I will not be with you to learn from Dr. Jordan. I look forward to hear what he concentrated on during his time with you . . . it will make us all better musicians.

I have always believed that it is the person in front of the choir that makes the greatest difference in a choir's accomplishment, sound, and musicality. Dr. J is the one that taught me this . . . I think you will see what I mean.

So, I'm off to LA early in the morning. I'll be presenting a session entitled "Simplifying the Conductor's Lifestyle: Making Technology Work for You."

You can read or see the presentation here. I've also got a links page to information I reference in the presentation. Enjoy!

Eric Whitacre responds to UAB

To my "hip" choir from their "genius" blog creator:

Updated: It's true, composer Eric Whitacre has responded to one of our posts (see lux below).

From Mr. Whitacre:

Hey gang,

First off, let me begin by saying that you are by far the hippest choir I've ever seen. The blog is genius, and to read the way that all of you have connected through it is inspiring and heartwarming.

Delia wrote to me to let me know that you were performing my "Lux", and I just wanted to drop a note aand tell you all thank you. Thank you for bringing such obvious passion and artistry to the music, and thank you for giving so bravely of your souls.

She had asked me to talk about why I had written the piece, and I'm afraid that I don't have an answer. Everytime I try and put my process into words, it breaks down and becomes something else. All I can tell you is that the music SOUNDS to me exactly the way I FEEL.

Warm regards to all of you, and again, many thanks for singing Lux. And if the Carnegie thing doesn't work out(bravo, Maestro!), I'd like to personally invite you all to come and sing some of my music and the Mozart Requiem with me at my festival in China in summer 2006. You are EXACTLY the sort of souls with whom I would love to make music.

Cheers, and word up,
Eric Whitacre

Major KUDOS to Delia.

and . . . uh . . . word up. (translation needed for the approaching age 40 conductor)

Delia's email that prompted the Whitacre visit:

Dear Mr. Whitacre,

My name is Delia Charest and I am a senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Our choir at UAB loves you and your amazing music. Last year we performed “Water Night” and this semester we are working on “Lux Aurumque.” We will be performing and competing with this awing song this May at the Florilège Vocal de Tours, in Tours, France. Our choir is a very close group who share what they feel about the music; one of the ways we do this is through our Blog. The last post that our director Dr. Philip Copeland made contained a lot of these feelings, especially about “Lux Aurumque”. I invite you to read these interpretations, and to feel comfortable to respond with your ideas at the time you were writing “Lux Aurumque.” I know that the choir and I would be extremely interested in knowing what such an amazing composer’s thoughts are on his wonderful piece of music. Thank you for everything that you to contribute to our wonderful world of music, I know that the uab concert choir will continue to perform your music for as long as you graciously give it to the world.

With deep respect,

Delia M Charest

Internalizing and Visualizing a Work

My major professor during my doctoral work was all about creating images for works we sang in choir. He would instruct the choir to write out his images in our music . . . like "in ms. 32 the sun bursts through the clouds . . . "

It was an interesting experience and I understand what he was trying to do for us. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the right image can communicate much to a group trying to create a common interpretation for a piece of music.

I believe he would be very impressed with the students in our choir who have blogged out their impressions of Whitacre's Lux Aurumque. (the picture is Mr. Whitacre)

We have some very impressive young men and women in our choir:

1. Charles has given us:

As we sang this song, I started to form a mental image, as happens with me during most of our songs that we work on. However, none have ever been this vivid that I recall. The piercing high notes, heavy, thick, full chords and the beautiful Latin language all intertwined to present to me a perfect scene: Heaven at Night. I know we all think of Heaven probably as a beautiful sunlit place with shimmering floors and towering ivory ceilings, but what about when it's nighttime? Many people think night is even more beautiful than day here on Earth, so wouldn't you imagine that night in Heaven would be that much better? Can't you see and feel the warm darkness enveloping you in safety and sleep when you listen to that song? This song describes this scene so well to me, that it makes me think, if I could spend one night in heaven, it would be worth a thousand lifetimes. Even myself, who is sometimes afraid of the quiet darkness, when I listen to this song, it makes me feel as though everyone is either sitting reflectively or lying in their beds, and God and his angels are walking around, checking with everyone, just peeking in. It's everyone's alone time of reflection in heaven at this time of night, and the angels are singing their lullabies. Believe it or not, I got this image of this song, and felt and sensed all of these things, before I even read the translation of the words, something to the effect of, "Light, pure and heavy as pure gold, and the angels sing to the newborn baby," that's all I can remember of it. But maybe it could give you something to think about when we work on this piece next time. Until next time, just think, it's nighttime in heaven sometime.

2. Sarah has given us:

A single, pulsating ray of light descends
growing slowly, steadily brighter.

at the apex of the beam the angel host appear
the light is so bright,
so holy,
the shepherds avert their eyes
the host encompass the sky from horizon to horizon
and the rapturous light imbues the earth

Suddenly the angel song hushes, so soft it is barely audible,
in reverent awe of its Lord.

3. Clay has given us:

So this is a Christmas song that is describing what the angels were doing when Christ was born. The image I get is, in part, the same image I got when I sang a different song by Whitacre named "Water Night". The text for "Water Night" is from the spanish poet Octavio Paz and depicts both darkness and depth. Lux makes me think of the same setting as I did in water night. Darkness. Deepness. Quiet. There is one difference. A single angel amidst all the darkness singing his song to the newborn Christ. This song, Lux, is this angels song. One angels song. If one angel can sing this beautifully by himself, think of how much greater it is going to be when we are all singing praises together in heaven! The light, pure, warm and heavy as gold, is the angel. I see the light from the angel piercing the darkness and warming the newborn babe. Reassuring Him that everything is going to be ok. I think Christ would need this reassurance. After all, He came into this world in a manger and left the world nailed to a cross.

4. Erin has given us:

the greatest song in the world right now has got to be Lux Arumque by Eric Whitacre. When we sang it today, wow, I got chills. I picture a scene sortof like A Midsummer Night's Dream. There's a full moon; pure moonlight shining down into a forrest with a waterfall and the sound of crickets chirping. Then, out of the darkness of the trees comes one tiny gold light, floating, like a tiny angel. Man, I wish I could describe it better. It's so vivid in my mind. And that's just on the first page or two. I haven't figured out my picture for the rest of the piece but, I think I have a good start. I can't wait to sing it again tomorrow!

Fantastic and moving images, choir. Dr. Dickson would be proud.

Choir traveling to Europe

Here is a list of the people that planning on the Europe trip, for your information:

Soprano 1	Soprano 2
Kristina Banks Jessie Brown Leah Hains Erin Pair Lindsey Woolley	Katie Fussell Maggie Hendricks Rachel Hicks Meghan Ramsey Jennifer Scivley
Alto 1	Alto 2
Holly Sawardecker Deborah Anderson Delia Charest Sarah Labriola Katie Movelle	Lauren Davidson Meghan Granlund Carlee Jackson Rebekah Smith
Tenor 1	Tenor 2
David Berg Joshua Noland Patrick Williams Lincoln Parrott	Anthony Concepcion Wes Edgar Menterro Hambrick Jonathan Hood
Bass 1	Bass 2
Kevin Beck Charles Henry Clay Rector Evan Long	Andrew Granlund Zach Hill Waylon Hinkle Jonathan McNeil Chris Carter

37. Philip Copeland
38. Leigh Copeland
39. Dale Reynolds
40. John Ray
41. Kat Ray
42. John Williams

lux

lux

Carnegie Update

These look to be the dates for Carnegie Spring 2006:

Work to be performed: Solemn Vespers (Mozart)
Date of Performance: Tuesday, May 9
Residency: May 6 - May 10

And . . . it isn't just college choirs: Church Choirs, High School, College, Community will be invited. If you have ideas, continue to turn them in.

Carnegie Hall: Spring 2006

Choir,

It is time to share the secret I alluded to a couple of weeks ago.

Earlier this month, I received a letter from MidAmerica productions asking me to guest conduct in Carnegie Hall in Spring 2006. I could not believe it! And of course, I want to take my choir with me . . . do you want to go?

It is quite an opportunity, to be sure and I'm going to do my best to make it happen.

The reason for the incredible offer: they've heard about the great singing you've been doing for the past couple of years. And that is the truth.

MidAmerica had a gentleman working for them that used to be the Director of Choral Activities at Troy State University. He's now back in Alabama at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church (his name is Dr. Terre Johnson). Terre has been keeping up with the choral scene in Alabama and heard that we were doing exciting things at UAB--thus, the invitation to me.

I've spoken with Dr. Reynolds about it and he is all for the idea. If possible, we'll unite several choirs around Alabama and present the work at the Alys Stephens Center in Spring 2006 and then take everyone up to New York for a few days of fun and fabulous experiences.

For the concert to happen, 175 singers are needed. I would hope that about 50 or more could come from UAB. If you've got ideas about choirs and programs to investigate/encourage, let me know.

Carnegie Hall, like singing in Notre Dame Cathedral, is an incredible opportunity as well as a very high honor for all involved. Let me know what you think!

Alex Ross--The Rest Is Noise: Orbiting

It seems this blog has been mentioned in more than just one place. And this time, by the music critic of the NEW YORKER.

Check it out:
Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise: Orbiting: "Philip Copeland, doing the same to the life of a university choral conductor (with sub-links to many members of the University of Alabama at Birmingham chorus). All contribute to the great work of Demystification. Blogging can show composers, singers, and critics as living, thinking beings, alert to the flow of twenty-first-century culture, not as the anachronistic antisocial freaks we actually are."

How 'bout that? I've been contributing to the great work of Demystification and I didn't even know it. Good Lord, no wonder I've been so tired lately.

Also mentioned was a young soprano, Anne Carolyn Bird, who is trying to make it in New York. She's got a blog that is pretty interesting . . . some facinating reads for you if you have a moment to look. I especially enjoyed "The Average Audition."

Choir mentioned on The Fredösphere

The Fredösphere

Choir . . . we got a mention on the Friday 1/21 version of the Fredosphere. Check it out!

Fred of the Fredosphere and Alex Ross are referenced on the San Francisco Classical Voice.

Once in a lifetime

Selected and approved for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris France. What an honor and what an opportunity. Probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you to sing in this cathedral.

Some historical points to ponder:

1. construction started in 1163, it was not completed until roughly 180 years later in about 1345. That makes the place 660 years old.

2. Crusaders prayed there before leaving on their holy wars, and polyphonic music developed in the cathedral.

3. Napoléon crowned himself emperor there.

4. A UAB choir will sing a thirty minute concert there on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.

ISFP

Chris gave us a few insights about ISFP personality types tonight and it prompted me to look up what he is, exactly, besides being the most unique personality type at UAB.

I found that there are more than a few famous ISFP's:


Liberace, pianist
Dan Rather, news anchor
Dan Quayle, U.S. Vice President, 1988-1992
Michael Jackson, performer

Interesting array of sites if you remember what your Myers-Briggs was. I'm an ENTP, and described here.

Enjoy!

A mini-vacation from me

Choir,

Dr. Reynolds will be leading the combined choir for the next two rehearsals in preparation for Monday's King David. I know you will give him your best and I thank you ahead of time for the effort.

We'll return to normal rehearsal schedule next week and I'm already looking forward to it.

I think the sectional rehearsals have done a world of good and I anticipate breaking down into them more often as we continue this semester.

Work hard.

DC

Diction Time!!

Alrighty,

Diction practice recordings for the French and Latvian pieces are online:

1. Un Hemisphere (Thanks to Dr. Mosteller)
2. Redz Kur (Thanks to Aaron May)
3. Mate Saule (Thanks to Aaron May)

A couple of notes on this:

1. Please show your appreciation to Dr. Mosteller. He didn't have to help us and I, for one, am extremely grateful.
2. Same goes for Aaron May (appreciation-wise), a current student here at UAB. Why don't you send Aaron a quick email and show your appreciation? goviite@yahoo.com

We are very appreciative to these two people.

The other important note on this: It is up to YOU to get to this diction. We are only as good as the time that you put into this!

MLK: If I Can Help Somebody

2011 UPDATE:  This is a post I made six years ago - and although I no longer work at UAB I still remember the choir that sang this marvelous arrangement by the great Ray Liebau.  You can now purchase the piece here on Mr. Liebau's website and listen to it on YouTube - but not by the Ole Miss Concert Singers - but by the Raffles Chorale, conducted by Mr Toh Ban Sheng in 2008 at the World Youth Choral Festival in Singapore.

In my happiest year as an instructor at the University of Mississippi, the choir sang a song arranged by Ray Liebau called "If I Can Help Somebody." The words were from a hymn quoted in one of the last speeches Martin Luther King ever gave.

We honor the great Martin Luther King today. Below is a portion of the speech he gave that night, with the hymn quoted in its context. There is a link to an Ole Miss recording of the arrangement, but it is rather large, so be forwarned.

If I Can Help Somebody (source of the sermon)

The words of Dr. King:

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968. MLKEC.

Progress for the first two weeks

I'm feeling pretty good (today) about our progress on the music for the spring. Some specifics on the pieces we will be doing in France:

Selig sind die Toten: Very good work this week. Know from last year.
Ave Maria (Vytautas Miškinis): will most likely change for another piece
See What the End is Going to Be: Learned last semester

Alleluia: Learned last semester, will begin work again soon. (LEARN IT, new folks)
Der Tanz: Easy, will not be hard to learn.
Un hémisphère dans une chevelure: Notes are OK, recording French tomorrow with Dr. Mostellar.
He’s Got the Whole World: Learned last semester, worked with girls on Thursday.

Clap Your Hands: might change, but learned last semester
Salmo XLII: Learned last semester, will work in sectionals next week
Organ Fugue: we'll change this one for another work.

Richte mich, Gott: Great work on this one. Memory must begin soon.
Mate Saule: Some light work done on this one, but learned it last semester and Aaron May (Latvian language guy) comes to record tomorrow

Redz, kur jaja div' bajari: Good work on this one, and will record Latvian tomorrow.
Daniel Daniel Servant Of The Lord: We did this one last year. Jonathan McNeil has confirmed that he is going on the trip, so we will do it again. I picked this one with Jonathan in mind for the solo . . . just to let you know.

Talked with a guy about our Spring 2006 possibility again. Exciting.

California State University-Northridge Singers

Concert Choir,

I found the BIO of the choir from California in the most recent edition of the Choral Journal. (Page 54)

Here are some salient points:

The CSU Northridge Singers are the advanced choral ensemble at California State University. Composed primarily of auditioned undergraduate vocal arts majors, the Northridge Singers have performed at national and regional ACDA Conventions and Regional MENC conferences.

They won the 2003 International Eistedfodd "Choir of the World" competition in Lllangollen, Wales.

Other credits of note include performances or recordings with artists Wynton Marsalis, Russell Watson, Barbara Streisand, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestras, and the Los Angelas Master Chorale.

Their performance at the 2005 ACDA National Convention in Los Angeles will mark the ensemble's second appearance at an ACDA national convention in the last five years.

What does it mean?

It means we aren't in a competition with losers, we are in a competition with winners. People that have accomplished things. Their inclusion into this choral competition raises the bar. And they are just group that we know about. You can bet that there will be some truly outstanding European and Latvian choirs that show up to Tours, France this summer.

Will we raise our current level of performance and effort to make a serious challenge at this competition? Or should we just give up now?

You know what it takes. Do it.

The Time is Now to Prepare for Then

Choir,

Hope you all "got" what I "meant" today at the beginning of rehearsal: the time to put in the effort is now, when we have enough time ahead of us to perfect and nuance our music.

On May 14, we will want to be as absolutely prepared as we can be. And it isn't just the people that are going to Europe that must work now . . . people that don't go to compete, if they don't work hard, will slow our progress and limit our full potential.

I am excited about this semester. It will be some hard work but all moments in our concerts will be thrilling . . . I'm convinced of it. You need to get excited by it. And you need to listen to your German recording.

Oh, and here is a hint about the other thing i referenced about a Spring 2006 possibility.

Guidelines for beginning bloggers

I'm sharing this list that I found tonight for all the other UAB bloggers who started blogging along with me last semester. It is a great list . . . look here for more info.

The following is a list of guidelines for beginning bloggers developed by George Siemens in December 2002:

1. Start. As stated earlier, blogging is best learned by blogging...and by reading other bloggers. So...start.
2. Know your motivation. Why are you blogging? What do you hope to achieve?
3. Link. The heart of blogging is linking...linking and commenting. Connecting and communicating - the purpose of the Internet.
4. Experiment. Developing a writing style is an evolutionary process. Try different approaches and formats until you find one that fits your message, audience, and personal motivations.
5. Use life and your experiences as your "idea generation" file.
6. Get an opinion. Then express it.
7. Express your personality...let your humour, your perspective on life, and your values shine in your writing.
8. Post regularly. This is important - readers drop off/lose interest with irregular blogs (syndication and aggregators allow blog readers to stay in touch with infrequently updated blogs - more on that in the section "Extending Blogs").
9. Keep writing clear and concise. Avoid jargon...but utilize the unique aspects of the medium (visual, links, sound). Focus on communication (function) before form.
10. Write for a reason, not recognition. Most bloggers have small audiences. Satisfaction is derived from the writing process, not the audience response.

Notre Dame Concert Update

Got this email from our Kristen Sullivan, our Tour Coordinator @ Witte Travel:

It is possible that you'll be chosen to sing at Notre Dame on Wednesday, May 11. Our concert organizer in France is suggesting that you prepare a 30 minute program in the meantime. If chosen, they'll want to see it immediately. From what I understand, it would not just be participating in a Mass, but a 30 minute program.

While it is not a sure thing, I would say that it is looking good.

Here is what I submitted:

Praise to the Lord (arr. Paul Christiansen)
Alleluia (Jósef Karai)
Salmo XLII (Uroš Krek)

Selig sind die Toten (Heinrich Schütz)
Ave Maris Stella (Edvard Grieg)
Richte mich, Gott (Felix Mendelssohn)

See What the End is Going to Be (Ronald Staheli)
Clap Your Hands (Edwin Fissinger)

Daniel Daniel Servant Of The Lord (Undine Moore)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen (arr. Norman Luboff)
He’s Got the Whole World (arr. Raymond Liebau)

French Translation

Choir,

I'm not sure I ever shared this with you . . . it is the translation to the French piece we are doing by Cosma, courtesy of Lauren Askew on November 11, 2004 (and some English-French translation software):

Let me breathe a long time, the fragrance of your hair, plunge there all my face like a man impaired in the water of a spring and to stir (or agitate) them with my hand like a sweet-smelling hankerchief, to shake memories from the air.

My love travels on the perfume like the love of the other men on the music. In the ocean of your hair i see a port swarming with songs, melancholic, vigorous men of all nations and ships of all forms of cutting. Their fine architectures and complicate on an immense sky or wearies the eternal heat.

In the burning hearth of your hair, I breathe the odor of tobacco, mixed, has opium with sugar. In the night of your hair, I see shining the infinite trpical blues. On the shores of the sleeping bag of your hair, I get drunk on the combined odors of tar, musk and coconut oil.

Let me bite your heavy and black braids a long time. when I bite your elastic and rebellious braids. It seems to me that I eat memories.

I'm sure we'll unpack and clarify this into something coherent.

For now, just get a sense of it.

A Nerd Wannabee?

This was my score on a test i found here:



What in the world does that mean? I'm not smart enough to be a nerd?

Richte mich Gott (Mendelssohn)

Choir,

There are links to several MP3 files on the MUP 220 page of my website.

My advice: Learn this German quickly. Two of the files are the spoken text and one is sung.

If you want to use a great program to help you learn quickly, download a program I use called WavePad. The program allows you to see the actual sound file and there are features that allow you to rewind quickly and repeat sections as much as you want.

If you are smart, you will be able to figure out how I inserted space (silence) into the original soundfile. If you click here, the file will immediately download. And the best thing about it? It's free.

Quinn says goodbye

Choir,

Quinn is not with us this semester, I'm sorry to say. She sent me a wonderful email, part of which I will excerpt here:

To the choir:

I have enjoyed every minute of concert choir and it will really be a void in my life. I will miss performing as well as all of the wonderful friendships that I've made.

To me:

You have been a wonderful teacher and friend. I'll still be around and I hope I can come and sing with you guys some and I'll be at concerts for sure!!!! Thanks so much for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.

To us both:

Choir has been a part of my life since the seventh grade, but it wasn't until your concert choir that it all came together and my true love for singing came out. It has been an honor to sing with such a talented group of musicians and have such a great teacher! I will miss each and every person.

Classy.

Making a Song Your Own

Somehow, I came upon this blog that was commenting on Ashlee Simpson's performance at the Orange Bowl last night.

I'm sorry I missed it, it must have been spectactular--as in perfectly awful.

In the comments section of the blog, one person responded about Kelly Clarkson's performance of The Star Spangled Banner:

Actually, there was a worse performance at this event.

The singing of the National Anthem (I think it was the National Anthem, the words were familiar although I didn't recognize many of the notes) by Kelly (Help, I can't find a note to hold) Clarkson was horrid. It wasn't quite as bad, though, as her "performance" of O Holy Night during a Christmas season show.

These idiot judges on American Idol, and such, praise these non-talents as "making the song their own." You don't make the National Anthem or O Holy Night "your own." You perform it with respect for the song, not some other worldly idea that your performance is more important than the song.

Just thought you might find that interesting--

For the record, I completely agree with the writer . . . the song is more important than the performance. As musicians, we must make interpretive decisions that enhance the value of the music . . . music is not a vehicle for notoriety . . . it's not about us.

Thoughts?

Church Position for Interested Student

Students,

Got this email today--possible church job for interested student.

Dr. Copeland,

I am the current choir director at Wilson Chapel United Methodist Church in the Roebuck Springs area of Birmingham. I have recently acquired a position as choir director at a church closer to my residence in Vestavia and am assisting Wilson Chapel in acquiring a replacement. Wilson Chapel UMC is a traditional style church with an aging congregation. The choir is a very dedicated 12 person ensemble with very good skills. They need someone who is bright, energetic, and who wants to be there. This is a part time position. If you have any student(s) who may be interested, please forward this to them or contact me back so that I may contact them directly.

Contact me if you are interested!

Blog factoid

From the Pew Internet Something or Other:

• By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November established new contours for the blogosphere: 8 million American adults say they have created blogs;
  
• blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users; 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online; and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs.
  
• Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is.

I think this means: If you are reading this, you are smarter than 62 percent of the other internet users.

Can't get it out of my mind . . .

Do you have anthems, songs, or hymn texts that just won't get out of your head?

Here is the one that I've had today--it's from this mornings choir anthem for the service at SHPC. I first found the Gilbert Martin (of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross fame) arrangement of Christ of the Upward Way when I arrived at South Highland. I've done the anthem so many times since then that I promised today to put it away for at least one year before I do it again.

Gilbert is an outstanding church choir arranger. He is smart enough to know that the choir needs to go into unison for the climax of the anthem instead of dividing into parts. That way, the choir can balance the organ/accompaniment, which is already increasinging in volume to support the emotion of the moment.

Anyway, it is a tremendous anthem. And the text, well . . . I find it profound and moving.

I provided the test below in case you are curious . . . and I found it here (in case you don't know about this resource, you future church musicians:

Whole choir, unison, warm key of Db major:
Christ of the upward way, my Guide divine,
Where Thou hast set Thy feet, may I place mine;
And move and march wherever Thou hast trod,
Keeping face forward up the hill of God.

Women only, two parts, Eb major:
Give me the heart to hear Thy voice and will,
That without fault or fear I may fulfill
Thy purpose with a glad and holy zest,
Like one who would not bring less than his best.

This verse is deleted in the Martin anthem.
Give me the eye to see each chance to serve,
Then send me strength to rise with steady nerve,
And leap at once with kind and helpful deed,
To the sure succor of a soul in need.

Whole choir, four parts, sung in F minor:
Give me the good stout arm to shield the right,
And wield Thy sword of truth with all my might,
That, in the warfare I must wage for Thee,
More than a victor I may ever be.

Entire choir, unison, G major:
Christ of the upward way, my Guide divine,
Where Thou hast set Thy feet, may I place mine;
And when Thy last call comes, serene and clear,
Calm may my answer be, “Lord, I am here.”

GMAIL FAQ

FAQ ='s Frequently Asked Questions.

Delia had a question about GMAIL so I'll 'splain it to everyone.

GMAIL is the email service started by Google. In the geek world, gmail accounts are one of the "in" things and most of the hard core geeks have had gmail accounts for a pretty long time. The best thing about them is that they hold an astonishing 1 GIG of information. You can also use the google search functions on your email.

FWIW, I've not deleted anything from my account since getting it in August . . . from Patrick Fussell, brother of Katie.

As a matter of fact, I promised to stop "abusing" Patrick for not singing in choir after he gave me one of his invitations for the GMAIL account.

Anyway, you can find out more about GMAIL accounts by clicking.

And I still have three invitations to give away.

GMail for UAB Choir members

A Happy New Year to you all!

If any of you guys are interested in a GMAIL account, let me know. I've got three invites to share and I will give them to the first choir members who comment to this post.

Is anyone interested?

Congratulations! You are rewarded for visiting my choir blog . . . UAB choir members only, please.

Thanks!

Katie, Francesca, and St. Cecelia

School approaches!

I'm not ready yet, are you?

I've heard from two choir members today:

1. Katie Movelle: Sent me a St. Cecelia card with the note that if we prayed hard to her we would not have another mistake like we had at Christmas at the Alys.

I'm not opposed to any help from the patron saint of music, of course. However, I'm thinking we just need to practice getting our pitch more and never try to sing more than 100 yards away from the conductor again.

2. Francesca. I got a disappointing notification from Francesca that she won't be joining us next semester. I hate that, she's been an incredible choir member for alot of reasons. Besides her musical contribution, Francesca gave us her humor and her 5-point stance.

We will miss her.

First mention on another blog!

I've been on a search for other choir related blogs and found very few. One that I found, is the Fredosphere, managed by composer-musicians Fred Himebaugh. I emailed Fred and asked some blog-related questions.

Besides giving me excellent answers, Fred was kind enough to mention this UAB Choir blog in a posting on December 28. How nice of him!

He told me about two other choir related blogs, the first of which i had not heard of.

It looks as though we have one of the few choir-blogs out there, but I'm still hoping to find a few more:
VHK's Singing
Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director

Some more of his thoughts:

The most fundamental reason I blog is to promote my compositions, so my blog is a composer's blog as well as a choir director/church musician's blog. When I got started, I hoped to be connected to a network of choir bloggers. Like you, I was surprised to find nothing like that exists. Now, my goal is to be connected to the wider arts blogosphere (what Alex Ross -- with an assist from me -- calls the bløgösphère). I decided to write about a wide range of interests, like sci-fi, weird religious art, zeppelins, and anti-popes. Partly, that's just my personality, and partly it's a marketing strategy, based on the idea that a pure choir blog isn't going to get much traffic (at least one written by me).

I really appreciate his comments and look forward to any other insight he has on this medium. It is possible that we (uab choirs) have one of the first blogs of this typein an emerging medium. It is also possible that the blog world is just a flash in the pan. I have a feeling that it is going to be more significant than that, however.

At any rate, I enjoy this experience of keeping in touch with my choir via the blog.

Does anyone read it? I used to think so, but not according to a recent lack of comments!

Nevertheless, I persevere!

Pocket Blogging

this is a test from my new program ''Pocket Blog."

Im trying to see it I can create posts on the internet by first Creating them in my pocket PC. Will update on the success.,. or not.

UPDATE:

Worked very well. Post appeared immediately.

Christmas with Choirs

One of the best things about Christmas time is the great choir programs on television.

(Hey, this IS a choir blog, you know . . . )

I'm about to watch "Christmas at Baylor," a program I recorded last night (I think) on my Digital Video Recorder. The DVR is really cool . . . we've used it alot more than we thought we would. Most of our "recorded TV" programs are things like Seseme Street (for obvious reasons), Nigella Bites (one of Leigh's favorites), and Seinfeld.

Anyway, if you get a chance, these are the Christmas choir programs I've noticed and/or recorded:

Christmas at Baylor
A Belmont Christmas
Christmas with the Mormon Tabarnacle Choir
Christmas with Chanticleer
St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Sing We Now of Christmas: A Festival of Carols
Carols from King's

They are all very good. I caught some of the King's College special last night on the Jordan's HDTV and it was fantastic. HDTV is something I've never really experienced before and I loved it. When the price of this technology drops more I definitely want to invest. The picture was just incredible.

My favorite of the programs is probably the Chanticleer one . . I've not seen all of them yet. I saw the Chanticleer one live either last year or the year before. Some great music there and those guys are top notch performers.

Merry Christmas, choir. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

What a life

You've got to hand it to Francesca. Her posts are bizarre and hilarious. The most recent beginning:

"I slept on my left side last night just to change things up."

For more fascinating insights, go here.

Triplet pictures

I don't know if you guys are ever interested in viewing pictures of my girls, but here are some recent ones on my "family blog."

Leigh and I were wondering if any of you could come up with a creative name for a blog that centers around the triplets.

Something a little cute and referencing our 3 angels.

One thought:

"Heaven on Earth" (and it is, most of the time)
Three's Company?
"Trouble comes in three's?"

You get the idea. Any takers?

You never know . . .

I found this picture today of my former choir-mate, Shepherd Smith. You might know Shep and you might not--but he is now one of the anchors for Fox News, and hosts a show called the FOX Report w/Shepherd Smith.

When this picture was taken, Shepherd was running late for the return bus trip back to Oxford.

I'm always a bit amazed that I know a guy that is seen by millions of people every night. He was a great guy and a fine bass. He used to be the "holder of the pitch pipe" and always did a good job.

You never know what the person sitting next to you in choir might become.

Knowing what I do about the incredible people we have in choir---I expect tremendous things.

Blog Benefits Choir?

Ok, group. I need input.

I'm preparing a presentation entitled "Simplifying the Conductor's Lifestyle: Making Technology Work for You" to give at the National ACDA Convention and I'm going to spend a portion of the presentation on this blog. I want you to help me brainstorm it's benefits to us this semester. I'll start and you add your own.

1. Gives conductor a way to give feedback to the choir and elicit responses from its members. I thought that concert and performance reviews were important to us this semester. Whether it was congratulating ourselves on a job well done or a way of finding out what went wrong.

2. Builds community--I've gotten to know several of you much better by reading your comments and visiting your own personal blogs. I think that most of you started your own blog after reading this one, except for Francesca, who will soon be writing or doing radio for a living.

3. Rehash rehearsals and frame them in a proper context. Examining what went right or what went wrong in the rehearsal after one has had time to reflect.

4. Communicating praise from others: sharing emails with the choir and others in a public forum.

5. Informational: posting links to possible dress options for the girls, explaining where to get passports, directions to performances.

6. Sometimes, just to share. Some posts have nothing to do with choir. Posts about things to visit in Birmingham, radio shows, funny stories or pictures.

7. Motivational: my efforts to get you excited about long term goals, i.e. France Competition.

8. Gives choir members a meaningful way to interact with the conductor outside of class and away from the bustle of the rehearsal.

9. Online journaling provides a way to document and reference past thoughts and feelings--aspects of the year that will pass from memory without it.

10. Keep in touch with past members. Nick reads this often!

Found this paragraph online: The range of uses for Weblogs among other educators is wide. Hundreds of librarians have realized their power in communicating information about resources and in starting conversations about books and literacy. Students use Weblogs as digital portfolios or just digital filing cabinets, where they store their work. Teachers use blogs as classroom portals, where they archive handouts, post homework assignments, and field questions virtually. Clubs and activities, sports teams, and parent groups use Weblogs to post scores, meeting minutes, and links to relevant issues and topics. In other words, a Weblog is a dynamic, flexible tool that's easy to use whether you're creating with it or simply viewing the result.

Ok . . . that is a good start.

Can you help?

A Marvelous Madrigal Dinner

It must have been spectacular!
I'm hearing rave reviews from both students and faculty. Congratulations to Chamber Singers and Dr. Jeff Reynolds for bringing honor and glory to the music department and her choirs! Thanks to them for working a bit harder than the rest of us . . . rehearsing during exams, through sickness and other end-of-the-semester ills to put on a fantastic show. We are all very proud of you!

Advice for Students in my Next Class

.

Can you tell that I'm enjoying inserting images in my blog?

Ham Day

By the way, this is my third post in the same day. See below for new entries . . .

Ahh . . . the competition

Choir,

The stage has now been set for our May 2005 competition. We have received our official acceptance into the Florilege Vocal de Tours competition and have been approved to compete in categories I and IV.

It is impressive enough to just be accepted into the competition--the festival is known all over the world. Take note of its mention in these worldwide links:

Taipei: an article that talks about the Batavia Madrigal Singers from Indonesia which won three awards.

Turkey: trumpets the achievements of the Bilkent Youth Choir, which received runner-up position at the 33rd Florilege Vocal de Tours, "one of the most important choir competitions in the world" hosted between May 28-31 in Tours, France, out of 20 choirs from 18 countries.

Germany: discusses their performance and award from their 1995 appearance at the competition.

USA: The USC Chamber Choir won the grand prize in 2002. Their website entry describes the competition as a a "prestigious international choral competition. " The group is conducted by William Dehning, a very well known choral conductor in the USA. He lists his groups grand prize victory as one of his major achievements in his biography, which can be seen here.

Sometimes choirs just mention the fact that they competed at the competition (without winning), such as the Concert Choir from Mansfield University.


By the way, do you like their picture? Here is a larger version from their site: interesting choir picture Perhaps we can find a way to do something like that with our group if you like it.

My point in all this:

To achieve things in life, you have to place yourself in the right place at the right time.

Without risk, there is no reward.

We are stepping out into the international choral scene in May. Get ready to put forward your best effort--of your life.

Christmas for Musicians

At my house, we listen to music whenever we are doing something with the girls, especially at feeding time. My father-only feeding time is the morning meal, commonly known as breakfast. (At this point, I feel as though I am slipping into Franceska-type blog language . . . but I digress).

Anyway, we are listening to some FM station that plays Christmas music all the time. Today they had a testimonial type segment that featured some woman talking about how she looks forward to the holiday times "when things slow down . . . . "

I guess that is true for most people, but the statement was a bit shocking for me. Nearly all of my time is spent with musicians and we think of December as a time of immense stress because of the increased performing opportunities/obbligations. When that is coupled with exams and additional church services, life does indeed seem difficult.

After each performance, I typically have these thoughts:
1. whew, I'm glad that is over.
2. wow, my office is a mess.

and then this one:
Is this what life is like for all those people without music as a driving force in their lives?

I've got to admit, life without concerts and continuous performing pressure is sometimes appealing, like a cold and delicious diet mountain dew on a very hot day.

But after awhile, it just looks boring.

Viva la musica!

Update: Christmas for Musicians, part 2

I told you it was stressful.

Conductor kills self inside Crystal Cathedral

Pray for God's blessings to this man's family and friends during this time of sadness.

A Glorious Gloria and A Couple of Bad Starts

It was a great concert.

Even though we didn't sing to our potential with our three solo works. My quick review:

Sing We Now: Rehearsed the least, came off the best.
Ave Maria: Bad start, but the work never really came together in rehearsal either. It had moments of beauty at times but I don't think we arrived at the place we needed to be with it.
Have Yourself: Another bad start--similar thoughts about not finding the piece in rehearsal before performing it.

Lessons from the concert:
1. Passing the Pitch is a crucial part of our preparation. We will take more time from this point forward.
2. The work we put into the Gloria paid off in huge dividends. There were outstanding moments and the REX was magical and fulfilling.
3. I wasn't too surprised at our performance--the time we put into the Gloria and when we rehearsed it each day ate into our energy and normal preparation. We've had an extremely active semester that has included more singing than I've done since arriving at UAB. Overall the semester has been a huge success.

We will recover from a not-our-best performance on Saturday.

• We will remember that we must prepare for every success and experience it first in the rehearsal before we can expect it in performance.

• We will remember that the things that prohibited us from arriving at 1:00 ready to sing also contributed to our effort during the concert.

• We will remember that great performances aren't a given, even from talented and hard-working students.

A few other thoughts:

1. Mortimer Jordan was simply outstanding, especially on the Whitacre. They proved that execution and confidence and risk and talent can result in something quite remarkable. The students from there were just incredible . . . but remember, the credit goes to their teacher for the superb preparation. And not just for that performance, but for the last six years. All of the UAB students that are MJ graduates are rightly proud of their school.

2. All of the high schools did an incredible job. Amanda Klimko's Hewitt-Trussville choir and Ken Berg's JCCHS Honors Chorus along with the previously mentioned MJ gave us an extremely strong showing for UAB's Christmas at the Alys. I was proud of every choir's contribution and glad that I had invited these groups.

I'm sure I'll blog more later . . . but that is the quick review. Any comments from others?

Who else?

I thought I might round up a few other hidden choir bloggers out there.

It seems that Delia has one here. And with pictures! BTW, Delia, I love black licorice. Or I used to before lowcarb days.

And Charles, well, it seems he had an idea for one with a catchy title: Meditations on a Young Man's Life. But when I clicked the link . . . nothing. Or maybe the meditations are just very private.

I've heard that Erin has one but I've not seen it. Any others?

Update: "Blog" is the number one word of the year. And we were there.

Tis the semester . . . . to blog . . .

My good friends from the next state over (the ones who voted for Kerry) tell me that they check out my blog from time to time, so I guess it is time to reveal the UAB choir member blogs I follow on a more-frequently-than I admit it basis:

Francesca: Always hilarious, sometimes revealing. F.R. wins the award for most frequent poster, at least from the ones i follow. I am beginning to believe that F.R. has a future in humorous writing if she chooses to follow the path . . . perhaps directing her own movie about her takes on life. I'd pay to see it. I even checked out her sister's blog.

Jennifer: I read more J.S. words than i ever hear her say. She is a close second in posting frequency. November 22 frightened me.

Clay: Also fairly frequent poster. I seem to know alot about some girl named Stephanie that I've never met. I sometimes wonder if Clay will have to delete this blog if he and Stephanie ever break up. To read his words, this one is forever. My advice: make few life entrenching decisions or committments before age 25. Or 30.

Katie: Has blog, does not post much. It looks like she does it about every 21 days, so I'm expecting another on or around December 15. Katie graces us more with her comments to blogville than with actual posts. Thanks, Katie.

Chris: Another one that I learn more about from what he writes than what I hear him speak.

Zach: Has sermon, will preach. Amen.

Sarah: Infrequent poster, always something interesting to say. I'm still trying to draw connections between the AndyGriffith-hardcorechristian-SituationalEthics-MillerHighLife-BoiledCookies post.

Nick: Well . . . he isn't a student here anymore but it seems Nick is still here.

That's all the choir blogs that I know about. Can anyone supply me with others that I'm missing?

Late Nite Trials, Tribulations, and Resolutions

Here is a new abbreviation for you: CIO.

It stands for Crying It Out and it is a strategy(??) parents use to teach their children how to sleep through the night. After making sure that the children aren't in any particular pain or terror, the parents let the children cry until they become exhausted and fall asleep.

It isn't fun. For Parents of Multiples, it is a bit more difficult for obvious reasons . . . the child who can't sleep and must CIO wakes up the child who can sleep and it snowballs into multiple CIO experiences. Claire and Caroline are both quite skilled at CIO while Catherine somehow finds it within herself to sleep through it all. I can't decide whether I am more impressed with Claire, who can scream very loudly without growing weary of the exercise or with Catherine, who is oblivious to it all.

Leigh and I do our best to get through the night. To comfort myself, I read a little about the CIO method and found this article. The main point: A mental health expert warns that fashionable advice to ignore your child's tears may cause lifelong harm.

Great.

On to the triplet website, where I found our precise situation duplicated here. At least I found a bit of comfort there, in spite of what the study with brain scans tells me about the damage I'm doing to my daughters.

So what does this have to do with choir?

Good question . . . the thing is, even after the girls went to sleep I was still awake running over the today's rehearsal in my head. What started so well had a few tense momentsm (well, one) that i had trouble figuring out .

There is a danger in the "open exchange" rehearsal style that I use and we/I found it today. It isn't worth dwelling on or rehashing and it really wasn't that big of a deal in the end. I spoke with the people I needed to speak and we arrived at a mutual understanding of the factors that played into the moment.

The bottom line: Choir rehearsals are collaborative works where humans exhibit natural emotions and frustrations in the process of making something worthwhile (creating art). The proper response from any momentary frustration or conflict is to gain wisdom and knowledge from the experience and to move forward with grace, knowledge, and a redefined purpose.

And, now, a poetic link: we are the music makers of the world.

How and Where to Get a US Passport

Choir--the ones going to France this summer (and it isn't too late for the rest of you!),

WHO: those going to France.

WHAT: a passport-necessary travel document to leave our blessed USA. This link takes you to a website that gives an overview about how to get a US Passport and this site directs you to places that really spell it all out.

WHEN: although we don't leave until May 18, we need to get things together now. A passportis absolutely necessary to go to France!

WHERE: By clicking here, you can find a passport acceptance facility. It isn't hard, but you need to act soon!

Dr. McCoy speaks about us to others

One of my former students is doing his doctoral work with Dr. McCoy.

I got this email from him today:

Dr. Copeland,

Hey there, just had a meeting with Dr. McCoy and he mentioned that heard a number of groups from Al. this weekend - he said with great enthusiasm that your group was by far the best, and he was very impressed with your work. I am not sure if he mentioned this to you - but I thought that I would pass that along. It's good to know!

It'd be great to see you in L.A. and catch up.

Congratulations and continued success to you,

Joshua

Isn't that nice to hear?

Email from Dr. McCoy

I thought you'd be interested to see this excerpt about you in an email to me from Dr. McCoy:

Your choir sings with beauty of tone, richness of color, rhythmic clarity and an understanding of the issues of communcation. I was very taken with them! You are doing dynamite work with the choir.

I hope to see you in LA.

Jerry McCoy

Dr. Jerry McCoy
Director of Choral Studies
College of Music
University of North Texas

links to pictures!

pics of you for you: (links to my uab website)

Large 1.8 meg
Fairly large
Smaller
Long

did anyone get pictures from our last concert?

College Choir Festival

Choir,

Here are some observations, insights and other pieces of information about our performance yesterday in no particular order.

Overall: I thought we did a great job on all three pieces yesterday.
Breaking it down: Alleluia.
Somehow, we went higher (sharp) on Alleluia right at the very beginning. Erin says she gave the right pitch and I believe her. Perhaps it was just a perception problem on my part, but i thought we were a half step sharp all the way through. At first i was petrified--but then i realized you were singing it perfectly even though it was higher than usual. Bottom line: you compensated like a champion.

Breaking it down: Salmo.
FABULOUS. Our most difficult piece performed extremely well. You followed me in every way and i thought we made some great music. I think this is the work we are performing the best right now.

Breaking it down: Whole World.
Great job. Great pitch, great energy. We might be a little fast on part of it according to a couple of comments i received, but that is more my problem than yours. We'll evaluate and figure it out later.

Comments from Dr. Jerry McCoy. In case you couldn't tell, Dr. McCoy was incredibly impressed with what you were doing and who you were. He frequently commented on the high difficulty level of the music we were singing--i sent him a copy of Salmo yesterday evening at his request. His remarks to us were different from the remarks he gave most other choirs, in my opinion. We'll dissect those in our next rehearsal and decide their validity to what we do next.

Right after our performance, he asked me if i had ever submitted anything to the Regional ACDA conventions and wondered if i was interested in performing at a convention. And the truth is, it is my major goal this year and next--we will submit a recording and application in April and hope for an inviation to the Southern Regional Convention for 2006. His question really made my day--i think it was validation that we are performing at a very high level.

He also told me that i was a lucky young man to have a choir like you at an age like mine. As I've told you many times, I'm reminded of my good fortune daily . . . and I'm humbled to get to work with a students like you.

Other comments:
Several people gave great compliments. Paul McGahie, who was complimentary of our performance last year, told me that we sounded like a "professional choir." I really appreciate that--we college choir directors are a pretty competitive bunch and i really appreciate that accolade. Several students from other schools spoke to me with words like "awesome" and other high-praise words of your generation.

I look forward to hearing the comments that you received from others and what you thought about the performance. Please post . . . and tell your choir friends to post!

A Magical Day

Wow. What a tremendous rehearsal yesterday (last Wednesday). Im not exactly sure why everything worked the way that it did, but the end result was fantastic.

Here is what I remember:

What I did: I spent several hours the previous day listening to our recording. I knew exactly where the trouble spots were and I typed my notes out to you so that you could make comments in your music and know precisely what I wanted to fix.

What you did:

1. People listened!
On Salmo, the blend was superb as people listened more dosely than ever before to exact pitch. We finally personified the definition of blend: exact same note, exact same pitch and exact same volume.

2. The McNeil effect:
We witnessed a spectacular transformation in Jonathan McNeil's tone and Volume yesterday. I've heard Jonathan sing like thct before in opera. Yesterday, he gave us the benefit of that training and expertise.

And then- all the men modeled his sound and the overall tonewas just incredible. And it just got better- the rest of the choir picked up the idea and 47 people made enough small adjustments to what they were already doing that a radical new creation emerged from what was already quite good.

And it all went back to one person- Jonathan Mc Neil. Yesterday, he gave a little more effort/volume than usual and the Choir was transformed.

Will you be that person in our next rehearsal?

Zach and the Wise Man

Remember that brief discussion about the wise man loving reproof . . . or reproach? Well, I've not been able to determine whether Zach was right with his "reproach" comment or me with my "reproof" thought . . . but here is a link that discusses the essence of proverbs, the wise man, and one who appreciates instruction and correction.

I've not been able to find what i thought i was quoting . . . so i must have made it all up in some sort of mind jumble. I think I had the essence of the truth correct: the wise person loves to be corrected because it increases their knowledge.

So . . . take that thought with you today and I'll give you more choir corrections tomorrow.

Peace!

Random Thoughts

Great rehearsal last week, choirs, and I'm looking forward to Sunday at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. Remember, practice driving there--those roads in MB are quirky.

Radio show free download. Would you like to listen/download the wierd show I listen to at night? They are having a free MP3 download event this weekend. Topics include: 9-11 Enigmas, UFOs, Aliens & Underground Bases; Near Death Accounts; End Times Visions; and Investigating Skull & Bones.

Fall Concert: Since we are only doing one long set, I'm going to eliminate "I Have Had Singing" from the concert, even though we have it memorized. I'll give you a copy of the program next week. Chamber Singers will begin, followed by Women's Chorale, followed by Concert Choir.

Family Success: My sister-in-law just called and they are tailgating next to the Manning's at Ole Miss this weekend. She says they are all there--Archie, Peyton, Eli and the rest. Amy (Leigh's sister) has had a great week. She found out yesterday that she won a 2005 GMC Envoy. She's a drug rep for Abbott Laboratories and this was a national promotional for the person that sells the most drugs . . . we're very proud of her. Congratulations, Amy!

OK, that's it. It seems my blog to the choir occasionally explores family and other completely unrelated matters. I guess it is because you are an important group of people to me. Blessings to all!

Proud Father and More

All of you know about my girls, Catherine, Caroline, and Claire.

I just posted a recent picture of them on my website in case you'd like to see it. I'm incredibly proud of these girls. Tonight's victory was that we all climbed down the steps without falling.

Claire, technically the youngest and definitely the fattest, is the best climber. She's the one in the lower part of the picture. Catherine is her identical twin sister and she is doing OK with descending the stairs. Caroline was the slowest in getting down the stairs by herself. She was doing OK a couple of weeks ago in the descending mode before a nasty collision with Catherine who was on her way "up" the stairs.

Did you know that we multiple parents have online support groups? On this website, you can find fascinating discussions about White Cloud (walmart brand) diapers, new triplet moms, and even discussions about avoiding perverts who seek pictures of women with large pregnant bellies.

I think the neatest thing that i have seen in the past several days is this picture of the Hayes sextuplets. The six children - three boys and three girls - weighed a total of 24 pounds and 14 ounces, a world record for the heaviest set of sextuplets. All i can say is: wow.

And you thought this blog was just about choir?

Tag Change

Following up on Charles' suggestion, the tag line to our "blog" now reads:

"the best singers performing the greatest music of all time"

It used to be:

"the best singers in Alabama performing the greatest music of all time"

Charles' first suggestion was:

"the best singer of all time (charles henry) and the best singers in Alabama performing the greatest music of all time"

Thanks, Charles, for letting me slightly modify your first suggestion.


of course, that last part was a joke . . .

Pictures, Promotions, Posters and a Press Release

To those who might be interested, we've got a press release out on the UAB webpage for our concert on October 24. It's got one picture from one of our performances in the Alys Stephens Center and two from the brief concert we did for the UAB Alumni. Pretty cool, huh?

I especially like this picture. I think I will print it somewhere and use it for other promotional purposes this year.

It is time to start TALKING UP our concert on Sunday, October 24. On Tuesday, I will have posters ready for you to distribute across town. I'd like you to put them in your dorms, churches, high schools, etc. I would love 1500 people to attend our concert on Sunday. Is it possible? I don't know . . . it's up to us to get the word out!

Trips, Choir, and Friendships

Choir,

First, thanks for a great three rehearsals last week. We are doing well and progressing towards our goal.

As most of you know, Leigh and I went on a weekend trip to Louisville with our friends Joey and Jennifer. Louisville is a great place to visit and an even better place to live. Here are a couple of highlights:

• The Brown Hotel (where we stayed)
• Breakfast at Lynns Paradise Cafe
• Actor's Theater: we saw the play called The Miser, an adaptation of Moliere's play. (i liked it, but here is a so-so review)
• We went to a comedy club . . . something we rarely do. The comedian was hilarious--Scotty K. The wierd part was that this guy lives around the corner from us here in Birmingham! He even has a graduate degree in counseling from UAB and anundergrad degree from Samford. Strange, huh?

Anyway, my point in telling you about the trip is this:

Joey and Jennifer and Leigh and myself were all once members of the choir at Ole Miss. Joey and I were in the choir together for only one semester. We became friends in Louisville and had the common Ole Miss choir bond between us all.

College choir can be a very special part of your life, if you haven't figured that out yet. You will definitely meet many great people in your college choir--especially our college choir. If you stay in it long enough, you may get a chance to visit some of the most famous cities of the world and sing in the world's greatest cathedrals. You might even meet the person you will marry and have children with in choir. I did . . . and so did Joey and Jennifer. So watch out--it can happen.

Anyway, the Wilkinson's had great things to say about you in the rehearsal they observed on Thursday. Thanks for your great attention and great singing.