Drop Off Box

On my way to drop off my project report (known to some as a "thesis") over a week ago... I did document it.

Sir Michael Tippett

My comprehensive exams are at the end of April.  One of the things I really need to work on is my score identification.  I can give a general idea of what time period a work is from (and loosely tell why), but I would like to be more confident and, well, more specific.  I am also trying to determine what traits certain composers have.

Right now I am listening to Sir Michael Tippett.  Trying to determine what I think the characteristics are that define him.  I really like his oratorio A Child of our Time.   A lot of his other stuff that I have heard so far is a little more jarring.  Even his folk tunes are at times contrapuntal and take me more than one listen to be able to hum.

I spent some time with Dvorak today as well.  Stabat mater, appropriate for Good Friday, is so beautiful, especially the opening (and the last movement).  The ascending F#s and the weeping, descending motif.  It really is a bit like crying.  I also love the alto aria Inflammatus.  The opening is so Baroque, and I am a sucker for Baroque music.  I will need to listen to more of Dvorak's music.  I also need to figure out what characteristics his music has.

Spring break will include some relaxation and some studying for comprehensive exams.

The Arrow & The Song

We finished our concert with a piece by Joshua Shank titled "The Arrow & The Song."  The text is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

While the key signature says E major, the addition of A sharp makes it sound in E Lydian.  The piece is simple but effective.  The women in choir learned it quickly.  It is easy to make this song expressive and Josh sets up the build of the piece really well.  Important words are easy to move into and hear because of the way he set it.  

The form is ABA'B'A Coda.  The ladies memorized it quickly and there are so many concepts one could address in this piece.  It really has many teachable concepts.  I will not go into detail of how to teach them, but here are just a few concepts one could address: Vowel modification, color, expressive following of the conductor, word stress, intonation/listening, legato, contrasting dynamics, and supported singing through a diminuendo.  I have found that this piece lends itself well to may healthy vocal concepts.

I knew Josh, although not well, in undergrad.  I still remember enjoying his senior recital immensely.  And it is pretty obvious that he understands how to write for voices.  He was not a composition major in undergraduate, but he studied voice and music education.  I think it is evident in his writing he understands what voices can and cannot do.

Text:

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroken;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

Song of Perfect Propriety

The concert was last Sunday, but I will continue on with the programming.

The next piece was entitled "Song of Perfect Propriety."  The composer is Carol Barnett and it is an SSA arrangement with piano.  I looked at the piece last year and was intrigued by it, but was hesitant to program it for two reasons.  The first reason was that the piece is difficult.  The second reason was that the piece is a little outside the box.

I have been confused by the tonality.  Perhaps those better at theory would have a better guess than me.  There are no flats or sharps in the key signature.  The first couple of measures are in D minor and proceeds to touch base with D minor throughout the piece, but often does not stay in D minor.  It ends in D major- sort of.  Except for the last crunch chord of the piano which contains a D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, and C.  Phrygian based on D?  With all the tonality confusion, there is little wonder why the singers have difficult lines.  Combine the difficult notes with ever changing rhythm.  This piece is through composed;  in some ways, this makes the piece easier.  The singers are telling a story (text is below) and while there are stanzas in the poetry, each one has such a distinct character that there is no need to repeat music.

Let me briefly comment on the text.  It is a bit jarring.  Written by feminist Dorothy Parker, it is from the view of a woman who is forced to be in a certain societal role, well-behaved and writing sweet verses.  However, what she really wants is to be a ruthless pirate.  Dorothy Parker means for the text to be sarcastic, but she was highlighting the chains that held some women back from what they wanted to be.

This piece is fun.  It has interesting changes in color.  The color changes with the voice of the woman, depending on if she is being the blood thirsty pirate or the well-mannered lady.  The "pirate" character is a bit more forceful, less polish in the sound.  Carol Barnett writes excellent word painting.  On the word "laugh," she writes four notes with a staccato marking, as if the singers were laughing.  She uses glissandos, articulation, dynamics, intentional consonants, and creative rhythms to pull out the character.  There is even a bit of stomping.

This piece is outside of the box, but I am very glad I programmed it.

Text:
Oh, I should like to ride the seas,
a roaring buccaneer;
A cutlass banging at my knees,
a dirk behind my ear.
And when my captives' chains would clank
I'd howl with glee and drink,
And then fling out the quivering plank
And watch the beggars sink.

I'd like to straddle gory decks,
and dig in laden sands,
And know the feel of throbbing necks
between my knotted hands.
Oh, I should like to strut and curse
Among my blackguard crew...
But I am writing little verse,
as little ladies do.

Oh, I should like to dance and laugh
And pose and preen and sway,
And rip the hearts of men in half,
And toss the bits away.
I'd like to view the reeling years
Through unastonished eyes,
And dip my finger-tips in tears,
And give my smiles for sighs.

I'd stroll beyond the ancient bounds,
And tap at fastened gates,
And hear the prettiest of sounds,--
The clink of shattered fates.
My slaves I'd like to bind with thongs,
That cut and burn and chill...
But I am writing little songs,
As little ladies will.

May

The next piece is actually the third of a set we did first semester.  The set is entitled Three Spanish Ballades.  The third of the set, "May," is to be taken at the tempo of 100.  A lilting, light 6/8 feel creates  the feeling that May is indeed coming into being.

The composer is Eugene Butler.  He based the entire set on "traditional Spanish poetry."  I have not been able to find out anything about this.  I have e-mailed various publishers and tried to find information about the text or contact information for Eugene Butler, but have not gotten anywhere.

"May" is in E major and does not wander into another key.  It vacillates between I and IV chords during the refrain.  There is a moment, in measure 12, when the choir sings a F major and D major chord.  However, at no point does it seem as if there will be a modulation to a different key.

How do I view this piece?  Why did I choose it?  Well, it's part of a larger set that emulates a Spanish style of music.  It's good repertoire for women's chorus.  It is not terribly difficult; the entire set is not difficult at all.  However, there are moments that can and should be made musical.  It's a good piece with which to teach various concepts.

Dynamically the piece starts at mf and builds to the end.

Text: April goes out as May comes in, how graceful I saw her come in.  April goes out as May comes in, how graceful she came in.  May comes in with her flowers, April goes out with her lovers, and the gentle adorers the mission of love begin!

Veni Domine

Felix Mendelssohn, like Brahms, wrote music for women's voices.  He didn't write a piece and then adapt it for women's voices.  No.  This was for women's voices.  Well, women's voices in the church.

Veni Domine is Opus 39, no. 1.  The women's chorus is just singing this first movement.  It has three sections (ABA, loosely).  G minor to Bb major then back to G minor.  The middle section I made a trio so that the ladies had one less thing to learn.

Veni Domine is a call to worship.  Veni Domine means "Come, Lord."  It's inviting the Lord to be with the people (and quickly!), and asks the Lord to forgive the wrong doing of the people.

The trick to making this piece really "sing" is to use vary the dynamics.  There are lots of repeated phrases and the singers (and conductor) should acknowledge through the music that these repeated phrases are not the same.  They need to be different.  There is some push and pull on the tempo, but not nearly as dramatic as the dynamics.

There is a lot of pull within the texture because of the suspensions and resolutions.  Rhythm helps with this as well.

This is the second piece of our program.  It ends with a picardy third, making it a G major chord.

Text and Translation:

Veni Domine et nolitardare.

Relaxa facinora plebi tuae

et revoca disperses in terram tuam.

Excita Domine potentiam tuam.

et veni, ut salvos non facias. 

Come Lord and do not delay.

Forgive the wrong doing of your people,

and recall the scattered to You, Lord.

Raise up your power, Lord,

and come save us.

Day Break

Concert Opener

Day Break by Stephen Paulus

Text:
Day Breaks- the day breaks- the first rays of the rising Sun, stretching her arms.
Daylight breaking, as the Sun rises to her feet.
Sun rising, scattering the darkness, lighting up the land... with disk shining, bringing daylight, lighting up the land.
People are talking, moving about, feeling the warmth.
Burning through the gorge she rises walking westwards,
wearing her waistband of human hair.
She shines on the blossoming coolibah tree, with its sprawling roots, its branches spreading; She shines!

This piece opens our concert.  Makes sense, right?  Day Break.  The piece is the first in a cycle of three entitled Songs Eternity, but we are only doing this one.  It might have been kind of neat to do the entire cycle, but I wouldn't have known what to cut from our program.  The second piece is entitled "Sea and Sky" while the third one is entitled "Wind and Sun."  For SSA chorus and percussion.  We are not using percussion at our Benefit concert.

The piece was premiered in 1997 by the Young Singers of Callanwolde, a group based in Atlanta, Georgia.  This is an organization that bring music education to children in grades 2-12.

The text comes from an unknown source who was a part of an aboriginal tribe in northern Australia.  It seems that the original poetry is a little different than what is sung in the song.

Poetry: At daybreak, the rising sun stretches her arms.  At daybreak, the goddess rises to her feet.  She rises, driving out darkness from the land.  She rises, bringing daylight and birdsong to the land.  Beneath  her, we move about, enjoying her warmth.  Above us, she moves about, walking westward.  She shines bright on the blooming coolibah tree, with its sparwling roots, with its spread branches.

Day Break is set up really into three sections.  There is an A, B, and C melody.  At the end of the piece, the three melodies are sung at the same time by the choir.  I think one of the striking things about this piece is that it seems through composed, until you hear the three melodies come back at the end.  There is a return of the A melody after the C section.  This is about ten measures in length and is similar to the A section from earlier, except the piano accompaniment becomes quite different as the ten measures progress.

Accents, sforzandos, and legato articulations are three very important things in this piece.  It helps distinguish each section and adds color to the text.

The climax of the piece?  In the very last measure.  The music builds in both thickness of texture and dynamically until the very last measure.

As a word of caution, the accompaniment is not easy.  This requires an extremely steady tempo.

TED

Awhile ago- I don't even remember if it was this semester or last- my teacher told us we were going to sing at a TED talk with two other choirs in the area.  Two other outstanding choirs.  Total of about 100 singers.  We would be conducted by Eric Whitacre.

So this is a brief account of the rehearsal and performance.

Thursday we had a 4-6 PM rehearsal at my school with the two other choirs.  Whitacre was there to conduct and lead us.  He had us change a few things, but really, it was all about watching him and responding to what he wanted us to do musically.  There were times he would ask us to sing things a certain way and he would use one word to describe the feeling.  Although, off hand I can't remember the words.  I only remember the sound that he wanted.  

After that rehearsal, we had a rehearsal at the Convention Center.  We were told to be there at 7, however when we got there, the event staff wouldn't let us in.  We were not supposed to be there until 7:35.  Eventually they let us in- in groups of 30 at a time, after they gave us our name tags.  Then we waited around a bit longer while the staff set up the stage with risers and percussive equipment.  

As we waited, the virtual singers (32 of them from across the world) started to appear on the big screen via Skype.  The camera would point to us at times and we would wave and smile, and the people on Skype would wave and smile, as well as hold signs that said things such as, "Hello from Brasil" or "Wave for screenshot."

We rehearsed.  I played handbells, which was great!  My friend Beth was selected for the short, two measure soprano solo.  There was another solo (a bass solo) and the singer was also from my school.  I was so proud of both of them.  We first rehearsed fairly briefly by ourselves.  Then the virtual choir joined us.  Sound was fiddled with (less virtual choir, more rain drops, less thunder, etc).  It was fun and I would have loved to hear what Eric Whitacre heard standing on that stage.  Or I would have loved to hear what the other directors heard as they sat in the auditorium.  My teacher said it was so overwhelming, he even teared up a little.  

The next day our call time was 11 AM.  Well, first it was 10 AM.  Then it was 9 AM.  Then they said it was 11 AM, but we were supposed to go on stage at 11:05 AM.  At least, that's what they told us.  So we all got there at 10:50 and then were brought into a holding room.  There we waited until 12:15.  We lined up to go up to the stage and waited back stage about another 20 minutes.  I was surprised that an organization like TED wasn't a little more timely.  We eventually made it onto the stage.  Then proceeded to listen to another 20 minutes of speeches.  

But finally we were able to sing with the virtual choir.  It was an amazing experience.  It was also the very end of the conference- the grand finale.  At least, I like to think of it as that.  

What an amazing thing- to sing with 100 people on stage and 32 virtual singers from around the world. Whitacre was thrilled and the audience was impressed.  The audience, by the way, included people like Al Gore and Cameron Diaz.  Not there together.

I would have desired to know who the virtual singers are.  There is something magical about making music with a group of people- especially good music.  And I feel a little sad that I do not know who joined us on stage via Skype.

It was a great experience and one I will likely be excited about for some time to come.  I like TED talks and to be able to participate on stage?  That's really a cool opportunity.