OLD BUT NEW (FOR ME)

I have found a treasure of a choral techniques book. I was browsing through ebay looking at 16th century music manuscripts that were being sold, and I stumbles upon a book titled "The Art of the Choral Conductor" written by Father William J Finn and published in 1939. It covers some wonderful topics like: Choral Musicianship, Accurate Pitch, Dramatic Voices, The Color Scheme, Changing voices and Men's Voices, Blend and Balance of Parts, Diction, Sightreading and more. I looked through some of the chapters and found that some of the chapters contain more information on some topics in the book than most choral technique books do today.

Eventhough the book is old, I find it a treasure to look into the type of training that choral conductors sought 60+ years ago. I also believe that the U.S. has a superb history of choral music and I think all conductors should know as much about U.S. choral music and the history of the conductors that come before us.

Here is a brief part of Father William J Finn's Biography I found online:

The best U.S. interpreter of Palestrina is an Irish-American named Father William J. Finn, former choirmaster of Manhattan's Church of St. Paul the Apostle, who has behind him nearly 50 years of high musical achievement.

To read more about Father William J Finn check out the following Link:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791586,00.html

I'm glad I found this book from a 65 year old lady in West Virginia, and even though the book has only some pencil underlining it is in great shape. It also has a handwritten list of the chapters that the previous owner was tested on while in undergraduate school on the east coast.

:)

Expressive Choral Singing

In Choral Rehearsals I have seen multiple Choral Conductors use words to get their choirs to show emotions for a phrase or a word in a piece of choral music. An example would be when a conductor tells his/her choir to feel “longing” for a phrase or “loss” for this phrase. Then there is times when conductors use scenes to get emotive singing from their choirs, for instance; when a conductor says “to end this phrase make it as if it were a sunset with the sun slowly fading, then its gone”. This can work well for some choirs, but my main thought is that not every has seen the same sunset(s), not everyone feel longing or loss in the same ways.

Since thnking about all this I have come up with some variations on what conductors can do in a rehearsal to help get emotive singing from their choir(s). For a sunset “ending of a phrse”, literally blow up a COLOR picture of a sunset or use a video (with no sound) to show to your choir, and as they see this, read them a poem and use it as an example of how to give a “sunset ending”. Another one of my ideas would be for emotion would be; play a movie without sound ( a love scene or death scene, etc) and have the choir sing their (love emotions or loss emotions) while watching the scene (as if the choir was the soundtrack).

These can be useful to help gain expressive/artistic/emotive singing from a HS/MS/College and possibly a professional/community choir. It wouldnt hurt to try something new. I have seen it work well at the college level. I also have more example that can be used in a choral rehearsal. I just feel that saying (sing this phrase with the color red or brown or purple, etc) can only go so far. Unison Expression in a Choir is what a group is about.

Choral Intonation (Listen Closely....)

I listen to an astonishing amount of choral music. This music involves tons of different ensembles, conductors, and types of music. In all of this listening/learning I tend to listen for specific things, but more often I listen for CHORAL INTONATION.
I believe that as a conductor this is what we all try to master. Depending on your group and the style of music, your intonation will change to fit the style. Well in my search to find the best sounding choirs I can listen to, I have come to realize that the best sounding choirs have 1 element that helps make the ensemble intonation sound amazing, and most people probably overlook this when listening to choral groups. For Example; Dale Warland Singers are known througout the United States as “An Amazing Choir” especially their sound. University of Miami Frost Chorale directed by Dr. Jo-michael Scheibe i believe is one of the best choral groups at the collegiate level. Other choirs would be Ars Nova Singers (Thomas Morgan), The Esoterics (Dr. Eric Banks), Choir of the West (Dr. Richard Sparks), Seattle Pro Musica (Karen P. Thompson), University of Michigan Choirs (Jerry Blackstone), BYU Singers (Dr. Ronald Staheli) etc.
What I have determined by all this is that all the best sounding choirs have conductors who are composers or arrangers/editors. I believe that with those skills comes the ability of giving finer detail to Choral Intonation then conductors with conducting degrees. Now, dont get me wrong there are amazing choral conductors who are not prolific composers/arrangers in the United States that I have heard and greatly admire; Dr. Richard Sparks (Choral Arts NW, Pro Coro Canada), Dr. Joe Miller (Westminster Choir College), Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars), Dr. Greg Vancil (Seattle Bach Choir), and there are a few more.
So just a thought that if you listen closely to a choir conducted someone who works as a composer/arranger, and then listen to the same song conducted by a different choir with a conductor who does not compose or arrange music you will notice the difference in Choral Intonation (with some exception to the great Choral Conductors listed above (sparks, Vancil, Phillips, etc).
But all of those conductors that I have listed are what I define as the best choral directors.

alittle more about me

Growing up since I was 5 years old listening to choral music like; Palestina’s Adoramus Te, Mozarts Requiem, Gregorian Chant, Anton Bruckner’s music, and Thomas Tallis’s music. All of this music grew to me becoming a choral conductor. I consider these composers/choral pieces to define me today.
I am currently working on my BME (choral) degree, and eventhough I am not (yet) extremely knowledge-able about all choral music, I do however work hard to become the most knowledge-able. I have a physical Choral Music Library of 1,100+ and adding more every week. I even have a Music Library that has many choral music books; The Swedish Choral Miracle (Sparks), Choral Ensemble Intonation (Jordon), Conducting Choral Music (Garretson), and so on (45 Books Total). Even my Choral Mp3 Collection is LARGE. I have Dale Warland Singers CD’s, Eric Whitacre’s Songs, Morten Lauridsen Songs, Renaissance Choral Music, Swedish Radio Choir Cd’s, Tallis Scholars, and many many more (2315+).
I am a full believer of the art of Choral Conducting, how choral music can inspire people, build confidence, develope amazing artistry, and share cultural heritage’s of the world.
These are my philosophies and I hope to share more with you, and you share with me.