The Art of Choral Conducting

This is a video that I stumbled upon online, which features several different points of view (from conductors) about The Art of Choral Conducting

I will let the video speak for itself.

http://www.s12.si/kultura-umetnost/izven-okvirja/707-the-art-of-choral-conducting

The Concert of Honor part #2

Well, after two months of searching for a location (church of school) to have my Choir Project rehearsal, we hit a road block. All churches are too busy or do not have the time or space to allocate for this project.

I unfortunately have decided to put the project on hold until June (when I can pick up the search for a church space again). I do not want to have this project cost $40-50 per singer (to rent a space and buy their music), I rather find free (donated rehearsal space) to keep the costs down to $20 per singer. Keeping that in mind, I also feel that the cost of this project to each singer will either harm the number of singers I can get (I already have 25-30, but I need 45-50).

Further information on this project will come to light in my next post.

Thank you

A concert of HONOR

I am embarking on a project that is very close to my heart. The project is to form a mixed choir to perform a concert (in July or August). Now I know that I am not fully-trained yet as a choral conductor, but I am putting for a great effort, because this concert is to honor my mother (Darlene Davis) since she passed away on March 20th 2010 with cancer.

I realize that it will be a tough process to get the choir prepared for the music, since my rehearsal skills (outside of being a section leader) are at a beginning conductors level.
So far the process has been somewhat smooth. I have found 25-30 singers, and will continue to seek another 10-15 singers (for a near total of 45). I have begun to score study the music (with rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks (rehearsing weekly on sunday evenings from 6-8) with music that will be at a medium level, because my choir is new and a lot of singers have not sung in a couple of years (all singers ranging in age from 18-27).
Now to aquire a rehearsal space is still an obstacle. I have called and asked a dozen churches if they could host this choir project only until our concert (and then the choir will dissolve), but I have been met with "NO" from all of them.

However, if luck is on my side, today I will have a church to host these choir rehearsals.
Also, since I am a young/beginner conductor, I have found that asking for advice from my professors at Pacific Lutheran University, and other conductors I have met over the past 10 years has been rather helpful. Advice for choral literature, rehearsal techniques and forming a program, has been the main focus of these conversations. Now, I just hope everything can fall into place, so the choir and I can begin this "Choral Journey".

New Website

My new Website www.alanmusic.com is officially launched.

I have a section for my video series "The American Choral Journey" and a section for the Grad Schools with NEW links (for all those that want to research graduate choral conducting programs).

I hope you all enjoy my new site, and I will be posting my blogs on both my NEW site and this blog (until I get everything completely moved over).


Thank you.

What we say....

I have in my many years as a choral singer performed under the direction of 12 different conductors. Each conductor has their own style and all get great sounds out of their choirs. However when I was observing some student conductors lately who were rehearsing choirs, I found them saying (more often than not) a lot of contradictory comments to the choirs. Here are some examples:

Choir finishes singing through a piece and the student conductor says
"Ok, soprano's, this next time through the piece could you FOLD into the sound without singing QUIETER.

After the student said that and then moved forward with the rehearsal I began to think about what was asked of the sopranos.
1. They were asked to FOLD into the sound. Folding, usually consists of diminished something by halves or fourths (depending on how you would fold a napkin).
2. They were asked to NOT sing QUIETER in order to blend with the choir (which I believe not singing quieter and yet folding the sound are contradictory to one another).

After observing some more student conductors I found a lot more contradictory comments. This lead me to ask myself,
how often do we sit back as conductors and analyze what we say to our choirs and if what we say is being understood (the way we want it to be)?

Choral Music Poll

I have created a poll based on the percentage of choral music that high school choir directors program for their choirs.

Choral Music Percentage Poll

If you have taught or currently teach high school choirs please go to the above link and fill out the form.

I am using this data to write a paper.


Thank You. Also after I collect a significant amount of data I will share it with all of you.

Grad School for MM in Choral Conducting

This is a compiled list of some of the Masters ONLY programs in Choral Conducting. These programs do not give out Doctoral Degrees.

Westminster Choir College:
Professors:

Dr. Joe Miller - Director of Choral Activities; BME Univ of Tennessee, MM & DMA Univ of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

Dr. James Jordon - Associate Professor of Choral music; MM & PHD Temple Univ

http://www.rider.edu/864_4010.htm

Northern Arizona Univerity:
Professors:

Dr. Edith Copley - Director of Choral Acitivies; BME Luther College, Mm & DMA Univ of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music

Dr. Ryan Holder - Associate Director of Choral Activities; holds bachelors and masters degrees from Southern Oregon University and University of Northern Colorado

http://www.cal.nau.edu/music/grdchoral.asp

Brigham Young University:
Professors:

Dr. Ronald Staheli - Director of Choral Activities; BA from BYU, MM & DMA Univ of Southern California

http://music.byu.edu/index.php?id=477

Temple University:
Professors:

Dr. Alan Harler - Director of Choral Activities

Dr. Rollo Dillworth - Associate Professor of Choral Music Education; DMA Northwestern Univ

http://www.temple.edu/gradbulletin/boyer/choral_conducting_mm.htm

University of Denver:
Professors:

Dr. Catherine Sailer - Director of Choral Activities; BM & MM Univ of Denver, DMA Northwestern Univ

http://www.du.edu/ahss/schools/lamont/programs/graduate/conducting/mm-choral.html

Portland State University:
Professors:

Dr. Stephen Coker - Director of Choral Activities; BME & MM from OCU, DMA Univ of Southern California

http://www.pdx.edu/music/graduate


Western Washington University:
Professors:

Dr. Leslie Guelker-Cone - Director of Choral Activities; BA California State Univ, MM San Jose State Univ, DMA Univ of Colorado Boulder

Tim Fitzpatrick - Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education; BM & MM Western Washington Univ, MM in Piano Pedagogy Univ of Texas

http://www.wwu.edu/music/areas/voice.shtml

Choral Conducting Graduate Programs.

ON August 22,2009 I compiled this updated list of most of the Doctoral Choral Conducting Graduate Programs in the United States. They all have links to their university pages. I will be coming up with a list of schools that ONLY grant Masters Degrees in Choral Conducting soon.

Hope this list is Helpful.

DMA Choral Conducting Programs

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor:
Professors:
Dr. Jerry Blackstone – Director of Choral Activities; BM Wheaton College, MM Indiana U, DMA Univ of Southern California
Dr. Paul Rardin – Associate Professor of Choral Conducting; BM Williams College, MM & DMA Univ of Michigan
http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/conducting/index.htm

University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign
Professors:
Dr. Fred Stoltzfus – Chair/Professor of Choral Music; BA Goshen College, DMA Univ of Iowa
Dr. Charles Awles – Associate Professor of Choral Music; BA Hanover College, MSM Union Theology Seminary, DMA Univ of Illinois
http://www.music.uiuc.edu/academicsConducting.php

University of North Texas:
Professors:
Dr. Jerry McCoy – Director of Choral Activities; BME Univ of Texas Arlington, MM & DMA Univ of Texas Austin
Dr. Alan McClung – Associate Professor of Choral Music; BME West Virginia Univ, MM Univ of Illinois, PHD in Choral Music Florida State Univ
Henry Gibson – Associate Professor of Choral Music -He received his early training at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and holds the artist diploma from the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, Germany
http://www.music.unt.edu/choral/


Arizona State University:
Professors:
Dr. David Schildkret – Professor of Choral Music; BA Rutgers, MM & DMA Indian Univ
Dr. Gregory Gentry – Assistant Professor of Choral Music; BME Univ of Denver, MM & DMA Univ of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music
http://music.asu.edu/choirs/

University of Arizona:
Professors:
Dr. Bruce Chamberlain – Director of Choral Activities; BME, MM & DMA Indiana Univ
Dr. Elizabeth Schauer – Associate Director of Choral Activities; BME Univ of Michigan, MM Westminster Choir College, DMA Univ of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/sites/choral/

University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music:
Professors:
Dr. Charles Robinson – Professor of Choral Music/Education; BME Florida State Univ, MM CSU Long Beach, PHD in Choral Music Education Florida State Univ
http://conservatory.umkc.edu/the_conservatory/conducting.aspx

Indiana University Jacob School of Music:
Professors:
Dr. Jan Harrington – Professor Emeritus of Choral Music; BM Southern Methodist Univ, MM & DMA Indian Univ
Dr. William Jon Gary – Director of Choral Studies: BME new England Conservatory, DMA Indiana Univ
http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/choral/index.shtml

Michigan State University:
Professors:
Dr. David Rayl – Director of Choral Activities; BM Illinois Wesleyan Univ, MM Univ of Oklahoma, DMA Univ of Iowa
Dr. Jonathan Reed – Associate Director of Choral Activities;
Dr. Sandra Snow – Professor of Music Education/Choral Conducting;
http://dev.music.msu.edu/study/conducting.php?study_conducting

University of Oklahoma:
Professors:
Dr. Richard Zeilinski – Director of Choral Activities;
http://music.ou.edu/choirs/OU_CHOIRS/Home.html

University of North Carolina – Greensboro:
Professors:
Dr. Welborn Young – Director of Choral Activities; BME & MA Middle Tennessee State Univ, DMA Univ of Illinois
Dr. Carole Ott – Associate Professor of Choral Music/Education; BME Univ of Cincinnati, MM & DMA Univ of Michigan
http://www.uncg.edu/mus/vocal.html

Eastman School of Music:
Professors:
Dr. William Weinert – Director of Choral Activities; BME Oberlin Conservatory of Music, MM Univ of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, DMA Univ of Wisconsin Madison
http://www.esm.rochester.edu/ensembles/

University of Southern California:
Professors:
Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe – Director of Choral Activities; BM & MM CSU Long Beach, DMA Univ of Southern California
Dr. Magen Solomon – Assistant Professor of Choral Music; BM Oberlin Conservatory of Music, MM & DMA University of Wisconsin Madison
Dr. Nick Strimple – Associate Professor of Choral Music; BM Baylor Univ, MM & DMA Univ of Southern California
http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/choral/

Boston University:
Professors:
Dr. Ann Howard Jones – Director of Choral Activities; BM, MM, DMA Univ of Iowa
http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/prospective/departments/choral/

University of Miami:
Professors:
Dr. Joshua Habermann – Professor of Choral Music; BME Georgetown Univ, MM & DMA Univ of Texas Austin
http://www.music.miami.edu/index.html

Florida State University:
Professors:
Dr. Andre Thomas – Director of Choral Activities; BA Friends Univ, MM Northwestern, DMA Univ of Illinois
Dr. Kevin Fenton – Professor of Choral Music; BME Friends Univ, MM Univ of Missouri-Kansas city Conservatory of Music, PHD Choral Music Florida State Univ
Dr. Judy Bowers – Professor of Choral Music Education; BME Texas Tech, MME & PHD Louisiana State University
http://www.music.fsu.edu/Areas-of-Study/Conducting

University of Northern Colorado:
Professors:
Dr. Galen Darrough – Director of Choral Activities; BME CSU Fullerton, MM Bingham Young Univ, DMA Arizona State Univ
http://www.arts.unco.edu/music/choirs/default.html

University of Colorado Boulder:
Professors:
Dr. Lawrence Kaptein – Director of Choral Activities; DMA Univ of Southern California
Dr. Jeffrey Gemmell – Associate Professor of Choral Music; BME Towson Unvi, MME Northwestern, DMA Univ of Colorado Boulder
http://www.colorado.edu/music/departments/voice.html

University of Washington:
Professors:
Dr. Geoffrey Boers – Director of Choral Activities; BA Pacific Lutheran Univ, MAT Portland State Univ, DMA Univ of Arizona
Dr. Steven Demorest – Professor of Choral Music Education; BA Luther College, MM Westminster Choir College, PHD Univ of Wisconsin Madison
Dr. Giselle Wyers – Assistant Professor of Choral Music; BA UC Santa Cruz, MM Westminster Choir College, DMA Univ of Arizona
http://www.music.washington.edu/choirs/faculty.html


University of Wisconsin Madison:
Professors:
Beverly Taylor – Director of Choral Activities; BA Univ of Delaware, Graduate degrees from Boston Univ
Dr. Bruce Gladstone – Associate Director of Choral Activities; DMA Univ of Illinois
http://www.music.wisc.edu/conducting

University of Iowa:
Professors:
Dr. Timothy Stalter – Director of Choral Activities; BM Goshen Univ, MM Univ of Illinois, DMA Univ of Wisconsin Madison
Dr. David Puderbaugh – Associate Director of Choral Activities; BME Drake Univ, MM Univ of Missouri-Columbia, DMA Univ of Iowa
http://www.music.wisc.edu/conducting

University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music:
Professors:
Dr. Earl Rivers – Director of Choral Activities; BME, MM Indiana U, DMA Univ of Cincinnati
Dr. Brett Scott – Associate Director of Choral Activities; BM Canadian Bible College, MM Univ of Regina, DMA Univ of Cincinnati
http://www.ccm.uc.edu/choral/

University of Minnesota:
Professors:
Dr. Kathy Romey – Director of Choral Activities; graduated with a B.A. in flute performance from the University of Oregon in 1979. She continued her studies in Frankfurt, Germany, under acclaimed conductor Helmuth Rilling, receiving an artistic degree in choral conducting from the Frankfurt Musikhochschule in 1984.
Dr. Matthew Maheffey – Associate Director of Choral Activities; BM Bucknell Univ, MM Westminster Choir College, DMA Univ of Arizona.
http://www.music.umn.edu/graduate/index.php

Yale University:
Professors:
Marguerite Brooks – Director of Choral Music; MM in Choral Music
Dr. Jeffrey Douma – Associate Professor of Choral Music; BM Concordia Univ, MM & DMA Univ of Michigan
Simon Carrington – Professor of Choral Music; MA in Choral Music
http://music.yale.edu/academics/conducting.html
http://www.yale.edu/ism/academics/choral.html

University of South Carolina:
Professors:
Dr. Lynn Wyatt – Director of Choral Activities; degrees from Murray State University, The University of North Texas, and Florida State University.
Joseph Modica – Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education; BM Chapman, MM CSU Long Beach, DMA (Finishing) Univ of South Carolina
http://www.music.sc.edu/ea/choral/index.html

A way to better TEACHER K-12 PAY

Im going to head down a path with a NON- MUSIC post, but this one also affects music educators.

I researched and wrote this in the late winter/spring of 2008. My figures are from 2004 and 2006 but can easily be modified to 2008 stats on salaries. Now these are averages for the nation, but still think of this idea in all states.


The United States is the most powerful country in the world, yet when you compare its education system to those of Europe we are just not up to the standards. Education is the driving force that has built America, without it our country would not have grown into the great country it is today. However, we all know that the education system in this country is under performing.

Although we have lowering drop-out rates, the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT and standardized tests to help improve our system, we need to fully improve the quality of education in this country for all levels for the K-12 public schools. The education system in Europe is built around quality of its core education and teachers. They achieve this and have an average high school graduate age of 16 years old (in most European countries). In recent years we have had required standardized tests for elementary and middle schools put into effect. These measures seem to not be as effective as we thought they would be. These tests are showing some promising increases in our education system, but it is not improving our education system.
The core of our education system starts with teachers, and the quality of which they teach.

Teachers are some of the most educated people in the country, they are required to obtain graduate degrees to keep their certification, and in a lot of cases they pay for these required classes with their own money. They work 10 hours days with all the planning that they do, and they still do extra work at home. This country has lowered its appreciation for teachers, and needs to get back on track. We cannot improve the quality of education without having the best teachers.
Many teachers that enter the field end up leaving and going into fields outside of teaching just to make a better living. Being a teacher should be one of the best paid careers in the country. The teachers that usually leave the teaching field are some of the best teachers in the field. To keep these teachers in our schools and motivate the quality of current teachers, we need a drastic display of appreciation for our country’s teachers.

To improve the quality of teachers I suggest we improve their pay, by doing so will motivate them, keep more teachers, and lower the teacher turnover rate in this country. I suggest that we show our country’s greatness and appreciation for teachers by giving them a federal income tax exemption. So then teachers will pay no federal income tax, which will increase their annual income by 25%, and thus will help them with affording better housing and transportation.

Since the average teacher salary for 2006 was $44,400 with taxes they only take home $33,300 per year after taxes. There were 3.8 million jobs for teachers in 2004, and with my estimates for 2006 it cost $42,180,000,000 in taxes that were collected from teachers in 2004. Teachers overall compensation from the government is $168,720,000,000. $42 billion is only 1.6% cut from our federal tax revenue of $2.54 trillion dollars annually.


I have done research that shows we can cut billions from the department of defense, the office of personnel management, and raise the federal income tax by (.05%) a percent, and we would make up all the money to tax exempt the teachers.
This plan would put better quality teachers into our schools, and keep them teaching. If this country does not take some drastic steps towards the educations system (especially towards the k-12 levels) the education in this country will worsen.


Thank you for reading...

Hello again....

Now I know I have been away for awhile. I have been distracted by the wonderful adventures of life; traveling, meeting new friends, seeing old friends again, spending time with family (healthy or sick), and trying to relax during this glorious summer weather in Washington State.

I am back and going to resume posting many new posts about teacher pay, choral conducting as a student, arts foundations (children choirs and community choirs), and graduate schools for choral conducting.


So thank you for reading....

Americas Choral Journey Video #3

This video is almost twice as long as the other two, but it covers 3 legends; Charles Hirt (USC), Warner Imig (UCB) and Robert Fountain (UW-Madison).

There are two songs featured on this video; April is in my mistress' face, and O Magnum Mysterium both performed by the Cambridge Singers.

Americas Choral Journey Video #2

John Finley Williamson and the beginning of The Westminster Choir College. How they brought Choral/Symphonic Music to the public and gained a worldwide reputation.

The video does include an excerpt from the German Requiem by Brahms.

Please comment if you like it. Thank you

Americas Choral Journey Video #1

To make a mark where the beginning started for Americans Choral Traditions and styles, we begin with F.Melius Christiansen and the St Olaf Choir.

Hope you enjoy, and please comment.

THIS VIDEO INCLUDES SOUND

My New Series of Posts

I am starting a Series of Posts called "Americas Choral Journey" which timelines the big events in the forming of today's choral traditions and education. It follows from 1900 to today. Covering 15 Video's averaging 5 mins each. ALL VIDEOS WILL HAVE SOUND INCLUDED.

I will cover several topics within these videos, but to not give any of that information now, will leave you suspense and curiousity. So please return as my new videos shall be every week or every couple of weeks.

Its a long series, so I do hope that you continue to watch them. The choral history of this country I believe has great value to present day conductors.

Its a map of where we've been and could help lead us to where we can go, while still keeping our core traditions.

Hope you enjoy and have many comments.

My Music Quote

Music drives the soul to live a life of harmony with all things

Alan Davis (2008)

PROGRAM

I have not been able to post for awhile, since I am preparing for my finals. However, I have been working on learning how to program music, mainly through my own self-education of reading books and blogs (example; richard sparks) on the topic of choral music programming.



I have decided to share my first program I have ever written (but will not perform), it is only for learning how to program the music. I have score studied these pieces and based theme all on the theme of "Centuries of Sacred Choral Music". I hope to receive your thoughts and opinions about my program. I will use them as a learning.

Centuries of Sacred Choral Music

Adoramus Te - Palestrina, Ed. Leavitt - (16th century)

Hear my prayer, O Lord - Henry Purcell -(16th century)

Cantate Domino - Claudio Monteverdi - (17th century)

Ich bin eine rufende Stimme - Heinrich Schutz (17th century)

O Jesu Christ, Mein Lebens Licht - J.S. Bach - (18th century)

Locus Iste - Anton Bruckner - (19th century)

Ochte Nash - Antony Arensky - (19th century)

Notre Pere - Maurice Durufle - (20th century)

Alleluia - Terry Schlenker - (20th century)

Overall the program would run about an hour. Features German, latin, French, English, and Old Slavic languages. Some pieces are acapella and two are accompanied by the organ. The biggest piece would be the one by Bach, and the shortest piece would Notre Pere by Durufle. Hope to hear your comments. I also hope I can perform this program sometime in the next year or so, because I really like these pieces, especially since I have studied them.

NW ACDA Convention (Vancouver) 2008

This past week I spent Thursday at the NW ACDA Convention in Vancouver BC, which is a beautiful city. For being an ACDA student member it was my first time going to a divisional convention, and it was amazing. Before this convention I had only been to the 2007 Summer Institute in Tacoma WA which was held at the University of Puget Sound. Going to the convention in Vancouver was beneficial not only myself, but my friends and fellow students that attended the convention learned alot.

As the WWU-ACDA student chapter president, I was excitedly-happy for all the students that got to attend the Convention, since some of them couldn't afford it without the club. Through the club I applied and obtained a grant through the Associated Students of Western for $1500 to pay for all of the hotel costs to all 10 WWU-ACDA members and 2 alumni that wanted to attend the convention. I had told them all year that this convention was something that they could not miss, for they would learn alot about the choral education/performance field, and they did. All of the WWU-ACDA members that went had a great time, attended workshops, received music packets, and some even performed at the convention.

One of my friends that attended was Matt Bell, who is a music major at WWU with me, but doesn't quit know yet what he wants to do, whether it is composition, vocal performance or music education. I think he has a great talent in leading a group, especially his accapella group that sings mainly barbershop music. I took Matt to a conducting workshop with Dr. Hilary Aplestadt from Ohio State University, and Matt really liked what he learned while there. We also attended a concert session that featured a middle school choir called "Mad Jazz" (no they didn't sing jazz, its just a name), and after their amazing performance, they got a standing ovation for over 5 minutes. All the choirs that followed did not get such an enthusiastic applause. After seeing Matt this week, he is now thinking about being a music education major (choral of course), so he could teach middle school students.

I on the other hand only got to be at the convention for Thursday only, but it went from Thursday Feb 21 thru Saturday Feb 23. I had to leave to go back to Seattle for some Family stuff. But, I would have to say the whole highlight of my convention experience was being within 5 feet of a conducting LEGEND, Rodney Eichenberger.(http://www.rodneyeichenberger.com/) He has taught doctoral students at the University of Washington, University of Southern California, and Florida State University. His past students include great conductors like; Dale Warland, Dr. Richard Sparks, Dr. Gregory Vancil, Dr. Lawrence Kaptein, Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe, Dr. Jerry Blackstone, Dr. David Dickau, and many more. Knowing who Eichenberger was, I wanted to introduce myself, but he was surrounded by dozens of people, and by the time the crowd left he was leaving with his colleagues. So I never got to meet Eichenberger and tell him about all the stories or choral lessons I had learned from his former student Dr. Greg Vancil. I do hope I get the chance to meet him again at another convention.
Another experience I had during the convention was when Matt and I were in the Conducting Workshop with Dr. Aplestadt. The piece we worked on during the workshop was If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis. Now other than Matt and myself, there were 25 other college students (all undergrads) and about 5 teachers (these ones were sitting in to sing). Much to my surprise when Dr. Aplestadt asked "how many of you have sung this piece or know this piece?", I was the only person in the room to raise my hand (other than the teachers), not one of the other undergrads had sung it, and some did not know anything about this choral standard. At that point I was thinking, why aren't these students learning about the standards of choral literature, from Renaissance to 20th century. I mean I know that I study choral literature in my spare time (which makes me a choral geek), but these students were 1-2 years ahead of me in school and finished with music history, but some didn't know that Thomas Tallis was a Renaissance composer. So I thought to myself, why don't public colleges sing more sacred pieces. A great example of a few schools that sing more sacred pieces would be; University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University. At WWU I believe the program focuses more on 20th century and 21st century choral music, since you will hear classical and baroque pieces only in 1 quarter per year. But, then again not all choral students grew up singing in church choirs like I did. I just wish that more choral students are exposed to the standards of choral music like I have, because they are great pieces and they are the backbone of Choral Literature.

Other than that, I loved the convention and all the choirs that performed were great! I cannot wait for next years 2009 Oklahoma City ACDA National Convention.

High School Tenors

On friday (Feb 8th) I got to c0-help lead a sectional rehearsal for High School tenors, who came to the school for a Men's choir festival. About 7 schools from across the state had their men's choirs show up to the festival. At the beginning of the rehearsal I noticed alot of the boys were standing with their hands in their pockets or wearing the sweater hoods. So as a choir member I asked those boys to take off their hoods and take their hands out of their pockets. Now after doing so in a polite way I still had to remind a few boys. Then I noticed that the few boys that I was asking to "stand in a proper singing posture" had an attitude look about their faces for the first 25 minutes of out 50 minute rehearsal.

We were working on Loch Lomond (arr. Ralph Vaughn Williams), then when we finished running the piece 3 times after all the corrections of vowels and unified english pronunciation. So we took a break and the boys sat down for about 3 minutes. During the 3 minutes I wanted to explain the background to the next song we were singing Rise-Up, which is a spiritual. So I was informing them of our pronunciation for the words; lord (lawd), and rise (roz).

After the breif break I had the group stand up and get some energy for the Rise up song. At this point I had them all do some "jump up downs" which is a great energy booster ( and you can play redlight-greenligh with it). Then we crouched down to the floor then jump as high as we could off of the ground 3 times, then the boys were ready to go to work on the song. This made great differences in their sound from Loch Lomond to Rise Up. During the second song all the guys had a great amount of energy and were smiling and asking great questions.

At the end of the 50 minute rehearsal we were not quite done with the piece and the boys were about to go to lunch, so I asked them if they would be willing to stay a few minutes longer to run the piece all the way through again, and all of them were really excited to stay and finish our work. I could see how proud they were about their rehearsal and their hard work. I think that even though it seemed to them as if I was playing the "mean guy" at the beginning, I am glad they realized I am a "good guy" and I was only trying to help their singing. After all of this the boys went off to lunch, and later I got to sit and chat with most of them during the lunch break, and they all were saying great things about the rehearsal.

Now I can understand how some teachers have to start out "stern" in rules and then lighten up alittle more, that way the students dont take advantage of the teachers or show disrespect. The rehearsal time with the boys was so much fun I wish that I could rehearse a Tenor section every day. I am now even more excited for my student teaching time.

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.