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

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.

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.

:)