Or, "White Men Can't Jump", But Can They Sing Spirituals?
The River Jordan, the Ohio, the river to freedom; the rhythmic pull and pulsing power of the Spiritual forms the bedrock of our spring program.  “The Road Home”,  “Bound for the Promised Land”, “Deep River”, “Homeward Bound”, “Music Down in My Soul”, all spirituals. “Adiemus” summons a deeply guttural, if sharp-toned spiritual energy with the call and response of the two choruses. “There Will Be Rest”, with beautiful lyrics tracing a journey toward the peace and stillness of some symbolic home, heavenly or otherwise, even this choral classic has the yearning full feel of a spiritual. 
So how do 70 or 80-odd white folks truly sing spirituals? My college choir director put at least one spiritual in every program. He was big old whitey-white Lutheran from St. Olaf’s and he would tell us, “It’s not who you are when you sing it, it’s how you feel when you sing it.” We did two long tours well below the Mason Dixon line which gave the spirituals we sang an added dimension that they didn’t seem to have when we sang them, say in Boston. We felt them alright, but maybe as privileged white college students we hadn’t lived enough to truly feel them.
Almost all the songs we are singing in this program have multiple layers of meaning. Spirituals, by definition, are loaded with messages, both direct and indirect. The “work songs” and “quiet songs” of the American South often metaphorically mirrored the longed for journey to freedom. That “Deep River” could be the Ohio that marked the passage from slave state to free state on the underground railroad. That “campground” might be both the safe gathering place for slaves after church and the dreamed of heaven of freedom.
So to “feel” these Spirituals we must internalize those shifts in the rhythm that pull the emphasis off the beat, glory in those “blue” notes on the thirds, fifths and sevenths that give these songs such rich tonal textures, let our imaginations plunge into the deeper layers of meaning in the lyrics, and feel in the very depths of our souls the life-force power of hope in a dark time.
And maybe, just maybe, if we do all that, we might launch these songs onto a higher ground and maybe have our audience join us for a fine old-timey picnic on the grassy lawns of that heavenly campground where freedom is found.

"It's a little known fact that singing in a chorus goes back to the very roots of the homo sapien experience. There are drawings on the walls in the caves of Lacaux that show stick figures in a singing group looking toward what appears to be a director or conductor who is waving a thigh bone in their general direction." Cliff Clavin @ Cheers, circa 1980....

So, Ok, not true, wasn't on the show, however, I am going play Cliff Clavin and give you the skinny on each piece we are singing. So here goes:

Hodie: First thing? Lose the "H", second use singlish on Alleluya and don't yodel that "ya" like a yokel. Third thing? Be light on your voice, be energetic, euphoric even, we are like the heralds announcing to the court that the great Bagaduce has arrived and is about to shock and awe us with it's musical splendour.

Regina: So we should all have the lyrics memorized on this one, we've got one phrase at the beginning and then it's all aleluja's all the time from then on in. So most important: see HODIE above on singing Al le lu ya. If you are unsure how it should sound, listen to recording and imprint it. Other than that, the secret to singing this piece? Be light, fast, bouyant, effervescent, be like Mozart himself, sing as though you are supressing a gigantic giggle. Have fun.

Pilgrim's Hymn: The antithesis of Regina, interestingly, the music is published by Subito Music, and the transition from Regina to Pilgrim is a pretty good example of Subito, from a gigantic giggle to a heartfelt and heartfull prayer. Plus it's acappela, nothing between us and the audience. Most important thing? All eyes on deck--watch Bronwyn. She wants to move this, she wants to pull it here, move it forward faster there, and you won't really find it in the music so watch her as though you are an infant watching your mother's face for cues, you want your mother's love right? And remember on page 5 how she wants us to end "spirit" and come in on "Even" at the same level, MP or she may even be cueing us to less than MP at that point (why we need to watch) so just remember the second verse starts just as quietly as the first verse ended.

O Magnum: Listen Louder Than You Sing. This piece is all about the dissonance and about how the lead line moves in and about amongst all the parts. Listen for when another part is moving and give them the spotlight, even if it just for 3 or 4 notes. For this piece to be as powerful as it can potentially be, a regular atom bomb of acapella singing if executed with excellence, two things must happen. First we need to stay on pitch, particularly the basses. Second, our tone and our vocal lines need to be consistent from beginning to end, any uncovered tones or singlish failures will stick out of our blend like a chunk of carrot left in your veggie smoothie. (Ask Bronwyn about the Waring Blender and the Dale Warland Singers).

Christmas Star: (From the movie Home Alone 2 which was even worse than Home Alone I) Imagine you are a child, maybe twelve or so, imagine it is Christmas, imagine your family has disappeared and you are left to guard the home front all alone for the holidays. Imagine you get lost, imagine you sing this song to the stars as you try to find your way back to your home. OK, I have no idea what actually happens in the second movie, but this works for  summoning the mood of this song. Sing it as though you are both a twelve year old, but also an adult who knows how that for all grand ideas about the holidays, they can often be lonely and somewhat sad and the reality of "home" sometimes seems elusive at best. In short, sing this song with a pure, if full heart, and of course use that old Hollywood singlish, like the actors used to use back when talkies first began (they always sounded sort of vaguely British  or prep-school toney, think Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, but I digress).

Angel Breathing: I wrote about this in yesterday's blog, so just a brief mention here. The music drives like a galloping stallion, make sure you are in control of the stallion and not the other way around. Also, be like the horse whisperer (or the dog whisperer if you prefer), angry shouting at an animal produces diminishing returns, angry shouting at an audience probably is not something we want to play around with.

Tundra: Your mouth is all rubbery, your jaw slack, your lips loose, practically flapping in the endless wind that blows across the bleak expanse of an upland nordic plateau where patches of gritty snow cling to bare craggy rocks. Ennunciation not an issue here folks, rather your job is to make sure the audience defintely knows when your voice parts note moved. Use the "surge" technique on either side of the step up or down to highlight your movement. Keep your tone covered at all times, otherwise frostbite is possible if you leave your tone sticking out of our blend.

Ave Maris: I've written a good deal on this already. But I would like to ask, what are the most important musical notation in this score? I would argu they are the rests. If you look throughout the piece, but particularly in the first and last thirds of the piece, MacDowell uses rests like crazy and to incredible effect. Whether it is when the Sopranos sing the first note of a phrase and all other sections have a rest and then follow (this dance happens a lot and it is so beautiful, I joyously listen to the sopranos first gesture, and then, like a puppet on their string, I follow a beat later. I would urge you to listen to the music with the score and watch for the rests. A lot of the power of this piece will be derived from clean cutoffs and observing the rest that follows. If we have folks la di dahing along and straying over the cutoff and bleeding into the rest, it could kill the magic. And this piece is super magical. Voice and stings echoing, dancing, pulling. I hope Bronwyn can get the playahs to really pull some incredible power out of their big moments and i hope we can match those moments when our time comes. Anyway, respect the rest!

Nearer MGTT: The more of this you have in your head the better of you will be. There actually only a few lyric lines and lots of repeats so it ain't out of the realm of possibility. Here ennunciation is important, be sharp and precise. And don't forget the little eighth note hop from 7/8 measure to 7/8 measure "DE RI Ge nos Do Mi Ne ad, that will keep us moving forward and give the piece the drive it needs.

Baba Yetu: First, summon your inner "big man and big woman". Ok, next use your mouth and lips with gusto (I urge you to watch one of the you tubes out there in fact here is a link to a Peter Hollens version that my son sent me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17svtURunUk  ) Check out how the mouths move, we really want to dig into these words, give them their full power. You gotta lose your "nicesortoftimidwhitemainepersonna" and really dig deep to summon the full power of this piece. Also when we are the backup to the solo, watch Bronwyn's cues for volume, let her have full control of the volume knob so she can turn us down or crank us up. Above all, on this piece in particular, let your heart swell up with the joy of the music, let the audience feel your joy, make them want to stand up and dance in the aisles.....

Well, time to head back to the place where everyone knows my name (the office).
Cheers All!
(due to a strike by the Union of Proofreaders, this post has not been proofread, any mistakes are only partially intentional, and any relation to individuals, living or dead, is highly probable. So sue me!)

The House of Commons is famous for many things, but perhaps it's greatest claim to fame is the "civil" nature of parlimentarian debates. I put quotes around "civil" for good reason, watching the MPs debate is wildly entertaining, often loud, frequently pierced with that "mote juste" which we all wish we could produce on command.
What does this have to do with singing you ask? Not much, but the MP has a lot to do with singing. Which brings me to the next non sequitor.
Back before the turn of the millenium, I went with my better half to a music festival in Northampton MA. It was named, appropriately enough, "The Loud Music Festival". Let me begin by saying, I can state empirically that it was indeed loud, very loud. At one point when bands were setting up, I went over and chatted with the guy on the soundboard. I asked him, "so how are you mixing this?" He laughed and said "I'm not, everyone told me just crank their feed as loud as you can."
Well, the result, as you might expect, was a wall of sound in which it was hard to distinguish guitar from drums, vocals from keyboards, it was in sum, a big angry mass of noise, punctuated only very occassionally by a "mote juste" of phrasing, vocalization, or guitar riff. After a couple hours, we left to a brilliant spring afternoon that seemed painfully beautiful and so quiet, even though we were walking down Main St in Northampton.
So, my point, you ask. Consider "Angel Breathing Out.". Right now,our dynamic range is about equivalent to the House of Commons or the Loud Music Festival, loud, louder and really loud. And the funny thing about loud? It seems to have an angry edge even if you don't mean it.
Considers the markings of the music, they neither toil....yes, they are passive, but they beg to be observed. From the opening to measure 17....mp, then mf to measure 25, then back to mp to 37 then we get into a whole mf/f/ff/mf section that runs to the subito at measure 72, where, in a tender resolution to the conflict of the piece, we end, where we began, at mp.
There a couple notable things about this piece. First the somewhat haunting and cryptic lyric, that cuminates in the line "aware my soul is lifting". Second, the driving intensity of the beat, like stallions pulling us unceasingly forward. Third, the intensity of both the music and lyric: this piece is about the rupture of our earthly bond, on the wind and in our souls, we are carried into the realm of angels.
 And finally, the song demands that we sing it with the intensity of a soul fraught with anguish and longing. An intensity that is expressed both in MP and in FF, but an itensity that has no edge of anger, no hardness to it, just an expectant, if anxious energy.
Hail Britannia, Rock on, explore the deep Grand chasm Canyon of vocal dynamics, and remember wise old saying "listen louder than you sing Grasshopper"

AVE MARIS STELLA: ON IMAGINING YOUR VOICE AS THE BOW OF A VIOLIN.
I've often wondered why I find choral works that are built around  string accompaniment more pleasing  to the ear than say, works built around full orchestras, or organs, or horns. Not being any kind of expert in  matters related to music composition (or music or much else for that matter), I just assumed that my ear (and maybe many other ears) found the simultaneous vibrations of strings and voice sonically solicitous. That maybe, the sounds of voice and bowed string share much in common. As we sing, we push air over the vocal cords, creating vibrating waves of sound. As a string is bowed, the vibration runs up the string and is transmitted thru the bridge which shapes the timbre of the sound as it is projected thru the body of the violin, just as the vocal cords help shape the timbre of the sound as the air passes over them and into the "body" of the head cavity. Maybe.
Perhaps the most thrilling example of this felicitous voice/string marriage that I have ever heard is AVE by Cecelia MacDowell. Strings and voices are one from the opening measures where the strings call and answer with lush pulling sounds and the voices then follow, almost a tonal echo of the strings. Back and forth, the dance goes on for the rest of a 12-minute composition that seems suspended in time.  In the first sections the bowing and voicing are all long and lyrical, legato and loving, then, sandwiched between two incredibly otherworldly soprano recitatives, comes the stormy middle section, here strings bow sharp and fast and voices respond in kind, a furious energy that is only dissipated and calmed by the soprano solo that follows.
I first listened to AVE two years ago on a hot July morning. I had just finished a long run and a swim down at the beach. I lay back on the gravel listening to my choral playlist (yes, you can actually exercise to choral music!). I had downloaded  AVE from youtube some weeks earlier and never listened to it. As I slowly dried in the sun, the strings played the opening bars and the voices followed in kind. My eyes popped open taking in the dazzling blue sky. The opening figure pulled at something deep inside me. Voices and strings became one glorious sound: lyrics faded into the background, voices began to sound more like violins, the violins more like voices. I was transported to a world awash in rich, lush phrases. Waves rolled gently in and out, two ospreys hovered overhead in the shimmering blue sky.
There was a pause, as though a collective breath was being taken, and then, the opening figure was repeated, but this time the strings had a far deeper emotional fullness, the notes fairly bursting with feeling, and then choir answered with equal intensity: Deo, Deo, Deo Patri. Here is the very heart of the piece, at rehearsal 28, all the elegiac energy that has been building comes pouring out. And in that moment I felt something inside me rising into the clear morning sky as though some dark energy was floating up and away from me.
Now, having read up on this work, I know that MacDowell wrote this in 2001 and it was first performed in November, just months after the attacks off September 11th. Written as a peace anthem, it is perhaps a prayer for the dead and a prayer for the living, for the survivors. It is a prayer for hope in a dark hour. And, at rehearsal 28, our prayer swells, soars and crescendos in a heartfelt and heart-full plea for a peaceful way forward for all humankind. Ave Maris Stella. Hail Star of the Sea.

"My guest today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably the most precocious of the precocious classical composers. And quite the clothes horse I might add, that's some jacket Wolfgang...may I call you Wolfgang?"
"Oh, dear me no Dick, call me Wolfie, and I love your cravat by the way." Mozart swivels boyishly in his chair and blinks his overlarge eyes. He is even more petite than Dick Caveat, though they bear a noticeable resemblance, like long-lost brothers.
"I would like to begin by asking you about Regina Coeli, which is being performed this season by the Bagaduce Chorale"
"A wonderful chorale and such a charming music director."
"Yes, isn't she. You do manage to keep up on things from the afterlife?"
"Oh absolutely, I am quite intrigued by hip hop in fact, it so reminds me of the scattalogical ditties I used to love to compose, such fun, don't you know!"
"Yes you were certainly prolific Wolfie, all those notes! Tell me, I have heard that some musicians feel that you might....how shall I say this...that you use far too many notes, that your compositions are like musical stream of consciousness, that you use more notes than any measure needs or wants....that...that...you are a show off!"
"Oh, but of course I am a show off and my music is all about showing off. Why, just listen to the soprano solo, it fairly shrieks at the audience "look at the amazing things I can do with my voice." You know, I was going to open a Twitter account, but I knew I would never be able to restrain myself to just 140 characters."
"Yes, I can see your point, but all those notes, that showing off as you call it, why do you need to use so many?"
Mozart laughs delightedly and his voice get even higher pitched if that is possible."Well of course Bach also used far too many notes, but he was a mathematician, not an artist. Are you shocked Dick? Good! Have you read Godell, Escher, Bach? A fascinating book that Bach admires greatly. Even though Bach uses as many notes as me (sometimes many more) he was doing math all the time, just subdividing phrases over and over. It's quite the mathematical trick, don't you know?"
"And you, why are your phrases different than Bach's?"
"Why, I give my phrases different voices, I give them colors, yes, I paint with phrases, sometimes pointillist, sometimes big running washes of fingerpaint, some are me wilding chasing my darling Constanze around the dining table, or embracing in a tender kiss, sometimes in measures side-by-side."
"Well, not being a musician myself, I wonder how musicians can tell what voice a phrase is written in. Is it dynamics, is it tempo?"
"Oh, it's that of course but it is also the notes themselves, each note's relations to the notes around them, just like people. Maybe it's a step-step-step-step up and down phrase, maybe it hops and skips up and down, a third a fith, a third, a fifth. You know Dick, some combinations of notes are more affectionate than others." Wolfie smiles slyly and batts his big eyes. "Bach's notes don't have the human relationships that my notes have with each other, oh yes, my notes are tangled in love, in love triangles, in trysts, in tragedy, in trust, in trials, in triumphs, and, oh, just the general joy of love."
"That alliteration was like one of your big running washes of fingergpaint. But it's remarkable, I had no idea notes could do that. I always sort of thought of them as numbers...You know Wolfie, nowadays there are all kinds of Bach Festivals but not so many Mozart festivals...."
"Oh, Dickie, you really are trying to provoke me aren't you! But you know why that is don't you? Bach's music keeps people calm, it motors along in...what would a mathematician say...it motors along on a linear (and rather dull) emotional plane. While my music, it stirs the blood, it excites the listener, it boils the emotions!"
"Boils the emotions, well you heard it here first on the Dick Caveat Show. Mozart's music boils the emotions! Wolfie, it has been an absolute pleasure to chat with you, I'm so glad you were able to make it down here."
"Oh, Dick, really, it has been my absolute pleasure. By the way, tell the Bagaduce Chorale when the sing Regina Coeli, they should be filled with that all-consuming joy of love. One moment they will be chasing their lover around the table, the next tenderly embracing, then playing with their child, or tickling a puppy...it's all love and giggles."
"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, still going strong, still as mischievious as ever. I'm Dick Caveat...until next time"

"So, I had a dream about the Chorale the other night." Dr. Melfi re-crossed her legs and tapped her notebook, "Hmmm, again?" I closed my eyes, "Yeah, we were backstage before a concert, the choir was huge, 400 singers and we were performing at Santa Monica High School, a really, really big school, at least in the dream. Singers were wandering all over the place, mingling with students, taking naps, the music director was skate boarding without a helmet, our accompanist was playing hacky sack outside. Some singers were in robes, some in black and white, some in board shorts and tee shirts, some in bathing suits. I was trying to get them lined up but it was total chaos. And then the principal ran up to me in a panic, "I just learned the FLOTUS and POTUS--Michelle and Barack--are going to be here for the concert, they're arriving any minute!" Someone was pulling my arm, "You have to help me find the restrooms." So we head off on the search and promptly get lost in some subterranean boiler room...." Dr. Melfi re-crossed her legs, "The end right? You woke up and you failed again, mission not accomplished, how your dreams always end." Her idea of confrontation I guess. Sometimes I wonder why I don't fire her and find a new shrink. Once again she had totally misunderstood my dream.
The other night, some 100 singers gathered at the rehearsal hall. There was lots of talking, loud laughter, people signing in, finding music, finding seats, a sea of electrons and neutrons bouncing around with no unifying force to pull them into some sort of order. And then, finally, we started singing, and in that moment it was as though a huge magnet was pulling that chaos of energy into a coherent atom of sound. They say matter is neither created nor destroyed (mostly). But in art, the final creation (if done right and done well) can be far greater than the sum of the parts. So, now we begin the journey, to take 100 voices, and make them all "pretty" in order to make the whole atom of the Bagaduce far more "pretty" than those 100 individual "pretty" voices. This be the choral excellence we pursue, let the voyage begin!

This Monday evening we are at the Blue Hill Congregational Church on Tenney Hill for sectional rehearsals. To prep for this please work on the following pieces:

• Hodie Christus Natus Est
  
• Ave Maris Stella
  
• Pilgrim's Hymn
  
• Angel Breathing Out
  

Also, whether you have been a member for 40 years or 1 week, please take a few moments to read the insert in your music envelope that includes Bronwyn's crash course in SINGLISH. Singlish, this is what we sing in when we practice in the shower, when we practice in rehearsals, and of course when we sing in concert.

As part of our campaign to make Chorale rehearsals more fun, Bronwyn is hoping she doesn't have to stop us, and stop us, and stop us to remind us, and remind us, and remind us, how make some of the basic vowel sounds etc. that we should all be working to make second nature. I would recommend you listen closely to the recording of Pilgrim's Hymn on the What Are We Singing page. That is how we should sing and sound. That recording is by the Dale Warland singers who practically invented Singlish and who Bronwyn considers the yardstick by which all other choruses are measured.

So please leave your Americanized English at the door with the language check person (no tipping please) and enter rehearsals in your altogether Singlish sound. Make the Bagaduce Great Again! Only Singlish sung here! (Note: no wall was built during the creation of this communication)

Inquiring singers want to know: are Bagaduce Chorale rehearsals fun?
With the season's first rehearsal just days away, I am reminded of a conversation I had with someone who was thinking about auditioning. I was giving them the old gung-ho about how much fun Chorale is. She looked at me skeptically and said "I've sung in choirs, rehearsals are not fun." Undaunted, I continued the sales pitch, "Oh, the Bagaduce is way different, rehearsals are great, practically the best thing about the Chorale, etc. etc.
But are they really fun, and if they really are fun, could they be funner? (yes, this is a real word, though to be avoided in formal writing, which this ain't). Well, ask yourself this question: have you ever come into a Monday night Bagaduce rehearsal after a wholly hellacious day at the office, and then we all started making music together. And by the time you walk out of the rehearsal hall, the cares of the day have been replaced by a song or two or three in your heart.
"But", you say, this is just anecdotal evidence, is there hard data to support this?Yes, by golly there is! The survey results are in and this is what the membership of the Chorale says. Forty percent (40%) say rehearsals are the funnest (yes, this too is a word!) part of the whole Bagaduce experience. And sixty percent (60%) say rehearsals are among the most important parts of their entire Chorale experience.
"But" you say, "doesn't that mean that 40% think that rehearsals are not fun? Not necessarily Watson, the survey indicates that 19% think that performances are the most important part of the experience (but is it possible the second most important aspect to this 19% is rehearsals), 22% think that improving their vocal technique is the most important part of the experience (And my dear Watson, one could plausibly argue that most of that improvement occurs in rehearsals, which means they find rehearsals beneficial, and, one can speculate, even fun), and finally, 3% think socializing is the most important part of their experience (and my good Doctor, does not most of this socializing occur during rehearsals?). By my count Watson, that means 104% of the membership think that rehearsals are fun. That number is....HUUUGE!
So there you have it, Bagaduce rehearsals are empirically fun! But we are not an organization to rest on our laurels (whatever they are and however one rests on them). Therefore, we will be leaving no stone unturned (figuratively speaking) in pursuit of making rehearsals even more funner this season. The Board of the Chorale has thrown down the gauntlet (after first defining and then locating a gauntlet to throw) and already, change is in the air (so to speak).

Food for thought: "I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage" Maria Callas (somewhat cryptic, but sounds like she spent a lot of time prepping (a very good thing indeed) and that maybe she felt she needed a lot of practice for the marriage thing, sort of like "Sex in the City"?)