Review of Mount Marty College CD- Vespers 2010

Back to reporting on NCCO very soon, but right now I thought it would be timely to address the release of a rather amazing Christmas CD, a lessons & carols vespers from a very small college in South Dakota- Mount Marty College. When you think of Lessons & Carols CDs, the big daddy of them all, and a CD I am sometimes obsessed by, is the Nine Lessons and Carols directed by Stephen Cleobury and King's College on EMI. And of course, when we think of Christmas season choral traditions and CD and/or TV productions we all are familiar with big schools such as St . Olaf, BYU, etc. So how can a school with an enrollment of 400 students, 90 of whom raise their voices to sing in the choir, and yet only three music majors, dare to enter into this realm? Enter one Sean Vogt, who, as the universe dictated, I just happened to meet at NCCO at about the time this lovely CD was announced on ChoralNet!

Here is the Choralnet announcement:


http://choralnet.com/view/299646

So what was Sean doing at NCCO? Playing the organ for an amazing program of early 20th century British music with Stephen Town's choir from Northwest Missouri State University (highly favorable review upcoming). And then, as Sean is a Michigan State alum, we wound up having dinner with MSU mutual dear friend Sarah Graham and also Peter Durrow. Sean and I also got to know each other a bit more at the Friday night NCCO reception.

I asked Sean to mail me a copy of the Vespers CD. He did and I must say it is amazing- a brilliantly devised program of gorgeous orchestral and/or choral pieces for the holidays plus excellent readings makes this a wonderful holiday purchase for music lovers. Sean tells me that enthusiastic students skip lunch to be in the choir- since choir currently is scheduled in most folks lunch hour. Most students have had little or no vocal training, yet Sean has brought such enthusiasm and solid teaching skills into this small program that it is where everyone wants to be- what an amazing success story!

Especially beautiful tracks are the orchestral version (the superb orchestra is mainly made up of members of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra) ) of Rutter's What Sweeter Music (wonderful rubato), big ole exciting arrangements of Praise to the Lord, the Almighty and Carol to the King by Mack Wilberg, plus other quality music by Prokoviev, Vaughan Williams, Chilcott, Holst and others.

Sean has related to me that he has been very much influenced by working with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival, and that one byproduct of this is that he conducted every track without a score (bravo- for more about how I feel about "scores", "music", and memorization read an earlier blog of mine here). Some of you may ask, how good are the singers at this small school compared to a St. Olaf? Well, they aren't perfect, but there is plenty of quality music making here and so much enthusiasm. There is a Midwest tendency toward spread vowels, especially in the ladies (keep in mind that all these singers are age 18-22 and generally untrained until Sean works with them), but it is easily overlooked when you hear the music making going on. Sean tells me that working on these vowel issues (and other vocal pedagogy issues) is an ongoing process of getting them to listen and understand the essential importance of this issue.

I'm pretty thrilled to be able to praise this CD- it's a "Mouse that Roared" story! And Sean Vogt is a very grounded young conductor/organist to keep an eye on- he's going to be doing some great things over the years.



Next post: The spectacular Friday night concert at NCCO- featuring choirs from the University of Louisville, the Iowa Sate Singers, and University of Southern California

Concert #3: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Here are highlights from the day two afternoon concert:


University of Northern Colorado Concert Choir, dir. by Galen Darrough




Choral music of Argentina: A Sampler

Cantate Domino, by Antonio Russi (ediciones GCC)

Gala del Dia, from Las Indianas, by Carlos Guastavino (Kjos)

Mi Lumia, by Javier Zentner (GCC)

A wonderful piece- I would love to hear with score in hand. Bravo!

La Muerte del Angel, by Astor Piazolla (GCC)

Chacarera de las Piedras, by Atahualps Yupanqui, arr. Gustavo Felice (no publisher info)

Milonguera, by Oscar Escalada (Kjos)


This was a great program which I am sure Galen is very proud of putting together. All his singers were in fine form and much of this music is quite difficult- what you hope to do is sing it so well and so naturally that it doesn't appear to be so daunting at all! I especially loved the first song, the Zentner and the Piazolla of course. I don't know the full story about how Galen researched all this, but maybe I can ask him soon. He did tell me that it was really hard to figure out what to use, since there were hundreds of great tunes he had sifted through. In addition to the very fine singing and conducting, guitarist Socrates Garcia (now that's a cool name) brought so much electricity and joy to the music; his smile and love of performing shone through on the two pieces he played on and the audience loved him.

Bravo to the singers- all this intricate and expressive music was fully memorized- no small feat!



Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers, dir. by Michelle Jensen



In Windsor Forest, by RV Williams

This was a sheer delight, Vaughn Williams' five-movement cantata for SATB/chamber string orchestra/piano written in 1931; an adaptation of scenes from his opera "Sir John [Falstaff] in Love". The singing was spot-on cheery and felicitous and from where I was sitting, off to the side, you could see the smiling playfulness between conductor Jensen and her choir and instrumentalists. Two performers were standouts-- the first I'll mention was Arie Moriguchi, who had a couple solo spots as the Queen/Mrs. Quickly. Arie's voice and acting was perfect for this. The other standout was the young pianist Anna Nizhegorodtseva, whose supple phrasing, shading of color, and brilliant sense of rhythm added so much to the ensemble sound (and who knew Vaughn Williams wrote so well for the piano? Ms. Nizhegorodtseva was one of my very favorite pianists who performed over the three day stretch of concerts.

Michelle Jensen was wonderful, she presented this little-known piece in such a charming and playful way. I did get to talk to Michelle a couple times about the music- she is a very gregarious musician who loves to talk passionately about music and I also discovered that we are both former harpists. She has the distinction of studying, over a period of time at USC, with three amazing teachers there- William Dehning, Paul Salamunovich, and now finishing up her choral music DMA with Mike Scheibe. Oh and btw, this choir was full of beautiful southern California folks with posture so impeccable that it would bring a smile to any Alexander technique teacher observing them. Great singer posture, smiles, delightful music, and a very positive conductor inviting singers and audience inside the music and action led to a great performance.

Free harp joke of the day- Stravinsky: "Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune"

Free viola joke of the day: What's the difference between a viola and an onion? No one cries when you cut up a viola!

Next Post: the day two evening concert

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Concert #2: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Thursday Night Highlights


University of British Columbia University Singers, dir. Graeme Langager



Ave Virgo sanctissima, by David Azurza (Oihu Hau)

Rich, luxurious tone colours (there you go, friends from the north- I shall honour you by spelling in your manner)

Mitten wir in leben sind, by Mendelssohn (cpdl.org)

Again, so many colours to the sound and impeccable Deutsch- btw, The Felix was well represented by choirs at the conference.

S I Do Mhaimeo, by David Mooney, (ECS)

Lots of fun, and also artistic- why do so many choirs never really sing their best on fun pieces? You can do so much more with pieces like this than just rip through them, and this choir proved it.

Nigra Sum sed formosa, by Jean L'Hereitier (cpdl.org)

Heavenly- such beautiful lines, I absolutely loved this piece and the interpretation. I advise you to check it out at cpdl

I am the rose of Sharon, by Ivo Antognini (Alliance)

Melancholia, by Duke Ellington arr. by Rejean Marois (ms)

Can you guess I loved this choir? For me they were a very large highlight of this conference. They sang with a very rich, deep, and a bit different sound than the American choirs- it was wonderful to hear this contrast (not that any one is necessarily better than the other- hurray for variety). I wanted to keep listening to them- too bad they had to stop at their allotted 25 minutes! I was thrilled and honoured to meet Graeme the next day.


College of Charleston Concert Choir, dir. by Robert Taylor




Choral Dances from Gloriana, by Benjamin Britten

Wonderful, marvelous!

Three Shakespeare Songs, by RV Williams

Oh my, oh my-- Rapture. Robert is a good friend of a good friend (Lisa Fredenburgh). We now got a chance to talk more and I found out that he is as big a RVW fan as I am. He even invited me impromptu to tell his choir what I had just told him, mainly that they rocked. We also discussed things in the scores, like RVW's love of modes/temporary modal inflections (yes, RVW is a big influence on my sacred/spiritual music), in particular in some of these pieces the major third with a minor sixth

Movements from "The Passing of the Year", by Jonathan Dove

I was not excited by this piece, as the piano was too jangly and took away from the choir, which is so worthy of listening to in a cappella music.

Robert has some great things going with this choir and I love his passionate approach to music. He lays it all out there without apologies. If a big full Cabernet started to sing to you- this is what it would sound like! Southern choirs rocked here- Rob's choir and University of Louisville were great. And, by the way, ACDA South division (the largest ACDA division) is full of amazing choirs singing sophisticated music- if you have never attended a Southern ACDA conference you need to head there pronto.


All in all, I loved this choir! They will be the hosts for NCCO 2013 and I know many people will want to attend not only for the music but also for the Charleston, SC experience.






Next Posts: Day two program highlights

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Concert #1: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

You have probably already seen my posts listing all the repertoire from the three days of NCCO in Ft. Collins. Now I will highlight a number of the programs, and overall the performances and conducting ranged mostly from great to spectacular. Also evident was healthy singing with free sound production, use of more than one tonal color (thank you!) and also a Canadian choir which had amazingly varied, beautiful tonal colours (hehe- they spell that word funny). Conductor beat patterns and gestures were masterful about 97% of the time. Other than one conductor who was just working way too hard and did not not INVITE the choir to sing, there were no flailing arms or pomp and circumstance. I would think that attending this conference and watching closely would be highly beneficial to any young conducting student.

In my opinion, two programs were sung well but the repertoire was suspect- specifically they contained material that was more like average high school material, and in one case even included some mega church pop singing with three soloists using handheld mikes, a piano part filled with Disney ballad ninth choirs and the like. I don't think this was at all what NCCO had in mind when creating this organization. The other program was not offensive, but simply had vocal parts with no real challenge on the collegiate level and which contained all piano accompanied pieces.

By the way, as I am about tackle all this-- I would like to say I honestly wish more people were blogging about the choral world- come on, people, get to it. Or be a guest blogger here if you like, even if you are a young'n. Richard Sparks writes a great choral music blog, and Philip Copeland and Tim Sharp do great work through ChoralNet mostly, but we need more people doing this!


Program One: Riverside City College Chamber Singers, dir. Jon Byun



Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf (CF Peters)

Lay a Garland, by Robert Pearsall (cpdl.org)

This was sung with crystalline clarity and an amazing contrast with the preceding highly dramatic piece

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita, (Carus)

Easily by far the most fascinating new piece of music in the three days. It also showed up on the University of Louisville program. There is so much going on here, I loved getting a chance to hear it twice in three days. The music is generally set up with an amazing amount of highly intricate, divisi ostinati in the women's voices- very complex and very beautiful. I'd love to see a score of this piece. Ko is a Japanese composer.conductor well-known in the international choral scene. He, Marian Dolan, and my partner Sherri Lasko worked on a great project for Japanese tsunami relief (which is ongoing). You can visit the site Sherri developed for the project here.

O vos omnes, by Richard Birchard, (ms)

Hmm, a letdown after the Matsushita; this piece had the usual slow tempo and heavily homophonic American musical style we've been hearing so much of the time for the last ten years. There were even a few "Whitacre-isms" that you only tend to hear from composers younger than Whitacre, which this composer is not.

Alleluia, by Hyo-Won Woo (Chorus Center Publishing, South Korea)

This is a great piece, and one which will not forgive a single counting mistake from even a single singer. I have been fortunate to hear this piece live a number of times by Incheon City Chorale and other fine choirs and also get to know the very gracious and highly talented composer, Hyo-Won Woo. John Byun is a master of this kind of high energy piece which must not only be precise but artistic as well- bravo John!I am hoping that people here in the US will soon try to explore other pieces by Hyo-won. If you need a way to contact her or the Hak-won Yoon's publishing company which distributes her music e-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com

Congrats to John and this choir- I have now heard them three times in ACDA or NCCO conference concerts and have loved getting to know John's musical approach and product- and it still amazes me that this is a two year college!



Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, dir. Gregory Gentry



Dnes Hristos, by Vasily Titov (ca. 1650- 1715)

I absolutely loved this piece for three, count 'em, three choirs. There was an amazing amount of richness and depth to the sound, of course what you expect and hope to hear in Russian music, and Gentry was a master of pulling that sound out of a young choir- I didn't see any 45 year old vodka consuming basses or altos in the choir. Of course as editor of a new edition of this piece, Greg knew the piece so well. It is a joy to hear Russian music sung so well, and another group I can think of who does this repertoire complete justice is David Rayl's at Michigan State. Greg also had the choirs spaced at exactly the right positions to not only get perfect multi-choir effects, but also sounding great when choirs were united in sound. I wish I had asked him more about how he did this when we were having lunch Saturday. I would highly recommend this piece to any advanced choir (published by Musica Russica)

Mass, by Stravinsky

The Stravinsky Mass was great as well, but with some roughness in the instrumentalists sound. Many attendees at the conference were so glad to see this long-ish, somewhat neglected piece programmed, and the entire Russian-themed program was one of a number of intelligently constructed themed programs that were true highlights of the conference.

After the concert I was interviewed by DMA student from the ASU choir Kira Rugen, whose dissertation is on the direction over the last ten years in choral music, as well as looking ahead to the next 10 or 20 years. Kira had a great bunch of questions for composers and also conductors and our interview went about an hour. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her and look forward to reading her work. She also was able to line up interviews at NCCO with actually famous people in the field (which I am not) like Morten Lauridsen and other personable folks who were on hand. Bravo, Kira.

Speaking of questions, as I travel around the country here and there to work with choirs here are some common questions I get from young people- usually K-5 folks but even sometimes from JHS through HS choir members:

1) what kind of car do you drive?
2) what is your favorite video game?
3) what is your real job?




Funny stuff- and yes, they also ask some great questions too!

Next Post: Day one evening concert highlights

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Day Three Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Okay sports fans- here is the rep from day three- the final day of an extremely successful NCCO conference. Everyone is all smiles about what they got out of this three days. Choral music is alive and well on many fronts, but especially I see the joy (arising out of their very strong efforts) on young singers' faces- it is thrilling to see!

Northwest Missouri State University, Tower Chamber Choir, dir. by Stephen Town

Literature from the English School for Chorus and Organ (Sean Vogt, organ)

God is gone up, by Finzi (Boosey)

Like as a hart desireth the waterbrooks, by Howells (OUP)

WOW! WOW!

The Lord is Risen, by Arthur Bliss (Novello)

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, by Rubbra (Allied Lengnick)

Nunc dimittis, by Stanford (cpdl.org)




Colorado State University Chamber Choir, dir. by James Kim; Guest conductor for the performance, Helmuth Rilling

Singet den Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 by JS Bach

Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227, by JS Bach

Magnificat, BWV 243, by JS Bach

(Oh my, what glorious singing and phrasing, plus great 1st trumpet and piccolo trpt; trpt three filled in the rest of the notes ably)

All in all, great and extremely varied repertoire for this conference. More later, dudes and dudettes!

Day Two Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Day Two

Here is the repertoire from day two of NCCO-- many stunning performances. I don't necessarily like rating choirs- I surely do not like all the choral competitions/battles in Europe- but FYI University of Louisville was beyond amazing...more on them later when I find time to blog in more detail.

By the way, you do not want to see spellcheck "corrections" of these titles and composers!!

Day Two

University of Northern Colorado, dir. by Galen Darrough

Choral music of Argentina: A Sampler

Cantate Domino, by Antonio Russi (ediciones GCC)

Gala del Dia, from Las Indianas, by Carlos Guastavino (Kjos)

Mi Lumia, by Javier Zentner (GCC)

La Muerte del Angel, by Astor Piazolla (GCC)

Chacarera de las Piedras, by Atahualps Yupanqui, arr. Gustavo Felice (no publisher info)

Say that title and composer ten times fast after you've had three Fat Tires (their brewery is here in ft Collins)

Milonguera, by Oscar Escalada (Kjos)



Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers, dir. by Michelle Jensen

In Windsor Forest, by RV Williams


Western Michigan University Cantus Femina, dir. by Dee Gauthier

Anne Frank: A Living Voice, by Linda Tuta haugen (available from the composer)

Now I Become Myself, by Gwyneth Walker (ECS)


University of Louisville Cardinal Singers, dir. by Kent Hatteberg

Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Der 2te Psalm: Warum toben die Heiden, by Mendelssohn (Carus)
(this translates as "Who went hiding my Toblerone?")

Veni, dilecte mi!, by Wolfram Buchenberg (ms from composer)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita (Carus)



Iowa State Singers, dir. by James Rodde

Deus in adiutorium meum intende, by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (Vanderbeek and Imrie)
(this translates as "Hey, who in the auditorium is playing my Nintendo?")

O Radix Jesse, by Vytauta Miskinis (Ferrimontana)

Sitvit anima mea, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, by Johnny Brahms (Peters)

Satamasho, by Otar Taktakishvili, adapted Rodde (earthsongs)

A Worshipper and a Man, Tinothy Takach (TimothyCTakach.com)


University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers, dir. by Jo-Michael Scheibe

A Retrospective of the Music of Morten Lauridsen

Lament for Pasiphae, from Mid-Winter Songs (Opus)

Contre qui, Rose (Peer, plus all follwoing pieces by Peer)

Amore lo Sento L'alma (Fored Songs)

Se Per Havervi, Oime (Fire songs0

Soneto de la Noche (from Nocturnes)

Sure on this Shining Night (from Nocturnes)

Check back in for Day Three-- mostly interest sessions, just two concerts

Day One Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Hi all!

I'm in Ft. Collins, CO at the home of Colorado State University and the site of the three-day National Collegiate Choral Organization's National Conference. Great stuff happening-- this is my first time attending even though I am officially a founding member.

Often when I am at such events people are grilling me via e-mail for what the repertoire is, and since things are really busy, I can't really blog a lot of details of events right now but I will give you the repertoire being sung here. All I ask is that you send $5 to the Paul Carey's Family Has Never Been To Hawaii Fund And It's About Time They Went. Please, unmarked bills only.

Capitalizations are from the programs, publishers in parentheses where supplied on the programs:

Day One-

Riverside City College Chamber Singers, dir. Jon Byun

Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf (CF Peters)

Lay a Garland, by Robert Pearsall (cpdl.org)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita, (Carus)

O vos omnes, by Richard Birchard, (ms)

Alleluia, by Hyo-Won Woo (Chorus Center Publishing, South Korea)



Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, dir. Gregory Gentry

Dnes Hristos (triple choir), by Vasily Titov

Mass, by some obscure dude named Stravinsky




University of British Columbia University Singers, dir. Graeme Langager

Ave Virgo sanctissima, by David Azurza (Oihu Hau)

Mitten wir in leben sind, by Mendelssohn (cpdl.org)

(This translates as "Mitten, I love you, but where is your twin? -- my hands are very cold here in the foothills of the Rockies)

S I Do Mhaimeo, by David Mooney, (ECS)

Nigra Sum sed formosa, by Jean L'Hereitier (cpdl.org)

I am the rose of Sharon, by Ivo Antognini (Alliance)

Melancholia, by Duke Ellington arr. by Rejean marois (ms)




College of Charleston Concert Choir, dir. by Robert Taylor

Choral Dances from Gloriana, by Benny Britten

Three Shakespeare Songs, by RV Williams

Movements from "The Passing of the Year", by Jonathan Dove




Capital University Concert Choir, directed by Lynda Hasseler

Forklaring, by Ola Gjeilo

Wondrous Love, by Steven Sametz

Tshiotsholoza, by Jeffery Ames

Himne, Roelof Temmingh
(My title for this is "Hmmm? Wha'...?" more info later)

Hear my prayer, O Lord, by Hank Purcell

Notre Pere, by Durufle

Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz, by Brahms

(This translates as "I'm chafing here,God, please rent me a Hertz so I don't hafta walk no mo'")

Hey, I studied German for five years, don't pick on me

I Will Rise, by Chris Tomlin




Remember, send those donations in!

Paul

Atlanta Sacred Chorale New CD

I am thrilled that my piece "Morning Person" (SATB/piano 4 hands) is on the Atlanta Sacred Chorale's new CD "Awake the Dawn", with listening samples and order info at:


http://atlantasacredchorale.org/index.php?page=cd&cd=11



The Chorale is led brilliantly by Emory University Professor Eric Nelson. Other composer/arrangers on the CD include David Brunner, John Rutter, Charles Stanford, John Rutter, Bob Chilcott, Leonard Bernstein, Lee Dengler, Morten Lauridsen, William L. Dawson, Robert Shaw, and Jester Hairston

Hmm, some pretty fine company there!

Morning Person is published by Roger Dean, cat. #15/2599R

The very creative text is by New Orleans poet Vassar Miller- it's about God waking up one fine morning and creating the world in ONE day (not six!). My setting sounds a bit like Healy Willan in places, and at times the piano part sounds like it's out of Sondheim- hey, I don't mind admitting who some of my influences are!It was premiered by Rick Bjella's White Heron Chorale in Wisconsin when Rick was still at Lawrence Conservatory. I visited a rehearsal and we had a great time working on the dizzying energy of the piece with Rick's great community choir.

Morning Person

God, best at making in the morning, tossed
stars and planets, singing and dancing, rolled
Saturn's rings spinning and humming, twirled the earth
so hard it coughed and spat the moon up, brilliant
bubble floating around it for good, stretched holy
hands till birds in nervous sparks flew forth from
them and beasts -- lizards, big and little, apes,
lions, elephants, dogs and cats cavorting,
tumbling over themselves, dizzy with joy when
God made us in the morning too, both man
and woman, leaving Adam no time for
sleep so nimbly was Eve bouncing out of
his side till as night came everything and
everybody, growing tired, declined, sat
down in one soft descended Hallelujah.

I hope you will visit the Chorale's CD page and take a listen to Morning Person and some of the other sample tracks- and maybe you will want to order a copy!

Thanks for reading


PS I will get back to discussing Tim Sharp's High Lonesome Mass and the rest of my Oregon/Washington trip soon

My great trip to Oregon and Washington, pt. 2

Saturday and Sunday Concerts

Saturday morning at 9 AM Chor Anno gathered for a day-of-concert three hour rehearsal. Not much fun to sing that early, but this is how a professional group puts things together- intensive rehearsals during the week-of, not a seemingly never-ending once a week rehearsal like a community choir does things.

Musical interpretations were falling into place- probably the trickiest piece was still the Hyo Won Woo Alleluia, simply because any singer rhythmic inaccuracy, even from just one singer, will be totally exposed and noticed. But with each run through the piece was getting better and better. My piece was also sounding good- just some sagging pitch problems in the gnarliest bit of chromatic imitation, due to the fact that at the junction of voice imitation there is a vertical tritone for a moment,. making it tough to establish the new tonal center that each voice tries to claim as new territory. I knew this was not an easy passage when I wrote it, but of course I wasn't trying to make this piece easy! (Btw, please let me know if you would like a perusal copy of this score- contact me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com)

After the rehearsal, some of us went up to Brian Mtichell's awesome farmhouse with acreage on a high hill overlooking the river. Brian runs a wonderful choral program at Mark Morris High School in Longview, WA and he is also R and S for high schools for Washington ACDA. There is a maple tree on his property that must be over 150 years old I would guess. The few hours there were just what the singers needed- a little food, rest, and quiet.

Then it was time to get on back to our venue in Vancouver, WA and present a pre-concert talk sponsored by Meet the Composer Foundation. The event was well attended and the hour or so was moderated by Reg Unterseher with the composers in attendance being Tim Sharp and Wes Ramsey, co-composers of the High Lonesome Mass, Seattle-based composer John Muhleisen, and myself. The concert program contained other pieces by living composers, many from the NW, but they were not present for the talk or concerts (Vijay Singh and Richard Nance, to mention two).

The talk was great and the audience mostly wanted to know about our process for composing. We all seemed to have different answers to all the question but there were plenty of things in common too. I felt that we had a comfort zone and clear mutual respect for each other and the audience loved that we didn't see each other as competition, rather as brethren of the compositional art I suppose you could say. I was especially interested in how Tim and Wes co-compose as I have never tried to do such a thing. After an hour Reg had to go warm up, but the audience wanted us to keep talking and they veered us toward the area of publishing and the self-publishing that many of us are already doing. The audience was fascinated by this area and seemed to be cheering us on in the general quest to become independent from the traditional publishing houses. I think one telling factor here was a question posed by an audience member- she asked if we ever get commissions through any of our publishers' efforts. The answer across the panel was a resounding no- it's never happened. Seeing as how commissions are the biggest earnings item for a living composer, this was a pretty telling fact- not a single one of us have ever had a publisher pull in a commission for us- wow! Before this talk I had not intended at all to bring up publishing issues- many people know I am getting more and more militantly anti-traditional publisher so I didn't want to sound like I was on the offensive in front of a Meet the Composer audience. But the audience wanted to hear about this issue and I think everyone on the panel spoke fluently, fairly, and without avarice on the subject and where the future is going to be for us individually and for the choral world as well.

Finally concert time came. The church was filled- maybe 300-400 audience members (you would never achieve that in Chicago) Chor Annon was sounding great and my piece was early in the program- the third piece. They preformed my "When Jesus Wept" beautifully and as it trailed off with two soprano solo voices (one from each choir- thus quite antiphonal and echo-ish) Reg gestured a conductor's release to the end of the piece. Then there were at least 3-4 seconds of total silence and then some audible "wows" whispered hear and there, and then the applause. For a piece that has some drama and also has a quiet ending this is what you hope for- that extended silence where everyone soaks up the last phrase and appreciates the music enough to give the ending a stillness before we enter back into real rime. Obviously I was very pleased with the choir, Reg (who totally "gets" this piece), and the audience!

The rest of the program was rock solid and well-received. It included the Tim Sharp and Wes Ramsey "Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome Mass" and I'll write more about it in the next part. It's such a new and interesting work that I think it deserves a blog post of its own.

After the Saturday concert we all wound up at the Vancouver Hilton for celebration. I got to chat with national ACDA president-elect Karen Fulmer about her plans for the Dallas 2013 national conference. She and Tim have some great things planned. Karen also sings in Chor Anno.

The program was repeated Sunday in Longview, WA and the music was blossoming even more. On my piece the singers were becoming more and more comfortable and becoming more expressive of the drama packed into that short text. Once again we had a large appreciative audience- Chor Anno is well-liked and they deserve the support they get from their audiences!

Earlier that morning Tim Sharp, Reg, and I had a nice brunch overlooking a small sailboat harbor (you can decided whether the sailboats were small or the harbor). We had a great time chatting away, and we even talked about things other than music once in awhile. Reg and I especially love Tim's support for composers, his interest in the future of choral composition and how ACDA can build more mentor/partner support for that in various ways.

After the Sunday concert Reg, Justin, Molly, and I headed back to the Tri-Cities area, driving along the highway that follows the beautiful Columbia River back east. Before the sun set I got to enjoy the spectacular views of the river and cliffs, and we stopped at the Multnomah Waterfall for a few minutes to enjoy the view.



Up next: Before I continue my travelogue, I will backtrack to talk about the "High Lonesome Mass"

Thanks for reading!

My great trip to Oregon and Washington

As you know from my last blog entry, I was invited out to the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA area for the premiere of my unusual double choir arrangement of William Billings' When Jesus Wept. For the folks of Howard Meharg's Chor Anno this concert was also a big deal because ACDA executive director Tim Sharp would be there, and not just to visit- Tim would be present for, and performing as well, in the premiere of his “Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome [Bluegrass] Mass" -you can read some more about it here:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/sep/23/fish-tale-nets-music-for-chor-anno/

I decided to make this a work/networking/fun trip, so I got to Portland on Wednesday night and was picked up at PDX by April Duvic, choral director at Clark College in Vancouver.

On Thursday morning I worked with Margaret Green's amazing high school choir at the Vancouver School of the Arts. Margaret let me jump in and teach them some challenging warmups that I like, and we talked about music and ideas from Alexander technique, and I listened to them sing a piece, after which I worked with them on expression and other things. We really had a lot of fun getting barefoot and letting the sound start from our feet up (ooh, they liked the barefoot thing!) and since this is a long class session (I think it was over 90 minutes) we were able to really connect and pack a lot into the class session. I really liked the students in this class and I love what Margaret is doing with them- they all love music AND work hard for their achievements.

I then hopped on the very convenient mass transit to downtown Portland and strolled around. This was my first visit there and I felt that an older dude like myself needed to find a ponytail rental shop in order to fit in.



(I found a picture of this old guy on Google, whoever he is, with ponytail- but most of the old dudes in Portland didn't braid theirs)

If I were younger I would have needed some tattoos and piercings. But the people seem really cool and I love their diverse ways- “Keep Portland Weird” is a cool slogan, and we could use some more weird in Chicago, that's for sure.

I visited the small Chinese gardens there- very quaint and lovely. I also went to the Portland Art Museum,visiting all four floors of both buildings, using the stairs instead of elevators.

Next I did a couple of geocaches in one of the parks, and then took a break for people watching at sidewalk cafe. I then walked up to Powell's Books. I think this is the largest used and new bookstore in the country and it is way cool. Their selection was monumental and any nerd, geek, or Marian the Librarian could live here for a week.


But the weather was great so it was time to get outside for more strolling. I eventually wound up at a jazz club with a pretty decent group, though they put a little more cliched funk into their mainstream jazz than I cared for. I finally strolled down to where Greg Duvic (April's husband) works a late shift and we drove back up to Amboy, WA where they live. All in all a great day!

Friday started out with more sightseeing. Greg loves the Japanese gardens up in the hills to the west of downtown Portland so we headed there. The Japanese garden was large and the best I have ever been to, even surpassing the impressive Anderson Gardens in Rockford, IL. There's a lot more to do right there up in the hills, so we also strolled around the famous Portland Rose Test Garden- not that I am a rose fan, but that was fun too. We also smashed a few pennies in the souvenir penny smasher (Aidan loves smashed souvenir pennies!).

We then headed downtown since Greg needed to start his shift at the federal building where he is a security expert for the federal judges, which is a second career for him. He was a career police officer and investigator for the Portland Police Department. Greg's stories were amazing, and I was envious of his accomplishments in making the world a safer place.

So now it was time for more strolling and I wound up at the same outdoor cafe where I was doing my people watching the day before. I then headed over to Deschute's Brew Pub which was already massively busy at 3 PM.




Deschute's

I was to meet my old composer/conductor pal Reg Unterseher there, along with two new members of Chor Anno, since Reg and these two young and talented newbies, the very friendly Justin Raffa and Molly Holleran, live all the way three hours east in the Tri-Cities, WA area and were driving in for the Friday night Chor Anno rehearsal. While waiting for Reg, I did a sample flight of Deschute's brews and was impressed. They certainly are well above average. Reg found me and off we went for a funky dinner at The Tin Shack on the east side of Portland and then drove up to rehearsal.

The rehearsal went really well. Since my piece, directed by Reg, was new, I had never heard it for real except in my head and via Finale software playback. I was pleased that everything “worked”-- and I really did have some concerns going into this because the piece, as a double choir arrangement, is a bit complex in spots. There are a number of pages without barlines (but with a pulse), and at times various voice parts do not share downbeats. This was part of the reason for using few barlines or using dotted barlines at different points for various voices. It's not like singers haven't seen a score like this before, but I admit that at first it looks a little odd and challenging. Of course, that should draw the curious singer into the piece, and get them to explore it more- including exploring how their own voice part interacts contrapuntally with other parts. And this was also a goal for this piece- to take a simple round and write even more variations of counterpoint with the material. I am more and more convinced that today's American choral composer/arranger needs to get down to business and write more counterpoint- we have become so monophonic in the last fifteen years that it's pretty scary. When one finally tires of ear candy full of piled chords and lack of independent line, where does a singer or director turn for some counterpoint? Certainly not to any other of our new works- our output is out of balance today in this regard. So this is an area I want to continue to work within- writing creative choral counterpoint and giving altos lines to sing, giving basses lines to sing, etc, and not just writing blobs of homophony which usually give no voice part (other than perhaps the soprano part) an actual line to sing!

NEXT BLOG: The Saturday and Sunday concerts, including a Meet the Composer session