Guest blog by Conductor Jonathan Palant: Visiting South Korea

Today we have another amazing guest blog- wow, I better brush up on my writing skills, my guest bloggers are putting me to shame!

In the Fall of 2009 I was honored to be invited to attend the premiere of my Missa Brevis Incheon, commissioned by Hak-won Yon and his incredible professional choir, the Incheon City Chorale. My trip to Seoul, paid for fully by Hak-Won and the choir, was amazing--click here to read some of multiple blogs I wrote about the trip. The next fall I noticed that Accolades Tours was offering amazingly inexpensive trips to South Korea for US choral conductors so that they would consider South Korea as a choir tour destination. My Nawlins friend Caroline Carson went in January 2011 and had a great time. This past fall the very talented young conductor Jonathan Palant started asking Caroline and me about this South Korea trip opportunity, and we both encouraged him to go this January. Jonathan did go, and here, after his pic and short bio, is his very beautiful blog about his experiences in South Korea:

Dr. Jonathan Palant is currently Minister of Music at Kessler Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. From 2007-2011, he served as Artistic Director of Dallas’ Turtle Creek Chorale. Prior to that time, Palant was Adjunct Professor of Choral Music at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan. He taught secondary choral music at both University School in Cleveland, Ohio and San Pasqual High School in Escondido, California.

Palant currently sits on the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses Board of Directors. Previously, he was on the board of both the Michigan School Vocal Association and Youth First Texas, where he founded Dallas PUMP!, a choir serving at-risk youth. Palant holds degrees from Michigan State University, Temple University and the University of Michigan.

JP: Hiking the Great Wall of China, viewing a sunset over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor and sailing the Mekong River are all things I’ve wanted to do before I die—my bucket list, as it were. A week in South Korea never made the list until…

It was mid-October when Paul Carey posted a link on his Facebook page with information on a “Discovery Tour to South Korea for Choral Conductors” sponsored by Accolades Tours. What do I know about South Korea? Well, the South is not the communist part of the Korean peninsula. American veterans talk about the Korean War, but I’m not exactly sure when it happened or why. I know Hyundai and Kia are both Korean cars and I remember a Korean grade school classmate of mine who would flip her pencil over her thumb over and over and over again. I consider myself a fairly worldly person, but clearly what I know about South Korea is limited at best.

Musically, my one and only encounter with Korean choral music was a performance by the Incheon City Chorale at the 2009 ACDA National Convention in Oklahoma City. I definitely remember that performance, as anyone that heard it would attest, because it was beyond spectacular on every level.

So there you have it. That’s what I know about Korea.

Friday morning, January 6^th and I’m on a plane to Chicago to meet up with the 10 other Korean-bound travelers that make up our tour group. 2.5 hours from Dallas to Chicago and 14 hours from Chicago to Seoul. Thankfully, I’ve secured exit row seating the entire way. My first impression of Asiana Airlines came in the form of the flight attendants. They were clones of each other! As the group walked by to board the airplane, it was hard not to notice that with just one exception—the man—each woman was precisely the same height, weight and sporting the same hairstyle. Was this a Korean fashion trend or just this expectation?

Day 2. Following a wonderful journey to Cherweon to view the DMZ and tour the second of four known tunnels dug to shuttle arms between North and South Korea, we had our first musical experience of the trip.

Myeong Sung Presbyterian Church is in Seoul, the largest city and capital of South Korea. Of the 22 million that inhabit the country, 12 live in Seoul. Frankly, it still doesn’t fully explain how Myeong Sung has a membership nearing 100,000! We arrived about 30 minutes before the last service of the day was to start. This service would be the contemporary one and feature the youth choir and praise band. No big deal—I can handle a little contemporary music.

It’s time for the service. About 50 teenagers took their place on the tiered chancel. The 8-piece band, including several keyboards, guitars and drums began to play. The massive speakers—those I’ve seen hanging above Madison Square Garden for a Madonna concert—start to vibrate. I’m already in awe of this spectacle. Introduce some subtle choreography. I can’t help but notice many of the singers have their eyes closed tightly and one hand open, as if accepting the grace they are receiving from the music.

Three or four powerful songs later, I notice the orchestra and youth choir have now “entered.” Why the quotes? Because there are SEVEN HUNDRED IN THE YOUTH CHOIR!!!! The orchestra was a more typical size…perhaps 40-50 players. As was the thought for many in our group, all I wanted to know was what kind of closet they had for those choir robes? Did each of the 5 choirs have that many people in them? I soon found out the answer was YES! How often did they rehearse and what room? One hour per week in the sanctuary. The music they offered wasn’t classical, difficult, profoundly interesting and it certainly wasn’t refined, but it entered my soul in a very deep and intense way. The smiles, the heart, the passion, the tears in some eyes, the clasped hands, the melodies…

I was overcome by that experience. God was present in that room that afternoon. God was on their faces and in their song. And this from someone (me) who still isn’t sure he believes in God.

Our next musical experience came the following day at the Korean International Choral Workshop. I was honored to be one of three clinicians. Attendees were school, professional and church conductors. The demonstration choir was from the city of Gwangmyong. (Korean cities with a population greater than 100,000 all have government sponsored, professional, full-time choirs!!) Although the men overpowered the women, the sound in general was quite good. The group of 16 was responsive, focused and came well-prepared. The only oddity occurred when we began to work Bach’s Dona Nobis Pacem. The choir had no concept of appropriate performance practice, no notion of nuance and no idea how to perform a fugue other than to sing the notes and rhythms as they were printed on the page. It surprised both my American counterparts and me, the clinician! Nearly 2-hours into the session and such an intense “work out” wasn’t in the cards. I turned around to those in the gallery and said, “What an appropriate piece to unite our worlds. Let’s all sing it together as one choir!”

While we live 7,000 miles apart, the music of Bach (albeit sans nuance) brought us so close. It was an honor to stand in front of this choir, but it was an even bigger honor to be among friends from a different land. I’ll never forget that experience.

While there were many wonderful experiences over the course of this weeklong journey, visiting the Incheon City Chorale and the World Vision Youth Choir Korea were especially meaningful. As it was for every formal visitation, when we arrived at the Incheon Arts Center, we were first escorted into a private “board room” of sorts. The chorus manager, donning a pinned-striped suit, Waldo glasses and a Charlie Chaplin bowler hat, introduced us to the staff and served us all warm corn tea. It was first time having corn tea, and while interesting, I’m not sure I’d shuck for seconds. Corn tea tastes like the hot water in which one has just boiled corn. It’s a little starchy, a little bland and a lot corny.

After tea, we were ushered into the rehearsal hall where Maestro Hak-Won Yoon and the Incheon City Chorale was awaiting our arrival. Printed programs were handed out, as were copies of the music they’d sing. It was great to be given copies of this music for our own libraries.

The music was complex, intense at times, humorous at times and all performed with what I was beginning to hear as the “Korean choral sound.” It’s a massive sound that resembles something close to our idea of opera chorus timbre (especially the men), yet individual voices do not stick out and that “I’m going to out-sing my neighbor” attitude is nowhere to be heard. Big voices making intimate music—unique and thrilling.

(Jonathan Palant and South Korean conductor Hak-Won Yoon)

To close their program, the Incheon City Chorale offered us Americans a little taste of home…sung in Korean. 7,000 miles away from home and yet SO close.

Before we departed Incheon, we had a few minutes to chat with the singers and ask Dr. Yoon any questions we might have. One of my tour cohorts must have struck up some interesting conversation because he shuffled over one of the Koreans and began with, “Jonathan, you’re Jewish, right?” Then out of nowhere, “Andy” my new best friend and member of the Incheon City Chorale bass section began singing Shalom Chaverim! Naturally, I join him in belting away this traditional Hebrew song. Two verses of that and he switches us both to Maoz Tzur, then Shalom Aleichem, Hava Nagila, David Melech Yisrael…

7,000 miles away from home and yet SO close. Turns out Andy’s a comparative religion major with a special interest in Jewish studies. Email addresses exchanged and off our group went.

I didn’t know of The World Vision Choir Korea until this trip. Their website states:

In 1960, World Vision Korea recruited choir members among World Vision’s sponsored children, who lost their parents during Korean War. The children sang in return for their sponsors’ love and help for them, which moved many people’s minds to become sponsors for children. The choir started its first year touring 27 countries and gradually grew up to become one of the world’s best children’s choir as it awarded the First Prize in the World Choral Competition hosted by BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation. With its 5,000 accumulated performance experience in 700 cities of 50 countries, it contributes to enhancing national prestige and promoting friendship in the global community.

Sometimes seeing it for yourself is more effective than any description one can offer.

The children closed their performance with an original setting of the Gaelic Blessing—and there wasn’t a dry eye among us.

I want to share one more experience of a non-musical nature.

On the day of our conducting workshop, we were taken to lunch by several of the area conductors. I chose, being the shy guy I am (NOT!) to sit not with my American colleagues, but rather at the table with all the locals. I sat across from “Duke.” Most Koreans, as is the case throughout Asia, have an English name as well as their given name. Duke’s English is quite good. Here’s the synopsis of our conversation and you’ll see why it became so meaningful—

Me: Duke, are you originally from South Korea?

Duke: No. I was born in North Korea. While I was studying in the south, the borders were closed. My family, 7 siblings and both my parents, were killed in the war. I joined the South Korean Navy and my job was to sing for the troupes. I then went to school for music in the USA.

Me: That’s an incredible story. I’m so sorry to hear about your family. Where did you study in the States?

Duke: I went to New England Conservatory to study with Lorna Cooke deVaron

Me: I went to graduate school with Alexander deVaron, Lorna’s son. I grew up in Lexington not far from NEC.

Duke: My daughter lives in Lexington now! She married a Jewish man who is a professor at MIT.

Me: I’m Jewish. I wonder if my parents, who still live in Lexington, would know your daughter? Does she have children?

Fast forward…I call home and ask my parents if either of them might know this family. As it turns out, Duke’s grandchildren are patients in my dad’s medical practice!

7,000 miles away from home and yet SO close.

This Discovery Tour proved to be just that—a real discovery. I feel fortunate to have had the resources, time and just enough courage to undertake such an adventure. I truly didn’t know what to expect or what I’d ultimately gain from this journey, but now, as I reflect, I feel as if a void has been filled. Surprisingly, I didn’t know a void existed, but my experiences there enriched my life in such a way that I now believe I wasn’t complete until having them. Allow me a bit of latitude with this metaphor, but it’s like eating Brussels Sprouts—you don’t know what you think until you try them! I’m really glad I went to South Korea.

Epilogue

I love Brussels sprouts. I always have and I always will.

I rarely try new food. I didn’t on this trip, and I won’t in the future.

--Jonathan Palant

ACDA Tucson- Crystal Children's Choir/Incheon City Chorale

On Thursday night Crystal Children's Choir and Incheon City Chorale gave amazing performances. Crystal Children's Choir, led by Jenny Chiang and Karl Chang and based in San Francisco, performs Chinese folk music with amazing flair. Dressed in traditional costumes (with many different regional costumes sprinkled about the choir, meaning there is not one uniform), their repertoire spans all provinces of China(and there was even a very entertaining Mongolian song included). The group uses a lot of choreography, all of which is very natural and is highly effective. What a great, entertaining group of hard-working, artistic young women! Much of this music was in 3-4 parts and beyond; I was very impressed with their dedication to their art.

Next was Incheon City Chorale, and the anticipation in the venue was electric. They began with Hyo-Won Woo's Me Na Ri, the same piece they opened their ACDA national program with last year. For anyone who had not seen them in OK City, this was, I am sure, breathtaking. They sang other music that had been done in OK City plus a new piece by Hyo-won Woo, a very special setting of O Magnum Mysterium, which began with a very misterioso (yeah, that's the idea, of course!) low rumble in the basses (low D-low C?). I was amazed by the piece and really need to hear it again to really describe it well.

ICC then also blew people away with their amazing sonic excellence, their expressiveness and joy, and their variety of music styles, including simple traditional Korean folk songs with choreography, their famous costume changes, and so on. Not far into the program, there were pockets of HS or college students giving standing "O's" to each piece, such was the effect on the audience. The program had to come to an end, of course, but I think the audience would have kept listening forever!

Afterward I rode back on the ICC bus and Hak-won and the very talented Korean composers Hyo-Won Woo, Ji-hoon Park, and Il-Joo Lee and I shot the breeze for at least two hours(in English, for my sake!). We talked about lots of things and had a really good time. They then were headed to San Diego for one last US appearance. It felt really good to see all my Korean friends again.

PLUS The enthusiasm of everyone in the audience on Thursday night

MINUS Nothing...everyone in the choral world assembled in Tucson was a happy camper!

ACDA Western Division Conference in Tucson

Hey everyone, this is day two of the ACDA Western Division Conference in Tucson, AZ. It's been crazy busy here and I'm already behind trying to blog this event. Please bear with me, and there ain't-a gonna be any pics on this for now1

I'm staying at the cool landmark Hotel Congress built in 1919, and kept as a retro hotel- thus no TV's, old plumbing (ha) and so on. It's a great ole place, not a McHotel, and a hangout for very groovy gen-xers amidst the various bars (5 count 'em, 5) in the building.

Thursday started off with a wonderfully sweet address by the legendary Weston Noble. What a cool speech, as he told a few stories from his childhood but mostly was zeroing in on his new interest in "mirror neurons" and their interactive effect on human communication. How many octogenarians do you know that are still this interested in cutting edge science? In his own sweet way he sounded like he was doing a TED talk!

Following that Daniel Hughes' The Choral Project did a wonderful program including choralography on a few numbers. Daniel is a great guy, and I think I will save talking about Daniel and the choral Project for later when I have more time, and hopefully Daniel can add to the blog.

My biggest reason for being in Tucson was that Incheon City Chorale is the guest professional choir here and Hak-won Yoon decided to place the Agnus Dei from my Missa Brevis Incheon into his interest session about Korean music. I guess I ate enough Korean food in Seoul in October to qualify as an honorary Korean, as I was the only non-Korean composer on the session. Hak-won, with his usual wit and wisdom, taught the directors about basic Korean folk music rhythms and modes and then demonstrated various elements of Korean music with the choir and then sang some short songs by Korean composers in varying styles. Then they also sang my Agnus Dei beautfully and I had a number of nice comments from my peers. It was fun to share this piece here now in America. Hak-won and I also discussed the future of this piece, and we decided to start showing it to US choirs. So, if you are interested in seeing a 13 minute Missa Brevis, SATB divisi, and on the difficult side (fast melismas at times for men and extended ranges for sopranos), let me know! Free perusal scores via pdf file available

The evening concerts featured the Tucson Chamber Artists directed by Eric Holtan, followed by The Crystal Children's Concert Choir from San Francisco, and then Incheon City Chorale.

I thought that the Tucson Chamber Artists gave a wonderful program- a very professional, polished sound while performing difficult music in a very artistic way- the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis of the very talented Scotsman, James MacMillan, followed by some lighter music by Stephen Paulus. I very much admired the intensity of the singing on the McMillen and I felt that Holtan's conducting was rock-solid. This is a group to watch as they continue to grow. I actually felt that the audience was a bit noisy and antsy and was not entering McMillen's rather intense, moderately dissonant, and highly creative world whcih challenges you to engage in your listening. I think they were so much anticipating the Asian folk music coming up that they forgot the respect Mr. Holtan's group, which is a shame.

Time for another session- I'll pick this back up later...

PLUS atmospheric music here and there with singers imitating birdcalls and the sound of rain (or the sound of rainsticks)

MINUS already by morning of day two I've heard FOUR pieces doing these same effects!

THOUGHT maybe start a new trend- write a piece with this atmosphere: construction vehicle backup beeps and other posh urban noises

Day Two in South Korea: Leading up to the concert

Day Two in South Korea:
Leading up to the concert

The plan for the day was for Kelley to show me around Seoul a little bit, get some lunch and then get to the dress rehearsal in preparation for the evening’s concert at the very impressive and architecturally attractive Seoul Arts Center, home to an amazing array of performing and visual arts.


Kelley drove me from my hotel on the south side of Seoul (south of the Han River) to the more prominent part of the city north of the river. We passed some very interesting sites, such as Gyeongbokgung Palace, and went up the hills past the South Korean president’s “Blue House” (hey, ours is white, theirs is blue!). Way up at the top there is a sweet lookout point with a restaurant and teahouse or two. We looked out from this hilltop at the amazingly large expanse of Seoul (pop. fifteen million, not even counting the additional millions residing in Incheon City and other immediately surrounding large cities) and had some tea. I opted for the most traditional Korean tea , as my goal on the trip was to steep myself in things Korean- haha, here I was literally steeping in Korean tea-- hey, I made a joke!


From there we drove back down toward the main city business district and had a traditional Korean lunch at a very nice restaurant. Okay, a traditional Korean lunch is about fifteen courses, an amazing assortment of soups, fish, vegetable dishes, noodles, gelled dishes; on and on the food comes! I was tanked by about course eleven , so Kelley had to be the good soldier and finish through to the last dish. For one who hasn’t tried this food it really is hard to describe, there are a few very spicy delicious dishes, yet others which are very refined and not spicy at all. It has similarities to other Oriental cuisines, yet still very much has its own strong identity. I also discovered that every kimchi is different (kimchi is a moderately spicy cabbage dish). And this pickle fan discovered that kimchi and pickles are the ubiquitous appetizer munchies presented at almost every Korean meal.



From there we went to the dress rehearsal. We grabbed an espresso near the concert hall and then headed in. The singers were already intently rehearsing Monteverdi and greeted me warmly. We then launched into the Missa Brevis Incheon and I was in heaven. They really understood the drama of the piece and were singing it with great artistry. The tonal/timbral qualities were exactly what I imagined they might be like (as I worked on my Finale files at North Carolina and at home) when sung now by these real, live, highly talented singers, and I couldn’t have been any happier. Dr. Yoon asked me for comments and/or criticisms, and really it was hard to come with anything. What a luxury! I did point out a few cadences for them tune a little tighter and a few English pronunciations that needed fixing on my African American spiritual arrangements, but that’s about all I could find to talk about. The dress rehearsal was so great, even with the singers cruising a tiny bit and saving their voices for the evening-- I knew the concert would be awesome.

Candid fun photos from rehearsal:







Next post: Day Two, The Concert

My Super Fun and Rewarding Trip to South Korea for the premiere by
the Incheon City Chorale of Missa Brevis Incheon

Part 1- The Background

If you have been following me on this blog, FaceBook, Twitter, my webpage, etc. you definitely know that I was commissioned by the Incheon City Chorale of South Korea to write a concert mass for them to premiere in October 2009. The commission came soon on the heels of my meeting the Chorale and their director Dr. Hak-Won Yoon in Oklahoma City during the ACDA 50th anniversary convention, where they wowed the audience of professional musicians to the max.

Dr. Yoon asked me to write a 15-18 minute piece (essentially a four movement “Missa Brevis”) which had to be written in about sixty days, which also happened to coincide with my challenging new summer job teaching at the amazing North Carolina Governor’s School for all of June and July. It wasn’t easy to make the time to sketch and write the piece while working such a challenging new job in North Carolina, but I knew it was important to make the time to write creative and challenging music for this amazing choir. I was able to complete the Kyrie while in North Carolina, write most of the Gloria, and have ideas and sketches for the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. Perhaps the most exciting thing was that a certain idea (quickly racing through tessituras) I had for the opening of the Gloria would perhaps be very hard to sing, and I was constantly curious whether it was really singable. But I knew this choir of virtuosi just might be able to handle it. And I was also fortunate that I could still hear the sound of the choir in my head as I wrote.

So the piece was finished after I got back home in early August and sent off via pdf file to Dr. Yoon. After awhile I heard back, Dr. Yoon and the singers liked the piece a lot and the singers especially loved the fast and forte Gloria and Sanctus. They loved the fact that I was allowing their abilities to shine and to challenge them to some degree. One interesting side note-- some pentatonic elements started writing themselves into the score while in North Carolina. I didn’t set out purposely to bring pentatonic, seemingly Eastern elements into the piece, they just kind of happened (I am one of those composers who often feels that a piece in progress takes over at some point in the creative process and seems to start writing itself). Actually a number of my pieces lately have had pentatonic elements to them- this just happened to have some of that as well (thought really only quite noticeable in parts of the Gloria).

Just about two weeks before the Seoul premiere of October 20th, Dr. Yoon informed me that a way had been found to sponsor a trip for me to Korea for the premiere. This was pretty exciting- I wasn’t expecting this to happen. Travel arrangements were made, and off I flew to Seoul on Sunday, October 18th, leaving O’Hare in Chicago about noon on Korean Air. The only other thing I had to do was make sure that Aidan, our six year old little guy, would know that Daddy would be back in five days- and not be gone the seven long weeks the poor little guy endured while I was in Raleigh, NC for most of the summer.

Next Post: Day One in South Korea

2009 ACDA performance- Cantoria Alberto Grau

(Maria Guinand)




The 2009 ACDA convention performance by Maria Guinand's Cantoria Alberto Grau brought tears to my eyes- just amazing tears of joy. In fact, as they danced and swayed off the stage after an incredible performance, the sheer joy of the music and the act of profoundly beautiful musicmaking overcame me. First some little tears and then more- and finally to the point that manly me thought I might totally lose it and cry like a total baby! So... of course being a manly man I did fight back the tears, but really RE-learned how much sheer simple joy music can bring and just how strong its affect on the emotions can be. This was a choir that wore colorful costumes, sang silly songs, did some campy antics on stage, and brought us all immense childlike happiness. God, how I wish our American concert choirs could put away the funeral clothes, the straight Puritan faces, the stiff posture and lack of facial expression and loosen up- is that just too hard to do? The DVD of this performance should be required viewing for all of us!

I have watched Maria Guinand in workshops (without her choir) , and while she was quite interesting to listen to as a clinician , nothing prepared me for how much joy her choir projects from the stage-- often while Maria herself takes a comfy backseat to the action, often just playing the claves.

Another fun thing to do was to read the translation of some of these folk texts into English. Some are so delightfully silly and refreshing already in their native tongue that direct translation into another language is nearly impossible- but the translation attempt into English just pointed out even more that this culture is far beyond us in its embrace of the whimsical, the sly, etc.

Like the Incheon City Chorale from Korea, the Cantoria Alberto Grau blew away the audience at ACDA and received a standing ovation that went on for a very long time. They gave us the gift of a rainbow of color, both musically and with their costumes, and sang with their hearts on their sleeves and a knowing wink of the eye. Bravo!

2009 ACDA performance- Incheon City Chorale

(Paul Carey & Hakwon Yoon - ACDA 2009)


Greetings! Yes, this is my first blog-woohoo. I'm going to travel back a few weeks to talk about some of the choirs that performed at the American Choral Director's Association (ACDA) 50th anniversary convention in Oklahoma City.

It takes some pretty cool stuff to make me gush, but I am going to do just that about the Incheon City Chorale, directed by the amazing Hakwon Yoon. Their program consisted of three modernized pieces of Korean folk music plus the Whitacre When David Heard. The Korean music, all incredibly electric pieces by a young composer named Hyowon Woo, just floored the entire audience. The pieces were presented using various degrees of lighting/stage effects, drumming, antiphonal spacing, stage movement, etc. This music was so powerful and creative on so many levels that the Whitacre was actually an unneeded interruption (no offense intended to EW). I'm sure their intent was to showcase their choir singing some American music, but really, most of the people I talked to just wished we could have heard their own core repertoire for the full performance (and for a few hours more perhaps).

This is a choir of 50 dedicated professional singers between the ages of 28-45, but they sounded like about 150 singers when singing full voice- wow. I've heard the Chicago Symphony Chorus at 150 voices or so (Schoenberg's Moses and Aron, conducted by Boulez) so I know whereof I speak.They could roar through a ff passage (the only choir all week who had the mass of sound and incredible overtone production to make the concert space "ring") and switch to a pp texture at any moment, and possessed the ability to paint far more than the single tone color many of our American choirs present. The conductor's chops were blowing everyone away- the minimal use of gesture to create any sound desired- a great lesson to all conductors not to overconduct! Mr. Yoon at times looked as if he were at some sort of invisible magic floating console which he barely had to touch to create the sound he desired. Obviously, the choir has amazing discipline and a shared goal of excellence. Their love of the music and texts and of performing to an appreciative audience was especially loved by all. As they left the stage to our thunderous applause they all waved to us and grinned from ear to ear- they had as much fun performing as we did listening to them. I will have to say that this is the best choir I have ever heard (and I've hear some good ones for sure).

I was lucky enough run into Mr. Yoon and the choir at the airport on my way back to Chicago. I introduced myself and gushed over the performance, kind of feeling like a little kid talking to his major league baseball hero! Mr. Yoon and the choir were very gracious, asked about what I do, and we took turns shooting photos. No diva attitudes here- just wonderful, gracious, smiling talented real people. It was great fun to meet them.