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

Chor Anno- a great program this coming weekend

Today, Sept. 21st, I'm leaving Chicago to visit the Pacific NW for the first time in my life- something I've wanted to do for years. I will be at the world premiere of my modernized, quite contrapuntal double choir arrangement of William Billings' "When Jesus Wept" in a concert by Chor Anno, founded not long ago by Howard Meharg.

The idea behind Chor Anno is brilliant- take 25-30 professional choral singers/directors with chops and do one kickass concert each early fall. When else could all these busy directors find the time to be in a choir- they are too busy leading choirs all year!

Here is some info from the Chor Anno website about some of the piece on the upcoming concert which will be presented both Saturday and Sunday. Note that ACDA prez Tim Sharp also has a piece on the program and will be there!

Part of the program will include "Come Away to the Skies: A High Lonesome Mass," by Dr. Tim Sharp, Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association.

Dr. Sharp, is well known in choral circles, not only as head of the 20,000 member ACDA, but as a conductor and composer.

The great thing for us is that Tim Sharp will not only be here for the premiere of his work, but he will also play the banjo as part of the accompanying bluegrass style group. Yes, you'll hear a marvelous combining of musical styles...wonderful choral writing and the poignant and mesmerizing sound of bluegrass instruments accompanying the choir.


But that's just part of the concert!

Early/Late American

The program will range from early American to present day compositions by American composers such as John Muehleisen (Seattle), Paul Carey (Chicago), Richard Nance (Tacoma), Vijay Singh (Ellensburg), Ola Gjeilo (New York)...all contemporary, as well as a work by the incomparable Leonard Bernstein.

Here is [part of] the program:

Come Away to the Skies - and early American hymn arranged by the legendary double-choir Alice Parker

Saints Bound for Heaven - a melody from Walker's "Southern Harmony" of 1835, arranged by Mack Wilberg

When Jesus Wept - William Billings, from the New England Psalm Singer of 1770, but with an amazing new twist...arranged for eight-part, double choir by Paul Carey. This is a premiere performance. (Paul will be in attendance for the Vancouver concert!)

Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal - the robust and powerful hymn arranged by Alice Parker

Come Away to the Skies: a High Lonesome Mass - a west coast premiere of Tim Sharp's latest work. Tim uses his expertise as a scholar in early American music, taking hymns such as "Brethren, We Have Met to Worship," "Do Lord," "Hail, the Blest Morn," and "What Wondrous Love," and placed them in the framework of the mass. The result is a stunning 20 minute work.

INTERMISSION

Alleluia - by Hyo won Woo is a departure (along with the next two works) from our American themed concert...but we just had to perform 'em. This piece was premiered at the ACDA national convention by the Incheon Chorale of Seoul, Korea, in 2009. Powerful and very exciting. This may be another west-coast premiere performance.

The Beatitudes - by contemporary Estonian composer, Arvo Paert

Northern Lights - a composition by Ola Gjeilo

Carpenters of God - by our friend Vijay Singh

River Moons - is written by John Muehleisen, a Seattle composer who is becoming widely known. This piece was premiered and recorded by the Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, MN, in 2006. It's a setting of the poem by Carl Sandburg, who turns the image of the moon reflected in the water into a vivid memory from his youth.

The rest of my nine days in Oregon and Washington will be spent working with two excellent HS and college choirs,geocaching, sightseeing,and hanging out with my partner in crime, fellow composer Reg Ungerseher (who is the conductor for my piece). I guess when I am with Reg back at his home in Kennewick, WA I will see Mt. St. Helen's and many tumbleweeds (he does NOT live near the coast).

Here is the link to Chor Anno

http://www.choranno.org/program.html

I will try to blog while I am there!

A Concert for Peace 7.8.9.10.11

My good friend Paul LaPrade, a humble genius, presented a program on September 10th (note, not September 11th) entilted "A Concert for Peace 7.8.9.10.11" in Rockford Illinois at the historic Coronado Theater. Paul’s intention was to avoid the painful date of the 11th and focus on peace and how we all must strive to achieve it.

Paul worked in cooperation with the Rockford Interfaith Council in this large undertaking, as it involved speakers from seven faiths plus eight choirs (thus the creative title 7.8.9.10.11). Yet despite the size of the undertaking it all played out in a relaxed, wonderfully creative and introspective way. Of course that would be the LaPrade touch- always a fine grace beneath the action taken.

I also must assume that most of my blog readers do not know much about Rockford. It is an aging city in NW Illinois which has struggled for years with rust belt problems- high unemployment, street gangs, poor schools, etc. To witness such an amazing event within a city with these chronic problems is hope embodied. It speaks volumes about the Interfaith Council and the fine people of Rockford who care for their city and about peace.

The speakers, representing the Native American tradition, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Baha‘i, for the most part stayed away from referencing 9/11 imagery and pain. Of course we all knew it was a subtext- yet their message for September 10th was of peace and what insight each religion, in its best hours not its worst, could share with us in our quest for peace. I enjoyed the opening short speech by Native American speaker Dennis Dillard, about visiting “Miracle” the white bison (symbolic of peace and unity to virtually all Native Americans), born in Wisconsin in 1994.


http://whitebuffalomiracle.homestead.com/

The speech which I enjoyed the most, and which necessitated audience participation was by Buddhist leader Xuan Dinh. Dressed in traditional orange Buddhist monk garb, he simply told us we must, as an audience, breathe. Well of course we were going to do that- but now he was gently imploring us to be conscious of our breath-- that which keeps us alive and connects us constantly to the ether of the world. And as he encouraged us to breathe and close our eyes, he intoned for us the Buddhist chant (alternating between the chant and telling us the translation) “May I be Happy”. It was a very sweet and touching few minutes and quite delightful in its simplicity. Please read below for more about this text.

Mixed between the speakers’ messages were performances of wonderful music by Rockford area choirs- a wide variety of dedicated amateur groups plus Paul’s new semi-pro chamber group ”Elysian Voices”. The groups were the Rock Valley Children’s Choir, directed by Leah Baskin; the Rock Valley College Concert Choir and Elysian Voices, directed by LaPrade; A Classic Chorale, directed by Larry Runestad; the DeKalb Festival Chorus, directed by Jennifer Whiting, and Kantorei, the Singing Boys of Rockford, directed by Joel Ross.

Al of the choirs acquitted themselves nicely and the repertoire choices were strong- not a clichéd piece in the entire evening. To me the highlights were the two youth choirs. The Rock Valley Children’s Choir featured some of their youngest voices on the main melody- a very sweet touch. When the older singers entered in two and three part harmony the tone quality was simply gorgeous. Leah Baskin’s direction showed a great enthusiasm for working with young people, I’d like to get to know this director! Joel Ross’ boy choir was also wonderfully expressive, and how great is it to see an all-boys choir thriving in 2011, when most moms and dads think their boys should only be playing sports an never do anything artistic. Bravo, Joel and singers.



The Rock Valley Choldren's Choir




The program ended with the massed choirs performing “Grant us your Peace” by Mendelssohn. When the music ended there was no great standing ovation, because we sensed the message of the evening in a deep way and there was no need for that kind of overt response. Everyone who attended will remember the words spoken that evening and the hopes that those words and the heartfelt music implored us to act upon in our daily lives as citizens of the world. Sherri and I, plus a sleeping Aidan in my arms, made our way to the stage to congratulate Paul and others- it was a beautiful evening and a great achievement by Paul and all the people involved.


Note about the chant “May I Be Happy”

I was actually familiar with this chant (and loved hearing its inclusion that evening), as I had used the English translation as a text for a piece recently commissioned by the International Christian School of Hong Kong directed by David Baldwin. I used a gentle Christian text (somewhat pantheistic) to open the piece and then moved to an up-tempo setting of the “May I be Happy” words, with my own melody. It was my way of joining Western and Eastern textual elements for that commission. The piece will be published soon by Roger Dean.

What I love about this chant is the hope for all to be happy and peaceful- including our ”enemies”. Here is the text:

May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free.
May my friends be happy, may my friends be peaceful, may my friends be free.
May my enemies be happy, may my enemies be peaceful, may my enemies be free.
May all beings be happy, may all beings be peaceful, may all beings be free.

Choral Directors: Visit South Korea for little cost!

A Great Opportunity

I just received a notice about a repeat of last year’s Accolades International Tours Choral Director Tour of South Korea. This is an opportunity for any US choral director to visit South Korea for a week of musical performances and networking, discussion of tour opportunities, cultural and historic touring, local food, and so on for a small fraction of what these activities would cost you if you were to pick up the whole tab yourself. It’s all part of South Korea’s venture to make their land a top choir tour destination.

Here is a link to all the information:

http://www.gtd.org/post/pdfbrochure/120104.pdf


And here is a link to my blogs about my visit to South Korea in Fall 2009, when Dr. Hak Won Yoon commissioned me to write a Missa Brevis for his amazing Incheon City Chorale, the group that wowed ACDA National conference attendees in Oklahoma City earlier in that year.

http://paulcarey440.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

And, by the way, meeting Dr. Yoon and the chorale is part of the itinerary. FYI, I have no stake in this- just thought I would make sure people were aware of it, and would like you to know that South Korea and its people are wonderful.

The tour is in early January and you need to sign up by early October.

Accolades International Tours for the Arts/Group Travel Directors www.accoladestours.com ~ www.gtd.org ~ 800-747-2255 ~ 952-881-7811

Appointment as Composer in Residence

The Young Naperville Singers

I'm pleased to announce that I have been appointed as composer in residence for 2011-12 for the Young Naperville Singers, Angie Johnson, artistic director. This is a blossoming organization fueled by Angie's great energy and vision – now boasting seven treble choirs covering ages K-12. They have just added a choir for boys only starting at 4th grade. I will guess that this will be generally a boys treble choir but that they will work with changing voices as well as that situation arises. This boys choir has been a dream of Angie's for awhile now. The organization has actually held ten years of a boys ”power sing” (adult male led rote singing and drumming = manly fun) twice yearly which has helped get a few more boys into the organization. I expect that this dedicated boys ensemble, led by a very energetic young man, Ryan Henry (a graduate of the fine choral program at Millikin), will take off and be a great success.




Angie Johnson, YNS Artistic Director

My main role as composer in residence is to write new pieces for specific choirs in the organization and for the choirs in a massed formation. For this December I wrote an SA/piano piece for Anne Kasprzak's group. The text is a wonderfully simple and sweet winter poem by J. Patrick Lewis:

Alone in Winter

Have you come upon a doe, alone in winter?
I did once. She was shy.
Wind galloped through the trees
And the trees stepped back
And the doe made a slow circle in the air
with her wet black nose, as if to say,
I have come upon a boy, alone in winter.

The other piece I wrote is for the massed choirs, a big, joyous setting of the poem On Christmas Morn by Eleanor Farjeon (below are the verses of the poem I used):

Now every child that dwells on earth,
Stand up, stand up and sing:
The passing night has given birth
Unto the childrens' King.
Sing sweet as the flute,
Sing clear as the horn,
Sing joy of the Children,
Come Christmas morn.

Now every Star that dwells in sky,
Look down with shining eyes:
The night has dropped in passing by
A Star from Paradise.

Now every Bird that flies in air,
Sing, raven, lark and dove:
The night has brooded on her lair
And fledged the Bird of love.
REPEAT REFRAIN

Now every Beast that crops in field,
Breathe sweetly and adore:
The night has brought the richest yield
That e’er harvest bore.
REPEAT REFRAIN

In addition to writing pieces for the groups I will also interact with them in rehearsal, do some workshops with them about the creative process and whatever else Angie and I can think up. I also hope to interact with the community in which the choir resides. This coming weekend the top two choirs will be in a retreat, which is a brilliant way to bond, build teamwork, and get cracking on learning scores. I have been invited to work with the choirs for about 45 minutes. I think instead of working with them on their singing or making it all about my music in some way, I have decided to bring a few poems (which I have set to music) and have a discussion about poetry and how we connect to its messages. Since these will be singers in their teens they will be able to get into just about anything I might bring in. I think I will bring in two poems, bu one of them for sure will be the following, which speaks to us about the transiency of life, and how we choose to live within that transient beauty:

LAKE SONG by Collette Inez

Every day our name is changed,
say stones colliding into waves.
Go read our names on the shore,
say waves colliding into stones.

Birds over water call their names
to each other again and again
to say where they are.
Where have you been, my small bird?

I know our names will change one day
to stones in a field
of anemones and lavender.

Before you read the farthest wave,
before our shadows disappear
in a starry blur, call out your name
to say where we are.

I am very much looking forward to this concert season working with Angie, the other directors, and of course the singers. This is my second appointment as a composer in residence. The first was with a very fine ensemble in Madison, Wisconsin, The Festival Singers. This new appointment with YNS will be very different since I will be around all the youthful energy that 300+ children create!


Note: For anyone interested, my SSA/piano setting of Lake Song is published by Roger Dean. A professional recording of the piece by the Milwaukee Choral Artists can be found on my website at www.paulcarey.net

Summer 2011 newsletter/new repertoire suggestions

Hi choral director friends,

Since I last spoke to you in January, I've had some great experiences; I conducted premieres of two pieces commissioned by the Hong Kong International School Festival (organized by Calvin College alum David Baldwin) and really enjoyed my week of working with the young musicians there plus my sightseeing all over Hong Kong, including a trip to the REALLY BIG BUDDHA on Lantau Island.




Of the two pieces I wrote for Hong Kong one will be published, "May I be Happy", (SA/piano) soon by Roger Dean, and the other, "Clap your Hands" (also SA/piano with some optional perc) I am publishing personally. Treble directors, let me know if you would like to see free perusal scores. And by the way, "Clap your Hands" is very uptempo, fun, and a bit of a sequel to my children's choir mega-hit "Peace on Earth and lots of little crickets".Here's a link to a youtube performance conducted by Courtney Connelly in late Spring.

The national ACDA conference in my hometown of Chicago was a blast both on a professional and personal level. And the concert season wrapped up with a one week residency with the Cincinnati Children's Choir directed by Robyn Lana. The advanced ensemble premiered two more commissioned pieces in great fashion, one of which, the bouncy and fun "Rain" (SSA/piano) will be published by Roger Dean and the other, a very lyrical piece called "Paint the Stars" (SSA/piano flute) which I will publish personally. The truly delightful texts were by members of the choir and I have recordings of the pieces but they are not yet posted on my website (please inquire).Again, if you'd like a free perusal score of these, let me know. These pieces would generally be appropriate for mid to advanced treble choirs up through HS or early college level age women's choirs.

For those of you with mixed HS through college/professional choirs I'd like to suggest a few extended works of mine. These were commissioned pieces with very successful premieres and a few performances after that. But because of their length most every publisher has shied away from putting them into print, thus the need for me to personally advocate for them to receive further performances. In general I think the texts I discovered to set are amazing, and the imagery and content of these texts really inspired my writing. Let me know if you would like to see perusal scores, and most of them already have some sample pages/recordings up on my website at www.paulcarey.net - I have created hyperlinks for most of these pieces:

"El Limonar Florido" (The Lemon Grove in Blossom) SATB/solo violin/solo cello. 4 movements, about 17 minutes. Gorgeous Spanish texts by Antonio Machado. Choral parts not difficult. This piece received two very nice performances this past season- one from Grinnell College directed by John Rommereim and the other from Diana Saez' Coral Cantigas in Washington, D.C.

"Missa Brevis Incheon" SATB div a cappella. A bravura 16 minute work commissioned by Hak-won Yoon and the Incheon City Chorale and premiered by them in Seoul in 2009. Here's a challenge for a university or professional choir.

"Endless Worlds" SATB div a cappella. Wonderful texts about music and nature by Tagore. This was commissioned by an ambitious high school choir and they pulled it off. About 15minutes.

"Into this World" (Four Choral Seasons) SATB/piano. Four texts suggesting the seasons of nature and of our lives. A really sweet, lyrical 16 minute piece. The texts are by Elinor Wylie, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rainer Marie Rilke, and Natalie Goldberg

"1944" SATB/string orchestra, or strings one to a part. Highly imaginative WWII text by Hilda Doolittle (HD). The text actually suggested tying in elements of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. I admit it's a slightly odd piece with the war and slight Christmas element, but that's just the way it turned out!

"The Bethlehem Star" SATB divisi a cappella. This was a Christmas work commission from Nancy Menk and the South Bend Chamber Singers. About 18 minutes with great texts by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

"Winter's Night Carol" SATB(SA)/brass quintet. Thus was a Christmas work commission by an adult choir who had a children's choir associated with them, so there is a children's choir element but it can be easily taken by some of the women of an SATB choir. A very nice recent performance by Illinois Wesleyan University. Nine minutes long with text by Thomas Merton.

Three shorter recent pieces:

Christmas Bells" SATB/organ/brass/perc/handbells. Commissioned by Northern Arizona University for their 2010 Holiday concerts- this festive piece was a big hit last December.

"Voices of Earth" SATB/piano. Not difficult and very lyrical, commissioned by Briar Cliff University as part of their ”Care for Creation” initiative this past year.

"Prairie Songs" SATB/piano. 5 minutes and no divisi. Sweet Americana text by Carl Sandburg. Fun elements of Scott Joplin, Ives, and Copland in the mix.

There you have it- a whole bunch of pieces with great texts and the best music I could think of in setting them, and of course, almost no chance of conventional publication due to their length or difficulty level, or other elements(sigh). Let me know if you'd like to consider any of these pieces for performance!

Best wishes,

Paul

PS I'm leading an amazing 24 voice women's choir at the North Carolina Governor's School in Raleigh right now, and will be taking a few days off to present two interest sessions at next week's Nebraska ACDA summer session thanks to an invitation from Matt Harden. Sig Johnson is including my "Thou art the Sky" in the directors' choir so it will also be good to see Sig again!