Mentioned earlier was the aspect of allowing the music to be enhanced through careful logistics, such as the case of our CARMINA BURANA presentation and the manner in which the choir took the stage. As we think of staging the choir, it is critical to allow ourselves to let the music speak more completely through some creative staging. When I was at Lawrence University we were invited to sing at the National ACDA Convention in Oklahoma City in 2009. We performed on the final day of the convention and I knew (as I had experienced as a member of the audience for many years) that there would be a weary bunch of conventioneers after three days of listening to choirs. We decided to open that performance with KNOWEE by Stephen Leek, the brilliant Australian composer who set this selection with our four soloists having lanterns searching and calling out for a metaphorical lost aboriginal child representing the loss of the sun around the hall. The blackout, and then seeing only the single lanterns around the audience, immediately woke up a tired audience. We had another experience that came to us at Texas Tech University that involved the centerpiece to our concert called MIRRORED MESSAGES involving the first eight measures of the JS Bach chorale, COME, SWEET DEATH. I first heard this sung by the Dale Warland Singers and was completely mesmerized. After the brief presentation of the opening bars, the choir is then set free to improvise completely on each note of those measures.
Allowing time to hear and reflect what others are saying, interpreting syllables, and coloring every inch of these opening phrases with individual color and life. At the suggestion of Paul Head, we decided to move off the risers at that point and move independently forward reflecting passionately this powerful text and drama. We also had red scarves for the women that had been purchased much earlier and quite frankly were not working well in performance. One of the singers came up with the brilliant idea of waiting until this moment to show the scarves and to carry and hold them with the obvious symbolism seen be all. Then, we moved to Piazzola’s blistering tango/fugue, LA MUERTE del ÁNGEL (the death of an angel) that portrays the startling story of one woman trying to help in the ghettos of Rio de Janeiro and is unfortunately murdered. The scarves were used in this piece in a rather sensuous fashion imitating street life in Brazil, and then in a manner that portrayed the blood of this missionary as well. It was a simple not choreographed six minutes that left the audience (and the performers) completely drenched in emotion. Although this simple move caused things to momentarily move backwards musically in rehearsal, it eventually caused the entire concert to take a giant leap forward by drawing visual attention to this centerpiece through the use of the scarves and the free motion of the choir reaching far beyond the risers.
(Make plans now to attend your 2016 ACDA Divisional Conference!)
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