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Choral Journal

Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance (Keys 7-10)

December 2, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The October and November 2015 issue of Choral Journal included a two-part article titled “Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance” by Frank Eychaner. Following are short excerpts from Keys 7-10. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose October 2015 (part 1) or November 2015 (part 2) from the dropdown menu.
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The gap between an uninspired reading of the notes on the page and an artful performance is monumental. The following ten keys can help us bridge that gap, “unlocking” the expressive powers of our singers through the music we make with them. These “keys,” a compilation of the best practices of some of the finest minds in the music world, have served me well in my quest for choral artistry, and it is my hope they can serve you.

Key 7: Movement and Artistry in Sound

A variety of movement exercises can powerfully impact the artistry of a choral performance, and the applications of movement in the choral rehearsal are nearly endless. Much of vocal technique can be aided through the liberal use of movement in the rehearsal, both ours and our singers’. Our gestural choices are limited only by our imagination and our artistic aims. As the work of Rodney Eichenberger reveals, what our singers see is what we get. Allowing the unspoken laws of nonverbal communication to inform our conducting will immediately improve the ensemble’s unity, tonal flexibility, and our ability to clearly communicate our artistic intent.

Key 8: Phrase Shapes and Song Architecture

Artistry is often seen in the gestalt of a performance. While a choir can sing an individual chord beautifully, this does not ensure that a succession of chords performed beautifully will lead to an artistically beautiful performance. Artistry is the victim when we become enamored with the vertical sound of a chord at the expense of musical line, phrasing, and the structure of the entire composition.

Key 9: Nurturing the Artist in You

We cannot effectively lead the ensemble to artistic vistas we have not visited: we must develop our own artistry. Discover and grow your own artistry by being an artist! Perform as a soloist; join an exceptional community or church choir or audition for a role in a musical. Develop your own aesthetic sensibilities by becoming more aware and deliberate in your own music making.

Key 10: A Safe Place

Artistic performances are nearly impossible to achieve in an atmosphere of tension, anger, distrust, fear, and hurt. An atmosphere of respect, trust, and safety is prerequisite to creating a place where honesty and emotional risk-taking are the norm; it is the fertile soil from which artistic performances grow. Safeguarding the environment so singers know they are cared about as individuals is a foundation that opens the wellspring of humanity that lives in our singers—humanity that is longing to come out into the light of day.

Frank Eychaner is the director of choral and vocal studies at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is active as a clinician, guest conductor, and author.
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Read the rest of this article (and more!) in the October and November 2015 issues of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral, Choral Journal

Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance (Keys 4-6)

November 24, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The October and November 2015 issue of Choral Journal included a two-part article titled “Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance” by Frank Eychaner. Following are short excerpts from Keys 4-6. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose October 2015 (part 1) or November 2015 (part 2) from the dropdown menu.
_____________________________

The gap between an uninspired reading of the notes on the page and an artful performance is monumental. The following ten keys can help us bridge that gap, “unlocking” the expressive powers of our singers through the music we make with them. These “keys,” a compilation of the best practices of some of the finest minds in the music world, have served me well in my quest for choral artistry, and it is my hope they can serve you.

Key 4: Melody

No two consecutive melodic notes have the same importance. Artistry is vastly improved when we draw appropriate attention to the first, last, highest, lowest, and longest note of the melody—notes that usually occur with significant words and accented syllables. Melodic lines move ahead (often concurrently with an ascending line) to a musical high point, then decay until there is a release, a pause to gather energy, and a restless moving ahead again in the next phrase. How do we draw attention to these melodic events? We should make them substantively different from the notes around them with subtle (and sometimes overt) changes to articulation, dynamics, stress, tone, and even tempo.

Key 5: Conducting and Artistry

Develop your conducting facility like your life depends on it, because your musical artistry certainly does. Why use a hundred words to describe away a poor conducting gesture when you can develop gestures that clearly and consistently communicate the composer’s intent to any musician? We are choral conductors after all! Our gesture can become our greatest tool or remain an artistic liability. Adapt traditional patterns to appropriately communicate the choices made in Keys 1-4.

Key 6: Tone Color: Authenticity and Honesty

The vocal tone that is appropriate for a choral work should always be informed and guided by the historical and cultural context that gave birth to the work. In educational ensembles, this ideal is often balanced by the developmental limitations of the singers with whom we are working.

Additionally, Howard Swan noted that all conductors have sounds they prefer from their singers, sounds they intentionally evoke with their conducting and teaching. Despite these limitations, we must work deliberately, via warm-ups, study of style and performing quality literature from a variety of traditions, to increase the ability of the ensemble to perform with appropriately varied vocal timbres that manifest the composer’s ideals represented in the scores we perform.

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Read the rest of this article (and more!) in the October and November 2015 issues of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral, Choral Journal, CJ Replay

Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance (Keys 1-3)

November 19, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The October and November 2015 issue of Choral Journal included a two-part article titled “Ten Keys to Unlocking Artistic Choral Performance” by Frank Eychaner. Following are short excerpts from Keys 1-3. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose October 2015 (part 1) or November 2015 (part 2) from the dropdown menu.
_____________________________

The gap between an uninspired reading of the notes on the page and an artful performance is monumental. The following ten keys can help us bridge that gap, “unlocking” the expressive powers of our singers through the music we make with them. These “keys,” a compilation of the best practices of some of the finest minds in the music world, have served me well in my quest for choral artistry, and it is my hope they can serve you.

Key 1: Text

The text of a musical selection presents challenges in two areas: the message and the delivery. The first challenge is addressed as we consider repertoire… Once repertoire has been chosen, we address how that text is delivered.

Key 2: Note Groupings

Not every note in a musical phrase is of equal importance. Like words forming a sentence, notes in a phrase are part of musical sentences in which some are nouns and verbs (more important) and others are adjectives, conjunctions, and adverbs (of lesser importance although belonging to the more important notes).

Key 3: Dynamics and Articulation

The dynamics of a work must be considered many levels. Within each note of a pulse or longer, there is growth or decay, organic movement from soft to loud and/or loud to soft. Dotted notes and tied notes almost invariably grow through the dot. At cadences, non-harmonics are more prominent than their resolutions. Phrases have direction that is sometimes indicated in a written dynamic but more often is not indicated explicitly: ascending lines frequently build to a musical or textual climax, and descents decay to a sensitive release. Don’t neglect the implied dynamics. Go somewhere with the line!

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Read the rest of this article (and more!) in the October and November 2015 issues of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral, Choral Journal, CJ Replay

Interview with the 2019 National Legacy Directors Chorus Conductors

November 11, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The December 2019 issue of Choral Journal is now available online! Below is an excerpt of the interview article with the conductors of ACDA’s 2019 legacy directors chorus. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose December 2019 from the dropdown menu.
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What do you think are the most striking changes (positive or negative) in choral music today?

Charlene Archibeque
Two changes that have made a huge difference in audience enjoyment: the incorporation of World Music in programming and the use of choreography and multimedia in concerts. The change that causes me the most discomfort: the tendency to only program the “latest fad composers.” This results in concerts lacking in variety, strength, and often emotional satisfaction. Not all that is new is great, and much that is new is derivative. I long for programs that are centered on great choral music of all historical periods, programs that are carefully thought out with a unifying thread but that are totally diversified in musical style, textual content, rhythmic variety, visual enhancement, and a true communion with the audience. I worry somewhat at the current trend of turning concerts into political and social events, music selected for its “agenda.”

Eph Ehly
Positive: The quality of the performances has continued to improve quite remarkably. Exploration of music from distant and diff erent cultures has increased dramatically. There is evidence of outstanding teaching in the preparation of young music educators. Communication of professional services, namely ACDA and State CDAs, has increased greatly and communication is enhanced.
Negative: There appears to be a preponderance of performances of non-traditional contemporary literature that is to be appreciated more for its theoretical compositional components than for a more humanitarian message. It’s good to explore any and all new compositional styles, but not at the expense of our great heritage of literature that has spoken to generations of peoples from the Renaissance to the present.

Rodney Eichenberger
When I first immersed myself in the world of choral music there were some outstanding choirs in the United States; now there they are all around us and at all levels. One of the most significant developments is that musicianship of conductors and singers has multiplied sevenfold.

Kenneth Fulton
The diversity of what we produce—so many more groups and music of all kinds that touch so many. Again, our collective interest in each other across cultures and peoples.

William Hatcher
The greater attention to and study of multicultural music is a very positive contribution to choral literature, but I am concerned that our traditional western literature might be slighted. I especially grieve the diminishing of music training in our public and private schools. We have, in a sense, lost generations of people who were once given the fundamentals of musicianship and a love of singing.

Jerry McCoy
The availability of the ever-expanding world of choral literature has deeply changed our art form. To experience literature from all sides of the globe deepens our human experience and expands our sense of shared humanity. My only caveat to this is that we also must maintain awareness of the core historical works that first launched our concepts of communal singing.

Donald Neuen
I’m sorry to see the gradual demise of quality traditional church music in many areas nationwide, and a lessening of the Palestrina-to-Britten legacy in the programming of many school, university, and community choirs. Also, somewhat lacking, seems to be the consistent effort of teaching beautifully mature “soloistic vocal tone quality”—as established so perfectly by Robert Shaw and Roger Wagner.

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Read the rest of this article (and more!) in the December 2019 issue of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, Conducting, Interview

December Choral Journal Preview

November 4, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. Following is a list of the articles you will find in this issue.

ACDA members can log in with their username and password to view and download the newest edition. You can also read our electronic version. Below is a preview of the articles you will find in this issue. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today to start receiving your monthly Choral Journal! Associate members can join for only $45 a year.
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For He is Our Childhood’s Pattern:
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols as an Intergenerational Model

by Benji Stegner

Great Choral Classics You’ve Never Heard Of
by Joshua R. Jacobson

Interview with 2019 National Legacy Directors Chorus Conductors:
The ACDA 60th Anniversary Series – Part 6

compiled by Amanda Bumgarner

Vocal Improvisation and the Development of Musical Self-Efficacy and Musical Self-Image in Adolescent Choral Musicians
by David N. Hirschorn

Practical and Creative Ideas for Optimizing the Show Choir Combo
by Michael J. Pendowski

Equity in the Children & Community Youth Choral Classroom
by Joy Hirokawa

On the Future of Our Craft: NextDirection for the Next Generation
by Derek Machan and Ted Gibson

Book Reviews

Recorded Sound (CD) Reviews


Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, Choral Journal Preview

Notes for Success: Finding Repertoire

October 28, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

In May, August, and September 2015, the Choral Journal featured a three-part article series titled “Notes for Success: Advice for the First-Year Choral Teacher.” As part of the series, 11 choral conductors with teaching experience ranging from 4 to 34 years answered 10 questions related to setting expectations for your first year, classroom management, balancing a successful work and home life, finding repertoire, and more.

This column will address Question #8: Where can I find quality repertoire for the skill/size/balance of my choir?

A portion of the suggestions listed regarding this question are below. Read the rest of the article in the May 2015 issue of Choral Journal by going to acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose August 2015 from the dropdown options.
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“ACDA has an incredible amount of resources to help you select music for your choirs. Reach out to your divisional and national R&S chair regarding your needs. Additionally, make use of state contest lists such as the Texas Prescribed Music List. These lists have been governed by committees and the literature has been deemed valuable by experienced directors. Additionally, the Cambiata Institute has a wealth of resources for the changing male voice. There are even videos to help you classify boys’ voices and repertoire lists for various voicings.” – Jennifer Alarcon

“Finding quality repertoire is very time consuming for me. My choirs are all extremely young, and there is not a lot of material out there targeted at beginning singers. That said, there are some real gems if you know where to look. Find a music store that carries a lot of sheet music in its library and look through songs. Before each year, I go into JW Pepper’s store in Minneapolis and pour through the songs in their library. I can look at every page of every song, and because of this, I can find music that my choirs can perform, some of which I might never have found by searching specifically online.” – Seth Boyd

No decision you make as a choral music educator has greater ramifications than the repertoire you choose for your ensembles. To determine the quality and appropriateness of your choices, subject each piece you consider to rigorous review. The book Shaping Sound Musicians (O’Toole, 2003) lists nine criteria to gauge whether a composition has artistic merit: uniqueness, form, design, unpredictability, depth, consistency, orchestration/voicing, text, and transcendence. Goetze, Broeker, and Boshkoff (2009) offer six criteria for examining potential repertoire for younger choirs: text, singability, form, part-writing techniques, accompaniment, and pedagogical implications. Use these categories or create your own, but thoroughly examine all aspects of any piece you consider programming.” – Philip Silvey

“What I find comforting is how many different directions one can go to get assistance in planning educational, appropriate repertoire. I love seeing questions on the ACDA Facebook page pop up in my newsfeed in regard to repertoire, classroom management, etc., and see a plethora of comments and responses for each question. The repertoire lists that ACDA posts online are a great place to start. I have printed many of these lists out and have often taken an hour to listen to some of these pieces on YouTube and write descriptions for them so I can recall them quickly. The Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir texts are also helpful, giving you not only a difficulty level for each piece but a description of the piece, background on the composer, and units that could be discussed during the learning of each song.” – Jacob Truby
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Read the rest of the posts in this series on ChoralNet here.
And please share this post and Choral Journal article series with those who are in their first year of teaching!

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, CJ Replay, Notes for Success

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