choral conversation

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Choral Journal’s ongoing column called Choral Conversations” features interviews with noted choral conductors and composers. The seventh interview in this series took place with Rosephanye Powell in the March 2020 issue.

You can read the interview in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose March 2020 from the dropdown menu.
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What is more important to you: the text or the music?

In one sense, I consider the text to be of primary importance since the text is the message to be communicated. In another sense, the music is of equal importance with the text. In addition to providing harmonic support, the music plays an equal role with the text in communicating the message and meaning of the text. I begin composition by immersing myself in the text, repeating and memorizing the text in addition to reading about the poet.

Through this immersion, the music begins to develop as I seek to express the sentiment and heart of the message awakened in me. The rhythm of the poetry influences the rhythm of the melody and the shape of the vocal line. The mood and energy experienced as I recite the poetry determine the text setting, tempo, form, rhythms, and harmonies. In contrast to the spoken word alone, music can serve to enhance the meaning of the text, painting mental pictures of it for the performer and listener. At the same time, music can detract from and betray the meaning of the text if its marriage to the poetry is not given serious consideration in composition.

What advice do you give composers who are entering the field today?

The advice I off er is to strive to develop one’s craft and distinct voice compositionally. The development of a career in composition is one that requires patience and persistence. I caution composers not to compose for the sake of composing. Rather, compose because one has a message to share or a story to tell through music. Then, people “get it” and connect to it. From lessons learned while a young composer, I inform composers to submit to one publisher at a time and wait several months before submitting to another. They should be sure to get a poet’s permission before setting their poem to music.

Also, when arranging someone else’s music, composers should be sure to obtain permission from the composer to do so. Finally, if one is having difficulty being accepted by an established publisher, consider self-publishing through one’s own website. Or, consider working with a non-traditional publisher who will allow the composer to keep ownership while providing online exposure and distribution for a fee or a small percentage of the sales.

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Read the rest of this interview (and more!) in the March 2020 issue of Choral Journal.

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Choral Journal’s ongoing column called Choral Conversations” features interviews with noted choral conductors and composers. The second interview in this series took place with Emma Lou Diemer in the May 2019 issue.

You can read the interview in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose May 2019 from the dropdown menu.
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How do you select texts for your choral works?

I look for texts that are not wordy, not “preachy,” not burdened by overly weighty thoughts that do not need to be set to music. I like poems about nature, love, joy, praise, remembrance, sadness, texts that have rhythm, imagery, sometimes humor. Brevity is an asset because words/phrases can be repeated. (Some of us have written works using just the word “Hallelujah!) Emily Dickinson is a favorite of composers perhaps because of her brevity and depth and quantity. The lightness and rhythm of Renaissance poets is enticing.

When looking through sources I find that the first line is the most important, and that ensuing ideas/images need to be striking, moving. A text becomes more vivid and understandable as one sets it to music and finds inspiration in the sounds of certain words and their meaning. In a recent work written for the Huntsville (AL) Master Chorale, the poet at the time of the writing of the poem was ten years old, and she had won first place in a Young Writers contest. Her poem, “My Apple Orchard” has a fl ow that poems must have and an innovative use of punctuation: “Inside my orchard, summer green. Quiet. Gentle. Still. Serene…Lush grass shadowed by bushes…” I found the word “shadowed” especially conducive to repetition and the pauses easy to set.

Never feel that composers are so interested in the music they are writing that the words have no importance. It is the sound of words that encourage the music. Of course, the Bible has some of the most beautiful texts in existence. I have set almost all the psalms either vocally or chorally or for instruments.

Looking back at your career, what impact, if any, did your gender have on your development?

This is a huge aspect. Women composers can readily be accepted as the writer of piano pieces for children, songs (especially pop songs that are popular, whether it is known that a woman composed them or not), perhaps short organ compositions. But women have written masses, symphonies, concertos, much of it neglected or of short life. I’m sure there was (and still is) a great deal of impact especially regarding publication and performance. Female composers may tend to be looked upon with suspicion by publishers and performers unless there is a women’s festival or a conscious effort and need/obligation to include music by women. However, women composers of music for film have become prominent and outstanding. I would not like to be labeled a “choral composer” or “organ composer,” etc., any more than men have liked to have those labels when they have written music in many kinds of mediums. My main interest is to write music, and it has been a great joy to do so for most of my ninety-one years.

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Read the rest of this interview (and more!) in the May 2019 issue of Choral Journal.

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Choral Journal’s ongoing column called Choral Conversations” features interviews with noted choral conductors and composers. The fifth interview in this series took place with Carol Beynon in the October 2017 issue.

You can read the interview in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose October 2017 from the dropdown menu.
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You are the founding and co-artistic director of the Amabile Boys and Men’s Choirs of London, Canada, and work extensively with men’s choirs. Gender identity is one of your research subject areas. As a female conductor, do you address masculine identity in rehearsal settings with male singers?

It’s interesting that you ask about gender because I was challenged recently, yet again, about being a woman conductor of male choirs. It’s definitely not a question that would ever be asked of a man conducting any kind of choir, and it assumes a rigid binary of genders that we now know to be a societal, hierarchical construction.

With respect to masculinities, focusing on our singers’ individual and collective identities is multifaceted and complex terrain. Having a “male-only” choir has actually helped us recruit more boys and men to singing such that I believe we may have the largest community-based, male choral organization in Canada. There is a body of literature that expounds the advantages of single gender learning, which I won’t go into here except to say that in terms of increasing the number of males singing, this model has worked well for us.

While we work with boys and men from age eight and up, masculine identity is not something we talk overtly about; rather, we live it through our experiences and expectations of singing and travelling together. Character development, for example, is part of our mission, and we promote that in various ways—through repertoire that focuses on aspects like social justice, solidarity, acceptance, inclusion, peace, and cultural diversity, to name a few.

Within the choirs, we deconstruct and make explicit texts and musical motifs that help us see the world through different lenses. We talk about how music can be a powerful form of communication to deal with life’s complexities in a shared way. Singing can help us to understand and deal with sensitive topics. We also involve the boys and men in professional workshops on male singing with leading music teachers and conductors; in these sessions, they openly discuss the impact of singing on their sense of self and being; how it impacts not just their musicianship but forces them to question their own values, ideologies, and their ever-changing identity. It’s interesting to note that when they perform publicly, the boys and men present a different view of masculinity from the norm to their audiences, and they are often questioned about that.

What advice do you have for young conductors?

The greatest gift a conductor can give herself is to become a sponge. I recommend that all conductors—young and old—observe (or better yet, sing with) as many conductors as possible. Watch everyone, and rather than be critical of what they might be doing, ask yourself what you can learn. If you hear or see something that’s exceptional (or not), try to analyze why that is. Question, question, question! Talk to people; talk to yourself! Watch carefully, analyze, question, and open your mind to the informal learning opportunities that surround you each and every day.

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Read the rest of this interview (and more!) in the October 2017 issue of Choral Journal.