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Choral Music

Dropping the Covid Ball with Dr. Nikki Johnson

June 24, 2022 by Chris Munce Leave a Comment

The Return of Covid Conversations!

Sadly, many of us in education have lived at the epicenter of the Covid Wars. Possibly the biggest political football during the pandemic has been what to do with the kids, and what to do with schools. For those of us in choral music, we lived at that intersection along with a hysteria created at first by our very own professional organizations. This contributed to a perfect storm of lost positions, cut programs, recruiting problems and a laundry list of misplaced apprehensions about singing. Facts that I am still not sure we have all come to terms with. Of course, it is important to remember that in this cross fire were students and community members displaced from life affirming and often life saving educational and humanizing opportunities. While it is always reasonable to weigh new risks against old norms, it is not reasonable to present our preferred policies as if they have no downsides worthy of heavy consideration. In this episode I speak with Pediatrician, and Covid Policy Advocate Dr. Nikki Johnson about the “Harm Reduction” approach to Covid Policy, the political blinders we all wore or still wear, and many errors in reasoning to which this contributed. One of the big errors singers have made is the role masks play in our safety.

Dr. Nikki Johnson

We also discuss the difference between a high quality signers mask designed to STAY ON while you sing… (Like a scientifically vetted singers mask. Most aren’t…) and just wearing any old mask for any amount of time, flopping your jaw around willy nilly. Finally, we do a bit of prognosticating about ways to process in a more healthy way in the next wave.

You can listen from the widgets below which will take you to Apple or Castbox to finish listening, or you can find the show on Google Play, Spotify, Youtube or Stitcher!

Materials Referenced in the Episode
NYT Article Mentioned RE Mask effectiveness vs. Mask POLICY

Early in the Pandemic, Europe Was Much Quicker to Get Kids Back to School

Episode 107: Retention Matters MORE than Recruitment

Advertisements Straight out of the archives! Most of my live presentations are reserved for Patreon Subscribers, but I felt so strongly about the ideas in this presentation, I decided to air it out for everybody. It is my belief that when we talk about building choral programs, or any program for that matter, we do …

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Episode 106: If Every One Agrees, We Can’t Have the “Difficult Conversations” with Micah Horton

Advertisements Many people think they are speaking truth to power, but they are really just preaching to the choir. This episode deals with the role of political discourse in the lives of all citizens, and educators in particular. The future of education is hanging in the balance right now as I see it, based on …

Continue reading“Episode 106: If Every One Agrees, We Can’t Have the “Difficult Conversations” with Micah Horton”

Episode 105: Work Less Hard, Have Better Choirs

Advertisements Sound too good to be true? Well, it is if you are thinking that there is a quick and easy pill to swallow in order to get to that next level in your career. You know, the one where you simply, issue wisdom, wave your arms, say inspirational things, and the choir just SINGS! …

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Filed Under: Choralosophy Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, American Choral Directors Association, Choral Music, COVID-19, COVID-19 Resource, policy, schools

Songs of reImagining: Your Turn

May 25, 2022 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

At my previous institution, I taught a senior capstone class. The class could be about any topic in performance, theory, or history, which left it pretty wide open. I felt strongly that the students should have a class on what I called “silenced voices,” a class that went back and covered the same survey timeline and geographical regions of their music history classes, but focused on female voices. I knew they would be astounded at all the composers/performers/patrons they didn’t cover in history– and I was right. But I also knew they would want to know why these musicians hadn’t been covered in their class, or why these musicians only received a small “hey look! A woman!” box. We looked at history through the lens of gender, but also talked about the factors in the various societies and cultures that would prevent anyone who didn’t have access to money or power from becoming a musician in our history books. Preparing for this class was where I first learned about Florence Price– whose Symphony in E Minor is a piece everyone should be familiar with. I remember listening to this in my office as I was working on other things, and I found myself at the end of the symphony, just sitting in my chair and enjoying.

One of the issues my students ran into was a lack of information about and access to music by composers who hadn’t been intentionally preserved in our written histories. Each student picked a composer in the first two weeks of the semester; they researched this composer and prepared a piece to perform for their final– which was a lecture-recital. I found that scholars of these composers, or scholars that researched composers/concepts adjacent to them, were incredibly eager to help in any way they could. Sometimes, however, finding the music posed the biggest obstacle. Was it published? Who published it? How long would it take to arrive? What is the cost? And there were many times that my students ran into dead ends in their research. But each dead end was an opportunity to ask questions.

Music publishing. We need to talk about it. Many conductors get their music from JW Pepper. I get it. It’s easy. And, Pepper has this MyScore feature, right? So composers, by paying a $100/yr, can “self-publish” their scores on the site (which means their scores are searchable on Pepper’s site, which creates easier access to it). Except Pepper keeps 50% of any downloads. Yup. So, let’s say you purchase 40 ePrint scores from a composer using MyScore for $2 a score, then the composer actually gets $40, and Pepper gets $40. What if you want hard copies? Then Pepper keeps 75% of the purchase price, according to their website blog here. Composers can still publish on their own, however, so it might be best to reach out directly to the composer to purchase their music. I haven’t been able to find how much Pepper pays the composers who sell their music on the site (and not through MyScore), but in speaking with some of my composer-friends, Pepper keeps between 50-75% of the profit. I’m not saying to not use Pepper, but if you have the time and ability, I really want to encourage you to look for other purchasing options.

I wanted to share some of my go-to websites when looking at music. I spend about two weeks every summer creating large lists of potential musics for my choirs to sing. Some of the first websites I go to are MusicSpoke and Graphite Publishing. These sites are more equitable than Pepper. I also like to check out Hildegard Publishing Company and earthsongs. I find the Hildegard and earthsongs websites to be a little more cumbersome, but I know this and am able to dedicate a little more time to searching. Of course, I look at CPDL and IMSLP. I also take another look through Dr. Marques Garrett’s list on his website Beyond Elijah Rock: The non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. This list also includes the publishing company, a link to the composer’s website, or other information to purchase. If I’m looking for something specific (voicing, genre, language, etc.), I might check out the Choral Works Database on the Institute of Composer Diversity.

There are also some composer websites or composer foundations I like to check out. I do this in two steps: living composers and non-living composers. Some of the composers that I seek out include: Remel Derrick, Mari Esabel Valverde, Amy Gordon, Zanaida Robles, Brittney E. Boykin, Jocelyn Hagen, Sarah Quartel, Saunder Choi, Rosephanye Powell. This is, of course, not an exhaustive list, but a starting place (drop some of your favorite living composers in the comments!). Non-living composers might include Margaret Bonds, Julia Perry, Florence Price, Barbara Strozzi, William Grant Still, and a host of others. It can be more difficult to locate published compositions at times– but it’s always worth sending out a few emails to foundations or universities that hold copies. Then, there are times that I just don’t have the budget to purchase compositions or gain access to the compositions. Sometimes, the compositions are in manuscript form, so you have to reach out to archives and there is no guarantee of access. These are the moments I get the most frustrated. But I find that if the music is printed, there is normally a way to get it.

Some of this is about advocating. What music am I looking for? What voices are represented and whose are missing? What topics are missing? What styles? What do my singers need to continue to learn about? Do we have any unique resources in our community that might influence the music I choose? How do these music selections fit into the longitudinal learning plan? What can my singers teach me? And then, once I have the answer to those questions, I can better advocate for the music. 

The point: as a conductor, I have to be proactive about searching and learning. The goal is equally learning the music and gaining access as much as it is programming. Set aside time to search and learn. Create goals. Ask questions. And don’t give up.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ADEI, belonging, Choral Music, composers, Equity

Songs of (re)Imagining: Reena Esmail

May 11, 2022 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

In late Summer 2021, I was perusing music. Looking for music for my tenor/bass choir, I came across composer Reena Esmail. I put a couple of her works on my “maybe program” list, coming back to them later and ultimately deciding to program one (which I’ll dive into in a moment!). While attending the Midwestern ACDA conference in Chicago in February 2022, I heard her piece Tuttarana sung by 3 ensembles. 

 

I should pause here to tell you that I absolutely LOVE her music. I also love her mission. I am lifting this from her bio: “Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces.” More on those spaces in a moment.

 

Some of her music isn’t updated on her website because it is waiting on the premiere or a recording of the premiere. I’m really look forward to hearing and seeing “The Tipping Point,” “When the Violin” is on my maybe program list. Same with “The Love of Thousands.” And “Even After All This Time” (the version with the clarinet). Then she ALSO has a selection of pieces that can be performed with both choir and community singing! Pieces like “Take What You Need” that come in multiple different versions, which I’m absolutely in love with.

 

The piece I want to highlight for the rest of the post is TaReKiTa. Ms. Esmail wrote the piece for the Urban Voices Project. The story behind its creation is beautiful. She went to work with the Urban Voices Project (a street choir for the residents of Skid Row in LA). While there, she taught them Indian rhythm. The singers loved what they were learning, and she felt pulled to write them a piece. So, she put together “TāReKiṬa” in about an hour, recording the vocal parts herself and then teaching it to them. I also appreciate how Ms. Esmail clarifies that the piece does not require Indian classical singers to perform.

 

Ms. Esmail provides a series of three audio guides. I had my tenor/bass choir watch them a few times in our rehearsal process, and they were incredibly beneficial. The piece is vibrant and engaging. My small, but mighty, tenor/bass choir is comprised of primarily music industry/audio production singers, and the notes were learned quickly by them. Yet, even after the notes and rhythms were learned, there was work to do with vowels and terraced dynamics. And time keeping– once they became comfortable, there were times they decided to rush. This work kept them engaged during rehearsals. 

 

I think of this piece in three sections. I found that my singers described it by these sections (“Where we move into the new pitch center” or “when we sing the stuff we’ve already sung but the baritones are echoing us” or “where we start the coda-type thing” were some phrases used along with measure numbers). When asked how they would describe the piece, many of my singers used words such as “celebratory” or “energetic” or “continuous movement forward.” 

 

Please check out Ms. Esmail’s music. Her catalog is here and gives you options for a variety of ensembles. “TāReKiṬa” is offered in SATB, SA, and TB voicing (from the Oxford Publishing website). Enjoy!

 

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: Choral Music

Songs of (re)Imagining: Margaret Bonds

April 27, 2022 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) was an American composer and arranger, notably setting many texts by Langston Hughes (a close friend) and arranging African-American spirituals. When she was growing up, she lived in a home that had visits from Florence Price and Will Marion Cook. She studied piano and composition with Florence Price and William Dawson during high school and later earned degrees in both of these areas. Her music often addresses issues of race.

 

There are some composers I would love to spend more time studying– Margaret Bonds, Florence Price, Julia Perry, to name a few– and to that end, I’m starting my studies on Bonds here. Below is a list of some of her choral music, and information I could find that might be helpful to conductors who might be considering programming her music. 

 

I first came across Margaret Bonds when I was teaching a class to my undergraduate music majors on silenced voices. I looked at the dates and the regions that they studied in music history, and we went over those exact dates and places… but instead of talking about Claudio Monteverdi or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Olivier Messiaen, we only learned about voices of women. And not Fanny Mendelssohn or Clara Schumann, since they had small boxes about them in the history book my students used. In preparation for the course, I learned about Bonds. Even in the last few years, access to her music has opened up a little.

 

I was thrilled to see some of Bonds’ music on Dr. Marques Garrett’s list of non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers (here! Check it out if you haven’t. It’s also where I learned of Remel Derrick– and I adore his music). 

 

I’ve also followed Dr. Michael Cooper, who researches and edits the works of Bonds. He is a blogger, and I really enjoyed his blog from April 23, 2022. Dr. Cooper works with Hildegard Publishing on Bonds editions, which has a Margaret Bonds Series.

 

Choral Music Titles:

 

The Ballad of the Brown King

  • SATB
  • Soloists
  • Orchestra
  • Cantata
  • Used to be published by the Sam Fox Publishing Company. Currently out of print. Alfred Music controls the rights… I think. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all request them to bring it back into print?
  • Mary had a little baby, Mvt IV
    • SSSA

Children’s Sleep

  • SATB
  • Text: Vernon Glasser
  • Written as a chorus section in a children’s opera called Winter Night’s Dream. Published in New York by Carl Fischer in 1942.

Credo

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • SATB, Soprano and Baritone soloists, piano/vocal score (not a reduction)
  • Based off of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Credo” from 1904
  • Movement sold separately:
    • Especially Do I Believe
  • Soprano solo
  • Not yet available, but soon

Fields of Wonder

  • TB voices
  • Text by Langston Hughes

Hold On

  • SATB, piano

I Shall pass through this world

  • A capella
  • I can’t find this located on the publishers website (Bourne Music).

I Wish I Knew how it Would Feel to Be Free

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • SATB
  • Soprano Solo
  • Coming in 2022
  • Orchestra?

Mass in D Minor

  • SATB, Organ
  • Only the Kyrie exists, and it’s only the voice parts with some organ indications
  • There is no complete score of the Mass. 

The Negro speaks of rivers

  • Text: Langston Hughes
  • SATB
  • Published by Handy Brothers Music Co

No Man has seen His Face

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • Very diatonic, Accessible
  • Text by Janice Lovoos

St. Francis’ Prayer (Hildegard Publishing)

  • SATB, piano
  • Editor: Louise Toppin with Hildegard Publishing

Sinner, please don’t let this harvest pass

  • SATB, soprano
  • Can’t find a place where this is published?

Simon Bore the Cross

  • SATB cantata, solos
  • Text: Langston Hughes
  • Based on the spiritual He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word
  • GIA Publications
  • Two selections sometimes extracted from the cantata:
    • Don’t You Know, Mary?
    • The Crucifixion
  • Overall, an accessible cantata for singers

Sleep Song

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • SSAA Chorus
  • Coming soon
  • Text by Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918)

Standin’ in the Need of Prayer

  • SATB
  • Soprano solo
  • Looking yet for where this is published.

This Little Light of Mine

  • SATB, piano
  • Soprano solo

Touch the Hem of His Garment

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • SATB, piano
  • Soprano/Tenor solo
  • Short sacred chorus
  • Text by her friend Janice Lovoos
  • Accessible to amateur singers (including church musicians)

We Shall Overcome

  • Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
  • SATB, hand drum
  • Soprano solo
  • Coming soon

You can tell the world

  • SSA or TTBB

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: Choral Music, Equity, Repertoire

Gratitude, Optimism and Motivation

November 26, 2021 by Chris Munce Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving, ACDA! I am thankful to be in conversation with you and for you through this platform. I continue to learn so much every week. What a blessing to be able to bounce ideas off of so many brilliant colleagues, philosophers, writers, Doctors, Tango dancers, researchers and more. The podcast began in 2019, but many years before that I began to notice how interconnected choral music is with the rest of society. We really touch EVERY part of humanity in our jobs. The true jacks of all trades. Thank you for helping me dig deeper, and explore the full spectrum of what it means to be a choral music educator! See the podcast players below for this week’s SHORT Thanksgiving message, as well as episodes from the past two Thanksgivings!

Thank you!

Revisit past Thanksgiving Episodes!

  • Listen
  • Listen
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Let’s find more ways to connect!

You can listen from the widgets below which will take you to Apple or Castbox to finish listening, or you can find the show on Google Play, Spotify, Youtube or Stitcher!

Filed Under: Choralosophy Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, American Choral Directors Association, choir, choirteacher, Choral Music, holiday, thanksgiving

Examining Choral Music with a Rhetorical Perspective: A Practical Guide

November 1, 2021 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The November/December issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Examining Choral Music with a Rhetorical Perspective: A Practical Guide” by Gary Seighman. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is the article’s introduction:

_________________

The pandemic has challenged all of us in our pursuit of personal connection. Rehearsing via Zoom or in large spaces while masked and socially distanced has created many impediments between our singers. These can decrease the expressive potential of the music that we perform and even affect our ability to empathize with one another. This article will look at another form of social distancing that we have been encountering long before 2020: the performance of music written centuries ago in different cultural contexts than today.

A Renaissance motet written 500 years ago in what is now Northern Germany, for example, challenges us to translate the intended effect for twenty-first-century minds and ears. Instead of just a mask on our face, our entire perception of this “distanced” music is filtered through a modern lens often divorced from the practices of the time. The Greco-Roman tradition of rhetoric (from the Greek rhētorikós) or “the art of persuasion” was one of these fundamental components embedded in the overall consciousness of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In fact, between 1400 and 1700 there were approximately 2,000 books published on the topic of rhetoric, which sought to create convincing narratives through carefully crafted speech techniques. Rhetoric and oratorical delivery permeated Renaissance and Baroque era thought, and music compositional practices would have equally been attuned to these ideals that were “in the air.”

This article will provide examples of how to decode compositional elements in this repertoire through a rhetorical perspective and offer another tool for its interpretation.

______________

Read the full article in the November/December 2021 issue of Choral Journal at acda.org/choraljournal

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

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