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CJ Replay

Choral Conversation: Emma Lou Diemer

February 24, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

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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.

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

Choral Conversation: Carol Beynon

February 17, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

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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.

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

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.
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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 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.
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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 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

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

CJ Replay: Eric Whitacre on Composing and Conducting

September 23, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The September 2017 issue of Choral Journal featured an article by Tom Wine titled “Searching for an Icon: Eric Whitacre on Composing & Conducting.” Below is an excerpt from that interview, and you can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose September 2017 from the dropdown menu.
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How would you describe the creative process?
Every time I start a piece I feel like a complete novice. What I tend to do now is I go back and look at earlier works and deconstruct them. Certain things seem to work and that sets a foundation. I have also taken to writing out existing works by composers like Bach or Debussy and literally copying by hand in pencil. I want to write exactly what Bach wrote so I can get a sense of how he builds a piece. I look for structural, perhaps numerical, icons that are connected somehow to the theme of the piece.

Then I start to build the composition around it. For instance, with Ghost Train I used my girlfriend’s phone number, and that unrequited theme with the last number missing appears all over the piece itself. In When David Heard, the passage I set is from Second Samuel, Chapter 18, verse 33. In the beginning of the composition of the piece the measures are grouped in sets of either 18 or 33 (two groups of nine or three groups of six). I make those choices before I write any music.

Once I have the structure or emotional architecture of the piece, I start to develop my palette much like a painter develops a color palette. It is either a chord or a musical gesture with a couple of notes, and somehow I know that these are the colors that will work together and paint the picture. Like a painter, you never stray from those colors. You might mix them a little bit and scatter the motives, but you keep those colors at the forefront. It’s kind of a way of putting myself in a box. For me, music is profoundly personal. It is an extension of my personality and ultimately my philosophy—I suppose my ethos and how I see the world.

The older I get, the only way to continue to be authentic and have music resonate for me and for performers and listeners is to become more and more vulnerable. I really have to get in there and dig in the dirt. Each piece now seems to be more and more personal in that I have cracked open wider who I am. Who I am can be, “I don’t know what I am doing,” and that goes into the piece as well. The things happening in my life—a joy or a tragedy, an important event such as when my son was born—all of these things find their way onto the page.

What are your thoughts on the future of choral music?
Ten years ago I am not even sure Facebook really existed. It is interesting, in terms of social media and what is possible. I have found in the past couple of years a more measured relationship with social media. I am not sure if others can relate to this, but I have the heart of a very empathetic person. I love people and adore being around them and being authentic with them.

Social media is not just me posting something. It was never a monologue for me. It was always a dialogue, so if somebody posts something that is halfway meaningful, you can feel across media that they are bearing their soul. I can’t just “like” that; I am in it with that person because a connection has been made. Between Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat, there are a lot of connections. I started, on a personal level, to realize I was not doing a very graceful job of carrying those connections.

I could not be in this quiet place long enough in order to compose and be able to feel connected to all of these people in this intimate and specific way. Over the past few years I have given myself this little bit of distance. Mostly that means spending less time on social media. That being said, I still check in several times a day. . . . .

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Read the rest of this article (and more!) in the September 2017 issue of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

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

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