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composer

Songs of (re)Imagining: Amy Gordon

April 13, 2022 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

Amy Gordon, an LA-based composer, has a catalog of almost 40 choral works, including pieces for treble choirs and online performance. In addition to her compositional activity, she teaches theory and has created a theory-themed Escape Room game (called Escape Tone), available in both Easy and Intermediate for purchase on her website.

 

This blog is going to highlight two of her pieces. I reached out to the composer and asked her to share two pieces that might be accessible for a variety of ages or organizations. She suggested these two pieces, and I am thrilled she shared these two! She has works that span a variety of difficulties and explore a wide array of text uses, so if you enjoy these two pieces, I recommend checking out her website.

 

In Times of Hibernation for SATB Choir and cello is part of a larger five-movement, Songs of Hope in Strange Times. Each cycle chronicles a stage of the pandemic, but can also be applied more broadly. The second movement focuses on the idea of waiting as we wait for events to unfold and time to move forward. The piece was commissioned by the LA-based SACRA/PROFANA, and premiered in October 2020 on YouTube: In Times of Hibernation. 

 

The movement is loosely supported by the cello part, but also allows the choirs to sing independently. Options for a solo, story-telling dynamics, and relative extended techniques in combination with the incredible, composer-written text provide an opportunity for singers to explore a very personal story.

 

Half the world in slumber

Half know neither night nor day

The ticking of the clock stopped

The rustle of pages silent.

Is it here, in this state of waiting,

We hold our breath with time?

 

I Celebrate Life for SATB Choir and piano or Treble Choir and piano (link for SSA here) is the second piece in the short cycle Light Up. 75% of the proceeds from this piece go to the Equal Sounds Corona Relief fund, which is an organization that supports artists who lost gigs when COVID hit. The text is by Rhoda Gordon, Amy’s late grandmother. Set in changing compound meter, the piece energizes and engages the singers and listeners through “the additive processes popular in Minimalism.” Both the Treble and SATB arrangement allow for quick success of pitches, enabling the singers to spend time working balance, dynamics, articulation, and text expression. There are also rehearsal tracks available free of cost to any choir interested in a virtual performance of this piece.

 

Listen to the Treble arrangement here.

 

I celebrate life

With beauty,

With color,

With singing;

I realize

The joy of being

Through seeing

The glorious

Creation I am part of.

The most powerful

Life to celebrate by

Is love.

 

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: composer, Equity

Songs of (re)Imagining: Paul John Rudoi

March 9, 2022 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

I’ve been writing since June 2021. This is the first blog post in which I’ve interviewed or highlighted a cishet white male. “But Shannon, if this is a blog centering equity, why are you sharing the voice of a cishet white male?” Good question. Equity work needs to involve everyone. In particular, cishet white men need to be having conversations about equity with other cishet white men. An emerging trend I’ve observed is that many white folks don’t see themselves in equity work; or maybe they are overwhelmed by it (“I’ll say something wrong and people will get mad” or “I’m not sure what to do so I’m just kind of doing nothing” are common refrains). Let’s demystify the work a bit by having open, and at times hard, conversations.

 

I first met singer/composer/conductor Paul John Rudoi when he was singing with Cantus. He left Cantus to pursue his masters with Dr. Sharon Paul. After completing his degree, he moved to the Twin Cities, where he is currently working a handful of gigs (National Lutheran Choir and at a church job), as well as developing a few new ideas (compositions and composition-based). 

 

When COVID first hit, Paul received some criticism on a piece he wrote that set a Langston Hughes poem (composed pre-COVID). As Paul shared how the piece and subsequent conversations unfolded, it was clear that he was still reflecting. He held space for all of the conversations that followed the criticism, and took learnings from each of them. It’s been confusing– people who share similar identities give him very different feedback. Yet, Paul shared to me: Isn’t it deserved that white men should be silenced for 100 years or more? Why do we have so few living Black composers that are popular? It’s not because there are not enough creative Black people. We haven’t been bringing up everybody with the idea that they can create music. White people generally have a lot more resources available to them, and this leads to a lot of white composers of classical music.

 

In addition to listening and understanding, Paul is trying to figure out his role in the composition field. He has gotten more comfortable in sending out educational material with his music, understanding that context for the conductors (to share with students and for their own knowledge) is important. He knows he can give conductors a place to start with their research. 

 

Beyond that, Paul emphasized that we need to be talking about generational change. “We are having the same conversations as we did 70 years ago with Civil Rights or 150 years ago in Transcendentalism,” he points out, following it up with “we’re just hoping kids will wake up on their own with better perspectives on how to treat each other.” He doesn’t have an answer, he said, but he can support others who have a better way of offering generational change. “We are going to watch the world burn and pretend it’s not a big deal.”

 

“Do you want to keep writing?”

 

“I think so.”

 

And then Paul continues… 

 

… maybe he can be an advocate for young kids who want to compose? With that, he started talking to me about the Creative Literacy Clinics he’s led. He works with kids to create sounds and put them together. When they thought a sound was funny, it sounded cool. They made weird sounds into a microphone, and then when he looped that sound for them, it sounded cool. 

 

This is maybe the first point in our conversation where Paul sounded excited and hopeful about next steps in the field. He has led some workshops with students about creating music in ways that don’t involve sitting at a piano and writing down a composition. 

 

We didn’t leave that conversation feeling as if we solved anything. That wasn’t the point. I appreciated hearing Paul grapple with how his voice fits in the composition field. It especially struck me that Paul was in continuous assessment of when to use that voice and when to leave space for other voices, in combination with learning and yes, sometimes making mistakes. Paul doesn’t feel a need to expand the choral repertoire. If he’s going to write, it has to be associated with figuring out what the systemic issues are and trying to translate that into music. And this will bring up potentially uncomfortable conversations, some about equity. And he will lean into that discomfort, not shy away from it.

 

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: composer, Equity

A Conductor’s Guide to Katarina Gimon’s Elements

February 7, 2022 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The February 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Contemporary Choral Music in the Classroom: A Conductor’s Guide to Katarina Gimon’s Elements” by Christina Beasley. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction.
_________________

Contemporary music allows the performers to create their own interpretation of the piece and take ownership of the composition that is being presented to their audience. With aleatoric sections of a piece, the performers have control over what the piece sounds like at any given performance, and this sound is always changing. Through the freedom of graphic notation, students are encouraged to make their own conclusions and creatively decide how they want the music to sound. This provides an engaging individual experience for the singer and a communal engagement in the anticipation of what the other choir members will do. Contemporary music in this context is important because it gives choral conductors the opportunity to explore diverse works within the classroom. This diversity does not just come from diverse notation, sounds, and exploration of the human voice but also diversity through polystylism, commonly found in contemporary music.

Many twenty-first-century compositions are using experimental techniques such as graphic notation and aleatoric passages while still making the music accessible to amateur or younger choirs. Canadian composer Katerina Gimon explores aleatoric singing, graphic notation, overtone singing, and body percussion in Elements, her 2013 composition for mixed choir. This piece is approachable and appropriate for singers in the classroom and is a wonderful way to introduce a youth choir to some extended techniques of the voice.

Elements is a choral work written in four movements, each depicting one of the four classical elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each movement begins with a set of words used to describe the characteristics of the element. Elements “explores the wide capabilities of the human voice—from overtone singing, to vocal percussion, to colourful vocal timbres.” There is no text throughout the piece except in movement two, “Air”; otherwise, only phonemes are used to convey the feeling of each element. “Fire” is commonly performed alone. In 2019, the Vancouver Youth Choir performed “Fire” at the ACDA National Conference in Kansas City, MO. The performance showcased the explosive and energetic piece with an ensemble of singers aged 15-24. Watch the performance at the link here.

Read the rest of this interview in the February 2022 issue of Choral Journal.

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

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.
_____________________________

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. . . . .

_________________________________

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

Choral Journal Preview: October 2019

September 2, 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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Ours to See: Emerging Trends in Today’s Choral Compositions
by Alan Denney

The Choral Editions of Maynard Klein: Influence and Importance
by Kevin M. Simons

Rihards Dubra of Latvia: Contemporary Master of the Latin Motet
by Vance Wolverton

Castle of Light: A Snapshot of Latvian Choral Music as the Nation Turns 100
by Mark Grizzard

ACDA 60th Anniversary Series – Interviews through the Years Part 2: A Selection of Excerpts from Choral Journal Interview Articles
Compiled by Amanda Bumgarner

It’s Time to Rethink Church Staff Singers by William O. Baker

Sacred Music Choral Reviews

Reviews: Book, Recorded Sound, Choral

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

The BEST place to buy sheet music is . . . well, it’s complicated

March 8, 2019 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

By Elizabeth Alexander, guest blogger

Childers Music Center

When I was growing up, my house was filled with sheet music, with everything from Mozart piano sonatas to Broadway songbooks. My family bought most of it from Childers Music Center, a small storefront run by Dan Childers, also known as “Dandy Dan the Music Man.” In addition to running the music store, he supported the county 4-H program and the Civic Forum Spelling Bee.

Every so often we would make a special trip to Stanton’s Music in Columbus, which was a two hour drive each way. This much larger store was run by former band director John Stanton, who specialized in running choral reading sessions and helping teachers find educational materials.

Those were our only choices. It was either Childers or Stanton’s.

These days there are innumerable sources for sheet music, and deciding where to buy it can be a head-scratcher.

As someone who loves not only music but the people who compose, sell, and perform it, I thought it might be useful to take a look at the big picture, pulling together a list of various sources. I’ve been a composer-publisher for 23 years, so I’ve built many relationships and witnessed a lot of change:

• As the face of retail has evolved over the years, many family-owned brick and mortar music stores (including Childers) have closed their doors. Those that remain (like Stanton’s) have added online stores that supplement traditional sales. They still typically hire well-trained musicians, and they still support local and regional reading sessions, clinics, and other musical activities.

• The family-owned music dealer with the largest national presence is J. W. Pepper & Son, founded in 1893 by James Welsh Pepper, who among other things built John Phillip Sousa’s first sousaphone. Because of its strong online offerings and knowledgeable  employees, J. W. Pepper is in a position to support the music community in more robust ways, including promoting new titles selected through their editorial review process, as well as sponsoring reading sessions at the largest music conferences.

• And then there are independent composer-publishers (like me), who compose, edit, produce, market, and sell under our own publishing labels. Customers who buy music directly from us get to share information with us about their programming choices and events, and ask questions about the music. Kind of like shopping at the farmer’s market!

• Several collaborative initiatives have grown out of the composer-publisher model. One outstanding example is Graphite Publishing/Graphite Marketplace, the brainchild of two award-winning composers, Jocelyn Hagen and Tim Takach. With an intimate knowledge of all the composers represented in their catalog, they have spent the past decade putting together a meticulously curated, high-quality online collection of digital editions (PDFs).

• Some other online marketplaces offer a wider array of composer-publishers a platform for promoting and selling their music, including MusicSpoke (a for-profit business funded significantly by grants) and MyScore(a platform operated by J. W. Pepper).

Of the five sources listed above, what’s the BEST place to buy music? The answer is ALL OF THEM. Each source has its place in a vibrant ecosystem of composers, publishers, dealers, and musicians, providing a valuable and unique service.

But does this mean that all sources of sheet music are equally terrific?

Other than websites that sell or give away pirated sheet music – and they certainly exist – there’s no truly bad place to buy sheet music. But I do have mixed feelings about a couple of things:

• Some ginormous online sheet music clearinghouses offer discounted prices but do little else for the music community. You won’t find them sponsoring music conferences, clinics, or reading sessions. Their sales staff may not even be knowledgeable about music. It’s fine to get a bargain on music sometimes but if we only buy from these discount houses we may eventually lose some of our more responsive and engaged music dealers.

• I’m a strong supporter of composers finding ways to connect with buyers of their music, but I’m distressed by any defamation of traditional music publishers and dealers. In a field with this many players, it’s easy for composers to start feeling like we’re at the bottom of the food chain. We start asking ourselves why a music dealer or traditional publisher should make any significant amount of money by reselling music that we worked hard to compose. This kind of us-versus-them thinking leads some composer-focused initiatives to characterize dealers and traditional publishers as lazy or greedy. Not only is this rhetoric a poor business strategy, it simply isn’t true. Everyone who works to get music into the hands of musicians works hard, and few (if any) are getting rich doing it. Personally, I have no full-time employees depending on me for their livelihoods, so I have no business second-guessing the financial realities of those who do.

Whenever a music dealer makes a commission from selling some of my music, I try to remember that my music is helping someone else have job security.

Personally, I love being part of this ecosystem, and I believe there’s room for many business models to be vital and healthy. I’ve chosen to make my own music available through many sources, including brick-and-mortar stores, J. W. Pepper, Graphite Marketplace, my own website, and yes, a few ginormous online clearing houses.

Whenever I get the opportunity, I ask other composers, publishers, and dealers what new possibilities most excite them, what challenges they are facing, and what concerns keep them up at night. I see many of these people at music conferences, and when I travel I often visit the stores and warehouses of music dealers or publishers! Getting to know these people’s stories helps me be more knowledgeable, as well as more compassionate.

What changes and challenges do you see, or face yourself? What creativity and innovation are you most excited about right now? Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments – and if I overlooked a source of music that you think highly of, feel free to mention that as well.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: Choral Music, composer, composition, music business, music distributors, music publishing, sheet music

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