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Holy Week

Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Almost There

March 29, 2018 by Marie Grass Amenta Leave a Comment

“Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.” Honore de Balzac

We are almost finished with another Lenten, Holy Week and Easter season. Church musicians are rounding the corner, heading toward the end of the finish line of their busiest six weeks, exhausted and craving chocolate bunnies. Even those in academics are well into rehearsals for their final concerts of the semester. And if you are in the community sector, your last concerts loom ahead in the next two months. All the planning and preparation, all the rehearsals, missed or postponed meals and family events you couldn’t attend because of your obligations are bearing fruit. FINALLY!

Was it worth it? I don’t mean to tell you how you should be feeling in this Blog; only get you to think. Have you even attempted to take care of yourself the last few months? Are you crabby? Have you been short with those closest to you? Are you constantly tired and always feel a bit under the weather? And do you push on anyway? What price has this season exacted on you, physically, emotionally and personally?

I used to think it was selfish; now I see the wisdom and am a great believer in taking care of myself so I am able to take care of others. Some may think it counter-intuitive to take care of ourselves so we are able take care of others. But every time we fly we are reminded in the event of a crash, to put on our oxygen mask before putting on the mask of any young child with whom we are traveling. Makes sense; take of yourself so you are able to help those who will need your help the most.

It IS important for you to take care of yourself during the busiest times in our profession. I am not suggesting you neglect or ignore what your need to do to make your worship services or concerts happen. But one or two small things done for your own health and well-being could make a difference in your mood and ability to get things done.

Know what you need to be productive, less crabby and more pleasant and then DO THEM! Try eating as healthy as you are able, with regular meals especially during Holy Week and have a food you really, really enjoy occasionally. A twenty minute Power Nap right before rehearsal could help your productivity and your mood. Are you a big college basketball fan with no time to watch a game and a bit bummed not being to watch the NCAA Tournament? Have a friend or family member keep you informed or record your favorite’s games and watch them later. The Big Game is on the day after Easter so you have something to look forward to after this marathon week.

I know what I need. I crave the occasional cheeseburger, need my “Huey Lewis and the News” and read Vogue on an irregular basis. My favorite candy bar is a Heath Bar but won’t turn down a Milkyway or Three Musketeers. I detest kale and would be happy with a BLT every day for lunch if I could get away with it. In my quest to be healthy, I rarely have a cheeseburger or a BLT, only have a candy bar when I’m riding a commuter train but I do choke down kale regularly. The Vogue is a guilty pleasure and only I listen to Huey and friends when I am cleaning. However, when I am in the midst of yet another screwy concert cycle, I make sure I have cheeseburgers, Vogue with a side of Heath Bar, while listening to Huey, and then a short nap. Can’t forget my nap!

It is too late for this year but please think what your own needs are to get through your toughest times. Make a list and include it in your notes for next year. Consider incorporating those needs in your life all the time; and do one thing you need to make life a bit easier, so you feel a bit more human. Your choirs will thank you. Your partner or spouse or children or parents will thank you. Catching a sports score or eating chocolate or taking a nap won’t change the world but it might make it just a bit more pleasant and YOU a bit more pleasant!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Choral Ethics, Choral Potpourri, Church Choir Tagged With: Holy Week, self-care

Music Within Reach: Accessible Music for Holy Week and Easter

April 7, 2017 by Brandon Moss 2 Comments

I imagine that if you are a church musician you have Holy Week and Easter planned already.  (It is next week, after all.)  But in the spirit of the season, as it is indeed the inspiration for some of the most beautiful music ever written, I thought it would be fitting to share some very accessible and high-quality pieces suitable for the occasion.  If you are a school or community choir director, these recommendations might work for your ensemble throughout much of the rest of the year as well.

The first piece may be known to some, as it is based on a pretty familiar canon—William Boyce’s “Alleluia”.  Boyce’s canon features three distinct melodic lines that are (with one brief exception) diatonic and very “solfege-able”, which is critical to me as a teacher.  A frequent arrangement of this piece is for four parts, with the sopranos beginning the first of the three lines.  As the altos begin, the sopranos move to the second melodic line, and so forth until all voices are in.  To bookend the easy polyphony that ensues, the most notable arrangements of this canon feature a brief four-part homorhythmic harmony on repeated “Alleluia”s.  I will forever remember the day I handed this to my developing high-school choir and told them to go learn it on their own.  They came back in 25 minutes and were so proud of the sound they were able to make!  Of course, you can manipulate the canon in many ways and for a variety of voicings.  There are some good published arrangements out there, and CPDL also boasts two as well as the canon itself, which can all be accessed here.

The next piece, yet another “Alleluia”, is for three-part treble voices and was composed by Romantic French composer César Franck.  Originally written as “Dextera Domini” for STB and soloists, Franck himself edited the piece for SSA and set it to an Easter text in French by Marc du Pasquier.  In its entirety, the piece is around 10 minutes long and features soloists.  If you are looking for such a work, it is still quite accessible, but something I have done on multiple occasions with this piece is to just perform the first 49 measures (which amounts to about 2 ½ minutes).  The tessitura in the Soprano I part is a little high, but the vowels are helpful for that, and the part provides an opportunity to teach good vocal technique.  The most easily available score is on CPDL, transcribed and edited by Mara Wehrung, and can be found here.  There is also an excellent recording of the piece by the Boys of King’s College Choir, Cambridge, on their album Heavenly Voices.

The last piece I would like to share in this post is a three-voice setting of the text “Christ lag in Todesbanden” by early Baroque composer Johann Hermann Schein.  Schein’s sacred concerto is one of the earliest settings of this text based on Martin Luther’s hymn tune.  (Probably the most famous quote of Luther’s tune is Bach’s cantata of the same name, BWV 4.  Bach was famously cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig a century after Schein held the same position.)  Schein’s work is for two high voices and a low voice, with moderate tessituras in each voice.  The piece is largely polyphonic and presents some harmonic and melodic challenges, but it is perfect for a choir of limited forces, especially in the tenor and bass sections.  The best edition of this piece is published by Tetra/Continuo Music Group (TC225), as the meter signatures are amenable to modern performance and the continuo part is realized.  This edition also includes text both in the original German as well as an English version.

While probably too late to program at church for this year’s Holy Week or Easter, these pieces are great for most any time in a school setting, and I hope you add them to your list of attainable works to consider.  As always, if you have ideas for accessible, high-quality music you would like to share for this blog series, please feel free to e-mail them to me at .

Brandon Moss is a choir director, teacher, and composer/arranger living and working in Central Ohio. He teaches at Central Crossing High School, directs the Chalice Choir at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, and serves in leadership roles with the Ohio Choral Directors Association and the Ohio Music Education Association. He is currently working on the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting at The Ohio State University.

Filed Under: Music Within Reach Tagged With: accessible, ACDA, Boyce, Easter, Franck, Holy Week, Schein

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