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!lew! CHILDREN'S CELEBRATION SHOWSTARTERS CHORAL FESTIVAL SHO\,T CHOIR WORKSHOPS Anaheim, CA / June 26-29, 1997 Coming to an area near you ... September - November 1996 CONCERT TOURS Domestic & International/Year Round CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY CHORAL FESTIVAL AMERICA SINGS! FESTIVALS Orlando, FL / December 5-8, 1996 Los Angeles, CA / March 21-22, 1997 Orlando, FL / April 4-5, 1997 MEN OF SONG SHOWCASE Pittsburgh, PA / April 25-26, 1997 AT WALT DISNEY \VORLD@ RESORT Chicago, IL / May 9-10, 1997 Lake Buena Vista, FL February 27 - March 2, 1997 MAGIC MUSIC DAYS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT@ SHOWSTOPPERS & DISNE\'LlLND@PARK INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL Lake Buena Vista, FL / Anaheim, CA AT WALT DISNEY WORLD@ RESORT Year Round Lake Buena Vista, FL / March 13 -16, 1997 SHOWSTOPPERS NATIONAL --f!W- SHOW CHOIR INVITATIONAL I-= -::. --::. Chicago, IL / March 20-23, 1997 KEYNOTE ARTS ASSOCL\TES KEYNOTE ARTS ASSOCIATES COLLEGIATE 1637 E. ROBINSON ST. SHOWCASE INVITATIONAL ORLANDO, FL 32803 AT \VJ-\LT DISNEY \"X"TORLD@ RESORT Lake Buena Vista, FL / April 10-13, 1997 T407-897-8181 F407-897-8184 TOLL FREE 800-522-2213 KEYNOTE CHORAL FESTIVAL SERIES EMAIL [email protected] CHICAGO CHORAL FESTIVAL Chicago, IL / April 10-13, 1997 Official Publication of the American Choral Directors Association Volume Thirty-seven Number One
AUGUST 1996 CHORALJO John Silantien Barton L.Tyner Jr. EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
COLUMNS ARTICLES From the Executive Director ...... 2 Choral Arrangements of From the President ...... 3 Spirituals: Birth and
From the Editor ...... 4 Perpetuation of a Genre ...... 9 by Patricia J Trice Letters to the Editor ...... 4
Research Report ...... 45 Christine D. de Catanzaro, editor The Lyric of the Mrican-American Spiritual: Compact Disc Reviews ...... 47 Richard]. Bloesch, editor The Meaning behind
Book Reviews ...... 51 the Words ...... 15 Stephen Town, editor by Maroin V. Curtis
Choral Reviews ...... 57 Corydon J. Carlson, editor Competition in Choral Repertoire and Standards Committee Reports ...... 41 Education: Adults' Memories of Early N ewsbriefs ...... 42 Choir Experiences ...... 21 Advertisers Index ...... 68 by Gary E Stollak and Mal], Alice Stollak
Coverarr by Craig Sridham depicrs (clockwise from upper left) rhe Corron Blossom Singers (used courtesy of rhe Piney Woods Coum!)' Life School, Piney Woods, Mississippi), rhe Golden Gare Quarrerre (used by permission of rhe Fr:Ink Driggs Collecrion), and rhe Wings Over Jordan Choir REHEARSAL BREAKS conducred by Worth Kramer (COUrtesy of the Narional Afro American Museum and Culrur:I! Cemer, Wilberforce, Coping with Middle School Attitudes ...... 29 Ohio). On rhis page, rhe drawing accompanying rhe Curds article depicts a "Jubilee" (ca. 1850) and is used by permission by Sally B. John of the Corbis/Be[cmann Archives. Using the Hum and the Trill in Vocal and Choral Development ...... 37 by Margaret H Daniel
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 1 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS Congratulations to the 1997Auditioned Choirs! INDIANA AST MAY the 1997 National Convention Audition Committee had the privi CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION lege of hearing the semifinalists of the 217 choirs that entered the blind President - Patticia Wiehe audition process. Thirty-six auditioned choirs will appear at the 1997 National 2435 Glenhill Drive L Indianapolis, Incliana 46240 Convention in San Diego (March 5-8)-the largest number ever for a national conven Treasurer - PanIaJ. Alles tion. More importantly, these choirs are, without a doubt, some of the finest I have heard 1471 Aluneyer Road in my twenty-five-year association with national convention planning. I congratulate the Jasper, Indiana 47546 finalists and extend a heartfelt thanks to all the choirs that entered the audition process. IOWA In addition to performing individual concerts, many of the auditioned choirs will CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION President - J aniece R. Bergland combine to perform choral/orchestral works and demonstrate pieces during interest and 2534 155th Streer reading sessions. Concert sessions will take place in two beautifully constructed, acousti Floyd. Iowa 50435 cally superb halls: the San Diego Civic Theatre (Opera House) and Copley Symphony Secretary/Treasurer - Bruce A. Norris 420 Maple Srreet Hall. To accommodate the record number of performances by auditioned choirs, the Mondamin. Iowa 51557 convention will begin several hours earlier than usual, on Wednesday afternoon, March 5. MINNESOTA Since San Diego is in the Pacific time zone, the majority of delegates will gain one to CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION three hours in travel time. Coequal gold and silver tracks will accommodate the more President - Allan Hawkins 500 South Jefferson Street than five thousand anticipated registrants. New Ulm, Minnesota 56073 Preregistration. Preregistration packets will be mailed on November 1, 1996. Please Treasurer - Richard F. Edsttom note that you will not be able to reserve hotel rooms at the discounted rate until after you 2305 Winfield Avenue. North have received the preregistration material. I hope to see you in picturesque San Diego! Golden Valley. Minnesota 55422 MONTANA Gene Brooks CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION President - Peggy Leonardi 161 Eastside Highway ACDA STUDENT CONDUCTING AWARDS Hamilton. Montana 59840 Treasurer - Larry Swingen 1997 ACDA National Convention I Box 670 March 5-8 • San Diego, California Malra, Montana 59538 NEBRASKA ACDA members who are full-time undergraduate students Qunior or senior status) or full CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION time graduate students are eligible to submit videotaped auditions of tbeir choral performance. President - David H. Moore Sixteen student conductors will receive scholarships for transportation and housing costs to 12740 Deauville Drive attend tbe 1997 ACDA National Convention and conduct in tbe·semifinals. Four students at Omaha. Nebraska 68137 each level will advance to tbe conducting finals. Treasurer - Clark Roush York College ApplicationlVideotape Postmark Deadline: November 15, 1996 P.O. Box 438 York. Nebraska 68467 Official guidelines and application fottn will be printed in tbe full issue of tbe Student Times. For more infottnation, contact: Scott W. Dorsey, National R&S Chair, Youtb and Student Activities OHIO Committee; do Music Departtnent, Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio 44601; telephone: CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION 330/823-2181; £ax: 330/823-2144; e-mail: [email protected]. President - Peter G. Jarjisian School of Music. Ohio University Athens. Ohio 45701
STATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP Treasurer - Mark Munson The American Choral Directors Association is a nonprofit professional organization of choral directors from College of Musical Arts. Bowling Green State University schools. colleges. and universities; community. church. and professional choral ensembles; and industry Bowling Green. Ohio 43403 and instITutional organizations. Choral Journal circulation: 18.000. Annual dues (includes subscription to the Choral Journal): Active $45. Industry $100. Institutional $75. Retired $25. and Student $20. One-year TEXAS membership begins on date of dues acceptance. Ubrary annual subscription rates: U.S. $25; Canada $35; CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION Foreign Surface $38; Foreign Air $75. Single Copy $3; Back Issues $4. President - Randy Talley ACDA is a founding member of the International Federation for Choral Music. 3654 Lorna Drive ACDA supports and endorses the goals and purposes of CHORUS AMERICA Odessa, Texas 79462 in promoting the excellence of choral music throughout the world. Secretary/Treasurer - Cheryl Wilson ACDA reserves the right to approve any applications for appearance and to edit all materials proposed for distribution. 9393 Skillman, #122 Permission is granted to all ACDA members to reproduce articles from the Choral Journal for noncommercial. educational Dallas, Texas 75243 purposes only. Nonmembers wishing to reproduce articles may request permission by writing to ACDA. The Choral Journal is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. a federal agency. WISCONSIN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION Recognizing its position of leadership. ACDA complies with the copyright laws of the United States. Compliance with these laws is a condition of participation by clinicians and performing groups at ACDA meetings and conventions. President - Kevin Meidl 916 South Park Avenue © 1996 by the American Choral Directors Association. 502 SW Thirty-eighth Street. Lawton. Oklahoma 73505. Telephone: Neenah, Wisconsin 54956 405/355-8161. Ail rights reserved. The Choral Joumal (US ISSN 0009-5028) is issued monthly. exceptfor June and July. Printed in the United States of America. Secretary/Treasurer - Michelle Klotz 2648 North Lefeber Avenue ~ Periodicals postage paid at Lawton. Oklalhoma. and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address Wauwarosa. Wisconsin 53213 EdPress changes to Choral Joumal. Post Office Box 6310. Lawton. Oklahoma 73506-0310. Volume Thirty-seven Number One
PAGE 2 CHORAL JOURNAL FROM ACDA THE PRESIDENT OFFICERS
PRESIDENT Lynn Whitten OST ACDA MEMBERS are in the throes of scheduling auditions, order College of Music, University of Colorado ing music, and planning teaching strategies for the new season. A few of Boulder, Colorado 80309 us, the retired 6.4 percent of members, * are a bit jealous of the elation and VICE-PRESIDENT John Haberlen excitement that will come with rebuilding the School of Music, Georgia State University choir's core sound through newly found vocal University Plaza Atlanta, Georgia 30303 pedagogies, with introducing artful and edifY PRESIDENT-ELECT ing choral literature with which one has recently Jim Moore become acquainted, and with experiencing the School of Music, East Texas Baptist University Marshall, Texas 75670 hubbub of activities following the relative quiet PRESIDENT-ELECT DESIGNATE ness of summer. All of us in leadership positions Milburn Price of ACDA wish each of you a year of exhilarat School of Music, Samford University Birmingham, Alabama 35229 ing and rewarding music-making, and we wish TREASURER for your singers a year of superb growth in mu Elaine McNamara sicianship and aesthetic understanding. 2863 NE Twenty-third Avenue Lighthouse Point, Florida 33064 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Colleagueship Gene Brooks ACDA affords us semi-annual get-togethers P.O. Box 6310, Lawton, Oklahoma 73506 with choral colleagues in the form of state and, 405/355-8161 • Fax: 405/248-1465 in alternating years, divisional or national con CENTRAL DMSION PRESIDENT Charles K. Smith ventions. Those events I consider an obligatory part of professionalism, i.e., required School of Music, Michigan State University in-service training for a teacher/musician. Each of us needs to find outlets for profes East Lansing, Michigan 48824 sional interaction during the hiatus between those mountain-top experiences. EASTERN DMSION PRESIDENT Michele Holt Though I loved getting great cheesecalce recipes from the home-economics teacher or Stonington High School receiving armchair quarterbacking tips from the coach, that kind of collegiality did little 176 South Broad Street Pawcatuck; Connecticut 06379 for my growth as a choral conductor. lowe my forty-year thirst for knowledge about NORTH CENTRAL DMSION PRESIDENT diverse choral literature and its performance to those biweeldy Saturday night get Lauretta Graetz togethers in the back of a music store in Borger, Texas, with a half-dozen junior and 2706 River Woods Lane Burnsville, Minnesota 55306 senior high school conductors from a sixty-or-so-mile radius. AI Skoog was introducing NORTHWESTERN DIVISION PRESIDENT us to multicultural music in the '50s; Hugh Sanders helped us with vocal problems; and Thomas A. Miller we traded ideas about conducting problems. We set up our own festival for mixed, boys', Warner-Pacific College 2219 SE Sixty-eighth Street and girls' choruses. We even traded jobs for a day, on occasion. Portland, Oregon 97215 Many of you have found creative ways to learn from colleagues. Some superb ideas SOUTHERN DMSION PRESIDENT for literature and programming have come through e-mail. As the on-line database Kenneth Fulton School of Music, Louisiana State University MUSICA becomes accessible to us, the benefits will be even greater. I remember seeing Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 on e-mail, too, a call for lilce-minded conductors wanting to study a specific major choral SOUTHWESTERN DIVISION PRESIDENT work under university auspices. I hope that the project came to fruition. A long-standing John Yarrington P.O. Box 250768 three-day conclave has been organized each fall by sixteen or so Oregon and Washing Little Rock, Arkansas 72225 ton conductors for the purpose of sharing ideas and literature and for mutual support. WESTERN DMSION PRESIDENT The group, Liederkranz, includes conductors from middle-school to university level and James O. Foxx 2554 Twain Avenue from church musicians to conductors of professional choruses. An unforgettable venue is Clovis, California 93611 used, superb food is served, and the collaborative learning, as well as personal growth, is INDUSTRY ASSOCIATE REPRESENTATIVE significant. One of the strengths of the group is its smallness, its intimate rapport. I Lynn Sengstack Shawnee Press, Inc. would welcome receiving other ideas for colleagueship. . 49 Waring Drive With renewal from summer's change of pace, with concerted effort to make our art Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania ·18327 meaningful in the lives of our singers, and with a dazzling national convention planned PAST PRESIDENTS COUNCIL for March 1997, the coming academic year holds fantastic promise for all of us. William B. Hatcher School of Music, University ofIowa Iowa City, Iowa 52242 Lynn Whitten Maurice Casey Colleen J. Kirk Walter S. Collins Theron Kirk Harold A. Decker Diana J. Leland * Eleven states have retirees numbering 10 percent or more of membership-Hawaii and Wyoming Morris D. Hayes Russell Mathis have whopping 16 and 17 percents, respectively. (Plans are underway for a session at the San Charles C. Hirt H. Royce Saltzman Diego Convention dedicated to discussion of roles for retirees in ACDA; we expect, however, Warner Imig Hugh Sanders for retirees to remain active in the organization in their areas of expertise.) Elwood J. Keister David Thorsen
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 3 FROM EDITORIAL THE EDITOR BOARD
EDITOR Another Volume Year Begins John Silantien Division of Music, University of Texas at San Antonio CONTINUE to be impressed by the high-quality article submissions we receive. San Antonio, Texas 78249 This issue focuses special attention on the African-American spiritual; in Sep 210/691-5680; e-mail: [email protected] tember we will publish articles on Bruckner's sacred music; the October issue ASSOCIATE EDITOR I Nina Gilbert will have a French emphasis; and in November the Journal will celebrate the 125th University of California-Irvine anniversary ofF. Melius Christiansen's birth. Music 292, Building 714 Irvine, California 92697 e-mail: [email protected]
More Rehearsal Breaks Requested MANAGING EDITOR The Rehearsal Breaks section is an area in which we would like to encourage more Barton 1. Tyner Jr. P.O. Box 6310 submissions. It contains short articles of a purely practical nature, and they give the Lawton, Oklahoma 73506 Journal a balance in its content. This month we have Rehearsal Breal<:s on coping with 405/355-8161; fux: 405/248-1465 the attitudes of junior high school choral students and on vocalization techniques. If e-mail: [email protected] you have ideas that you would like to share, we would love to hear them. Conductor's EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jennifer E. Dielmann from all choral areas and levels are invited to contribute; scholarly expertise is not Division of Music, University ofTexas at San Antonio needed. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your ideas. San Antonio, Texas 78249 210/691-5680; e-mail: [email protected] John Silanlien Allison S. Lowe 3889 Clover Lane Dallas, Texas 75220
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Chester Alwes LETTERS School of Music, University of Illinois 1114 West Nevada TO THE EDITOR Utbana, Illinois 61801 To the Editor: Richard J. Bloesch School of Music, University ofIowa HE ARTICLE "The Psychologist and the Conductor: Solving Rehearsal Prob Iowa City, Iowa 52242 lems Using Awareness of Personality Types" by Barbara Pollack and Harriet T David 1. Brunner Simons in the May issue of the Choral Journal is interesting and informative. I have Department of Music, University of Central Florida P.O. Box 161354 some additional research to submit in regard to successful rehearsals. Orlando, Florida 32816 I have been an avid fisherman all my life, and while living in Brainerd, Minnesota Cotydon J. Carlson (fine fishing country), I started keeping records of general weather conditions, baro P.O. Box 9517 metric readings, and numbers of fish caught each time out to see ifI could plan more Bolton, Connecticut 06043 productive trips. Afrer some years of record-keeping, I found a correlation between Christine D. de Catanzaro School of Music, Georgia State University good fishing and a high or rising barometer. Further study showed that when the University Plaza barometer read 29.70 or below (29.90 is normal), fishing was not good. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 I also found that choral rehearsals were less productive on such days. So, on days Mitzi Groom Department of Music and Fine ArtS with low or falling barometer readings (approaching storm systems), I would plan my Tennessee Technological University rehearsals to include more reading of new materials and less polishing, since on those Box 5045 days both conductors and singers feel less productive. This phenomenon is caused by Cookeville, Tennessee 38505 Sharon A. Hansen ionization of particles in the air. Positive ions create a lethargic feeling and negative Department of Music, School of Fine Arts ions produce a productive feeling. Scientific evidence supports this fact. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee P.O. Box 413 So, if you experience days when your rehearsal goals seem very difficult to achieve, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 it could be due to the barometric pressure. In that case you might consider adjusting Robert Provencio your rehearsal plan. California State University-Bakersfield Sincerely, 9001 Stockdale Highway Bakersfield, California 93311 Curtis Hansen Timothy W. Sharp Edina, Minnesota King College 1350 King College Road Bristol, Tennessee 37620 To the Editor: Stephen Town HANK YOU sincerely for the April issue of the ChoralJournalwith its tribute to Department of Music T my brother, [Robert Shaw]. It is being enjoyed by all our family. It contains a Northwest Missouri Stare University Maryville, Missouri 64468 splendid interview that captures his essence and wit, which we on this western shore miss so much between trips to Atlanta. COORDINATOR OF STATE NEWSLETTERS Richard Kegerreis Best wishes, One Craig Drive Anne Shaw Price Huntington Sr.tion, New York 11746 San Pedro, California 516/423-0701
PAGE 4 CHORAL JOURNAL NATIONAL To the Editor: R&S CHAIRS OBERT SHAW is not inclined to read articles about himself. I, on the other NATIONAL CHAIR R hand, am inclined to read everything written about him. Thank you so much for Barbara Tagg the interesting, informative, and entettaining April 1996 edition of the ChoraljournaL 215 Crouse College, Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 13244 Sincerely, Nola Frink BOYCHOIR Darrell James Administrative Assistant to Mr. Shaw Salem Boys Choir Atlanta Symphony Orchestl'a 1320 Capitol Street, NE Salem, Oregon 97303 CHILDREN'S CHOIRS Deborah A. Mello 435 Ridge Road Newton, New Jersey 07860 COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY CHOIRS Jerry McCoy Department of Music, Oldahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078 Classic Spirituals. COMMUNITY CHOIRS Bill Diekhoff 5019 Hermitage Drive Anderson, Sourh Carolina 29625 ETHNIC AND MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVES Ronald Kean Department of Music, Bakersfield College 1801 Panorama Drive Balcersfield, California 93305 JAZZ AND SHOW CHOIRS Phil Mattson School for Music Vocations Southwestern Community College Creston, Iowa 50801 JUNIOR HIGH! MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIRS JOHN W. WORK • JAMES MILLER • FRED FOX Kathy Anderson Mixed Chorus Collection with Piano or Organ 1551 Parkview Avenue A Heritage of Spirituals San Jose, California 95130 1. Rock, Mount Sinai #1.2593 $6.60 MALE CHOIRS 2. This Little Light 0' Mine Clayton Parr 3. I'm Gonna Sing Department of Music, Miami University 4. I Wanna Be Ready Oxford, Ohio 45056 5. Daniel (Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?) MUSIC AND WORSHIP 6. Little Black Train CarlL. Stam Chapel Hill Bible Church 1200 Mason Farm Road Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL CHOIRS Janice R. Bradshaw RONALD ARNATI 811 Sixth Street Boonville, Missouri 65233 Steal Away to Jesus #4845 $3.50 Mixed Chorus, Optional Congregation, Baritone Solo, Organ and Trumpet TWO-YEAR COLLEGE CHOIRS Thomas J. Stauch TIM HARBOLD Harper College Algonquin and Roselle Roads Three Spirituals Mixed Chorus Palatine, Illinois 60067 1. I' Been in the Storm #5015 $1.50 WOMEN'S CHOIRS 2. I Want Jesus to Walk with Me #5016 $1.20 Leslie Guelker-Cone 3. Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door #5017 $1.90 Department of Music Western Washington University GWYNETH WALKER Bellingham, Washington 98225 Peace Like a River Mixed Chorus #4485 $1.50 YOUTH AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES Scott W. Dorsey We sell exclusiveo/ dlrough retail prillt music dealers. Department of Music, Mount Union College E. C. Schirmer Music Company 'B' (617) 236-1935 Alliance, Ohio 44601 E CS PUBLISHING Galaxy Music Corporation
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 5 f/({))WJff c{b({lXaff (;(ffJtJ[J ?oJce clj jpJ@J,rtfJ (f))/ J1-.p, J~ ,0 ~/l P 11 0 r] ~ , ~ , Ii [Jf!J)(fJ f!!{tJ!{J):Ij[J fJiftP!PJ, ~1JJC@jJ ffJ)0{J)(;j(pJ@]\,~\1'»~ tfj}~rlJ)J (Q) 'J fl'J ..c!.p (f))Jf [£fff)(fj $(fJ@J$({J)f!rJ"oo Disney's Candlelight Processional November 26 through December 24, 1996 at the WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT
Disney Magic Music Days is currently seeking outstanding high schoo~ college and university choirs jorparticipation in Disney's Candlelight Processiona~ a beautiful ant;l inspirational reteUing ofthe first Christmas-story featuring a celebrity narrator, 400 voice massed choir, and a 50-piece Disney orchestra!
And your group could be selected to be apart ofthis exciting educational experience. As participants, your group wiU perform as members ofthe 400 voice choir in two performances on the evening ofyour event. Each show at the America Gardens Theatre in Epcot features beautiful holiday choral arrangements that are yours to keep! Also speCial value packages, which include theme park admission and commemorative merchandise, are available for aU participants, offering your group incredible savings!
For more information on auditioning your choirfor Disney's Candlelight Processiona~ ,contact Disney Magic MusicJ)ays at 1~800~833·9806. AU audition materials must be received by September 20, 1996. Please call today for details!
Disney Magic Music Days Walt Disney Attractions, Inc. P.O. Box 10,000 Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830·1000 1·800·833·9806
III---IIIIE prELL TIE Choral Arrangements of Spirituals: Birth and Perpetuation of a Genre
by Patricia J Trice
The Cotton Blossom Singers, cn. 1925-30
Birth of a Genre College Choirs in the Nineteenth Century The term "spiritual" is a nineteenth-century appellation for The choral ensembles performing spirituals during the nine songs with religious texts created by Mrican slaves in America. teenth century were primarily college choirs from historically The songs were a part of the slave culture in the United States blacl<: institutions of higher learning. The Fisk School, founded as early as the late seventeenth century and, along with slave in 1868 in Nashville, Tennessee, was one of seven colleges work songs, continued West Mrican oral traditions of commu established by the American Missionary Association for the nal creativity, spontaneity, expressiveness, record-keeping, coded collegiate and theological education of freed slaves. In 1871 the messages, and metaphor. Fisk Jubilee Singers first introduced spirituals to the general When the camp-meeting movement began in the South public. Nine Fisk students, led by school treasurer and music around 1755, slaves were permitted to participate. Their in teacher George L. White, set out on a tour of the Midwest and volvement, which included singing spirituals, marked the sur Northeast to raise money for building construction on their facing of slave songs outside the plantation. Between 1815 and new ..campus. Originally called the Colored Christian Singers 1820 a few revival spirituals began to appear in Protestant and organized to perform classical music, they were renamed hymn books. Slave Songs o/the United States by William Francis the Fisk Jubilee Singers by their director in October 1871, Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, the during a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. The Singers' early first collection devoted entirely to spirituals and slave work programs included anthems, Irish ballads, sentimental songs, songs, was published in 1867. In June of the same year, Colo temperance songs, patriotic songs, and a few spirituals. By the nel Thomas Wentworth Higginson published the article "Ne time the group reached New York City, White realized the gro Spirituals" in the Atlantic Monthly. These two publications audience appeal of the spirituals and began to devote a larger were largely responsible for documenting the ,early history of share of the program to them. By the end of the ensemble's tour the spiritual. l in May 1872, the Jubilee Singers had raised $20,000, malcing In a 1994 study I examined the conventional musical char possible the construction of Jubilee Hall on the Fisk campus. acteristics, or "tropes," shared by Mrican music, Mrican-Ameri Fisk ensembles, still containing some of the original singers, can spirituals, and spiritual arrangements.2 The following article toured until 1878 both in this country and in Europe, singing chronicles some of the mixed-voice performing groups who, for heads of state and in some of the world's most important because their concert programs included spirituals, generated a concert venues. Subsequent student ensembles from Fisk con need for formalized choral arrangements of slave songs. certized well into the twentieth century. They helped remove the stereotyped impression of "negroes" created by black-face Patricia J. Trice is Professor of Music at Hillsborough minstrel performers.3 Following White's retirement, John Wesley Community College, Tampa, Florida, and cofounder of the Work II (1871-1925), his brother Frederick Jerome Work Spiritual Renaissance Singers. (1880-1942), and his son John W. Work III (1901-67) carried on the tradition at Fisk by researching, collecting, and arranging
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 9 spirituals. John W. Work III, in particular, programs on the NBC network during the tablished until the 1920s and 30s. Enor was an important arranger. Many of his 1930s.4 From 1913 to 1937 the Hampton mously successful during the 30s, the spirituals still appear in publishers' catalogs. Choir was led by two of the most impor Golden Gate Quartette, the Southernaires, The sixteen-voice Hampton Institute tant scholars and composer-arrangers in and the Wings Over Jordan Choir gave Choir, though not quite as well known· the spiritual tradition: R. Nathaniel Dett, numerous public concerts, broadcast regu internationally as the Fisk Jubilee Singers, from 1913 to 1931, and Clarence Cameron lar radio programs, made recordings, and was equally active. With Thomas Fenner White, from 1932 to 1937. published collections of spirituals reflect as music director, the choir began touring ing their styles. Of the mixed-voice en in February 1873. Unlike the Fisk singers, College Choirs in the sembles of that era, however, the Eva Jessye who abandoned their studies while on tour, Twentieth Century Singers and the Hall Johnson Choir made the Hampton singers studied regularly and Because touring was a successful the most significant impact on the devel completed examinations upon returning fimdraiser for many black college choirs, opment of choral arrangements of spiri to the Hampton campus. Performing un the practice continued well into the twen tuals as a genre. Eva Jessye (1895-1992) accompanied, they sang mostly spirituals tieth century. Perhaps the most unique were had a well-earned reputation as a choral but also included Stephen Foster songs the several ensembles known as the Cot conductor, composer, and arranger of and other popular favorites in their reper ton Blossom Singers, students at the Piney spirituals and other songs. She formed toire. They aired a series of half-hour radio Wood Country Life School near Braxton, the Dixie Jubilee Singers, which later was Mississippi. The school was founded in renamed the Eva Jessye Singers. The group 1909 by Laurence Jones, who espoused sang on New York City radio in the 1920s the educational theories of Booker T. Wash and at the Capitol Theatre in New York ington. In the early 1920s, Jones and his City, the theater where Eugene Ormandy wife formed the school's first choral en worked as associate director of music and semble and, because of segregation laws Edward (Major) Bowes served as man regarding lodging, began touring in their ager. Jessye's prowess as a choral conduc own house-car (a predecessor of the travel tor was such that she was named choral trailer) designed by Jones. By the late 1920s director of the King Vidor musical mo as many as thirteen ensembles of male, tion picture Hallelujah (1929), music di female, and mixed voices toured designated rector of the Gertrude Stein-Virgil III£ areas, each with its own director. The Thomson Broadway production of Four school's president or his wife sometimes Saints in Three Acts (1934), and music DRINK£R LUlRARY traveled with the singers.s director for the original production of Olb William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) Porgy and Bess (1935). Her singers per CIIORAL }/J[USIC founded the Tuskegee Institute Choir in formed in Saints and Porgy. From the date 1931, just afrer he was named head of the of the ensemble's formation through its new School of Music at the Institute in performance as the official choir for the Tuskegee, Alabama. At 110 voices the 1963 March on Washington, the group's • Low-cost rental music for choir was much larger than the Fisk or reputation for impeccable tone quality choruses Hampton ensembles. The Tuskegee Choir and blend, clear diction, subtle use of • Ideal for small choirs and made its reputation by touring through choreography, large and flexible repertoire, small budgets out North and South America. The choir's and meticulous attention to attire came • Over 700 titles reputation in the United States was such as a result of the high level of musicianship • Spans the Renaissance to the that it, along with luminaries such as and professionalism Jessye demanded. 20th Century Martha Graham and Ray Bolger, opened The choir disbanded in 1970, and Jessye • Sacred and secular the Radio City Music Hall in December began a new career that included guest • Large and small works 1932, The ensemble recorded for conducting, lecturing on university cam • Orchestra parts for many titles Westminster Records and performed on puses, consulting, and acting in feature • Call Monday-Friday, several radio series-on NBC during the frIms'? Though she was a prolific com 9-5 Eastern time 1937-38 season, on CBS in 1945, and poser and arranger, most of her works are on ABC in 1946.6 Dawson arranged many in private collections. spirituals-still currently available-for In 1925, Hall Johnson (1888-1970), the Tuskegee Choir in versions for mixed, violinist, arranger, composer, conductor, Drinker Library of Choral Music women's, and men's voices. and consultant, organized the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, later renamed the The Free Library of Philadelphia Professional Choirs in the 1901 Vine St. Hall Johnson Choir. In addition to con Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189 Twentieth Century certizing with the choir, he directed its (215) 686-5364 Professional ensembles specializing in performance of spirituals in the 1930 the performance of spirituals were not es- Broadway production of Green Pastures.
PAGE 10 CHORAL JOURNAL The choir performed in movies (Swanee the performance of spiritual arrangements. and Henry Ward Beecher. The ensemble Rive1; The Green Pastures, 1XIay Down The New York-based ensemble, which has has produced two recordings-Harlem South, and Cabin in the Sky) and on ra toured the United States, Italy; Africa, China, Spiritual Ensemble in Concert and Free at dio, television, and recordings. Johnson's and Russia, comprises six singers, a pianist, Last-on the Arcadia label. II writings, both literary and musical, illus and a percussionist. Accompanied spiritual The Tampa-based Spiritual Renais trate his understanding of the nature of arrangements, some with orchestra, are the sance Singers was founded in August 1989 spirituals and his desire to preserve and specialty of the ensemble, but traditional, by Patricia Trice and Annetta Montoe perpetuate their integrity. His choir em unaccompanied settings are a part of its because of their concern that unaccom barked on national and international repertoire as well. Clemmons also founded panied arrangements ofspirituals were dis tours, including a 1951 tour of the United the nonprofit American Negro Spiritual Re appearing from high school, college, and States and Europe sponsored by the U.S. search Foundation, which not only pro university choral programs. Personnel in State Department. He remained active in vides information for aspiring young the twenty-voice ensemble consists mostly civic and musical affairs in New York City musicians but also serves as a networking of music students and professionals but until his death in 1970.8 Johnson's large center for African-American youth choirs. also includes musicians whose vocations catalog of spiritual arrangements includes In September 1994 the Harlem Spiri lie outside the field of music. many settings for solo voice and piano as well tual Ensemble premiered the cantata Sis The Spiritual Renaissance Singers has as for unaccompanied men's, women's, ters 0/ Freedom at William Jewell College, no single director. Rather, the ensemble and mixed voices. Liberty; Missouri. Commissioned by the continues the tradition of communal cre ensemble, the cantata is based on the lives ativity practiced by Mricans and Mrican Professional Ensembles of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. Americans. Interpretation is agreed upon Active Today Composed by Linda Twine, it contains by the members of the ensemble, and The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers of spiritual arrangements scored for soloists, pieces are conducted by a member when Los Angeles, formed in 1964 by Albert ensemble, two actresses, piano, and per necessary. Its Tampa Bay-area programs McNeil, has sung in more than sixty cussion. Joseph Joubert orchestrated the consist of spirituals by established arrang three countries since its first European work for performance by the ensemble ers as well as arrangements by Trice and tour in 1968.9 The group's repertoire in during the 1995-96 seasons of the India Ann Hawkins, a charter member of the cludes spirituals, jazz, gospel music, Porgy napolis Symphony, Milwaukee Sym group. Revenues from concerts and a and Bess excerpts, and folk songs from phony, and Concordia (New York City) 1992 recording are used to stock the Sing around the world. McNeil is also active as Symphony. Twine is at work on a com ers' music library, contribute to local an arranger and consultant. panion cantata, Brothers o/Freedom, which causes, and fund the Spiritual Renaissance The Brazeal Dennard Chorale was will commemorate the lives of Frederick Singers Vocal Scholarship at the Univer founded in 1972 by Brazeal Dennard to Douglass, Denmark Vesey, John Brown, sity of South Florida in Tampa. As a part preserve the roots of the Mrican-Ameri can choral heritage and to perform sig nificant choral works by black composers. The seventy-voice Chorale performs in concerts and workshops throughout the country. It appeared at the 1995 ACDA National Convention in Washington, D.C. The Detroit-based organization in cludes a Youth Chorale, a training en semble for high school singers, and a Experience Counts! community chorus. An annual concert series, "Classical Roots," was developed Concert Touring Specialists on 5 CONTINENTS jointly by the Chorale and the Detroit with custom tours arranged in over 40 COUNTRIES Symphony Orchestra to showcase the con tributions of Mrican-American compos ers in the classical tradition. Dennard Call for your custom concert tour arrangements! conducted the Chorale in a compact disc recording, Hush! Somebody's Calling My Tuscany International Children's Chorus Festival Name, released in 1994, which includes July 14 - 20, 1997, Jean Ashworth Bartle, Conductor/Clinician four Dennard arrangements as well as fa Musica Mundi, Inc. miliar settings by Dawson, Work, and III Main Street, Suite 2 • Los Altos, CA 94022 1 800 947 1991 Wendell Whalum. IO Phone 415 949 1991 • Fax 415 949 1626 E-mail: [email protected] In 1986, Franyois Clemmons founded Web Site: http://members.gnn.com/mmundi the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, the only full-time, professional group specializing in Offices in California, Luzembourg, Rome, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Sydney
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 11 of its community outreach, the ensemble Moses Hogan with personnel from two A Proud Legacy funded two proposals from Hillsborough ensembles he founded earlier: the New Mrican-American spirituals chronicle County (Florida) teachers to implement World Ensemble, organized in 1980, and and comment on the lives of Mrican teaching units about spirituals during the the New Orleans Heritage Choir, estab American slaves, expressing their dreams fall 1995 semester. The Singers also spon lished in 1991. The Chorale's organization and hopes for the future and reflecting sored, with Hillsborough Community includes a community ensemble, regional their determination to survive slavery and College, a workshop on spirituals for chapters, touring ensemble, and a perform live as free people. Ever since the slave church musicians in January 1996. ing artists roster. The Chorale performed songs emerged from the closed society of The Moses Hogan Chorale, based in at the 1995 ACDA National Convention the plantation, they have appealed to New Orleans, was organized in 1993 by in Washington, D.C. It has been invited, people all over the world. The spiritual as one of thirty select choirs, to represent arrangements made in the 1870s for the the United States at the World Sympo Fisk Jubilee Singers helped to preserve the sium on Choral Music in Sydney, Austra songs by translating them into an idiom lia, in August 1996. Its repertoire consists that could be shared with a wider audience almost exclusively of arrangements by in a concert setting. The arrangers who Hogan. The Chorale's recordings include followed perpetuated the spiritual's ex
Finest Fabrics including the soundtrack for the 1995 PBS special pressiveness and exciting innovations in Penn anent Press and Wash & Wear. Superior Quality. Free Color "The American Promise," released on rhythm, texture, form, and sonority. Catalog and Fabric Swatches on Windham Hill Records in September Significantly, many of the spiritual ar Request. Guaranteed Satisfaction. Toll Free 1-800-826-8612 1995, and volumes one and two of The rangers were conductors who sought to Choral and Vocal AI'rangements of Moses increase and enrich the repertory of their HEGENCY Hogan, a collaboration between the Cho ensembles. In addition to the historically .Hijllet·Utili ••• rale and countertenor Derek Lee Ragin, significant figures discussed above, other P.O. Box 8988-CJ released in 1995 and 1996, respectivelyY noteworthy arrangers are Jester Hairston, Florida 32211 who, early in his professional life, was a singer and assistant to Hall Johnson; Undine Moore and J. Harold Montague at Virginia State College; Roland Carter The lush vocals of a at the Hampton Institute; Wendell major American male chorus are Whalum; and Leonard de Paur. Whalum and de Paurled two important male en just a phone call away ... sembles: the Morehouse College Choir and the Leonard de Paur Chorus respectively. Mixed-voice ensembles specializing in the performance of spirituals during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries not only shared the spirituals with a wider audience but also created a new idiom for presenting the songs in a concert setting. This genre-unaccompanied arrange ments of Mrican-American spirituals now stands as the largest single body of folk-song arrangements in Western cho ral art literature.
NOTES I Portia K. Maultsby, "Mro-American Religious Music: 1619-1861" (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1974), "Your performance at the recent SWACDA convention ...was absolutely 123, 141; John Lovell, Jr., The Black Song: EXQUISITEI ...You stole the audience's hearts!" The Forge and the Flame (New York: Glenda Casey, President..sW ACDA Paragon House, 1972),400. To receive a Catalog of current recordings or to place your order 2 Patricia J. Trice, "Unaccompanied Choral Arrangements of African-American Spirituals: The 'SignifYing' Tradition Continues," Choral Joumal 34 (Febtuary 1994): 15-21.
PAGE 12 CHORAL JOURNAL 3 Tilford Brooks, "A Historical Study of Black Krieger Publishing, 1985), 37; Peter Music and Selected Twentieth-Century Seidman, "Eva Jessye," reprinted in The Black Composers and Their Role in Black Perspective in JvIllSic 18 (1990): American Society" (Ph.D. diss., Washington 259,262. University, 1972), 182; James Weldon 8 Hall Johnson, "Notes on the Negro SOURCE Johnson and J. Rosamund Johnson, The Spiritual," in Readings in Black American Book ofAmerican Negro Spirituals (New Music, ed. Eileen Southern (New York: READINGS York: Viking Press, 1925), 47; George W. W. Norron, 1971), 274-75; Lovell, IN Keele and Sherrill V. Marrin, ed., Feel the 448-49; Roach, 100. Spirit: Studies in Nineteenth-Centmy Aji-o 9 Albert McNeil, telephone interview by AMERICAN American JvIusic (Westport, CT: author, August 30, 1992. Greenwood Press, 1988), 108; Lovell, 10 CD notes, Brazeal Dennard Chorale, Hush! CHORAL 403, 406-407. Somebody's Calling My Name, Brazeal MUSIC 4 Lovell,408-410. Dennard Chorale BDCD 1, 3. 5 Ben E. Bailey, "The Cotron Blossom Singers: II Franc;:ois Clemmons, telephone interviews by Composers' Writings, Mississippi's Black Troubadours," The author, September 23, 1992; August 30, Interviews & Reviews Black Perspective in Music 15 (Fall 1987): 1995; Griselda Steiner, "Go Tell It on Compiled & Annotated by 134; Lovell, 418-20. the Mountain," Organica (Summer 1992): DAVID P. DEVENNEY 6 Lovell, 417-18. 13,19. 7 Donald F. Black, "The Life and Work of 12 Moses G. Hogan, "Moses Hogan," press Eva Jessye and Her Contributions ro release, 1995; Moses G. Hogan, "Moses American Music" (Ph.D. diss., University Hogan Chorale," press release, 1995. of Michigan, 1986),35, 107; Lovell, 421; Hildred Roach, Black American Music: -C]- Past and Present, vol. 2 (Malabar, FL:
Inspirit Choirs With These Spirituals from Shawnee Press Just ReleasedeJust ReleasedeJust ReleasedeJust ReleasedeJust Release~eJust Released
Chariot's On Its Way - J. Paul Williams, Lloyd larson Original melody and words incorporating "Good News, the Chariot's Comin'" and "Goin' to Shout All Over God's Heav'n."A 2014, SATB
Healing River - arr. lee Dengler Timely text calls for "healing waters in this barren land" and for "the seed of freedom" to "awake and flourish." Includes a dramatic baritone solo. A 2016, SATB
'Board the Glory Train -Trilby C. Jordan, Sandy Wilkinson An upbeat bluesy style piece with an improvisation on "Swing low, Sweet Chariot" for a soloist, strong bass line, close vocal harmonies and a rousing piano accompaniment. A 2030, SATB
Receive your FREE copy of Expressions 7996 and WorshipSongs 56, 7announc ing the newest choral releases for school and church. And a FREE Choral, Novello, or Chester/ Hansen catalog, by calling 1-800-962-8584, Ext. 266. Chorals available from your favorite retail music dealer or Shawnee Press, Inc.'-I~~Q Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327 1-800-962-8584
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 13 CmCAGO CnORAllb[SHVAl April10-B, 1997 Massed Choir Guest Conductor, Rodney Eichenberger he Keynote Choral Festival Series
LAUDATE JEHOVAM-- (PSALM 117) offers performance and educational G. Telemann CORONATION MASs opportunities for quality school, W.A. Mozart university, church and community REFLECTIONS A Cantata for Mixed Chorus & Orchestra, commissioned by Keynote Arts Associates choral ensembles. The weekend begins Dale Jergensen -- with an evaluation session and a Evaluation and Clinic private forty-five minute clinic with Alexander Dashnaw Long Island University, CW Post Campus one of our renowned guest artists. A Rodney Eichenberger nationally recognized conductor leads Florida State University Robert Hams a comprehensive rehearsal schedule Northwestern University MANlPlAIIAN Brad Holmes ClPlORAl lb[SIIVAl culminating with a massed choir Millikin University May 1-4, 1997 performance at an inspiring concert Massed Choir Guest Conduct01; Weston Noble site. Your ensemble will also have NASlPlVIlU ClPlORAl lb[SnVAl the opportunity to participate in the April 17-20, 1997 "POLOVETSIAN DANCES" FROM PRINCE IGOR premiere performance of a new choral Massed Choir A. Bm'odin Guest Conductor, John Haberlen "CORONATION SCENE" work specifically commissioned for each FROM BORIS GODUNOV M. Mussorgsky PIECE-- festival by Keynote Arts Associates. To be announced DANIEL E. GAWfHROP World premiere performance Your ensemble may choose to partici PIECE of a commissioned work To be announced pate in the evaluation/clinic sessions JOHN LEAVITT -- World premiere ptnformance Evaluation and Clinic and/or the massed choir while still of a commissioned work Alexander Dashnaw -- Long Island University, CW Post Campus allowing time for sightseeing. Evaluation and Clinic Weston Noble Major John Clanton Nordic Choir, Luther College ]bor detailed information contact: United States Army Choms Pamela J Perry Alexander Dashnaw Central Connecticut State University Michael S. Albertson, Associate Long Island University, CW Post Campus Robert White Aaron Copland School of Music Producer, Keynote Choral Festival John Haberlen Queens College Georgia State University Series 1-800-522-2213. ----- The Lyric of the African-American Spiritual: The Meaning behind the Words
by Marvin V. Curtis The 'Jubilee," ca. 1850
A leading Mrican-American theologian, James Cone, de things, the ancestors [come] next in importance."4 This ances scribes the wide range of purposes served by the Mrican tral belief underscores a strong sense of community and a faith American spiritual: unity music, functional music, social and in reincarnation. It also serves as a form of social control by political music, and theological music.! The spiritual is a com which the conduct of individuals is regulated. munity-composed song that grew out of the Mrican-American Another religious belief concerns the divinities created by slavery experience. Its lyrics not only represent religious con God to fulfill specific functions. These' divinities are spirits cepts but also carry several layers of social, political, and theo with unlimited mobility. They are known as "lesser Gods'''with logical meanings. Awareness of the coded messages contained wide powers over human beings and fall into two categories. in spiritual texts is important to their interpretation and per Divinities in the first category, referred to as "medicine/') use formance. Without attention to these subtextual implications, physical objects or instruments found in the practice of magic. the spiritual becomes an entertainment piece similar to those The second, more important, category comprises ancient tute . designed by Hollywood to depict Mricans as "happy darkies" lary divinities who are communally recognized and who have . anxious to serve Miss Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. been worshipped for centuries. "They are believed to be the: children of God, and their main function is to protect the' West African Religious Beliefs) community from harm;"5 To understand the lyric of the slave songs, it is important to understand religion in West Mrican society. Worship of God in The African Slave and Christianity West Mrica does not require a building because, as is said by An understanding of this hierarchy of worship reveals how the Yorubas, "God is everywhere, hence it is foolish to confine! Christian ideas were viewed by Mricans in nineteenth-century him to a temple.":?' A worshipper does not need a priest or America. They viewed God as a kind and benevolent spirit, priestess to intercede with the Deity, since every person has Jesus as a child of God whose function was to protect and : equal access to the Almighty. The Alean people of Ghana say provide solace, and the Holy Spirit are representing the ances- " that "If you want to speak to God, speak to the wind."3 tors who were ever present. The enslaved Mricans enjoyed no West Mrican worship includes a role for ancestors, those=l freedom of religion, and most of their religious instruction was people whose memories live on among the Mrican peoples meant to serve the slave owner's purposes. Christian beliefs because of the exemplary lives they led} The ancestors are ever taught to slaves omitted the concepts of human brotherhood present with Mrican worshippers: 'Mer God, who is the Final and equality. Christian teaching was used to convince slaves Authority in all matters, the One who is preeminent in all that they were enslaved by God's will, that they did not deserve freedom, and that the devil created their desire for liberty. Marvin V. Curtis is choral director at Fayetteville State Runaways, when caught and whipped, were taught not to University, Fayetteville, North Carolina. complain and to heed the biblical passage that reads "He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 15 many stripes."6 Slave children were taught. Ged ef the Old Testament perfermed hepe, and liberatien, the slaves produced in Sunday Scheel that they must be ebediJ mighty miracles; He delivered the chil a musical genre that gave the African cem ent to. their everseers to. aveid eternal dam- . dren efIsrael eut efbendage, Daniel from munity a chance to cemment on its situa natien. All were taught the slave Beatitudes: the den ef liens, the Hebrew children tion. It provided each member a sense of frem the fiery furnace, so. why net every belenging in the midst of a confusing and Blessed are the patient. man. Cene explains: terrifYing world. The. slaves believed that Blessed are the faithful. God would hear their prayers, and they Blessed are the cheerful. To be enslaved is to be declared held en to a faith in ultimate justice. Fer Blessed are the submissive. nobody, and that form of existence generatiens, African-Americans teld each Blessed are the hardworking. contradicts God's creation of people other, "He may net be there when you Blessed are the ebedient.? to be his children .... [Slaves] rejected want Him, but He's always right en time!" white distortions of the gospel, which Their West African religien, hewever, emphasized the obedience of slaves The Genius of Language had taught them etherwise, so. these Afri to their masters .... That's why the Altheugh the spiritual efren uses a bib cans seught ether biblical seurces to. sup spirituals focus on biblical passages lical stery as its foundation, its genius lies port their religieus beliefs. They feund . that stress God's involvement in the in the coded language of the story's subtext. their theelegy in the texts ef Old Testae) liberation of an oppressed people.s The psalm text, "Hew can we sing the ment freedem fighters:! In these steries Lord's song in a strange land" was particu they saw Ged raise up 'leaders to. deliver Using the African musical structure ef larly relevant to the slaves because Africans his chesen peeple eut ef bendage. The call and respense and the steries ef faith, could net sing their sengs, play their drums, er dance to their music in America. Since most of these sengs were sung in front ef overseers and in the presence ef white cler River Jordan The dividing line between slave land and free land; a river ics, the messages had to subtly provide chilly and cold that cannot stand still (i.e., the Ohio River) hope and publicize upcoming events for the slave while lulling their masters into a Egypt ;Land ofslav:es from ~hich free men em'erge; the countly false sense ef security. An authority on . symbolized the drive forfreedem, the land ofmiracu1011s~~1iverance African music, Hugh Tracey, writes abeut this duality in African society: "Yeu can Daniel Aman of great fairhin Ged,proofthat allmencouldresi~t say publicly in song what you cannet slavery and· be delivered . . say privately to a man's face."9 James Lovell describes hew biblical places and Jonah Those who disobeyed the will of God (not necessarily the Master; s) people became symbels in the centext would suffer severe distress; however, God~s.servants could . , '. ' '" of spiritual texts 10 (Figure 1). repent and be delivered Heaven was net just anether world,' as the enslaved Africans were teld from white Red Sea God's.sentence of death upon pursuers ef the chosell people pulpits, but rather it symbolized freedom; in Africa, Canada, or the northern United Site ofany battle where the forces of good overwhelm the Jericho States. Canaan Land or Beulah Land, for·. Philistines, evil people ef the e.arth. ~; example, represented Canada. II At the same time, on a religieus level, heaven Canaan .' Free,. promised land· was the place where the oppressed weuld lay dewn their heavy leads and where Ph~aoh Oppression overcome and destroyed slaves weuld put on their robes, pick up their harps, and put en shees. Heaven Moses Deliverance of a whole peopl~,true.leadershipand individual was where theyweuld sit dewn with Jesus freedom . at the welcome table and eat a gospel feast with milk and honey. On earth their Joshua Miracle work~r wh.o sacked heavily fortifiedJeric;p.o and gained diet was chiefly cornmeal with salt. God's confidence;fJ. man who finished his. job . Heaven was a place with gelden streets, pearly gates, and crystal feuntains, and G~deon Evidence ofho\\, a small' band could wQrkrogether to overcome where the inhabitants wore long white overwJ1elming forces. . robes. On earth they walked on dusty roads. Their hemes were surrounded by David Hero, shephe~d, fighter, musician, ancesto.r of Christ barbed wire fences guarded by patrollers. They drank water from muddy streams Figure 1. Biblical symbols in texts of spirituals and eld wells, and wore rags for clething.
PAGE 16 CHORAL JOURNAL Heavenly transport was provided by story maintains that Veasy created the number of slaves was accustomed to golden chariots. On earth slaves usually song as a signal to begin the rebellion. allow them to go across the river, at walked. Bright mansions above would re stated times, that they might worship place their broken-down shacks. Steal Away, steal away, steal away with the Indians, who had a mission Heaven also was a place for meeting to Jesus. there .... They always enjoyed relatives, particularly parents. Steal away, steal away home, themselves and talked much of the I ain't got long to stay here. good times on the other side. But Although possibly related to ancestor one day the master learned that the worship in Africa, songs of this Green trees a' bending, missionary to the Indians was a nature probably grew out of the Poor sinner stands a'trembling, northern man; and believing that he slave's longing to be reunited with The trumpet sounds within' a my soul, might put ideas of freedom in the loved ones torn away from them by I ain't got long to stay here. heads ofhis slaves, .... which might cruel masters. lead them to travel the nightly path John Work, in Folk Songs ofthe Ameri towards the North Star, he forthwith "When we all meet in Heaven can Negro, offers an alternate explanation pursued the logical source and prohi There is no parting there; of the song's origin: bited his slaves from worshiping any When we all meet in Heaven more across the river. Doubtless the There is no parting more."12 On a plantation down on the Red master thought the matter was River, in the early part of the nine settled there and then, but not so; Finally, spiritual texts frequently use teenth century, a master of a large the slaves could not forget the good the symbol of "King Jesus," the liberator, divine but born as a human by "Sister Mary in Bethlehem." For the slaves, Jesus represented the caretaker who dedicated his life to caring for the poor, the blind, Tour With Your Choir and the sick. The slavemaster served Jesus and perform in the Great Cathedrals and Historic Churches. only on Sunday and without emotion. • Great Britain • Central &: Eastern Europe However, Jesus knew the daily plight of • Spain &: Portugal • Australia &: New Zealand Mricans enslaved unjustly and provided We've been coordinating successful concert tours for over them a source of comfort. He had borne 25 years. Travel with the professionals who exceed your the pain of crucifIxion, just as they bore expectations for a trouble-free tour. We'll provide you with the pain of the whip. Jesus suffered rejec customized itineraries and very impressive references. tion by mankind, but He triumphed over ((i)) death and became all powerful. AMBASSADOR TRAVEL SERVICE 148 E. Michigan Avenue/ Kalamazoo, MI 49007 Songs and Meanings TEL: 800-247-7035 FAX: 616/349-7674 Slaves sang for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they were forced to sing so that overseers would know where they were. Unlike the blacks depicted in the Hollywood movies of the 1930s through the 50s that glorifIed the old South and the Civil War, enslaved Mricans did not raise their voices in joy and thanksgiving for being in America. They raised their voices most often to sing about injustice. Since the spirituals were community composed songs, their words and tunes varied from region to region. For example, in addition to the three well-known verses Send for a Free (at a of Go Down, Moses, twenty-fIve less fa and select 6 Free miliar verses are printed in the book The of your choice. Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. 13 Steal it!!III!lI!ii!ll Please mention this ad Away to Jesus is an example of a song with several roots. One story attributes the au 170 N.E. 33rd Street Ft. lauderdale, Fl 33 thorship to Denmark Veasy, who lead an Phone (305) 563-1844 Fax (305) 563-9006 unsuccessful slave rebellion in 1822. The
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 17 times across the river, and what they could not do in the open they determined to do in secret. They decided to "steal away to Jesus," as one slave expressed it. "Steal away to Jesus," whispered at first, later chanted softly, was notice that that night there were to be services across the river. . . . At night when the master, overseer, and hounds had retired to sweet sleep, the slaves would steal from their cabins and quietly creep through the cotton, corn, and tall grasses, softly humming We'll Help their greeting to one another. On You Get Started. towards the river they crept, and the night breezes wafted their melody Our Suzuki ToneChime method book series makes it easy, even if you've never to the ears of the missionary, who thereby knew that his black congre taught or played·ToneChimes before. Call 14 us Toll Free, your music class will be gation was coming. glad you did! Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad were the subjects of numerous spirituals, probably the most popular be 1·81- ·1594 .po. B~ !~3~!0i:! !!S1! ing Git on Board Little Children. The train in the musical lyric was the train of hu man kindness known as the Underground Railroad:
The Gospel trains a' coming, I hear it close at hand, I hear the car wheels rumbling, VOCAL And rolling through the land.
HARMONY There fare is cheap and all can go, by Elisabeth Howard and Howard Austin, The rich and poor are there, authors of Born to Sing No second class upon this train, No difference in the fare.
Git on Board little children, Includes instrument and vocal tracks to sing with for a great variety of melodies Git on Board little children, and exercises, including filling the missing voice in intervals or chords. Git on Board little children, Scales - major, minor, blues, pentatonic, chromatic, whole tone and modes There's room for many'a more. Intervals - all intervals are included in this section Chords - major, minor, diminished, augmented, 7th chords, dominant, The slaves' travel was severely limited, add 9 chords, 6th chords and when they did travel, they could not Rhythm & Meter- time signatures, simple rhythms, dotted rhythms, sit with whites and were always relegated triplets, syncopation to the second class. The train that " ... a systematic journey to musical literacy" - Robert Edwin, NATS Journal Tubman drove had no class and but one " ... excellent, well structured" - Kari Windingstad, President, NATS L.A., UCLA destination-freedom. Another spiritual that served to convey " ... logical, thorough, melodic and musical" -John Glenn Paton, a signal was As Editor "26 Italian Songs and Arias", USC Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray. Bernice Johnson Reagon related the story 3 hours of recorded material and text in bookshelf album during her radio broadcast "Wade in the Water" on National Public Radio,15 if CALL the VOCAL POWER INSTITUTE at Tubman was expected in the area and for (800) 829-S0NG some reason did not appear, the signal was
PAGE 18 CHORAL JOURNAL passed by singing "Way down yonder by NOTES myself, and I couldn't hear nobody pray." I James Cone, The Spi1'itual and the Blues Escape plans were thus aborted. (New York: Seabury, 1972),5-6. The spirituals are filled with stories 2 Kofi Opoki, West African Traditional MUSIC about how the rich and poor became Religion (Accra, Ghana: FEB Inter TOURS INC. equals in death. Home ina Dat Rock tells national, 1978),30. the story of Rich Man Divers and his 3 Ibid. servant, Poor Man Lazarus. Upon their 4 Ibid., 36. deaths, Lazarus finds himself in heaven 5 Ibid., 55. QUALITY while Divers goes to hell. 6 John W. Blassingame, The Slave Community INTERNATIONAL (New York: Oxford Press, 1972),62. CONCERT TOURS Poor Man Lazarus, poor as I, 7 Ibid., 63. at When he died he found a home on 8 Cone, 35. REASONABLE PRICES high, 9 Alan Merriam, Afiican Music in Perspective He had a home in'a dat rock, don't (New York: Garland Press, 1982), 129. you see. 10 James Lovell, Black Song: The Forge and the Flame (New York: Macmillan, 1972), **** 258-61. II Cone, 90. Call or write today Rich man Divers, he lived so well, 12 Blassingame, 69. for our unique When he died he found a home in 13 James Pike, The Jubilee Singers of Fisk personalized service! hell, University (Boston: Lee and Shepherd, He had no home in'a dat rock, 1873), 183. Don't you see. 14 John W. Work, Folk Songs of the American Negro (Nashville: Fisk University Press, The enslaved Mricans used this song to 1915),77-78. convey how the tables would be turned, 15 Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Wade in the MARK FOSTER not only in an afterlife but also after a Water: Mrican-American Sacred Music MUSIC TOURS slave uprising. The song did not end Traditions," National Public Radio, 1994. 'a" there, however, for it carried a message 16 Blassingame, 76. (800) 869-1406 for all to heed: P.O. Box 2760, Santa Clara -C]- California 95055-2760 God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water but fire next time, Better git a home in'a dat rock, Don't you see. ~~ ~litWill A Dual Purpose RIVER FOREST. ILLINOIS The spiritual served as both a deeply religious song and a vehicle for convey MASTER OF CHURCH MUSIC ing coded messages. Enslaved people Church music in liturgical perspective were searching for God in a strange and unfriendly land, trying to find relief Faculty includes from the troubles of the world. The Kurt Amolsch, Richard Fischer, Jean Harrison, Natalie Jenne, songs represented a continuation of Evangeline Rirnbach, Carl Schalk, Willard Thomen, Steven Wente their Mrican religious beliefs and con cepts: the goodness of the creator, one ness with nature, and an omnipresent LECTURES IN CHURCH MUSIC God. At the same time, the music car OCTOBER 20-22, 1996 ried social, political, and practical mes sages. It "bolstered [the slaves'] self Celebrating its 32nd Anniversary esteem, courage, and confidence, and For :more information, contact served as their defense against personal Dr. Evangeline Rirnbach, Chair degradation. "16 In the spiritual lyric, Concordia University Music Department slaves found not only the source of spiri 7400 Augusta St., River Forest, Ill. 60305-1499 tual salvation but also the means for gain (708) 209-3060 ing deliverance from their bondage.
AUGUST 1996 PAGE 19 New Recording Re 'lheBattle Moses HoganC 1S-Choral VolUllleII
'Sung by members of .' . The MosesHog~JliChorale Cu.• " ... ,....
From New Orleans to Moscow, Hogan's
.other works have thrilled}i. audiences. around
• ,- - ~ l"
Having heard on many occasions the work of Moses}logan, I am continually amazed at how he trallsqends the ordinary and makes everythin_gj~ljartistic and spiritual experience. - wnStI.t\;M WARFIELD Intemilt{tmailyAcclaimed Concert Artist and Educator ... ~ . '-,~
In the'~d.rld of 20th-centurylchoraliiji'r~l1ger~; the;na,m,e-of Moses Hoganb~'Ongsri'gli~:at-: - theitop'ofthe list. His cr:e~tivlty;:s~nsitiVity "_'~' to fext~~~esmerizing rJiy,tl;1ins~.l:!l"!dcoutstan(ling musicianship make hisn(Li$i~:aci~light'~Q} ii' perf~fii~and a joy to he~f;~i~L: !!-.,:---. ~PHILIP BRUNELLEi:'" i.' ~: • Reli~)jJned Conductor, F(fllnlJer, and ArtisticDirector PIY1~~uth Music Ser,ie.s.-oJ Mi1me~ota ~::; I ii' -:: -, ~!,'I --.~.' 'r:,: '-. i;~:;r-:rl({'~in!):-'f:~!J.(;n~;f :' fThe"BattIeof:~Jin'icho 'I i.Jif If• .4~~~::i~f*~~~:rt~~p·~t,,-jl'' .' The Battle of Jericho i:=-·::;,God1s;Gonila:Set!:Thls'WorId 'on Fire The Choral ArrangeIDents of Moses Hogan (VoluIDe II) ·j!·i~!·~~~~::;t~t£~;j17:~~~~~d'-·,·.. . -EV'I{Y.iTih.~~l::Fe~i~;tli-~:S~irit . 1l.1:ik'~~~fl;hli~rl;:i~nof:: Please selld me: __ Cassette(s) __ Compact Disc(s) S-vving L!!w Swe.~J Chariot Each CASSEITE is $10.95 plus $1.50 for postage and handlillg . . KentJ~p1'1~n;11Iautist Each CD is $15.00 plus $1.75 for postage and handling. Aiil(.tThatGoodrNews ,'; B~iansk~~tthJiii ter,wr , Form ofPayment: o Check enclosed (Please make payable to MGH Records) I Want Jesus'toVVillkwith Me 'c)!. Charge my: 0 Mastercard 0 Visa 0 American Express '-.' ' . - '~'.'-', !"'-:I ---:.' ,'. - 'L r--.i ; o _ Brian Stratton, te1!.o~ .:::.,}' " I'm GOllna Sing tiUthe Spirit Moves in My'H~arf Account Number ______EXpiration Date _1_1_ Signature ______I Want to Thank You',Lord -,.",!;:';',il Brian Stratton, tf!RQI .' ,_ Name ______Old Time Religion (Recorded Live) ". I' 'i Address ______Alfred Walker, .bass·:iL-;= City ______State __ Zip ______Lord, I WanttoB,eaChristian -, lAm His Child~:;:~i::::~--. "~~:-'\ 'j;';;--; Phone Elijah Rock ~l iLl , .C:~. J:ii.L'· Mail this order form to: MGH Records, P.O. Box 2402, New Orleans, LA 70176-2402 Basin Street Bliies.(Spe~c_~r:Willi.~ro.~) Germaine Bazzle and 'Mary Ma'ji'O;!soloists _, _.:.J .. ::' ", -;-~: i;';U, -."Moses Hogan's CI1~;~/a'j.L~rik~ments are .. -~: published by Haf~·e.driar:d Corporation and ',Alliance Music PublicatiifJns, Inc. 1 ';: -lio",
Thank YOlt for your support of choral music. r------__ , E ---- I lJaluation Jil ------I TONE-25 Pis orm-Vocal I COntrol, SU • Blend, Intonalion ' , Competition in Choral , 'PPon, Volume It, ,Quahty, Matllf't ' 11 el1Slty B Iy, , I TECHNIQUE--9_ ' alance, VOWels 0, Attack R ~v pis. Rhytl ' , ,elease, Fll lmlC precisi ' ' lency, FleXibility 0' , on, Anlcliialion , Education: Adults' I INTERPRET, ' Ictlon Phrasin ATION_25 '01 , g, Tempo, DYnamics Pis. Note SpaCing, Acce , MISCEL ' Rhythm patterns E nts, Style, 0,1 Memories of Early of m I LANEOUS_1-. ' xpression I e Ody, Clarity-PreCis' v pts. Definition of pan I Sl"lGE IOn, Style Contrast. Mu ' s, Delineation 0,1 R' , APPEAllANCE slclanship eSponse P . -1 0 pt Choir Experiences I , reCiSion, Allent' s. Uniformity P , 'TOT Iveness, Vitality ,osture, 0 I ;-1[ POINTS 1 I
LI~ l",n In a 1923 presidential address to the Music Educators Na efforts not produce more knowledgeable consumers of qual tional Conference, Karl Gehrkens asked: i ty IIi usic? 1. What is the function of music in life? It is possible that too many music programs, like sports 2. What is the function of music in the schools where our programs, have focused on the following: children are being prepared for life? 3. Is our music teaching fulfrlling its purpose in the schools • music students being members of a "team" rather than being of America?l part of a "family," Earlier, in 1915, Gehrkens stated that "the ultimate aim of • participation in choral festivals and competitions to the music teaching in the public schools is to cause children to detriment of teaching music reading skills and a wide variety know, to love, and to appreciate music in as many forms as of musical styles, possible, and thus to bring added joy into their lives and • emphasizing victory at competitive events or first division added culture and refinement into their natures."2 More than ratings at festivals. seventy years later, we do not yet have adequate answers to his questions, and little evidence indicates that his ultimate aim A review of articles published in professional music journals has been realized (assuming that we could agree on a defini over the past ten years reveals many essays on motivating tion of "culture and refinement"). students' learning. Without providing supporting evidence, One measure of whether teaching music has succeeded is many articles recommend participation in competitions, festi found in the number of adults who participate in music vals, and contests to boost enrollment, to help teach skills, and performance. How many adults continue to play, for recre to produce superior performance. Only a few of these articles, ation or as an avocation, musical instruments first learned in also without supporting evidence, question the utility of con elementary or secondary school? How many adults belong to tests and competition. For example, James R. Austin questions community or church choirs because they love and appreciate the purpose of competitions: music? The answer to both these questions is probably "not many." Why do so few student performers continue partici Frank A. Beach, one of the founders of early school music pation in music-making as adults? Why do music educators' contests in this country suggested that the purpose of contests was "not to win a prize but to pace one another on the road Mary Alice Stollak is Associate Professor of Music at the to excellence." Beach's noble goal was to use competition as University of Michigan-Flint, and Gary E. Stollak is a tool of educational progress. Over the years, however, Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University, East students' educational needs have frequently taken a back seat Lansing. A copy of the survey used in this study is available to the pursuit of competitive treasures (money, awards, or from the authors. notoriety), the standardization of performance practices, and enhancement of music industry revenues.' AUGUST 1996 PAGE 21 Demographic Characteristics of Sample Age Gender In a recent comprehensive review of education research literature, Alfie Kohn Percent Percent found very few studies that indicate any 18~25 46.9 Male 36.1 correlation between competition and in Q 26-35 8.7 Female .··63.8 • creased productivity in non-music re 36-50 21.2 (Missing) 0.1 lated areas, creativity, enjoyability of 51+ 23.1 activities, or character building. For ex (Missing) . 0;1 ample, he reported one study that exam ined the effects of competition on ACDA Division. of Residence Current ACDA achievement in fifty-eight cultures. The Wlllle Attending HighSchool Division of Residence researcher defined achievement as "com . (Including Texas) (Including Texas) plex accomplishments in the arts, sci ences, law, and other fields," and found Percent Percent "no significant relationship between Central 37.9 Central 42.9· achievement and competition."4 His lit .North Central 18.4 North Central 20.2 erature review, as well as ours, found no Southern 22.9 Southern 28.5 empirical studies that explored whether Texas 4.2 Texas 6.2 or not competition in music contrib Other 14.4 ·Other 1.6 uted to even short-term performance im ··(Missing) 2.1 . (Missing) 0.5 provement. The kind of music that conductors Current Choir Membership choose for competition, or the level of Choir Affiliation Percent Number of Years Singing in this Choir sight-reading entered at a festival, often is a, Church 55.1 Mean = 11.7 Std. Deviation = 12.4 not challenging to students because some b. Community 36.2 Mean = 7.1 Std. Deviation = 7.7 choral directors tend to "play it safe," not •c. •College/university wanting to endanger the choir's victory. auc:litioned choir 45.2 Mean=' 22, Sid. Deviation = 2.3 The music critic Will Crutchfield wrote d. College/university that piano competitions result in inter nOhauditioned choir ·19.1 Mean'= 2.1 . Std. Deviation'= 2.2 pretations that are "all too similar to one another." In trying to win, performers Number of Choirs in which the PersonCurrendy Participates concentrate on making no mistakes and so "shy away ... from the big technical Percent risks, the truly astonishing effects."5 Such 1 '56,9 stifling of creative music-making does 2 30.9 little to instill in young performers the 3 9.4 desire for lifelong participation in music 4 2 .. 2· performance. Research is needed to examine the Figure 1. range of variables in music education that may contribute to adult participation in music performance. Are music educators Reasons for Joining Current Choir teaching junior and senior high school (Nresponses=1967) . . students to compete, thus enjoying the short term goal of winning, or encourag Frequency Percent*. ing a lifelong love of the art apart from Love· to sing 844 42.9 extrinsic rewards? Why do some people Religious feelings/service ... .750 38.1. who participated in a choir prior to or Wanted to be part of group experience 186 95 during high school continue choir in Enjoy singing sacredor gospel literature 93 4.7 volvement as adults, while others do not? Strength ofmusic program 90 4.6 Are those who had a positive, intrinsically Encouraged or invited .. . 92 4.7 motivated choral experience early in their Knew or asked by director ·87 4.4 Family in choir . 82 4.1 lives more likely to sing in adult choirs? Improve skills 28 1.4 We constructed a questionnaire to as Friends in choir 24 .. 1.2 sess respondents' memories of their cho *Percentages may add up to more than 100 because more than one reason could be given.· ral experiences prior to or during high school, memories of their choir directors, Figure 2. and the positive or negative nature of PAGE 22 CHORAL JOURNAL Reasons for Joining Current College/University Choir (Nresponses = 1946) those early experiences. The questionnaire included items used in previous studies6 Frequency Percent* and assessed reasons that respondents Love to sing 1002 51.5 Requirement for music majors/scholarship 551 28.3 joined choirs both early in life and as adults. Improve skills . . 227 11.7 We expected to find that most adults Wanted to be part of group experience 148 7.6 who choose to sing in choirs after comple Quality, challenging variety ofmusic 117 6.0 tion of high school do so because they had Excellent reputation ofchoral program 115 5.9 a positive experience in choirs earlier in Hobby, relaxing/distracting 79 4.1 their lives. We also expected to find that . Personal and professional qualities and they remember their early choir directors . accomplishments of director 65 3.3 motivating learning and performance by Loveto perform/travel; prestige of belonging to focusing on the choir as a "family" and the select choir 39 2.0 aesthetic qualities of their activities, rather Friends in choir/social opportunities 37 1.9 than on contests and the need for the Religious praise/inspiration 29 1.5 *Percentages may add up to be more than 100 because more than one reason could be given. "team" to win at choral events. Figure 3. Method Subjects and Procedures From the lists of colleges/universities Reasons for Joining Current Community Choir (four-year or junior/community), church, (Nresponses = 1200) and community choir directors belong Frequency Percent* ing to ACDXs Central, North Central, Love to sing 511 42.6 and Southern Divisions, as well as those Love to sing good quality, varied music 291 24.3 in Texas (a state in which high school Wanted to be part ofa group experience 147 12.3 choir competitions are highly valued), Hobby, relaxing/distracting 87 7.3 approximately 200 directors in each of Excellent reputation of choral program 76 6.3 the 3 groups were chosen at random, Improve skills 74 6.2 totaling some 600 directors. They were Personal and professional qualities and asked to distribute questionnaires to their accomplishments of director 63 5.3 choir members. Missed singing 50 4.2 Encouraged or invited Information was obtained concerning 39 3.3 Job/paid position 29 2.4 respondents' age, gender, the kind and Friends in choir/social opportunities 27 2.3 number of choirs in which they partici Service to community 27 2.3 pated prior to or during high school, the Love to perform/travel; prestige of belonging to number and kinds of choirs in which select choir 27 2.3 they currently sing, and whether they par Religious praiselinspiration 18 1. 5 ticipated in auditioned or non-auditioned *Percentages may add up to greater than 100 because more than one reason could be given. school choirs. To preserve confidentiality, neither choir members nor directors were Figure 4. asked to give their names. Along with providing answers to ques tions in a format capable of computer tion suggests that a large and representa Figures 2-7 indicate respondents' rea scoring (e.g., "true" or "false"), those who tive sample of adult choristers responded sons for joining each of their current and responded were asked to give up to three to the survey. Each division is well repre earlier choirs. The most frequently stated reasons why they joined their current sented, and the female to male ratio (al reason was love of singing; 40 to 50 per and earlier choirs. These reasons were most 2 to 1) is probably similar to adult cent of all responses were placed in this coded. into . categories that emerged dur- choir population statistics. Respondents category. "Religious feelings/service" was mg sconng. include persons across the entire adult life the next most frequent reason (26 percent) span and with extensive experience in a for joining a church choir earlier in life variety of adult choirs (a mean of almost and currently (43 percent). Responses in Results 12 years in a church choir, 7 years in a dicating a wish to "improve skills," to "en Figure 1 summarizes the demographic community choir, and over 2 years in a hance musical training," or to "sing music information provided by the 3668 adult college/university choir). More than 42 that was of high quality;" were frequently choir members (from 84 choirs) who re percent of the singers are currently involved mentioned. Also mentioned often was the turned the questionnaires. The informa- in more than one choir. desire to be part of a group experience, to AUGUST 1996 PAGE 23 contribute to a group, and to experience into categories concerning joy of compe school choir as a positive experience; 27 fellowship. It is sad to note that the second tition and thrill of victory. percent listed it as negative. most frequently mentioned reason for join Figure 8 presents statistics concerning Figure 9 compares various memories ing a college/university choir was because positive or negative choral experiences re reported by singers who had positive cho it was a requirement for music majors or ported by singers. The largest percentage ral experiences versus those who had nega in order to maintain a scholarship (28 per (76 percent) of respondents remember tive ones. In those choirs fostering positive cent of all responses) as compared to im their high school auditioned and church experiences, proving skills (12 percent). It is possible choirs as positive experiences. Of those that many of those young adults who "love responding 50 percent had a positive ex a) members asked each other for help to sing" consider solo singing as a "higher" perience in their high school auditioned significantly more often (79 to 34 pleasure and a career goal. For such per choir compared to only 10 percent who percent); sons, participating in a college/university reported a negative experience. On the b) members' suggestions were en choir, although not aversive, may be other hand almost twice as many persons couraged (73 to 36 percent); perceived more as a requirement than remembered their high school non-audi c) members and director discussed as an eagerly anticipated activity. Most tioned choirs as negative rather than posi problems together (75 to 39 percent); relevant to the present hypotheses is the tive experiences (25 to 14 percent). Only d) members were encouraged to listen fact that very few responses were scored 3 percent checked junior high/middle to and applaud other choirs at musical events (67 to 35 percent); e) the director emphasized the beauty Reasons for Joining a Church Choir Pt:iorto or during HighSchool of music (91 to 59 percent); f) "the director emphasized the need " (N~esponses = 2148) for us to understand the meaning of Frequency Percent* the text of the music we sang, Loved singing 967 45.0 understand the relationship between Religious' feelingsl service 551" 25.7 the text and the music, and the Wanted to be part of a gr()up 160 7.5 importance of our having a positive , Encciuragedor invited .129 6.0 " musical, aesthetic, and educational ,124, ,Family member(s) inch6ir 5;8 experience" (86 to 44 percent). Required by parents (parents ,made me sing, parentwas director) 110 5.1 A relatively high proportion of persons Friends in choirlsocial,opportunities 97 4.4' 'Respected musical skills and checked "true" for the last two items, accomplishments of director 50 2.3" even among those who had a negative Improve skills 45' , 2.1 , choral experience. *Percentages may add up to more than 100 because more than one reason could be given. In choirs providing a positive experi ence, 47 percent of the respondents Figure 5. checked the item relating to teamwork as "true" for them, as compared to only 23 percent who endorsed this item as "true" in choirs in which they had a negative experience. This finding suggests that a Reasons for Joining a, High School Choir team emphasis, for almost half of these (Nresponses = 2526) adult singers, contributed to a positive rather than a negative experience. Fur Frequency ,Percent* thermore, of those who had a positive " Loved ~~' ~ing , 1649, 65.3 T o'enhance musical training " 242 9.6 experience, 81 percent also responded Wanted to be pari of a group experience 187 7.4 "true" to the item, Requirements f()rfine arts credit" , 124 4.9 Enjoyed being in a: select group 119, 4.7 The choir director emphasized the Friendsinchoirlsocial opportunities 112 45 importance of being a 'family'-a Lovedto perform 84 3.3 family meaning a group to which we .MuSical skills and accomplishments would contribute, with which we of choir director 66" 2.7 could share and create something Hobby,relaxing/distracting 63 2.7 wonderful without comparing Encouraged or invited 50 2.0 ourselves to other choirs. ,*Percen:tages may qdd to more than 100 because more than one reason could be given. , ' Only 41' percent remembered such an Figure 6. emphasis in choirs in which they had a PAGE 24 CHORAL JOURNAL Reasons for Joining a Community Choir Prior to or during High School negative experience. The percentages pre (Nresponses = 521) sented above suggest that a very strong Frequency Percent* family emphasis and a somewhat strong Loved to sing 232 44.6 team emphasis were present in choirs fos Enjoyed singing music that tering positive experiences. The same was challenging 52 9.9 proportion of emphases is found in nega To gain experience/training 49 9.4. tively experienced choirs. The proportion Wanted to be part of a of family to team emphases, therefore, group experience 41 7.9 may be an important factor determining To sing special/variety of later participation in choirs. music (e.g., Messiah) 29 5.5 To more adequately test hypotheses Hobby, relaxing/ distracting 26 5.0 about "family" and "team" emphases, fac Loved to perform 24 4.6 tor analyses were conducted? Only two Friends in choir/social opportunities 15 2.9 factors emerged from such analyses. Re Musical skills and accomplishments of director 14 2.7 sponses to six items were found to com As a means of religious praise 13 2.5 prise one factor that was labeled "choir as Family member(s) in choir 12 2.3 family." Responses to four items were *Percentages may add up to more than ]00 because more than one reason could be given. found to comprise a second factor that was labeled "choir as team." The items Figure 7. referring to positive interaction among members, responsive interaction between the director and members, and emphases on the beauty of music and aesthetic ex Positive/Negative Experiences inEach Choir Type perience were loaded on the "choir as (NrespOlidents 3668) family" but not on the "choir as team" = factor. The items comprising the team Positive Negative factor included, along with a team em Type of Choir Experience Experience phasis in competitive events, "preparing Junior High/Middle School 3% 27% for (such) events always took precedence HighSchool Auditioned 50% 10% or added importance over preparing for HighSchool Nonauditioned 14% 25% Church 26% 27% 'home' concerts and other noncompeti Community 5% 4% tive performance," and "we were not en couraged to listen to and support other choirs with our applause when participat Figure 8. ing in such events." Surprisingly, some items expected to load on the team factor, such as "we were made to feel like we lost WE COMPETE when we received (lower ratings)" and Check us out for competition caliber designs at "the rating was more important than the affordable prices. We have the freshest approach adjudicator feedback or performance ex in the market with the largest selection of perience," did not. This result suggests that, innovative trendsetting styles each season. at least for those in this sample, a team focus did not include the director allowing Call for a copy of our 76 pg. a lower rating to be seen as a loss to the catalog of dynamic looks for choir, considering only the rating and not concert and show and find the feedback from adjudicators as impor out why more and more tant. As can be seen in Figure 10, the performers are turning to Stage Accents for "choir as family" and "choir as team" multi item factors were, again, almost twice as often endorsed as part of the positive as compared to the negative experience. Conclusion The results of this research indicate that participation in competitions does not positively affect choir involvement. AUGUST 1996 PAGE 25 Music for the Church Year Selected by Bradley Ellingboe ADVENT~.. ~aeeBBm~"Ea. Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus Children of the Heavenly Father arr. Valerie Shields arr. Bradley Ellingboe SAB Organ Grade 3 Ed. 5760 SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3-4 Ed. 8787 Prepare Ye Marc A. Robinson Fix These Words Walter W. Schurr SATB Percussion Grade 3-4 Ed. 8830 SATB Piano Grade 3-4 Ed. 8836 ALL SAINTS SUNDAYII'!lII!!iIII!!1IlilIlIII!!1IlilIlIII!!1IlilIlIBiIilI!m Give Us Your Blessing Beth Thliveris Time for Singing, The Dale Grotenhuis SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3 Ed. 8844 SATB Piano Grade 4 Ed. 8841 I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry Ylvisaker, arr. John Helgen BAPTISM 1l!il!l!lli!!i!!!!i!I!llJll!liilIi!!i!!!!i!I!llJll!liilm!lJilllliiliii!lll!!llili!m!IJi. SAATB Kybd & recorder Grade 3 Ed. 8826 Children of the Heavenly Father arr. Bradley Ellingboe Lord, I Want to Be a Christian SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3-4 Ed. 8787 arr. David Hein I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3-4 Ed. 8828 Ylvisaker / arr. John Helgen SAATB Kybd & recorder Grade 3 Ed. 8826 Psalm 150 - Hallelujah! Jesse Cann SATB, opt. SAT Kybd, opt. guitar, perc., bells Grade 3 Ed. 8766 Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella Simple Gifts arr. Michael Mauldin arr. Carole Lea Arenson SA Piano Gradel Ed. 6260 Unison Kybd, opt. bells Gradel Ed. 6257 Time for Singing, The Dale Grotenhuis Child of Mary, The arr. Bradley Ellingboe SATB Piano Grade 4 Ed. 8841 SATB, Sop. solo Harp or kybd Grade 4 Ed. 8823 What Then John Ferguson Cradle Song Scott WIlkinson SATB Organ Grade 3 Ed. 8827 SAB Piano Grade 2 Ed. 5761 When Love Is Found arr. Daniel Kallman COMMUNION II[ EliElIII iii Hi Ii mllll! ilillil SAB Kybd, opt. flute, clarinet, congregation Camantibus Autem Illis de Lienas, Grade 2-3 Ed. J14 ed. Bradley Ellingboe SATB Unaccompanied Grade 4 Ed. 8820 Wondrous Love arr. Bradley Ellingboe SATB Organ, 2 flutes Grade 3 Ed. 8821 Give Us Your Blessing Beth Thliveris SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3 Ed. 8844 LENTmm.. ~ ...... ~ .. ~~ .. Two Folksongs for Lent arr. Leland Sateren Thee We Adore arr. Ralph Johnson SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3 Ed. 8824 2-Part (men & women) Piano Grade 2 Ed. 6261 Wondrous Love arr. Bradley Ellingboe SATB Organ, 2 flutes Grade 3 Ed. 8821 EASTER~mm~mm~~~~~~ Easter Acclamation Valerie Shields SATB Organ, trumpet(s) Grade 3 Ed. 8829 PENTECOST ..~~~ .... ~~e Pentecost Hymn Grieg/ ed. B. Ellingboe SATB Unaccompanied Grade 3 Ed. 8825 GENERAL~malllliiliiimali!!i!!!!i!l~m!lJilllliiliii~. All-Day Hymn, The arr. John Helgen ("Lord of All Hopefulness") ~DDING~"Bi!ilI"~"~~" SATB Kybd & flute Grade 3 Ed 8822 Time for Singing, The Dale Grotenhuis SATB Piano Grade 4 Ed. 8841 Charity & Love arr. Daniel Kallman ("Ubi caritas et amore") When Love is Found arr. Daniel Kallman SAB Kybd, opt. fl., clarinet, congregation SATB opt. alto solo, Organ, flute, clar., opt. bells Grade 2-3 Ed.J14 Grade 4 Ed. J15 The "Music for the Church Year" Collection by Bradley Ellingboe is available on a FREE Compact Disc from the publisher. Call 1-800-797-KJOS for your copy. IgDs Neil A. Kjos Music Company· Publisher 4380 Jutland Drive, San Diego, California, 92117 NN960BC RE H EARSAL BREAKS Coping with Middle School Attitudes by Sally B. John HAVE BEEN the new choir director Incoming sixth graders can be moti received an A or B), and together they fill at the middle school level five times. vated by approval and praise, but this strat out the form (Figure 1). My goal is to I Each of these experiences has been egy becomes less effective as the year goes motivate underachieving students to im different and increasingly less stressful as on. Middle-schoolers should be encour prove with the help of their mentors. I have come to understand a number of aged to evaluate themselves as they sing. the attitudes prevalent among middle Instructors can stress the idea of teamwork 2) "I will lie and blame others school children. Seeing those attitudes as and emphasize that choir students are de rather than take responsibility part of the students' maturation process pendent on each other for success. If one for my own actions." has freed me from taking the blame for alto fails to put forth effort or sings incor Some middle schoolers will go to great their poor behavior. I no longer feel that rectly, the section suffers. Likewise, one or lengths to avoid blame. Students afflicted a poor response on their part necessarily two good altos cannot carry the whole with this attitude will not hesitate to lie to stems from a deficiency in my teaching section. The director should encourage get out of trouble. They may try to avoid skills. The challenge for choral directors students to listen to themselves to hear if blame by challenging the instructor's fair comes in working toward musical excel they are learning their part, singing at the ness: "Why are you always picking on me? lence within the framework of those correct dynamic level, and balancing with So and so was doing it too." They may middle school attitudes and using them the rest of the choir. The criticism and accuse the teacher of being prejudiced to advantage whenever possible. desire to improve then comes from the against one group or another. For instance, I have identified eight attitudes that students themselves rather than entirely a boy may ask, "Why do you always pick often afflict middle schoolers. All middle from the director. on the boys? The girls are just as bad as we school students may not display all of them; Every reporting period I give a form to are, and they never get in trouble." Stu many students may never act in these ways. each student who received a C or below in dents may contend that whatever they did Rather, these attitudes seem to float like choir, or who received a low-conduct grade. was the fault of the person next to them. clouds near the ceilings of choir rooms, I ask them to find a mentor (someone who Whether what they say is true or not, their randomly and without warning casting their shadows on just about anybody at any time. I will discuss methods for deal ing with each trait and explore strategies for using it in a positive way. CELEBRATE JERUSALEM 3000 1) "I will do what impresses ".ANJ»PImPARE FOR ISRAEL'S,.JlJB1LEE! my peers (not my teacher)." When a conflict arises between a teacher and a student, this first attitude often comes into play. Most students this age do not want to let the teacher win in front of the group. Thus, it is best to deal with a student individually and avoid in volving the entire choir in the problem by stopping rehearsal. The instructor can ar range an individual meeting by asking the student to approach the piano or stay after class. Sally B. John is the choral director at Westlane Middle School, Indianapolis, Indiana. AUGUST 1996 PAGE 29 IMPROVEMENT COMMITMENT behavior is not justified. Peer pressure also is involved in this blame shifting. Sadly, You can start OUt this nine-week unit with extra credit by taking the time to answer each question thoroughly and thoughtfully. students gain respect from their peers for their ability to talk themselves out of Your name ______Your mentor ______trouble and escape punishment. What did you do (or not do) during the past nine weeks that caused you to get a low grade in choir? I counteract this attitude by beginning a conference with something like, "I saw what you did, and 1 refuse to discuss whether you did it or not," or "I want you to know that I really respect students who aren't afraid to admit the truth. It takes courage to say, 'I did it and I shouldn't List at least three different ways that the above behavior affects the whole choir. have.'" Realizing how often students lie 1. ______to escape blame, I have learned to deal 2. ______with the behavior I observe, trusting that 3. ______my eyesight and hearing are not faulty. What are you willing to do differently in the coming nine weeks not only to improve your grade but also to improve our group? 3) "I can't quit thinking about myself and my world to do the task at hand." When looking at the eyes and faces of a group of eighth graders as I explain some How can your mentor help you? thing that is long and involved, I often see blank, faraway looks. The students are thinking about something important to them such as why Suzie didn't speak when they passed in the hall on the way to choir. Mentor signature ______Of course many students have problems that are important and are worthy of at Parent's signature ______tention. At this age they are often preoccu (/0,. more extra credit) pied with things besides school and choir. Since students are preoccupied with Figure 1. how they look and what others think of them, instructors can use this to motivate students to improve their singing. For example, the class may not want to put for Fall & Christmas by forth the effort to crescendo to the end of a song just because the director asks them to. They will be more willing, however, THERON KIRK when told, "We don't want our audience to think we're boring by singing the whole A Man of Words and Not of Deeds song mezzo forte do we? Let's wake them SATB a cappel/a, Santa Barbara Music Publishing BMP 124 up here and hold their interest to the very end." I have noticed that when students About Love The Year's at the Spring dislike a class, they say it is boring, and SATB a cappel/a, Kjos 8759 SA, keyboard, Kjos 6239 when they like it, they say it is fun, so I use their language and try to capitalize on Shannon Castle Reel what is important to them. 2- or 3-part treble, flute, keyboard 1 have a rule in my class that all stu Alliance Music Publications AMP 0168 dent belongings are to be placed on the shelves by the door. Choir members are A Festival of Carols On the Mountain never to have anything in their hands SATB accompanied, Kjos 8697 German carol, 2-part, keyboard, AMSI 734 during rehearsal except music (including lipstick, hairbrushes, and similar objects). Joseph and Mary This rule has prevented many problems Basque carol, SATB accompanied, Carl Fisher CM 8462 related to student preoccupation with themselves. rAGE 30 CHORAL JOURNAL 4) "If it takes effort, arguing with more than one student, and I don't want to do it." Students put on all will be trying to impress their peers For many students, singing is not with what they say. To avoid that situa something they care much about. Some tion, I ask students to stay after class if are in choir because their parents or coun different attitudes they want to argue, or I call them down selor made them join. Motivating them to the piano to deal with them quietly. If to try despite their lack of interest is a and personas like trying their behavior is inappropriate, I write challenge. When talking with individuals on a new outfit, down everything they say, not saying any about their lack of effort, I emphasize thing until they stop. I use this written how important they are to the group and evidence to determine the consequences how their lack of effort has a more serious just to see what they for their words and attitude. effect than just a lower choir grade. A choir is like an athletic team where look like. They are 6) "I want to be in control." everyone's effort is important to the suc As children become adults they natu cess of the entire group. When someone trying to decide who rally take more responsibility for them who has been putting forth little effort selves. A problem arises when they attempt suddenly begins singing, a teacher's com they want to be. to control not only themselves but also ment on their effort can motivate them the teacher and the classroom. The to continue. On the other hand, some instructor's challenge comes in knowing students may become embarrassed by same time, teachers must learn to dis when to let students have control and public praise and stop singing. The saf criminate between when students are where to draw the limits. est route is to compliment them quietly arguing to escape consequences and when I tell students that I appreciate their and individually. they have really been treated unfairly. If creativity and realize that they have ideas In one choir I directed, the entire alto instructors wrong a student, they need to and opinions about what we do in choir section was frequently afflicted with this be mature enough to admit the mistake, and the way I teach. I admit that some of attitude. The sopranos complained to me: apologize, and back down. my best ideas have come from my stu "The altos never sing, and we're doing all Most often students argue to escape dents. I request, however, that they come the work." I encouraged them to talk to consequences for their actions. Allowing to me with suggestions or criticisms be their friends in the alto section and to let ourselves to be drawn into an angry; com fore or after class. Later, when a student them know how they felt. I told them, "You bative discussion is not the best strategy. raises his hand and says, "This song is have more influence over the altos than I The director should not function as a stupid. I hate it. Why do we have to sing do." Afrer the concert, I decided to switch a thermometer, which merely reflects the such a stupid song?," I remind him that I few sopranos to alto. I asked for volunteers temperature set by the students. Instead would prefer to discuss this with him out and was pleased that three sopranos offered the director should function as a thermo side of class. Then I immediately begin to switch. The concerned sopranos singing stat, maintaining the temperature at an playing the introduction to the next song. in the midst of the altos encouraged their appropriate level. By offering a calm, level Middle schoolers often want to have peers to exert more effort. headed response to their rage, the instruc input on the pieces they sing. Over the I have learned to expect bad artitudes tor can diffuse students' anger. years I have tried suggestion boxes, music when I ask a group to do anything like One should avoid arguing with a stu choice committees, and other methods stand up or add movement to a song. The dent during rehearsal at all costs. Once for obtaining student input. Their choices extra effort involved is too much for some drawn in, the instructor will often end up often are problematic. The song they of them. I do not excuse the lazy ones from participating but continue with my plan, treating noncompliance outside class ...... time. This attitude seems to lessen as the al::U~::::=I:·::::.::.::.:I:::::.:'~~::::I~·.:::~:::::1::::::.:::::I·:::.-·:::.:·[ ::.:.:.:~I:::.:.:: :~:1::-::':::.:::.:J:·.::.:::=.::I.::~:::::=I·m year goes on and they adjust to myexpec ! PART PREDOMINANT REC:ORDING~ 1 tations. Eventually students realize that j ~ choir is not a passive class. Part Predominants Part Predominants help highlight individual voice you spend more time fine 5) "I have nothing to lose and parts within a work. tuning! everything to gain by arguing "The studio singing is phenomenal, precise and true to the idiom. What mare can you ask? and negotiating endlessly." This saves you the hassle of poundt aking part tapes. What a tremendous savin!J..s of time and an excellent use III This attitude and attitude number Mome Pedersen, Choral Music Educat & Humanities, Pierce College, Tacoma, WA one are related. Since impressing the Free demos an orma on upon request 'I 800290 SING director is not a high priority, arguing be FAX (206) 639-4945 • 19454136th PI. 5.10., Renton, WA 98058 comes much more acceptable to students. Indeed, it can often reap benefits. At the ifrEFB ...... J...... REEl ...... i ...... El .....I.-...... J ._ ...J~ AUGUST 1996 PAGE 31 choose is usually a popular song, and the well with eighth graders as it does with 8) "I am not the person 1 choral arrangement is different from the first graders. Changes will come more was yesterday and not the version they know, which is sung by a smoothly with middle-schoolers if the person you think 1 am." soloist using scoops and slides. The em students are given some rationale along Middle-school years are times of per bellishments have been removed in the with the directive. When choir members sonality experimentation. Students put choral version, and the choir members do understand why they are being asked to on different attitudes and personas like not like to sing it straight. Any part hav do something, they are more motivated trying on a new outfit, just to see what ing to sing harmony does not like that to cooperate. they look like. They are trying to decide either. Though a popular song can afford However, there are times when expla who they want to be. Because of this, many educational opportunities, students nations are not necessary. Students some yesterday's demon may be today's angel, often hate the song they thought they times ask questions that are inappropriate. and teachers should approach each new wanted to sing because they are forced to Students need to be taught what is appro day with a clean slate. Students are asking sing it "the wrong way." Now I explain to priate and polite to ask and what is not. themselves if they are worthwhile people them that choosing music is the director's Once, as we were getting ready for a and are desperately wanting to believe job because of all the various musical fac concert, my eighth graders wanted to that they are. tors to be considered, such as vocal ranges, move from side to side while singing one Though their peers are the others that level of difficulty, and variety of musical of our songs. Because the piece was in matter most (see attitude number one), styles. I explain that often I choose a song common time, interrupted by an occa being valued by teachers can still be im because it will stretch them musically in sional ~ measure, I knew their suggestion portant to students. The most obnoxious an area in which they need help (e.g., would not work. I explained this and told students are the ones who most need in improving intonation). They are invited them we could move that way on a differ structors to smile at them, greet them, to come to me with suggestions outside ent piece. Unfortunately, many of them touch them, and express to them that of class only. did not understand why it would not they are valuable human beings. Many work. I could have said, "Trust me, I disruptive, problematic students trans 7) "I want to understand know what I'm talking about," but I de form into wonderful choir members once why you want me to 'do cided instead to let them discover the they lmow that someone believes in and something before I'll do it." problem for themselves. So I said, "Okay, values them. Choral directors are at a "You do what you're told, when you're let's try it. Your main goal is to stay to disadvantage in this area because of the told, because I said so," does not work as gether. Everybody watch Nathan (the large numbers of students they teach. Too ringleader in wanting to move on this often the students who get the least piece)." After singing through several of amount of individual attention are the • $200-$ 500 WEEKLY • the ~ measures, they realized the prob ones who are singing well, listening in lem, and we chose another piece on which tently, and trying hard. Making eye con Mailing travel brochures. No experience to move. I accomplished my goal of add tact during rehearsal and smiling or necessary. For information send a self ing movement to a more appropriate winking at the good students can help addressed stamped envelope to: Intemet piece, but the students felt that it was them feel valued and appreciated, Travel, Box 68061 0, Miami, FL 33268 P.o. their decision. Recently, in Eighth-Grade Choir I worked intensively with the group on two measures to achieve a crescendo-decre scendo and never did get what I wanted. I MUSIC FOR YOUNG SINGERS kept several students after class because of Cora Scholz. Editor misbehavior, and two of them broke into NEW a fistfight. I went home feeling discour aged, At our next rehearsal we tackled by Valerie Shields those two measures again, and sang them Mi Ze Hidlik SSA, piano, fIt YS 504 wonderfully. We then performed the Per Speirnann SA, kybd, vin YS 404 whole piece, and the choir sang so sensi NEW tively and beautifully that I got chills dur ing the pianissimo at the end. I wonder if by Victoria Ebel-Sabo the singing would have been as magical if Tecolote SA, piano, opt per YS 403 we had not suffered through the previous day's rehearsal together. That type of ex FREE reference copies upou request perience can keep choral directors going call (800) 359-1386 or fax (217) 398-2791 day after day, despite the bad attitudes P.O. Box 4012, Champaign, IL 61820-4012 they will inevitably meet. muSIC COmPRny email: [email protected] -C]- PAGE 32 CHORAL JOURNAL ~1:2/ '~~~~ ..' -. ' l:~~~:~ .4i, ",' -Order 30 Singer's Editions and receive 1 FREE Conductor's Edition. - Order 60 Singer's Editions and receive 1 FREE Conductor's Edition & 3 FREE Singer's Editions. DYES! Please send me copies of SUCCESSFUL W ARMUPS, Book2 Singer's Editions for my Choir! I understand I will receive 1 FREE Conductor's Edition if my order is for at least 30 Singer's Editions ... or... 1 FREE Conductor's Edition and 3 FREE Singer's Editions if my order is for 60 Singer's Editions or more. BIlL TO: SHIP TO: Name~ ______Name~ ______SchooIlChurch,______SchooIlChurch.______ Adm~s, ______Adm~~ ______ City: _____,State. ____ ~Zip--- City:_____ ,State, ____ ~Zip---- Telephone ( Phone or mail to your flvorite music dealer prior to P.O.#______October 1, 1996. Order early for prompt delivery! RE H EARSAL BREAKS Using the Hum and the Trill in Vocal and Choral Development by Margaret H Daniel HETHER WORKING a desirable physical adjustment in singing. down. Some effective combinations of with voice students individu Third, the sustained m helps to pull the vowels on a single pitch are "hum-oh W ally, in a small class, or in a tone forward and energize the sound. Ad mm-ah-mm," "hum-ee-mm-ay-mm," large choral setting, voice teachers and ditionally, the hum helps to release the and "hum-oh-ah-ay-ee." choir directors are challenged to find cre tone in the head voice and avoid chest Five-note descending scales can be ative techniques to release the vocal voice production. sung alternating the hum and vowels, potential in each student's voice. The bet moving the pattern down by half-steps ter the sound of the individual voice, the Producing the Hum for each combination. For example: better the sound of the choir as a whole. The hum must be carefully and me Traditional admonitions to "stand up thodically produced. The lips should be 5-4-3-2-1 straight," "drop your jaw," and "take a loosely touching, the teeth a tongue's hmm -- oh mm deep breath" are successful in improving width apart, the jaw released, the back hmm -- ah mm tone production and vocal quality, but upper molars slightly lifted, and the tip of hmm -- ee mm only to a limited extent. These exterior the tongue lightly touching the back of hmm -- 00 mm physical adjustments are just the frame the lower front teeth. These adjustments hmm -- ay mm work for vocal technique. help the throat to open and the soft pal The desirable characteristics of beauti ate to rise, increasing the space of the Five-note ascending-descending patterns ful singing-such as richness, warmth, resonating cavity. With the release of a can incorporate the same combination of clarity, and brilliance-can be achieved light aspirate h, the breath is set in mo hum and vowels as above: only when particular physical changes take tion, and the hum is gently produced. place in the oral cavity: the arched or Humming done in this manner may cause 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 domed palate, the open, yawning throat, a desirable buzzing vibration in the lips, hmm ah mm and the suspended larynx. Even with these informing the singer that the tone is free hmm oh mm physical adjustments, no tone can be pro and resonant. duced without a steady stream of breath 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 passing between the vocal cords. To help Vocalizing on the Hum hmm - oh --ah -----mm accomplish these technical requirements, Humming is an ideal initial vocalise. hmm-ee--oh mm two simple speech sounds can be incor It should always be produced softly and porated in the training of voice students lightly, almost inaudibly to the singer. It Students must be reminded to keep the and choir members-the hum and the is a natural bridge from the speaking same open-throated resonating space, loose rolled or trilled 1: voice-with its limited pitch range-to jaw, and forward tongue position when the singing voice-with its extended range changing from the hum to the vowel. Why Hum? and increased technical requirements. There are several technically sound rea Humming vocalizations should begin sons why the hum helps to develop good with five-note descending scales in the singing habits and improved vocal quality. middle register using light, soft tone. The First, the aspirate h opens the throat and five-note scale can be varied with ascend M1:JSICA~ allows tone to be released on the breath, ing-descending patterns and descending l\.() WI.L.\..NI(~.L~® .~ avoiding a glottal attack. Second, the "uh" ascending-descending variations. Begin Your exclus.ive s.ource For Ftomanian vowel sound is a naturally occurring sound slowly; the vocalises will later acquire more choral music and beyond ... in the English language, allowing the flexibility as students become more adept larynx to suspend freely in the windpipe- at producing the hum. ~ CATALOG and SAMPLER TAPE! After strictly humming vocalises, the I Margaret H. Daniel is Associate Pro hum can be alternated with pure vowels P. O. Box 27830 fessor of Voice at the University of on a single sustained pitch or on the five Seattle, W A 98125-2830 Phone· (206) 364-4225 Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette. note scale pattern, descending first so as Fax· (206) 364-4569 to encourage carrying the head voice E-tnail • [email protected] AUGUST 1996 PAGE 37 The use of the hum in vocal develop The Trill the pitch ascends is not only technically ment is as technically beneficial to the The trill used for technical develop sound, it also proves to singers that they do choir as it is to the individual voice stu ment is not the two-note variety used in not have to sing loudly to sing high. dent. In a choral rehearsal, working the ornamentation. Rather it is the sustained, To experience the coordination of low hum with a single section at a time is rolled r. This trill can be sung on one breath connection to the tongue, it is most effective. note, on a scale pattern, on a phrase, or helpful to have students first simply roll ______---, for an entire piece. their rs a few times to concentrate on If students have difficulty producing tongue position. Then have them place a Hard Trials (spiritual) SATB unaccompanied this rolled 1; they might more easily ex hand on their lower abdomen to feel the EASY TO MEDIUM Alternates fast and slow tempos; ecute the bilabial trill, which involves vi includes a marchHke section and suggestions naturally occurring tucking action as they movement Lawson-Gould LG52736 brating the upper and lower lips as roll the r again. This tucking action, which Winter'll Soon Be Over (spiritual) children are apt to do when imitating the is involuntary, is the source of breath man SATB, piano EASY Ideal for a late-winter concert; has understated rhythms Lawson sound of motor boats. Either trill can be agement. This is breath control taught in Gould LG52741 effective in improving vocal technique. its simplest form. Even elementary school When I Consider Thy Heavens SATB singers can learn this concept. unaccompanied MEDIUM Second half first and has a sense of climax Why Trill? Once the student is aware of the con LG52721 The trill can be a successful technical nection of the breath to the trill, pitch tool for several reasons. The tongue is may be added. The easiest vocalise is the CONTACT: Lawson-Gould Music Publishers, Inc. 250 West Fifty-seventh Street. Suite 1005 forward in the mouth, behind the upper soft sigh, from high to low, using the New York. NY 10 front teeth, and out of the throat, creat tongue trill "Prrrr" or the bilabial trill ing a relaxed open space. Producing and "Bbbb." From the sigh, the teacher can sustaining the trill requires low breath add five-note descending scales. Three inhalation and the slow, low release of a and five-note ascending-descending scales steady stream ofair. Coordination of these also are effective. A final trilled vocalise "Professionally tailored gowns important physical activities can be effec for the high light voice is the descending of lasting beauty." tively practiced using the trill. octave arpeggio, which should be sung quickly and softly. FREE Producing the Trill catalog and fabric samples. To produce the sustained, rolled 1; the 8--5--3 1 tongue must rest lightly on the ledge im Prrrrrrrr Since 1955 ... mediately behind the upper front teeth. Bbbbbbbbb LYRIC The lips should be slightly separated. A CHOIR GOWN co. gentle release of air on the plosive p will Always remind students to bring the high P.O. Box 16954-AZ help the tongue begin to vibrate against voice down. Jacksonville, FL 32245 this upper ledge. As long as the breath Like the hum, the trill is as technically CALL TOLL FREE flows steadily over the tongue, it will con beneficial to the choir as it is to the indi 1-800-847-7977 tinue to vibrate or trill. A single pitch in vidual voice student. Again, working with the speaking range should be used to vo a single section at a time is most effective. calize the sound. To produce the bilabial trill, the tongue should rest on the floor of Rehearsing with the Trill 4TH B lEN N I A L the mouth with the tip touching the back Afrer practicing trilled vocalises, the GOLDEN GATE of the lower teeth. The lips should touch technique can be incorporated into re International Children's very lightly. A gentle release of air on the hearsing either solo or choral music. A plosive b will cause the lips to begin vibrat phrase can be sung on the trill, phrases Choral al ing. As long as the breath moves steadily can be alternated between the trill and 24-28 J through the lips, they will continue to vi the text, or a section of music can be brate. Again, a single pitch in the speaking trilled, then sung with words. range should be used to vocalize the sound. The variety of vocalises and rehearsal techniques incorporating the hum and Vocalizing on the Trill the trill is as great as the creativity of the Like the hum, the trill should be vocal teacher. The suggestions made here are ized softly and lightly. Trilled vocalizations merely an introduction to the numerous can be used in the upper-middle to high possibilities for a fresh approach to vocal registers ofall voices. Women's voices should and choral development. move into pure head voice as the pitch e-mail: ascends, while men's voices should move -C]- APPLICATION DUE NOV. 1, 1996 into falsetto. This lightening of the tone as PAGE 38 CHORAL JOURNAL "Your Partner in ftusic Education" The professional staff at Heritage Festivals is dedicated to providing your choir with an educational, cultural and social experience your students will remember for years to come. Heritage Music Festivals provide each high Let 1997 be your year to enjoy the school and junior high school choral director comprehensive services available from Heritage with the opportunity to enjoy a great educational Festivals, "Your Partner in Music Education. " music festival in an exciting host city with: A outstanding adjudication For detailed information about the A excellent accommodations 1997 Heritage Music Festivals, A fun social activities A well organized and operated festivals caII1.800.22J.4J61 Heritage Festivals - 302 West 5400 South' Suite 108 • P.O. Box 571187 • Salt Lake City, Utah 84157-1187 () () n v J1 J1 CO) n 3 rdlnternationalChoir Festival 4th jJ!iusica-Sacra-Choir-Competition Orlancl({)) Gi({))vanni P ieer luigi iriotleJ'prizesill '. claP alee§ trina cli La§§({)) each category: . Gold, silver ROME AND VATICAN CITY. . ol1dbrollze' JERUSALEM March 9th-13th, 1996 medals; . . November 17th-24th, 1996 Competition with and without compulsory work 'Patticipatioll Competition with and without compulsory work . Open for all kinds of choirs . certificatefor Open for all kinds of Musica Sacra choirs - Artistic Direction: - each choir - Artistic Direction: - Msgr. Pablo Colino, Aldo Policardi,Hans Scblaud Prof Dr. Wolfgang Bretschneider, Dr. Leo Nestor, Petr Eben JE lluiRller events in pr 4th Ill/ematiollal Choir Festival l1li III "ORLANDO DI LASSO" OranienstroHe 11 . 25 South Service Rood, Suite 240 •Via Paolo VI, 29 March 8th-12th, 1997 65604 Elz . Jericho, New'York 11753 00193 Rome GERMANY usA ITALY 5th Illter/iatiol/a! Choir Competitiol/ Tel. 0049 6431 /95610 800 -225 -7662 outside NY & Canada 0039 6/6865704 "PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA" 516 -997 -6505 within NY November 8th-12th, 1997 Fax 0.049 6431/55 09 516 -997 -438B 0039 6/68308568 For more than a decade, Peter's Way International Ltd. has been responsible for successfully bringing over 500 North American choirs to European regions such as Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Israel, and various combinations of the aforementioned destinations. Our most popular destination continues to be Rome and Vatican City. As the industry leaderfor choir pilgrimages, we have been instm mental in helping choirs to participate in the High Latin Solemn Mass atSt. Peter's Basilica by invitation from the Chapel Master of St. Peter's, Msgr. Pablo Colino. Our organization also· developed' a Sacred Music Concert Series at St. Ignatius, having the finest acoustics in Rome. Peter's Way International Ltd. continues the tradition of fostering the art of musical liturgy by offering a limited number of music directors the opportunity to participate in various subsidized Continuing Education Programs abroad at a fraction of the normal package' cost: Instmctional and informational sessions will' be provided in each city visited and .the experience will prove invaluable should the director plan a choir tour to the region in the future. Preview a choir tour. and inspect potential performance venues. ReJ,1leinber, all Continuing Education! Familiarization packages are fully refundable from New York to the music director when his or her choir departs on a Peter's Way Choir Tour. Upcoming events include: . IRELAND c LandqfSaints ofScholars< .OGT. 22-29, I996 $850 .QERMANY AND·AuSTRIA - European Masters NOV. 7-I4, I996 $995 fIon: LAND:-. Songsqf the Scnptztres . 'I' JAN. I7-26,.I997 $995 '~REGQRIAN CHANT, STUDY WEEKINlT~Y;,; .•..• ' " ,> ;: . JAN.27~FEB" 3, I997 $995 . ROME, ASSISI AND VATICAN CITY - R07JZarzf:iJlypho1zy :JAN·30-FEB; 6,I997 $795 FRANCE - Best in French' Liturgical Music .' 1'E,:s;24:-~' 3, I997 $995 ·PETEWSWA~INi~RNJ\?I()N~.iTD~ 25 Siluth Service Road -Suite24Q/J~rich'ol N'( ,11753-1 065_. •.. ,Y. . .' 800-443~6018 .US . 800~225-7662US{olJt5ideNY)&, C~nad~ 516~997-6505.withinNY "\:'ii." '; REPERTOIRE & STANDARDS COMMITTEE REPORTS New Brochure HE NATIONAL Repertoire and C-T:';, : r.:..."'.· .. ·I•• :;2::\,·... ,t Standards Committee is pleased ?:':"~;"\ l r C... Fl rl t··\ ~ T to announce a new brochure, Repertoire and Standards: A Support Guide for ACDA s Purposes and Vision (Figure 1). This new publication will rte> i re a a ras serve the membership by articulating L~\~ ~~]in the role of the R&S committees in the a support gui,de For ACDA~s purposes 6- vision organization. Article XIII, Section 4 of Figure 1. R&S brochure logo the ACDA Bylaws states: The Choral Repertoire and Stan Committee has a clear mandate from the Choral Music by dards Committee shall seek to organization and the desire to provide African-American improve the quality of choral leadership in the area of Repertoire and Composers performance and literature in the Standards. Collaboration, communica Theodore Presser Co., distributor United States. Dept. 2CJ • 1 Presser Place tion, and commitment are qualities of Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-3490 leadership vital to this committee. -or- E-mail [email protected] The brochure is designed to aid in Barbara Tagg, NationaL Chair achieving this goal. The stated purpose Repertoire and Standards Committee of the R&S committees is defined in the following way: Linda Ferreira, Communications Liaison We£)'Y eND C;O£)WMe£) Repertoire and Standards Committee designs and sells period garments for The thirteen R&S committees, MIl.DRIGR.l,£) '" OQeRR. established by the National Board of -C]- and other ensembles Directors, provide support, vision, 128i1 Kenwood Lane, Suite 211 Ft. Myers, FL 33907 and resources for every major area 941 939 0885 of choral work within ACDA. The R&S committees play an impor tant role in serving their respective choral areas. R&S committees provide: • leadership JOSUE • information • networking • professional growth Joshua R&S chairs, appointed at the national, division, and state levels, serve conductors, Marc-Antoine Charpentier teachers, composers, and other constitu ents who share common interests. They Edited by Josie Champion Eng/ish translation also possess demonstrated expertise in spe cific choral areas and function as leaders in For solo voice, Double Chorus three primary ACDA initiatives: Strings, Trumpets, and Organ 1. Collaboration 2. Communication Bull Creek Publishing House 3. Commitment 6700 Lakewood Drive Austin, Texas 78731 The work bf the R&S committees lies (512) 345-1777 at the heart of ACDA. The National AUGUST 1996 PAGE 41 NEWSBRIEFS WOMEN AND Prague Festival, Competition Scheduled MUSIC· A Journal of for June 1997 Gender and Culture ------HOIRS from North America, Eu Children's Choir) will conduct sessions C rope, and Asia will gather at the for children's choirs, while Karle J. HE International Alliance for Women 1997 Prague International Choir Festi Erickson (Bach Society of Minnesota) T in Music announces the inaugura val and Competition for Children's and JiE Skopal Gitro Girls' Choir and tion of a new publication. WOMENAND Choirs and High School Choirs, which the Boni Pueri Boys' Choir) will offer MUSIC A Journal ofGender and Culture will take place June 26-29, 1997, in sessions for high school choirs. The event is a scholarly publication about women, Prague, Czech Republic. The event, held is sponsored by the Czech Philharmonic music, and gender that encompasses a every three years, will feature a voluntary Children's Choir, the Prague City Cul rich mixture of disciplines and ap competition, workshops, adjudication tural Department, the World Exchange proaches. Submissions of varying length sessions, and individual choir perfor Foundation, and AD International, Inc. are now being accepted for consideration mances. The competition will offer USA/Prague. For more information con in the inaugural issue. Expected publica 25,000 Czech Koruns for first place and tact: Joseph Line; Music Director; AD tion of the first issue is winter 1996/97. 12,500 Czech Koruns for second place. International, Inc.; 136 Lawrenceville Send submissions to WOMEN AND Culminating the event will be massed choir Pennington Road; Lawrenceville, New MUSICIIAWM, Department of Music, B- performances in the famous Dvorak Hall. Jersey 08648-1413; telephone: 800/288- 144 Academic Center, The George James Litton (American Boychoir) and 3242 or 609/896-9330 (in New Jersey); Washington University, Washington, DC, Jifi Chvila (Czech Philharmonic fax: 609/896-3450. 20052. For further information, call the IAWM office at 202/994-6338, or send an e-mail message to Catherine Pickar at PAGE 42 CHORAL JOURNAL MUSIC Toronto Montreal, Canada ...... STRO New York PLEASE~~ lphill ~97Fes Cbiellgo Nashville Choirs, Blinds, Orehestrlls Atlanta Proved! • Designed by Music Educators for Music Educators so that the music comes first! • Music Maestro Please has enjoyed an over 70% repeat rate for over 19 years. • Constantly voted the "best" by conductors and adjudicators. Improved! New Orleans • One call can take your group to a premier venue right next door, or to Europe. Music Maestro Please provides complete travel planning and assistance. • One day American Event! Choral and Instrumental groups can perform in a great American cultural center: Baltimore's Inner Harbor Divisions: Elementary, Junior High, Middle School, and High School Music Maestro Please, Inc. 2006 Swede Rd. Norristown, PA 19401 1-800-228-1668 or 610-272-3970 Music Maestro Please, Inc. Fax: 610-272-3998 1-800-228-1668 E-Mail: [email protected] RESEARCH REPORT Christine D. de Catanzaro, editor American Music I: Recent and large ensemble pieces. A very short out-of-print copies are also given along Bibliographies of Mrican- section on electronic music is also pro with addresses and telephone numbers. vided. In addition to choral music, the As Walker-Hill points out in the intro American Choral Music second half of the book lists solo vocal duction, this book cannot be considered a URING THE past several years, works; works for solo voice, vocal ensemble, comprehensive listing of each composer's the tendency among scholars and orchestra; and dramatic music. output. Most jazz, blues, popular, and rock D to favor the study of European The section on choral music, more compositions are excluded unless theyex music over music of American origin has than thirty pages long, contains listings ist in notated form. Furthermore, the bib been counteracted by many significant for seventy-seven composers. The music liography does not cover music in personal contributions in American studies. This of well-known women such as Lena archives or private collections that are un month's column, the first of two that will Johnson McLin and Florence Price is in available to scholars and musicians. None cover recent research in American choral cluded along with lesser-known figures. of this detracts, however, from the signifi music, will review two new bibliographical An alphabetical list of titles follows each cance of this resource. This small volume publications on the subject of African name, with detailed information on voic represents an important step in bringing American music. The October 1996 ing, date of composition, publisher (with this repertoire to the attention of scholars column will survey recent dissertations publication date and catalog number), and performing musicians. and journal articles on American choral number of pages, and duration. Large A helpful complement to Walker-HilI's music. These two reports will attest to scale compositions with chorus and or bibliography is the second edition of the diversity of musics that have been chestra are listed together with numerous Evelyn Davidson White's Choral Music by written in this country during the last gospel and spiritual arrangements and a African American Composers: A Selected, three centuries, and they will direct read wide variety of other small choral works. Annotated Bibliography (Lanham, MD, ers to the most important new resource Since much of this music remains un and London: Scarecrow Press, 1996). The materials in this expanding field. published, locations of manuscripts or second edition of this bibliography follows Interest in African-American music has grown considerably in the last decade or two, particularly among choral musicians. The two new bibliographies of works by African-American composers support this growing interest by providing vital infor mation on a wide range of published and unpublished works. The two books serve as complementary volumes for anyone seeking to build a choral library of Afri can-American compositions. Music by Black "WOmen Composers: A Bibliography ofAvailable Scores, compiled by Helen Walker-Hill (Columbia Col lege, Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, 1995)1 is an expansion of a bibliography titled Piano Music by Black For the serious school music program, a four day "WOmen Composers: A Catalog ofSolo and performing arts event of the highest standard. Ensemble "WOrks (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992) compiled by the same au Invitation by Audition Only thor. This new volume covers all genres of -Multiple performances at world-class venues music written by African-American -Workshops and seminars with international conductors such as: women composers that is readily avail Dale Warland, Gregg Smith, Joseph Flummerfelt and Ronald Smart able in either manuscript or printed form. -Scholarship auditions for Juilliard and Westminster Choir Although the author does not attempt to -Performances by the Westminster Choir include all nationalities, women of other -New York City sight seeing tours -Broadway shows -Awards banquet countries are represented. The first part of the book catalogues instrumental mu Call 800-568-0681 today for more information/application sic, including solo works as well as small In conjunction with World Projects International Musical Productions AUGUST 1996 PAGE 4S the format of the first, which was pub ber. For unpublished works, addresses of Mrican-American composers active in the lished in 1981, but the coverage is greatly composers are supplied. late twentieth century. She also shares her expanded. The main body of the book White states in her introduction that experiences in searching for unpublished consists of an annotated list of the pub the focus of her bibliography is on the choral music by Mrican Americans during lished and unpublished choral works of published and unpublished classical cho her years as the director of the Evelyn White 102 Mrican-American composers. The in ral music and spiritual arrangements of Chamber Singers (formerly Chorale). She formation provided includes: title (listed Mrican-American composers. The author emphasizes the importance of this search, alphabetically by composer), copyright provides a short historical overview of the especially in view of the special problems date, number of pages, voicing, vocal history of black music in the United States that African-Americans have had to face in ranges, difficulty level, accompanying in from the founding of the Fisk Jubilee Sing their struggle to be recognized as com struments, publisher, and catalogue num- ers in 1871 to the compositional styles of posers. The bibliography comes as a re sult of these years of research. One of the book's most valuable cata logues consists of a complete inventory of HIGHLY ACCLAIMED CHRISTMAS MUSIC the contents of twenty-four published col lections of spirituals. Included are large from Santa Barbara Music Publishing collections such as John Wesley Work Ill's - LARGE WORKS - American Negro Songs and Spirituals, which contains 214 songs, small collec SBMP 99 Joy to All The World bYCn:lig Bohmler $4.95 tions such as three titled Negro Spirituals Exciting international medley by an expert composer by Frederick Hall, and historic collections full orch, chamber orch, or keyboard; 10 min. such as J. B. T. Marsh's The Story of the SBMP14 A Feast for. Christmas by Emma Lou Diemer $4.95 Jubilee Singers, with Their Songs, which was A Christmas masterpiece; 5 movements originally published in 1881. The book piano or brass (3 trpt, 3 trb); 13 min. (Tape of other larger works & both of these pieces available for only $5.00) also contains a select discography, which lists a variety of recordings by church, col - BEST SELLING CHRISTMAS OCTAVOS - lege, and professional choirs. A thorough list of other discographies of black music SATB SBMP 54 Alleluia, Rejoice! arr. J. Edmund Hughes directs the reader to other reference mate SBMP 53 Blessed Be that Maid .Marie arr. Joy Sherman SATB SBMP 55 Christmas Gift (keyboard or orch.) Wang An-Ming SATB rials. A very good select bibliography of SBMP 90 Here We Come A-Caroling Brant Adams SATB books and articles pertaining to black mu SBMP17 On Christmas Eve '. Emma Lou Diemer SATB sic is provided in one of the appendixes. SBMP 30 See Amid the Winter's Snow James McCray SATB In her introduction, White urges choral SBMP18 Sweet Dreams Forma Shade' Em'ma Lou Diemer SATB directors to become involved in the search SBMP 20 Away in a'Manger arr. Charlotte Bara SA for repertoire of high quality by Mrican - NEW CHRISTMAS RELEA$ES - American composers and to bring this mu sic to performance. Both White's and SBMP 121 Away in a Manger arr.' B rant Adams SATB Walker-Hill's bibliographies have provided Bell Carol' SBMP 128 arr. Dick Thompson SATB choral directors with informative resources SBMP 132 Rise Up Shepherd arr. Barbara Harlow SATB SBMP 142 The First Noel arr. J. Edmund Hughes SATB that may result in new editions and perfor SBMP ~25 Angels We. Ha"e Heard on High arr.Linda Gingrich SATB/SSA mance of this exciting, diverse repertoire. SBMP 138 Pentatonic Alleluia Ross Whitney SA SBMP 141 . SingWe Now of Christmas arr. Brant Adams SSA NOTES SBMP 107 Winter Carol Timothy Snyder Unison I This publication is available for $10 from SBMP 143 Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Emma Lou Diemer Spoken the Center for Black Music Research, - THREE FAVORITES IN NEW ARRANGEMENTS - Columbia College Chicago, 600 South with flute, harp or piano" percussion Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605-1996; telephone: 312/663-1600. SBMP 134 Dadme Albricias arr. Ben Allaway SATB SBMP 135< Riu,Riu,Chiu arr. Ben Allaway SATB -CJ- SBMP 136 Dansaron' arr; Ben Allaway SATB lOOO-member UMC in university community seeks Coordinator To receive FREE reference copie", copy this ad and check the titles you want to of Music Ministry to coordinate music ministry program and di~ rect choirs. Successful candidate will be an enthusiastic leader with . . receive. flexibility and knowledge of a variety of music styles, commit Send along with $3.00 Jor S/H and your name and mailing address to: ment to team ministry. and good communication and teaching skills; must relate well with volunteers. Music/sacred music degree de sired .• Church also seeks Pipe Organist!Accompanist. Two Santa Barbara Music Publishing weekly services plus rehearsals. Proficiency in a variety of music Post Office Box 41003 • SantaBarbara' California' 93140 styles .• Send resume, references, and faith statement by August I deadline to: Pal Bornemeier. Search Committee Chairperson. First Phone: 805 962-5800' Fax: 805 966-7711 United Methodist Church. 917 Tenth Avenue. Greeley. CO 80631. PAGE 46 CHORAL JOURNAL COMPACT DISC REVIEWS Richard J. Bloesch, editor Charles V. Stanford and Herbert Howells The most interesting works on the I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes CD are not Howells's Like as the Hart RECORDING The Cambridge Singers; Wayne Marshall, and Stanford's Te Deum (both well COMPANIES THIS ISSUE organ; John Rutter, conductor known) but the lesser-known works. The Recorded: February 1992 jewel of this recording is Stanford's an Albany Records Collegium Records COLCD 118; [DDD]; them I Heard a WJice from Heaven, a Classical Music, agent 74:05 four-part unaccompanied piece based on . Box 5011 a text from Revelations. The harmonies Albany, NY 12205 HIS RECENT compact disc re in this work are delightful and this is 'c;asparo Records lease by John Rutter's Cambridge surely a selection that should make its Allegro Corporation, agent T Singers features selected works of way into the church repertory. P.O. Box 600 English composers C. V. Stanford and Other pieces on the CD include Jaffrey, NH 03452 Herbert Howells. This recording con Howells's Requiem, Stanford's When Mary tains four canticle settings, four anthems, thro' the Garden went, Howells's Long, Haussler Classics a Requiem, two part-songs, and two Long Ago, and a Howells hymn setting of Collegium Records, agent . P.O: Box 31366 hymn settings. All My Hope in God Is Founded This is a Omah:i,NE 68131 Rutter's pairing of Stanford and How valuable addition to the series of Cam ells is a good choice. Both composers pro bridge Singers recordings that document Collegium Records gressed quickly through their musical the history of English church music, both P.O. BoX31366 training to become prolific composers at well-known and obscure, in a new and Omaha, NE 68131 an early age. Howells was a student of admirable way. Stanford at the Royal College of Music. Nancy Plum The notes to this CD include a clever American Boychoir to imagine an all-Pinkham concert, in his outline of the composers' lives, so that Princeton, New Jersey chromatic idiom especially. The perfor one can compare their progress at various mance by the Belmont Chorale is musi points in their careers. cally quite satisfYing, with good ensemble For this CD, recorded in Ely Cathe Daniel Pinkham blend, solid pitch, and rhythmic accu dral, Rutter selected four canticle settings, Exsultate Jubilate: racy. The group also brings real feeling to including two Magnificats and a Nunc Sacred Choral Music ofDaniel Pinkham the pieces without theatricality. The only dimittis of Stanford and one Magnificat Belmont Chorale; Linda Ford, organ and real problem with the recording is that of Howells. Stanford's Magnificat in G is piano; Sherry Hill Kelly, conductor some of the texts are unintelligible, es scored for chorus and organ and is, ac Recorded: 1993 pecially the composer's own poetry in cording to the CD notes, "said to have Gasparo GSCD-288; [DDD]; 69:34 Uncommon Prayers. The CD notes con been inspired by the legend that the Vir tain no texts, and the notes by the com gin Mary was seated at her spinning HIS CD is an interesting intro poser are merely brief sketches. wheel when surprised by the Angel duction to the composer's choral Gregory Shepherd Gabriel" (p. 11). Stanford has written the T style(s). The thirty-three selec Kauai Community College organ part to depict a spinning wheel. tions, composed between 1955 and 1991, Lihue, Hawaii The performance opens with soprano so are varied in mood and style, ranging loist Caroline Ashton singing with a from the brisk and refreshing Festival Ju boylike, straight tone, which is typical of bilate to the strangely somber "Set Me as •.•...•..•.. -_ ... , ...- ...... • .. the Cambridge Singers. She is accompa a Seal" from the Wedding Cantata. None ~ ·•. COMPACT DISC • nied by the delicate organ part and the of the pieces is more than seven minutes • • • REVIEWERS impeccable and precise singing of the long, and the great majority are two min • • Cambridge Singers. utes or less. In the CD notes Pinkham ., ACDAMEMBERS WISHING TO REVIEW • • COMPACT DISCS SHOULD CONTACT: • Howells's Magnificat (from the Glou tells of his interest in Renaissance choral • • cester Service) provides a striking contrast music, an interest reflected in the fact • RICHARD J. BLOESCH • to the Stanford setting. This work begins that the Psalm Motets may be performed • .. .- SCHOOL OF MUSIC • with an extensive unison section sung by unaccompanied or with organ doubling. • UNIVERSIl'Y OF IOWA • the men of the choir. Although some Though many selections are quite in • IOWACITY,IOWA 52242 • • • might wish for a meatier sound from the triguing, Pinkham's writing wears thin on • TELEPHONE: 319/335-1627 • men, their diction is excellent. some of the pieces, and one is hard-pressed .. • .-.••.•...... - ....•...... -.--.....•.. AUGUST 1996 PAGE 47 J.S. Bach a practice common in Bach's day but American Journey: Poetry and Song in Mass in F Major, BWV 233 frowned on as unoriginal in ours, the the Twentieth Century Donna Brown, soprano; Ingeborg Danz, charm, beauty, and, even, originality of Halsey Stevens, Go, Lovely Rose; Charles alto; Wolfgang Schone, bass these masses can be more fully appreciated. Ives, Crossing the Bar; Samuel Barber, Re Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart; Franz Liszt The recording is thoroughly profes incarnations; Alan Hovhaness, David Kammerorchester Budapest; Helmuth sional, with a consistent attention to de Wept for Slain Absalom; Randall Thomp Rilling, conductor tail. Each of the twelve movements is a son, Tarantella; Ronald Perera, Earthsongs; model of vocal and instrumental virtuos Matthew Harris, Shakespeare Songs; Irving ity that always serves the music and never Fine, The Choral New Yorker; Henry Mass in A Major, BWV 234 calls attention to itself The choral blend Brant, The 3-Way Canon Blues Christine Schafer, soprano; Ingeborg is enviable, and the orchestral accompa New Amsterdam Singers; Clara Long Danz, alto; James Taylor, tenor; Thomas niment by each of the two ensembles is streth, conductor Quasthoff, bass supportive and unobtrusive. Recorded: 1993 Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart; Bach The six soloists are uniformly excel Albany Records TROY 107; [DOD]; 71:43 Collegium Stuttgart; Helmuth Rilling, lent, and all have clearly placed voices. conductor Wolfgang Schone was a personal favorite ERHAPS it is little more than Recorded: 1995 in the Domine Deus of the F-major Mass. "millennial fever," but a ground H1inssler Classic CD 98.924; [DOD]; 55:06 CD notes are in German, English, and Pswell of renewed interest in events French and include full translations of of our century seems to be building. The HESE "LITTLE" MASSES have the Latin as well as an interesting exami New Amsterdam Singers' recording, been neglected over the years be nation of the original sources of the American Journey: Poetry and Song in the T cause much of their music sim parody sections. Twentieth Century, is one such indica ply parodies movements from Bach's Gregory Shepherd tion. While no single disc could provide earlier church cantatas. Once one over Kauai Community College a comprehensive review of choral settings comes any prejudice against this recycling, Lihue, Hawaii of twentieth-century American poetry, GMadrig. CVinner • by crlrpfC' Paul Brandvik leJ author of The Compleet Madrigal Dinner Booke Scripts include: ALL DIALOGUE: Greetings, Toasts, Festivities, Concert, Farewell Plus: HUMOROUS RENAISSANCE MASQUE Plus: REPERTOIRE SUGGESTIONS Ceremonial music and concert NINETEEN different scripts available, including scripts appropriate for churches and younger performers. New this year: THE PEASANT, THE PRINCE, THE BOOT AND THE MIRROR Call or write for your FREE descriptive brochure. Join the thousands who have made these Madrigal Dinner Scripts a tradition. knight-shtick press Box 814 Dept. A Bemidji, MN 56619-0814 Telephone 218-751-2148 PAGE 48 CHORAL JOURNAL this recording offers a comfortable smat tering of styles, though it is limited to Announcing four new unaccompanied pieces and choral works accompanied by piano. Christmas scores in Founded in 1968 by conductor Clara Longstreth, the New Amsterdam Singers John Rutter's Collegium is a community chorus based in New York City. This, their sole commercial record Choral Series. ing, was produced in 1993 to celebrate the ensemble's twenty-fifth anniversary. Ac Just in time for your Christmas program planning, four Christmas cording to the CD notes by Longstreth, classics have been added to The Collegium Choral Series - making she chose the repertoire for this collection available, for the first time ever, a total of 15 of the most requested choral with special attention to the texts and the scores recorded by The Cambridge Singers. manner in which composers set them. The The Christmas Series includes CCS 801 Ding dong! merrily on high text for each piece appears in the CD notes. (8 seasonal carols), $1.75; CCS 802 Three old English carols, $1.30; CCS The New Amsterdam Singers perform 803 In dulcijubilo, $1.30; and CCS 804Myn lyking, $1.10. (Instrumental well throughout this recording. In Crossing score, string parts available for Myn lyking.) the Bar, the chorus ably navigates the de Eleven non-Christmas scores are also available. Choral directors may manding shifts of tonal centers and styles, order a complete set at very low cost by calling Collegium. as Ives's setting fluctuates between church hymn and barbershop-quartet writing CCS 201 All my hope on God isfollnded (Howells) $1.10 styles, with polytonal passages interspersed. CCS 202 They are at rest (Elgar) $1.30 The ensemble attacks Barber's Reincarna CCS 203 0 for a closer walk with God (Stanford) $1.30 tions with an assertiveness that causes some CCS 204 When Mmy thro' the garden went (Stanford) $1.30 minor imperfections. The result, however, CCS 205 Surrexit Christus hodie (Scheidt) $1.30 is quite pleasing overall. Particularly no CCS 206 Libera nos, salva nos (Sheppard) $1.30 table are the men of the ensemble, who CCS 207 Christe, qui lux es et dies (Whyte) $1.10 exhibit great sectional strength and balance. CCS 208 Gems of Gregorian chant (ed. Rutter) $1.75 The best singing by the full ensemble CCS 209 Crucifixus - for 16 voices takes place in Hovhaness's David Wept SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB (Caldara) $2.25 for Slain Absalom and Fine's The Choral 400 Treble Series New Yorker. The ensemble demonstrates CCS 401 Ave Maria - SSAAISSAA (Holst) $2.25 sensitivity, sectional cohesion, and a pre CCS 402 Vier Lieder aus dem Jungbrunnen (Brahms) $1.75 cise attention to dynamic nuance, par 800 Christmas Series ticularly in the quieter sections of the CCS 801 Ding dong! merrily on high (Woodward & Wood) $1.75 two works. The latter selection also fea (8 seasonal carols for mixed choir including Ding dong! merrily tures the exemplary talents of pianist on high; Blessed be that Maid Marie; Up! good Christen folk, Elizabeth Rodgers. and listen; King Jesus hath a garden; A Virgin most pure; Past The men of the New Amsterdam Sing three a clock; This joyful Eastertide; Once, as I remember ers are featured in Thompson's Tarantella. CCS 802 Three old English carols $1.30 A standard of the male chorus repertoire, Sweet was the song; Coventl)' carol; There is no IVse of such virtue Tarantella is a lively, Spanish-style musi CCS 803 In dulcijubilo (art. Pearsall) $1.30 cal setting accompanied by a near-blister CCS 804 Mynlyking (R.R. Terry) $1.10 ing piano accompaniment. The singing is CCS 8041 Mynlyking complete set (conductor's score and all parts) $62.00 appropriately boisterous with just an oc CCS 8042 Myn lyking conductor's score (strings) $15.00 casionalloss of control. During the softer Myn lyking extra string parts available, each $2.00 sections of the work, the men sound best, exhibiting exceptional vocal con If your music retailer does not have The Collegium Choral Series trol and sensitivity. in stock, you may order direct fivm Collegium: 1·800·367·9059 This recording includes some fine new choral compositions. One of these works, Ronald Perera's Earthsongs (published by E. C. Schirmer) is scored for women's voices, soli, and piano. This six-movement work, set to the poetty of e.e. cummings, evokes the harmonic language of other no table twentieth-century composers. The AUGUST 1996 PAGE 49 opening movement, "0 sweet spontane wop." Though most of these texts have Choral ous earth," has the flavor of Leonard been set many times before (e.g., "0 Mis Bernstein's musical theater works. The sec tress Mine," "It Was a Lover and His ond movement, "in Just-spring," and the Lass," "Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred," Music fIfth movement, "when god lets my body among others), Harris's careful treatment be" contain faint echoes of Benjamin makes them seem fresh. His approach to Britten's style. This performance of Perera's the text is sometimes reverent and other Earthsongs by the women is always quite times light-hearted. For example, he sets good and in some instances sparkling. "You Spotted Snakes" with gliding chordal The inclusion of Matthew Harris's movement reminiscent of a jazz-band Shakespeare Songs spotlights the excellent saxophone section. chamber choir Longstreth has selected Throughout, the ensemble sings with from the larger ensemble. This twenty palpable enthusiasm and a high level of with one-voice ensemble sings with good vocal energy. Unfortunately, through much of Master Clinician dexterity and sensitivity to balance and this recording, one female voice is heard intonation. The seven movements of above all others. While not without DOREEN Harris's Shakespeare Songs are drawn from blemish, this recording constitutes a very three separate cycles written by Harris on fine showing by this all-volunteer com Shakespearean texts. The final four move munity chorus and a fitting tribute to ments on this recording are premieres the ensemble's silver anniversary. RAO (work on the collections, published by G. Scott W. Dorsey Schirmer, began in 1988). This is a joy Mount Union College ously eclectic group of pieces in which Alliance, Ohio Harris exhibits a variety of influences, in -C]- September cluding Palestrina, the Beatles, and "doo- 26-29 at the Oklahoma SECULAR MUSIC FOR MIXED VOICES Fall Arts SATB-101 The Lonesome Dove-American Folk Song $1.10 SATB-102 The Little White Hen-Antonio Scandello/Knight $1.00 Institutes SATB-103 Shenandoah-American Folk Song/Harris $1.10 SATB-104 o Thou Sweet May (0 SOsser Mal) $1.10 -Brahms/Harris SATB-105 To Shorten Winter's Sadness-Weelkes/Harris $1.10 Quartz SATB-106 All Loves Begone-Sermisy/Harris $1.10 SATB-10? Weep You No More Sad Fountains $1.10 Mountain -Dowland/Harris SATB-10B Now Is the Gentle Season-Morley/Harris $1.10 SATB-109 Come Away Sweet Love and Play Thee $1.10 -Greaves/Harris SATB-110 Annie Laurie-Scott/Harris $1.25 SATB-111 Two Brahms Folk Songs-Brahms/Harris $1.10 OKlAHOMA.Mrs...... IN51mm. "Down in the Valley" P.o. Box 18154 "In Calm of Night" Oklahoma City, OK SATB-112 I Love Thee Dear (lch Liebe Dich) $1.10 73154 -Beethoven/Harris (405) 842-0890 SATB-113 All My Trials-Folk Song/Harris $1.10 [email protected] SATB-114 Harken All Ye Lovely Saints Above $1.10 -Weelkes/Harris PAGE 50 CHORAL JOURNAL BOOK REVIEWS Stephen Town, editor Nick Page active audience participation. These events, Sing and Shine On! The Teacher's Guide he states, can create a sense of identity and BOOK PUBLISHERS to Multicultural Song community spirit. In his writings and in THIS ISSUE Portsmouth: Heinemann Publishers, practice, Page provides a model for music 1995. 177 pp., paperback only. $19.95. advocacy in our schools and in society. Heinemann Publishers ISBN: 0-435-08673-1. 95-12279 His book includes strong arguments in (Division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.) support of music, points that can be used 361 Hanover Street OWER SINGER, song leader, in defending the place of music to those Portsmouth, NH 03801 and music educator Nick Page, who make decisions and control funding. Paulist Press Pwho has made appearances at As a resource for song material and 997 MacArthur Boulevard ACDA, American Orff-Schulwerk Asso multicultural music alone, this book is Mahwah, NJ 07430 ciation, and music educators association worth its price. It would be an excellent conventions, has collected many of his tool for students in college-level music Prentice Hall ideas about sharing the joy of singing education methods classes. This book is (Division of Simon &Schnster, Inc.) with others in an appealing and handy as "laid back" as its author, with no 113 Sylvan Avenue, Route 9W Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 paperback book. The book is divided scholarly pretensions. It is both fun and into three sections: "What Is the Power of informative. Scarecrow Press, Inc. Singing?," "How Do We Teach Songs?," Sharon Davis Gratto (Subsidiary of University Press and "Why Is Music Necessary?" Section Gettysburg College of America) rwo contains the bulk of the text. It Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 52 Liberty Street includes step-by-step instructions for Box 4167 teaching songs by rote as well as strate Metuchen, N]08840 gies for teaching song content, making Samuel Terrien songs exciting, addressing issues of tone The Magnificat: Musicians as Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. quality and intonation, locating song Biblical Interpreters (Subsidiary ofRandom House, Inc.) material, and presenting songs to an au New York: Paulist Press, 1995. 89 pp. 201 East Fiftieth Street New York, NY 10022 dience. Approximately ten songs are $9.95. ISBN: 0-8091-3485-3 (paperback) included in the book as well as signing gestures for one selection. At the end of HORAL CONDUCTORS are the book are rwo appendixes-"Sug . often reminded that the inter the Hebrew psalms through a fascinating gested Tools and Supplies to Help You C pretation of a work must go be strophe-by-strophe study of the poem's in Teaching Songs" and "Powerful Song yond correct notes, rhythms, or diction form and word derivations. He addresses Suggestions with Sources and Age Rec and should include the deepest possible the controversy berween those who con ommendations." Two additional sections understanding of the text being sung. In sider the Magnificat to be Mary's own include a resource guide with addresses this brief book Samuel Terrien, an emi creation and those who view it as a "mas and an annotated bibliography with nu nent biblical scholar and linguist, offers terpiece of Hebrew psalmody" written by merous songbook listings. his insights into the Magnificat text, one a single poet who captures "the whole sweep Page makes important points in his that is familiar to many but difficult to of Hebrew-Christian faith" (p. xviii). Sty book about the power of music and sing understand in detail. listic connections also are made to other ing in people's lives. He emphasizes "first Terrien's preface makes it clear that he is books of the Old Testament such as the hand" rather than "second hand" music not writing for musicologists but for the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1) and the making (p. 40), stating that people should enlightenment of worshippers. He does prophet Habakkuk. be directly involved in making music in not address music lovers, choral directors, At the end of each chapter, Terrien order to reap its full benefits. He instructs or singers, but his interdisciplinary ap shows how numerous composers from the the reader in ways to get groups singing proach to the topic offers musicians in Middle Ages to the rwentieth century have with cultural sensitivity, feeling, and sight; into the song that Mary sang to captured the nuances of the text in set meaning. Page recommends unaccompa Elizabeth (Luke 1:44-55). For those wish tings as diverse as Bach's, Byrd's, and nied singing and likes to direct singers ing to pursue the subject in greater detail, Penderecki's. Bach's talent as a "master who are standing in a circle because of the Terrien includes a wealth of footnotes, a exegete" (p. 29) in sensing the theologi energy that they can generate and share. listening list, and a bibliography. cal implications of the text is compel He is a believer in "the singing celebra Terrien traces the origin ofthe Magnificat lingly discussed. Terrien refers to the tion" (p. 125), especially in schools, with ftom its Greek and Latin versions back to inclusion of the Magnificat in Eastern AUGUST 1996 PAGE 51 Orthodox churches but unfortunately Stanley Sadie, editor, with Alison Latham elements of music, the structure of music, does not discuss settings by composers Stanley Sadie's Brief Guide to Music, and musical instruments. Like Kerman, such as Cui and Rachmaninov. Terrien's third edition Sadie provides introductory material that book reads like a fast-paced lecture and Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, attempts, as he writes, should prove useful to conductors plan 1993. $42. ISBN: 0-13-086851-5 (pa ning repertoire, students in need of back per); $47.33. ISBN: 0-13-086869-8 (with to draw attention to features of ground information, choristers who wish three cassettes) contemporary social, cultural, and to sing with better understanding, and political history that bear on the lovers of choral music. Jay Zorn music discussed, and to outline the Anthony Antolini Listening to Music, second edition new stylistic weapons that com Bowdoin College Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. posers forged to enable them to rise Brunswick, Maine 430 pp. $33.33 ISBN: 0-13-035916-5 (pa to the challenges of a changing per); $61.33 ISBN: 0-13-147968-7 (with world. The aim is to give the reader four compact discs); $16 ISBN: 0-13- a sense of music as a part of the 147950-4 (with two cassettes) fabric of life, as something that Take. a. step . .up . this . year!. changes as the world does, and so to Kapellm.eister Choir stools HE APRIL 1996 book review heighten his or her understanding of Custom Designed & Built column examined two texts de it through this broader human Single and T signed for music appreciation context (p. 10). Double classes (Joseph Kerman's Listen and Joseph Unlike Kerman's text, however, the Height Machlis and Kristine Forney's The Enjoy ment of Music). This issue reviews two bulk of Sadie's Guide treats the historical more such texts: Stanley Sadie's much re periods of music in chronological order. vised third edition of his Brief Guide to Also unlike Kerman, Sadie does not treat Music and Jay Zorn's Listening to Music. Beethoven as a transitional figure between Sadie's book parallels Kerman's in many the Classical and Romantic eras. Further ways. Each beg~ns with a section on the more, he devotes more attention to music at the turn of the nineteenth and twenti eth centuries. Sadie provides substantial biographical material for the important composers prior to discussing their works . He provides a fine last chapter on popu lar music, but deals with non-Western -- ~ .Ir'/.~ I :l music very little. Sadie explains: ~ J I~~ T~,~eally help your program ="ttf ,a~d !"otivate The absence of any substantial discussion of non-Western music (~your students, here's a great ~ that's ought not to be regarded as a rightonr symptom of ethnocentricity. The ~ Western musical tradition ... is quite big enough, rich enough, and complex enough to be the subject '\H'lor-oP> or a 1997 American +to c::E:orth of an entire volume (p. 11). Music Festival! You'll feel like a and your '* Instructors will welcome the inclusion of addenda on further listening and, es students will • you for it! pecially, further reading. The latter fea ture is a thoughtful addition, not found Just ~ us at 1-800-533-6263. We'll send you in other music appreciation texts, for stu dents who wish to look more deeply into our for free. a particular topic. The publisher provides an instructor's Festival Locations: Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, manual if the text is adopted. A set of Toronto, Atlanta, New York City and Orlando. seven compact discs for the instructor can (Or we can arrange a Custom Tour for your group!} be purchased separately ($89.33), and a single cassette or a three-cassette set ($27.33) is available for the student. The PAGE 52 CHORAL JOURNAL recorded examples correspond to the lis Some explications are wanting. For ex decades of the twentieth century, Leonhard tening guides and listening outlines found ample, the treatments of the Reformation would have no competitors. throughout the text. The Study Guide and the Counter-Reformation and of the The first four chapters of the biogra ($16.67, ISBN: 0-13-987222-9) may be use of the Italian language in opera are phy document Leonhard's life, from grow purchased by the student. misleading because they are incomplete. ing up in Oldahoma and teaching public The second edition of Jay Zorn's Lis Finally, Listening to Music is not challeng school to pursuing doctoral studies and tening to Music is divided into four parts. ing enough for university students; it lacks gaining a university appointment. In Part one contains two chapters, the first enough detail. It is most appropriate as a chapters five and six, the focus moves to a of which discusses how to listen to music, textbook for high school students. much larger stage. The idea of music edu i.e., at the "sensory level," the "emotional Teaching music appreciation need not cation as aesthetic education took shape level," the "contextual level," the "script be a daunting task, as a wealth of excep against the backdrop of the Seminar on level," or the "musically aware level." The tional materials is available to the instruc Comprehensive Musicianship in 1965 second chapter addresses concert atten tor. Any of these four texts can serve as a and the Tanglewood Symposium of1967. dance and how to take complete advan starting point for the teacher facing such Music education was viewed as an intrin tage of the experience. Part two presents an assignment. sically valuable experience rather than for the basic musical elements and perform Stephen Town, Book Reviews Editor "its ability to enhance other, nonmusical ing media, which are reinforced by re Northwest Missouri State University qualities in students" (p. viii). Leonhard cordings introduced by Martin Bookspan, Maryville, Missouri led the way in this new way of thinking. the announcer for PBS's classical music School music rose from a state in which series, "Live at Lincoln Center." Part three, the bulk of the text, presents a survey of George N. Heller the musical style periods, concentrating Charles Leonhard' American Music Educator on the Baroque through the contempo Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, rary periods. As Zorn writes: 1995.268 pp. $35. ISBN: 0-8108-2942-8 Til'emy-jive years Rather than present all style periods HARLES LEONHARD, born of travel service since the beginning of time, we in 1915 in rural Oklahoma, to tlzeJield have focused our listening upon the C went on to become Professor of musical styles [the student is] most Music and Chair of Graduate Studies in likely to hear at concerts-mainly Music Education at the University ofIl music composed after A.D. 1600- linois. George Heller's very detailed although we will take a brief look biography of Leonhard tells the story of Special Announcement: at the music that preceded it (p. 57). that life journey and how Leonhard's ten Directors' Familiarization Tour ure at the University of Illinois brought Prague and Budapest Expanded in this second edition, part about major shifts in music education 6 nights-Week after Christmas '96 four, titled "Adjunct Music," introduces philosophy and practice throughout Limited Group Size - Plan Early! the following topics: "North American North America. Due to his presence, that FAF's reknowned directors' tours Popular Music," "Broadway Musical The institution became pivotal in training always fill up quickly. This is an ater," "Music for Films," and "Contribu leaders and thinkers for the profession. excellent opportunity to meet high-level tions of World Cultures." A study guide Heller provides a fascinating appendix contacts in the choral community, for students accompanies the text ($13, documenting the evidence. Leonard ar review accommodations, and see local ISBN: 0-13-148578-4), and the record rived at the University of Illinois in 1951, concerts. $1,150 complete! 12/27/96-1/3/97. ings can be purchased separately (CDs, when the doctoral program was relatively Air, hotel (dbls.), 2 meals daily, meetings with $60; cassettes, $16). new. During his tenure there he advised counterparts, guided travel, hotel inspections, Designed for students with little previ 177 doctoral dissertations. The first of his transfers, special event on New Year's Eve. ous exposure to classical music, Listening graduates finished in 1954, and for the Companions OK. to Music is very much like the aforemen next forty-one years, students completed tioned texts. The approach is pragmatic their work under his tutelage at the rate "America's cultural and simple throughout, with the goal of of well over four per year (p. 184). export to the world." embracing "lifelong enjoyment of con Among his doctoral students were lead NY Times cert music" (p. xvii). A few lines here and ing figures such as Robert W House, there are off-putting. For example, Zorn Bennett Reimer, Richard Colwell, Eunice Customized, low-cost, rewarding tours worldwide: suggests in the preface to the student: Boardman, John Cooksey, Peter Tiboris, "You [will] feel comfortable [in any con Gretchen Hieronymus Beall, Joseph cert hall throughout the world] because Labuta, and Lizabeth Wing. If one per 501 (c)3 not-for-profit. arts services organization you [have] completed this music appre son could claim to have· influenced the promoting global goodwill by facilitating serious ciation course" (p. xv). direction of music education in the middle performance exchanges AUGUST 1996 PAGE 53 little thought had been given to its philo Meryle Secrest greatest triumphs were as a conductor sophical basis to one in which music edu Leonard Bernstein: A Life and as a composer for the Broadway cation was defended on an aesthetic basis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. stage. He looked on the immense suc Only in the last couple of years have we 470 pp. $30. ISBN: 0-679-40731-6 cess of his conducting appearances and seen the latter concept challenged. of West Side Story as more of a detriment Heller combines a vast amount of in ECAUSE OF HIS unique and than a positive accomplishment. Secrest formation from primary sources, inter dominant position in American also presents, with rare insight and sen views, archives, and photographs. We see Bmusic from the mid 1940s to his sitivity, Bernstein's struggle to reconcile clearly the public face of Leonhard death in 1990, the facts of Leonard the heterosexual and homosexual aspects through his writings, speeches, and re Bernstein's life are well known (yet end of his life. search. The private man, however, is much lessly intriguing). He has proved irresistible Despite Secrest's lack of formal musi more difficult to describe. Heller comes to a number of biographers, including cal background (she is best known for her close to acknowledging this when he David Ewen, John Briggs, and John biography of Frank Lloyd Wright), she notes: "Leonhard's personality is interest Gruen in the 1960s, Joan Peyser in 1987, displays great ease in writing about mu ing, if somewhat enigmatic, for a biogra and Burton Humphrey and Meryle sic. The book is accurate and very well pher to study" (p. 181). Secrest in 1994. In this fascinating biog researched. One can only quarrel with Leonhard's life and works have had a raphy Secrest reveals information that the the author's assertion (p. 306) that Mahler profound effect on music education in reader cannot find in other books and completed ten symphonies (he left the America. Few in any profession can make presents a particularly fair and balanced tenth unfinished) and the minor misstate such a claim. In writing Leonhard's biogra account of some very impottant conflicts ment (p. 303) that Chichester Psalms was phy, Heller has performed a worthy service. in Bernstein's life. commissioned for Chichester Cathedral Malcolm V. Edwards One such conflict resulted from (it was composed for the Southern Ca University ofCalgary Bernstein's desire to be known and re thedrals Festival held at Chichester). Calgary, Alberta, Canada membered as a composer of serious mu While this book was obviously written sical works, despite the fact that his for the general reader, musicians will find much of special interest. It presents fasci nating backstage views of the world of music over the last five decades. It helps readers understand the schism in the middle years of this century between com posers writing tonal music and those es acfea pousing twelve-tone and other more Tour Consultants avant-garde methods and styles. It also Performing ArtsTours Since 1955 reveals the significant role of bribes, net working, and dispensing of sexual favors HAYDN'S in launching and building major musi CREATION cal careers. In summary, Leonard Bernstein: A Life conducted by is well-written, accurate, and thorough. SIR NEVILLE MARRINER While Secrest mentions or discusses vari July 17-19, 1997, in Wells Cathedral, England ous choral works, she gives more insights into the background of the music than Join British and North American singers for two days of rehearsal into the. works themselves. She brings in this beautiful West Country city, culminating in a performance much factual information to life in her of Haydn's choral masterpiece with a professional orchestra biography and enlivens every page with under the direction of one of the world's pre-eminent conductors. quotes from Bernstein or from those close to him. Moreover, she offers a wonderful Choral ensembles of any size may participate. Acceptance is by selection of photos that adds to the book's audition. visual appeal. Melvin Berger We would be happy to suggest touring possibilities for individual New York, New York groups before or after this event. -C]- For more injol7nation, please contact: 120 Second Ave S Edmonds, WA 98020 800 886-3355 206776-3273 US Offices: San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Denver, Atlanta PAGE 54 CHORAL JOURNAL 7 ':: AM. II I C A ' 5 P RI E M I E R 5: H q W C HOI REV E N T 5 ! GROU~ COMl'nl~ION GROU~ SHOWCASE SOLO ~OMI'ETITlbN HMAL,E COMl'nmON CLlNICiS UEADING ADJUDI~A10RS AWARDS : 'TO~ VENUES I ' 'RATION 1997 SEASON WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort March 13-16 CHICAGO March 20-23 DISNEYlANO®park April 17-20 ~HAL.LEONARD® New Choral Music for the Holidays A Christmas Portrait Kwanzaa Celebration - Roger Emerson Music and Memories of the Season Celebrate the diversity of the season with this original song that teaches Chotal Revue arranged by Mac Huff about the December holiday of Kwanzaa. Script and Staging by JohnJacobson 08740781 SATE ...... $ 1.25 Pull out your holiday photo album and remember 08740782 SAB ...... $ 1.25 Christmas past. This 30-minute choral revue is a 08740783 2-Part ...... $ 1.25 heart-warming celebration of all the joy the 08740784 ST Casso ...... $16.95 season can bring. Six flexible sections. Light The Candles Light the Candles 08740625 SATB Score ...... $30.00 John LeavittlLinda Marcus 08740626 SAB Score ...... $30.00 Celebrate the mystery and miracle of Hanukkah in 08740627 2-Part Score ...... $30.00 this easily-learned original. 08740628 SATE Singer ...... $ 3.95 08740667 3-Part Mixed ...... $1.25 08740629 SAB Singer ...... $ 3.95 08740668 2-Part ...... $1.25 08740630 2-Part Singer ...... $ 3.95 08740634 Director's Kit-Score & I-Pak (C) ...... $75.00 08740631 Prevo CasSo ...... $12.95 08740632 ST Casso ...... $49.95 Merry, Merry Christmas Baby - an: Ed Lojeski 08740633 ST CD ...... $49.95 Say "Merry Christmas" 50's-style with this classic pop song. 08740774 SATE ...... $ 1.40 The Christmas Song 08740775 SSA ...... $ 1.40 (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) 08740776 TTB ...... $ 1.40 an: Audrey Snyder{fohn Higgins 08200653 ST CasSo ...... $16.95 An ideal finale for choir and band, this stunning setting is sure to become a standard in your holiday concert programming. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers - an: John Leavitt 08740555 SATB ...... $ 1.40 Here's a sparkling seasonal favorite arranged for younger choirs. 08740556 SAB ...... $ 1.40 Optional percussion and great staging possibilities! 08740557 2-Part ...... $ 1.40 08564095 2-Part ...... $ 1.40 08740558 STCass ...... $16.95 08564096 ST CasSo ...... $16.95 04001618 Concert Band Acc. (Score and Parts) ...... $55.00 Peace Carol (with "Dona Nobis Pacem") Christmas Songs for Tenor Bass Chorus Emily Crocker a1'/: Keith Christopher A beautiful original melody partnered with the well-loved canon. A practical holiday collection for the developing Delightful and accessible for choirs of any level. male chorus. Includes: Blue Christmas, Deck the 08740683 2-Part ...... $1.25 Hall, Go Tell It On the Mountain, A Holly Jolly Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas Riu, Riu, Chiu (Spanish Carol) - an: Audrey Snyder 08740802 TBmB ...... $ 2.95 Here is a setting of the anonymous 16th century Spanish carol with a new, 08740803 ST CasSo ...... $35.00 secular English text. 08740652 3-Part Mixed ...... $1.25 08740653 2-Part ...... $1.25 Jolly Old st. Nicholas an: John Leavitt Walking In The Air This sparkling salute to the Man in Red makes a delightful addition to any Howard Blake/an: Audrey Snyder holiday program. Includes bass and percussion. From the popular children's book and video The 08703120 SATB ...... $1.25 Snowman. 08703119 SAB ...... $1.25 08718016 SATE ...... $1.40 08703118 2-Partl3-Part ...... $1.25 08718017 3-Part Mixed ...... $1.40 08718018 2-Part ...... $1.40 COIttaCt YOllr favorite cborall'etailer to order l1t1lSic, ~ HAL-LEONARD" 7777 W. BLUEMOUND RD. P.O. Box 13819 MILWAUKEE, WI 53213 CHORAL REVIEWS Corydon J. Carlson, editor Editor's Note: In this issue we review PUBLISHERS THIS ISSUE works appropriate for school, church, and concert performance by children's choirs. Fred Bock Music Company Neil A. Kjos Music Company E. C. Schirmer Music Company Intrada Music Group, agent 4380 Jutland Drive ECS Publishfug, agent P.O. Box 1240 San Diego, CA 92117 138 Ipswich Street At the Foot ofYonder Mountain Anderson, IN 46015 Boston, MA 02215 Earlene Rentz (arr.) Laurendale Associates Two-part, piano Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. 10535 Wyandotte Street G. Schirmer, Inc. Warner Brothers, OCT02598, $1.10 Tenth Floor Van Nuys, CA 91405 Hal Leonard Corporation, 52 Cooper Square agent New York, NY 10003 Hal Leonard Corporation 7777 West Bluemound Road Simplicity marks this tale of a young P.O. Box 13819 Milwaukee, WI 53213 man's unrequited admiration for his fair Choristers Guild Milwaukee, WI 53213 queen. The folk song (origin not speci Lorenz Corporation, agent Shawnee Press, Inc. fied) conrains three stanzas, each using 501 East Third Street Leslie Music Supply, Inc. 49 Waring Drive textual imagery that draws children inro Dayton, OH 45401 198 Speers Road Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327 Oakville, ON L6K 2E9 the tale. The first stanza is sung in uni Fostco Canada Southern Music Company son. The remaining stanzas are set in two Mark Foster Music Company, P.O. Box 329 vocal parts, employing a descant, a agent Lfudsay Music San Antonio, TX 78292 canonic passage, and homophonic verse P.O. Box 4012 Theodore Presser Company, endings (including an optional three-part Champaign, IL 61824 agent Gordon V. Thompson Music Presser Place Warner Brothers Publications, final chord). Pitches and tessituras are ap Heritage Music Press Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 agent propriate for fourth- and fifth-grade choirs Lorenz Corporation, agent 15800 NW Forry-eighth with a year or two of experience. A natu 501 East Third Street . Marko Press . Avenue· ral meter change closes each verse. The Dayton,OH45401 Mark Foster M~ic Company, Miami; FL 33014 final stanza is in G major, and the only agent Hendon Music, Inc. P.O; Box 4012 Walton Music Corporation departure from the work's simple style Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., agent Champaign, lL 61824 170 NE Thirry-third Street occurs at the final E-major chord. Careful Tenth Floor Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 preparation, through dynamic and tempo 52 Cooper Square Plymouth Music C:ompany, Inc. sensitivity, is needed for the chord pro New York, NY 10003 170 NE Thirry-third Street Warner Brothers Publications gression to be effective. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 15800 NW Forry-eighth Hfushaw Music, Inc. Avenue Patrick K Freer P.O. Box 470 Miami, FL 33014 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Autumn Song -e- Robert Carl VOCAL RANGES Two-part, piano ~2:~.~.~-e-~,~.~) ~ -e- Hendon (Boosey & Hawkes, agent), C c OCTB6743,80<1: This is a beautiful, lyrical setting of an Emily Dickinson poem about the com ing of autumn. Set for two-part treble surprises. Though set in ~ meter, duplets Barter voices and piano, the piece opens with an appear frequently. Though the accompani Kirke Mechem unaccompanied unison statement of the ment is relatively easy, it contains duple SA, trumpet or oboe, piano four-hands modal melody. Most of the piece is in against triple rhythms. Robert Carl's com G. Schirmer (Hal Leonard, agent), unison, but a brief passage of unaccom position is clear and concentrated in keep HL50482303, $2.50 panied two-part singing requires indepen ing with the style of Dickinson's text. This dent singers. delightful piece could easily be performed Barter sets an inspirational text by Sara The piano accompaniment supports the by a good children's choir. Teasdale in a brilliant and expressive style. unison melody and provides some harmonic Sara Lynn Baird The individual vocal lines are not difficult, AUGUST 1996 PAGE 57 ~ NEW MUSIC but the interrelation of the vocal and in For this reason the piece would be appro strumental parts makes this work most priate for an Independence Day celebra .. For Choir: suitable for either an advanced children's tion, a correlating history lesson, or a #721 See Amid the Winter's Snow chorus or high school/adult women. concert with a patriotic theme. Arr., R. Haan. SATB, $1.25 Mechem sets the three stanzas in three Ranges are quite moderate and would be #722 Carol of the Little Donkey large sections. The homorhythrnic music handled easily by young choirs with some Weldon Whipple. $ATB, $1.30 of the first stanza is repeated for the sec changing male voices. The keyboard ac #723 o Sing the Glories of Our Lord ond. The third stanza is set in a more companiment is relatively easy with some Arr., K. Kosche. SATB, $1.05 #724 Simple Praise expansive style with wider vocal ranges and syncopated rhythms to suggest ragtime style. John A. Behnke. 2-Part, $1.15 a slightly animated texture. At the "moral" Sara Lynn Baird #725 Ah, Dearest Jesu, Holy Child of the text ("For one white hour of peace Robert Wetzler. SATB, $1.00 count many a year of strife well spent"), #726 Angels Mechem returns to a homophonic texture, Ronald A. Nelson. 2-Part, $1.00 #727 God Woke the Stars increasing the number of parts to three. Blessed Is He Robert Wetzler. SATB, $.70 The chordal texture of the second pi Rob Landes #728 From All that Dwell Below the ano part contrasted with arpeggios in the Two-part, organ Skies K. Kosche. SATB, $1.05 first enlivens the texture throughout. The Fred Bock (Intrada, agent), BG2270, $1.40 #729 Harvest Song Dana Mengel. SATB, $1.00 vocal parts are accessible both in range #730 Christmas Day Is Here! and in difficulty level. The piece is in ¥ Palm Sunday provides an occasion for Dana Mengel. SAB, $1.25 and Mechem exploits trochaic organiza~ some composers to write paradelike drivel #731 Hark! A Thrilling Voice tion of the meter with occasional mo for children's choirs, but Rob Landes has Robert Wetzler. SATB, $1.15 ments of two against three. Trumpet not followed suit in Blessed Is He. After a #732 Praise God, Ye Christians ... fanfares appear between the vocal phrases, brief organ fanfare that alternates between Arr., J. Sutcliffe. SATB, $1.30 #733 Rejoice and Be Merry contributing vitality and brilliance to the D-major and E-major broken triads, the Arr., J. Sutcliffe. SATB, $1.25 setting. Both the piano and trumpet parts two vocal parts enter with a straightfor #734 On the Mountain require musicians of impeccable rhyth ward and singable melody enlivened by Arr., Theron Kirk. 2-Part, $1.00 mic awareness, moderate (or greater) tech syncopation and dotted rhythms. Part #735 Help Your Child, I Pray nical ability, and, for the trumpet, stamina writing is characterized chiefly by pas Dolores Hurby. 2-Part, $1.15 #736 The Angel Gabriel in the upper range. sages in parallel thirds alternating with Arr., Ronald Nelson. SAB, $1.05 Mechem's beautiful setting of this sections where one part sings a sustained #737 Advent Proclamation meaningful text is appropriate for able note while the other executes a brief mov Olaf G. Malmin. SATB, $1.15 children's choirs (both school and com ing figure. The organ accompaniment is #2040 People, Look East munity) and for church choirs that per both supportive of the voices and musi Arr., D. Cherwien. 2-Part, $1.25 #2041 Nativity Carol form secular texts. It is perhaps best suited cally inventive. Leland B. Sateren. SATB, $1.30 to festival occasions. Musical awareness The piece begins in D major, makes a #3016 African Glad Noel and commitment on the part of the cho brief excursion to B~ major, returns to the Dadee Reilly. SATB, $1.20 risters are necessary to do justice to this original key, and concludes in EJ. major. 2 2 .. Also New: challenging but sublime work. Sustained notes in the d -e range will give Elizabeth Schauer sopranos practice in singing with supported HB-20 Fairest Lord Jesus, arr., Walter head voice, and the high tessitura in the Schurr. Handbells (3 oct.), $2.25 OR-25 Three Celebration Pieces closing section (marked ff) should be a Mark Sedio. For Organ, $6.95 challenge to sing while maintaining a V-19 Psalm 128. Vocal Solo. Betsy Ross Rag beautiful tone quality. Children's choirs Robert Wetzler. $2.95 Lee Campbell will enjoy singing this well-crafted piece .. Music Packet: Four-part treble, piano and will have the opportunity to develop Southern, SC486, $1.35 their vocal technique while preparing it. Send $9.75 for our 1996 Fall-Christmas Jed David ~tson Packet. A $31.10 value! Includes is a clever character piece single copies of new choral publications Betsy Ross Rag listed above, plus others, and Catalog. in a ragtime style for two choirs of two part treble voices and keyboard. Only fif teen measures of this seventy-six-measure Chatter with the Angels Charles Collins (arr.) A.M.S.I. piece require four-part Clivisi, and this Two-part treble 1599 SE 8th Street short section uses melodies that appear Boosey & Hawkes, OCTB6795, $1.10 Minneapolis, MN 55414 earlier in the vocal lines. The text, by the composer, describes Betsy Ross sewing the flag of the United States and incorporates This creative setting of the African 'ir Toll free: 1-800-SEE-AMSI part of the Preamble to the Constitution. American spiritual provides opportunities PAGE 58 CHORAL JOURNAL for improvisation while introducing Melody and accompaniment are tune each other. The middle section requires young choirs to easy two-part writing. ful and simple, featuring moderate ranges the division of the choir into four equal Set in three large sections, the piece opens and diatonic melodic skips. The optional parts. The composer uses the original with a simple, unison statement of the second voice part adds harmonic interest. melody and two ostinatos to accompany tune. The bridge to the second section A choir of treble voices should quickly the familiar I've Been Workin' on the Rail is, in effect, a vamp. Because the piece is learn and enjoy this piece. road These parts enter one at a time and based on the pentatonic scale, choir Sara Lynn Baird are repetitious enough for the choir to learn members may improvise during this in with ease. This would be an excellent choice terlude on the black keys of the piano, for a beginning children's choir, a school on Orff instruments, or on sung notes of chorus, or as a crowd pleaser for a festival. the pentatonic scale. In the second sec Get On Board Carolee R. Curtright tion, "chattering" is musically depicted J. Paul Williams and Joseph Martin through repeated eighth-notes in the Two-part (with divisi), keyboard two voices and in the piano accompani Fred Bock (Intrada, agent), BG 2288, $1.10 ment. The arranger suggests that the In Flanders Fields pentatonic arpeggiations also represent Get On Boardwas originally written for Ruth Watson Henderson angelic harps. The final section, again in the Houston Children's Chorus. The piece SSA, optional wind instrument unison, builds in intensity through ac begins with spoken "choo-fa" sounds to Gordon V. Thompson (Warner Brothers, celeration and repetition in a contempo imitate the sound of an oncoming train agent), VG-352, $1.75 rary gospel style. and adds accompaniment with chords that A wholly accessible piece, Chatter with imitate the train's whistle. The melody is An optional introduction by anyavail the Angels maintains moderate ranges and simple and appealing with some syncopa able wind instrument prefaces the for tessituras throughout. The piano accom tion, but it is not difficult to learn or sing. lornly provocative text ofthis tightly woven paniment is harmonically supportive of Harmony parts are well written and would composition. Ruth Watson Henderson sets the voices and is quite easy. The greatest be easy to learn since the parts often echo the poetry ofJohn McCrae (1872-1918) challenge is in the second section where four independent melodic lines result from the combination of two voices and the keyboard part (all voices move homorhythmically, however). Suitable for elementary and junior high treble choirs, the piece is appropriate for both church and school functions. Choristers will respond to the energetic rhythms and singable tune of this setting. Fun and educational, this spiritual would serve well as a celebratory opening or closing for a concert or church service. Under the leadership of Elizabeth Schauer HENRYLECK CECCF Artistic Director Indianapolis Children's Choir Music Director Dreams ofAfrica: A Songfor Elephants and Butler University Choral Professor Douglas Coombes Unison (optional second voice part), piano • COPENHAGEN • AALBORG, DENMARK Lindsay (Theodore Presser, agent), • GOTEBORG, SWEDEN • OSLO • BERGEN, NORWAY 31241685, $1.15 Ten-Day Festival In Three Countries This simple, lyrical piece by Douglas For SATB choirs grades 9-12 • Post-trip packages available to Fjord Region Coombes sets an original text that high lights the plight of elephants in Mrica, encouraging listeners to protect the Forjurther injonnation, please contact: gentle animals. A concert featuring an SCANDINAVIAN YOUTH CHOIR FESTIVAL animal or environmental theme is an a div~sion of Grueninger Tours, Inc. appropriate venue. According to the oc 8p80 Cedar Place Dr., Suite 116 Indianapolis, IN 46240 tavo, Coombes specializes in songs with (800)844-4159 (317)465-1122 (317) 479-1000 fax environmental themes. AUGUST 1996 PAGE 59 so that every musical element both illumi for singers to learn bits of jazz history with only a few skips that should be easily nates and reflects the substance of each through its text and to experience a sam performed by a young choir. The piece's phrase. The seamless marriage of text and pling ofjazz rhythms and vocal techniques simple ABA formal structure matches that music is accomplished through use of through the music. The optional second of the text. Ranges are moderate, and minimalist techniques, pedal points, chro and third vocal parts respond to the main both parts will be quickly learned by maticism, and sensitive expressive mark line in some instances and provide children's choirs. Though George Strid is ings. Several phrases begin with all voices straightforward harmony in others. Some listed as the arranger, his exact role in the in close pitch proximity only to explode groups may experience difficulty in ar _composition is not indicated. Therefore, to a more open voicing as the text de ticulating the text with rhythmic accu the piece does not meet ACDNMPA edi mands ("The larks, still bravely singing, racy at the suggested tempo cJ = 132). torial standards. singing fly"). Unison writing, brief flour The range of all the vocal parts centers Sara Lynn Baird 1 2 ishes of harmony; and momentary po around c to e • An optional saxophone lyphony can be found within single part is provided, and the composer sug phrases of text. This is a difficult piece to gests adding bass and drums where ap learn; however, vocal ranges, rhythmic propriate. Movement also could be added Listen to the Rain challenges, harmonic demands, and ex at the point in the music that refers to the Dorothy Christopherson (arr.) pressive subtleties are all within the reach jitterbug dance craze. The piano part is Unison, keyboard, percussion of mature youth choirs. demanding, requiring a player with excel Choristers Guild (Lorenz, agent), PatJick K Freer lent technique who also can swing. CGA652,95¢ Sharon Davis Gratto This delightful arrangement uses the familiar tune La Cucaracha, to which the Jazz! Jazz! American Jazz! arranger has added percussion-rainsticks, Walter Mourant Kyrie eleison bongos, vibraslap, maracas, temple blocks, Unison, optional second and third vocal Mary Donnelly and finger cymbals. The English text by parts, piano, optional alto saxophone George L. O. Strid (arr.) Helen Stensrud is well-written and descrip Laurendale, CH-l108, $1.25 Two-part, keyboard tive. Images of the rain on growing seeds, Shawnee, EA-190, $1.10 love for God's gift of rain, and the appear Jazz! Jazz! American Jazz.~ with text by ance of a rainbow's many colors are in Walter Mourant, Karen Bellinger, and Mary Donnelly has provided a simple, cluded in the text along with a repeated Nancy Ann Piver, is a clever and challeng melodic two-part setting of the Kyrie text Spanish phrase meaning "listen to the rain." ing piece for upper elementary or junior with an easy arpeggiated piano accompa The piece is an excellent choice for a be high singers. It provides an opportunity niment. The melody uses stepwise motion ginning children's choir in a church or concert setting. Carolee R. Curtright HISPANIC INJLUfNCfS Lone Dog Benjamin Britten IN CHORAL MUSIC Unison, piano Boosey & Hawkes, OCTB6738, 80¢ Lone Dog is one of the many singable June 30-July 6, 1997 pieces in Britten's children's choir collec tion Friday Afternoons. This series of -Experience the hospitality of the lIeartland- twelve pieces was composed for the pre paratory school attended by Britten's • Competifion for treble choirs of children brother (where singing classes took place on Fridays). The text by Irene R. a~e 15 and under. McLeod uses many wonderfully descrip • Artist in Residence: Schola Canto rum de tive words such as "lean," "keen," "wild," Caracas with Alberto Grau, Conductor. "bad," and "mad" to depict the dog. Each • ~our international adjudicators. phrase of the piece moves one step higher • All housin~, meals &local transportation in a melodic sequence. The three verses are through-composed. This piece would arran~ed by the ~estival. be especially appealing to a boys' choir, PAGE 60 CHORAL JOURNAL although it could easily be done by any part and the piano accompaniment also note patterns that creates the impression children's choir. are technically demanding. of a dove in flight. This is truly an ethe Carolee R. Curtright Although Night Dove is for SSAA, the real setting of a secular text that carries four-part texture only appears on the fi spiritual overtones. nal two pages (where the voicing actually Sharon Davis Gratto changes to SSAAAfor two measures). The Mbiri Kuna Mwari meter is mixed throughout the piece, be Lee Kesselman ginning in l and moving to ~ and 4' An Four-part treble, percussion occasional crossing of voice parts, a few The Old Woman and He7' Cat Boosey & Hawkes, OCTB6792, $1.50 difficult intervals, and some dissonant Ruth Watson Henderson spots can pose a challenge, but the piece SA, piano, alto glockenspiel, tambourine Mbil·i Kuna Mwari sets the opening is well worth learning. The way the ar Gordon V. Thompson (Warner Brothers, text of the Gloria section of the Mass in ticulation and the rhythmic patterns mir agent), VG-265, $1.95 the Shona language of Zimbabwe. Lee ror the text-as at "Sparks of hope born Kesselman based the composition on mu of specks of light," with longer note val The Old Woman and Her Catwas com sical styles native to the Shona culture. ues and articulation on the words "hope" missioned by the Music Teachers Associa His original melody is first presented in l and "light" and faster staccato notes for tion of Carleton, Ontario. The text, an in two parts with each part answering the "sparks" and "specks" -is very effective. anonymous eight-verse ballad about an other. Percussion is then added against When the voices sing in unison, espe old woman who marries a tom cat, is one that same melody in ~. The melody is cially at the end of the composition, a that children should find humorous to repeated, first in two parts, then in three contrasting feeling of delicate strength is sing. Clear diction is important if the tale parts. Each part has its own melody and created. As the choir sings "1 am the dove" is to be understood. The refrains in each would therefore be easy to learn. A slower in contrary motion ending with a sus verse-"with a high gee hol gee humble" section without percussion leads into the tained note on "dove," the oboe enters and "with a bimble, bamble, bumble" final portion of the piece, which includes with a sequence of descending sixteenth- add to the rhythmic interest. They are a three-part rhythmic accompaniment and the original melody. The piece is appro priate for intermediate children's choirs with some experience in singing parts as well as high school or college treble en sembles. The percussion, the unusual erican melody, and mastery of the language * would provide interest and challenge for O~rinceton, New It any ensemble. A text translation, sugges tions concerning the performance, and a 9th National Conference on Choral Training pronunciation guide are included. for Directors of Children's, Girls', and Boys' Choirs Carolee R. Curtright September 26-29, 1996 PIinceton, NewJersey Clnistian Ashley-Botha Night Dove The Drakensberg Boys' Choir, South Africa Linda Nolan SSAA, piano, oboe James Litton, The Amelican Boychoir E. C. Schirmer (ECS, agent), 4977, $1.50 TWO INTENSIVE DAYS Night Dove was commissioned for the .. Vocal development and choral techniques Kinderchor at Otterbein College, Wester ville, Ohio (the composer, Linda Nolan, ·Open rehearsals with the American Boychoir and the is the choir's accompanist). The text, by oDrakensberg Boys' Choir Sara Sanderson, was developed from po oThe Amelican Boychoir sound etry created by participants in the April oMusic of South Africa 1993 Kinderchor Poetry Workshop. The expressively descriptive words receive a For complete information and registration contact: beautiful musical setting, resulting in a Nancy Plum, Conference Coordinator The American Boychoir School fresh and challenging composition that 19 Lambert Drive, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 requires a skilled group of singers with a 609/924-5858 609/924-5812 (fax) well-developed sound. The haunting oboe AUGUST 1996 PAGE 61 accompanied by body percussion, tam On Earth Has Dawned This Day ofDays appropriate for the Easter season. Writ bourine, and alto glockenspiel. The tempo Hal H. Hopson (arr.) ten in ~ and marked "with a joyful lilt," marking for the piece is "gaily." In ~ Two-part, keyboard, six optional handbelIs four repetitions of the verse-refrain occur. throughout, the meter changes to § for Choristers Guild (Lorenz, agent), Harmonically, the verses concentrate on two measures in verse four. The piece CGA709, $1.10 the tonic and supertonic seventh chords, should be easy for young singers to per while the dominant note sounds insistently form, yet it contains enough variety in While many conductors will be famil during the refrain. The arranger's crafts the vocal writing and in the accompani iar with this traditional Cornish tune as manship is demonstrated in his highly cre ment parts to maintain singers' and lis the Christmas carol Tomorrow Shall Be ative use ofsuch limited harmonic material. teners' interest. My Dancing Day, Hal Hopson has substi The Latin phrase "Christus surrexit" oc Sharon Davis Gratto tuted a sixteenth-century German text curs as part of the refrain. The ranges are modest, but the tessitura's concentration on bl to d2 will provide singers practice in the use of head voice. The optional handbell part, printed on the last page, can be learned easily and adds to the festive character of this fine arrangement. Jed David w::tztson s a director, you understand The Owl and the Pussy-Cat the connection between confi Roy Boole dence and performance. Unison, piano Musical confidence is enhanced Gordon V. Thompson (Warner Brothers, when performers feel good about agent), VG-1020, $1.50 their appearance. When Southeastern joins your group This addition to the Toronto Children's onstage, the result is pure harmony. Chorus Choral Series sets a familiar child hood text by Edward Lear (1812-88) and For 13 years, Southeastern has is dedicated to the composer's family cat. been designing fashions for choral It is fresh, imaginative, and challenging. groups. We offer a large selection of Some unexpected harmonic shifts, along styles in popular fabrics, colors, and with rhythmic and metric variety, bring sizes to fit the needs and budgets interest to the strophic setting. A few large of the most diverse groups. Our leaps and disjunct melodic passages may vast inventory allows us to deliver provide a challenge, but the musical ex ahead of schedule on most orders. pectations and range are well within the Call today for your FREE catalog abilities of a children's choir. featuring our most recent styles. David L. Brunner Pippa's Song Elliot Borishansky SA, piano Gordon V. Thompson (Warner Brothers, agent), VG-261, $1.75 Part of the Toronto Children's Chorus Choral Series, Pippa's Song is a rather chal lenging setting of Robert Browning's poem of the same name. With a central 142 South Woodburn Drive' Dothan, Alabama 36301 theme of renewal, the poem details ele 1-800-239-6294 ments of morning and spring, concluding with "God's in His heaven, All's right PAGE 62 CHORAL JOURNAL with the world!" Borishansky manipu lates the text, presenting it out of order, with modifications, and with unexpected Southern Music Company repetitions. He crafts a musical/dramatic Serving Texas Music Educators Since 1937 progression through the work, beginning with anguished dissonances and angular lines and culminating in a bright presen Vocal Connections tation of the concluding text in a major. Borishansky speaks with a thoroughly Dr. Ruth Whitlock modern voice, exploiting sonority, rhythm, VOCAL CONNECTIONS is a unique and innovative method which allows and form to great dramatic effect. The students to learn solfege syllables (moveable "do"), the most common tonal result is an intentionally labored unfold patterns, tonal relationships, and "inner hearing" (audiation), the most ing and transformation that mirror's essential element to music reading. VOCAL CONNECTIONS is designed nature's struggle for renewal. for use by an entire classroom or choir, but can also be used as an effective The technical demands on the choris instructional and evaluational tool for the individual student. VOCAL ters and pianist are great. The vocal lines CONNECTIONS is successful with choirs (school, church, or professional), are disjunct and rhythmically displaced secondary general music and theory classes, elementary music classes, and one from the other. The harmonic lan musicianship and ear-training classes. guage is primarily nonfunctional, though tonal centers are achieved through Teacher's Kit (CIOO) ...... 49.95 strongly placed open fifths and octaves Grids, set of 5 (ClOl) ...... 19.95 (sometimes arpeggiated) and pitch rep Music Reading Exercises, set of 5 (CI02) ...... 19.95 etition. The dynamic and temporal nu Treble Tape (CI03) ...... 9.95 ances in the piece require an expressive Male Tape (CI04) ...... 9.95 and disciplined conductor and a well trained ensemble. While the two vocal Southern Music Company parts are always doubled in the piano, the P. o. Box 329 .:. San Antonio, TX .:. 78292 ~" piano also is featured in a lengthy intro 210-226-8167 .:. Fax 210-223-4537 ~ . duction. The part requires a highly ex Toll-Free-800-284-5443 pressive and technically proficient player ~ with a reach of a tenth. The choir that can assimilate Pippa's Songwill have achieved substantial growth and the important experience of singing art music of our own time. Recommended for highly skilled treble choirs only. Elizabeth Schauer Quiet Solitude (Visa fran Utanmyra) Carl-Bertil Agnestig (arr.) Three-part treble Walton, WTC-IOOO, $1.25 WITTE TRAVEL Qytiet Solitude is an unaccompanied ar rangement of a folk song from Dalecarlin, Specializing in custom-designed tours for perfonning groups Sweden. Its haunting melody is skillfully UNITED STATES • CANADA • EUROPE harmonized to highlight the feeling of loneliness and lost love portrayed in the SCANDINAVIA. GREAT BRITAIN text. The piece begins with all voices hum 3250 - 28th Street, S.E. ming in three-part harmony. The A sec Grand Rapids, MI 49512 F==i tion introduces the melody with the alto ~ accompanying on "00." The middle sec (616) 957-8113 or (800) 469-4883 ~ _ tion uses a vocal-jazz-type ostinato to Wherever your travel, let us be your guide. accompany the melody and then returns to the A section. The piece closes with AUGUST 1996 PAGE 63 three-part humming as at the beginning. he CHORAL JOURNAL: A !$ofil:ware Bncllex is updated each summer to include the last completed volume year. Orders received after June 15 Both the Swedish and English texts are will be held and filled with the revised version as soon as it is made included. Sopranos 1 and 2 are in a nor available. If your word-processing program is not among those listed mal range for the young voice. The alto below, check its documentation to see whether it will open and read any requires a little more maturity as the of the following formats. A hard disk is required for all versions. range is from f to gl (which would work well for boys whose voices are in the Versions for Macintosh Versions for pes midst of change). This arrangement also • MICROSOFT WORD (v3.0 and higher) • WORD FOR DOS (all versions) • WRITENow (v1.0 and higher) • WORD FOR WINDOWS (v1.0 and higher) would be suitable for a high school or o MACWRITE II (v1.0 and higher) • XY WRITE III college treble ensemble. • RICH TEXT FORMAT (RTF) • WORDSTAR (v5.5 and higher) Carolee R. Curtright • RICH TEXT FORMAT (RTF) Street Address ______City ______State __ Zip Code ____ Resonet in laudibus Type of Computer Software Version Desired _____ Z. Randall Stroope SA/SA double choirs, piano, snare drum Quantity Price Enclosed Payment Fostco (Mark Foster, agent), YS700, $1.50 @ $18.00 L ___ Resonet in laudibus borrows its text All versions are $18, including shipping and handling, and are provided on from a composition ofJacob Handl. Writ 3:5 U floppy disks. Complete this coupon and send check or money order ten as a double-choir processional for the (payable to ACDA) to: Nebraska Children's Chorus, the music Choral Journal Software Index vividly portrays the text, "Resounding in American Choral Directors Association praise with delightful applause." The P.O. Box 6310 ranges and tessituras are excellent for chil Lawton, 01< 73506-0310 dren, and the writing would encourage a celebrative sound. Although one would need a choir large enough to divide in halt the two-part writing is not difficult and choir two usually echoes choir one. This piece would make an effective be ginning to any concert. Notes containing suggestions for performance and a pro nunciation guide for the Latin are in cluded, although one brief phrase of text is omitted from the translation and pro nunciation guide. The piece is also avail able for SATB (MF553). Carolee R. Curtright Season ofSpring Days _ Yes! Send me the items I have indicated above. GlennBuhr SSA, piano Name: ______~------Gordon V. Thompson (Warner Brothers, Street Address: ______agent), VG-351, $2.25 City: ______State: __ Zip Code: _____ Glenn Buhr has provided marvelous settings of four poems by Basho Matsuo Telephone: ( __ ) ______for SSA divisi and piano. Commissioned by the Toronto Children's Chorus, this Enclose prepayment with order. Make check or money order payable to ACDA. Send to: work is about nine minutes in length and requires a capable choir of treble or Boutique Items I ACDA I P.O. Box 6310 I Lawton; OK 73506-0310 women's voices and a competent pianist. Nonconventional notation and some PAGE 64 CHORAL JOURNAL aleatoric passages are characteristic of the Shake the Papaya Down cepts and introducing three-part harmony. piece, but the score is clearly marked and Ruth Dwyer and Judith Waller (arrs.) The arrangers include teaching suggestions easy to understand. Tone clusters in the Three-part treble, piano and rhythmic patterns to use for optional final piece are the most complicated har Plymouth, HL-222, $1.25 percussion. The most valuable asset of the monies to negotiate. arrangement is its singable melodies. Each poem is effectively represented This arrangement of the calypso song Carolee R. Curtright in the music, requiring laughter, singing, Shake the Papaya Down is an easily acces and whispering. Three of the fout pieces sible three-part piece. The original melody; are in English, but one presents a Japa presented in unison, is followed by a uni nese text along with the English. A pho son counter-melody. Those two melodies Sing Praise to God netic spelling of the Japanese allows for are then combined. A third melody fol Robert Leaf easy pronunciation. Though this set of lows in unison and then is combined with Unison, keyboard pieces will challenge good choirs, it is a the other two. The melodies are limited in Choristers Guild (Lorenz, agent), CGA712, 95<1: very impressive musical representation of range and emphasize the "syncopa" pat this expressive poetry. terns for singers. The piece affords many Directors of young choirs will appreci Sara Lynn Baird opportunities for teaching musical con- ate this composition for several reasons: Servant's Chorus IRENE COREY DESIGN ASSOCIATES Gaetano Donizetti (214) 821-9633 ~ FAX (214) 821-9651 Greg Pliska (arr.) Two-part, piano Boosey & Hawkes, MET8, $2 ~~,...... SATIN SCULPTURED ANGEL WINGS rr::-""-V'-""'I. custom made to order. The Metropolitan Opera Guild's se ries of choruses for young voices presents BIBLICAL PATTERN PACKAGE provides full scale patterns with complete arrangements from stage works that pro instructions for over twenty costumes. vide a wonderful introduction to the world of opera for young singers. Servant's Send by FAX or mail for catalog with details or call today for free consultation on your pageant needs. Chorus, a two-part treble piece with mini mal soprano divisi, provides commen Christmas orders taken until 10-11-96 tary on the ludicrous events taking place Easter orders taken until 2-14-97 in the household of Don Pasquale in Donizetti's 1843 opera of that name. A successful performance will depend on communicating the composer's humor ous intent through a fast-paced and rhyth mically exact performance. With very few exceptions, the range of the parts lies in t t the cl-e2 range. Brief paragraphs outline the composer's biography and synopsize the plot, but the conductor will need to do further research to prepare the choir and audience to ap Choral Music for Rent preciate the music fully. A competent pia Reasonable: Rates nist will be required to play the block chord/running figure accompaniment Most standard and many "off-beat" titles based on the orchestral parts. While there is nothing wrong with the English ver from Baroque to Vaughan Williams. sion of the text, the original Italian seems Symphonic choral music a specialty. far more successful from a musical stand Most in quantities of 150 or more. point. The publishers might find more Low cost. widespread use of their work if a pronun Catalog with prices available. ciation guide and literal translation were included in future printings. Phone: (212) 247-3878 Fax: (201) 948-4878 Jed David ~tson AUGUST 1996 PAGE 65 Reviewed in Brief Editor's Note: The following items for children's choirs also are recommended. Adrift! A Little Boat Adrift Gmndfothel'$ Clock Songfor Mother Earth Gene Grier and Lowell Everson Henry C. Work Lana Walter (arr.) Two-part, piano, optional flute Nicholas White (arr.) Two-part (optional three-part), piano, Heritage (Lorenz, agent), 15/1149, $1.10 Two-part, piano drum, rattle Hinshaw, HMC-1288, $1.25 Warner Brothers, SV9523, $1.10 Charming setting of an Emily Dickin son poem; ranges moderate and melody A good way to introduce this old Beginning school choirs would en easy. Accompaniment is simple, and the favorite to younger choirs, this arrange joy this easy and solemn setting of na flute part (included) adds interest. Suit ment includes rapid "tick-a-tock-a" tive-American chants (no additional able for an average children's choir. passages and a descant that reaches to information about the source of the 2 a • Much of the arrangement is in uni tunes is given). Ranges are somewhat son (b-gl range), and the two-part sec low. Simple piano accompaniment (all The Crawdad Song tions are largely homophonic. An open fifths) could easily be adapted for Kirby Shaw (arr.) optional, easy third part makes a brief Orff instruments or woodwinds. Two-part, piano, claves or drumsticks appearance. Hal Leonard, 08564070, $1.25 Two Israeli Folk Songs Clever arrangement of a traditional Out ofthe Stars Jill Gallina (arr.) folk tune. Not difficult for either sing Bill Cutter Two-part, keyboard ers or pianist; simple hand motions for Two-part, piano, optional flute Shawnee, EA 204, $1.10 the choir are suggested. Much of the Shawnee, EA-169, $1.10 vocal writing is in unison and includes Accessible arrangements of Zum galli rhythmic "plink-a-plink" sound effects. Lovely and lyrical setting of a sa galli and Havenu shalom aleychem. Sing cred text; the two voice parts are largely ers must master some simple Hebrew as imitative and occupy approximately well as English words. Skillfully crafted the same range. An excellent tool for harmony; easy to learn and sing. A good teaching expressive legato singing. The chance to explore Hebrew texts and piece is in H major, which complicates melodies other than those traditionally the parts for piano and flue. performed for Chanukah. Contributors to Reviewed in Brief: Sara Lynn Baird, Corydon]. Carlson, Carolee R. Curtwright, Sharon Davis Gratto 1) the syllabic text makes following the score relatively easy; 2) the melody is either stepwise or based on fifths and Simply . .. the best! sixths; 3) the vocal range is not challeng ing, which invites focus on other musi cal elements; 4) the accompaniment is harmonically interesting while still dou bling the voice parts; and 5) some mu MASTER MUSIC MANAGER sical elements are easily accomplished, while others contain enough challenge Easy-to-use computer resources for school and church musicians to maintain interest. The form of the piece (forty-two measures) is ABAB Madntosh® and Microsoft® WindowsTM versions include: with an optional two-part coda. Both A MUSic Library Recordings Library Membership Files and B sections imitate fanfares; the B section includes a contrasting "alleluia" Personal Directory Inventory Manager DataDesigner with slight syncopation. Two texts are Easily customize any module, or design your own! provided, the first based on John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world that He Call MANAGER SOFTWARE for a FREE demo disk. gave his only begotten son") and the (800) 282-9220 • Monday-Friday • 9-5 Eastern Time second, by the composer, suitable for general church use. Also available for church musicians ... Hymnlndex™ Worship Planner Patrick K Freer PAGE 66 CHORAL JOURNAL Snow meaning of the text. The voice parts echo is needed, but because many of the six John E. Govedas each other and share portions of the sing teenth-note figures are repeated, the ac Two-part, piano able melody. The composer uses word companiment is only moderately difficult. Leslie, 2086, $1.50 painting effectively to highlight key words Careful attention to the triplet figure in the text. A rippling accompaniment rep against the sixteenth-notes will be neces This poem by Walter de la Mare pro resents the wind. The piece is valuable for sary. Occasional melodic dissonance is well vides delightful imagery and descriptive teaching dynamic contrasts, vocal line, and supported by the accompaniment. The in language, and the composer has set the balance between the two parts. The piece troductory notes suggest that open fJ.fths poetry to a beautifully haunting melody. is most appropriate for a children's choir are used to depict the outdoors. A young Harmony is provided by the alto part, with some experience in part-singing. choir should have little difficulty with this which often imitates the soprano. The Carolee R. Curtright interesting musical description of spring. accompaniment is intricate and challeng Sara Lynn Baird ing. The piece is accessible to a beginning -C]- children's choir but would make a won derful addition to any program. Winter Changes Carolee R. Curtright David Brunner Unison, piano '1Full-time organist for 1900~ Boosey & Hawkes, OCTB6753, $1.10 member congregation with high view of worship and committrnent to the Refonned faith. The organist will be part of an Thy Holy Wings Setting an exquisite text written by fJ.fth established music ministry involving adult Daniel Kallman (arr.) grader Emily Forsythe, David Brunner has choirs, graded children's and youth choirs, Unison, descant, keyboard, optional created a stunning unison piece for inter handbell choirs, and instrumental resources instruments mediate-level treble choir and piano. Be including Casavant and Moller pipe organs Marko (Mark Foster, agent), YS 102, $1 ginning with a brief piano introduction, and Bosendorfer and Baldwin concert this through-composed piece features a grand pianos. Salary and benefits are competitive. A graduate degree in organ flowing melodic line, changing meters, and This Swedish folk tune is handsomely performance is preferred and a strong set for unison chorus with keyboard and copious dynamic and expressive markings. committment to Christ is necessary. optional instrumental ensemble consist With strict attention to musical detail, a Interested persons please contact: ing of string quintet, flute, and clarinet sensitive performance will paint a portrait Mr. James Brown (parts available separately from the pub ofwinter beauty in the mind of the listener. Independent Presbyterian Church lisher). Setting a text by the nineteenth The piano part, sparse and mildly dis 4738 Walnut Grove Road century poet Lina Sandel, the piece was sonant, is most supportive of the voices. Memphis, TN 38117 written for the Northfield Youth Choirs Some wide melodic leaps will give singers (901) 685·8206 (Cora Scholz, Music Director) for perfor good intervallic practice. The full gamut "'------~/ mance on National Public Radio's ''A Prai of the scale from d to e2 is incorporated rie Home Companion," New Year's Eve throughout the piece, and the few ap 1994. The strophic setting of this sacred pearances of f2 and g2 are well-prepared. text employs the original Swedish for verse Jed David U&tson one and English texts (translation by Gracia Grindal) for the remaining two verses. A helpful pronunciation guide in cluding syllabic stress is included. The The Year's at the Spring - RECEPTIONS - range is moderate, and musical demands Theron Kirk ECEPTIONS at ACDA national con would be easily mastered by young sing Two-part, keyboard Rventions afford friends and colleagues with wonderful opportunities for reacquaintances and ers. A shapely descant pairs nicely with Neil A. Kjos, ED 6239, 95¢ sharing ideas about choral music. Receptions at the folk tune on the final verse. the 1997 National Convention in San Diego David L. Brunner This brief setting of Robert Browning's will ral{e place inside the various convention poem is a refreshing new piece for soprano hotels. If you are interested in hosting a recep and alto voices with keyboard. The ranges, tion, a list of the convention hotels and contact d-2 for alto and d-f2 for soprano, can information can be obtained by contacting Who Has Seen the Wind? easily be negotiated by young voices. Intro Donald Trott, 1997 ACDA National Conven tion Program Chair, Department of Music, Sherri Porterfield ductory information about the composer Longwood College, Farmville, VIrginia 23909; Two-part, piano and composition appears in the octavo. ~3~ telephone: 804/395-2500; fax: 804/395-2149; Heritage (Lorenz, agent), 15/1014, $1.10 A rhythmic motive, V r r V r, forms e-mail: [email protected]. Infor the basis for the vocal lines, which are mation about receptions must be received by This setting of Christina Rossetti's Who accompanied by cascading sixteenth-note October 1, 1996, in order to be listed in the Has Seen the Wind sensitively enhances the figures in the piano part. An agile pianist program booklet. AUGUST 1996 PAGE 67 ADVERTISERS REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE INDEX Sara Lynn Baird Carolee R. Curtright Elizabeth Schauer AUGUST 1996 School of Music School of Music Music Department Louisiana State University University of Nebraska Adams State College ACFEA Tour Consultants ...... 54 Baton Rouge, LA 70803 Lincoln, NE 68588 Alamosa, CO 811 02 Ambassador Travel Service ...... 17 American Boychoir School ...... 61 Art Masters Studios, Inc ...... 58 David L. Brunner Patrick K. Freer Jed David Watson Barenreiter-Verlag ...... 7 Department of Music Raritan Valley Youth Chorale First United Methodist Church Bull Creek Publishing House ...... 41 P.O. Box 302 University of Central Florida 1501 Sycamore Street Choral Support Services ...... 8 Orlando, FL 32816 Belle Mead, NJ 08502 Clovis, NM 88101 College Music Society ...... 13 Collegium Records ...... 49 Sharon Davis Gratto Concordia University ...... 19 Gettysburg College Irene Corey Design Associates ...... 65 Gettysburg, PA 17325 _ C-S Travel Service, Inc.. :...... 27 Des Moines Children's Choruses ...... 60 Drinker Libraty of Choral Music .-...... 10 ECS Publishing ...... 5 BOOK and MUSIC PUBLISHERS and Randi Von Ellefson ...... 42 COMPACT DISC DISTRIBUTORS European Incoming Services ...... 44 Send books, octavos, and discs (two copies, if possible) for possible review to: Field Studies Inrernational ...... C4 Choraljoumal P.O. Box 6310 First United Methodist Church, Greeley, CO .. 46 Mark Foster Music Company ...... 32 Lawton, Oklahoma 73506 Mark Foster Music Tours ...... 19 Telephone: 405/355-8161 Friendship Ambassadors Foundation ...... 53 Golden Gate International Children's Festival .. 38 Grueninger Tours, Inc...... 59 CHORAL REVIEWERS Hammond Music Service ...... 42 ACDA members wishing to review choral music should contact: Heritage Festivals ...... 39 Corydon J. Carlson Moses Hogan Chorale/MGH Records ...... 20 P.O. Box 9517 Independent Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN . 67 Intermedia, Inc.!Stage Accents ...... 25 Bolton, Connecticut 06034 Internet Travel, Inc ...... 32 Telephone: 860/673-3221; Fax: 860/742-1134 Intropa International/USA, Inc...... 48 Jeffers Handbell Supply, Inc ...... 42 BOOK REVIEWERS Kapellmeister Enterprises, Inc ...... 52 Richard Kent, composer ...... 38 ACDA members wishing to review books about choral music should contact: Keynote Arts Associates ...... C2, 14, 55, C3 Stephen Town, Department of Music Theron Kirk, composer ...... 30 Northwest Missouri State University Kjos Music Company ...... 28, 33-36 Maryville, Missouri 64468 Knight-Shtick Press ...... 48 Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation ...... 56 Telephone: 816/562-1795 LT Sound ...... 10 Lyric Choir Gown Company ...... 38 COMPACT DISC REVIEWERS Manager Software ...... 66 ACDA members wishing to review compact discs should contact: Moon of Hope Publishing ...... 26 Musica Mundi, Inc...... 11 Richard]. Bloesch, School of Music Musica Romanica ...... 37 University ofIowa Music Maestro Please, Inc...... 43 Iowa City, Iowa 52242 New York Choral Society ...... 65 North American Music Festival ...... 52 Telephone: 319/335-1627 North,vest Music Publishing Company ...... 50 OlclallOma Arts Institute ...... 50 Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Dallas, TX .. 42 Part Predominant Recordings ...... 31 CHORAL JOURNAL Peter's Way International, Inc ...... 40 Theodore Presser Company ...... 41 SUBMISSION INFORMATION Regency Cap and Gown ...... 12 Articles submitted for publication in the Choral Joumal should meet established Santa Barbara Music Publishing ...... 46 specifications. Although the length of articles varies considerably, submissions should SDG Records/Press ...... 17 generally be ten to twenty typed, double-spaced pages. Referenced material should be Shawnee Press, Inc ...... 13 Southeastern Apparel ...... 62 indicated by superscript and end notes. All submissions must include five copies, Southern Music Company ...... 63 accompanying artwork if available, and a two- or three-sentence professional identifi Suzuki Music Corporation ...... 18 cation of the author. For complete writer's guidelines or to submit articles, write to: Transcontinental Music Publications ...... 29 Vocal Majority ...... 12 Managing Editor, Choral Joumal Vocal Power, Inc ...... 18 Post Office Box 6310, Lawton, Oldahoma 73506 Walt Disney World ...... 6 Fred Waring's America ...... 27 West End Costumes ...... 41 Choraljournallayout and production: Jennifer Dielmann Witte Travel ...... 63 World Projects Corporation ...... 45 PAGE 68 CHORAL JOURNAL background - Keynote understands your needs and has the answers to your questions.• We are in business with a large and reputable travel agency - Keynote can offer you the lowest prices available.• In keeping with our motto, "Musicians Working for Musicians'; Keynote has commissioned 41 original choral works in its 12 year history.• Over 120,000 satisfied customers since 1984! • Keynote will accommodate any size gr~up and create an experience to fit your needs.• Keynote is the sole producer of SHOWSTOPPERS in WALT DISNEY WORLD®'Resort, Chicago and Disneyland® Park; the KEYNOTE CHORAL FESTIVAL SERIES in Manhattan, Chicago and Nashville; The CHILDREN'S CHORAL FESTIVAL SERIES in WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort and Disneyland® Park; COLLEGIATE SHOWCASE and MEN ~F SONG SHOWCASE in WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort. 0 Recommended tour coordinator for America Sings! and DISNEY'S® MAGIC MUSIC DAYS and YOUTH EDUCATION SERIES.. Keynote's network includes top educators, performers, conductors, clinicians and composers worldwide.• Keynote performance venues offer your group outstanding musical opportunities.• Qllality experiences, with a true interest in the advancement of the mllsical art form. IN SHORT, YOU GET INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN FESTIVALS, ] TOP VENUES, SUPERIOR TRAVEL AND LODGING ARRANGEMENTS, NATIONALLY KNOWN CLINICIANS, JUDGES, AND PROFESSIONALS, MUSICAL EXPERIENCES THAT [ WILL LAST A LIFETIME, ALL WITHOUT SACRIFICING QUALITY OR SERVICE. WHY WOULD YOU CALL ANYONE ELSE? Call 800-522-2213 today, and talk to a professional who cares. ::-f1~W.~ I------KEYNOTE ARTS ASSOCIATES .',1. . .. American Ch6ral :qif~cto~s A.$sociatib~ '. Post Office Box63,l b ...... Lawton; Oklaho.ma73506.-0310 . SUNDAY OHIO/PENNSYLVANIA/MICHIGAN YOUTH SUNDAY NATIONAL CHILDREN'S CHOIR FEBRUARY 16 CHORALE APRIL 27 Henry Leek-Conductor 8:00 PM Eph' Ehly-Cqnductor 8:00 PM NATIONAL YOUTH CHORALE ($425) Rhonda Fleming-Conductor SUNDAY KENTUCKY/LoUISL'\NA/MlssfsSIPPI YOUTH MARCH 2 CHORALE SATURDAY FIELD STUDIES INTERNATIONAL 8:00 PM Eph Ehly-Conductor MAY 10 INVITATIONAL CHOIR FESTIVAL ALABAMA YOUTH CHORALE 8:00 PM Robert Bass and Andre Char}ene Archibeque-:-Conduclor ($425.00) Thomas-Adjudicators MONDAY SOUTHERN BAND FESTIVAL SUNDAY GEORGIA CHILDREN's CHOIR MARCH 24 Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center MAY 18 Jean Ashworth BartIe-Conductor 8:00 PM Eph Ehly-Conductor 8:00 PM TENNESSEE CHILDREN'S CHOIR UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY CHOIR AND Janet Galvan-Conductor ORCHESTRA THURSDAY INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR SATURDAY NATIONAL B,AND FESTIVAL . JUNE 12 . Rodney Eichenberger-Conductor MARCH 29 Frank Battisti, Donald Hunsberger, 8:00 PM INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S CHOIR 8:00 PM Craig Kirchhoff-Adjudicators . ($575.00) Henry Leek-Conductor ($399.00) THURSDAY UTAH/COLORADO YOUTH CHORAUi'''' . .; ~ . SUNDAY SOqiHERN BAND FESTIVAL :'JUNE 19 Eph Ehly-Conductor MARCH 30 18:00 PM FLORIDA CHURCHES CHORALE 1;' 8:00 PM Andre Thomas-Conductor:, .SUNDAY .. ,.,'J, GEORGIA YOUTH CHORALE MONDAY BIRMINGHAM BAPTIST ASSOCIATION ·'APRIL 13 Donald Neuen-Conductor JUNE 30 CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA 8:00 PM TENNESSEE YOUTH CHORALE 8:00 PM Timothy Banks-Conductor Charlene Archibeque-Conductor FLORIDA YOUTH CHORALE· TUESDAY TRIBUTE TO CANADA DAY Russell Robinson-Conductor JULY 1 Wayne Riddell-Conductor 8:00 PM SATURDAY· NATi·ONAL CHILDREN'·S CHOIR· APRIL 21 Henry Lecl,-Conductor MallY other dates are also available.· Your choir may joill 8:00 PM NATfoNA:L· YOUTH CHOIR your OWII or allother state for performances. Please call . ($425.00), .Andre Thomas-conductor for more illformation alld additiollal dates. *Prices for·some programs may differ due to program content. YOUTH UHORALE AT CARNEGIE HALL $525 per person, except \vlleieot)Jenvise noted Commemorati·ve Plaque for your· School Orientation Session upon arrivai '.. '. Certificate of Achievemenf.for each student TJ"lree nights' hotel accommodations in, quad rooms Guesl Conductor for your performance All hotel taxes; both city and state RehearsalBalJ.expenses and rental Hi;!el baggage handling upon arrival and departure (1 bag per Carnegie Hall rental. and promotional fees person).,~ .. ; Accompanist fee Attend a Broadway Show· Bus transportati ... ".-. ..) ...... ';