CJ - April 2007

April 2007
Vol. 47 no 10
Brahms's A German Requiem and the Matter of Aesthetic Meaning
by Michael Moore
9
New Music For Chorus With Overtone Singing
Interactive Article
by Stuart Hines
Twentieth-Century Nigerian Composers
' .. by Godwin Sadoh
& Standards Articles
Introducing MC
3
: The Male chorus Commissioning Corisortium
by Ethan Sperry
$ how Choir Competition and the Impact on Male RecrJitment
by Doran Johnson
lumns
Choral Music in the Junior High/Middle School by Carolyn Welch .
. Teaching Choral Uteraturewith Foreign Language Texts
..
Student Times by Joshua Vliilliam Mills.
An Open Letter to the Profession The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Corn poser
Book Reviews by
Compact Disc Reviews Schenbeck
Choral Reviews byLyn Schenbeck
is 155
From Director
.' FromthePresident .
Eclitor.
Letters to the Editor
2
3
5
6
21
33
49
From the x
irector
ast month, another wonderful ACDA
National Convention took place
in Miami, Florida. Along with the
beautiful weather, attendees enjoyed
performances by world-class choirs, as well as
fascinating interest and reading sessions. The
displays and exhibits presented by the music
industry in the ACDA Exhibit Hall also further
enhanced the overall experience of all who at-
tended the 2007 ACDA National Convention
in Miami.
cutive
Gene Brooks
In addition to all of the tremendous performances given by the invited
choirs to the convention, attendees also had the opportunity to experience
an inspiring concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; they
performed A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Nocturnes
by Claude Debussy. In combination with the tremendous acoustics of the
new Knight Concert Hall at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts,
the performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus was truly
remarkable and, along with the other wonderful concerts, will make the
convention in Miami one to be remembered by those who attended. My
compliments to Norman MacKenzie and Robert Spano for the h'emendous
job they did in bringing the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to
Miami. I also want to thank all the other choral directors who brought
choirs to Miami. Without your hard work and dedication in preparing your
fine choirs, the success of the 2007 ACDA National Convention would
not have been possible.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my most heartfelt con-
gratulations to Hilary Apfelstadt, Paul Drummond, Galen DalTough, Re-
beccaReames, and the entire 2007 ACDANational Convention Committee
for the tireless effort and dedication they each exhibited in bringing the
convention to all of us in ACDA. It is through their dedication and hard
work that the convention was such a wonderful success. Weare deeply
indebted to them for their hard work in Miami.
As I have said before, ACDA conventions are wonderful opportunities
to grow professionally. Not only does one have the chance to see some of
the best choirs in the world, but also the educational and networking op-
portunities are invaluable. To those who attended the 2007 ACDANational
Convention in Miami, thank you for helping to make it such a success. I
hope that it enriched you both personally and professionally. For those of
you who were unable to attend the convention in Miami, I encourage you
to consider attending one of the 2008 ACDA Division Conventions, and
to start making plans now to attend ACDA's 50th Anniversary celebration
in 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
National Officers
PRESIDENT
Michele Holt.
Providence College
401/822-1030 (voice)
<Holtm@cox.net>
Vice-president
Mitzi Groom
Western Kentucky University
2701745-3751 (voice); 2701745-6855 (fax)
<mitzi.groom@wku.edu>,
President-elect
Hilary Apfelstadt
The Ohio State University
614/292-9926 (voicer
<apfelstadt.1@osu.edu>
Treasurer
Julie Morgan '
Arkansas Tech University
479/968-0332 (voice)
<julie.morgan@mail.atu.edu>
Executive Director
Gene Brooks
405/232-8161 (voice); 405/232-8162 (fax)
<acda@acdaonline:org>
Central Division President
Michael Schwartzkopf
, Indiana University
8121855-4044 (voice)
<michschw@indiana.edu>
Eastern Division President
Brent Miller
9081735-4429 (voice)
<bfmiller@earthlink.net>
North Central Division President
JoAnn Miller
North Dakota State University
701/231-7822 (voice)
<jo.rililler@ndsu.nodak.edu>
Northwestern Division President
Scott Peterson
Yakima Valley College
509/574-4836 (voice); 509/574-6860 (fax)
<speterson@yvcc.cc.wa.us>
Southern Division President
, ,'Sara Lynn Baird
Louisiana State University
, 225/578-2571(voice)
<sbaird@lsu.edu>
Southwestern Division President
Jeff Sandquist
Rolla High School
573/458-0144x 1 (voice); 573/341-5985 (fax)
<jsandquisl@roll.k12.mo.us>
Western Division President
Edith Copley
Northern Arizona University
928/523-2299 (voice)
<edie.copley@nau.edu>
Industry Associate Representative
, Joe Keith
Music Mart Inc.
Albuquerque, NM 87190-3278
505/889-9777
, <jkeith@musicmart.com>
, P ~ s t Presidents' Council'
David Stutzenberger
University ofTennessee
865/974-8608 (voice); 865/974-1941 (fax)
<dstutzen@utk.edu>
National Past Presidents
Archie Jones t Colleen Kirk t
Elwood Keister t Maurice T. Casey
Warner Imig t Hugh Sanders t
J. Clark Rhodes t David O. Thorsen
Harold A. Decker t Diana J. Leland
Theron Kirk t William B. Hatcher
Charles C. Hirt t John B. Haberlen
Morris D. Hayes t Lynn Whitten
Russell Mathis James A. Moore
Walter S. Collins t Milburn Price
H. Royce Saltzman
From the President
A
s choral directors, we all know so
well the value of teaching young
"to-be" conductors about the stan-
dard literature of our profession.
We want to be sure that our students learn the
repertoire of Mozart, Haydn, and Brahms. Do
we, however, instill in them the desire to learn
new music, or even to consider commissioning
new music? Do we value the production of new
contemporary choral literature enough not to
overlook its value when developing our own
concert programs?
Michele Holt
In the past several months, I have pondere'd this question often as I took
part in a recent American Masterworks Festival, co-sponsored by the Na-
tional Endowment for the Arts and the Providence Singers, Andrew Clark,
Artistic Director. Works by several American composers were performed
over a two-day festival that featured works by Corigliano (you may remem-
ber the wonderful article published in the Choral Journal about Fern Hill,
October 2005), Lucas Foss (The Prairie), and Carlisle Sharp (Proud Music
of the Storm). Several other composers were con'lrnissioned to compose
works for the festival. Trevor Weston and Christopher Trapani were two
composers whose challenging works were performed as part of the festival.
Anticipating this exciting event led me to think about the importance of
ACDA's role in nurturing .new choral works. '
Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commissions have been a highlight of
national and divisional conventions since 1993. For the first time at an
ACDA National Convention held in San Antonio, a composer was hon-
ored by receiving the first Brock Commission. That first composer was
Carlisle Floyd. Each year, the ACDA Executive Committee has selected
and commissioned a recognized composer to write a choral composition in
an effort to create and perpetuate quality choral repertoire. Funds for this
commission are paid from the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Endowment.
The Brock Memorial Endowment funds made it possible for choral direc-
tors to have the privileged to hear the works of major American composers
such as Whitacre, Menotti, Clausen, Adler, Hailstork, Lauridsen, Walker,
and Wilberg (to name a few), and this year in Miami, David Conte. (A full
listing of the Brock Commissions can be found on page 25 of the December
2004 issue of the CJ . Also look for a more detailed list in an article about
ACDA and the ACDA Endowment in the May 2007 issue of the CJ) For
me, hearing the Brock Commission performed is one of the major high- '
lights of the convention, whether it be a national or division convention.
Hearing David Conte's commission was one of the most exciting memories
of my trip to Miami. ,
(Continued on page 4)
National R&S Chairs
National Chair
Nancy Cox
580/482-2364 (voice); 580/482-1990 (fax)
<nrcox@swbeILnel>
Boychoirs
Thomas Sibley
Raleigh Boychoir, Inc.
919/881-9259 (voice)
<rbc@ipass,net>
Children's Choirs
Lynne Gackle
Gulf Coast Youth Choirs, Inc.
813/909-1099 (voice)
<lgackle@aoLcom>
College and University Choirs '
, Kevin Fenton
Florida State University
850/644-2317 (voite)
<kfenton@mailer.fsu.edu>
Community Choirs
W. Robert Johnson
301/654-3380 (voice)

Ethnic and Multicultural Perspectives
Lawrence Burnett '
Cartton College '
507/646-4351 (voice); 507/646-5561 (fax)
<ethnicmusic@acdaonline.com>
Juriior High/Middle School
Sandi Gesler
Waynesfield-Goshen Local School
419/568-5261 Ext. 212 (voice)
<sges@brightusa.net>
Male Choirs
Frank Albinder
Washington Men's Camerata
202/986-5867
<FSAlbinder@pobox.com>
Music in Worship
Paul A. Aitken
The Cathedral of the Rockies
208/343-7511 (voice); 208/343-0000 (faX)
<paitken@boisefumc.org>
Senior High Choirs
Sal Cicciarella
8601749-7693 (voice)
, <scicciarella@cox.nel>
Show Choirs
. Ken Thomas
Auburn High School
334/887-4999 (voice); 3341887-4177 (fax)
<kthomas@auburnschools,org>
Two-Year Colleges
Larry L. Stukenhollz
SI. Louis Community College-Meramec
314/984-7638 (voice)
<Istukenholtz@stlcc,edu>
Vocal Jazz
Kirk Marcy
Edmonds Community College
425/640-1651 (voice); 425/640-1083 (fax)
<kmarcy@edcc.edu>
Women's Choirs
Lisa Fredenburgh
Meredith College
9191760-857,7 (voice); 9191760-2359 (fax)
<fredenburghl@meredith.edu>
Youth' and Student Activities
Jeffrey Carter
Ball State University
765/285-3599 (voice); 765/285-5401 (fax)
<jrc@jeffreycarter,us>
From the President
(continued from page 3)
In 1988, prior to the establishment of the Brock Commission, in an
effort to find another means for furthering its mission to promote choral
music and ensure its future, ACDA established the Raymond W. Brock
Memorial Student Composition Contest. The objectives of the contest are
three-fold: (1) to acknowledge and reward outstanding undergraduate and
graduate student composers, (2) to encourage choral composition of the
highest caliber, and (3) to further promote student activity at ACDA divi-
sion and national conventions. The January issue of the Choral Journal
congratulated the 2006 Student Composition Contest Winner, Dominick
DiOrio then from Ithaca College, now studying choral conducting at Yale.
The encouragement of young composers is crucial, if the composing of
new, quality choral music is to continue.
Choral directors who take the risk and commission choral works are to
be applauded. If not for them, we might not have our attention drawn to
new and exciting choral pieces. If you have never corrnriissioned a work,
it is an exciting venture, one that every choral director should experience
at least once in their lives. Find a friend that has commissioned a work and
talk to that person about,how to get started. As I thought about participat-
ing in the American Masterworks Concert in March, I looked forward
to singing three new choral works. I anticipated meeting the compos-
ers who set the incredible poetry of Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, and
Dylan Thomas. I was excited to discover how and why these new works
were born. As a choral conductor, the event was a heightened aesthetic
experience ..
During the week, of our dress rehearsal, our conductor, in a letter to the
choir, quoted the Austrian conductor, Nicholas Harnoncourt: "The essen-
tial decision each artist must make is not between risk and safety, but be-
tween beauty and safety. No risk, no beauty." Clark quoted Harnoncourt
because he knew what all of us must discover: that we must learn to take
risks if we are to reach for the aesthetic experiences in our lives.
One Final Note
The February issue of the Choral Journal featured a wonderful article
about the San Francisco-based composer, David Conte, and an interview
with him about his new work, The Nine Muses which was premiered at
the ACDA National Convention inMiarni in March. If you look to the
page directly left, his interview was printed next to "In Memoriam" for
one of American's beloved choral composers, Daniel Pinkham, who
passed away in December of 2006. Daniel Pinkham composed a Brock
Commission in 1995 for the ACDA National Convention in Washington
D.C. titled Alleluia for the Waters.
MkheteHoit
Editorial Board
Editor
Carroll Gonzo
. University of StThomas
651/9625832 (voice); 651/9625876 (fax)
<clgonzo@stthomas.edu>
Associate Editor
to bEl filled
Managing Editor
Ron Granger
ACDA National Office
405/2328161 (voice); 405/2328162 (fax)
<managingeditor@acdaonline.org>
Editorial Assistant
David Stocker
. 281/2918194 (voice)
<david.stocker@asu.edu>
Patricia Abbott
Assn. of Canadian Choral Conductors
514/351-4865 (voice)
<accc@ca.inter.net>
Richard J. Bloesch
319/35123497 (voice)
<richardbloesch@uiow!i.edu>
J. Michele Edwards
SI. Paul, MN 55116
. 651/6991077 (voice)
<edwards@macalester.edu>
Sharon A. Hansen
University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin
414/229-4595 (voice)
<sahansen@uwm.edu>
Janeal Krehbiel
Lawrence Children's Choir
785/8325550 (voice)
<janealk@sunflower.com>
.Edward Lundergan
SUNYNew Paltz
845/2572715
<Iunderge@newpaltz.edu>
Donald Oglesby
University of Miami
305/284-4162 (voice)
. <DOglesby@miamLedu>
Robert Provencio
Cal. State University-Bakersfield
661/6543073 (voice)
<rprovencio@csub.edu>
Lawrence Schenbeck
Spelman College
404/2705482 (voice)
<Ischenbe@spelman.edu>
Lyn Schenbeck
Coweta County Schools
770/6836837 (voice)
<Iyn.schenbeck@cowetaschools.org>
Timothy W. Sharp
Rhodes College
901/8433781
<sharp@rhodes,edu>
Ann R.Smali
Stetson University
386/8228976
<asmall@stetson.edu>
Magen Solomon
University of Southern California
21317403225
<magerisol@usc.edu>
Stephen Town
Northwest Missouri State University
660/5621795 (voice)
< info.nwmissouri.edu/-stown/homepage.htm>
rom the Editor
Carroll Gonzo
In This Issue
T
he Brahms's Requiem has re-'
, ceived a great deal of attention
in the Choral Journal, over the
years. The primary focus of
this attention has been mainly theoretical
and stylistic analyses. Michael Moore's
interest in the Requiem has more to do
with the nature of Brahms's intellectual,
psychological and religious grounding,
and the social, political, theological, and philosophical currents extant
in Brahms's day that interfaced with that grounding. Moreover, although
Moore addresses these issues, he seeks to link them to Brahms's com-
plex personality traits and then proposes how the c01pbinatorial nature
of these relationships is manifested in the Requiem . .t?t bottom, the aes-
thetic nature of the Requiem finds its roots in the complex personality
of Brahms's shaped, to a great degree, by those of his culture
he chose to embrace.
Overtone singing is relatively new to the music-going public, and has
been received with interested fascination, and even enthusiasm. Stuart
Hinds, a performer and composer of the music that employs overtone
singing, offers the reader a systematic introduction to Tuvan/Mongolian
throat singing. The purpose of his article is to provide several recent
compositions for chorus and overtone singing. Hinds writes that the
relative difficulty of the various technical demands in overtone singing
are explored, and explanations are given, as to what can be expected
of singers venturesome enough to attempt overtone singing. Readers
will also find this article to be, interactive, which means musical and
(Continued on page 6)
The Choral Journal is the official publication ofThe American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). ACDA is
a nonprofit professional organization of choral directors from schools, colleges, and universities; community,
church, and professional choral ensembles; and industry and institutional organizations., Choral Journal
Circulation: 20,000. Annual dues (includes subscription to the Choral Journal): Active $85, Industry $135,
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$3; Back Issues $4. ACDA is a founding member ()f the International Federation for Choral Music. ACDA
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From the Editor
(continued from page 5)
video models can be observed on our growth, dynamics, and transformation.
ACDA Web site: <www.acdaonline. . The author conCludes that a diachronic
org/cj/interactive/apr2007>.
Godwin Sadoh asserts that choral
music in Nigeria can be broadly divided
into two categories: (1) traditional
choral singing and (2) Western influ-
enced choral works known as modem
Nigerian art songs. Sodah takes a
chronological approach as a means of
introducing four contemporary Nige-
rian composers whose works reveal
discourse of Nigerian choral composers .
and their crafts reveals a systematic and
gradual transformation of the musical
style, and its tonal language. Nigerian
choral composers have their local audi-
ences in mind when writing their songs,
because the songs are to be performed
by Nigerian choral groups for local
audiences. It can be concluded, based
upon Sa:doh's article, that there is a
,
pride, patriotism, confidence, and a na-
tionalistic solidarity that accompanies
the warm support for choral works in
Nigeria.
Also in this issue is a special sec:-
tion titled "Until We Meet Again" by
Amy Thomas, a member of the Choral
Journal staff. Amy has been consis-
tently delighting our authors, ACDA
officers, and, in particular, -our readers
and advertisers with her dazzling graph-
ics. Her artistic eye, camera savvy, and
layout design acumen combine to give
us a visual encore of the 2007 Miami
convention. Bravo Amy!
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I am grateful that Shapiro studied my
December 2006 article on the choral
music of Eric Whitacre in such great
detail and wrote a very astute letter to
the editor in the February 2007 issue. I
thank him for pointing out a mistake in
the data that I gave the Choral Journal
(data that the J Durnal reproduced faith-
fully based on my own proofs-the
error was mine alone!). In Figure 11 on
Page 32 of the December 2006 issue,
the repeated number 7 beneath measure
13 should indeed be 6 (the bass 1 and
tenor 2 sing the same pitch). Measure
14 of that same figure reads 5 beneath
the score and correctly reflects my
numbering intention.
I can assure Shapiro that neither the
linear graphs nor their creator bear
any scientific pretense. The graphs
represent a sort of "bean counting"
approach to music that was composed
intuitively. Against Dr. Shapiro's other
assertions I make no defense. I agree
with him wholeheartedly! Perhaps
the article's greatest weakness is that
it fails to distill my entire dissertation
6
effectively. I have tested my (simple) .
system of analysis and graphing on
more composers than Whitacre. The in-
clusion of such a grand comparison was
neither in the scope of the article nor the
dissertation. Whitacre stands alone in
the consistency
and frequency at
which he varies
textural density,
again consider-
ing his oevre as
a whole and not
comparing one
composition by
Whitacre with
isolated compositions by another. I
did not intend to imply the Whitacre's
music is popular because of what
the graphs indicate. Again, what my
dissertation clarifies and the article
perhaps does not is that his music is
attractive because it is .accessible and
bears a compositional process intuitive
to singer and listener.
Shapiro correctly suggests that most
of Whitacre's "chords" or vertical
harmonic structures can be reduced to
versions of I, VI, IV, or V. Nine of the
13 works analyzed have the IV chord in
some form as the most commonly-used
chord. The other four used the I chord
in some form as their most, prevalent
sonority. The third most prevalent chord
in the 13 works is a fairly even divi-
sion among VI, V, and II. I have
detailed statistics for anyone
interested. My intention is for
readers to realize that because
the harmonic language dwells
around so few chords (how-
ever elaborately embellished
or combined with other
chords to create polychords)
a functional, common-prac-
tice analysis does not reveal much
about Whitacre's process.
The "other process" in Whitacre's
music that Shapiro is correct about is
a simple voice-leading process. The
graphs show that there is a process and
it is consistent among 13 works, but I
concede that they fail to directly show
the rhythmic and linguistic intricacies.
that make the music live.
Andrew Larson
DeLand, Florida
CHORAL JOURNAL April 2007
ct
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his author first sang Johannes Brahms's A German
. Requiem during his senior year in college, Although
the initial rehearsals were tedious, the music became
more appealing as its complexity and depth were
revealed. It had begun to assume a kind of urgency. By the
time the chorus was ready for performance, it had become part
of his life.
Traveling to Chicago with the chorus for a concert, he
learned that a friend was in the hospital and was not expected to
live. When he saw her that afternoo.n, she was barely recogniz-
able beneath all the tubes running in and out of her, yet her spirit
still showed through. We talked a while about inconsequential
things, knowing that our would be final.
That night, by the time we got to the final movement, Selig
sind die Toten die in dem Herren sterben ["Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord"], the reality of Jo's impending death finally
came through and it was hard to get thrpugh the rest of the piece.
To this day, nearly a half-century later, it is impossible for me to
sing that without seeing her on that hospital bed.
At a subsequent performance, the last movement literally
lifted me into a different and higher plane of consciousness. It
was not only a transcendent moment, but also a transformational
one that has remained undiminished in my memory, inextri-
cably intertwined with Jo's death but seen from a different,
more abstract, yet more comprehensive, perspective. It was a
consummation described by John Dewey. It signaled some-
thing about aesthetic truth: insights that cannot be adequately
expressed in ordinary language; truths that are beyond literal
facts; truths that deal with the intrinsic qualities of emotions;
truths that cause one to ask what is of value in this world and
how life should be lived.
Two years later, the author encountered the Requiem again,
this time as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, un-
der Robert Shaw. The humanism encountered in the Chicago
performances was now complemented by a more analytical and
professional approach to the score, as we worked on myriad
details of enunciation, pitch, intonation, long phrasing, rhythm,
tempo, and ensemble singing, details for which Shaw was fa-
mous in emphasizing. It was his firm (almost absolutist) belief
that if a chorus mastered the details, the beauty and the passion
would emerge. "You don't have to be great singers to be a great
chorus," he said at a rehearsal one night, "just intelligent sing-
ers." He (and Brahms) would take care of the rest. And they did,
so long as we paid strict attention to the score.
We learned much about the structure of the seven movements
and how each movement could stand on its own as a separate
anthem, yet look like an arch that was anchored on either end by
Michael Moore, associate professor of American
history emeritus from Bowling Green State' University,
also directed Arts Unlimited, an interdisciplinary
aesthetic education program for the schools in
collaboration with Lincoln Center Institute, New York.
<mimoore@dacor.net>
April 2007 CHORAL JOURNAL
"Blessed are .... " The keystones of that arch were the fourth and
fifth movements: expressions oflonging, peace, and serenity in
the midst of a musical reflection on death and dying. Although
there were no transcendent experiences this time, there was a
much greater awareness about the relationships between words,
scoring, and their emotional effect.
This awareness, moreover, created the desire for a deeper
understanding of perception. Not only was a per-
sonal.reflection important, but also it now became necessary to
"connect" with Brahms by: (1) looking at his personal life and
struggles; (2) surveying the cultural milieu in which he operated;
and (3) examining more closely what the score had to say.
Personal Life
Johannes Brahms has been described as a humanist, an ag-
nostic, a misogynist, and a malcontent with a ferocious temper.
The editor of his letters characterized him as: "tender, rough,
erudite, intelligent, irascible, sarcastic, kind, clear-headed, tact-
ful, tactless, funny, generous, idealistic, shrewd, romantic, cyni-
cal, enthusiastic, pessimistic, ruthless, sentimental, expressive,
uncommunicative, conventional, spiritual, and free-thinking."
1
To which a book reviewer added: "mean-spirited and mag-
nanimous, lonely and independent, reactionary and progressive,
petty and grand.,,2
In short, he was human-intensely human. Surprisingly,
however, both annotator and reviewer omitted the one word
that in my opinion goes to the core of Brahms's life: vulnerable.
Even if Brahms had not been pulled out of bed at night in his
allegedly poverty-stricken home to play piano in waterfront
brothels (an oft-told story until recent research dispelled it)3
there is other evidence to indicate the deep contradictions and
struggles that marked his life.
He seemed to go out of his way to alienate those who loved
him most. He had bouts of intense melancholy. He never mar-
ried, despite several close calls. Photographs of him after the
age of forty show him aging rapidly. In 1897, he died of liver
cancer, the same disease that killed his father.
4
One author wrote that when Brahms was composing the Re-
quiem, he "was a man in desperate need of comfort ... patheti-
cally seeking it from the Book [the Bible] he knew so well."5
Yet, when Karl Reinthaler, the choir director of Bremen Cathe-
dral, where the Requiem was to be premiered on Good Friday
1868, suggested that the text needed more religious doctrine
in it (a suggestion he made with some trepidation, considering
the composer's te'mper) Brahms replied: "As far as the text is
concerned, I confess that I would gladly omit the word German
and instead use [the word] Human; also .. .I would dispense with
places like John 3:16."6
Dispense with John 3:16? "For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son," etc. If not that, what was left?
Neither is there any mention of Jesus Christ in the text; nor any
reference to the salvation of the soul or a Day of Judgment; all
central themes in Christian theology. Small wonder then that his
friend Anton Dvormlk threw up his hands regarding Brahms's
suspension of belief, exClaiming, "He believes in nothing!,,7
Brahms's mother died in 1865, which may have prompted
9
his writing of the fifth movement of the
Requiem. He may also have continued
to grieve over the death in 1856 of his
mentor Robert Schumann. Although both
losses were profound, one would be hard-
pressed to say that Brahms expressed his
reaction in the conventional Lutheran
theology that prevailed in his hometown
of Hamburg.
He did know his Lutheran Bible well,
however, and took a North German, Prot-
estant pride in studying and quoting from
it at length. He was exacting in selecting,
compiling, alTanging, and cross-referenc-
ing biblical verses "apparently to help
organize his thoughts about possible mu-
sical settings"S Such interest was, in large
part, due to his friendship with Robert
Schumann, which in turn influenced his
composition of the Requiem: "Brahms
learned from Schumann not only to read
the Bible, but also to use Luther's text to
rise above nalTOW religious dogma and
express a decidedly mqdern, humane
view of the weightiest questions, in this
case mortality."9
When Schumann and his wife Clara
first met Brahms and heard his music,
they were overwhelmed by it and prac-
tically adopted him into their family
of seven children. They recognized his
10
genius and were detelTnined to encour-
age and promote it throughout Europe.
Brahms, however, was more than just
a protege. A series of events that cli-
maxed in Robert's insanity and death
enmeshed Brahms and Clara in a liaison
that milTored his lifelong, confused at-
titude toward women. Was Clara to be
his bride, his lover, his sUlTogate mother,
his older sister, financial advisor, his
social mentor, his professional col-
league, or some impossible combination
of all these? As much as he admired
(and loved?) her, however, he refused to
take her professional career as a concert
pianist seriously. She was neglecting
her higher duty as a wife and mother
to ldrche, kinde!; kuchen. He seemed 'to
ignore the fact that, with Robert incapaci-
tated, Clara had to return to the concert
stage to support her family. Brahms's at-
titude was a sore point with her.
10
Complicating the relationship further
were their temperamental natures: Clara's
moroseness and Brahms's frequent lapses
of good manners and sensitivity to the
feelings of others. Brahms also showed
an interest in Clara's daughter Julie that
. seemed more than avuncular. He also
romanced other women - trained singers,
mostly-and actually gave an engage-
ment ring to Agathe von Siebold. Yet
nothing came of any of these romances,
and even though he simply visited his
prostitutes, he died a bachelor. I I
His confusion regarding women in-
volved a degree of self-loathing. When
he was in his fifties, he burst out: "I could
not help despising a girl for taking me for
a husband. Surely, you are not going to
persuade me that anybody could fall in
love with [me], as I am now?"12 Small
wonder that other biographers found
Brahms's personal life to be in disalTay,
and that he could find order only through
his music.
13
It may have been the only
thing to which he could truly commit
himself. But, what kind of music?
The Changing Cultural Scene
Brahms stood in the middle of a clash
between the Classical and Romantic
styles of making music that rested on
different philosophies and perspectives.
"The Classical era admired restraint,
practicality, the practical present; the
Romantics exalted the emotional, the
idealistic, and the mysteries of past and
future. The eighteenth century exalted
Greek architecture and formal gardens
and ironic detachment; the nineteenth
prefelTed savage forests; castles in ruins,
and a different k i ~ d of irony. "14
Brahms was not about to discard prior
centuries of music history and composi-
tional styles. Yet, he could identify with
the passions and sentiments sweeping
Europe in the nineteenth century. It was
a tribute to his genius that he was able
somehow to incorporate both sides into
his music, but it was not easy.
This clash between Classicism and
Romanticism not only OCCUlTed in music,
but it also described a fundamental shift in
the way that people looked at the range of
human existence, social organization and
thought, providing a cultural and intellec-
tual challenge to Brahms. Classicism had
embodied the Age of Reason (or the Age
of Enlighteriment), which saw a physical
. and social universe kept in balance and
harmony by laws and axioms of physics,
politics, architecture, and government.
Discoveries by Newton, Boyle, Kepler,
and Copernicus described a physieal
universe that challenged traditional
dogma. Political scientists like Locke,
architects like Wren, and economists like
Adam Smith assumed such laws existed
in their respective fields of endeavor
and proceeded to construct realities like
naturalrights in politics, symmetry in ar-
chitecture, and laws of the market place in
economics to illustrate those laws. Bach
and Handel's music captured the spirit,
metaphysical assumptions, and optimism
of such an era.
That order of thought, however, was
giving way to the vision of a darker,
shifting, and less optimistic world being
described by thinkers such as Darwin,
Marx, and Freud (who lived just a short
trolley ride from Brahms's flat in Vienna),
all of whom lived and wrote during
Brahms's lifetime, and Einstein, who ap-
peared shortly after. Their view of nature
was very different: organic; tentative;
risky; evolutionary; and struggling for
survival in an amoral environment.
At about the same time that Romanti-
cism emerged alongside Classicism, the
political and diplomatic landscape of
Europe was undergoing no less an up-
heaval. The attempt by the Congress of
Vienna in 1815 to stitch the Old Regime
of monarchies back together after the
Napoleonic Wars was threatened by re-
current waves of political revolutions and
the restlessness of a middle class emerg-
ing out of the Industrial Revolution. The
Seven Weeks' War of 1864, occurring as
Brahms was in the middle of composing
the Requiem, signaled a shift of power
frol1:1 the Austrian Empire to the German,
with enOlmous.consequences for central
Europe. Although Brahms opposed the
war, he later supported the German side
in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and
German unification afterwards. This lat-
ter war was an event that the ardent na-
'tionalist celebrated in his Triumphlied in
which he favorably compared the "New
Kingdom" of the Book of Revelations to
the Kaiserreich.
15
. The wars and unification fed a re-
surgent German nationalism that had
been growing throughout the nineteenth
century. It was a nationalism whose
identity and vitality rested upon the
German language that was seen as more
than merely a means of communication.
An acquaintance of Brahms, Wilhelm
Scherer, wrote:
The history of our language is,
to a certain degree, the history of
our people itself. Language is the
truest reflection of nationhood ....
The totality of all spiritual power
enters therein .... But language is
more still. It is also an educational
power for the life of the state. It is
the primary connection that binds
a nation and through which comes
their consciousness of an inner
unity. Language serves statisticians
as the surest sign of nationality. 16
That "surest sign of nationality" was
reinforced by the expropriation of Martin
Luther's translation of the Bible, which
"was often understood as the cornerstone
of the modem German language."17
To that extent, Luther's Bible served
nationalistic and religious (Protestant)
agendas. Beller-McKenna argues that
Brahms "echoed a well-developed im-
pulse among nineteenth-century Germans
to place their language at the center of
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culture and, by extension, what it meant
to be German." 18 That echo resounded
in the Requiem. But while Brahms later
cheered the unification of Germany under
Bismarck,19 he feared the "romanticism
without the restraints" and loathed the
anti-Semitism that was emerging in Vi-
enna, with its large Jewish population,
where he was soon to live.
2o
It may have
been one reason he was ambivalent about
Wagner's music.
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12
Could he incorporate Romantic ideas
within a Classical tradition? It took him
awhile to resolve these two conflict- -
ing approaches because, like the god
Janus, he had to look back to the past
and forward into the future.
21
How did
this forward-backward tendency, when
combined with his personality, play out
in the Requiem?
A living Score
on life,and it loomed larger as he grew
01der.
23
For, as the texts of the second and
third movements assert, we humans don't
. have much to work with:
All flesh is as grass and all the glOly
of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower
thereoffadeth away .... Lord, make
me to know mine end, and the
measure of my days, what it is;
that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days
as an handbreadth; and mine age is
nothing before thee. Surely, every
man walketh in a vain shew .... 24
Brahms insisted on the freedom to
work out his relationships with the uni-
verse, and he wrote his music to give us
the same freedom of interpretation and
decision. That freedom of interpretation
also extended to the choice of textual Words like these are more akin to the
material, which is culled from widely elegiac dirge of his Niinie than to Chris-
scattered verses in the Bible, alternat- tian hope: "Even the beautiful must die!
ing between the Old and New Testament That which conquers men and gods / does
but reflecting no particular order. It does not touch the brazen heart of the Stygian
reflect, moreover, the North German and Zeus .... See! Then the gods weep, all the
Protestant influence of his upbringing. goddesses weep/Because the beautiful
Brahms revealed to Reinthaler what perishes, because perfection dies. "25 .
his criteria were when he "selected, sirn- The Requiem does contain statements
plified, clarified ... according to his inter- of faith and hope, but they are more
est" the various textual elements in the humanistic, spiritual, tentative, and per-
Requiem: "[B]ecause I am a musician sonal than theological or dogmatic. In the
because I needed it, and because with Romantic spirit of naturalism, Brahms
my venerable authors I cannot delete or rejected explicit religious dogma because
dispute anything."22 It was as a musi- he sought a personal freedom, with its
cian first who built upon and then went risks, to ask and to explore. As such, he
beyond his life experiences to an artistic joined Romantics on both sides of the
formulation of those experiences, that Atlantic who found existing institutions,
Brahms sought a God that would allow philosophies, and conventions too confin-
him to make sense out of and accept re- ing. Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville are
sponsibility for his own life. While shed American counterparts to Brahms's frame
of institutional or purely theological con- of mind. Their world "nature," was more
straints, it would, however, be a lonely frightening in its possible consequences
quest in a risky world, but it was still . than was the world of orthodox religion
Brahms's path to the freedom of his own and thought. But it was a world worth
artistic individualism: If there is a God risking because it held out the possibility
we will be comforted when we mourn' that we could realize our fullest potential
and safe when we die. This was his h u ~ and freedom, even though, like Ahab and
manism. The best we can do, however, his crew, we might forfeit our lives in
is to hope, and accept what comes. Fate seeking it.
26
Was this an act of courage,
played a large part in Brahms's outlook folly, or blasphemy? Or was it, as the
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distraught father in the gospel of St. Mark
once prayed, "God of my belief, help my
disbelief." The frequent crescendos and
diminuendos throughout the score suggest
such a yearning, a reaching for somethin <Y
that is just beyond one's grasp. Indeed,
in the third movement, there is almost a
breakthrough when the chorus sings the
transitional passage, . "I hope ... I hope ...
Brahms insisted on the freedom to
work out his relationships with the uni-
verse,'and he wrote his music to give us
the same freedom of interpretation and
decision.
I hope ... in Thee" and then breaks out
into a mighty fugue.
In the sixth movement, the chorus
sings (from St. Paul's second letter to the
church at Corinth): "Behold, I show you
a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed; in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
all be changed."
Changed, from what? Changed into
what? St. Paul is specific about the na-
ture of the change; he equates the sting
of death with sin and he praises Christ
for the victory. For Paul, the mystery is
a quality of the Known. But Brahms did
not include those verses in his text. For
him, the mystery was a quantity of the
Unknown.
FACULTY
What does Brahms's relationship and
attitude toward women reveal in the
Requiem? In the fifth movement, a pure
and virginal soprano voice sings: "I will
free your heart and no one will take away
your joy." While underneath, the chorus
gives context to the phrase by singing:
"As one whom his mother comforts, so
will I comfort you."
To whom does the "I" refer? Is it God?
Christ? The Virgin Mary? Brahms's
mother? Clara Schumann? Some roman-
tic notion of womanhood that conflicted
with his string of broken marital promis-
es? Does it speak to the conflicts we may
have with those whom we love, yet hate?
It is ambiguous. But if Brahms's music
is as personal as one critic asserted 27 ,
perhaps he deliberately left it up to each
listener to decide. Where do we find our
comfort in the midst of our yearnings? In
whose arms?
The theme of snuggle, hope, and tri-
umph is dramatically emphasized in the
famous (or infamous) pedal D and fugue
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of the third movement. Musically, that
section gave Brahms no end of trouble.
Clara Schumann (who usually was the
first to critique his drafts) felt that it was
. troublesome and urged him to drop it.
It nearly sank him in Vienna during its
first airing. The timpanist got so carried
away that he drowned out everyone else,
and the reviewers raked the peliormance
over the coals:
During the concluding fugue of the
third movement, surging above a
pedal point D, [one] experienced
the sensations of a passenger
rattling through a tunnel in an
express train. 28
Ever sensitive to his public, Brahms
quickly corrected the score and added
three movements to the three already
written for the 1868 performance at Bre-
men Cathedral. The final (actually the
fifth) movement would appear shortly
after.
Despite its ominous debut and re-
14
write, the pedal-D fugue remained, oc-
cupying the final part of the movement.
All the low instruments in the orchestra:
D trumpets, trombones, tuba, tympani,
contra-bassoon, double bass, 'cellos (in
part), and organ-play that D for 36
uninterrupted bars to a thundering con-
clusion. Although the chorus is singing
of the souls of the righteous resting in
God's hand, free of torment, we also are
cognizant of Brahms's tenuous faith in
a God who might exist. The text recalls
Schiller's text in Beethoven's Ninth Sym-
phony: "O'er the starry world, a loving
God must exist." Not as a settled fact,
but that God must exist. Perhaps this is
the essence of Brahrris 's faith.
But, what does that D represent or
evoke from within us? Is it God? Or some
metaphysical Oneness with the universe?
Is it the search for something solid that
enables us to confront our disbelief?
The persistence of that D demands that
we decide. It is one of several points in
the Requiem that its call to refine our
experiences into a definition of ourselves
resounds.
Alienation and the struggle to close
that gap also figure in the fourth move-
ment. The reference to God is, to be sure,
more explicit. But it is a personal, not a
corporate, God for whom "my soul lon-
geth" and "my heart and flesh crieth out."
It is Brahms's vulnerability crying out, as
well as our own.
The way in which we attend to the text
affects the way we listen to or perform
the music, and vice versa. Connotative
meanings are crucial to aesthetic under-
standing. For example, if one were asked
to draw the word "blessed" (which oc-
curs in movements one, four, and seven)
what would the picture look like? What
would one want to express in the draw-
ing? Would it be the same in each of the
movements? With respect to phrases such
as, "for all flesh is as grass," or "as one
whom his mother cornforteth," what qual-
ity of emotion would a drawing attempt
to capture? After such an exercise, would
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singing the words be the same experience
as before, or would the singing now try to
express some aspect of the drawing?
These questions apply to other aspects
of the score. In the fugue over the pedal
D of the third movement, for example,
how fast or how slow should it be sung?
There is no indication in the score. In one
performance by a chorus, the tempo was
a joyous allegro. Robert Shaw conducted,
however, a tempo of andante. He wanted
his chorus to sing the 36 bars as one long
phrase and crescendo, slowly building in
dynamic intensity until the singers were
fairly shaking with emotion by the end.
It required enormous concentration and
physical effort. .
In the sixth movement, the score is
marked vivace at the beginning, but by
measure 127, the situation is more than
just lively. The lower instruments tear
along in a succession of eighth notes. All
hell is breaking loose in the text.
29
Fire
and brimstone are leaping up from the
abyss as the chorus stands at the edge,
looking damnation in the eye, and pro-
claiming with all the defiance and faith
it can muster:
Death is swallowed up in Victory ...
Death, where is thy sting!
Death, death, where is thy sting?
Hell! Where is your victory? Where is your
victory?
Hell! 0 Hell! Where is your victory?
Death! Where is your sting?
Hell! Hell! Where is your victory?
Where? Where? Where?
Wo ist dein Sieg?
The desire to sing at breakneck speed
is compelling, thanks to the intensity of
the text and the urgency of the lower in-
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struments. Brahms marked the score accel
from bar 68 to the vivace at bar 82, setting
the mood and tone, but not necessarily the
speed. By contrast, Brahms was clearer
about dynamics and expression. 30
Immediately there follows a full-
fledged fugue, as if the preceding section
were not enough to create an apocalyptic
moment "that belongs neither to earth-
bound time nor to divine eternity.,,3! The
fugue, with its 4/4 march-like tempo,
describes the creation of a new world out
of the destruction of the 01d.
32
Despite
the chorus's passion and feeling for the
words, a trade-off is necessary between
speed and volume on the one hand in an
effort to achieve clarity and musicality
on the other, yet retain the intensity of
the text.
Where lies the trade-off? "If Brahms
ever said a kind word about the metro-
nome, we have no record of it."33 Pre-
he way in which we attend to the text
affects the way we listen to or petiorm the
music, and vice versa.
recalls the fugues of the second and third
movements, which deal with the themes
of joy of the redeemed and the righteous
in the hands of God respectively. This
time the fugue drives through to com-
plete the thought of God as creator of all
things and deserving of all praise. In so
doing, it anticipates a time of blessed-
ness and comfort to come in the seventh
moment, completing the paradigm that
publication scores contained metronome
markings (MM) and one score also added
the timing of each movement and its sub-
sections. But Brahms seemed conflicted
about the usefulness of the markings. He
expressed a low opinion of their value,
yet he retained them for 25 years.
34
The
result? A compromise of sorts. Brahms
had in mind a framework of tempi forthe
sections, allowing a degree of flexibility
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for specific circumstances of a perfor-
mance. The two early pre-publication
scoresjndicate quarter-note MMs of 92,
1l2, and 100 for the andante (langsam),
vivace, and allegro subsections respec-
tively in the sixth movement. . But, as
Musgrave observes, "there are many
kinds of langsam, andante, and allegro"
(the basic tempo markings in the Re-
quiem) and they are inconsistent within
themselves.
35
(Compare the langsam of
the sixth movement to that of the fifth.)
Brahms is entitled to at least two com-
ments. The first is: "the so-called elastic
tempo is nothing new, but as with every-
thing else should be handled can discrezi-
one."36 His second lies within the score,
when the chorus encounters triplets at
measures 84, 91,130, and 136 of the sixth
movement. Those triplets in effect, say:
"Not so fast! You have to sing us distinct-
ly!"37 Tempi must serve expressiveness,
not vice versa. The encounter recalls a
comment once made about Shakespeare's
plays. The Bard did not need to write out
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stage directions, the speaker said. They
were clearly delineated in the text, if one
took the trouble to read it closely. Shake-
speare was an actor, Brahms a musician.
Both men knew their work had to adjust
to time, personalities, circumstance, and
venue can discrezione.
The eulogies were not unalloyed,
however. One critic dismissed Brahms's
contributions: "Against the symphonic
world-ideas of Beethoven, Brahms's
symphonies express only the private
thoughts and private meanings of a clever
man."39
We must understand the culture from
which a composition emerges, while,
conversely, we must understand how
that may be, in paJ1, an expression of that
cultural milieu.
The Requiem secured Brahms's repu-
tation at age 34, and catapulted him to .
the forefront of European composers. He
became famous within his own lifetime
and even made enough money from his
subsequent compositions to live com-
fortably (Clara Schumann invested his
money wisely for him). When he died,
he received the equivalent of a state fu-
neral and a grand parade to the Central
Cemetery in Vienna, where he lies bur-
ied alongside'Beethoven, Schubert, and
Johann Strauss, Jr. in a circle at the base
of a monument to Mozart. 38
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The criticism was meant as a put-down
by modernists who decided that Brahms
was too personal, individual, idiosyncrat-
ic' or perhaps too casual. A German Re-
quiem? ("A Human Requiem, as Brahms
once suggested?) To what did that refer?
The new music was to express universal
truths on a grand (Wagnerian?) scale, sup-
posedly capturing the essence of an his-
torical epoch. The music of the past was,
in a word, passe, and it was time to grasp
the future, or so the modernists claimed.
Part of their music was nationalistic and
extolled the legends, folk history and
glories of the German Fatherland. It was
also dogmatic and patronizing, qualities
that repelled Brahms.40 It presaged the
Gotterdammerung of the Third Reich.
Brahms conjoined religion and na-
tionalism in his music, particularly in his
major choral works. But he did not allow
his nationalism to drown out the reftec-
. tive and philosophical messages of his
deeply held and personal spirituality.41
Most important, he subsumed all the
elements of his life and thinking to the
language of music, but he did not forget
the humanistic amateurs who are charged
with singing it. This placed the Requiem
in a universal realm, allowing us to see
our struggles in his struggles, our hope
in his hope.
I
I
I
I
________________ ~ L
Brahms and Aesthetic Meaning
"Art imitates life." John Dewey
breathed a little more meaning into this
concept when he wrote that artists create
something when they select experiences
from their own lives and connect them ip
such a way as to create a unified aesthetic
experience. If it is to be seen as aesthetic,
it also has to make emotional sense allow-
ing an audience to connect with the works
of visual art, music, theatre, or dance: art,
music, and dance forms that give expres-
. siveness to those emotions. "Emotions
are qualities, when they are significant,
of a complex experience that moves and
changes. [E]motion is the moving and
cementing force that unifies disparate
experiences into an aesthetic experience.
It provides unity in and through the varied
parts of an experience. "42
The performance of a particular com-
position can evoke concepts, memories,
and images that range from momentary
excitement and passion to deep-seated
qualities of feeling and perception that
reach into the depths of our being. This
phenomenon in music conjures up as-
sociations from our lives that are outside
the world of music-not to be found in
the score, or necessarily in the intentions
of the composer or performers.
43
Abso-
lutists argue, however, that true musical
meaning is to be found in the musical
score, without reference to what else is
going on in our lives. To the absolutists,
the structure of the score and the use of
musical devices to create responses are
sufficient.
The two approaches, of course, co-
mingle and are difficult to separate.
44
Indeed, each is necessary to achieve an
informed understanding - or aesthetic
perception-of a piece. We must under-
stand the culture from which a composi-
tion emerges, while, conversely, we must
understand how that may be, in part, an
expression of that cultural milieu. It is the
pairing of artistic experiences with life
(or humanistic) experiences that interface
with each other. .
The emotional/aesthetic experience
may bear little resemblance to the ac-
tual (lived) experiences that the artist,
composer, choreographer, or playwright
underwent. Oftentimes, an entire series of
lived experiences-perhaps a lifetime's
worth - is used and compressed into a
painting, play, dance, or requiem. It is,
in music, the act of compressing ordinary
(lived) time into aesthetic time and then
measuring it out over rhythms,
tempi, and bars. The emotions that may
be expressed in a composition assume
some kind of objectivity that is mani-
fested by the singers, instrumentalists,
and the audience. The compression of the
lived experiences into a composition, the
expression (or release) of those experi-
ences through a pelformance to create
impressions and images.
45
No aesthetic experience is complete,
however, unless the audience or perform-
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ers attempt to understand its impressions
by re-living somehow the expressiveness
evoked by a work of art. In so doing we
attend to the performance, starting with
the details.
46
We see what there is to be
seen, and hear what there is to be heard
so that we may understand what there is
to be felt. It is a process of experiencing
and almost immediately reflecting on
that experience that lies at the heart of an
aesthetic perception.
But, from which of our life's experi-
ences do we choose when we hear or sing
something significant? Most of them are
so fragmented, fleeting, and disconnected
that it seems impossible to find any coher-
ence that would allow us to make sense of
them. Few events in our lives seem to be
carried through to any kind of wholeness
or resolution. "We drift," John Dewey
observed; "Things are experience [in our
daily lives] but not in such a way that
they are composed into an experience."47
Not only do "things happen" in our daily
. lives, but also they happen at a rapid
18
and accelerating rate. Television and the
entertainment industry seem hell-bent on
stripping language of meaning, leaving us
with only fleeting images that bypass our
minds, causing us to react blindly, and
thus be more willing to spend money on
the newest fad without bothering to ask
Why. We are encouraged to divorce feel-
ing from thought.
In contrast to such fragmented ex-
periences in day-to-day living, Dewey
noted:
[W]e have an [aesthetic] experience
when the material experienced runs
its course to fulfillment. Then and
only then is it integrated with and
demarcated in the general stream of
experience from other experiences.
A piece of work is finished in a
way that is satisfactory; a problem
receives its solution; a situation ...
is so rounded out that its close
is a consummation and not a
cessation.
48
For musical amateurs who have been
fortunate to sing in good or even great
choruses, the act of re-creation is two
fold: (1) approach the Requiem as a
professional, harnessing whatever level
of formal training one possesses to learn
the score; and (2) look at and think about
the score from a humanist point of view,
speculating on what Brahms has to say
and what that reflection might, in turn,
bring to his music. Each time singers
perform it, the artistic and humanistic
elements act on one another to create yet
another experience, communal as well as
individual.
There is tension in such a relationship
that creates an aesthetic experience, re-
flection and consummation. But there is
also the anticipation of yet another and
even deeper consummation in the next
performance. And the next. Therein lies
a key ingredient in the greatness of the
Requiem.
NOTES
I StyraAvins, ed., Johannes Brahms, Life and
Letters (New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1997), xxvi.
2 James Oestreich, "Brahms Galore and
a Myth Debunked," New York Times
Review of Books, Jan 5, 1998 <http://
query.nytimes.com>.
3 Avins, 2, convincingly refutes the myth
about Brahms's supposed dalliance with
prostitutes during his youth. As for the
stories that Brahms lived in poverty, see
Kurt Hoffman, "Brahms the Hamburg
Musician," in Michael Musgrave, ed.,
The Cambridge Companion to Brahms
(Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press,
1998),7-8. The family's income, though
not large, was well above a subsistence
level and rising. Their neighbors were
"predominately middle class people,
minor tradesmen and respected artisans."
Each time the family moved during the
years 1830-1 857, it was to a larger and
. more expensive apartment. "
4 Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Bio-
graphy (New York: Knopf, 1997),
358-359; 615.
5 A. Craig Bell, Brahms-The Vocal Music
(Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press,
1996), "204.
6 Quoted in Swafford, 317.
7 Malcom MacDonald, Brahms (New York:
Schirmer, 1990), 193.
8 Daniel Beller-McKenna, Brahms and the
German Spirit (Cambridge: Harvard
Univ. Press, 2004), 54.
9 Ibid., 40.
10 MacDonald, 40.
II Peter F. Ostwald, "Brahms, Solitary Altruist,"
in Walter Frisch, ed., Brahms and his
World (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press,
1990), 29-31, doubts that Brahms had
sexual relations with prostitutes, and
suggests that his youthful encounters with
the so-called "singing St. Pauli's girls"
existed only in his imagination.
12 Swafford, 548.
13 MacDonald, 52; Ostwald,
14 Swafford, 37.
15 Beller-McKenna, 2.
16 Quoted in Ibid., 45.
17 Ibid., 43.
18 Ibid.
19 Brahms kept a bas-relief of Bismarck on the
wall of his study in Vienna.
20 Beller-McKenna, 76-77. While he was proud
of his North German Protestant heritage,
Brahms initially feared that the title of
his work, Ein Deutsche Requiem might
be misconstrued as taking sides against
Catholic Austria during the Seven Weeks'
War. He allayed his misgivings, however,
by the time of the Franco-Prussian War
in 1870.
21 Brahms took 11 years to compose the
Requiem. Fifteen were required for his
first symphony.
23 Cf. Gesang der Parzen, quoted in Swafford,
476-477.
24 Translation by Eusebius Mandyczewski, ed.,
Johannes Brahms, German Requiem in
Full Score (New York: Dover, 1987), xv.
26 Cf. Perry Miller, Nature's Nation (Cam-
bridge: Belknap Press, 1967), for a fuller
discussion.
27 Swafford, 623.
28 Quoted in Ibid., 315.
29 Beller-McKenna, 88-89.
30 Michael Musgrave, "Performance Issues in A
German Requiem," in Michael Musgrave
and Bernard Sherman, eds., Peljorming
Brahrns: Early Evidence of Peljormance
Style (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press,
2003),147.
32 Ibid., 94. The author reminds us that Brahms
chose the passage from Revelations out of
"poetic necessity" rather than Christian
faith. It was spiritual, not theological,
truth that was important.
33 Musgrave and Sherman, 99.
34 Ibid., 135.
35 Bernard Sherman, "Metronome marks,
times, and other period evidence
regarding tempo in Brahms," in Musgrave
and Sherman, 107. The author found little
evidence of any proportionality among
Brahms's tempi.
36 Ibid., 136.
37 In Ibid., 107, Brahms did write that he want-
ed a slower tempo for his fifth movement,
"set according to the eighth notes in bar
21." Perhaps this comment indicates his
attitude toward the sixth movement.
38 Swafford, 621.
39 Ibid., 623.
41 Ibid., 2.
42 John Dewey, Art as Experience (New York:
Capricorn Books, 1958),42.
43 Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in
Music (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,
1997), 1.
44 Ibid.
45 Dewey, 66.
46 Ibid., 54.
47 Ibid., 35.
48 Ibid., 40.
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19
Editor's note: Examples of some of the figures in this
article and video clips of overtone singing can' be found on
the ACDA national Web site at <www.acdaonline.org/cj/
interactive/apr2007> .
I
: .. " n recent years, overtone singing has become more widely
, known and appreciated. In the West, choral music has
been a major part of this evolving trend. :Initially, we
heard small vocal ensembles directed by an overtone
singing specialist/teacher; several such groups are still active to-
day. But overtone singing is also making a mark in mainstream
choral literature. By now, most of us have heard an adventurous
choir incorporate overtone singing into a performance at an
ACDA convention or similar professional gathering.
The models for overtone singing are from central Asia. Two
distinct traditions developed there: the khoomei or "throat sing-
ing" styles of the Tuvan and Mongolian herders and the yang-
style chanting of Tibetan Buddhism. Throat singing has been
practiced for centuries by central Asian nomadic peoples, most
notably the Tuvans and the Mongolians. They developed these
techniques in response to natural sounds in their environment
such as running water, whistling winds, and animal sounds,
not as music for its own sake. Throat singing was virtually
unknown outside native areas until recently. With the collapse
of the Soviet Union, information began to move more freely,
and news of the Tuvan culture has spread quickly. A rich throat
singing tradition still survives, and there are now internationally
recognized performers of Tuvan folk music.
A different style of overtone singing is practiced by certain
Tibetan Buddhist monks. Their tantric chants, called yangs, are
tone-color chants that feature an extremely low-pitched funda-
mental and a style of overtone singing in which the "melodies"
consist of sequences of smoothly and continuously varying
intonational contours, including changes in pitch, loudness, and
configurations of resonance (overtone) mixtures. Hundreds of
vowel modifications are used to change the overtone contour
and timbre. The melody is defined not by sequential relation-
, ships of pitch levels, but by the sequential configuration of its
intonational contours.
In the West, the first composer to use the harmonic partials
of a sung fundamental note as discreet elements in a composi-
tion was Karlheinz Stockhausen. In Stinunung for 6 vocalists
(1968), the performers vocally produce harmonic partials of the
pitch B ~ . Although not a choral work, Stimmung is of seminal
importance in the development of overtone singing music, not
only as the first work of its kind, but also for the composer's
recognition of the vowel basis 6f overtone singing.
.The best known, and by far the most-often perfOlmed and
recorded composition for chorus with overtone singing is Sarah
Hopkins's Past Life Melodies. The piece exists in several ver-
Stuart Hinds is an overtone singing composer, performer,
and teacher. He is director of choirs at Ball High School
in Galveston, Texas. <stuarthinds@yahoo.com>
sions with and without instruments, but the unaccompanied
SATB and treble choir versions are the most commonly heard;
Despite divisi of up to eleven parts, the piece is relatively easy
to learn, and can be effective, even for choirs of moderate abil-
ity. A pamphlet and CD are also available from the publisher,
New World Music Australia, to assist a director in preparing the
piece for perfOlmance.
Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to introduce several
recent compositions for chorus with overtone singing. The rela-
tive difficulty of various technieal demands in overtone singing
will be explored with an explanation of what can be expected
of singers trying overtone singing for the first time, and, what
, is possible with singers who have developed a higher level of
technique. The musical examples presented demonstrate some'
of the ways that overtone singing can be effectively 'incorpo-
, rated into a composition. But before proceeding, a few remarks
about overtone singing follow.
Overtone Singing
The term "overtone singing" refers to techniques that allow
a singer to isolate one (or more) of the natural harmonic partials
in the overtone series of a sung fundamental pitch, thus making
audible two discreet pitches simultaneously: the fundamental
pitch and one of its natural harmonic partials. This is accom-
plished by altering the shape of the tongue and vocal tract in the
same way that a singer uses vowels in speech or singing. The
singer creates a drone-based musical texture with a "melody"
of overtones over an unchanging fundamental pitch.
Overtone singing is natural and safe for the voice when done
properly. The only potential concern is for those who practice
the Tuvan/Mongolian "throat singing" techniques in which
muscular pressure may be applied to the larynx in an attempt to
cover the fundamental in favor of the overtones. It is possible
to produce overtones without any such stress on the throat, and
teachers must carefully monitor their students to make sure that
no vocal abuse is taking place. All the vocal tract manipulations
occur in the resonating area of the vocal tract, not the phonating
area. The types of vocal tract shaping used in overtone singing
are the same as those used in traditional singing when changing
vowels, registers, or timbre. None of the adjustments of the vo-
cal tract in overtone singing are inconsistent with good "open
throat" singing. .
There are several advantages in using overtone singing
with a choir. First, is the potential benefit of overtone singing
relative to improvements in normal singing, particularly the
effects on vocal resonance and increased understanding of the
relationships between overtones, vowels, resonance, and tim-
bre. Second, the value of overtone singing contributes to better
musicianship in general, as a result of training the ear in interval
recognition and intonation. (For milch more detailed informa-
tion about these topics, see "Argument for the Investigation and
Use of Overtone Singing," in the Journal of Singing, Fall 2005).
Consider also that overtone singing is a multicultural activity,
and an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the music of
other cultures. Overtone singing can add variety to concert pro-
21
grams and to rehearsal regimes. Singers
will enjoy doing it and benefit from the
experience.
Of course, the main reason for using
overtone singing in music is the beauty
of the sound. That distinctive sound is ef-
fective and affective; it can be a powerful
means of expression. When people hear
overtone singing for the first time, the
universal reaction is one of amazement.
With its otherworldly quality, it is easy to
see how the sound of overtone singing is
often associated with sacred utterance.
It should be emphasized that anybody
can learn to sing in this manner. More-
over, one does not have to be either a
virtuoso singer or a specialist in overtone
singing to enjoy overtone singing. In fact,
most choral works with overtone singing
do not call for a particularly high level of
overtone singing technique. As the genre
continues to develop, a repertoire will be
generated, including works demanding a
wide range of skill levels.
Choral Music
Overtone Singing
The first step in composing choral mu-
sic with overtone singing is to discover
what the singers can be expected to do
successfully without extensive practice.
The second step is to find a musical
context in which those techniques could
be effective, not mere special effects. It
was initially hypothesized that beginners
would be able to:
ertoire
22
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April 20th, 2007.
glissando through the partials of a given -
fundamental, ascending or descend-
ing, fast, or slow;
use vowels/text for relative pitch ges-
tures on indeterminate partials,
specifying the given shape without
specifying particular partials;
improvise on partials of the given
fundamental, ad lib., freely, or in a
given style or manner;
find and sustain a particular partial (re-
quires interval recognition); and
by extension, move to an adjacent par-
tial, above or below, and alternate
between the two.
Singers should not be asked to change the
fundamental pitch while overtone singing
and changing partials should always be
to an adjacent partial. When a particular
partial is to be specified, time should be
allowed (a beat or so) for the singers to
get the harmonics to "speak" and find the
correct one.
Naturally, the vocal ability and ex-
perience of the singer is a major factor
in learning to perform overtone singirig.
One who is already proficient with breath
control and tonal focus will learn the
techniques more readily than one with
less experience. A well-trained musical
ear is also a great advantage but not re-
quired for success.
At the time of this writing, the author
has composed nine works for chorus with
overtone singing based on the criteria
outlined above. These works vary widely
in the level of difficulty of the overtone
singing and the music in general. There
are works designed for choirs learning
overtone singing for the first time and for
groups with more substantial overtone
singing experience. In some of the pieces,
the use of overtone singing is elaborate
and pervasive while others use the tech-
nique sparingly. In all these composi-
tions, an attempt was made to incorporate
and integrate overtone singing in musical
and meaningful ways.
For this article, several works by the
author have been selected that demon-
strate some of the ways overtone singing
can be used in choral music. They show
how various overtone singing techniques
have been employed for musical effects
such as timbre conh'ast, dramatic gesture,
and the creation of texture. Additionally,
how overtone singing can be evocative
of the text (or better, evoked by the
text) is presented. The initial examples
demonstrate the use of relatively simple
techniques that can be done by singers
who are learning overtone singing for
51 J = 120
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s
u
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u
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mf
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the first time, while successive examples
progress to more advanced applications.
Difficulty level in the overtone part does
not necessarily correlate to the level of
difficulty of the entire composition and
attendant expressive demands.
As an example, consider the compo-
sition Autumn Moon (SATB and piano,
with some divisi). This is a relatively
simple work in terms of the ovelione
mf
lui
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0----------
luI
singing parts, but the close harmonies
and occasional chromaticism of the piece
make peliorrinng it challenging. Most of
the piece has no overtone singing at all.
There are two brief but effective spots
where overtone singing is used as text
painting ("or when it hides for a moment
behind a passing cloud" and "I hear the
song of the wind in the branches"). In
these passages, the singers are given only
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Figure 1. Stuart Hinds, Autumn Moon, mm. 51-60.
Used by pennission
April 2007 CHORAL JOURNAL 23
pp -====== f 0 gliss.
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pp -====: f 0"'----
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belld
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the fundamental pitch and allowed to im-
provise on the partials that work best for
them, thus creating a subtle but complex
and colorful texture. Overtone singing is
prominently featured only in a passage
where the melody and harmony are taken
over by the piano, while the choir creates
a harp-like texture of overtone glissandi,
with the i women's voices
and overlapping with the men's (Figure
Figure 2. Stuart Hinds, Beauty, rom. 1-4.
Used by permission
1, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/interac-
tive/apr2007. The singers need not
be precisely in unison on the partials of
these glissandi as long as they create the
desired shape, ascending or descending,
at the proper time metrically. The small
circle over the notehead indicating har-
monics is a notational technique found in
string music and scoring. The 'Vowel lu:1
is specified to produce a lower partial as
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a starting point for the glissando, not to
be sustained.
The unique tone color of vocal har-
monics can also be used to good effect.
In Beauty (SATB unaccompanied, with
some divisi), tone color tremoli are cre-
ated with the overtones alternately sound-
ing and not sounding in a given rhythm.
In measures 3-4 (Figure 2), the men
create this effect by using the consonant
Iw I to articulate a measured tremolo on
the 2nd partial. The importance of tone
color contrasts in this passage is further
developed by the use ofjalsetto voice in
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the men's vocal lines and the entry of the
women on the same pitch as the men with
a more nasal timbre and a dynamic ges-
ture that culminates in overtone glissandi
in contrary motion. Later in the piece, a
similar effect is created, this time with in-
determinate high partials, indicated by the
vowel Iii. The onloff effect is facilitated
by the use of the sustainable consonant
In/. The complex rhythmic texture of the
passage is enhanced by the use of vocal
overtones. (Figure 3)
Another approach to making overtone
singing works accessible for both begin-
ners and more accomplished overtone
singers is to specify harmonic partials
in the score with the understanding that
they may optionally be treated as indeter-
minate partials by beginners. Essentially,
this means that there are two versions
of the piece: one version with specific
partials for advanced singers, and one
version for beginners using indeterminate
partials. In the latter case, the singers fol-
Figure 3. Stuart Hinds, Beallty, mm. 16-20.
Used by pennission
low the indicated shape of the overtone
line as best t h ~ y can without having to be
in perfect unison. The effect is more ges-
tural than melodic, but it can work well
for beginners whose overtone production
may still be a little insecure.
One example of this type of work is
Spring (SA and piano). The linear con-
tours of the overtone lines are evoked
by the fragrance of flowers on the breeze
referred to in the lyrics. In this context,
treating the overtones as indeterminate
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fl
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l :
tJ
8,.,
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fume
,., #j!!:'
l : -
tJ
-
comes dane - ing with co - lor and per
II ~
# ~ '
"
~
# ~ '
II ~
tJW- - -1 5 ma--- - - --- - -- - - --- ---- - -- - - -- - --- - - - - - - -- - - ----I
m 'm
rn IT)
1TJ rn
I I I
"
~
#j!!:'
" ~
#j!!:'
"
- -
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Figure 4. Stuart Hinds, Spring, mm. 5-11.
Used by permission
#.::..
~
I
I
#j!!:'
"
~
-
-
I
is just as effective as the more difficult
version using the specified partials, The
harmonics are notated with diamond-
shaped noteheads on the same staff with
the fundamentals, and they sound two
octaves higher than notated. (Figure 4)
Another way to use indeterminate
partials to good effect is to create musi-
cal gestures or linear contours defined by
vowels or text. Since the vocal tract posi-
tion used to produce any given harmonic
can be thought of as a vowel position, it
makes sense to employ vowels and text
in this way. With any number of singers
shaping the same vowels while over-
tone singing, the partials may not be in
unison but the contour will be the same
for all. A simple realization of this idea
is found in Beauty. (Figure 5) Vowels
indicate the relative pitch of the harmon-
ics, generating indeterminate chords on
three relative pitch levels: lu:/= low: le:1 =
medium, and Iii = high, The use of nasal
consonants helps the harmonics 'speak,"
No harmonic can be produced on an la:1
vowel.
An excerpt from Winter (SATB unac-
companied) shows the use of text to gen-
erate overtone-singing effects (Figure 6),
In the bass part, measure 45, diphthongs
~ ..... '
~
43
if
0_
s
A
ID __ i: ___ _ ID_ U: __
T
a: ___ e: __ ID __ i: ___ _ ID_ U: __ _
if
B
a: __ e: __ ID __ i: ___ _ ID_ U: __
in the words are elongated to produce glis-
sandi of overtones, descending - "fierce"
and "fearful," and ascending- "voices."
The x-shaped noteheads in the soprano
and alto parts indicate unvoiced sounds
(whisper), and the women are also asked
to improvise on the highest partials pos-
sible for bright, piercing sounds. All these
text-sound effects illustrate the imagery
of the lyrics.
Awakening (SATB and piano) focuses
specifically on overtone singing; there is
no text at all. The entire work is devoted
41
s
(highest partials)
mfo
Figure 5. Stuart Hinds, Beauty,rnm. 43-45.
Used by pennission
to exploring the musiCal possibilities for
overtone singing in choral music. As in
Spring, many of the harmonics are speci-
fied, and the piece can be performed as
written or the harmonics may be treated
as indeterminate, following the indicated
contour without perfect unison. Given an
indeterminate performance, there is noth-
ing particularly difficult in the overtone
part, but the sheer amount of overtone
singing involved makes this piece less
effective for singers performing overtone
singing for the first time.
f
p<:::::.f :
howl_ f - ier - ce_
(highest partials)
f p<:::::.f :
o
A
T
B
howl_ f - ier - ce_
f
(whistle)
mp
# ~ - - - - - - ~
howl _________ _
f
1111[10 ___
InAwakening, a variety of musical tex-
tures are created using overtone singing
techniques such as those in the previous
examples. Figure 7, <www.acdaonline.
org/cj/interactive/apr2007>, provides a
passage in which a type of shimmering
chordal texture is created by altematirig
between two adjacent partials in specified
rhythm. The changing of the fundamen-
tal pitch while singing in this passage,
though carefully handled, raises the per-
formance difficulty level for the piece.
In looking at the example, note that the
voi - ces . frOID the
voi - ces frOID the
ord.1I1I[1
voi -
0 __
fierce__ winds_ fear - fuI voi ces
Figure 6. Stuart Hinds, Winter, rnm. 41-46.
Used by pennission
44 J = 90
,..
s
1/..1
,..
A
1/..1
1\
T

,..

B
:
J =90
,..
1
5" ,
JHJ
3
46,.. :t:, I If..l
I
s
1/..1
f 3
,..
A
1/..1
1\
3
I ..I
T

f 3
1\

f
:
,..
I
1
51 J

28
I I I I I I , I I 1 II.! 1 .!
I
,
I I I I I I I 11.1 I
. .1
I
I
--
I I
5 J J 5 1 1
5' 1
5 " .1
sJJ 51 J 5 L J
J J J J J J JHJ
3 3 3
..I I ..I I ..I I ..I I ..I
. I
3 3 3
I
3 3 3
I J I J I J I J I Id
3
3 3
I I I
51 J 51 J 51 J
f
I J J I J J I J J II,

Figure 7. Stuart Hinds, Awakening, mm. 44-47,
Used by pennission
I
TT . 3
III jJ
s
A
T
B
sOllnds 15ma
9 10
sounds 15nia
soprano, alto, and tenor parts are notated
on single staves with the harmonics
sounding two octaves higher, but the
bass part is notated on two staves-the
upper (treble clef) for overtones sound-
ing one octave higher and the lower
(bass clef) for the fundamentals.
Up to this point, we have been
looking at relative pitch gestures and
effects because those are the types of
vocal skills that singers can sing with
little experience in overtone singing.
But the most typical use of overtone
singing in general is to sing a melody
in the overtone part above a steady
and unchanging fundamental pitch. Of
course, individual singers can improvise
Figure 8. Stuart Hinds, Pacem, mm. 40-44.
Used by pennission
melodies according to their ability, but to
sing in a group requires a higher level of'
overtone singing technique and a more
developed ear. If a group of singers is to
sing overtones together, each member
must be able to produce overtones with
control and in rhythm, while recognizing
which partial to sing at any given time.
Afairly simple example is found in the
work, Pacem (SATB unaccompanied).
The piece is based on a melody reminis-
cent of Gregorian chant. At the end, this
melody is sung in unison in the overtone
part over a fundamental drone (Figure
8, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/interactive/
apr2007. As before, the harmonics are
notated with diamond-shaped noteheads
and sound two octaves higher. The nu-
meric notation refers to the partial num-
bers of the first two melody notes.
The Sound of Forever (SATB unac-
companied), with text drawn from Rabi-
ndranath Tagore, is definitely a work for

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29
Figure 9. Stuart Hinds, The Sound of Forever, mm. 25-31.
Used by permission
singers who practice overtone singing tion to indicate partIal numbers. Chords
regularly. Composed for the Aachener of up to eight notes are used-four f u n ~
Obertonchor of Germany, this piece damentals and four overtones. Because
takes full advantage of singers with of the demands of the overtone singing,
extensive overtone singing experience. the piece is rather simple melodically
All the vocal overtones in the piece are and harmonically. Great care was taken
clearly specified, using numeric nota- by the composer to maintain step-wise
30
voice-leading in both fundamental and
overtone parts when overtone singing
is introduced. In one interesting spot
(Figure 9, <www.acdaonline.org/cj/in-
teractive/apr2007, four different funda-
mental pitches produce a unison overtone
using different partials.
Directors of choirs of all ages and
singing ability are strongly encouraged
to consider trying overtone singing. The .
basic technique can be taught in just a few
minutes, and it does not require music
rehearsal time to make good progress.
Overtone singing can easily be incor-
porated into the warm-up regime, and is
an outstanding platform for the teaching
of vocal resonance and intonation. The
time spent on' overtone singing will pay
dividends in improved awareness of the
voice, increased musical cognition, and
the enjoyment of singing.
Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia, Smithsonian Folkways CD 40017.
Tuva, Among the Spirits: Sound, Music, and Nature in Sakha and Tuva, Smithsonian Folkways CD 40452.
Huun-Huur Tu - 60 Horses in my Herd, Shanachie BOOOOOOE38
Tibetan Buddhism: The Ritual Orchestra and Chants, Nonesuch H-72071.
Stockhausen - Stimmung, Collegium Vocal Cologne, Wolfgang Forman, conductor, Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Cologne, 1970.
Stockhausen - Stimmung, Singcircle, Gregory Rose, conductor, London: Hyperion Records Limited, 1986
(CDA 66115).
Hopkins - Honour the Earth (includes Past Life Melodies), New World Music Australia, NWCD 570:
Hopkins - Reclaiming the Spirit (includes Past Life Melodies), New World Music Australia, NWCD 777.
Past Life Melodies is also recorded by Chanticleer and the St. Olaf Choir.
Hopkins - Sarah Hopkins Rehearses Past Life Melodies, St. Peters Chorale, Toowong, Old: Morton Music,
MM3001.
Stuart Hinds - Harmonx, available from the composer: www.stuarthinds.com.
Ellingson, Ter. "Don Rta Dbyangs Gsum: Tibet;:ln Chant and Melodic Categories." Asian Music, 1979q.
Hinds, Stuart. "Argument for the Investigation and Use of Overtone Singing." Journal of Singing, Fall 2005.
Hopkins, Sarah, Past Life Melodies (scores, various instrumentations), Toowong, Old: Morton Music, 1992.
Hopkins, Sarah, Rehearsing and Performing 'Past Life Melodies': A Resource Guide for Choristers and Choir
Directors, Toowong, Old: Morton Music, 1998.
Levin, Theodore C. and Michael E. Edgerton. "The Throat Singers of Tuva." Scientific American,
September 1999.
Siobin, Mark. Music of Central Asia and of the Volga-Ural Peoples. Bloomington: Indiana University Asian
Studies Research Institute, 1977
Stockhausen, Karlheinz, Stimmung for six, vocalists (score), Vienna: Universal Edition No. 14805, 1968.
van Tongeren, Mark C., Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West,
Amsterdam: Fusica, 2002.
by Godwin Sadoh
~
. '. horal music in Nigeria can be broadly divided into
.
.... .... ..' two categories: (1) traditional choral singing; and
. .. (2) Western influenced choral works known as
' . ,., modem Nigerian art songs. The former has been
in existence since the formation of the country. Choral singing
permeates every aspect of Nigerian cultural life: social; politi-
cal; economical; or religious. It is a communal experience that
binds the people together as a nation. Consequently, traditional
choral singing can be observed in naming ceremonies, funeral
rites, religious worship, children's activities, folk tales, royal
events, wedding ceremonies, and recreational gathering in the
evenings. Each ethnic group has a distinct harmonic structure to
support the melodic lines of their songs. The performance tech-
niques of indigenous choral songs include call-and-response,
hand clapping, dancing, and instrumental accompaniment sup-
plied by diverse kinds of drums, iron bells, sekere [maracas],
or other types of idiophones such as bottles, calabash, sticks,
and wooden clappers.
Western influenced choral music was introduced to Nigeria
through the churches established by early missionaries. from
America and Great Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. It
was in these churches that the first converts to Christianity
were exposed to simple English church hymns in four-part
harmony, and later, to advanced choral works such as Messiah
by George Frederick Handel and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah.
In addition, talented Nigerian musicians received lessons in
piano and organ playing, theory of Western music, and singing
at the mission schools and churches established by the foreign
ministers of the Gospel. By the turn of the twentieth century,
Nigerian composers had begun writing indigenous choral songs.
Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian organist/composer, choral
conductor, and ethnomusicologist with several articles
. about Nigerian music published in various journals. He
is an assistant professor of music at LeMoyne-Owen
College, Memphis, Tennessee.
<gsadoh1@lsu.edu>
A chronological exposition on Nigerian choral composers from
four generations reveals growth, dynamics, and transformations.
Prominent among these composers are Thomas King Ekundayo
Phillips (1884-1969), Fela Sowande (1905-87),Ayo Bankole
(1935-76), and Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005).
Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips is regarded as the 'grand-
father of art music' in Nigeria. He was born in 1884 at Lagos,
and he belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. Phillips
studied piano, organ, and violin at the Trinity College of Mu-
sic, London, from 1911 to 1914. On his return to Nigeria, he
was appointed as the Organist and Master of the Music at the
renowned Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos;l a position he
occupied for forty-eight years (Trinity Sunday 1914 to Trinity
Sunday 1962).2 He administered his duties at this church profes-
sionally and brought the Cathedral Choir to a very high level of
excellence during his tenure. Phillips composed several hymns
and anthems based on indigenous music elements for his choir
and for choirs in other parishes. One of Phillips' most significant
accomplishments was the training of future organists for Nige-
rian congregations. His students include Fela Sowande, Ayo
Bankole, and his son and successor, Charles Oluwole Obayomi
Phillips. In 1964, Phillips was awarded an honorary doctoral
degree in music by the University 'of Nigeria, Nsukka, for his
immense contribution to the development of church music in
Nigeria. Phillips represents the first generation of Nigerian
choral composers, and his compositions are simple, tonal, short,
and exclusively sacred. All the compositions in this era were
written for divine services in the church.
Among Phillips's numerous choral compositions is Samuel,
a cantata for soloists, choir, and organ. It was specifically writ-
ten for the Cathedral Church of Christ Choir, Lagos, in 1944.
The text is taken from the Old Testament, First Samuel in the
King James Bible. The cantata is divided into three parts: (1) a
musical narration of the birth and childhood of Samuel; (2) the
ministry of Samuel as the Prophet of God in the land of Israel;
and (3) an account of how Samuel crowns Saul as the first King
of Israel. The work is conceived in diatonic scale with several
modulations to related and remote keys.
One of the most popular choral works by T. K. E. Phillips
is Emi 0 Gbe Oju mi s ~ O k e Wonni [I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Unto the Hills], based on Psalm 121 from the Old Testament of
the King James Bible. This choral setting is extremely popular
at the Cathedral Church of Christ, other Anglican parishes,
other denominational churches, and independent choral groups
throughout the southwest region of Nigeria. The Cathedral
Choir is an all-male chorus (following the traditions of British
Cathedrals in England), where the young boys sing the soprano
line. Accordingly, Phillips wrote the anthem for four-part male
chorus, baritone solo, with organ accompaniment, and the text
is in the Yoruba language. Nigerian languages are tonal, and the
melodic shape of songs follow the rising and falling inflections
dictated by the indigenous words. If the melodic shape does
not mirror the patterns indicated by the words, the intended
meaning of the text is altered drastically. Hence, it is not sur-
prising to observe the melodic contour consistently imitating
the tonal inflections of the Yoruba words in this choral work.
33
" u
mf
1"'""'= -"""
-
r--=
Boys
I
' ~ r
--
I
;-. ~ b . . k
- ITIl o_g e 0 - JU- ITIl . SO - e WC;lO - ni: . ni-boni i - ran-I<;> - w<;>_ rni yio ha it wa.
f\ /I
tJ
!t
~ . . ,
r i
f
ii J IJ
j j
I J J
,1
:
I
I I I I
r
5 mf
.. f!:. 11-' 11-
-----
Men
I
:
I - ran -1<;>- wo mi ti <;> - w<;> 0 - Iu - wa wa, ti o da <;> - run on_ ai - ye;
"
I
tJ I
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
It r
r
:
" u
1""'"""'1 r-F=i
-
rr==:;
I .. . ~
9
f
Boys
tJ
- -
'-!'
- - L.......J 1.....1=1
I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ rni I - ran -1<;> - w<;>_ rni I - ran -1<;> - w<;>_
f!. f!.'
cresco .,. .,.,
.. ..
Men
:
........ .
- - II
I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ ITIl I - ran - 1<;> - w<;>_ rni - ran - 1<;> - w<;>
f\ /I Manual colla voce ad libitum
1"""'""1 ..rJ=i
) "
cresco
.I .I J J
-
-
r I I
Ped.
Figure 1. T. K. E. Phillips, Emi a gbe aju mi sake wqlllli, mm. 1-11.
Other creative techniques employed
by the composer include alternation of
melodic phrases between the boys and
men, call-and-response, monophonic and
homophonic passages. In addition, Phil-
lips creates a descant for the boys against
the men's monophonic passage on page
3 of the composition, and a brief canonic
imitation involving all the voices on the
text of verse 7 of the Psalm, "Oluwa yio
pa 0 mo kuro ninu ibi gbogbo" [The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil]. Apart
from a brief tonicization of C major in the
baritone solo section, the song remains in
G major. The anthem closes in a fortis-
simo dynamic with a plagalcadence on
34
Used by Permission
the word Amin [Amen]. Figure 1 shows
the opening section of Emi 0 Gbe Oju mi
s'Oke Wonni.
Fela Sowande
Fela Sowande belongs to the Yoruba
ethnic group of southwest Nigeria like
Phillips, and he represents the second
generation of Nigerian choral compos-
ers. He was born in 1905 at Lagos,into
a musical family. His father, Emmanuel
Sowande, was an Anglican priest and
one of the pioneers of Nigerian church
music.Sowande received his first les-
sons in music from his father and later
traveled to England in 1935 to study as
an external candidate at the University of
London. While in London; he received
private lessons in organ. He became a
Fellow of the Royal College of Organists
(FRCO) with credit in 1943, making him
the first African to earn the Great Britain's
highest diploma in organ playing. He
emerged as one of the prominent figures
in jazz, organ performance, composition,
and broadcasting in London between
1930 and 1950. On his return to Nigeria
in 1953, Sowande was appointed as the
Director of the Nigerian Broadcasting
Corporation in Lagos, honorary organist
at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos,
and later as an ethnomusicology profes-
sor at the University of Ibadan. He emi-
grated to the United States in the 1960s
and taught at several institutions such
as Howard University, the University 'of
Pittsburgh, and Kent State University.3
Sowande's era introduced the pan-Afri-
can and global intercultural phenomena
into the vocabulmy of Nigerian art music.
Unlike his predecessors who integrated
Nigerian and Western music elements
in their works, Sowande goes beyond
the shores of Nigeria to other African
countries, Europe, and America to seek'
musical resources. He employed Gha-
naian popular songs' by Ephraim Amu
and African-American Spirituals into his
compositions.
Sowande arranged several African-
American Spirituals for solo voice and
for four-part chorus with piano or organ
accompaniment. Of his numerous Spiri-
tual an'angements, the most popular in
Nigeria are Wheel, Oh Wheel
4
and Roll
De Ol' Chariot.
s
They are regularly per-
formed at church services, choir festivals,
and public concerts throughout Nigeria.
The Cathedral Church of Christ Choir
rendered the two settings on September
27, 1985, at a special service in honor
of Fela Sowande's eightieth birthday.
Wheel, Oh Wheel is set for four-part
voices without accompaniment. It is in
strophic form, that is, stanzas alternate
with refrain sections in the piece. Sowan-
de maintains the key of E minor without
modulation throughout but retains the
call-and-response interaction between the
voices in the opening and closing sections
respectively.
Roll De Ol' Chariot is arranged for
five voices (SATBB) with piano ac-
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Apri12007- CHORAL JOURNAL
Roll De 01' Chariot
Roll de 01' Chariot along (3ce)
If yo' don't hang on behind, 0 Christians.
If yo' mother's in de way
Just roll right Over (3ce)
An' yo' must hang on behind, Hallelujah.
If yo' mother wants to go
She shall wear a starry crown (3ce)
An' she must hang on behind, 0 Christians.
Roll de 01' Chariot along (3ce)
If yo' don't hang on behind, 0 brethren.
companiment. Structurally, it is divided
into three main sections: (A) refrain in
homophonic style with repetitions; (B)
contrasting middle section with new text
in call-and-response; and (A) final return
of the refrain in homophonic texture, first
with all the voices in unison, and second
appearance in polyphony. The piano ac-
companiment maintains a strict ostinato
throughout the piece. However, the ac-
companying ostinato from the opening to
the end of the middle section is different
from the ostinato assigned to the final
returp. of the refrain that is in triplets.
In terms of tonality, the song stays in
the key of E ~ without modulation. One'
significant African/African-American
compositional device employed in this
work is the syncopated rhythm; a promi-
nent feature of traditional African music
and African-American jazz, Spiritual, and
gospel music. Indeed, Sowande's settings
of the Spiritual songs demonstrate one of
the philosophies of choral composition in
twentieth-century Nigeria, that is, global
intercultural creativity-the amalgamation
of musical idioms from various conti-
nents.
Ayo Bankole
Ayo Bankole was born on May 17,
1935, at J os in Plateau State of Nigeria.
He belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group.
In August 1957, Bankole left Nigeria on a
Federal Government Scholarship to study
music at the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama, London. He concentrated
on piano, composition, organ, harmony,
and counterpoint. While at Guildhall,
Bankole experimented with simple works
and works based on twentieth-century
tonal devices. After four years of intense
studies at Guildhall, Bankole proceeded
to Claire College, Cambridge Univer-
sity, London,where he obtained his first
degree, a BA in music. While at Cam-
bridge as an organ scholar (1961-64),
Bankole earned the prestigious Fellow-
ship of the Royal College of Organists
The Natipnal College & University Choirs Repertoire & Standards Chair is being
vacated. If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a resume and short
Nancy Cox, National R&S Chair
824 E. Elm
Altus, OK 73521
nrcox@swbell.net
Applicant submission deadline date is April 20th, 2007.
35
(FRCO), making him the second and last
Nigerian to receive the highest diploma
in organ playing given in Great Britain.
At the end of his studies at Cambridge
University in 1964, Bankole received a
Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship' to
, study ethnomusicology at the University
of California, Los Angeles. In 1969, he
was appointed Lecturer in Music at the
University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he
embarked on research into Nigerian tra-
ditional music and presented scholarly
papers at conferences. At the University
of Lagos, Bankole combined the role of
Female Choi1:
7
The first song, "OrisaBi
Ofun ko Si" [The Throat is the Great-
est God, that is, humankind has to eat
to stay alive] is written for two female
choirs of three-parts each (SSA). The
two choirs make a statement antiphonally
and simultaneously, as if to affirm the
Exalts Himself Shall Be Abased-Luke
Chapter 14:11] is set for three female
voices (SSA) with piano accompaniment.
Both the vocal and instrumental accom-
paniment are arranged with scintillating
dance rhythms that set the performers
and audience into a mood for shaking
>",
the
.. " .. ,.. "i'e., .'. ' .
Lagos and Saint Peter's Anglican Church,
Faji, Lagos.
The third generation of Nigerian choral
composers injected new genres and to-
nality into the Nigerian musical language.
Secular choral works for performances
in new venues such as public concert
halls, secondary schools, colleges and
universities were all introduced during
Bankole's era. Prior to this period, choral
works were exclusively sacred and their
performances were restricted to religious
occasions and the church. Furthermore,
Bankole introduced new tonalities into
Nigerian choral works such as poly tonal-
ity, whole-tone scale, chromaticism, and
tone clusters. Manifestations of these new
compositional devices are best exempli-
fied ill Bankole's Three Part-Songs for
,Phil Mattson
truth of the message. The development
of the theme is treated as an independent
tonality producing poly tonal clashes that
suggests the pangs of hunger. The second
song, "TIe Iwe Nikan 10 ri Yungbayungba"
[The Glorious Days of School] comes
from a popular song of young ladies in
which they recollect their youthful days at
school. Bankole wrote an original melody
for this song that besttreats it poly tonally
between the two topmost voices. The ac-
companiment that is scored for four lower
voices is typical of the rhythmic clapping
that goes with Nigerian singing. The coda'
is a poly tonal fugato that combines the
speed and the shouting typical of excited
young' women. The third song, "Enikeni
to Ba Gbe Ara Re Ga" [For Whosoever
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36
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Workshop Tuition $450, Visa/Me accepted
Complete workshop information and application may be found at: www.schoolfonnusicvocations.com
Ir1quiries call (641) 782-2470 or e-mail: phil@phiimattson.com
their bodies and dancing. Bankole uses
a whole-tone scale to color the words
patapata iresile [completely humble] in
the middle section of the piece.
Bankole's choral work that is very
popular among choral groups in Lagos
is a well-researched song titled, Fun Mi
N'Ibeji [Give Me Twins] for four-part
choir without instrumental accompani-
ment. The composer brought into play his
years of research into Yoruba traditional
music in this work. The song is divided
into three distinct sections: (A) the open-
ing passage is characterized by ostinato
in the bass and tenor lines and clashing
seconds of the Ijesha Yoruba infused
between the soprano and alto voices; (B)
the juxtaposition of simple duple patterns
against triplets; and (A) a return of the
ostinato in bass and tenor voices. Bankole
transforms choral music in Nigeria from
the sacred enclave of the church to the
secular public concert auditoriums. From
the selected works, we could deduce that
Bankole's choral songs are mostly in the
Yoruba language, the mother tongue of
his Nigerian ethnic group. His targeted
audiences are located mainly in the Yo-
ruba southwest part of Nigeria. Bankole's
Fun Mi N'Ibeji is shown in Figure 2.
Joshua Uzoigwe
Joshua Uzoigwe represents the fourth
generation of choral composers and he
7
s
A
T
B
I
f
be- ji
wa ____ _
be ji ___ _
sai - yo mi 0, k'o mu
wa
0 __ _
i be ji mo fe,c-- 0 lu wa _____ _
wa _______ _
be ji mo fe,_ 0 lu wa _____ _
wa _______ _
Figure 2. Ayo Bankole, FUll Mi N'lbeji, mm. 1-13.
Used by Pennission
WORLD
CHOIR GAMES
SINGING TOGETHER
BRINGS NATIONS TOGETHER
THE OLYMPICS FOR CHOIRS
Information:
INTERKULTUR . WORLD CHOIR GAMES Am Weingarten 3 . 0-35415 Pohlheim (Frankfurt/Main) . Gerinany
phone: +49 (0) 64 03 - 95 65 25 . fax: +49 (0) 64 03 - 95 65 29 . mail@worldchoirgames.com
April2007 CHORAL JOURNAL 37
a tempo
(spoke/! softly, allllosl a whisper) ,-3---, ,-3---,
S ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Soft as cat' ~ paw san-daJled in vel - vet in
o' ________ ~ ____________________________ ___
T
0 ____________________________ _
13
cresco
S
fur So we must go,
cresco
eve - mist on should - ers Sun's dust of com - bat with
A
cresco
So
T
cresco
B
So
belongs to the Igbo ethnic group in the
southeast part of. Nigeria. He studied
piano and composition at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama, London,
from 1973 to 1977 .. Uzoigwe went on
to study ethnomusicology under John
Blacking at Queen's University, Belfast,
Ireland, in 1977 and subsequently re-
ceivedhisPh.D. degree in 1981. Upon his
arrival in Nigeria, Uzoigwe was appoint-
ed as a music lecturer at the Obafemi
Awolowo University, lle-Ife, from 1981
to 1991. He later taught at the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of
Uyo, Akwa !bom State, where he was an
associate professor of music and the head
of the Music Department until his death
in October 2005.
8
Uzoigwe brings into Nigerian choral
literature a barrage of contemporary in-
novations, mcluding the use of poetry as
the text of his songs, speech/song tech-
38
we must go, eve - mist on should - ers sun's dust of com - bat with
,.---3----,
,-3----, ,-3----,
-------
--- --
,-3----,
we must go, eve - mist on should - ers
Figure 3. Joshua Uzoigwe, Siren Limits, mm. 8-17.
Used by Permission
nique, and secular concert compositions.
He wrote only three choral works that are
suitable for performances in public con-
certs. In regard to tonality, Uzoigwe uses
various types of pitch collections in his
compositions, including tetratonic, pen-
tatonic, octatonic and diatonic scales, ato-
nality, and the twelve-tone row method.
Unlike Ayo Bankole and Ekundayo Phil-
lips whose songs are mostly in the Yoruba
language, Uzoigwe's choral pieces are
in English and not in the Igbo language.
His Siren Limits for six voices (SSATTB)
without accompaniment is representative
of his most mature contemporary choral
work. Uzoigwe uses various types of
twentieth-century compositional devices
that he acquired from his musical train-
ing in England. Prominent among these
features are the speech/song technique,9
canonic imitations, homophonic passages
against contrapuntal textures, frequent
,.---3--, ,.---3--,
sun's dust of com - bat with
change of meter, clashing seconds, har-
monic intervals of fourths and fifths,
and polychords. In this work, he uses
"free atonality" characterized by succes-
sive chromatic progression, diminished
intervals, and continuous extirpation of
the tonal center. Uzoigwe employs word
painting to interpret some of the words of
the song such as the placing of soft [p] in
measures 8-9 to color the words "silent,
~ i l e n t fall." He also uses full polyphonic
texture in measures 26-31 to interpret
the words "making harmony among the
branches." Figure 3 shows an excerpt
from the Siren Limits.
Siren Limits is one of the few atonal
. compositions in the Nigerian choral
repertoire. It is an experimental work
Uzoigwe wrote in 1976 while studying at
the Guildhall School of Music. The work
is original in the sense that Nigerian tradi-
tional musical elements are not borrowed;
it is European in conception. Most Nige-
rian choral composers write more simple
songs based on a diatonic scale that ama-
teur singers can sing without much dif-
ficulty, thereby making the works more
accessible to several interested music
enthusiasts and a larger audience. To my
knowledge, Uzoigwe's Siren Limits has
never been performed in Nigeria. It was
premiered in 1976 by fellow music stu-
dents at the Guildhall School of Music,
London. Siren Limits is an exception and
a great leap from the normal practice in
Nigerian choral literature.
Conclusion
A diachronic discourse of Nigerian
choral composers and their crafts reveals
a systematic and gradual transformation
of the musical style and its tonal lan-
guage. Every age contributed new ideas
and idiomatic expressions to move the
genre to the next level. Nigerian choral
composers have their local audiences in
mind when writing these songs because
the songs are to be performed by Nigerian
choral groups for local audiences. The ap-
preciation of their works by fellow coun-
try men and women gives the composers
the zest and boost they needed to continue
to write such works. Apparently, there
is a pride, patriotism, confidence, and a
nationalistic solidarity that accompanies
the warm support for the choral works in
Nigeria. In addition, a good reception for
these works at home means that the songs
are indeed Mrican.
NOTES
I. The Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, is the
headquarters of the Anglican Church and
the seat of the Archbishop of the Anglican
Communion in Nigeria.
2. Akin Euba, Modern African Music (Bayreuth:
Iwalewa-Haus, University of Bayreuth,
1993),17.

I L
NtW
"The Art of Performance -
The Power of Education"
For further details, visit us at:
www.dciny.org
250 West 57th Street, Suite 1400
New York, NY 10107
fax: 646.736.0437
3. Godwin Sadoh, "APr6file of Nigerian
Organist-Composers," The Diapason 94,
No.8 (August 2003) : 20.
4. Fela Sowande, Wheel, Oh Wheel (New York:
Ricordi, 1961).
5. Fela Sowande, Roll De Ol' Chariot (London:
Chappell & Co. Ltd., 1955).
6. Afolabi Alaja-Browne, "Ayo Bankole: His
Life and Work" (M.A. Thesis, University
of Pittsburgh, 1981), 15-30.
7. Ayo Bankole, Three Part-Songs for
Female Choir (TIe-Ife: University of Ife
Press,1975).
8. Godwin Sadoh, "Intercultural Creativity in
Joshua Uzoigwe's Music," Africa 74, No.
4 (December 2004) : 638-43.
9. Uzoigwe combines singing phrases with
spoken phrases. The spoken phrases have
pitchless stems consistently arranged on a
single line of the staff, indicating that the
words are to be spoken and not sung.
39
WHO AND WHAT IS
We are a nonprofit organization
whose goal is to promote
excellence in choral music.
We are a group of choral
professionals whose joy comes
from the performance, composition,
publishing, research, and teaching
the fine art of choral music.
From the smallest towns to the largest
cities across America, we strive to
elevate the role of choral music and the
way it touches our society.
We inspire and lead over a million
singers nation-wide, combining
individual voices into an instrument of
incomparable beauty.
We are the American Choral Directors
Association. Join us ..
For information about ACDA and
how you can become a member, visit us
on the Web at <www.acdaonline.org>,
write to us at P.O. Box 2720 Oklahoma
City, OK 73101.
tion, Miami, Florida
~ - - ~ - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - --- ~
ertoire
tandards
c
MITTEE
R&S yearly report forms can be found online at:
<www.acdaonline.org>
Click on the Leadership Forms link:
State R&S Chair Annual Report Template
Due on or before April 15
to Division Chairs and
<nationalrschair@acdaonline.org>
Division R&S Chair Annual Report Template
Due on or before May 15
to National Committee Chairs and
National R&S Chair Report Template
Due on or before June 15
to National R&S Chair and
Any questions please contact
Nancy Cox
National R&S Chair
<nrcox@swbell.net>
Please submit all reports electronically.
r
Male Choirs
Introducing MC3
The Male Chorus
Commissioning Consortium
by
Ethan Sperry
Editor's note: Ethan Sperry,
associate professor of music at
Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is
the Conductor of the Miami University
Men's Glee Club, the Miami University
Collegiate Chorale, and Global
Rhythms.
new consortium of male
choruses presented their first
commissioned work this
past March! The Male Cho-
rus Commissioning Consortium is an as-
sociation of male choirs, conductors, and
institutions. The Consortium's overall
goal is to enable all male voice choirs the
chance to commission and perform works
with minimum financial commitment and
of the highest order by the world's most
influential composers.
The consortium was formed in 2004 to
link male choirs across the globe through
the common goal of the creation of new
works and to promote male choir singing
in three ways:
The consortium seeks to increase audi-
ence interest in male choir repertoire
by the creation of new, engaging,
and influential works;
The association hopes to increase fel-
lowship between singers by provid-
. ing a shared repertoire experience
for male voice choirs everywhere;
The consortium strives to increase the
legitimacy of male voice choir sing-
ing in the musical world through
the creation of critically important
artistic works.
Specific goals of the Consortium
include stipulations that commissioned
works must be in English, and should be
singable by and appealing to most high
school level male choirs.
Ten member choruses along with
several private individuals, and Intercol-
legiate Men's Choruses, Inc. collaborated
for the Consortium's first commission: a
new work by Lee Hoiby titled Private
First Class Jesse Givens. Army Private
First Class Jesse Givens, 34, of Spring-
field, Missouri, was killed May 1,2005,
when his tank fell into the Euphrates Riv-
er after the bank on which it was parked
gave way. After the events of September
11, 2001, G i v e n ~ enlisted in the Army to
support arid serve his country. The text
of Hoiby's piece is a letter written to be
delivered to Givens's family if he died.
With the permission of Jesse's widow,
Melissa Givens, the letter was printed in
Life Magazine in their series "Last Letters
Home." Hoiby was very moved by the
letter and received permission from Ms.
Givens to set the text to music. For more
information on Pfc. Givens, visit <www.
fallenheroesmemoriaL com! oif/profiies/
givensjessea.html>.
Private First Class Jesse Givens is a
very touching and approachable work,
lasting about six minutes. Writing for
three-part male chorus throughout with
no use of extreme ranges, Hoiby uses
simple harmonic sonorities in novel ways
that echo Mr. Givens's use of simple lan-
guage to convey tremendous emotional
weight. The letter opens, "I searched all
my life for a dream, and I found it in you.
I would like to think I made a positive dif-
ference in your life: I will never be able
to make up for the past, I am so sorry,"
which Hoiby sets in triads alternating
from C major to A ~ major with surpris-
ing fluidity, keeping tonality ambiguous
without any use of dissonance. The piece
moves through various tonalities as Jesse
takes his time t6 address portions of his
letter to his wife Melissa, Melissa's son
Dakota whom Jesse adopted, and their
son Carson who was not yet born at the
time of Jesse's death. Hoiby returns to
the beautiful alternation of C and A ~ as
Jesse ends his letter asking his wife to
remember all the beauty that is still left
in the world, "Do me one favor after you
tuck the children in: give them hugs and
kisses from me. Go outside and look at
the stars and count them: Don't forget
to smile."
Hoiby has had his most notable suc-
cesses as a composer of vocal music-he
was one of Leontyne Price's favorite
49
composers and wrote a great deal of mu-
sic for her. He truly understands how to
find the music implied by a text and then
set it in a singable and lyrical manner.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment in
this work is that he is able to perfectly
capture the speech rhythms of Givens's
letter without ever resorting to use of
multiple meters. The entire piece is in
3/4 time.
Private First Class Jesse Givens
was premiered in March, 2006 by the
professional male ensemble Cantus in
Minnesota, with subsequent multiple
performances at the Intercollegiate Men's
Choruses National Seminar in Eau Claire,
Wisconsin. Melissa Givens, Jesse's
widow, spoke with all choirs present
at the IMC Seminar by teleconference
shortly before the work was performed
by. three of the MC3 member choruses:
Cantus (Erick Lichte, Artistic Director),
the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Singing Statesman (Gary Schwartzhoff,
Conductor), and the Miami University
Men's Glee Club from Oxford, Ohio
(Ethan Sperry, Conductor). Other mem-
ber choruses gave local premiere perfor-
mances in their home venues throughout
the spring.
Current membership in the Male
Chorus Commissioning Consortium
includes the choirs listed above, male
choruses from Cornell University (NY),
the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
Bowling Greim State University in Ohio,
and the University of Virginia, as well
as the Turtle Creek Chorale from Texas,
Chor Leoni and Amabile from Canada,
the Washington Men's Camerata (DC),
the Golden Gate Men's Chorus (CA), the
Gay Gotham Chorus (NY), and the Unit-
ed States Army Chorus (DC). The con-
sortium plans to commission works from
Steven Sametz and Aaron Jay Kernis over
the next two years and as the Consortium
grows, hopes to be able to commission
works from composers who have not con-
Virginia, Maryland/DC, pelaware,
ACQA with The Musical Source,
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2007 Capital Choral
ANTON
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UNIVERSITY
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50
STEPHEN
HATFIELD
tributed to the male choir genre as of yet,
including Philip Glass, James MacMillan,
Steve Reich, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. At
least two recordings have been made of
Hoiby's piece so far, by Cantus <www.
cantusonline.org> and the Washington
Men's Camerata <www.camerata.com>.
For more information on MC3 or Private
First Class Jesse Givens, contact Erick
Lichte at <lichte@cantusonline.org>
Submitted by
Frank S. Albinder,
National R&S Chair
for Male Choirs
Show Choirs
Show Choir Competition and
the Impact on Male Recruitment
by
Doran Johnson
Editor's note: Doran Johnson is
the choral director at Westside High
School in Omaha, Nebraska. He
currently serves as the R&S Chair
for Show Choirs for the North Central
Division. This study was part of his
graduate program at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha.
ne of the issues that all
choral directors must face
is' the recruitment of male
singers. What are the fac-
:ors that motivate males to participate
,n choirs? Are there certain aspects of a
experience that are attractive to
nale singers? Does show choir competi-
, :ion have an impact on male recruitment?
GIA Publications, Inc.
7404 s. Mason Ave.
Chicago, 1L 60638
800-442-1358
Music for fax 708-496-3828
the Church www.giamusic.com
These questions were the basis of a study
conducted as part of this author's masters
thesis. The results provide choral direc-
tors a brief glimpse inside the mind of
today's male singers;
Summary of the Study
The purpose of this study was to in-
vestigate the relationship between com-
petitive show.choir and male enrollment
in high school choral ensembles. The
study specifically addressed folir research
questions.
What components of their programs
do directors think are most im-
portant and is there a correlation
between their ratings and male
enrollment?
Do choral programs with a show choir
component have a greater male
enrollment than those that do
not?
Do choral programs with competitive
show choirs have a greater male
enrollment than those that do not
compete?
What do male students indicate as moti-
vating factors to enroll in choir?
This study was conducted in two parts.
Part I involved the completion of a survey
of twenty-five choral directors in Nebras-
ka and Iowa. The survey was designed to
gather demographic information, male
enrollment information, and ratings of
the importance of nine elements of their
choral program. Part II was a survey of
male students currently enrolled in those
high school choral programs. Fifty-seven
male students completed the survey. The
first part of the survey gathered demo-
graphic information. Subjects were then
presented with a list of fourteen potential
influences on their decision to join choir.
They were instmcted to rate the impor-
tance of each factor.
Music Contact International

.. ..
Results of the Study
Responses by choral directors showed
all-state participation, superior ratings at
contest, and presenting a musical as the
top three elements of importance in cho-
ral programs in this study. Honor choir
participation and show choir competition
shared the bottom of their lists. It would
appear that directors placed an emphasis
on elements that are perceived by many
to be established capstone components
of a quality choral program. All-state is a
highly competitive process in Nebraska
and Iowa' and is an honor earned by only
a select few. Superior ratings are a mark
of competence in choral performance and
are the direct result of performances that
are deemed outstanding in nearly every
detail. School musical productions are
connected to the local public perception
of the quality of a choral program.
In this study, choral programs that
had a show choir component had the
same average male enrollment as those
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52
programs that did not have a show choir
component. Both types of programs had
an average enrollment of 5 percent of the
total school population. It would appear
that the choral directors in the schools
without show choir are attracting males
at the same rate as those who have show
choir.
A significant statistical difference was
found between schools with competitive
show choirs and those with non-competi-
tive show choirs. Schools that compete
in the show choir arena have a male
enrollment of 5.6 percent compared to
2.8 percent for those that do not compete.
However, this only suggests a significant
relationship between the two. It cannot
be determined if schools compete simply
because they have more boys which, in
tum, allow them to be more competitive
or whether the boys are enrolled because
of the competitive element.
While it may have seemed obvious,
male students identified their enjoyment
of singing as the top motivating factor to
enroll in choir. This is a sign that males
are motivated intrinsically to participate
in choral singing and to sustain participa-
tion throughout their high school careers.
Their love of singing seems to also be
linked to other top influences such as
"choir is fun" and "my friends are in
choir." It would appear that males are
motivated by the enjoyment they receive
from choral participation.
Another very strong factor appears to
be the personality of the director. Stu-
dents ranked "I like the director" very
high. This is a tribute to the work of the
directors participating in this study and
is also closely related to the culture of
excellence being promoted in these pro-
grams. Students indicated that their cho-
ral program had a tradition of excellence
and ranked this factor very high. It can be
assumed that quality of the product and
enjoying the experience is very important
to high school males.
Directors ranked the musical as the
third highest factor well above show
choir competition. However, male stu-
dents indicated being in the musical as a
relatively low influence on their decision
to enroll. This would appear to suggest
that while directors are placing high
emphasis on the musical, this is not an ef-
fective means of motivating male singers.
This could explain why many schools
struggle with getting a large number of
males actively involved in their musical
productions.
Other less motivating factors were
family influences and the perception that
choir was an easy class. Extrinsic factors
like taking trips and show choir competi-
tion placed in the middle of this list. This
indicates they were indeed motivating
factors but not as powerful as quality and
enjoyment.
Educational Implications
Several conclusions can be drawn
from the results of this study. First and
Kodaly Certification
. at Brigham Young University's 13th Annual
. InterMuse
foremost is the perception of quality. If
males perceive a program as successful
and achieving a high level of compe-
tence in performance, they appear to be
more willing to become involved. Choral
directors need to capitalize on every op-
portunity they may have to promote their
program to the student body and com-
munity at large.
Second, the director is the guiding
force behind the quality of the program
and has a strong influence on the enroll-
ment of males. The personality of the
director. is very important. in recruiting
males to the program. Directors are not
more successful because they have a
higher percentage of males, but they are
able to sustain a different level of quality
because of it. The irrelevance of show
choir's effects indicates that males are
willing to experience all facets of choral
performance with quality and enjoyment
as top priorities. Directors that do not
have a passion for show chon: should
not add it to their programs just to boost
enrollment or because they think it will
attract males. Show choir done pooily can
have exactly the opposite effect.
On the other hand, directors must be
realistic that show choir is one component
of their choral programs which can be
perceived as enjoyable by its participants
and could meet the needs of students. In-
cluding a show choir as part of the choral
offerings of a school should not create
a stigma for the program or its director.
Show choir excellence does not have to
be achieved at the expense of other more
traditionally accepted components. Good
singing is good singing, whether the choir
is standing still or heavily choreographed.
Show choir can challenge students to be
good musicians in all genres of choral
music. Directors seemed a little hesitant
to "jump on the show choir band wagon"
in this study for fear of being perceived
as having a program that does not have
primary concert ensembles as a top pri-
ority. A quality choral program can and
should involve a show choir component,
but it does not have to be "the tail that
wags the dog."
Show choir competition does fit in
with the elements of quality previously
mentioned. By competing, show choirs
and, in turn, entire choral programs are
given an opportunity to display a certain
level of excellence and competence. This
author is not willing to make the leap that
participation in show choir competition is
the most important factor in influencing
male enrollment, but its role should not
be discounted. Competitive activities
in all areas of vocal music can serve to
enhance the quality of the program and
allow participants to gauge their progress
on the road to excellence.
As directors seek to entice young
men to join their programs, they must
realize that strategies and techniques can
be helpful to "get the guys through the
door," but they may not necessarily keep
them there. Directors need to do all they
can to advocate for their programs and
then deliver a quality music education to
all who choose to make it a part of their
high school education.
There were also several alarming
trends in this study that music educators
need to address. First, choral programs
in general need to do a better job of
reaching a larger portion of the school
population. Programs in this study, while
selected initially for the quality of their
program, are only servicing an average
of 15 percent of the entire school popu-
lation. From an advocacy standpoint,
this is somewhat disturbing. Even when
. including students that are participating
in instrumental ensembles, a large portion
of high school students graduate without
an experience in music. Music educators
need to become more actively involved in
increasing student participation regard-
less of gender.
Another statistic that raises a red flag is
the lack of concern regarding male enroll-
ment indicated by directors in this survey.
The majority of directors reported their
level of concern to be "concerned" or
"slightly concerned." No correlation was
observed between a director's concern
rating and male enrollment. It appears
that directors have accepted the reality
that the percentage of boys will always
be lower than girls and do not consider
it a cause for alarm. If we are to fulfill
the mission of "No Child Left Behind,"
efforts must be made to reach all seg-
ments of the school population, especially
males. Show choir is just one vehicle
available to choral directors today to raise
the profile of excellence associated with
their programs.
Submitted by
Ken Thomas,
National R&S Chair
for Show Choirs
ertoire
tandards
c MIT TEE
The National Women's Choirs Repertoire & Standards Chair is being vacated.
If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a resume and short
. Nancy Cox, National R&5 Chair
824 E.Elm
Altus, OK 73521
nrcox@swbell.net
Applicant submission deadline date is April 20th, 2007.
53
should ....
,,:. ',-' < -. ' - . . '-',
. ::/ ..
Yourinputis'vital to ..
as we:pl a nforthefuture.of 9lJ r:o rga n n.
Your home state:
-----------------
Primary Area of Choral Work: (please check one)
Current Teaching Level:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Boys
Children
o
o
College/University 0
Community 0
Ethnic/Multicultural 0
juniorHigh/Middle School 0
jHMS/HS 0
Men
Music in Worship
Senior High
Show Choirs
Two-Yr. College
Vocal jazz
Women
K-12
o Elementary
o Middle School
o High School
o College/University
o Community
o Church
o Professional
Years conducted/taught. 0 1-5 o 6-10 011-15016-20 o 21+
I) I attended the 2007 ACDA National Convention in Miami.
o Yes 0 No (If you answered "No," please skip to # 12 on the next page.)
2) Reading sessions at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met professional needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
3) Interest sessions at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree o Disagree
4) Concerts I attended at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my needs.
5) The 2007 ACDA National Convention overall met my professional needs and expectations.
6) The exhibits are an important part of why I attend a national ACDA convention.
7) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my performance repertoire needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree .. 0 Disagree
8) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my ensemble touring needs.
9) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my profeSSional reading needs.
Survey continues on the next page
:'i:!;'::. ;._ h '''\:-.:,:; ! ,:.' \:, ,
.,' - '. -:<' ':'" .. :;:i:_ '.'.: \ '-.. :.

I 0) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my professional CD listening needs.
I I) The exhibits at the 2007 ACDA National Convention met my overall professional needs.
o Agree 0 Mostly Agree 0 Neutral .0 Mostly Disagree 0 Disagree
12) I attend national ACDA conventions.
o Always o Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
13) I find the registration process for national ACDA conventions manageable and efficient.
14) I find the ACDA membership renewal process manageable and efficient.
o AgreeD Mostly Agree 0 Neutral 0 Mostly Disagree o Disagree
15) The alternate-year rotation schedule of national ACDA conventions meets my professional needs.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
16) Registration costs fornational ACDA conventions prohibit mefrom attending.
o Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0, Never
17) Transportation and hOUSing costs for national ACDA conventions prohibit me from attending.
18) When I attend a national ACDA convention, it is primarily for the
o Concerts 0 Interest Sessions 0 Reading Sessions 0 Networking Opportunities
19) My work/performance schedule conflicts with national ACDA conventions.
20) I access the ACDA Web site <www.acdaonline.org>.
21) I subscribe to Choralist. 0 Yes 0 No
22) I use ChoralNet <www.choralnet.org>. 0 Always 0 Almost Always 0 Sometimes 0 Never
23) I access the MUSICA choral music database <www.musicanet.org>.
24) Please attach any written comments you wish to submit concerning national ACDA conventions and the
organization's Web site.
Please return this survey to: ACDA National Survey; PO Box 2720, Oklahoma City; OK 731 1-2720
or fax your survey to: 405/232-8162. You may also complete the survey online at <www.acdaonline.org>.
Call for Nominations
The subcommittee for the Julius Herford Prize, given annually by the American Choral
Directors Association; is now accepting nominations for the outstanding doctoral terminal
research project in choral music for 2006. Projects are eligible if they comprise the principal
research component of the degree requirements, whether the institution defines the project
as a "dissertation," a "document;' a "thesis," or "treatise," etc. Eligibility is limited to doctoral
recipients whose degrees were conferred during the period January I through December 3 I,
2006. The winner will receive a $1000 cash award and a plaque.
Nominations must be approved by the dean, director, or chair of the music unit. An institution
may submit only one document. In the event that there are two nominations of equal merit
from one school, the administrative head of the unit must submit a letter justifying the
additional n o m i n a t i o n ~
A letter of nomination signed by the administrative headof the music unit and one unbound
copy of the dissertation must be submitted no later than June 30, 2007 to:
John Silantien, Chair
. Julius Herford Prize Subcommittee
Music Department
. University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Phone: 210/458-5328; fax: 210/458-4381; e-mail: <john.silantien@utsa.edu>
****************
Correction: On page 60 of the February 2007 issue, Laurier Fagnan and Christopher Jackson were
listed as the co-winners of the 2006 Julius Herford Prize. The were actually the winners of the 2005
prize, which is awarded in 2006.
New music.
Newformat.
New sight-singing materials.

Experiencing Choral Music
is a four-level series
, designed to build music
literacy and promote
vocal development for
all students and voice
catagories in Grades 6-12.
Glencoe
glencoe.com
-1-800-334-7344
The series is a
multi-textbook program
supported with print
materials and audio
recordings that enable
students to develop music
skills and conceptual
understanding, while
providing teachers with a
flexible, integrated program.
Building Brighter Futures
Teaching Choral Literature With Foreign Language Texts
U
....... .. eaching Ch. oral literature with
. foreign language texts can be
daunting. It takes longer to
teach, it involves extra study
and preparation on the director's part, and
some of us have a higher comfort level
with the process than others. But, oh, the
rewards! Through singing the music of
other cultures, our singers are exposed to
the world beyond the familiar. They de-
velop their ears and their minds, and they
gain coordination in articulation as they
grapple with unfamiliar vowels and syl-
labic patterns. If they learn it thoroughly,
they'll probably remember the song for
years to come (their foreign language
teachers will thank you!)
Carolyn Welch has a bachelors
degree in music education and a
bachelors and masters degree in
vocal performance. She teaches
vocal music at Southwest Junior
High School in Lawrence, Kansas,
and has assisted Janeal Krehbiel
with the Lawrence Children's Choir
for the past 10 years.
by
Carolyn Welch
. The Director's Pregaration
Your preparation should include a
thorough study of the text and its pro-
nunciation so that your own comfort
level with the text is as high as possible
before you begin to teach your singers.
The pronunciation guide frequently found
on the inside cover of an octavo is only a
bare-bones starting point and, unless it's
completely transcribed into IPA (Interna-
tional Phonetic Alphabet) symbols and
you know IPA well, it will not suffice.
To do a good job, you'll need to seek out
additional resources.
Find a Recording of Your Piece
Look for a recording performed by a
top-quality group likely to have a lan-
guage coach. Study their pronunciation
carefully.
Translate the Text, Word for Word,
and Write It into Your Score
If you have some background in the
language, you may be able to do this with
the help of a foreign-language dictionary.
However, most verb conjugations won't
appear in the dictionary and if you don't
know the infinitive form of the verb, you
may not be able to translate some words.
If you can't translate the text yourself,
get help from a language teacher or other
person who speaks the language. Also,
recordings often provide translations in
the program notes.
Your music may have English text
underneath the music, but keep in mind
that this is a singable translation, and not
. a literal one, and the two are very differ-
ent. The purpose of a singable English
translation is to provide text, which,
while it conveys the general meaning and
sensibility of the original, is constrained
by rhythm, melody and rhyming scheme
of the original.
Write the Pronunciation
into Your Score
If you don't know IPA, it's well worth
learning. There are many resources avail-
able, including many books and internet
sites. You don't have to learn every single
symbol; even just the basic vowels and
59
consonants "in German, Latin, French,
Italian, and Spanish will take you a long
way.
Teaching Your Singers
Have Them Write
in the Pronunciation
Avoid writing English words which
contain diphthongs for foreign language
words which do not. For example, the
word "de" in Spanish ("of') is frequently
transcribed as "day." But that pronuncia7
tion is wrong, because we pronounce the
word "day" with a distinct diphthong:
"deh-eee." Instead, teach your choir the
IPA symbol for that sound - [e] - and
have them write the symbol.
Be careful not to your
singers by teaching them too much lan-
guage all at once.
Younger Students
It's been my experience that teaching
songs in foreign languages to younger
students (upper elementary and early
middle school) requires a different ap-
proach than older students (late middle
school or older.) If I'm working with
younger singers and the song is fairly
simple, I will generally teach the lan-
guage by rote, without letting them see
the printed language. They need to learn
to hear the sounds and to listen care-
fully. Sometimes I find that their eyes
overwhelm their ears. For example, the
pronunciation of the Spanish word "con"
("with") is easy enough, with a long "0"
vowel, or [kon]. But most 5th graders,
upon seeing the word, will give it the
English pronunciation, even as you stand
in front of them and repeat the Spanish
pronunciation over and over.
Don't Try To Teach Notes,
Rhythms, And Language
All At Once
Practice speaking the language very
slowly, and then gradually build up speed
as you practice speaking it in rhythm.
Learn the rhythm and notes separately
(sing on a neutral syllable) before putting
60
them together with the language.
Take A Kinesthetic or
Visual Approach To
Learning The Language
For a few students, simple repetition
will be enough, and they'll have the text
memorized in short order, wondering
why everyone else is taking so long, but
most students will find additional strate-
gies helpful (and fun.)
Make sinlple pictures of key phrases in
the song and have students line up across
the front of the room, holding them up in
order. Then hold up the pictures randomly
and. challenge the choir to speak the
phrase that goes with the picture.
Have students volunteer to act out
each phrase' (or short section) of the song.
Have fun with it and let them laugh. This
can be especially helpful ifremembering
the order of phrases is a challenge. Five
minutes of watching their classmates
pretending to be weeping. willows or
birds flying away while they practice
singing the difficult phrases can equal
fifteen or twenty minutes of laboriously
reciting what to many of them will simply
seem like interminable strings of endless,
meaningless syllables.
Make Sure Your
Students Understand the
Meaning of The Text
The singers do not have to under-
stand the exact translation of every
single word, but they should have a
good grasp of the overall message of
the song and an understanding of each
phrase: They should understand the
exact meaning of key words in the text.
Be Vigilant
Despite your thorough preparation and
careful teaching, over time your singers
may gravitate toward a certain degree of
"Englishization" of their words. Whereas
last week they were singing in German
with finesse and subtle precision, now
they're sounding like they've never heard
of an umlaut. Be vigilant about correct
pronunciation.
Common Pitfalls in
Common Languages
Following are some of the most com-
mon pronunciation errors. Obviously, this
is NOT a comprehensive pronunciation
guide, but rather an alert to the most com-
mon glaring errors.
In German: Consonants not strong
enough or pronounced incorrectly.
Incorrect pronunciation of umlauts.
In Spanish and Italian: American-
sounding "Rs," and "0" and "e"
vowels pronounced with diph-
thongs. "T" and "D" not articulated
correctly.
In French: Incorrect pronunciation of
"u" and the nasalized vowels. Incor-
rect treatment of final syllables.
In Latin: American-sounding "Rs."
Incorrect pronunciation of the "0"
vowel.
Don:t worry! With preparation, research
and help from friends and colleagues (and
very often, students), you can success-
fully lead your singers to discover and
master a wide variety of languages.
CINCINNATI CHILDREN'S CHOIR
announces its first annual
COMPOSITION COMPETITION
to promote outstanding repertoire for
. . children's choirs .
Cash Prize: $1 ,000
Premiere Performance: March 2008 With
CCC, conductor/artistic director Robyn lana
Submission Deadline: October 15; 2007
Winner Announced: December 2007 .
. Judges: Universit;y of Cincinnati .
College-Conservatory of Music facult;y and
Cincinnati Children's Choir artistic staff.
Guidelines and Additional Information:
Cincinnati Children's Choir
.. PreparatoryDepartment
College-Conservatory of Music
Universit;y of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0236
E-Mail: Choir@CincinnatiChoir.org
Online:
MilliKIN
& HEIDELBERG
(for students (ages 12-18)
"'s our twenty-eighth year and you're invited to an
incredible week learning from the country's top
educators and entertainment professionals at one
of our two exciting camps. In over twenty-eight
years oftrendsetting education in music, dance,
and stagecraft, we have taught more than 26,000
young performers. We have programs and performance
training to meet all your needs as a student or director.
So, if you're in junior high/middle school, high school,
college, or a director ... catoe joi n the fU n {
y:
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\. our cost will include campus housing; meals from
Monday breakfast through Saturday lunch,
materials, SeA shirt for the final performance and
Highlights: Performances by featured guest artists
and exciting performance groups talent night
outstanding workshops for teachers and
students music store publishers' showcase
registration fees (space is limited, register early). final concert for family & friends junior high/
middle school group offered
For a brochure, write
Showchoir Camps of America, Inc.
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Naperville,lL 60566
Camp music stores
provided by:
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or call: 630.355.5551
61
Galen Darrough is director of choral activities at the University of Northern
Colorado (UNC), where h.econducts the 65-voice Concert Choir, the 50-voice Men's
Glee Club, and directs graduate choral studies. In his 25 years as a choral director, he
has directed or adjudicated groups throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America,
including regional or all-state choirs in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and North and South
Dakota. His UNC Men's and Women's Glee Clubs have appeared for ACDA conventions
in 1996 and 2006, and state music educator conferences in 1997, 2002, and 2006.
Within ACDA, he has served as Colorado State President and in regional and national
offices. He is currently co-convention chair for the 2007 ACDA National Convention in
Miami, Florida. In 1999, he was designated the Scholar of the Year for the UNC College
of Performing and Visual Arts, and in 2003, was granted sabbatical leave to Stockholm,
Sweden to study male chorus repertoire. He received his DMA from Arizona State University.
William McMillan is associate professor and director of choral activities in the
Department of Music at the University of Texas at EI Paso. He conducts the University
Chorale and the Men's Glee Club, teaches conducting; and supervises student teachers.
He is the assistant chair of the music department and the chair of the voice division.
McMillan received his RM. from Chapman University, his M ~ M . from the University of
Redlands, and his D.M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado. He has extensive
experience in the areas of public school teaching, church music, and community choruses.
Presently, he is director of music ministries at First Presbyterian Church in EI Paso, Texas.
He is frequently invited to serve as clinician, judge, and guest conductor throughout the
United States.
He has served ACDA at the state, division, and national levels. He has served as the Alabama State President,
the National R&S Chair for Colleges and Universities, and has been the Program Chair and Assistant Convention
Chair for national conventions. He holds memberships in NATS, MENC, TCDA, TMEA, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
An Open Letter to the Profession
The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Composer
by
Editor's note: Joshua Mills writes
a passionate argument. We present
it here as an open letter to all of us
who love to commission new works,
to find new and interesting literature,
and who value the heritage we're
building.
:, . ;, medIa, I believe the unac-
0
... " ...... ,10.'. ..'.'.";'...': .. ,.' .' .. '.;. f all. p o s s i b l ~ performance
'; .) companied choir is both the
'::.;./: easiest and most difficult for
which to write. It is easy because compos-
ers need not worry about transposition
issues, awkward fingerings, orchestration
problems, or any of scores of other issues
they must be aware of when writing for
orchestra, a solo instrument, chamber
Joshua William Mills is a com-
position student at the Houghton
College Greatbatch School of
Music, where he studies with
Mark Hijleh and Sun Mi Ro. He
is a bassist with the Houghton
Phil harmonia and Southern Tier
Orchestra,a clarinetist with the
Symphonic Winds, and a bass in
the Houghton College Choir.
April2007 0 CHORAL JOURNAL
Joshua William Mills
ensemble, piano, or organ. With only four
parts with which composers must work,
or perhaps eight if they like, entire hosts
of orchestration issues are eliminated, and
the blend is instantaneous. A good choir
can make even the most basic harmonies
sound heavenly; the composer need only
put pen to paper and the ensemble will
wrap the audience in the natural beauty
of the human voice .
But what then sets good choral writing
apart from the mediocre? Setting aside
issues of musical content, it is things
including sensitivity to the ranges and
characters of different ranges in different
voices, the way the text is set, and the
freedom allowed to the conductor to tease
out the music from the score. Choristers
and their conductors can recognize when
a composer doesn't really know what she
is doing with a choir, and they wisely try
to avoid such pieces regardless of their
musical content; perhaps the music would
work brilliantly recycled into a string
quartet or an organ solo, but for a choir,
it might just not work. Perhaps the text is
dull, awkwardly set, or in such a texture
that it becomes impossible to hear. Voice-
leading in complex harmonic languages
can easily go from being challenging
to being practically unsingable. Maybe
the tessitura is too' uncomfortable for
extended periods such that it will cause
vocal strain in some voices, or possibly
vowel choices in extreme registers are
unreasonable. This is why choral writing
is so difficult.
Now of course every medium has its
nuances to which composers who would
write well for it must be sensitive. (Pia-
nists are acutely aware of this phenom-
enon when it comes to music outside the
established corpus of piano literature,
especially accompaniments.) But the fact
of the matter is that the background of
most all composers is in the instrumental
or keyboard realms rather than the vocal,
and thus most typically do not have much
first-hand experience from a performer's
perspective when it comes to choral mu-
sic despite the fact that these experiences
are invaluable toward developing the
necessary sensibilities needed for writing
well for any performance medium.
Why is it that the best composers tend
to not write much choral music, a domain
too often left to a small handful of spe-
cialists or others who tend to be far more
intimately involved with the choral art,
especially choral conductors who know
expertly what good choral music is but,
with all due respect, for whom composi-
tion is clearly not their first gift? Now do
not misunderstand me-I in no way mean
63
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(Choirs, bands & orchestras) July 4-S, 2007 July 9-13, 2008
2007 Conductor. Dr. Z. Randall Stroope
ABC Toronto International Choral Festival
March 27-30, 200S Conductor: Stephen Hatfield
International Youth Festival, Bavaria
JUly 19-26, 2007, mid July 200S
Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod, Wales
July 3-8, 2007, July S-13, 2008
Aberdeen International Festival, Scotland
August 1-11,2007
64
CONTACT
Lois Harper, BA, M.Ed, ARCf
Arts Bureau for the Continents
350 Sparks Street - Suite 207
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K 1 R 7S8
TF: 800-267-8526
Tel: 613-234-3360
Fax: 613-236-2636
E-mail: lois@abc.ca
Web: www.abc.ca
to denigrate Alice Parker and so many
other wonderful musicians like her in the
least, but the reason their compositions
and arrangements are so effective and
popular with choirs and their conductors
is because they understand choral music
in a way that most composers do not.
A few luminaries aside (such figures as
Arvo Part, Ned Rorem, and James Mac-
Millan come to mind), the most brilliant
contemporary composers are usually not
well known in choral circles. I think of
figures such as Christopher Rouse, John
Adams, Joan Tower, George Tsontakis,
Richard Danielpour, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich,
Michael Daugherty, Philip Glass, and
Lowell Liebermann, all of whom have
written large quantities of excellent music
but only a comparatively tiny sliver of
unaccompanied choral music.
Now I can already hear choral musi-
cians and conductors crying out that I
am mischaracterizing the entire choral
music scene, that there are in .fact myriad
contemporary composers writing plenty
of new choral music, and not the sort
of choral fluff of which I have already
spoken. And indeed there are. However,
I am speaking here from a composer's
point of view, and so what I am speaking
of is slightly different. True, there may
be mountains of choral scores written
in the past fifteen years, but how many
of these actually find their way into that
elusive canon of 'standard literature'
where they will live significantly past
LutherCollege Recordings
presents
Finding a. Voice
Repertoire for women's voices
with an emphasis on music by,
for; and about women, including
new works by Libby Larsen
To order Finding a Voice .
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hrruER .
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(OLLEGE
their premiere and a few more scattered
performances by those lucky enough to
stumble across the work - works that
even those who are not vocalists begin
to recognize and know? Few actually
do. Contrast this with other media which
are warming more and more to contem-
porary music as the stranglehold of the
modernist-academic elite upon serious
composers continues to wane. Thanks
to dedicated performers, a category of
standard contemporary literature has even
started to emerge in some realms, much
to the delight of composers; every young
composer dreams of her piece finding its
way onto a performer's or a conductor's
bookshelf a few places down from that
Beethoven sonata or Stravinsky score
as an official 'standard repertoire' work.
From the eyes of the emerging composer
hoping that maybe this will be the break-
through piece to launch her career, c:horal
music is far removed from where the ac-
tion is happening. .
For emerging composers (i.e., compos-
ers under thirty or so still in the process of
learning their craft and developing their
careers), a performance of an orchestral
work is a significant professional land-
mark; a performance of a choral work, on
the other hand, is nice, perhaps not even
a great deal more notable than a perfor-
mance of a work for woodwind quintet or
piano trio. In circles of serious compos-
ers, to specialize in choral music makes
not much more sense than to specialize

Luther Coil .
Sandra A ege Pike Ko
r
eter, CondUctor
in string quartet music-it is artistic and
professional foolishness. This is simply
the result of the musical culture and the
training that serious concert music com-
posers are receiving and perpetuating.
The answer to the question of why
the top composers, those whose reputa-
tions and careers are already established,
generally write so little for choir, I think,
is fairly simple: they lack incentive, and
in the world of professional composi-
tion, this means primarily commissions.
(Because choral scores are generally not
very profitable to publishing companies,
publication tends to not be much of an
incentive either.) And one of the main
reasons they lack commissions is because
they are unlikely to receive them until
they have proved that they are capable of
delivering high-quality choral literature.
If is indeed a vicious circle.
Young composers who want to write
for choir find the same forces at work on
a different scale: it will take a few pieces,
several maybe, or more, before they begin
to understand how to write for a choir,
and even this does not guarantee mature
sensitivity to the things which separate
good choral writing from the mediocre.
And as the number of unsung choral
works in a composer's catalogue grows
(lack of incentive), she will give up on
the genre for ones (especially solo and
chamber works) in which she can arrange
performances of her works without the
cooperation of a seventy-voice choir and
its conductor. (One must keep in mind
that while this is also true of orchestral
music to a degree, because the symphony
orchestra is still the standard-bearer in the
world of concert music and contemporary
composition, it is an altogether very dif-
ferent situation.) To complete the circle,
without actually writing choral music, the
composer does not develop the specific
skills needed for choral writing, and the
end result is that choral music has lost
another promising composer to far more
fertile grounds.
Conductors, make careful note of this
principle: while these forces at work pose
an artistic frustration to composers who
love and would write choral music, should
nothing change and they never break into
that realm, they will find music to write
for other performance media-it is the
future of your art which is at stake.
The solution as I see it is twofold:
First, it is incumbent upon choral con-
ductors to offer their expertise in choral
writing to emerging composers. Compos-
ers need to hear about the nuts and bolts
of choral music from one who knows.
They need to be told that the tenors will
have trouble with that descending leap
of a minor ninth in bar twenty-four; that
the alto line will never'be heard with the
sopranos in that range; that the voice-
leading in this passage is incredibly prob-
lematic; that this line should be a solo
for best results, but with this one, double
the sopranos with the altos; that the low
basses won't really be able to sing that
vowel on a low D, and with the rest of the
. New Mack Wilberg Titles
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For SATB mld percussion
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Saints of God
For SATB and orgml
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We Live in that Far Future
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Light of the Minds
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Prai.se the Lord of Heaven.
For SATB and orgml
9780193869790 $1.75
. Jim Taylor
The Name We Treasure
For SATB and piano
9780193869738 $1.75
Reginald Unterseher
Wayfartn' Stranger
For SA and pimlO
Hear it on CD! CaU or write
for rree copy.
9780193870246 $1.70
John Van Maanen
Let all mortal flesh keep silence
For SATB mld organ
9780193869769 $1.70
Mack Wilberg
Bound for the Promised Land
For SATB and piano jOllr-hmllis
or orchestra
9780193869172 . $2.75
David Schelat
Jesus the Christ Says
For SATB and percussion
9780193869707 $1.70
Oxford choral music is available at all fine music stores. Complimentary copies of any five octavos listed
are available upon request. Circle your choices and fax (212) 726-6441 or mail with return address to:
Oxford University Press Music Department 198 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016
April2007 CHORAL JOURNAL 65
chou"jortissimo, a satisfying balance will
be terribly difficult to achieve.
Second, nothing teaches the emerging
composer what works like hearing some-
thing of her own that doesn't. With nota-
tion software, composers can hear poor
simulations of what an orchestral score
might sound like, were it to be played by
an ensemble of robots on cheap instru-
ments, but the only thing MIDI can offer
the aspiring choral composer is what the
notes sound like-only a single vowel,
no consonants, no difference between
voices and different ranges, no change
in vocal color, no problematic passages
for intonation issries, or missed notes due
to terrible voice-leading, or unbalanced
chords due to the limits . of the voice,
etc. The only way for composers to get a
true sense of these things is to hear their
works read. Even the most experienced
with finely-developed ears and uncanny
score-reading abilities can have trouble
. knowing how a new piece truly sounds
until musicians take up the score and
begin to sing. Believe me when I say that
there is no substitution for this.
So directors, from the high school
through undergraduate and upper-lever
conservatory and university ensembles,
must make this opportunity available to
emerging composers and let them know
. of it. Offer your expert opinion on their
pieces. Have new composition reading
sessions-even twenty minutes is better
than nothing. Should a composer be suffi-
66
ciently talented, entice her with a possible
performance: nothing excites composition
students like having their work performed
or recorded by ensembles or individuals
that they don't have to pay 01' organize
themselves. With emerging composers,
a performance is often payment enough
for a commission, and the choral librarian
can simply copy the score (and do so with
the complete and legal permission of the
copyright holder!) instead of purchasing
enough copies for the choir.
Above all, the conductor must keep in
mind that this is an investment-an in-
vestment in the future of choral literature. '
Reading sessions cost valuable rehearsal
time, and preparing a student's work
for performance means the exclusion
of some other, and surely more worthy,
composition from the program. But the
conductor cannot think in terms of ShOlt-
range profit; the investment will be repaid
many times over when the result is a ma-
ture choral composer, the works of whom
will bless the entire choral community.
Everybody wins in this situation:
composers leam about the intricacies of
choral writing from first-hand experience
(the only good way to do so) and maybe
even get a work performed; choristers
have the opportunity of engaging with
'music that is truly new and fresh; the
conductor can forge professional relation-
ships wIth composers while young that
could prove amazingly profitable should
the composer become quite successful;
and the choral art gains for itself another
potential composer of a breed not seen
nearly often enough-one who is both
brilliant at her craft and sensitive to the
nuances of choral music.
And this is why I have titled this "The
Responsibility of the Choral Conductor
to the Emerging Composer." It is not
because I have a grandiose conception of
the role of composer in the music-making
process, some romanticized dream of the
composer as a kind of Ubermensch, or the
notion that for some God-ordained rea-
son, the choirs of the world owe me-and
my fellow composers-their services
merely by reason of my existence and
vocation. No, it is your responsibility,
choral conductors, only insofar as you are
obligated to your art.
At the risk of being accused of arro-
gance, I say to you that composers do not
need chou's if there are others with whom
we can work, but choirs do need com-
posers if they hope to sing with a: sound
voice rooted in our present age. Emerg-
ing composers are the future of choral
literature, and if the best of these never
write true choral music, then the great-
est choral music of our time will. never
be written. The highest quality literature
available to choirs of today will remain
the work of masters long dead, the echoes
of a time long dead-still beautiful, still
good, and, dare I say, still hue, but never
again contemporary. For such a timeless
instrument as the human voice, and even
more so for a full choir of voices singing
as one, to be forever trapped in the past
would be a terrible fate indeed.
New Chapters
Welcoine to these new student chap-
ters who received their charters in Janu-
ary 2007:
California State University-
San Bemardino
San Bemardino, Califomia
Andrew Crane, advisor
Montclail' State University
Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Heather Buchanan, advisor
Inspired Performance Tours
Others promise custom-created performance tours. Encore delivers.
"The concerts just kept getting better as we went along. Our last performance was in Busseto, the
birthplace of composer Giuseppe Verdi. It was a real treat for the kids to get to play his music, in his
town, in a theater that was built for him while he was still alive. Encore did a great job publicizing our
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Call us today at 1-877-460-3801, or visit us at www.encoretours.com.
In an effort to fmd another means for furthering its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, the
American Choral Directors Association initiated the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest.
The Raymond W. Brock Commissions had been in place for some time and were awarded to established compos-
ers only. The ACDA officers thought young composers should have a chance to showcase their talents as well. As a
result, the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest was created.
After establishing criteria and protocol, and providing a prize, ACDA solicited the first student compositions. Many
young composers responded to this opportunity, motivated not only by their love of composing music, but also by
the prospect of having their work premiered at an ACDA national or division convention and of receiving a cash award
for $1,000. Interest in the competition continues to grow each year.
Previous Winners are:
1998
Paul A. Aiken, University of Oklahoma
Flanders Field
Performed at. the 1 999 National Convention by
University of Mississippi Concert Singers,
conducted by Jerry Jordan
1999
Daniel Pinkston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Nunc Dimittis
Performed at the 2000 Southwestern Division Convention
by the Ouachita Baptist University Singers,
conducted by Charles Fuller
2000
Aaron Garber, University of Tennessee
Stabat Mater
Performed at the 2001 National Convention by the
East Texas Baptist University Concert Choir,
conducted by James A. Moore
2001
Michael Conti, Michigan State University
Cboric Song
Performed at the 2002 Central Division Convention by the
Milliken University Choir,
c ~ n d u c t e d by Brad Holmes
2002
Joshua Shank, Luther College
Musica Anima Tangens
United States Air Force Singing Sergeants,
conducted by Captain Chad Steffey
2003
Brian Schmidt, South Dakota State University
Lux Eterna
Performed at the 2004 North Central Division Convention
by the Luther College Collegiate Chorale,
conducted by Timothy Peter
2004
Kentaro Sato, California State University-Northridge
Kyrie
California State University Northridge Singers,
conducted by Paul Smith
2005
Dan Forrest, University of Kansas
Selah
Performed at the 2006 Southwestern Division Convention
by the Houston Baptist University Schola Cantorum,
conducted by John Yarrington
2006
Dominick DiOrio, Yale University
The Soul's Passing
Houston Baptist University Schola Cantorum,
conducted by Kevin Fenton
THE RAYMOND W
Memorial Student Composition Contest
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
The Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest will be held for the tenth year in connection with the 2008 ACDA Division Con-
ventions. The annual contest, underwritten by the Raymond W. Brock Composition Fund, was inaugurated at the 1999 ACDA National Convention in
Chicago, illinois.
, The objectives of the contest are three-fold (1) to acknowledge and reward outstanding undergraduate and graduate student composers, (2) to encourage
choral composition of the highest caliber, and (3) to further promote student activity at ACDA divisional and national conventions.
The winner of the composition contest will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize, airfare to the ACDA convention, hotel accommodations, convention
registration, and a performance of the work on the main stage by a choral ensemble selected by the association.
QUALIFICATIONS
Applicant must be an ACDA student member, full-time undergraduate or graduate student, and no older than twenty-seven on the application
deadline.
COMPOSITION CRITERIA
Submitted work must meet all the following criteria:
1. Voicing. Composition must be set for a combination of voices that may be found in a single choir with members of similar ages.
2. Accompaniment. Composition may be unaccompanied or accompanied by a single piano.
3. Text. Any sacred text or ~ text that is sacred in nature may be used with the following provisions:
A. Text must be in the public domain, or the text must be accompan,ied by the written permission of the author.
B. The source for the text must be accurately and completely documented.
C. Non-English language texts (except Latin) must include a phonetic pronunciation guide underlaid in the score. Non-English language texts
must include both poetic and literal translations.
4. Copyright. Composition must conform to all U.S. copyright laws. Those works in violation will be disqualified.
5. Format. Composition must be submitted in a computer-generated typeset format.
6. Duration. Length of composition must be between three and five minutes.
7. Past Performance. Composition must have received no public performance.
8. Past Publication. Composition must be unpublished anywhere.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Applicants must complete the application and submit it with the following documentation. An incomplete application will disqualify the applicant.
1.. Verification of the student's full-time status by an active ACDA member on the music faculty at the applicant's institution of higher learning.
2. Seven copies of composition. Only one composition will be considered from each applicant. A recording of a private performance may be
included, but is not required.
Mail application materials to:
Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest
c/o ACDA
P.O. Box 2720
Oklahoma City, OK 73101
Applications must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2007. All application materials become the property of ACDA and will not be retumed.
CONTEST JUDGES
The Student Composition Contest will be administered by the ACDA National Office. An independent panel of distinguished choral musicians will judge
all entries submitted. The decision of the judges is final.
DISCLAIMER
No person connected with the Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Contest, nor any judge connected with the selection process shall be involved with
a decision involving that person's 'student (over the past three years) who has entered the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Contest.
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Choral Pedagogy, 2nd Edition
Brenda Smith and Robert T. Sataloff
Plural Publishing, 2006
246 pp. $50.00. _
ISBN: 1-59756-043-X (paperback)
hen the first edition of
Choral Pedagogy was
released in 2000, the
Choral Journal review
began by stating, "Everyone involved in
conducting and choral music should read
this book. It is the most complete publica-
tion in its field that has come out in many
years" (February 2000; pg. 72). Six years
later, the second edition has arrived and
those statements remain true.
Three sections of chapters provide
the organizational architecture of the
text. The first presents an introductory,
philosophical frame-
work concerning the
relationships between
vocal physiology, vocal
health, the singer, and
the conductor. The sec-
ond and third sections
relate a great deal of in-
formation about vocal
health to the processes of teaching and re-
hearsing. The chapters on "Anatomy and
Physiology of the Voice" and "Medical
Care of Voice Disorders" are formatted
as series of questions and answers. These
include everything from "what is the lar-
ynx?" and "how do we control pitch and
loudness?" to "what is new in medical
care of voice disorders?" and "do allergy
and postnasal drip bother the voice?"
The answers are offered as forthrightly
as the questions-simple, clear, and un-
derstandable. The third section contains
chapters designed to demonstrate how
this knowledge might affect teaching and
learning in choral ensembles. Chapters
here include "Voice Building for Choirs"
(based on the work of Wilhelm Ehmann
and Frauke Haasemann), "The Singing
Voice and the Choral Tone," "Choral
Singing Techniques," "Choral Dictlon,"
and "Rehearsal Techniques."
Four new chapters have been added to
the second edition. The scope of the book
has been expanded to include chapters on
"The Aging Voice" of adults and "Choral
Singing and Children." This presents a
more comprehensive view of singing
across the lifespan than w a ~ prominent
in the earlier edition. The chapter on
the aging voice provides a good, basic
orientation to the challenges faced by
singers as they grow older. The chapter
on children's choral singing focuses on
the challenges faced by conductors of
young singers and provides numerous
ideas for adapting rehearsals to meet the
needs presented by child voices. Neither
of these chapters presents detailed infor-
mation or research-based resources, and
readers may wish to consult other texts
and journal articles as supplementary
material. Despite the extension of Cho-
ral Pedagogy's scope to encompass the
child and aging adult voice, information
about the adolescent changing voice is
completely omitted. This unfortunate
oversight limits the appeal of Choral
Pedagogy as a primary text for under-
graduate choral methods classes.
Of the new chapters, "Choral Peda-
gogy and Vocal Health" is outstanding.
I know of no other brief reading that so
immediately captures both the joys of
choral music and the responsibilities of
those leading it. This chapter introduces
nearly every topic encountered in a well-
rounded choral methods class, from
warm-up/cool-down procedures and the
teaching of repertoire to the "breath ges-
ture" of conductors and discipline issues
presented by large ensembles of enthusi-
astic singers. This chapter appears in the
middle of the second section on vocal
health, and, despite its title, the content
seems oddly placed here; it would work
much better as a prelude to the chapter on
voice building. In any event, this chapter
just became required reading for the first
week of my choral methods classes.
. In this new edition, the original twelve
chapters and bibliography appear largely
without revision or extension. Two brief .
exceptions are the substitution of new
photographs to illustrate vocal disorders
(pp. 42 and 50) and a slightly updated dis-
cussion of drugs used to treat vocal dys-
function (pp. 50-52). Smith and Sataloff
are the primary authors, with contributing
material offered by Margaret Baroody
("The Aging Voice"), Richard Norris
("Seating Problems of Vocalists"), Mary
Hawkshaw ("Medical Care of Voice Dis-
orders") and Richard Miller ("Historical
Overview of Vocal Pedagogy").
The citing of reference material is
handled unevenly throughout the text.
While some chapters contain a large
number of citations and references (e.g.
"Performing Arts Medicine and the Pro-
fessional Voice User," and "Historical
Overview of Vocal Pedagogy"), others
lack reference material (most notably the
newly added chapters). For instance, the
authors state" ... falsetto is an extension
of the upper range, available to voices of
both genders" (p. 173). A review of the
73
vocal physiology texts on my personal
bookshelves produced a variety of opin-
ions about this, probably related more ~ o
disagreements about terminology than
actual physiological evidence. Research-
based references would have been war-
ranted here and elsewhere.
The strengths of the first edition are
intact; this remains a comprehensive,
authoritative text presented in an acces-
sible manner for singers, conductors and
teachers. Our field needs texts that meld
the knowledge of voice scientists with
the experience-born wisdom of choral
practitioners. Choral Pedagogy fills a
pressing need in this regard, and even
more overt links would be welcomed
in future editions. Choral conductors,
university instructors, and students might
find value in reading Choral Pedagogy
with other types of texts that similarly
draw upon a research base to recommend
practical implications for a broad range
of vocal instruction. Some suggestions
include Bodymind and Voice: Founda-
tions of Voice Education, revised edition
(edited by L. Thurman and G. Welch;
National Center for Voice and Speech,
2000), Teaching Kids to Sing (by Ken-
neth Phillips; Schirmer, 1992), and Your
Voice: An Inside View ... Multimedia
Voice Science and Pedagogy (by Scott
23- 21, 2007
~ , ~ , . : ~ " . ;
'Historic Christ Church
Alexandria, Virginia
McCoy; Inside View Press, 2005; <www.
voiceinsideview.com> ).
One additional item-the price of the
first edition of Choral Pedagogy had risen
dramatically in recent years. At fifty dol-
lars, this second edition is priced slightly
lower than the last available price for
the first edition, making this text all the
more accessible for choral directors and
teachers.
Patrick K. Freer
Atlanta, Georgia
Practicing Successfully:
A Masterclass in the
Musical Art
Elizabeth A. H. Green,
Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2006
147 pp. $23.95
ISBN: 1-57999-510-1 (hardback)
any are familiar with.
Elizabeth A. H. Green's
outstanding books on con-
ducting and bowings. This
book is her final gift to the musical com-
munity, a guide on "how to practice." The
introduction sets the tone for the text:
You have picked up this book
A 5-Day Professional Development Workshop for
Conductors of Choirs at All Levels
74
Limited Enrollment
Register Online - www.ChoralConductorsRetreat.com
info@ChoralConductorsRetreat.com (808) 595-0233
because you are a person who
practices .... Because you have
practiced, you have already
experienced the monotony of
unvaried repetition. You may also
have experienced the phenomenon
of the repetitions continuing
unabated while the mind roams at
large elsewhere. A good practice
method must, therefore, accomplish
two things: it must add an efficient
variety to the repetitions in order to
capture your interest, and it must
force the mind to concentrate.
Cp.S)
The genesis of the book was early in the
author's career, during the summer of
1933:
Fiddles in hand, a fellow student
and I slipped into one of the
basement ,Practice rooms to check
on several difficult passages before
the evening's rehearsal.
About twenty minutes into the
hour, this serious effort to attain
perfection was rudely interrupted
by the equally serious efforts of a
pianist next door.
Someone was belaboring a
frustrating run that started below
middle C and galloped upward
for several octaves ... When he
arrived at a certain spot in the third
octave, his fingers tangled, forcing
him to stop .... each time the pianist
fumbled, he started back at the
beginning of the run only to break
down again at the same place.
Further, he was practicing at full
tempo. Never once did he isolate
the offending notes, play them
slowly, find out how the passage
should sound, and locate which
notes were causing the trouble.
After another dozen failures, the
frustration increased ... Finally:
the breaking point! In sheer
desperation, two clenched fists
came down on the keyboard with
a magnificent crash that all but
sent the ivories flying off into
space ... Then a door slammed, and
the footsteps faded into oblivion.
What a staggering sum, in trillions
of hours, the devotees of music
must have employed during the
centuries as they impatiently drove
their skills toward a perfection that
seldom an'ived! (p. 15-16)
Although this book focuses on key-
board, string, and wind instruments, the
choral musician will
find new strategies to
deal with challenging
phrases in a score.
In chapters which
range from practicing
sight-reading, mod-
ern innovations, and
accentuation, Green
provides step-by-step methods to use
with our ensembles. Of special note are
the sections on "Defeating Monotony
with the Rhythmic Motif', and the fasci-
nating writing about "The Brain and the
Learning Process". The following is an
example of the techniques suggested in
the book:
There is a logical order for applying
the practice rhythms. The first step
is absolutely imperative:
1. Play the passage through very
slowly, sustaining each note until
the ear has it firmly in mind ....
Nothing can be gained from
rhythmic practice until the ear
has first clearly established the
. sequence of the notes.
2. Apply the first rhythm, and repeat
until you can play the passage
with ease. This rhythm speeds the
transition between notes two and
three.
3. Reverse the rhythm to add speed
between the first pair of notes. (p.
22)
Practicing Successfitlly: A Masterclass
in the Musical Art is an invaluable tool
not only in facilitating the learning of
. repertoire, but also in the structure and
methodology of the rehearsal.
Gregory M, Pysh
Midland Texas
Bach
Malcolm Boyd
New York: Oxford University Press,
2006. 312pp. $19.95.
ISBN13: 978-0-19-530771-9
(paperback)
adz, released in April 2006,
is a paperback reprint of the
third edition of this compre-
hensive biography, first pub:'
lished in 1983 as part of Oxford's Master
Musicians series. Essential reading for
any student of the Baroque period, the
late Malcolm Boyd alternates chapters
narrating Bach's life with insightful com-
mentary on the entirety of the composer's
works. The arrangement of the text
enables the reader to see how the circum-
75
stances of the composer's life shaped his
music from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to
Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig.
The breadth of the book gives the au-
thor opportunity to delve into significant
events in Bach's life. Included are his en-
counter with bassoon-
ist Johann Heinrich
Geyersbach, whom
Bach called a "Zippel
Fagottist" (translated
by some as 'nanny-
goat' bassoonist);
Bach's musical duel
with French organist
and composer Louis Marchand (which
ended when Marchand left Dresden by
stagecoach the morning of the competi-
tion); and the author's conjecture about
the composer's domestic and social life.
Bach seems to have been warm-heart-
ed, generous, and hospitable in his own
home. A man who enjoyed a pipe, who
liked his wine and beer, and who fathered
twenty children cannot have been indif-
ferent to sensual pleasures, and during the
period of his greatest celebrity in Leipzig,
he was always ready to receive the many
visitors who sought him out. C.P.E Bach,
in his autobiography, wrote:
In my youth ... no master of music
was likely to travel through this
place [Leipzig] without making
my father's acquaintance and
playing before him. My father's
greatness as a composer, organist,
and keyboard player sui generis
was much too renowned for a
musician of standing not to get to
know the great man better when
the opportunity arose. Among such
visitors were the organist. .. Johann
Balthasar Reimann, who later
recalled Bach's cordiality towards
him, and the composer Conrad
Friedrich Hurlebusch, who was
impressed by his 'politeness and
kindly reception'. (p. 229)
The author also dispels the myth
that Bach was a reluctant choice by the
Leipzig city council, a fallacy perpetuated
by a misinterpretation of the town council
minutes.
The reader will discover Boyd's con-
sideration of the somewhat controversial
subjects of "parody" and arrangement,
number symbolism, and the style and
meaning of Bach's late works. The text
and the appendixes (which include a
chronology, personalia, bibliography, and
a complete catalogue of Bach's works)
were thoroughly revised in this edition
to take account of more recent research
undertaken by Bach s<;:holars, including
new information uncovered in the former
USSR.
The book is recommended not only for
preparation of the composer's work, but
as an informative document in the musi-
cal education of the choral musician.
Gregory M. Pysh
Midland, Texas
Choral Q,rche,s.tral Repertoire and Condu.cting
76
Tuesday, July 31
st
to
Saturday, August 4th 2007
at the University of Toronto
Victoria University
Technique, Style, and Interpretation
featuring Doreen Rao
with the University of Toronto Bach Festival Singers
and Chamber Orchestra
multi-movement repertoire for young choirs and orchestra presented
in reading sessions, choral workshops, and conducting master classes
-conducting master classes on Bach's Cantata BWV 4, Christ Lag
in Todesbanden, Mozart's Magic Flute, Act II Finale, and Britten's
St. Nicolas, Op. 42
- review of contemporary Canadian and American repertoire
with an emphasis on extended works
teaching emphasis on technique, style, and interpretation
classes onyoice building in the choir with Lorna MacDonald
classes on score reading, orchestral transpositions, bowings,
and articulations with Lee Kesselman and guests.
lItis residential course is open to all choral conductors and perfoT):nance teachers including university students and emerging
professionals. 1110se interested in a conducting master class position should submit a current resume with their application
deposit. The repertoire will include music for treble and mixed voice choirs with an emphasis on works that combine both
voicings. We encourage early applications for those interested the conducting master class. choralmusicexperience@yahoo.co.uk
The Twelfth Annual
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S CHOIR FESTIVAL
July 8 - 15, 2008
Henry Leck, Artistic Director Oxford Coventry London
Dr. ROLLO DILWORTH and Dr. DAVID FLOOD, Festival Conductors
The Eleventh Annual
BRITISH AMERICAN CHURCH MUSIC FESTIVAL
JUNE 12 - 18,2008
Dr. Gerre Hancock and Michael Harris Edinburgh York London
TUCSON BOYCHOIR FESTIVAL
JUNE 16 - 21, 2008
In cooperation with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus Tucson, Arizona
FERNANDO MALVAR-RUIZ and Dr. JULIAN ACKERLEY, Festival Conductors
MASTERWORK EXPERIENCE WORKSHOP & CAMP JUNE 16 - 21, 2008
For High School Students and Choirs - perform Mozart's Requiem with a professional orchestra and solosits!
Dr. ANTON ARMSTRONG, . Conductor
On the park-like campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia
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P.O. Box 261030, San Diego, CA 92196
Handel: Messiah
Christine Schafer, Anna Larsson,
Michael Schade and Gerald Finley,
soloists
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
(Erwin Ortner, Artistic Director)
Concentus Musicus Wien
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
82876-72039-2
(SACD; 2005; 69'31" & 71'24")
t takes a very special Messiah to
merit space on my overcrowded
CD shelves, but this 2004 live
performance from the Musikver-
einssaal deserves the attention of every
conductor seeking a fresh perspective.
Not every musical choice made by Har-
noncourt will please, but what is clear is
that they are choices - this experienced
pioneer of the Historically Informed
Performance movement has obviously re-
thought virtually every phrase and found
new delights at every turn. Nothing here
is routine. If, as they say, tradition is the
last bad performance, this realization of
Handel's masterwork is the embodiment
of non-traditional.
It is impossible in a short review to
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catalog every ear-catching moment.
Throughout the performance, Harnon-
court never loses sight of the underlying ,
pulse of the dance. His tempi tend to the
swift, although not always: some (such
as a sudden slowing down for "and
peace on earth" in "Glory to God") are
'surprisingly slow.
"And the Glory
of the Lord," for
example, moves
along fleetly in
one, making
point than usual of
the hemiolas. Still, the music-making is
never superficial-the dramatic essence
is always there. Harnoncourt's soloists
certainly deserve their share of praise;
for once their texts sound lilce genuine
storytelling; one can hardly picture them
holding scores! Tenor Michael Schade
sounds genuinely comforting in his open-
ing recitative (note his careful shadinG of
b
dynamics and willingness to sing piano
rather than play to the balcony). Bass
Gerard Finley summons all the rage of
the nations (helped by the aggressive
playing of the Coocentus strings), not to
mention the thrill of that last tmmpet! The
women are excellent, too. Ornamentation
is extensive but not excessive; it is always
kept at the service of the drama.
The chorus sounds superb, and their
subtly-accented English seems some-
how appropriate for the German-born
Handel, whose own English was, by all
accounts, thickly accented. Harnoncourt
never allows them to sing a boring phrase.
Consider the long melismas in both "And
He shall purify" and "For unto us": they
are rhythmically and pointedly shaped
rather than seeming like run-on sentenc-
es. In "And with His stripes," the three
anacrusic notes are short, the rest of the
phrase legato, making the texture more
interesting. Even the brief "Their sound is
gone out" is enhanced by dynamic swells
on "and their words unto the end of the
world." In chorus after chorus, the rhyth-
mic energy becomes physically involving
(when is the last time you found yourself
tapping your feet to Handel?) and brings
the text into strong relief. Messiah's most
famous chorus begins in a surprisingly
subdued manner, but by the final phrases
any audience would (unfortunately) be
on its feet! Harnoncourt's tendency to
taper the dynamics of final cadences will
seem like a mannerism to some listeners,
but for the most part it can be attributed
to proper syllabic stress and makes total
sense in context.
The CD presentation is slightly
marred by silly notes, mostly about find-
ing Handel's elusive personality in his
handwriting (complete with two visual
examples!), but the SACD sound (es-
pecially in surround) is outstanding. An
all-too-blief note from the conductor re-
fers to performance details gleaned from
a study of the autograph but raises more
questions than it answers. This may not
displace your favorite version, but every
Know Your Tempo
As It Happens
Toll Free 1-888-803-6287
79
conductor should experience its many
pleasures and study the insightful ways
in which Harnoncourt's chorus; soloists
and orchestra serve the drama.
Frank DeWald
Okemos, Michigan
Pierre Villette: Motets
Holst Singers
Stephen Layton, conductor
Hyperion CDA67539 (2006; 62'42")
~ 1 I he style of French composer
Pierre Villette (1926-98) fur-
thers a lineage established by
Debussy, Faure, Poulenc, and
Messiaen. A classmate of Pierre Boulez
at the Conservatoire National Superieure
de Musique,. Villette's compositional
approach avoided the dominant French
modernism of the middle-twentieth
century. Instead, Villette combined retro-
spective influences ranging from Grego-
rian chant to the provocative harmonies
of Poulenc and Messiaen, resulting in a
sound image which runs the gamut from
ethereal to feral. Villette's main occupa-
tion as an academic administrator, first as
head of the Conservatoire de Besan<;:on
and later as director of the Conservatoire
d'Aix-en-Provence, necessitated a part-
time career as composer. His oeuvre of
about eighty pieces includes small-scale
works for orchestra, chamber ensembles,
and chorus, the latter represented hand-
somely in this recording, by Stephen
Layton and the Holst Singers.
While recordings of a few Villette mo-
Frantisco J. Nunez, Artisti( Dire(tor/Founder
Saturday, April 11, 1001, 1:30 PM
at the 91nd Street Y
Kaufmann (onmt Hall, New York (ity
dis(Ussions with wmposers
... ow ~ .... uu ...... S(haefer of WNYC, New York
80
tets are available as part of larger sacred
collections, this recording offers the most
comprehensive compilation of Villette's
choral music in print. Layton's interpre-
tation skillfully supports the composer's
intent, especially in terms of text-music
relationships. The Holst Singers' diver-
sity of tone color, pristine intonation,
exploration of dy- .
narnic range, and
nuances of rhyth-
mic flexibility are
, consistentlyexcel-
lent. Noteworthy
successes include
the mysterious 0
sacrum conVlVlum, sublime Hymne it
la Vierge, tenebrous Attende, Domine,
troubled Salutation angelique, gentle 0
salutaris hostia, and pious 0 magnum
misterium. With a twenty-part divisi at its
apex, Inviolata is the most complex work
among Villette's choral output. Layton's
balance of every tone in the twenty-part
texture achieves an outstanding sonority,
a highlight of the recording.
Though not particularly well-known
in this country, Villette's choral music is
not meant for choral aficionados or aca-
demics alone. Beauty and accessibility
unite here, making his works relevant to
myriad ensembles and a broad listening
audience. I 'recommend this recording
enthusiastically and without reservation.
Sean Burton
Lincoln, Nebraska
Transient Glory VI will feature the YPC in world
premieres and new arrangements from some of
today's most distinguished (omposers.
BRUCE ADOLPHE
MICHAEL GORDON
TARIK O'REGAN
NED ROREM
GEORGE CRUMB
MEREDITH MONK
STEVE REICH
Green & Pleasan,t Landi
The Journey
Opus Anglicanum
OACD 003-004
(2004; 73' 33"/2005; 71' 36")
<www.opus-anglicanum.com>
ince the advent of the King's
Singers and their numerous
heirs and imitators, England
has been associated with a
particular style of male voice ensemble;
descriptors such as suave, witty, and "vi-
brato-free" come to mind. On this side
of the Atlantic their counterparts, such as
Chanticleer and Cantus, have added an
American vigor and sheen to this genre.
Thus, nowadays, new ensembles are
measured by those exacting standards,
and from Seattle to Singapore their
audiences are better educated than ever
before. However, in its wake, this brings
a certain sameness to many recordings;
comments are made such as "their diction
was perfect, reminding us of the early
King's Singers-no, wait, the Swingle
Singers!" and so on. It is very difficult
for an ensemble in this niche to forge a
unique identity, develop a fresh approach,
and position itself as adventurous but
accessible.
Recognizing this challenge, John
Rowlands-Pritchard set out to build a
distinctive ensemble rooted not only
in the English choral tradition, but also
with a strong sense of British literature
and topography. The group, Opus Angli-
canum ("English work," or "creation"),
was blessed to have as its artistic founder
a true Renaissance man: Rowlands-
Pritchard studied English at Cambridge
and sang bass in the cathedral choirs of
Ely and Wells; he has also long enjoyed
an enviable reputation as a painter and
calligrapher. With several Wells friends,
he began in 1988 to create some of the
most profound and stimulating pro-
grams imaginable.
Driven more by
artistic adventure
than commercial
success, OA took
several years to hit
its stride, which al-
. lowed Rowlands-
Pritchard adequate time to fashion and
hone several distinct presentations. How-
ever, by the mid-1990s, the group of five
male singers and one reader were ready to
begin recording their "sequences." They
began with some issues on the Herald
label, including Medieval Carols and The
Seeds Of Love: Collecting English Folk
Music, but soon transferred to their own
OA label. The two CDs reviewed here are
among their latest releases, conveying the
beautiful ambience of both the Bishop's
Chapel at Wells and a nearby village
church at Chewton Mendip.
What makes these recordings so differ-
ent from the King's Singers and the like is
that the listener is invited to eavesdrop on
a coherent and entire presentation, though
with no compromise over recording qual-
ity. And what presentations! The singers,
ranging from countertenor to deep bass,
sing beautifully together but never sacri-
fice their own vocal timbre. On the other
hand, this is no "battle of the vibratos";
Rowlands-Pritchard has carefully enlisted
not just voices, but also musical person-
alities that work together. Good as the
singing is, however, the magical element
to these recordings is the contribution of
former BBC newsreader John Touhey.
Here is a voice that could make The Joy
of Cooking sound like a lost work of
Shakespeare. His tone and characteriza-
tion is always just right, neither over the
top nor bland. And Rowlands-Pritchard
is inspired in 'how he incorporates this
spoken element: inserting an account
of how Anglo-Saxon King Offa was
named between Stanford's "Blue Bird"
and the anonymous part song "The Vicar
of Bray" works beautifully, while John
Moore's hysterical "The Red Lion Bar"
monologue is perfectly placed between
the vaudeville song, "0 Mr. Porter," and
the pub sing-a-Iong "Where Did, You
Get That Hat?" Mention of these pieces
should suggest how
eclectic is Row-
lands-Pri tchard' s
taste and knowl-
edge: Green &
Pleasant Land also
includes music by
Dowland, Purcell,
and Elgar.
The more recent sequence, The Jour-
ney, maintains a broad range of styles and
sources, and features Touhey's faultless
recitation of Chaucer and Agi Ruben
(an Auschwitz survivor), with several
excursions on the side. The music travels
Enjoy a Holland America cruise along the Mexican Riviera while preparing
for a concert in San Diego with Duain Wolfe and Sir David Willcocks,
The tour program includes:
Rehearsals that don't interfere with optional shore excursions during the cruise
Seven night Mexican Riviera cruise aboard Holland America's ms Oosterdam, with stops in attractive ports
of call including Cabo San Lucas, Mazaclan, and Puerto Valhrta
The opportunity to meet and perform with choir members from the United States and, beyond
Receptions aboard the ship open only to ACFEA cl).oral cruise participants
San Diego sightseeing tour upon completion of the cruise
Farewell dinner the final night of the tour
'Grand finale concert in San Diego
Final night's accommodation, including breakfast, at the Embassy Suites in San Diego
Prices start at $1,695* plus tax.
Book now as spaceis liniited.
81
further afield than OA's earlier British ex-
plorations, and includes Heinrich Isaac's
"Innsbruck" and a new work by one of
OA's trustees, the distinguished British
composer Judith Bingham. "Uppon First
Sight of New-England" is a setting of an
ecstatic poem by Thomas Tillam, a seven-
teenth-century English seeker of religious
freedom in America, and alone is worth
the price of buying the disc. It takes The
Journey to the New World, with readings
by Whitman and Robert Frost.
The quality of this latest disc is such
that it will surely bring Opus Anglicanum
on its own journey to these shores. As one
who has been lucky enough to hear them
in person, I believe that Opus Anglicanum
is one of the most intriguing and enter-
taining ensembles currently performing.
Anyone who purchases these discs will
be eager to attend their performances
or at least lobby for the sequences to be
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:
. ... :

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Top notch performance 3, 4, & 5 star hotels
Practice facilities family and spectators
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.-<1:" . .}:.r "' _ i --'j .. :.; ........
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82
placed on DVD. The King's Singers and
their ilk are wonderful entrees, but Opus
Anglicanum offers us the full feast.
Philip Barnes
St. Louis, Missouri
Rosa das Rosas (Cantigas de
Santa Maria and other
Spiritual Songs for the Virgin)
The Rose Ensemble
Jordan Sramek, Artistic Director
. Rose 00007 (2006; 70'15")
<www.roseensemble.org>
he Rose Ensemble is a Minne-
sota-based early music group
which, like the Waverly Con-
SOlt, weaves folk, medieval,
Renaissance and Baroque music (both
instrumental and vocal) into a rich and
dramatic tapestry as entertaining to see
as to hear. Rosa das Rosas is their sev-
enth CD, available on their Web site, on
Amazon.com, and from select
dealers. The program is centered on six
cantigas from the collection of Alfonso X,
around which are grouped Italian laude
and pieces from the court of Ferdinand
and Isabella. All are unified by some tex-
tual connection to
the Virgin Mary.
There is splen":
did variety !J.ere.
Although much
of the music is
monophonic, the
ensemble utilizes discreet instrumental
accompaniment, including harp, psaltery,
vielle and percussion. The numerous
stanzas of the cantigas are varied by tim-
bre, range, accompaniment and the oc-
casional use of primitive harmonizations;
two of them are performed by instruments
alone, and one is recited rather than
sung - in the manner of a monodrama.
Even the longish (over nine minutes) Una
safiosa porfia of Juan del Encina is kept
interesting by the alternation of various
voicings and subtle percussion. There
are 11 singers in the group; they typically
sing in an unaffected manner, sometimes
adding a slight edge to the tone. Tuning
is impeccable. The performances, based
on thorough and up-to-date research, are
impassioned and vibrantly alive.
The presentation is attractive (forgoing
the usual plastic jewel case for an appro-
priately decorated cardboard sleeve) and
the ambient acoustic (Webster Music Hall
at the University of Minnesota, Duluth)
is appropriately church-like. Notes, texts,
and translations are provided. Highly rec-
ommended to lovers of this repertoire.
Frank DeWald
Okemos, Michigan
Carl Heinrich Graun:
Te Deum, Motets
L'arpa festante, Basler Madrigalisten
Fritz Naf, Conductor
cpo 777 158-2 (SACD; 2006; 59'17")
kay, confession time. Ini-
tially, I did not like this
CD at all. It contains what
seemed to be a relatively
uninteresting large work (the Te Deum)
plus several short motets for chorus and
continuo by a minor composer. Perhaps
it had been relegated to the backwaters of
music history for good reason. I tried to
listen to it on several occasions, and each
time I found my mind wandering. Were
it not for the fact that I had been asked
to review it, I would probably have put
it in my CD collection and never played
it again. Only a sense of obligation com-
pelled me to continue listening, but I'm
very glad that I did. This is not a disk
that easily gives up its riches. For me, the
moment of epiphany finally occurred on a
long drive from upstate New York to New
England over the holiday break.
Carl Heinrich Graun (c. 1703-59),
although now considerably overshad-
owed by composers such as Bach and
Telemann, was considered one of the
preeminent composers of German opera
in the eighteenth century.J. S. Bach him-
self even looked favorably upon his work.
Also known as a gifted singer, Graun
spent most of his career working for Fred-
erick the Great of Prussia. He composed
his Te Deum in 1757 in celebration of the
Prussian military victory over Austria in
the Seven Years' War.
The music is certainly charming, but
on first hearing it may seem to lack depth
of meaning and a compelling sense of
drama. Despite the triumphal nature of
the few fugues, overall the mood is happy
and playful, which seems at odds with the
military nature of the commission. This
sense is amplified by Graun's omitting
the trumpets and timpani that are so often
used in celebratory music of the period.
However, as I got to know the music
better, I came to appreciate its lyricism.
The harmonies are simple and diatonic,
the melodies singable and joyous. Cast
in eleven movements, the Te Deum alter-
nates choral move-
ments that contain
passages in which
a solo quartet ei-
ther trades phrases
or joins together
as a small ensem-
ble, with solo arias
written in the operatic style. It is in these
arias that the composer shines the bright-
est, bringing to bear his full range of skills
honed as an opera composer. Here, he
crafts exquisite coloratura passages that
demand the utmost of the singers ..
The three motets on the disk provide a
nice contrast to the Te Deuln. Composed
between 1721 and 1725, they are written
in an older style than the larger work.
Whereas the Te Deum is nominally cel-
ebratory and composed in the fashionable
galant style that Frederick encouraged,
these motets are lovely devotional pieces
that make use of Baroque-style German
counterpoint and basso continuo.
The quality of the performances is
generally quite high, if at times a little
restrained. Especially remarkable are the
sense of unison within each section and
the clarity of texture throughout; the mu-
sicians' technical mastery is undeniable.
This is especially true of the soloists, who
really shine in the difficult passagework
of the arias. This sense of technical per-
fection is heightened by the high quality
of the production. The cpo production
team has created a wonderful warmth
and depth to the sound which gives the
listener the illusion of being in a cathe-
dral-like space. However, this recording's
greatest value is probably historical; the
contrast between the compositional style
of the motets anq that of the Te Deum pro-
vides the listener with a window into the
development of classical style. For those
willing to give this disk the attention that
it so richly deserves, the rewards are well
worth the effort.
Stephen Kingsbury
Wanensburg, Missouri
83
Let Me Fly .
Arr. Robert DeCormier
SSAA
Hal Leonard Corporation
#08744632, $1.60
<www.halleonard.com>
s a long-time proponent of
American music, Robert
DeCormier has arranged
folk songs and spiri-
tuals for mixed chorus. This unaccom-
panied SSAA version of Let Me Fly
adds yet another title
of a lesser-known text
to his catalogue. The
covert meaning for this
spiritual is escape from
slavery. Cloaked in lan-
guage like "let me fly
to Mount Zion, Lord,"
heaven might be the
ultimate goal, but "T'was the good 01'
chariot drawin' nigh," usually referred
to escape through the Underground
Railroad.
Reminiscent of a "ring shout" style,
the arranger builds the spiritual from a
unison call-and-response with the repeti-
tive phrase, "Let me Fly," to a four-part
divisi, homophonic texture on the fourth
stanza. Beginning with the unison sim-
plicity through the key change in the
third stanza, to the density of the final
stanza, the music reflects the flight of
.the slave to freedom. The fourth stanza,
especially, sets the stage for the escape
with the lower voices on a stylized wail
of "Hoo." beneath the solo soprano line.
This setting of the text reflects the strong
emotion of the time and situation.
Commissioned by the Meredith Col-
lege Chorale, voice parts range from
g_c
3
, indicating performance by more
advanced ensembles. Using a tertian har-
monic palette, seventh chords are added
for textual emphasis and color. Relaxing
the eighth notes to triplet swing adds to
the authenticity of the arrangement. Syn-
copated rhythms throughout the work are
emphasized by an optional tambourine
part on the back beat.
With each stanza set in a little different
manner, DeCorrnier seems to have cap-
. tured the essence of this highly emotional
text. By the end of stanza four, the sing-
ers and audience will be ready to "Let Me
Fly."
Jane E. Andrews
Waverly, Iowa
"Some Folks" Christmas
Greg Gilpin (incorporating Stephen
Foster's "Some Folks")
3-part mixed, piano
Carl Fischer CM8892 $1.60
<www.carlfischer.com>
reg Gilpin has taken a
simple 16-mm. song of
Stephen Foster, composed
a contrasting section of his
own, and added folksy, secular words for
the Christmas holidays. Musical interest
is maintained by the hint of chromati-
cism. Gilpin has added to Foster's plain
tune, by frequently switching the melody
between treble and bass voices, using a
series of modulations
building to the end and
an almost Baroque-like
piano accompaniment.
Apart from its sheer
entertainment value,
this publication gives
students the opportunity
---="'7"i!
to learn something about our musical
heritage. It is also available in a version
for two-part mixed voices.
Frank K. DeWald
Okemos, Michigan
Our .Father (Notre. Pere)
Maurice Durufle
SATB
Available for Unison Chorus &
Keyboard
Hal Leonard #50600002 $1.60
From Durand Editions Musicales
A new series titled European Masters
any choral directors yearn-
ing to restore some ro-
mantic luster to the choir's
repelioire will be delighted
with this work by the French composer
Maurice Durufle. In addition to his
well-known and beloved Requiem, the
Notre Pere, one of Durufl6's last known
compositions, stands as a testimony to his
meticulousapproach to music.
As director of the Gregorian Institute
in Paris, Durufle infused his musical
works with chant-like melodies. This
choral arrangement of the Lord's Prayer
is no exception. Appropriately reveren-
85
tial. this octavo maintains the easy ac-
cessibility demanded by the significance
of the text, known as the prayer of the
people. Here Durufte chooses to establish
a completely homophonic texture, nar':
row voice ranges, and intelligent voice
leading in all parts. Composed in F ma-
. jor, the piece is mostly in 3/4 time with
occasional shifts into
2/4. This edition has
an Andante cJ = 66)
tempo indication and
is not overly laden
with dynamic sug-
gestions. Rather, the
harmonic/melodic
undulations suggest
the appropriate dynamic changes.
Hal Leonard's clean edition provides
the choral director with an anthem whose
primary text is English, with French in
italics underneath. This results in a few
of the original rhythmic phrases being
altered to fit the text. A piano-rehearsal
score is provided throughout. It would
have heiped had the editors included
some historical background and/or a
simple pronunciation guide for directors
and choristers unfamiliar with either Du-
rufte or with French.
Easily accessiblt:; for church choirs,
high school and college groups may be
interested in adding this to a French ro-
mantic program. Undoubtedly the unison
edition would be suitable for children's
choirs of all ages.
Ed McCall
Wan-ington, Pennsylvania
I Did not Die
Jerry Ulrich
SSA, piano, optional oboe
(or other C instrument)
Hinshaw Music, Inc., HMC2084
erry Ulrich composed this poi-
gnant secular work for
en's chorus "in memory of
... Mount Tabor's lost sons."
Between March, 2002 and April, 2003,
six boys from Mt. Tabor High School in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, tragi-
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86
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blow" (mm. 17-18) and "gentle morning
rain." (mm. 24-25) The syllabic vocal
writing follows the natural accents of the
text, which lends itself well to expressive
diction.
The ladies sing predominantly in
simple unison or two parts throughout the
piece, with one short three-part passage.
Vocal ranges may lie outside the limits
of younger voices,. with the first soprano
ascending to g2, and the alto descending
to g. The text of this three-minute work
conveys the idea that deceased loved ones
are not truly gone, but live all around us
in nature. A dramatic moment comes at
the end of the piece, when the altos, in
rather low range, sing "Do not stand at
my grave and cry, I am not there, I did
not die." (mm. 41-47)
The oboe part (or other C instrument)
can be easily performed by a talented
young player. A separate instrumental
part is included in the octavo. Ifboth con-
ductor and choir respect the maturity of
the piece, I Did not Die can be a powerful
addition to a memorial service, concert
or festival.
R. Andrew Crane
San Bernadino, California
Choral Music by fA;
visit
www.wertsch.com
For Heaven's Sake
Arranged by Paris Rutherford
SATB
Hal Leonard 08744665, $1.70
You're Everything
Arranged by Paris Rutherford
SATB
Hal Leonard 08744716, $1.70
I
n the vocal jazz genres, Paris Ruth-
elford has consistently supplied.
outstanding, arrangements over
the years. His work has spanned
the stylistic gamut, from tasteful ballads
to complex up-tempo
tunes. These newest
pieces once again il-
lustrate his outstanding
technique and creativ-
ity. Rutherford scores
his pieces in an acces-
sible and predictable
manner: harmonies
are either root position chords in open
voicing or in close-position inversions.
Vocal solos are generally an important
feature. His pieces are replete with scat
syllables but, as in all of his work, your
singers don't have to be professionals to
sound great. Such is the ease of his high,
quality vocal writing.
For Heaven:S- Sake is a beautiful1940s
ballad which transitions into a gentle
bossa nova. Textural variety will com-
mand the attention of singers and audi-
ence alike. You're Everything is a jazz
samba of Chick Corea. Harmonies are
advanced, but textural variety (everything
from unison lines to an extended scat and
vocal percussion section) again provides
interest. Vocal ranges
are very accessible
in both pieces, either
of which might be
paired with another
contrasting Ruther-
ford anangement (but
probably not with
each other due t6 the
common Latin. Accessing the Hal Leon-
ard Web site immediately pulls up over
two dozen Rutherford arrangements for
your consideration.
Rutherford's alTangements are most
suitable for advanced high school or col-
lege small ensembles. The pieces provide
excellent teaching tools for intonation,
and singers should be selected for their
ability to achieve sectional and ensemble
blend. Rutherford systematically provides
performance notes which address detailed
musical aspects, and his suggestion to get
singers familiar with style by listening to
recordings of original artists is crucial
(the Show Trax CD features a demo re-
cording made by Rutherford's University
of North Texas Singers, a premier vocal
jazz ensemble). The Show Trax CD also
provides a performance accompaniment,
but lining up a live rhythm section would
be most desirable (a competent pianist
with an understanding of jazz styles
would also be effective).
Paris Rutherford is one of only a
handful of truly gifted and accessible
jazz arrangers readily available in print.
His high quality arrangements provide a
smooth transition into the world of vocal
jazz. IT your advanced ensemble is up
to the stylistic challenge, let Rutherford
take you there-it is not a world to be'
feared.
Dale Rieth
Ft Pierce, Florida
When Jesus Was Born
Stephen M. Hopkins
SATB, soloists, and optional conga
drum(s)
Hinshaw, HMC2077, $1.80
ingers will really love this
Christmas piece. It sounds
like a spiritual, and it invites
full-throated, energetic sing-
ing. The lively refrain is set offby stanzas
for soloists or small groups. While tbe
written-out conga part is optional, the
performance will be
greatly enhanced by
the energy that the
drum(s) will provide.
The composer en-
courages experienced
percussionists to im-
provise. The choral
parts are homophonic
and easily learned.
---- "".
High school and church choirs will find
this composition appealing and reward-
ing.
Michael Connolly
Portland, Oregon
Henry Leek July 3 - 10, 2007
"Musica Mundi's festivals nre phe1lomenal ill all aspects."
Henry Leek, Founder and Director,
IneUanapolis Children's Chorus
Jean'Ashworth Bartle July 1- 8, 2008
UOn a scale ofl to 10, the TuscallY International Children's Chorus
Festival is an 11!"
Jean Ashworth Bartle, Founder and Director,
Toronto Children's Chorus
1 800 947 1991
tours@musicamundi.com
Muska Mundi Concert Tours
101 First Street, Suite 454
Los Altos, CA 94022
Ph 650 9491991 Fax 650 949 1626
www.musicamundieom
87
BOOK and MUSIC PUBLISHERS and
COMPACT DISC DISTRIBUTORS
Send books, octavos, and discs for review to:
Choral Journal
P.O. Box 2720
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101
Telephone: 405/232-8161
CHORAL JOURNAL
SUBMISSION INfORMATION
Articles submitted for publication in the Choral Jour-
nal should meet established specifications. Although
the length of articles varies considerably, submissions
generally consist of ten to twenty typed, double-spaced
pages. Referenced material should be indicated by su-
perscript and end notes. Any artwork and a one-:- to two-
sentence professional identification of the author should
also be included. For complete writer's guidelines write
to: Managing Editor; Choral Journal; P.O. Box 2720;
OKC, OK 73101. Articles submitted via e-mail attach-
ment should be sent to <choraljournal@acdaonline.org>.
CHORAL REVIEWERS
ACDA members wishing to review
choral music should contact:
Lyn Schenbeck
Telephone 770/683-6837
E-mail <lynmusic@numail.org>
BOOK REVIEWERS
ACDA members wishing to review books
about choral music should contact:
Stephen Town
Telephone: 660/562-1795
E-mail <stown@nwmissouri.edu>
COMPACT DISC REVIEWERS
ACDAmembers wishing to review compact discs
should contact:
Lawrence Schenbeck
Telephone: 404/270-5482
E-mail <lschenbe@spelman.edu>
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The ACDA Endowment is a tax-deductible avenue through which helpful programs and meaningful projects
enhance the art of choral music.
It is a select, volunteer body which continues to commission numerous choral compositions from both noted
and student conductors, offers prizes and awards to student conductors and student ACDA chapters, and helps
fund the new Media and Research Center located at the ACDA National Readquartes in Oklahoma City.
It is a valuable adjunct to ACDA, which depends upon your continued generosity to maintain these resources.
YOUR GIFTS KEEP GIVING
They are perpetual. Only a portion of the Endowment generated income is used for the various projects.
They are protected. Endowment gifts are set aside, and kept seperate from operating and
capital-fund accounts.
They are personal. While the Endowment has a large general fund, you can designate funds
for either the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Fund, the Charles Rirt Fund, or the
Allen C. Lannom Fund
____ Please accept my gift of $ ____ for the ACDA Endowment.
____ I have included the ACDA Endowment Trust in my estate plans.
____ Please send me information about the ACDA Endowment Trust.
Name ______________________________________ __
Address-------------------------------------
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Mail to: ACDAEndowment, P.O. Box 2720, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101-2720
American Choral Directors Association
P.O. Box 2720
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101-2720
<www.acdaonJ.lne.org>
15962 ACDA 1- 09'/2007 _
PHILIP L COPELAND --
1254 BUCKHEAD CIR
BIRMINGHAM flL -35216:"3800
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CJ - April 2007

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