Set apart and blessed...

Normally, I write this blog AFTER a rehearsal in order to reflect upon what went well or what needs changing. For the next few entries, I want to write IN ANTICIPATION of rehearsal in order to prepare us as we approach the music.

I have been immersed of late listening to the MASS OF THE CHILDREN~more specifically, I'm absolutely in love with the Sanctus and Benedictus. I was wondering if you all know what these words mean? Sanctus is, of course, talking about holiness...being so incredibly pure and without blot or stain. It also means "set apart".

We are not a society that particularly values things that are special and unique. Everything seems to be expendable. Used to be, we would "cherish" things that were old; respect things that had history and wisdom and WEAR. Things are just not "set apart" anymore for their uniqueness, their individuality and irreplaceable beauty. This beautiful musical portion of the mass celebrates that idea while offering praise to the God who creates all things unique.

Part of this section of the Mass also offers a benediction. I KNOW we don't do that in 2010. The best we can come up with is "Have a nice day!". Giving others a blessing when we leave them. I think the world would be a better place if we would offer a benediction to those we love. My kid sort of does that. She never goes to sleep at night without a "love you!". That is her version of a benediction. Why don't you think about all this as you ponder the meaning of the latin text during Wednesday's rehearsal:

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Time to get back to blogging. Took a much needed break from music teaching. Read a lot of books. One novel alone was 800+ pages. Enjoyed domestic chores. Played with my kids. Laughed with extended family. The stuff of real life. Oh, sure, my real life also includes the musical score and its interpretation. However, it is good every so often to back away from the score. To EXPERIENCE life in order to then INTERPRET life in music.

Now it is time to start another year. I think I have a better understanding of my own limitations and what I need to do to remain effective. Much of it is application of what Twyla Tharp calls analyzing your own skill set. Look at page 169. Here she reminds us to "See where you're strong and where you need dramatic improvement, and tackle those lagging skills first. It's harder than it sounds (most useful habits are), but it's the only way to improve".

So for all you students looking down at the "blank slate" of a new term, take this advice to heart. It is easy to keep doing what you do well; the real work comes with acknowledging where you are weak and working to improve THESE skills (whether they are piano or aural skills or music history). So, here is to 2010 and hard work! May they both be rewarding!

Dr. O's Favorite Christmas Song

Seems like everyone is jumping on the Christmas recording bandwagon these days. Chipmunks. Muppets. Opera singers. Rock stars. Some of their musical offerings succeed (some cuts off of Sting's IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT are quite lovely!); some, not so much (we won't name names).

Yet, if you ask me what my favorite Christmas song is, my answer might surprise you. It doesn't have a complicated melody. It doesn't have flash and a complex rhythmic structure. It is hauntingly simple. Many think it came from an anonymous Appalachian source. However, it was actually penned in 1933 by the folklorist and singer, John Jacob Nile. According to Ron Pen in his book, "A Kentucky Christmas" (University Press of Kentucky, 2003, pp. 200-201), Niles heard a young girl named Annie Morgan, sing a repeated line of music at a religious meeting in the Appalachians (North Carolina). She was beautiful but obviously very poor. But, according to Pen, she could sing and Niles took those brief lines and came up with the tune that we now know as "I wonder as I wander".

I have a very strong childhood memory. One of the things I would love to do was to slip out of the house after a snowfall at dusk. Everything was blanketed with snow and sound was muffled; lights were kind of impressionistic in their quality. And I wanted to be the first to walk in the blank snow canvas. Then I'd sit on the swingset, looking back at my footprints, and sing this song. Or maybe I didn't sing it and I only now superimpose that song on that memory. Either way, the song is my favorite. The lyrics are:

1. I wonder as I wander out under the sky,How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.For poor on'ry people like you and like I...I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

2. When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,And the promise of ages it then did recall.

3. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing,He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King.

And, if you will forgive this indulgence, I've included a link where you can hear my childhood favorite singer, Barbra Streisand, singing this song. It is followed by a link where you can hear the New York Voices perform the same song (much jazzier version). They are sent out to you tonight as we anticipate the celebration of the birth of our Lord. Peace and Love to you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXZM0F30vQI

http://www.last.fm/music/New+York+Voices/_/I+Wonder+As+I+Wander

Giving Thanks

I'm so very excited about our music (the choral music of John Rutter) for next term...I thought it appropriate to quote Cecil F. Alexander's 1848 poem on this Thanksgiving Eve. Most all choral folks have sung Rutter's arrangement of ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL before...it is a simple thought but one that is needed in our chaotic, frantic, and fast-paced world! Happy Thanksgiving, peeps!

Refrain:All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flow’r that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountains,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning

That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows where we play,

The rushes by the water,

To gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Harmony

This might be the shortest blog post ever recorded. Here goes . . .

This is the choir.

This is the choir after the best dress rehearsal ever.

Any questions?

Our perfect world

Back to Tharp, folks. Page 135. Here are her ground rules to make, what she calls, "our perfect world". And I quote (her words in italics, mine in plain type:)

Quiet. (Wow, I harp on that in rehearsals, don't I? You are getting ever so much better about listening and keeping extraneous comments to yourself. Not perfect, but better).

No one present who does not belong--no observers (Here I part company with her; I really like it when folks come in to listen. There is a heightened sense of awareness of in the singers...like they are immediately thrust into performance mode. That's a GOOD thing).

All the time in the world. No worry that you will be thrown out or that you will go into overtime. (Would that we had that luxury. I am tied to a 50 minute rehearsal timeframe. It limits me. It limits you. But it is what it is. That's why we go to sectionals and try and find private practice time).

No goal other than to try things. (again, would that we all take risks and plunge ahead, instead of waiting for the person next to us to take the initiative. Kind of like my daughter did when she took a photo of this river and then digitally altered it to look like a watercolor. She experimented; she tried a new technique and it worked!).

No fear of failure; nothing will fail. (Gosh, I like this. It has alway been my goal to create a safe haven in the choral room. Where we lift each other up. Where we never make fun of someone else's weaknesses until we claim to have none of our own.)

No obligations other than to do your best (AMEN!)

We entertain each other; I challenge them, and they challenge me (YES! AMEN AGAIN!)

Each day completes itself. The next day is new. (The missed notes, the missed opportunities in today's rehearsal are gone. The next rehearsal is another day...with new opportunities. A new dawn.) See you Friday!

Finishing touches

So, this is the beginning. Of a piece of pottery, I mean. My ceramics friends call it "throwing a pot". I have never done it, but I am a collector of beautiful pieces. If we were to walk through my house, I can identify the artist and where I found each gem. One piece came from North Carolina; one piece from an artist in Montgomery, several pieces from our own TROY University students. One my husband bought me for Mother's Day from a Birmingham artist. Each piece is unique. Each design is signed by the hands that molded it, conceived it. They are unique but they all represent my affinity for color, for graceful shapes, for provocative design elements. The messy process in the picture is so necessary to reaching the finished product in the next picture.

I wonder whether the artists enjoy the messy beginning part of the creation process or the finishing touches at the end? Maybe it is up to each individual artist.

I, for one, enjoy the finishing touch process. Like the one we embarked on in Friday's rehearsal. The joy of moving past learning notes and rhythms, of memorizing, of "throwing that piece", if you will. That is hard. It is messy. It is time consuming and it can be tedious. And sometimes disheartening.

But, the finishing touches! Molding, painting, sanding, stepping back and listening. Moving one part up ever so slightly; one dynamic level down; making one line fluid, each detail making a difference in the canvas of sound. SO much fun.

When the colors of the music become vivid. And the artist in all of us can smile.