Choral Notes

How do you make a virtual choir?

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

Composed and conducted by Eric Whitacre, "Lux Aurumque" merges hundreds of tracks individually recorded and posted to YouTube. The final product incorporates 185 voices from 12 countries to form a virtual choir that spanned the globe. The final result is an illustration of how technology can connect us. Eric Whitacre began his career singing in his college choir with no previous musical experience. By 21, he had completed his first concert work, "Go, Lovely Rose," and soon advanced to Julliard where he studied under Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano.

High School Student Day

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

TCDA is proud to offer the 3rd Annual High School Student Day on Wednesday, July 25, from 9:30 a.m.– 3:15 p.m. at the San Antonio Convention Center as part of the TCDA Convention. This day is constructed to INSPIRE and BEGIN training your student leaders, whether they be officers, show choir/chamber choir members or any other students you put in leadership roles.

The cost is only $15 per student. The program will include:

Two hours of leadership training by Jeremy Spicer, owner and found of SASI, a student leadership training company. Spicer's two-hour curriculum will be catered to the CHOIR student and focus on behaviors of a leader.
A one-hour session led by 30-year veteran fine arts teacher Connie Sanchez, where students will participate in team building games they can then take back to their own choir programs to begin the year.
A one-hour session led by Z Randall Stroope will include reading and performing two octavos. Stroope will focus on teaching the kids how to be better musicians during the music reading process, and leading those around them who may or may not have equal skill.
Two hours to visit the TCDA exhibit hall.

TCDA members only have to REGISTER their students — they do NOT have to chaperone them. Students may attend the sessions without a director. Please consider sending your student leaders to this if you are within a few hours driving distance of San Antonio. Go to www.TCDA.net for more info or to register your students.

Wachner and Washington Chorus deftly navigate 'Essential Wagner'

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

There's usually a difference between conductors and choral conductors. Conductors lead orchestras, and sometimes opera; choral conductors tend to have focused on the voice. Julian Wachner, who has led the Washington Chorus since 2008, is something of an exception in that he trained as a conductor (as well as a composer), and has led several orchestras and operas across the country. This difference emerges in the Washington Chorus's programming, particularly in the series performed for the past four years that focuses on musical highlights of composers such as Giacomo Puccini and Gustav Mahler, who don't often show up on amateur choral concerts.

Songs for a final journey

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

Maria Culberson's strong singing voice has filled sports arenas and professional concert halls. But when singing on her serene patio overlooking vineyards with two fellow volunteers from the Threshold Choir, her voice blends with the soft breezes whispering through the redwood trees and is reminiscent of a mother gently singing to her babe. Earlier that day, Culberson, 42, of Sebastopol, Calif., and her friends, Rhea Schnurman and Kay Caldwell, sang at the bedside of a terminally ill woman in Petaluma, Calif.

Morris Choral Society performs works with backstories

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

The first time the Morris Choral Society performed Joseph Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" was nearly a disaster. The chorus' music director R. Wayne Walters had taken his high school chorus to Pennsylvania for an afternoon performance in 1984. On the way back, the bus broke down. In that pre-cellphone era, Walters had no way of communicating with the chorus, soloists and orchestra, who by evening time were assembled in front of a full audience.

Bringing a Bach mass home to a holy setting

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

If you direct a rather large chorus and you want to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's "Mass in B minor," then the current belief that Bach wrote for minimal choruses of only one or two singers to a part may be something you bear in mind but set aside, an adjustment similar to the one pianists make when they perform Bach's harpsichord music. Choral conductors, in any case, can argue that in terms of this mass, theories about Bach's choruses are academic, since Bach never performed the work.

Portland, Ore., Parkinson's choir gives joy and perhaps symptom relief, to patients

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

Eight voices rise softly to sing. "As we travel down this weary road, we need strength to carry on our load." The sound is gentle. The walls don't shake. The windows don't rattle. You would not mistake these elderly singers for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but they don't whisper, either.

Tale of two cities: British choir meets American counterpart

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

Their towns are spelled the same. "This one's pronounced, Al-ces-ter," said Richard Wilson. "Al-stir," said Jules Stapley of Great Britain. But they're miles apart. In fact, to get from Alcester, England, to Alcester, S.D., you cross six time zones and travel 4600 miles. A love of history and music brought these two together. Richard Wilson, the choir director in Alcester, S.D., says he sent a letter on a whim to the British choir.

Linn-Benton Community College Chamber Choir to sing in London

23 May 2012 09:30:36 CDT

Although they will be in and out of London well before any of the athletes arrive, James Reddan's Linn-Benton Community College Chamber Choir members will still get a taste of the Olympic experience. "Everyone has worked extremely hard for this. It's very exciting," said Reddan, whose 30-member group Re-Choired Element will spend a week performing and touring as part of a pre-Olympic music festival. The group will perform with an international mass choir and also on their own.