The craziness of conductors

Mostly I'm just complaining about how good my life is today... But just as a quick update on what's happening with me, at the beginning of this month I hosted a Handbell Festival in Omaha. It was a great event! Tomorrow LCA will be on NET radio Friday Live from the Johnny Carson Theatre in Lincoln.

This Sunday I am participating in a Church Choir Festival sponsored by Nebraska Choral Directors Association in Collaboration with Grieg Zielke, Mark Kurtz, David Batter, and First United Methodist Church in Omaha. On Wednesday, Lent begins. And as a full-time church musician this season is almost busier than the build up to Christmas.













Next Friday is the LCA Gala "Crooners Over Lincoln." Then next week I am spending time with colleagues and friends at the National American Choral Directors Association Convention in Minneapolis. These are always great days filled with excellent music and building connections. But it is pretty exhausting. I know that I am privileged to be able to have a flexible working schedule and really do the work I love and serve singers and a conductor and church leader. But boy, when it rains... I am very excited for all these events. But I am also looking forward to some down time in the near future. I am blessed to great people, singers, friends, colleagues around me, supporting me and supporting my love of choral music!

Two other blog posts: Politics in Rehearsal and In Memoriam

I came across two interesting blog posts today on Choralnet. This is an online resource for choral directors. The first is a blog on what might be done to help with issues of politics coming into the community choir or church choir rehearsal. I think there are excellent points in this blog. There are no answers, but there are good questions and suggestions..

Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Politics for Our Time

The second blog is an In Memoriam article about Weston Noble, giant of conductors, who passed in 2016. This blog post has a great link for a very meaningful episode of "Going Beyond Words" a choral music radio broadcast that can be heard on public radio stations across the country. In this episode, Luther College's Nordic Choir under the Director of Weston Noble, remembers Weston through the music he conducted and loved.

In Memoriam: Weston John Noble

Practice, Grit, and Learning: A link to a great broadcast by the Freakonomics Podcast

Inspiration for these blog posts always surprises me. I was doing some laundry this morning, considering what I might post today, when I realized I wasn't paying attention to the podcast I was listening to. I started to pay attention and realized I needed to go back to the beginning. (Being a child of the 80s I always want to say rewind :P) Freakonomics Radio always has wonderful interviews and stories about a huge variety of cultural, scientific, and technological subjects.

Srinath Mahankali correctly spelling his word during the 88th Scripps National Spelling Bee
(photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

This particular rebroadcast comes on the heels of another podcast they produced on practice, also very good. But with this particular episode the idea of practice, who practices, why they practice, and its effectiveness is fascinating. I encourage you to listen to the whole episode. As long time K-12 music teacher and piano/ vocal studio teacher I have admitted to many musicians that I am terrible at practicing. I do not love to practice. But I do love understanding a piece of music or a technique and this pushes me to practice. I think there are many incredible ideas in this short look at Grit and Practice. I hope you enjoy it!

How to Get More Grit in Your Life (Rebroadcast)

Bobby Troup

Bobby Troup, was an American actor, jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", and for his role as Dr. Joe Early, opposite his real-life wife Julie London's character, in the 1970s US TV series, Emergency!

Troup was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He went on to graduate Phi Beta Kappa from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics.He was a member of the Mask and Wig Club, a famous collegiate all male comedy sketch group.

Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra recorded "Daddy", which was number one for 8 weeks on the Billboard Best Seller chart and the number five record of 1941; other artists also recorded it in 1941, including Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, The Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby and Kay Kyser.

In 1941 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was assigned as one of two dozen white officers to direct recruit training at Montford Point, a recruit depot for the first African-American Marines.

He had many song, TV, and movie credits throughout his life. 

LCA will be performing an a cappella arrangement of his song "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring." 

Facebook Event for Crooners Over Lincoln

Buy Your Tickets Here!

Somewhere, You'll Find Me

Few pieces of music have become as iconic as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Judy Garland's performance of this short piece in The Wizard of Oz is part of the American Songbook fabric.

 Pop, Jazz, and Classical musicians, from vocalists to cellists, orchestras and punk rock bands, have covered this song. There is both an ease and a tension in this song. Musically, the opening intervals of the title phrase - a octave followed by a half step down - sets us up with a sense of hope and a little nervousness. The text is immediately a question inside of a beautiful scene-setting statement, "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high." We are "dare[d] to dream" and wish for a world that is better and safer than our current circumstances.

I keep referring to we even though the lyrics clearly saw "me" and "I." I think this song has left the confines of one song, about, or even sung by, one little Kansas girl. In fact, Lincoln Choral Artists will before performing this as a Choral piece, many voices singing as one.

Teena Chinn's arrangement is beautiful. It includes some Jazz chords and close harmonies that tug at the confined nature of the melody after the initial leap of the opening octave. The accompaniment delicately colors and enhances the voices. I am very excited to rehearse and perform this arrangement on March 3. Please join us as we sing about a world we are all in need of...

Swinging Bach- Doing a new "JAZZ" standand

As a part of the upcoming Crooners Over Lincoln Gala on March 3  

( http://lincolnchoralartists.org/purchasetickets.html ) 

we are doing what I considered to be a "New" vocal Jazz Standard. The irony of this is that both the actual music, the longevity, and the popularity of the version we are performing, Bach's Fugue in G minor or the "Little" fugue, was originally composed in 1722. The arrangement for this upcoming concert came out of performances done in an acappella jazz vocal style by the Swingle Singers in the 1960s and 70s. So this isn't brand new music, but it is framed in a style that many crooners of the 1940s and 50s modeled. 

Jazz influence on popular music in the 40s and 50s cannot be denied. What is so incredible about Bach's Little Fugue, before it is ever adapted for by Ward Swingle and the Swingle Singers, is that the music already "swings." The Swingle Singers made this discovery in the early years of the ensemble when they would use Bach' Well-tempered Clavier as a warm up for acappella singing. At this point they were not even "swinging" the eighth notes.

I think the musical genius of Bach and the incredible musicality of the Swingle Singers combine to create and iconic "New" jazz sound. 

I am so excited to perform this piece with the the LCA singers! Tonight we have rehearsal 2 on this piece and many others influenced and informed by the era of "Crooners." We are going to swing it!

It's a New Year, Mid Season Auditions, Gala preparations

Happy New Year! Tonight LCA returns to regular rehearsals. I am always very excited about the beginning of a new concert cycle. We are really doing some fun music for the Crooners Over Lincoln concert on March 3. http://lincolnchoralartists.org/purchasetickets.html

This is a concert focused on 40s and 50s Jazz and pop styles. Some included titles are "The Little Organ Fugue" by Bach in the style of the Swingle Singers, "Over the Rainbow", and the "Java Jive."

I will be talking about many more of the details of this concert in upcoming posts. But today I wanted to talk a little about Mid-season auditions.

I love meeting singers in the audition process. Once we both get past the initial nervousness of meeting each other and I get a chance to learn about them as people and hear their voices, I am always excited to get them on board and singing with the group. Personality definitely influences the voice. It is not a determining factor in good singing, but more a person's personality is often reflected in their singing voice. This, I think, is true even in the "Unexpected Voice", the person who surprises me with their tone, color, or ability. Somewhere in their personae that voice lives. And when all the voices of this choir come together, and all the personalities join in singing, that's when the glory of choral music happens. The music has to be of good quality, but more importantly, people influence the performance in a positive way that creates a group personality unique to each ensemble.

I am very excited to start new music tonight. I am excited to hear new singers over the next few weeks as we have Mid-season auditions. http://lincolnchoralartists.org/singwithus.html
But mostly I'm excited to work with these personalities, these individual voices, to become one choir!