Podium Speak

Ring out the old; Ring in the new

2012-01-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

2012 has creep-ed up on me, and as I look through my blog posting history of 2011, it's a surprise that google has allowed me to continue residency in this place. Perhaps a simple New Year's resolution would be to put out a post once a week, heck, even once a month would be an improvement!

Before I look at what is to come in 2012, let's look back at 2011, picking up somewhere in September.

It's been, to say the least, a very busy season. I've participated, either as a chorister or conductor, in seven different concert programs. One with Scona Chamber Singers, three with Da Camera Singers, and four with Pro Coro. Ok, I cheat a bit - Da Camera and Pro Coro collaborated on a concert the week before Christmas, and I just counted that one twice - but I had to double up rehearsals with the two different choirs, so it is fair to count it twice.

A very exciting year for all three choirs though, let's stat with the youngest, Scona Chamber Singers. this is our third full season as an ensemble in Edmonton - specializing in early music repertoire. We have a very close association now with Early Music Alberta, also in its fledgling state as a society, just a year and a half old. In October, we mounted a one to a part concert of the madrigals of Monteverdi and Gesualdo. It was a great collaborative effort from the five of us who sang. And a great reminder to me of just how difficult the music of Gesulado is! We were successful, two years in a row now, at securing a bit of grant money from the provincial arts granting organization, and continue to receive support from both my church concert series, as well as Early Music Alberta. I think, in due time, this ensemble will flourish - but it will continue to take some work.

Da Camera is celebrating its 50th anniversary as an ensemble. No, there are no original members in the choir anymore, however we are having a great time going through archive material, and notifying past members to come back in March to join us for a weekend of socializing, and most importantly, singing! Already, since September, we have performed three concerts. One complete a cappella concert of new music and past commissions of the choir, then a collaboration with Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and then the aforementioned collaboration with Pro Coro Canada.

Pro Coro Canada is having an exciting year as well - six concert with six different conductors. The first three were concerts that featured candidates for the position of Artistic Director of the choir. This was an absolutely fascinating process for me as a chorister in the choir. The opportunity to observe three different conductors styles and expertise was as much of a great an experience from a musical standpoint as it was professional development. I learned something from all of them, and took features of conducting style, repertoire selection, diction lessons, and rehearsal planning, and brought them with me to my own ensembles. It was invaluable as a conductor to be able to be a part of this. There is still an official gag order on the selection itself, but no matter which direction the choir takes, we will be in very good hands.

The rest of my choral season of 2012 will bring more memorable moments, and another extremely busy period for the next few months. First, Scona Chamber Singers will present a concert of music from the Sistine Chapel this coming Sunday. We will feature music of Allegri mostly, including a complete performance of his Missa 'che oggi il mio sole (as well as the famed Miserere Mei), but a few other great composers as well. We'll meet again in mid-April for a concert as part of the 2nd annual Early Music Festival, however, my involvement will be limited - more on that later. Pro Coro has concerts in mid-February and early April to round out their season, but the most involved work for me will be with Da Camera.

Our anniversary concert weekend is slated for the first weekend of March. We have invited all almuni members of the choir to join us for the chamber performance of Carmina Burana. The response has been great, and we expect around 90 singers for this performance. However, only a week before that, we will be performing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in a choral concert, with a few other local choirs, in a performance of the Poulenc Gloria, as well as works of Bach, Mendelssohn and Schubert. All this music needs to be learned in two months, or about eight rehearsals (including Carmina!) so needless to say, it's going to be busy. After that weekend is done, we revisit Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil with Spiritus Chamber Choir of Calgary for two performance (one here, one there). At least that's not until May, so a few months to put that back in our ears. We performed it about six years ago, so it should come back fairly quickly.

AND (if I haven't mentioned this before) in mid-April, Kathleen and I will welcome our first child into the world. So ... 2012... Here we go! I hope you're ready!

Singing Tweets

2011-12-06T14:41:00.001-08:00

A good friend of mine (also a very fine conductor, and tenor ... and a one-time roommate of mine) has been working in Calgary for the last few years, both as the conductor of the Spiritus Chamber Choir and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus.

Calgary's tourism bureau asked people to tweet in ideas of how to warm up during the cold Alberta winters. After some editing and compiling, the CPO set it to O Fortuna (as they were in the middle of production of Orff's Carmina Burana), and it is quickly turning into a Twitter viral video. So much so, that Tim Shantz, and the video will be featured on Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room tonight!

For a sneak peak though, here's the video (Tim is conducting in the video):

I hope you are all finding ways to keep warm!

UPDATE: Here's what the news report looked like on CNN (you may have to wait through a short commercial first, I'm still at a loss as to why we need commercials on internet videos....)

The Interval Song

2011-10-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to get a lot mileage out of this:

Great Expectations

2011-10-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

You might read one of two things in the fact that I haven't had a post on this blog since August 30th. Either I've been neglectful blogger, or I've just been flat out too busy.

Well, truthfully, it's a bit of both. I really should blog more, and I can make time for it, but I've also been very busy. I'm back singing with Pro Coro full time. We are going through an artistic director search this year, and the first three concerts of that season are the finalists concerts. We've done one already, and are well into the rehearsal process for the next one. A very interesting experience. I'm very much enjoying what each conductor has to bring, and I'm learning a lot as a chorister and conductor from each of them, so far. Pro Coro's new artistic director will be the first of the great expectations this year.

The fourth concert of the Pro Coro season is the Christmas concert, and I'm happy to say that I've been offered the podium for that one. I'm very much looking forward to joining Da Camera an Pro Coro forces for that one. I still have to finalize the program, something I better do this week.

Da Camera's season is also a busy one - it is our 50th anniversary year, and we are involved in many a collaborative concert. November with Tonus Vivus (Edmonton's Composer's Society), then in early December with Alberta Baroque, and the aforementioned concert with Pro Coro later that month. In late February we sing with the Edmonton Symphony, then a week later our alumni weekend concert feature Carmina Burana. In May we take on Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil with Spiritus Chamber Choir from Calgary - a great season ahead - the second of the great expectations!

I'm also continuing to build the early music group, Scona Chamber Singers. We presented a concert last week of madrigals of Monteverdi and Gesualdo, all sung one to a part. Considering it was Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada - it was a reasonably well attended concert, and I thought we sounded great! There is one video up from this concert on YouTube now - and there will be more to come yet - click here to see the duet "O Come Sei Gentile" of Monteverdi from that concert. In January we'll present a concert of the sacred music of Palestrina, and then in April a concert of the music of Thomas Tallis, with a larger ensemble for both those concerts. The third of the great expectations of the year ahead.

But, without argument, the GREATEST expectation of the year will come in mid-April, when my wife and I will welcome into the world, our first child!

And so it begins

2011-08-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first rehearsal for Da Camera Singers. A few notes about what to expect this year

It is our 50th anniversary season!
We have six individual programs to prepare, three on our own season, and three on other organizations' seasons.
Our theme this year is "Community Collaborations", and we are exploring our relationships with other choral, composing, and instrumental organizations. We will "team up" with Tonus Vivus (Composer's society) Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Young Voices (Formerly the Edmonton Children's Choir) and Spiritus Chamber Choir.
Of the "BIG" works we will perform this year, they include Poulenc Gloria, Orff's Carmina Burana and Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil.
We are launching a new web page (soon!)
I have TWELVE Basses! (but only 5 tenors)

Ready ... set ... GO!

On the road...

2011-06-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today Kathleen and I leave for an extensive road trip. Our furthest destination will be Ottawa to visit my family, but the loop will carry us through the prairie provinces, the upper portions of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, crossing at Sault Ste Marie. After a two day stay at Kathleen's Dad's on the Bruce Peninsula, we continue to Ottawa.

We have tee times starting tomorrow at Dakota Dunes south of Saskatoon (A Canadian tour stop), The King's Walk in Grand Forks North Dakota (an Arnold Palmer course) and Cobble Beach Golf Resort in Owen Sound Ontario (one of the top rated Canadian courses).

Our travel home from Ottawa will include stops in Toronto and Chicago for some MLB games (Jays VS Yankees, and Cubs VS Marlins), and then through Illinois (a brief appearance by Indiana), on through Southern Michigan, Wisconsin, skirting the top of Iowa, trekking through South Dakota (including Mount Rushmore and Deadwood) cutting through the corner of Wyoming and passing through various points of eastern Montana before hitting the southern Alberta Border and on to home. When all is said and done, We'll have been on the road for 21 days and nearly 10,000 kilometres (about 6200 miles).

Blogging will happen in various places:

Our main travel blog: http://johnandkathleen.blogspot.com/
My golf blog: http://johnsgolfblog.blogspot.com/

A Free Write for Sabbatum Sanctum

2011-04-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

It might seem that I had given up blogging for Lent. My last post was a short video I posted way back on March 2nd. I have noticed, and perhaps my more faithful readers would to, that my postings over the course of the last eight months have been significantly lower than in previous school years. Today, while I enjoy the quietness of Holy Saturday, watching the Jays vs. Rays game, I'm going to try a free write in this post in the hopes that it might spur a rebirth of posts in the coming weeks.

I'm not 100% sure why I have found posting more difficult this year, it certainly isn't a lack of things to write about. In many ways, it's been the busiest year of my working career. I'm balancing a part-time teaching load at a local private university college, a half-time church position, a community chamber choir, a professional early music ensemble, plus various other singing and chorus prep work with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, including a very intense four rehearsal chorus prep for the Duruflé Requiem just last month. Perhaps, looking over this list above, this could be why the posts were so few and far between.

Even as I write this, I am still three services away from the end of Holy Week and Easter services, then I head off on a five day bus tour with the above university college choir through northern parts of British Columbia, then back for a intense week to prepare for the first annual Early Music Alberta Festival, and then one week later the last Da Camera concert of the year. At least my grades are now submitted, and the term is over.

Normally by this time of year, I would already be playing golf on a regular basis and most of my activities will have been completed. We have had the pleasure of an extended winter in Edmonton this year, there is still plenty of snow on the ground in shaded areas, so the start of golf season is delayed by nearly a month. They only nice thing about that is I'm just plain too busy to play, so I can wait out the next few weeks before the courses open without feeling envious of those who have the time to play.

We are also into the last few weeks of a federal election here in Canada. I'll refrain from posting political comments here, as I've been vocal enough on my facebook about the current situation. I will be happy though to see the removal of the election signs in the few days after May 2nd. One of the best bylaws we have in our little hamlet is that all signs have to be down within two days of the election.

That's enough rambling for one day. I hope in the next few weeks (perhaps not until after the tour, unless I decide to blog on the bus) to put a few posts up about the season I had this year, wrapping up the individual projects and looking ahead to the next season.

In the mean time - off the to the driving range to see if I still remember how to swing.

You know you have too much time on your hands when ...

2011-03-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

In my undergrad, we used to do things to blow off steam or kill time in between long bouts of practicing by playing euchre in the music lounge, crank calling the chip wagon outside the department, and playing floor hockey in the hallway (the floor hockey stunt actually ended with a trip to see the chair of the department - having never been to the principal's office in elementary or high school - it is kind of funny, although maybe not at the time).

However, in the "killing time" department, These gents from the music department in Cork Ireland win first prize:

Recent Activity

2011-02-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

There is much to blog about, but to avoid a TL;DR from my faithful blog readers, I thought I would just post a few highlights from my recent activity.

Earlier in January, I conducted a concert with my early music ensemble, The Scona Chamber Singers, in a program of all J.S. Bach (as highlighted on an earlier post). My cellist, who is also a baroque enthusiast, put together a group of string players who played on all gut strung instruments, a few of them for the first time in public. It wasn't without challenge (especially having to mix 415 instruments with 440 oboes, and organ) but it went very well indeed!

Here are a few YouTube videos from the concert, as filmed by my cellist's husband.

Kyrie, from Missa Brevis in F Major (BWV 223)

Motet: Fürchte Dich Nicht (BWV 228)

Motet: Singet Dem Hernn (BWV 225)

Tomorrow, I'm conducting Da Camera Singers in a concert which will feature Fauré's Requiem in D, The same person who videoed the above is going to test out a live webcast for this concert, which should be fun. So, if you aren't doing anything Sunday February 27th around 5 PM Eastern, feel free to sneak a peek here!

How to conduct Wagner

2011-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

Found this video in my twitter feed today, had a good little laugh over it. The facial expressions required to conduct Siegfried's leitmotif were a highlight for me.

Snow business like Show business

2011-01-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

The only thing that might dampen, or, snow blanket, this weekend's concert, will be the weather. After last weekend's dump of 35 centimeters (14 inches) of snow, and an expected 15-20 centimeters over the next few days, it will be a challenge to get everyone out to the concert on Sunday. I have to say though, I am awfully impressed that during last weeks snow storm, I was able to hold rehearsals all weekend, without anyone missing.

I does amaze me though, that living where we do, where heavy snow is not an uncommon event, and blankets our city from November to March, is that people just do not know how to drive in it! Your SPEED is the reason you are ending up in the ditch folks - slow down!

For some photographic evidence of the snow last weekend, here are a few shots of our driveway post-snow shoveling. The snowbanks on either side of our driveway are now at eye level, and after we get around to shoveling this next batch that is falling now, will likely reach head level. And it's only January - a good three full months left of this to go.

To top it off this weekend - the temperature outside, with windchill, is approaching -40 (easy conversion here, -40 Celsius is -40 Fahrenheit).

Happy Winter to you all!

Spending the weekend with Bach

2011-01-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

This Sunday night, I'm conducting an all Bach concert with my newly co-founded early music ensemble (2 years old this year) the Scona Chamber Singers.
The concert will feature:

Kyrie from Missa Brevis in F: BWV 228
Weihnachts-Oratorium Part V: BWV 248 Am Sonntag nach Neujahr (Cantata for the Sunday after New Year)
Motet: Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf: BWV 226
Motet: Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir: BWV 228
Motet: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied: BWV 225

Joining us on this program will be cellist Josephine van Lier, as well as a group of string players (one to a part) all playing period baroque instruments. Josephine will also be performing Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major on her baroque cello (she recently recorded all the cello suites using four different cellos - it's worth visiting her site, linked above, to see snippets from her concerts and recordings).

We were offered a nice spot in today's Edmonton Journal previewing the concert, and I'm hopeful that the place will sell out.

I've put the poster here below for your interest, and if you are in the Edmonton area this weekend, I highly recommend you check us out!

(Click to enlarge)

I'll post again about the trials of mounting a concert such as this in a city where it is difficult to find period instruments, and players who can play them (and the fun with transposing organ continuo parts, as we don't have a 415 organ at my church ... yet)

Home stretch to Christmas

2010-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

It's been five years since my chamber choir, Da Camera Singers, has put on an actual "Christmas" concert. For the past many years we have planned an earlier fall concert, usually early November, mainly as a result of contracts provided to us by our city's two orchestras, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Alberta Baroque Ensemble, for Christmas shows that they have produced.

The decision to do our own Christmas program this year was made as a result of contract engagements early in the fall. One private retirement party for a long-time patron (Da Camera was the choir at his wedding many years ago, and it seemed appropriate for us to appear at this special occasion as well), and an appearance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the 1970s British progressive rock sensation Procol Harum. Da Camera originally appeared with Procol Harum in 1971, and released an album with the Symphony and the rock group, which went platinum in the USA. I wasn't with the choir when they did the first concert thirty-nine years ago. I was busy learning the basic cognitive skills of life at the time, being only two months old. In fact, no original members of Da Camera appeared last month, there were however two members who attended the concert in their youth, and a few others own the original vinyl album, shown here (the choir is sporting their 1970s outfits in the back right corner of the album cover - sexy!). For many of the singers of that generation though, it was a highlight of their choral singing career.

So, on to our first concert of the season. "Tidings of Joy" The first half is all unaccompanied music of devotional songs to Mary and to the nativity, spanning from Dutch baroque composer, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, to recently deceased Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. The second half of the program, we will perform Ottorino Respighi's rarely performed work "Laude per la Natività del Signore" for wind sextet, piano (four hands), soloists and chorus (and triangle!). I wasn't familiar with this work until a chorister suggested I look at it, and after consulting with a colleague in Calgary who had recently performed it. It is a wonderful gem, and if you are looking for a twenty-five minute Christmas work that isn't one of the standards, and fits in with a modest budget for instruments, I highly recommend it. I'm also quite happy to announce that there will be no audience singalongs!

The concert is on Sunday at 3 PM, and I attach to the right here (click to enlarge), in case you live near Edmonton. It should be a very fine concert!

By way of an update of my previous post about the organ. There was a short circuit in the key switch which turns the organ on. After about an hour of basic electrical work (and at least twenty trips up and down the stairs to turn on and off the breaker switch for the organ) it is working fine again. We have a fairly major renovation planned for the organ in the new year, so the less money we have to spend on maintenance right now, the better. Some of the 100 year-old leather on the air reservoir is also starting to fail, which carries a good price tag. For now, good old "Red Green approved" Canadian duct tape will seal the hole and get us through the season. I hope.

Tales from the Console

2010-12-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

When the first thing you hear when you show up for church on Sunday from the volunteer organist for the early service is "The organ won't turn on", you know it's going to be an interesting day, or you should just go back to bed.

Advent 2010 Musings

2010-12-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there Mr. neglected blog!

I am hoping that my blog silence recently is just a result of being busy, and that the urge to write again will resurface in the coming month.

Every year I tell myself that this December will be different, I'll cut back on projects and focus on being home more often. This definitely hasn't transpired this season. Not that I'm complaining about having work, there really is no better thing than being an employed musician, and certainly this time of year is when we pull in the most of it. See my previous posts on "musical prostitution", the term I give to the sort of grunt work we do over the month of December, which does help put money in the cookie jar, but aren't necessarily glamorous.

I hadn't planned on doing much of this sort of grunt work, keeping Christmas mall caroling down to just three Saturdays. However, that has just increased to 15 hours of caroling over the holidays, as my quartet just signed a contract to sing on the concourse of every Edmonton Oilers home game this month (six in total). I made a decision a few years ago that I would no longer do quartet caroling, unless it paid VERY well. I'm happy to say, that all these gigs do pay VERY well. They do however cut deeply into my personal time, so I will have to evaluate at the end of the month if it was worth it or not. Right now though, the caroling is funding our yearly trip to Jasper Park Lodge, which I am counting the days!

On top of the caroling, there is the "real" stuff I am doing as well, including another Pro Coro concert next weekend, our Da Camera Singers concert on the 19th, our first Christmas concert in nearly six years, and a charity conducting gig at the Winspear for the Christmas Bureau. Plus, there's my church job! We had a most successful Advent Carol Service last weekend, and now we are on cruise control through the next three Sundays of Advent until Christmas.

As a church musician, this is the worst case scenario for the placement of Christmas (on a Saturday). For me, it means three services Christmas Eve (24th) one on the morning of Christmas Day (25th) and then, as the 26th is a Sunday ... One on the morning of the 26th! I am blessed however to have an assistant organist and a volunteer organist who will take care of the 25th and 26th for me, so I'm only on the bench for the three Christmas eve services!

The other happy thought of the day is that University teaching ended for me yesterday! One final exam to mark and the semester is over until January 6th!

Wishing you all an advent full of hope, peace, joy and love!

Skipping the light fandango

2010-11-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight should be a fun night!

Challenge of the day

2010-10-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Watch this and try not to smile.

Lecture for Open House at Concordia

2010-10-16T08:40:00.001-07:00

Today I presented a short lecture at Concordia University College's open house for graduating high school students. For those who weren't there (most of you) I was asked to present a "sample lecture" for music history.

I started by quoting this excellent post by Brad Foust, and then did a short lecture on early music, followed by a very brief look at the history of musical instruments through the eras.

Below are the videos I used with my presentation. I put them on this blog for two reasons. As a stationary location for the students to find the videos after the lecture, and as a place for me to find them "all in one place" while I'm giving the lecture!

Early Music Instrument Examples:

Sackbut (Ancestor to the modern trombone)

Chrumhorn (very unusual sounding reed instrument)

Cornetto (Ancestor to the Trumpet)

Harpsichord

Portative Organ (Renaissance)

Orchestras through the ages

Renaissance dance instrumental

Baroque Concerto Grosso

Mozart Symphony

Finale of Mahler's 8th Symphony (Symphony of a thousand) go to about 3:50 to see the full effect!

Debussy

Stravinsky

Steven Reich - electric counterpoint (Minimalism)

John Cage (4'33")

Hope you enjoyed the lecture!

Did I mention that I have a new toy?

2010-10-05T06:32:00.001-07:00

For my birthday this year, my wife bought me an iPad. I'm still getting to know it a bit, and having fun figuring out both the practical applications, as well as all the fun things.

The first music application I installed was a program called "ForeScore" which is an app for displaying PDF scores that you can email to yourself. It also comes with a whole pack of built in piano scores. The size might be a bit small for some folks, but as an organist who after uses tiny print to avoid page turns, or a conductor who has conducting from pocket scores, I don't find it too bad.

The other app I'm trying, literally as I type, is BlogPress. A blogging tool which handles a variety of different platforms. At first try, it also seems quite slick, although I haven't done more than just what you see here. It will upload photos and do links, allow HTML editing and everything you'd expect though, so I'll keep playing with it.

I'll try to review a few other music and blogging related apps as I add them and play with them.

In the mean time, time to see if I can pass the next level in Angry Birds!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And today ...

2010-09-29T12:37:00.001-07:00

Some of the things on my plate:

Scona Chamber Singers have done their first concert of the year, good crowd and great music. I've also been working on our new webpage for this group. There is still work to do on it, but at least we are now "live" and on the air. (Speaking of which - I love iWeb - easy web designs on your Mac!)
Speaking of my Mac - I now have an iPad. Downloaded the app ForScore and have started to import some music. The nice thing is - it allows you to put up any PDFs, but it works very well for music. Allows annotations, and will even link music from iTunes if you want to listen and follow. Good teaching, practicing tool I think. I still need to play with it a bit more, but it seems to be a very good app. Especially for only 5 bucks!
Next week, I'll be singing on center ice at the Oilers home opener! Well, "singing" is a bit of a stretch, as it is of course pre-recorded as all big stadium shows are, but we will LOOK like we are singing "O Fortuna" from Carmina for the big dramatic opener. Fun!

And today .... is my Birthday!

Countdown

2010-09-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

Only one full day left before all "H-E-double-hockey-sticks" lets lose. (It's a Canadian expression - but you should be able to figure it out no matter where you're from - but just in case - hockey sticks, when upside down, look like the letter "L" - we also use it in Golf for when you score a seven - but of course, the hockey stick is upside up in that instance. It's "one less than a snowman").

Schedule for the work week for the most part looks like this

Mondays - Da Camera
Tuesdays - two lectures and movie night with the wife (see her post here)
Wednesdays - Church staff meeting and church work day, and University choirs in the afternoon, and hopefully curling league at night.
Thursdays - two lectures and church choir
Fridays - University choirs and "extra" work (i.e. Pro Coro and Scona Chamber Choirs)
Saturdays - various rehearsals
Sundays - Church in the morning, and various rehearsals and concerts throughout the year.

Somewhere in there - I'll blog, and I DO VOW TO BLOG MORE!

On that note, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that my blog post on ChoralBlog about the Apple iPad (published on the day the iPad was released) was referred to in a CBC radio national news broadcast this past weekend. I'm amazed at how the art of news reporting has moved into using the blogesphere - and happy to be a part of it!

All the more reason to get back into the blogging habit

what I've been up to

2010-08-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

For the last two days, I was turning this corner of our lot:

into this:

It amazes me that a project that I predicted would take about 1/2 a day took 2 full days. We now have a great perennial garden though - updated photos to come next spring! Oh, and the answer to "how many conductors does it take to build a garden" is: TWO.

A few weeks before this I was working at a summer choir camp, conducting a youth choir of 40 singers. It was a fantastic experience - a good blogable story there, and I will share soon!

Hope you are enjoying the last few days of preparation before the fun of the school and rehearsal season begins!

August Prep

2010-08-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

My "To Do" List this month:

Work on a presentation I'm giving next week on "Building a Boy Choir Tradition"
Prepare slides for my Music Appreciation Course (after 10 years, it's time to refresh my teaching material here)
Prepare syllabus and repertoire for intro to Conducting course which has only 6 people registered!
Finalize all repertoire for the first two concerts with Da Camera
Finalize the roster for Da Camera, and solicit 4 more tenors and 3 basses to join!
Prep anthem list for Church Choir from September through to Advent (did I just say Advent?)
Revitalize my approach to blogging both here and here.

What's on your To Do list this month in preparation for "Back to School?"

What conductors do in the summer.

2010-07-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have been spending the last few days in Ottawa, which is suffering from the extreme heat advisory covering much of the north-east of North America. For the past few days we've had air temperature in the mid-30s (95 in F) with the humidex sitting around +45 (around 110 F). Luckily, my parents have a pool.

Yesterday was our or 3rd wedding anniversary - this was the gift I bought Kathleen:

New Blogs!

2010-06-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

If you've clicked on my profile lately, you might have noticed I've set up a pile of new blogs for future use.

Podium Speak will still be my home base for choral music thoughts, and from time to time, general nonsense. However, I've created blogs for the choirs I conduct and courses I'll teach next year (none of which have posts yet - but I'll link to them when they become active).

One blog which will be active through the summer when choral music tends to be quiet for me is my new golf blog!

So, if you want to read in more detail about my quest to break 80. You are welcome to read about it here.

Scottish Ingenuety

2010-06-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Just like the Scouts, the Scots are always prepared:

(Courtesy of "There I Fixed it")

Speaking of Scouts - Da Camera is going to be singing O Canada and one other short work for the opening of the Annual Alberta Scouting Conference here in Edmonton. Something we've done in the past, and it comes with a GREAT Breakfast! It got my wife and I thinking that maybe we should have badges sewed on our outfits and tuxes, representing things that we do and deserve recognition for. You know, things like:

"Sight Reading badge"
"Memorization badge"
"Watching the Conductor badge"
"Handing all music in at the end of a concert badge"
"Turning pages for the accompanist badge"
"Helping elderly people find a seat cushion badge"

Feel free to add to the list, and draw up some artwork for the badges!

Pardon the interuption

2010-05-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Unrelated to choral music - but hey, it's my blog, I'll blog about what I want!

I mentioned in my last blog post that my summer holiday goal is to break 80 (we're talking golf scores here folks). Well, Yesterday, even though I shot 87, it was in some ways the closest I've been in a while. I've been as low as 82 in years past, but yesterday was the first time that my goal seemed viable.

Breaking 80 means shooting +7 or less on eighteen holes. Yesterday, I was +5 on the last thirteen holes (Yes, that means I was +10 on the first five). I had eleven pars (including seven in a row), and three bogies. I missed at least five legitimate birdie tries, and then had one double, and three "blow up holes" consisting of two triples and a quad. So - sink a few birdies and eliminate the blow ups, and I should be in the 70s right? Heck, just get rid of the three bad holes and I shoot 77!

In principle, that should work right?

Ok - back to choral music.

Update - to follow my golfing activities, you are welcome to hang out at my golf blog.

Back from Podium 2010

2010-05-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

We just walked in the door to our house after a five and a half hour drive from Saskatoon, and the annual conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC) known as Podium. The drive was a little longer than usual as we decided to take a different route involving mostly a two lane highway. We visited the Ribstones near Viking Alberta (another blogger posts about their experience visiting the Ribstones, we had a similar experience, including missing the turnoff due to lack of signage - there is very little else to find online about the historic site, but it was a very interesting, and a somewhat moving experience. I did find this video that someone took of the site). We were also pulled over for speeding - but that (as the narrator of Hammy Hampster would say) ... is another story.

The Podium conference was fantastic - four days, eighteen choirs featured in ten concerts. Great sessions (including a reprise of the Technology for Choirs in the 21st century seminar by ChoralNet's chief blogger Philip Copeland as seen at ACDA in Oklahoma. The session has inspired me to get back on the blogging train again).

The comments from most of the delegates have been that despite the unseasonably cold and wet weather, it was one of the best Podiums in recent memory. I've been to four of the last five Podium conferences (Edmonton, Toronto, Victoria and now Saskatoon), and I have to agree; it was one of the most memorable.

Perhaps, for me, the reason it was the most memorable is that it represented a sort of "coming out" party for me as a professional conductor, and not a student. My chamber choir, Da Camera Singers, joined together with my friend and colleague Tim Shantz and his Chamber Choir, Spiritus from Calgary, to perform at the conference this year. It was enthusiastically received by the delegates, including colleagues who probably still think of me as a young student who left Ottawa some thirteen years ago. I was extremely proud of the choir, and also flattered by the accolades we received.

Our recent CD was also nominated for "outstanding choral CD" at the awards ceremony. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but still the recognition was a great thrill for me, and the choir.

Now that the conference is over, and with only Da Camera's AGM scheduled this weekend, I can start to enjoy the summer holidays. I do vow, however, to be productive this summer. I'm teaching two new courses next year, starting a new men's choir at Concordia University College, and have to plan an anniversary year for Da Camera, who is celebrating their 50th year in 2011-12.

On top of all this, I have to start to think about Podium 2012, which is in my home town of Ottawa, and find a way to make a personal and professional impact on the conference.

My other goal this summer is to break 80. Perhaps completely unrelated, and maybe unreachable, but why live if you don't set goals!

May Day!

2010-05-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

Spring is trying really hard to come to Edmonton. We've had a week that felt like Summer, followed quickly by a week that felt like Winter. The rain/snow we received this last week was a welcome relief in many ways though, as we had been under an outdoor fire ban since the start of spring, and now it is lifted - at least for the time being. Drought conditions come very quickly now in the prairies, and unless we receive a good deal more rain in the coming months, things will dry up quickly for sure.

Many things have come to an end in April, including classes. All my marks have been submitted, and I just need to clean off my desk and then I can stay away from the college until late August!

The most significant thing to come to an end for me though is my time with the Richard Eaton Singers. After six years as Associate Conductor, we both felt that it was time to move in a different direction. I was hired initially as someone who could help the artistic director while he served as chair of the Department of Music, and then take an entire season as interim director during his sabbatical. Now that he is back with the choir full-time, it was time to return to a model where they offered a smaller choral scholarship and experience to a graduate student.

It has been an incredible experience for me. Conducting and singing in a chorus of over a hundred singers isn't for everyone, but where else would you get the opportunity to sing the majority of your concert with full orchestra, and tackle rep like Brahms Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Beethoven 9, even the choral version of 1812? I've grown a lot as a musician with this group, and take away valuable experience that many young conductors will never have.

Most of all, I will miss the people in the choir. Many of them have become quite close friends, and although I will still see them from time to time, not seeing them every Tuesday night will be a major change for me.

As you can see from the picture, I was sent off in style!

It will open up a spot in my schedule to take on something new, but for now, I will enjoy having another night a week to spend with my wife. No doubt I will drop in on the choir from time to time, and might even appear for one of their shows next year (It will be hard to hold me back from St. Matthew Passion....)

This week will be a busy one. My parents arrive tomorrow night for a week, and I have two concerts the next weekend while they are here, one in Calgary and the next day in Edmonton. The concert I'm conducting, along with the conductor and choristers of the Spiritus Chamber choir of Calgary, is a production of all double choir music. Highlights include Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir, and Jonathan Dove's "The Passing of the Year". Much of the concert we will repeat in Saskatoon on May 21st at the Podium conference.

It's going to be a great show - hope to see you there!

Here's the poster for the Edmonton show (click for a large image)

The Calgary information can be found here

And Saskatoon Podium 2010 Concert information here!

200th Post!

2010-04-15T10:03:00.001-07:00

I just noticed that my last post was my 200th post, and went by without any ceremony. So - I bring you some fireworks. And where better to find a nice picture of fireworks than from my home town.

To this day, I can't watch a fireworks display without picturing the Peace Tower as a front-drop, I'm sure you'll understand why.

Winding Down and Counting Down

2010-04-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

The Winding Down:

Holy week has come and gone, and with it six large choral/organ services in seven days, two trumpets, one ham, scalloped potatoes, and a fair amount of chocolate and jelly beans have been consumed. (OK, I didn't consume the trumpets, perhaps some extra punctuation was warranted there).

The last full day of classes was today, although my last teaching day was last Thursday, so just a few reports to mark and a final exam to set and mark left!

Two shows with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra to sing this week. A fun concert of pops, everything from "O Fortuna" to "Clang Clang Clang went the Trolley", then RES cools down for the year, with only a few rehearsals before break.

The Counting Down:

Da Camera has a few big shows in May. We are teaming up with a sister choir from Calgary, the Spiritus Chamber Choir (their director and I are good friends, and were roommates for sometime around 8-10 years ago). We do one show in Calgary on the 8th, then reprise the show in Edmonton on the 9th.

"Podium" then begins on May 20th in Saskatoon, where our two choirs will meet again to perform a portion of our program at the national choral communities conference. Always a great conference to meet with the conductors from across Canada, hear some great choirs, and attend great sessions on choral music.

My hope is to get over my little case of blog-block by then and be back here in more regular intervals, perhaps highlighting a few of the sessions and choirs that will be featured in Saskatoon.

Miscellaneous:

A typical Edmonton spring weather is having trouble deciding between abnormally warm temperatures, and chilly cold temperatures, sunshine, rain and snow (yes, still snow). Although, not enough rain or snow according to the farmers. It seems the drought will continue this year as it is already dryer now than this time last year. A full fire ban has been in effect already, which is earlier than I can ever remember. Golf season is around the corner, but just when you think the corner is getting close, another night of snow happens (and then drys up by the end of the day). So I'm hopeful that I will be on the course soon.

In fact, the clubs are already in the trunk!

One of the two certainties in life

2010-03-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

I doubt I'm anywhere near the first of the two certainties, but the second one "Taxes" can often make one feel like "Death" is the preferred option.

I've actually been way ahead of the game for the last few years, and I've also used an accountant for the last five or six years to have this done for me. But since I have a few more day time hours as of late, I decided that this will be the year I save a bit of money and do them myself!

Quicktax seems to be the most comprehensive program in Canada to manage this task, and so I started the process yesterday afternoon. Plugging the the T4 and T4a information was a piece of cake, but now I'm getting into all my self-employed income and expenses which will take me a while, include all my vehicle expenses, home office expenses, travel, lodging, cell phone use, and the list goes on. Every year at this time I say to myself - I really should keep better record of all I do every year - but the problem with tax season being four months into the year already, I feel I'm already too late to start for this year. I guess it shouldn't be that hard to do - certainly no more difficult than trying to look at all my receipts for 2009 in one sitting. Will I learn this lesson? we'll see.

In the mean time, here in Edmonton, we are waiting for the weather here to decide if it is really done snowing or not, and so I'm cleaning off the golf clubs in anticipation for opening day at the course. Unfortunately, yesterday, it snowed, and it is expected to do this again through the week. So a little setback - but we'll get there.

For a bit of statistical humour - During the Gold Medal Olympic game last month, the City of Edmonton's main utility provider provided us a graph of the water usage in the city. It was quite fun to see just how the game affected the city's toilet flushing - I'm guessing it was the same country-wide, as reports show that 80% of the Canadian population watch part or all of this hockey game:

(click for larger image)

Courtesy of Deadspin.com

2010 Juno Nominations Announced

2010-03-03T09:15:00.001-08:00

I spent most of the morning trying to log into the CTV.ca live stream of the Juno Nominations (Canada's version of the Grammy awards), mainly because we had submitted the Da Camera CD for nomination in the Classical Choral or Vocal Performance category, and John Estacio (our featured composer on the recording) submitted the CD in the Classical Composition category. The feed worked for the introductory speech, and the post-announcement goodbye, but flaked out for all the nomination announcements! (As the kids say - "FAIL")

Unfortunately, neither bid was successful. Actually, the five nominees in the Choral or Vocal Performance were all solo performers, meaning all choirs were shutout of the nominations. Realistically, I didn't expect we'd receive a nod from the nomination committee, but I was saddened that NO choirs were selected. I wonder if the category is a bit broad?

Well, I suppose for an award organization which specializes in pop/rock/rap/country awards, I guess one category is about all we can ask for! I mean, how can we possibly compete with the six nominations that Michael Bublé got?

Too bad our video wasn't released in time to be submitted in that category.

For the full list of nominees, you can check out the Juno Webpage.

Halfway there!

2010-02-21T07:40:00.001-08:00

I've been in Toronto for the last week adjudicating the Kiwanis Music Festival, and have reached the halfway point with my one and only day off in the schedule. So far, I've ordered room service for breakfast, turned the computer on, and watched a few Olympic highlights. Before the end of of the day - I MIGHT actually leave my hotel room. Actually, a friend and I might visit the car show this afternoon, and find some big screen TVs to watch what is really a "Super Sunday" of Olympic hockey, and curling.

There is talk of a major snow storm hitting the Toronto area this week, which should make commuting to my venue a bit tricky, not to mention a schedule which will likely run late as a result of participants battling GTA traffic mixed with snowfall. Toronto has been without snow for much of this year - so even though the amount of snow is not usually worthy of concern - it is expected to be the worst storm of this season for the area.

Regular blogging to resume in early March.

Groundhogmas

2010-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

At least, that is what today would be called if we mixed the Christian feast day of Candlemas with Groundhog Day.

I came across a few Youtube videos recently called "The Boast of Kings" - and thought I'd share the last of the videos - which features Herbert Howells' setting of the Nunc Dimittis from the Collegium Regale service, book-ended by interesting interviews, which includes a very young Canadian Gerald Finley.

Just so you're clear on the connection - Candlemas (February 2nd) is sometimes also known as the Feast of the Presentation - where Jesus is presented to Simeon in the Temple. Simeon then utters these words (at least, King James translated them this way):

Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace
According to thy word,
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation
Which thou hast prepared before the face
Of thy people Israel,
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles
And to be the glory of thy people Israel.

The rest of the video is also quite interesting, I think. For a long period of time, I dreamed that I would one day be a chorister at Kings. Not that I'm unhappy at all with where I am now, but there is still a part of me that wished I had the opportunity to be a choral scholar somewhere over there.

Here's praying for a cloudy day today, and a short end to this winter!

The iPad and Music Publishing

2010-01-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

As posted on ChoralBlog by me today:

----------

After the much anticipated announcement of the release of the Apple tablet, the "iPad", yesterday - it got me thinking - will this finally be the step that makes digital music stands a reality? Perhaps with the price tag starting at $499 per iPad (likely much more in Canada), maybe not just yet. However, I can't help but to think of the future application as it applies to our industry.

The most obvious use will be the practical application. A musician could scan in their scores, carry the iPad to their gig, set it on a music stand and just go - no need for stand lights, no losing music, quick clicking through repeat sings, da capos, digitally mark up scores the way you like, with as many colors as you like, and delete old markings with ease. Turn pages with the touch of a finger, or even by a foot pedal if your fingers are in use. These programs already do exist (see this youtube video), but the hardware is bulky, requires cables, and you need to find a way strap your laptop sideways on the stand, or own the old generation bulky tablets that have not succeeded. Not to mention, the cost!

The iPad is smaller, thinner, and lighter. The iPad boasts a 10 hour battery life (that's four union services) plus wireless and bluetooth networking. The screen is slighter smaller than letter sized paper, 1 inch thick, and 1 1/2 pounds (perhaps a bit heavy to hold for a long time in a black folder) and full of all the toys that many of us know and love in our iPod Touch's or iPhones - including an intuitive operating system based on simple icons and touches. It also has the capacity of 64 gigabytes of flash storage. That's a lot of scores - my rough calculation - nearly 15,000 pages of music at high quality resolution (10 mega pixels) - perhaps up to ten times that at a lower resolution. One could conceivably hold the entire printed works of Bach with room to spare.

If the iPad takes off, as Apple anticipates it will, and why wouldn't they - they designed it after all, I feel the real potential is in the field of music publication. Many iPod users are already quick to depart with $0.99 to buy a track of music they desire, I know I'm guilty. Wouldn't it be grand if major publishers like Carus and Barenreiter offered a similar service to download their scores into your iPad for small "paperless" fees? Downloading music is nothing new - we have CPDL, Handlo and Sheet Music Plus to name a few, However they are often unreliable, and full of errors. If Apple can get big name music publishers on board, the way we read music (and I mean that in a literal sense) could change. I feel it is inevitable.

When will this happen?

"Choir, please load up the Haydn, click to Rehearsal C and touch in these markings ... or, better yet - import MY markings"

Dusting off the blog

2010-01-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

Over fifteen days since my last post - so I figured at the very least, a few updates on what's been happening in my life as of late. I have a few other post subjects brewing - so hopefully I can put them into words in the next few weeks. My apologies to my ChoralBlog contributors for my hiatus there, but I will be back soon!

The Heinrich Schütz concert I was blogging about in my last post was an incredible success, which now fulfills our commitment to mount two concerts in the 2009/10 season. At this point, we don't have plans to do another until the fall, although, most of the singers are pressuring us to do another in the spring. There is a slim chance of this - most likely it would be a small ensemble concert, or a quintet show of some kind. I plan to meet with my co-artistic director this week and see what is possible. It is a lot of work - but a heck of a lot of fun at the same time, and we are filling the void of early music in the city right now.

This week, something completely different. I'm singing in the chorus for two Edmonton Symphony concerts, featuring a reprise of John Estacio's "The Houses Stand Not Far Apart". Which, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting large scale choral/orchestra works written in the last decade - with much lasting potential. The second half of the program is Beethoven's Ninth. Quite an honour for John I think to be paired with this orchestral standard. However, I think that Beethoven would also be honoured.

Funny to think that in my 38 years, it is my first Beethoven Nine! This is my last year with Richard Eaton Singers, and although large symphonic choirs are not for everyone, I highly recommend that EVERYONE who plans to make a living in choral music should spend some time singing in one of these choirs. In the last five years, I have sung - Brahms Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Beethoven Nine, Elgar Dream of Gerontius and a few other works that can/should only be performed by a large choir. I also sang the ubiquitous Messiah performances and one St. John Passion, which purists would say should only be attempted by "period" sized ensembles. However, singing them in large choirs is kind of like riding a Moped - they are tons of fun - just don't tell your friends.

In a few weeks we'll be presenting our next concert with Da Camera Singers. An afternoon of music based on Love and Roses, suitably placed on February 14th. Trying to think up some creative marketing ideas, and perhaps some door prizes that might include chocolates, roses, wine, or all three (an a free Eulogies CD - after all, nothing says "love" like a CD about ... death!) A day after this concert, I fly to Toronto for two weeks to adjudicate some junior piano at Kiwanis. Should be a good time - yet, a lot of work, and ... a LOT of sonatinas. Look for a few blogs from my Fairmont hotel room in T.O. during that time.

Currently, I'm waiting at my house for UPS to arrive with our Amazon.ca shipment. Yes folks, we are finally getting Rock Band II for our Wii.

I'm a really really really good drummer.

'010 musings

2010-01-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

Four days into 2010, and the holiday that was, is all but a memory. A really good memory though. Jasper was as relaxing as it was energizing. We could have done without the drive back in bad winter driving conditions, but we are back in one piece, and quickly getting back into the regular routine.

This weekend, I'm conducting the second concert of the Scona Chamber Singers in a program of Heinrich Schütz, which includes selections from both Geistliche Chormusik, as well as smaller ensemble selections from Kleine Geistliche Konzerte. The program was selected by my co-artistic director, and soprano Jolaine Kerley, and we are being joined by organist Jeremy Spurgeon and a DMus cello student, Amy McClary. We started rehearsing on the 2nd, and put in quite a few hours this weekend, and will meet again on Friday for two more days of rehearsals, and do the concert on Sunday. The music is coming together fast, but it will take a few more runs for us to keep into the rhetoric of the language, and gel as an ensemble.

Scores, of course, have been a bit of an issue, especially finding good continuo realizations. The U of A library does house the complete works, and most of the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte is realized nicely in the Bärenreiter-Verlag Kassel edtion, but there is nothing for the Chormusik except a figured bass. Luckily, Jeremy is a pro - so I don't think it will be too much of an issue. The added complication is we are doing much of the concert in a different key than published, so I will be spending the better part of the day tomorrow in front of the computer transposing the cello part - but it will be worth it, and it's mostly quite straightforward.

Aside from this project, everything else is running as it should - Da Camera gets back into action tonight, and Richard Eaton Singers tomorrow. The church choir resumes after just one week off, and we enter our seven month period of interim ministry following the retirement of our Rector of ten years. It will be very different around the parish, but I am lucky to have an extremely supportive vestry and staff. It seems I will be relied on for much of the liturgical planning, which will up my work load a bit - but it will be a great learning experience!

On top of all this - I'm back to counting my calories today. I did manage to lose close to 30 pounds last time I started this regime, and of that, only 10 have crept back again. If I can drop another 25 or 30 by summer, maybe it will drop another 5 or 6 strokes off the handicap. Four more months until golf season! sigh.

Poster for concert:

After a friend pointed out that Schütz looks like the original owner of a local wrap and sub sandwich restaurant I can't look at this portrait, painted by Rembrandt, without seeing Schütz holding a ham and cheese wrap.

On the second day of Christmas ...

2009-12-26T19:43:00.001-08:00

and I stayed in my PJs all day and watched all 26 episodes of season five of "The Office".

Tomorrow, we have the farewell church service and party of the rector of my parish - in which there will be much emotion and celebration. Those who know me, and know of the family connection will understand the emotional aspect. We will have a seven month interim priest-in-charge before the new incumbent beings. And although there is understandably a bit of trepidation in this whole process, I have full confidence in the selection committee, and am looking forward to the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the parish. If it's anything like the last chapter - it will continue to remain one of the most fantastic places to work.

On Monday - my wife and I head to Jasper for a three day trip, and the itinerary will be very stressful. Hours and hours of sitting in the outdoor pool, playing cribbage in the lodge, possibly skating on the lake, and definitely eating good food - something we haven't been lacking in the last week or so.

Needless to say - you probably won't hear from me for the next week or so.

Hope your Christmas holidays brings you the rest that you need to start 2010 with a renewed energy!

Not a creature was stirring - excpet for the Organist

2009-12-24T14:50:00.001-08:00

Today has been a very relaxing day so far. A bit of a calm before the storm, with services at 7 PM, 11 PM tonight, and 10:30 AM tomorrow. I plan to get to the church early enough to work up "In Dulci Jubilo" BWV 729 for postlude at the 7:00 tonight, and 10:30 tomorrow (my assistant will play something for the 11:00 PM thank goodness!)

This isn't BWV 729 (Couldn't find a good one on YouTube) but it is nice nonetheless!

Merry Christmas to all!

Advent IV

2009-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

... for something completely different

The Advent carol "People Look East", as played on the accordion. Doesn't he look happy that Christmas is only five days away?

Weather in Edmonton Today...

2009-12-13T14:00:00.001-08:00

No matter if it's in Fahrenheit or Celsius .. (the f degrees are the smaller numbers, that you can't see because of the frost on the inside of this thermometer) -40 is -40 - and it's DAMN COLD. Not going to get better for a little while yet too. Have I mentioned lately how much we love our new heated garage?

(Photo Credit, www.theweathernetwork.com)

Advent III

2009-12-13T02:00:00.000-08:00

Today's Video, a vintage video from King's College Cambridge.

Elizabeth Poston's "Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree"

Advent II

2009-12-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

Today's video - Bach Cantata 140, the 4th movement. With the ever so lively Ton Koopman conducting.

Today, Da Camera Singers will be performing the Cantata at Alberta Baroque Ensemble's annual Christmas Concert. I will also play BWV 645 from the Schübler chorales during communion today. Arguably, Bach's most popular Cantata, but with good reason I think.

Advent I

2009-12-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

Last year I posted an Advent related YouTube video every Sunday in Advent - and, although two days late, I'm going to try to keep up this tradition.

Today - Veni Veni Emmanuel, set by Zoltán Kodály and sung by L'Accorche-Choeur, Ensemble vocal Fribourg.

Over the course of the day on Sunday, I sang (well played mostly) 18 verses of this carol. We did all seven verses in the morning, an abridged four verse version at the carol service, and then all seven English verses again at the Cathedral's carol service.

Normally I have an aversion to any carol with the English word "Israel". In North America anyway, we seem to pronounce is as it were in Latin, only with an ugly diphthong, even triphthong, for the vowel combination, "Is-rye-el" rather than "Is-ray-el" as it should (the main reason why The First Noel is a carol I try to avoid during this season, if I can), however I just love this plainchant carol - especially as an organist when I can play any harmonization I want during the verses. Maybe next year we'll just sing it in Latin then I won't have to worry about the pronunciation issue at all.

Happy Advent!

Verdi Withdrawl

2009-11-25T06:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've had postpartum issues with big performances. Since I've made the switch from student musician to professional musician some years ago, I've been able put away the music of a concert and move on to the next project without too much of a thought of what I just did. However, after this past weekend's Verdi Requiem performance, I found it quite difficult to let it go.

It might have been that this was my first Verdi Requiem, but I think it was more about the fact that the performance was extremely powerful, and emotional. Many members of the orchestra commented that it was the best Verdi Requiem Edmonton has heard in the last fifteen years. For a new tenor in the choir beside me, it was his first concert ever with orchestra, so his enthusiasm only heightened my awareness of the significance of the performance for me, taking me back twenty years, when I sang the Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem with the University of Ottawa choirs and orchestra, my first large choir and orchestra experience. There was also the added emotional issue that the performance was dedicated to the memory of a chorister who suddenly lost his battle with cancer this past August, only a week before the first rehearsal (read more about this here from the conductor of Richard Eaton Singers, and of the Verdi Requiem performance).

In any event, it has taken me three days to recover from the performance. I found myself in the grocery store on Monday wandering the aisles at a complete loss as to why I was there, and why I would ever need food to sustain life when I felt I had given everything of myself only twelve hours earlier. I did two laps of the store and looked in the cart only to find a 4 litre jug of milk, a package of English muffins, peanut butter, pita bread and humus. It sounds funny now, and my wife and I laughed about the state of our fridge this morning, but at the time I swear I was on the verge of tears. And I felt this way for nearly two full days. Even today, although now emotionally stable again, and found my lost appetite, I still find myself singing the fugue subjects from the Libera Me, or hearing the echo of the bass drum in the Dies Irae. Perhaps a second performance would have lifted me out of this a little quicker, but in any event, in some ways it was a life-altering performance, and not one I'm soon to forget.

However, it is now on to the next project. Working on Bach BWV 140 and the Haydn Little Organ Mass for two performances on December 6th with Alberta Baroque should pull me out of this quickly - as I'm not sure that singing in the back-up "Whoville" chorus for Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is going to do it for me this weekend.

Dies Irae!

2009-11-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Countdown - four more sleeps until Verdi!

Technology in the Recording Session.

2009-11-16T07:42:00.000-08:00

I posted this up on ChoralBlog this morning, but thought I'd put a copy of it on here too. Mainly because I found this software absolutely fascinating.

This past weekend, I was involved in a Mens' Choir concert with Pro Coro Canada here in Edmonton, Alberta. This concert is becoming a regular feature on the Pro Coro season, and has proven to be a crowd favorite, mainly for the original programming and the captivating visual aspects of the performance. Balanced with "serious" choral music, Poulenc, Schubert for example, but there is also a fair amount of avant-garde, never heard before works (often improvised at the concert itself). For example, last year we invited a "electric" cellist to the show and did a few set of improvised tape loop works. It is these works that make the concerts memorable.

This weekend we worked with two electronic music specialists, who brought along all sorts of recording equipment and manipulation devices to create live improvised sets that involved the choir, as well as the audience, and tape loop. It was a huge hit! I had a long chat with one of the electro-musicians about his equipment and software, and it turns out he is beta testing the latest version of Melodyne DNA. Melodyne is a program that can split your recording WAV file, or whatever format you use, and show you exactly which note is being played or sung - even individual notes in a chord. Then, of course, you can change the notes (one at a time) of one instrument or voice, without affecting the rest of the instruments or voices. A major step above other "Autotune" programs, as it works with polyphonic and homophonic single track recordings, rather than only dealing with individual monophonic tracks.

He pointed me to a few YouTube videos that I'd like to share with you. Although these are not choral recordings (I looked, and I couldn't find any) I think you can see the possibilities of editing and fixing individuals wrong notes on recordings.

Of course, the debate then - is this the right thing to do? Personally, I don't think it is, our eternal quest for perfection I think is detrimental to the musical output, however, the geek inside me loved the technology and process, and I'd give anything to be able to play with the software for a day or two.

First - A longish video describing the software

And then a video made by the engineer I talked to this weekend. Not being a Guns and Roses fan, he decided to alter the the guitar solo in "November Rain" making Slash look as though he were tone deaf:

and on the eighth day ...

2009-11-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Having enjoyed all 25 hours of All Saints' Day (thank you day light savings time - see you in the Spring!) I'm wondering if we can just keep that extra hour in the day, every day, and while we are at it, add one extra day in the week? I could get SO much more accomplished!

Great concert yesterday afternoon with Da Camera. In particular, the Mendelssohn Sechs Sprüche was a highlight for me, and much of the audience I think. The rest of the program was also well received, and the choir's first attempt at Jesu Meine Freude was full of highlights. Bravo to all I say.

So what's next you ask?

Next weekend is a "dark" weekend for me - in the sense that I can actually get my tux to the cleaners and not worry about needing it for at least 14 more days. I do have a full slate of rehearsals to prepare for a Pro Coro Concert, the annual "Men's choir" concert, which is becoming a mainstay for the choir and is always a personal highlight for my concert year. That concert is on the 15th.
Then in a blink of an eye Richard Eaton Singers performs the Verdi Requiem on the 22nd (a first sing for me, if you can believe it, and I'm loving it!)
Then six days later I have to prepare the choir for the annual Christmas Wish Foundation concert with the Royal Canadian Artillery Band, not really a musical highlight, but good old fashioned fun, and anytime you get to sing the Sir David Willcocks' descants with the Davis Organ makes it worth it.
A day later it is Advent I, which includes the Advent Carol Service.
A week after that Da Camera sings with Alberta Baroque on their Christmas show, with BWV 140 (apparently I have to sing the tenor recit - frankly, I'm scared). Also on this program I get to conduct Haydn's Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (aka the "little organ mass")- which has one of the most beautiful Benedictus (Benedicti?) movements in any of his masses.
A week and a half later I'm singing with RES for the Edmonton Symphony's lighter Christmas Classics concert. Again, not particularly musically fulfilling, aside from RVW's Fantasia on Christmas Carols, which will always have a firm place in my heart, however the Christopher Rouse "Karolju", is just not doing it for me. Perhaps worth a later blog post. It will, however, attract a good sized audience, and they are sure to love it all.
On all weekends in December I got talked into doing a few caroling gigs, something I haven't done since I left Ottawa, and figured I was pretty much done, but the fee for this is almost embarrassingly good, too good to turn down. And the other three singers are great friends, so aside from the financially rewarding aspect, it's going to be a hell of a good time, even if it is four hours a day singing in a shopping centre.
Then it is Christmas! Two Christmas eve services and one Christmas morning service.
Then my wife and I are packing up the car and heading HERE for two nights for our annual "sit in the lodge, swim outside in the huge heated pool while the snow falls, enjoy the mountain backdrop, skate on the lake, play cribbage, eat good food, drink good wine, leave our computers at home, and DO NOTHING for three days. A good way to spend the extra money made on caroling!

Of course, by the time we get to the Lodge, it will probably look like this, but you got to trust me on this one - there is nothing like swimming in a 90 degree pool when it's below freezing outside!

Da Camera Concert and CD Release

2009-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

If you are in the Edmonton Area - you might be interested in attending Da Camera's first concert of the season.

It is called "Bach and Mendelssohn" and features works by ... well, I'll let you guess.

Date: Sunday, November 1st at 3 PM
Place: First Baptist Church, Edmonton.

The Featured works on the program are Bach's motet "Jesu Meine Freude" and Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer" for Soprano soloist, organ and chorus. It should be great! Dress rehearsal is tonight

By the way - I've been using Google Calendar as my chief calendar for a while now - and I put the calendar at the bottom of my blog as a widget, for no other reason than just because I can! However, it does include all my concert dates (as well as dentist appointments?) which some of my family who read this may find interesting.

At the concert this weekend, we will be releasing our latest CD entitled "Eulogies" - which contains the first ever recording of John Estacio's monumental choral work of the same name, as well as Eleanor Daley's award winning "Requiem". The CD also includes two commissioned works by Canadian composers, and without tooting my horn too much, I'm awfully proud of this recording!

(Click to enlarge)

If you are interested in getting a copy for yourself, the price is $20 CDN, and you can email info@dacamera.ab.ca for more information. Right now, only "Hard" copies of the CD are available, we are looking into iTunes, but it will be some time before we go that route, as we would like to sell as many copies of the CD as possible first. We are still working out domestic and international shipping issues, as well as the possibility of online ordering through PayPal, but for now just email the choir and we'll figure out shipping details on a case by case basis.

Audio clips of the CD will soon be available on our webpage.

Great Show!

2009-10-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

The inaugural concert of the Scona Chamber Singers was a great success yesterday. A near capacity house, and the choir was in very fine form!

And now - I'm exhausted, but have to quickly change gears to conduct Mendelssohn and Bach with Da Camera next weekend, with dress rehearsal #1 tonight. So away from the English repertoire I go, and into the Bärenreiter editions I fall!

Will post more once the dust has cleared - and hopefully link some mp3's of the show.

And then, it was Monday

2009-10-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend!

Scona Chamber Singers rehearsals started on Friday for our concert next Sunday, and even though a good portion of the choir was very tired, having not only had ten hours of rehearsals with me, but also a day long retreat with the University choirs for a production of Haydn's Creation which is coming up for them.

I was very pleased with the ensemble though - the focus during the rehearsals was very strong, and we accomplished quite a lot in the weekend process. There were a lot of notes left on the floor, but a substantial amount of progress was made from Friday to Sunday night. We have two more full rehearsals, and a dress rehearsal left next weekend before the concert on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully they will all take the few days away from the full choir rehearsals to look at a few notes. In general though, a lot of great music making was had this weekend.

Here is the program for the "Cathedral Music" concert:

O clap your Hands – Orlando Gibbons
Lift up your heads – Orlando Gibbons
Super Flumina Babylonis – Philip De Monte
Quomodo cantibus – William Byrd
Peccavimus a 7– Christopher Tye

Intermission

I Was Glad – Henry Purcell
O Lord, the Maker – William Mundy
Evening Hymn (solo)– Henry Purcell
Turn Thee unto me, O Lord – William Boyce
O Where shall wisdom be found? – William Boyce
O God Thou Art my God - Henry Purcell

In particular, the De Monte, Byrd and Tye set are proving to be the most challenging, but for most of the younger singers, they haven't been exposed to a lot of this high renaissance polyphony, so it doesn't come naturally. It is however, agreed by all that the music is absolutely beautiful!

Time to put this aside for the day though, and concentrate on Da Camera rehearsal tonight, we are only two rehearsals away from that concert too - and there is a fair amount of work to be done on Jesu Meine Freude tonight.

Introducing ...

2009-10-06T06:42:00.000-07:00

The Scona Chamber Singers!

After a busy fall preparing and planning the aforementioned project choir, everything is now rolling forward! We chose "Scona Chamber Singers" as the name of the ensemble for a few reasons. Back when I did my Doctor of Music recitals, I named my pick up choir the Scona Chamber Choir, which was a group of about twenty four singers. We did two concerts, one a mixed bag of repertoire from de Victoria, through Hindemith and Schnittke, and the other a fairly ambitious production of Bach's Johannes Passion, both of which were quite successful.

This new incarnation of the ensemble will vary in size from project to project. Anywhere from one to a part singing to mid-sized chamber choir numbers, so we decided to go with "Singers" rather than "Choir" to allow for this flexibility. The name "Scona" comes from the area of Edmonton where we will rehearse and perform for the time being, known as Old Strathcona. There are a few other venues and buildings that take on the Strathcona name, including Edmonton's largest farmer's market, a theatre, and a historic Victorian era three story hotel, one of the last remaining wooden structures in the area. And although the hotel's structure is beautiful, it's modern reputation now somewhat sketchier, I still feel it identifies the ensemble as local, without carrying a bold lettered "Edmonton"moniker. If the future is bright (and yes, I have pipe dreams here - but without dreams, where would we be?) the name will carry a national (international?) uniqueness.

The first concert will be on Sunday October the 25th at 3 PM at Holy Trinity Anglican Church (in the heart of Old Strathcona). The ensemble is made up of seventeen of the best choral singers in the Edmonton area, and a few who now make their home in Calgary. The concert is called "I Was Glad - Music from the English Cathedral" and will include music of Orlando Gibbons, Christopher Tye, William Mundy, William Byrd, Henry Purcell, and William Boyce. Aside from Purcell and Byrd, most of these composers are not well known out of Anglican circles, and all of it is fantastic music! I'm quite excited for the first rehearsal next Friday - only one of four to put the nearly seventy minutes of music together.

In unrelated news. summer is officially over today in Edmonton (we tend to go from summer to winter without much of any autumn). Which means the golf clubs and shoes get removed from the trunk, to be replaced by the curling broom and shoes! Time to locate my tuque and mitts! (I had always thought it was spelled toque, but according to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, tuque is the correct spelling - interesting!)

Here is our "long term" forecast for the next few days (0C = 32F)

(Click on image for a larger, and more depressing look).

It's worth noting that today, it isn't that bad - predicted to be about 15C, but when the cold front comes through this afternoon, we are expecting very high, potentially damaging winds of up to 90 km/h (55 mph). Any loose objects are being stored in the garage today! This has been the windiest summer and fall I can ever remember!

A New Routine

2009-10-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

My wife and I decided last Wednesday night to finally check out Millennium Place, which is our hamlet's world-class recreation centre, only a dozen blocks or so from our house. After looking at all it has to offer. It has all the regular things you'd expect of a facility of this nature, a cardio room with bikes and treadmills and other hamster cage exercise activities; a weight room with both hydraulic resistant torture machines and free weights; racquetball and squash courts; a skating rink; and two indoor soccer fields (this is a huge place!) It also includes a very large pool, which includes swim lanes, and a larger recreational area with slides and a WAVE POOL for the kids (or in my case, young at heart).

Part of your entry fee includes the drop in fitness classes which include the usual aerobics, kickboxing and cycling classes - but also includes an adult swim-fit class! So, after signing all the release forms, having our pictures taken and giving a void cheque for monthly withdrawals, we now have a family membership! Turns out Sherwood Park actually has THREE facilities (the others not quite a big - although there is another one with a pool, including a diving area!) and our membership covers all three, for what works out to around $35 each a month - not a bad deal! With the end of golf season approaching, it's time I find something else to get active.

I'm not new to the whole gym membership idea - in fact, this will be the fourth gym in my life that I have joined. I had a membership at the YMCA in Ottawa when I was in my late teens, a membership at an athletic club which included squash courts and weights in my early twenties, and a large weight and aerobic club for a year in my early thirties - all of which carried costs far larger than what we are paying now. So, being only two years away now from forty, I'm sort of hoping that this one sticks.

Today will be my first day, I'm planning to arrive for the one hour adult swim fit class.

I've taken the liberty of traveling to the future and taking a picture of myself and posting it below.

The Project Choir

2009-09-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Over the past six months, I've been working closely with a soprano in the city putting together a professional, project based, choral ensemble. The choir will be sixteen voices and will concentrate on early, Medieval to Renaissance music, with a focus in the early English Tudor school, as well as early baroque German repertoire, including Schütz and his contemporaries. At least, that is the focus this year! We are mounting two concerts this season, one in late October, and one in early January. The choir is made up of professional choral singers from the Edmonton and Calgary area, the rehearsals will be intense, with only six full rehearsals for each concert.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the experience of putting together a new ensemble, managing schedules and budgets for a choir which currently has no membership and no capital.

There is a long term goal here, although for now, I think I will take it one concert at a time until we can solidify our membership, and build some kind of sponsorship base, and (hopefully) advances in the grant collecting department.

In other tidbits of news:

it's my birthday tomorrow. My wife also celebrates her birthday tomorrow, and as hers will be the start of a new decade (the one I'm approaching the end of) I threw a sizable party for her over the weekend. It was a great party - and we sure enjoy the ease of having larger gatherings in our new, bigger, house!
we have our Da Camera retreat this coming weekend - and it seems a good portion of the choir will not be at rehearsal tonight due to a variety of reasons. Does anyone else find that the rehearsals before and after weekend retreats have poor attendance?
the deck I built last month has passed the county's building inspection with flying colours. I have never been so proud of something that I have built with my own two hands. I used to laugh at a former conducting teacher who after retirement turned to making wood furniture. However, I could see myself doing a lot more of this type of building in my life.
Fall has arrived. It's so windy outside right (gusts of 80K) that I'm not sure at the end of the day, anyone on our street will end up with the same garbage can they put out for collection this morning. I also had to turn the furnace on this morning for a little while for the first time.

Hope you are all enjoying the first week of fall!

Autumn Musings

2009-09-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

It is the day of the Autumnal equinox, and since I'm not busy trying to balance an egg in these perfect conditions, it felt like a good day to blog. (OK, so one year, I fell for this urban myth, and my sister and I balanced an egg on the spring equinox, only to discover later that with enough patience, it can actually be done any day of the year - we still felt pretty proud of ourselves).

It doesn't feel much like spring here in Edmonton. Normally frost would be setting in, and leaves would be blowing around, however we are experiencing abnormally warm temperatures, and with a promised high of +30 (85F) tomorrow, I will be enjoying the last of summer golf in the morning. Fall weather is expected to arrive by next week.

The past weekend was a busy one, spent in the northern Alberta city of Grande Prairie, my first visit to this city since I moved to Edmonton some twelve years ago. The purpose of the visit was to be part of a mentoring program for a vibrant male choir program in that city. The Grande Prairie Boys' Choir, an organization of five choirs, from the youngest singer through to first year college students, invited the men of Pro Coro Canada to spend the weekend rehearsing and performing with their high school and higher aged boys whose voices have changed, or are changing. A great opportunity for the young men to see where their future might take them - but also a fantastic opportunity for the men of Pro Coro Canada to see this incredible program - which currently has no equal in Alberta, in my opinion. I've written about the benefits of gender segregation in the high school and middle school aged choirs before, both in this forum, and in my Master's and Doctoral papers - and this program proves once again to me that it WORKS! In fact, the high school aged boys' choir, known as "The Men of Note" started because, as the webpage says, "the boys just kept coming back year after year!" (follow the tag "Boys Choirs" in my blog if you want to read more thoughts on the subject of choir segregation and voice changing).

To learn more about the Grande Prairie Boys' Choir - please do visit their webpage and browse around!

In another Public Service Announcement, don't forget to start buying your supplies to celebrate Michaelmas next week!

On the music stand

2009-09-09T07:24:00.001-07:00

On the music stand this month with Da Camera is a copy of Bach's Motet "Jesu Meine Freude". It will be a bit of a challenge putting it together, along with a full program of Mendelssohn for November 1st, but it will be a rewarding one for the choir. As far as I know - the first Motet we've tackled, certainly the first one since I've been with them.

I was doing a little web search for some links to give to the choir as a practice resource, and found this one - which is just astounding!

Enjoy!

Evensong in the paper!

2009-09-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

This is a repost of my blog entry today on ChoralBlog. Enjoy!

As an Anglican church musician - who loves the office of Evensong - this article from the Victoria Times Colonist caught my eye.

Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria managed to get their evensong services previewed as a "concert" in the local paper. An interesting concept I thought. Previewing what is a religious service as something that might interest classical music lovers with no religious affiliation. Both evangalism and concert promotion tied up in one!

They do have a point though. The office of Evensong does provide some of the best opportunity to showcase the music of England, from the Tudor tradition through to the 20th century. There are countless settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis that have found their way into standard concert repetoire that perhaps showing where they belong would be interesting to non-Anglicans. The service, in case you've never experinced its beauty, is pretty much wall to wall music, interspersed with readings and prayers. But mostly, just music!

A few years ago, I took a choir to Scotland and England, and we were to perform evensong at Beverly Minster while on tour. I decided that we would hold a pre-tour concert, which would begin with the service of evensong, in the setting of the Anglican church I work at. I was deeply surprised, and frightened, when I found out that the church was packed with people. Especially as many figured they were at a choral concert (I had failed to mention in the concert promotion that it would be Evensong, followed by a short concert), and they didn't realize that they were about to be subjected to a full choral evensong service, complete with sermon! To my delight, everyone enjoyed it immensely, and no one was put off by all those English prayers to the Queen!

We weren't trying to be evangelistic - all we wanted was a chance to run a real evensong before we got to England, so I could prepare the non-Anglicans in my choir what they should expect. Turns out, it was a great concert opportunity - and very well received by all.

So if you are in the Victoria area, Sunday's at 4:30 - consider stopping in. I should also add that if you are in England, and would rather not pay the few pounds to see Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's, show up in time for Evensong, see the building for free, and witness what is one of the most incredible and beautiful choral traditions of the Church of England.

Back to the grind

2009-08-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long pause in posts.

I was busy turning this:

into THIS:

Regular blogging both here and on Choralnet to continue today, as I continue to mark a few history exams for the Conservatory, finish preparing a course outline, and finalizing repertoire for November 1st.

Music for the road

2009-08-10T05:59:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend, my wife and I went on a short road trip - well, short only in the fact that we left on Thursday evening, and returned on Saturday evening. We did cover 1,240 KM (770 miles) and sat in a car for 14 hours of the 50 hour trip. The trip was a family reunion of sorts in Humboldt Saskatchewan - and it was well worth the drive to see family that I don't see very often, and it is always a great excuse to visit my parents.

The prairie skies didn't disappoint, with a beautiful array of storm clouds, with full double rainbows. The landscape was rolling green with the occasional huge field of bright yellow canola. The kind of yellow you would otherwise only see on paintings (just think of all the biodiesel possibilities!) Our view at times was not unlike this photo (including the vast gray skies, with breaks of sunlight):

Whoever says that driving through the prairies is boring, needs to develop a new understanding of what beauty actually is.

The music was the important part of this trip.

It was all Bach in one direction:

Edmonton Alberta through to Vermillion: Angela Hewitt - Bach Arrangements
Vermillion through to Lloydminster: Angela Hewitt - Well Tempered Clavier Book I #1-12

(Stayed the night - the cross the Alberta Saskatchewan Border)

Lloydminster to North Battleford: WTC Book I#13-24, WTC Book II #1-4

(filled up the tank)

North Battleford to Saskatoon: WTC Book II #5-24
Saskatoon to Humboldt: Jordi Savall - The Muiscal Offering (up to the 2nd movement of the Trio Sonata)

On the way home, a bit more of a mixed bag:

Humboldt to Saskatoon: Jordi Savall - The Musical Offering (finish) and Bach's Whitsunday Cantatas (Gardiner).

(filled up the tank)

Saskatoon to North Battleford: continuation of Bach's Whitsunday Cantatas, and Holst's: Planets
North Battleford to Lloydminster: Liszt piano concertos and Mozart concerto for two pianos.

(Stop for dinner then cross the Saskatchewan Alberta border)

Lloydminster to Edmonton: (well, Sherwood Park): Messiah (Paul McCreesh). Although, we had to cut from the B section of Sound the Trumpet to Worthy is the Lamb to make it all fit. We did sing every chorus though.

What do you listen to when you are on the long drive?

Stringing together a living in Music

2009-08-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Not sure how August has crept up so fast, but now that it is here, it is time to start the prep work for the season ahead.

In many ways, my year ahead is a bit lighter, I switch from interim director of Richard Eaton Singers back to my role of Associate Conductor. Mostly, I'll be singing with my friends in the 1st tenor section, running a few sectionals, and occasionally a full rehearsal in Len's absence. But otherwise, it's back to being a chorister, something I didn't do much of last year, so I am looking forward to it!

Da Camera has a busy schedule this year to make up for that. We have our regular three concert season, as well as a guest appearance with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble in December, and then two mini trips within the prairies. One to Calgary, and the other as a participating choir at Podium 2010 in Saskatoon. Both the Calgary and Saskatoon trips will be with Spiritus Chamber Choir from Calgary, and both choirs are looking forward to that a great deal!

Unfortunately, do to a variety of circumstances, mostly returning staff members from sabbaticals and other administrative leaves, there is no teaching for me at the University of Alberta this year. This is sad for me, as I've been hired as a contract teacher now for eleven years in a row. I just hope that I'll be able to work my way back in again next year. It is always a challenge to get contract teaching work - and very unpredictable. I was however offered two courses to teach at Concordia University College School of Music - so it does fill that void.

I also still have my most wonderful church position at Holy Trinity Anglican Church - which in many ways is my most stable and important job I have.

This year, in collaboration with an excellent soprano friend, we are combining forces to begin what we hope will be a long standing professional organization designed to bring in world class local and choristers to produce and perform selected choral projects. The projects will range from early music ensembles of one to a part, to larger scale choral projects with chamber orchestra. In this the pilot year of the project, we are planning two concerts, one of relatively under performed English renaissance composers, Like William Mundy, and newer compositions, and the other an all Schütz program, with up to sixteen singers and a theorbist from the Early Music Institute of the University of Indiana. I'm very excited to get this ball rolling, as there is currently a void in our choral market on this type of specialized ensemble. More on this project in a later post.

So, I'll enjoy a bit more golf in the last month of summer, but the spare time will be devoted to preparing course outlines, rehearsal schedules, finalizing repertoire, and securing musicians for both Da Camera, and the soon to be named project ensembles.

Hope your final month of summer and preparation goes well, and you are rested and invigorated to begin the fall season with a fresh outlook!

Oh, Edmonton

2009-07-24T20:46:00.001-07:00

Remember in February when it was -40 (see bottom of that post)

Hard to believe this is the same city in July eh?

14 day forecast shows no break from this either, hot and dry. Oh well, guess I'll have to make sure the tee times are early in the morning to take advantage of the cooler air!

Keep in mind, my southern friends, that here, air conditioning in your home is considered a luxury, not a necessity. And we do not have that luxury. So we are trying to find a way to sleep in this heat! It is 10 PM now, and still 80 degrees.

Trying to be Organ-ized

2009-07-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Having been an organist for various Anglican churches for about twenty-five years now, including an early stint as a Cathedral Organ Scholar back in Ottawa, I don't stress out too much about playing services. So when I was asked to play at Edmonton's Cathedral in the organist's absence this summer during my holidays, I figured we could use the extra money, so a little double dipping would be welcome right now. Plus, it's only once a week, I won't need to practice, and I just have to get to the church by 9:00 AM, and after two services, I'd be done by 12:30. Not bad.

I've come to realize that my laissez-faire approach to playing the organ can be a fault. Generally, I'm pretty organized at the console, I make sure I go though the order of service carefully, highlight all the places I need to be ready to give a note, play a hymn, a response, do liturgical dance and the like. So I did this at around 9 AM, before the start of the 9:15 service. I took both the 9:15 and the 11:00 bulletins and circled anything that I needed to be ready for. Then I opened the hymnal to the first hymn, picked an alternative harmonization for the last verse, laid it all out on the console, behind that was the Gloria, ready to go quickly after the first hymn. Still five minutes to go, and I had everything ready to go.

Timeline of 9:14.00 to 9:15.00:

9:14.00 "I'm a good organist, I don't need to prepare for this or practice - it's like falling off a log - so nice to be so organized!"

9:14.25 looks over at the bulletin, and notice I have the wrong one on the console, this one says 11:00 - but this it the 9:15 service!

9:14.20 switches the hymn to the right one for the 9:15 service. Phew, that was close. I guess that was my close call of the morning.

9:14.30 one last glance at the bulletin. "Hymn 440" (check) "to the tune of Hymn 3"

9:14.35 "Gasp!" Flips to hymn 3. Heart rate increases significantly, I'm unable to blink my eyes.

9:14.37 "What? This hymn has FIVE FLATS - who writes hymns in FIVE FLATS"

9:14.40 "Maybe I could transpose it at sight to two sharps? Are there any accidentals that will throw me off? - Yes - at least two C-flats that would have to be changed to C-naturals, and one F-flat that would have to be switched to F-natural - I could do that"

9:14.45 voice from off the sacristy door - it is the curate saying "GO! - START"

9:14:50 "What am I doing here, I'm a conductor, not an organist? Who gave me the right to be a Cathedral organist again?"

9:14.51 "Do I have the right stops pulled? Am I going to play this in D-flat major or D major? What happens after the hymn?"

9:14.52 "Shit - I have the wrong Gloria open behind this hymn, and it's the one I've never played before."

9:14.53 "Wait a minute - how many verses does this hymn have - I've switched the page to the hymn tune, but I don't have the actual verses in front of me anymore. What was the number of the actual hymn again?"

9:14.54 "OK - I'm going to start - just play it in D-flat as written, stay focused, hopefully the deacon will close her book before the last line of the hymn letting me know it is over"

9:14:55 "GO! NOW!"

9:14:56 "My bench - it feels too far forward - the swell pedal feels too close - I wonder if the reeds are in tune"

9:14.57 "Why am I'm shaking? I really shouldn't drink coffee before church - will all those 16' foot pedal stops balance the swell flutes?"

9:14.58 "WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU"

9:15.00 "push fingers and feet down - hope for the best".

I'm happy to say, I pressed the right keys, for the most part, and everything after that went smoothly, no one was the wiser. I was however on edge for the next three and a half hours convinced that I was going to make some colossal blunder, but never did.

Next week, I think I'll get there just a bit earlier, hide the 11:00 bulletin until 10:45, and toss the 9:15 bulletin right after the 9:15 service.

At the 11:00 service, I played Bach's Prelude and Fugue in e minor ("The Cathedral") as a postlude. A well respected retired professor emeritus from the University's Music Department was there and spoke to me afterward and said "That wasn't a very good piece of music, who wrote that". I said "Oh, some guy named J.S. Bach", she said "No way, must have been W.F Bach". My wife's family and I laughed about it over lunch, at which point we realized I should have said "WTF Bach". My, we've come a long way since PDQ.

Editing the holidays

2009-07-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

There are two good reasons that it's been eleven days since I've last posted.

The biggest reason is that we've spent the better part of the last week moving into our new house, and getting used to our new surroundings. In brief, we love the house, and the neighbourhood. There are still a few rooms that need attention, but for the most part, we are now very much in livable conditions, and the cats seem to be adjusting to the change. The second reason I've been so blog quiet is that we are on Holidays! So when we aren't unpacking boxes, we are playing golf. Edmonton's weather is such that if you don't enjoy the Summer when it is here - it will pass you by.

I'm not taking a complete holiday this Summer, as I have about a half-dozen weddings to play, and I'm subbing in as organist at the Cathedral for the next three weekends as well. I will, however, take two Sundays off in August.

My other departure from my holidays began last night, with the start of the final editing process of Da Camera's CD project, which we recorded live in concert, and followed up with two recording sessions last March, and is set to be released in mid-September, at the start of our season.

I've been away from this recording now for about three months, and it was a refreshing exercise last night to bring out the first draft of the CD for a critical listen. I do think it is going to be a fine product when it is completed. A few of the problems that I remember from three months ago are indeed still there, but I think in general there are fewer places that need attention than I remember.

I'm trying to decide if that is a good thing or not.

I think the danger in doing your edits so close after the recording session is being so focused on minute details, which in the long run probably aren't as noticeable as you think they are, that you sacrifice the balance of accuracy with the excitement of sound. After all, this is being billed as a live recording, so the acceptance of the odd misplaced consonant, or cough from the audience could be let slipped if the take has the adrenaline of a live performance, which is hard to get in a stale recording session environment. This is, at least, what I noticed last night. There are many fine things in this recording - energy and presence that I think are lacking in many studio-type recordings that I've done.

As an artistic director, working on a recording is probably one of the most excruciating processes around. We are our own worst critics, and this is most noticeable to me in the editing room. I tend not to listen to my own live concert recordings, except when necessary for job applications, grant applications and etc. I like to live with notion that the concert was as good as my audience's reaction. If I listen to the recording, I quickly become critical of the concert and lose the emotional high that I had immediately following the event. Is this a healthy process? I suppose it is one of the only ways we can improve, so it is a necessary evil indeed.

Well, that's what I'm up to this week. What musical projects are you involved in this Summer?

Two years ago

2009-07-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, my Love!

Today's Schedule

2009-07-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

Here's what happened today:

6:30 - Wake Up
7:30 - Tee time with my wife and a fellow choral conductor and his father-in-law.
7:30 - 11:30 Golf. Highlight's included:

Watching my wife out drive all of us on three occasions.
I shot an 84, one of the best rounds of the year for me

1:45 - took possession of the NEW HOUSE!

All in all, a fantastic day! Looking forward to tomorrow when we go back to the house (which is a one hour round trip), continue cleaning, thinking about where we are going to put our furniture, which cabinets will hold which dishes, and which walls will get repainted.

Official move-in day is July 11th. Lots of packing to do!

Happy July 4th to all my southern friends!

In Memoria

2009-06-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Before he was King of Pop, he was King of Soul.

The man who changed the face of music and dance.
An advocate for the elimination of poverty and hunger, and truly believed that music could bring peace.

From Behind the Music Examiner's Desk

2009-06-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Over the past twenty days, I have flown on seven flight legs, rented three different cars, stayed in four different hotels and have traveled approximately 9,000 KM in various form of transportation. I've also listened to nearly one hundred student music exams, mostly in piano, a couple of dozen in voice, and three violin, from grade one through to diploma granting exams.

As an examiner for Conservatory Canada, I am very fortunate to experience this type of work travel opportunity sometimes twice a year, but the spring sessions do tend to be the longest. For the most part my day looks something like this.

7:00 AM Wake up call
8:00 AM Leave the Hotel (check out if needed)
8:20 AM Find the closest Tim Horton's, get breakfast and an extra large double cream
9:00 AM begin examining
12:00 AM Lunch
1:30 PM continue examining
5:00 PM clean up and either continue back to the hotel, or begin the trip to the next destination

This spring session took me to Ottawa Ontario from June 1st until the 6th, Edmonton AB for June 14th, Nanaimo BC for June 15th and 16th, Victoria BC for June 17th, and Vancouver BC for the 18th and 19th.

Ottawa was great - and fantastic opportunity to visit my family. However, I do want to point out a few of the visual highlights the BC portion of my trip. One of the nice things about examining for the "smaller" music examining board in Canada, is the opportunity to see smaller venues, and meet interesting people along the way.

I had the afternoon off after my arrival in Nanaimo, and was able see a bit of the city, and spend some time with family that I don't see very often. We spent the evening together, enjoying a BBQ out on their deck overlooking some of the beautiful Vancouver Island mountain scenery. The next day I was able to spend with an old high school friend, who I also haven't seen in about eleven years. Their three month old baby boy provided much of the entertainment for this visit. After a short examining afternoon, we were able to meet up again and head to the harbour and catch a short ferry ride to Protection Island for dinner.

The next day was a full day examining in Nanaimo. The venue for my Nanaimo exams was a private studio, which was built by the piano teacher, who also has an degree in architecture. The house is situated on a 20 acre lot, where the Nanaimo river runs through the middle of the property. The views from the back of the house through the river were amazing, as seen from the picture on the left here. The host was most gracious, feeding me lunch and offering me a glass of very fine California Red Zinfandel after my sessions were over, which we enjoyed from those two chairs overlooking the river. She mentioned feeling a little secluded and not able to chat with a lot of local musicians, so we had a nice late afternoon talking about music, the environment, and her two beautiful dogs.

I examined her entire piano studio while I was there, and she had quite a few young talented pianists, and is obviously doing some very good work for her community in the piano instruction department. Probably the most prepared lot of students I heard through the entire spring session for me.

After our glass of wine, I headed down the Trans Canada Highway, through Duncan (passing by about twelve local wineries!), up a small mountain pass and into Victoria, where I found my way to my next hotel. Speaking of Vancouver Island hotels, they are the only hotels I've ever stayed that offer complimentary water bottles and oatmeal raisin cookies. Victoria also offered me a private home/music school where I heard a variety of higher level piano exams and three violin exams. Again, the gracious hosts of the school made me a hot lunch and provided very lovely conversation. Examining can be quite lonely, so this type of interaction is always very welcome. I ran a little late at this session, and had to go directly from the house to the airport for my thirteen minute flight, 3,000 feet above the gulf back to Vancouver. Which, if it's a beautiful sunny day as it was - I highly recommend you do some day. Absolutely gorgeous!

After another long day examining in Vancouver, ending with a diploma voice exam, I headed back to the hotel, enjoying some famous Vancouver Sushi. Then I was up early, driving in my Toyota Camry Hybrid (a great car!) back to the airport, and home to Edmonton, where we are now packing up the house getting ready to take possession of our new home in less than two weeks!

Moving on up ...

2009-06-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

My I present:

Our new house!

We are excited beyond words.

Examining trip one complete

2009-06-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've just reached the conclusion of my examining trip to Ottawa.

I've heard approximately fifty pianists and singers of all levels and ages.

Two casual observations about my week:

Examining with my laptop in front of me has proven to completely solve any issues of tendinitis from writting out examination reports by hand. The other plus side to this is students will get a legible account of their exam, and I was able to stay on time, or even ahead of schedule for the most part.
Why is it that students who tend not to do so well on their pieces, tend to excel at their ear training sight-reading? Is it because they sight-read well enough to think they don't have to practice? That's my guess anyway.

I fly back to Edmonton tonight, with a great amount of excitement. Tomorrow we have the much anticipated royal visit to our church. The Countess Of Wessex, The Princess Edward Sophie, will be on hand to inspect the South Alberta Light Horse, and then worship Morning Prayer at our parish. We have a full lineup of canticles, psalms and I will be precenting the responses. Should be a fun morning!

Then on Monday we do the final inspection on our NEW HOUSE and sign off on all our conditions. Very exciting indeed. After a week at home, I fly to Vancouver for another week of examining. Then once I am home, we have about two weeks to pack up for our move. I get the feeling that the summer is going to go by pretty quickly.

Today I was supposed to play golf on my last day in Ottawa with a good friend. Unfortunately on the way over to my parent's place to pick me up, he was t-boned at an intersection by a driver going the wrong way on a one way street. Luckily, he is OK. Sore, but OK.

Now I am at home finishing up some marking of history exams for the same conservatory that I was examining for - then on to the airport for my flight.

See you on the other side!

End of Concert Season

2009-05-30T10:59:00.001-07:00

That would be a reasonable facsimile of what my piled up tuxedo and fixings might look like after last nights performance. Which was a great success! Choir stayed in tune (which with the level of the heat in the un-airconditioned church, was just short of a miracle), Band was on top of things - and I didn't miss one metre change, of which there were many to miss!

Crowd seemed to enjoy it with a rousing standing O too!

AND - the buyers of our house have just signed off on ALL conditions! So, the house is SOLD! Today, we are going on a marathon of house viewings, our agent has 11 homes to show us - so hopefully one of them will be "the one!"

Off to Ottawa tomorrow night - should be able to blog once in a while while I'm on the road. Perhaps a good examining story or two will come up. the Viva Voce exams always come up with a few good answers. Like this one from last February:

Examiner: "Tell me something about Bach"
Student (while counting points on his fingers): "Well, he was a a guy (one) and he lived way back when (two) and he liked the piano a lot (three!)".

Hope your concerts are winding up, and you can begin to enjoy the Spring and Summer (which for us Edmontonians, is very short, and requires a sense of humour).

Inspecting Bruckner

2009-05-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am sitting on our front porch with my two cats, keeping them out of the way while a home inspector does his job to clean up the one condition on a pending offer on our house (fingers are crossed in the hopes that by the end of the weekend, we'll be actively looking for a new place to live!)

Since I'm being held at bay for the next two and half hours, I figured it would be a good time to begin a blog post about the concert I am doing tonight.

inspector interlude - inspector is talking about our tilty front porch - and describes it as "cool" - which I think is a good thing!

On the program tonight:

"For Music" - Mark Sirett. A Canadian Premiere. Mark currently lives in Kingston, where he was born, but has an Edmonton connection. He studied and taught at the University of Alberta before finishing up his DMA at the University of Iowa. This work was written for the University of Iowa in celebration of their centenary celebrations. So, a Canadian composer's work, which has been performed only once - and not in Canada! Apparently the Iowa performance failed to make an archival recording, so this will also be the first recorded performance of the work. Very exciting!

inspector interlude - a large ladder has been brought out, and the inspector is currently on the roof. I hope he admired the work I did to seal the roof between the house and the attached carriage house.

Second work on the program: "Five Mystical Songs" - Ralph Vaughn Williams. As an Anglican music scholar, I find it difficult to stray far away from this repertoire. This will mark the second time I've conducted it. And learning from previous youthful mistakes - I will not be conducting the last movement "one to a bar". I'm working with local baritone soloist Michael Kurschat, who funnily enough was also the baritone soloist when I last conducted the work about five years ago. We've both grown quite a lot in our musicality and interpretation. Michael and I have been friends for a long time - and it is a pleasure to work with him again.

inspector interlude - buyer overheard saying "I'm not sure if our sectional couch will fit in this living room". I'm not about to go in there and tell him how much trouble we had getting our in there - not to mention the damage to the walls that moving an old upright piano in and back out again did.

The featured work on the program is Bruckner's Mass in E Minor. Scored for wind ensemble and double chorus. I was not familiar with this work until I began to study it for this performance. To be honest, aside from the RVW, I didn't provide much input in the selection of the repertoire for this program. I'm filling in for Leonard Ratzlaff's sabbatical year, and chose much of the program - built around the Bruckner. The Sirett was a perfect fit - it takes care of the Canadian Content that all choirs need here for funding options, and has an orchestration which compliments the Bruckner.

Len's love of Bruckner is no secret - considering the title of his Julius Herford Dissertation Prize winning thesis on Bruckner's Te Deum. The work proved to be a mammoth undertaking. Incredibly challenging for the choir (and conductor). But it has also proved to be very rewarding. There is a lot of exposed unaccompanied choral work, in particular in the Kyrie and Sanctus, which if the choir loses pitch would be disastrous (fff brass entrances would for sure be cringe worthy if the choir had gone astray).

We've had a good week in terms of rehearsals - both an effective orchestra rehearsal on Tuesday and a successful dress rehearsal last night (despite showing up at the church and finding no music stands). The only thing left to do now is to perform - which I'm very much looking forward to doing. Not just because the music is fantastic, and the experience will prove to be very fulfilling. But also because it marks the last performance I have to do for the season.

inspector interlude. Seems to be going very well. Had a nice chat with the buyer - they are buying the house for their daughters to live in while they are going to school. The parents are close to retirment and will be living in their camper for a while, traveling North America. How fun! From all accounts - it seems like a done deal - although I'm keeping my fingers crossed still.

I still have a pretty heavy June ahead with examining trips to Ottawa and southwestern British Columbia. In the middle of that - our church has a royal visit! The countess of Wessex will be visiting our church the morning of June 7th. I fly back from Ottawa late in the evening of June 6th. Wheeee!

Oh, and it seems we have find a new place to live by July 16th!

Fun times ahead!

Tooting my own horn.

2009-05-23T14:42:00.001-07:00

Reprinted below is an article from the Edmonton Journal - outlining my next two weeks of concerts here in Edmonton. Which will also help explain my quietness lately. I hope to be back blogging at full strength here in about a week or so.

The link to the actual article is here.

The article is cut and pasted below, as I'd like to keep it someone for when the online version disappears! (The actual print version included a nice picture of ME!)

Concerts have Brough working double time
Season-enders for Da Camera, Richard Eaton
By Tom Murray, The Edmonton Journal May 22, 2009

It's going to be a busy week for John Brough.
Not that the local music educator, conductor and musician isn't always juggling multiple roles; it's just that with season-ending performances for two organizations to take care of in six days, he's taken on an impressive workload.
"I've got some very able help with both of these concerts," he chuckles over the phone from Holy Trinity Church, where he's subbing for vacationing staff. "I'm able to step in and just do my job because of it. I think that afterwards I'll need some rest. Maybe hit the links."
The golf season beckons, but for now -- music. He'll be sharing duties with conductor Jordan Van Biert on Saturday night for the Da Camera Singers's performance, one that has Brough leading the choir through a take on Josef Rheinberger's impressive Mass in E Flat, known as the Cantus Missae.
"I've sung it before with Len (Ratzlaff) and the Madrigal Singers," he notes. "I guess I was just waiting for an opportunity to conduct it myself."
The Rheinberger piece that Brough enthuses about will be part of a program that includes works by Brahms, Wolf and Schubert.
The Da Camera Singers's season-ender takes place Saturday at 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 10017 109th St. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, available at Tix on the Square or at the door.
Brough won't get much time to relax after the concert. Next Friday, he'll be leading the Richard Eaton Singers on their final outing for the season.
Anton Bruckner's Mass No. 2 gets singled out by Brough as the centrepiece of a program that also features Mark Sirett's For Music, a compendium of poetry by Byron and Shelley set to music by Sirett, as well as Ralph Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs, with baritone Michael Kurschat, pianist Leanne Regehr, and the 17-piece Edmonton Symphony Winds also helping out.
"The (Bruckner) Mass is thick and rich," Brough explains. "It ranks at the height of his compositional powers. The piece is very bold and powerful, and quite beautiful."
In Every Corner Sing takes place Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. at the West End Christian Reformed Church, 10015 149th St. Tickets are $30 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, available at Tix on the Square, 780-420-1757, or at the door.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Victoria Day Weekend!

2009-05-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ah yes - we are just two days away from the most anticipated long weekend on the Canadian Calendar. Victoria Day!

Highlights of past Victoria Day weekends (AKA "The May Long" or in Ontario, the "May Two-Four"- referencing the approximate calendar date with the number of bottles in a case of beer) include:

celebrating the weekend at popular camping destinations in South-Eastern Ontario.
enjoying warm spring days and cool brisk evenings.
enjoying cold beer on the aforementioned warm spring afternoons
taking in the best of the early golf season on the links.
wearing shorts and showing off the pasty white winter legs
enjoying being outside when it's too early for mosquitoes and black flies, and the bees and yellow jackets are too busy with pollinating flowers to worry about bothering us.
it's also the first official weekend of our agricultural growing zone to plant flowers outside without the risk of damaging frost.
Tulips should be fully opened, petunias in near full bloom, green tips on trees begin to expand into full foliage.

Thank you Queen Victoria along with Canada's strong commonwealth traditions for bringing us the long weekend!

One question though:

Can someone explain to me then ... HOW CAN WE DO ANY OF THIS WITH THIS FORECAST??

A quietness in the Blogesphere ...

2009-05-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry my posts have been so very sparse as of late - It is not for lack of material either.

I just finished a two night stint conducting the offstage chorus for an ESO production of Holst's "The Planets" Approximately 30 bars of music at the end of Neptune, where I actually control the entire orchestra, albeit a good 80 feet away from the stage, and no one sees me do it, except for the choir. A fun experience all around - worth a longer blog post - perhaps tomorrow.

I'm also preparing to conduct two concerts in the next few weeks, a royal visit at my church in early June - two cross-Canada examination trips, and have already started the beginning of golf season (I played 18 holes in the cold in about two and a half hours last Wednesday morning, and haven't been able to even walk properly since. I did break 90 though!)

The reason I've been so quiet as of late though is because we've been getting ready to sell this. It's a great little house - and we will miss it terribly - but no room in it for my grand piano! We had four showings this weekend - so our hopes are running a bit high right now - however, I'm certain it's going to be a long process.

More blog posts here and on ChoralBlog this week - I promise! Mainly because my back is just too darn sore to play golf for a few days yet - and the weather for this week looks ... well ... shitty ... for golf anyway. I do think it's perfect for people to come and look at our house though!

Putting a Mark on Conducting

2009-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I learned while visiting Oklahoma last March is that American and Canadian educators use different terminology when evaluating student assignments. American teachers will "grade" assignment, whereas we tend to "mark" assignments. Both seem to be interchangeable though, I make no excuse for using both of them in this post.

One thing I have continually struggled with in practical courses, is the idea of subjective marking. It's nothing new - from a young age, musicians are faced with the idea of subjective marking. I think in my first Kiwanis Music Festival Class, at 8 years old, I received an 84% for my performance, and from that moment, straight through to my last jury at University, I have received marks for my progress which seem to have no basis except one of the personal evaluation of the jury, examiner(s), or adjudicator(s). And now, for the past ten years or so, I have been giving marks at music festivals, on music exams, and in University courses based on the same subjective reasoning.

I've experimented with all sorts of formats, which have included giving specific marks for specific tasks. For example - 10 marks for all the cues and releases, loosing one mark, or a partial mark for missed or unclear direction, 20 marks for conducting patterns, 20 for left hand usage, and then 50 marks for interpretation, and musical direction. After adding them all up, I found myself toying with the individual task marks to end up with a percentage that I was happy with, and quickly just reverted to assigning a mark out of 100, based on my subjective observations. I certainly know that I've had teachers who must have incredible systems of marking exams (I once received a mark, which was out of 10, of 8.275!) What astounds me about it is that I've never been questioned or challenged on a subjective grade since I've been giving grades for conducting courses. Perhaps to me, the grade itself is less important than the comments that go with them, and giving solutions for the problems - which is probably why the grading itself stresses me out.

I've mentioned briefly in the past about the uncomfortable feelings I get at conducting competitions, whether as an observer or participant. I'm quite happy now to be at an age where I am rarely eligible to be a candidate in a conducting competition. While in Oklahoma at the ACDA National convention, I decided to go to the student conducting competition semi-finals and finals, and immediately I felt the desire to "get out of there as fast as I could", yet always stayed. Each conductor received ten minutes to rehearse two pieces with a choir they have never worked with before, excellent choirs I might add - who were all very responsive. However, I felt that the challenge was less about showing how well you could conduct, but how well you could rehearse. Which, ok, arguably might be more important than the later. Or is it?

What is a conducting competition then? A rehearsal competition? A technique competition? Both? What is it that a conductor can do in ten minutes that doesn't look completely planned and rehearsed ahead of time? And how can you plan to rehearse part of a piece of music with a choir who will likely know the piece backwards and forwards before you get to them? How much can you concentrate on conducting when you know there are hundreds of people watching you, and not in the good "watching the conductor" kind of way that we are always after our choristers about, but the kind of watching where they are dissecting every gesture you make, and ever observation you make? How can you best prepare for a conducting competition of ten minutes?

I love to rehearse with my choirs - and it is something I feel no shame in saying that I do quite well. I enjoy the entire process, but for me, the process is one that begins on day one, and continues to the concert itself. Not ten minutes. Also, the rehearsal process, which yes, I do plan ahead of time, but is largely flexible on the basis that what I hear in rehearsal must be corrected at the time it is heard. Too often in these conducting competitions, candidates go through their ten minute plan, but never stray away from the plan to fix a problem on the fly. (I was happy to see that the student who won the advanced class did indeed attempt to fix things that her ears observed).

I'd be very interested to hear your comments on both subjective marking in music, and conducting competitions!

In the mean time - Happy Stary Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!)

Conducting Course Ideas

2009-04-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been teaching various levels of conducting now for about ten years at the University of Alberta, both introductory classes and specialized classes in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy.

Over the years, I have experimented with all sorts of course outlines, written assignments, and conducting repertoire ideas, especially for the Advanced Choral Conducting and Pedagogy class.

First I'll deal with repertoire ideas. I try as best as I can to go through as many style periods as I can, however, with only time for about four conducting tests, and really only enough time to see each individual student twice before each test, I have to be selective here. The format I've used recently is Classical, German Romantic, English Renaissance, and Modern. And yes, in that order. We are thinking progressive difficulty here, and I feel starting with Renaissance is asking too much of the students, as it is, in my opinion, often as difficult to conduct as much of the modern repertoire out there. Classical will focus on a review conducting technique, basic patterns, releases, cues, and formal structure; German Romantic to develop a sense of rubato musicality, and artistic expression; Renaissance to deal with polyphonic structures, individual voice lines, word painting, conducting the music beyond the imaginary bar lines (i.e. breaking free of beat patterns); and modern mainly to deal with mixed metres, and hybrid metres.

The choice of the repertoire will depend much on the size and makeup of the class. For example, this semester I had eighteen students, sixteen sopranos and altos and two basses. Hardly a balanced choir! Luckily a few of my alto women were quite comfortable singing tenor, so in the end, it worked out OK, but in past years I've had as few as eight students, and as many as twenty-one. However, the twentieth century example - the opening movement of Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb" will always be my go to test piece!

As far as written work for the course is concerned, I've found in recent years that many of the written assignments I've given are assignments that the students have already done in previous conducting courses. All of the students have taken one conducting course, and many of them as many as three other conducting courses before they get to my choral conducting class. So to make them sit in and critique a rehearsal or develop a single concert program again seemed silly. Likewise an intensive score analysis project will have also been asked of the majority of them already.

This year, I completely redesigned my outline, and I'm happy to share it with you all here, as I felt it was quite successful, and the feedback from the students was also supportive of the same (I've cut down the verbose nature of the outline for the purposes of re-posting it here):

Unit I – The Choral Warm-up and Basic Review of Conducting Gestures

Class discussion and written assignment:
A selection of readings along with a written assignment will be given on the topic of choral warm-ups.

Conducting Assignment
Repertoire of the Classical Era will be studied – focusing on the review of basic conducting gestures.

Unit II (25%) – Creative Programming and Conducting Early Music

Class discussion and written assignment:
A selection of readings along with a written assignment will be given on the topic of programming.

Conducting Assignment
German Romantic Repertoire of the will be studied – focusing musical phrasing, rubato and expressive gestures.

READING WEEK

Unit III (25%) – The Choral Rehearsal and Conducting Chant and Recitative, and the Renaissance Madrigal

Class discussion and written assignment:
A selection of readings along with a written assignment will be given on the topic of the choral rehearsal.

Conducting Assignment
Conducting different types of chant, recitative and the Renaissance madrigal will be the focus of our conducting assignment this unit.

Unit IV (25%) – Choir Management and Conducting 20th century music

Class discussion and written assignment:
A selection of readings along with a written assignment will be given on the topic of choir management – a guest speaker will also be welcomed to the class.

Conducting Assignment
Repertoire of the 20th century will be introduced – focusing on changing metres and challenging tonal languages.

The basic idea of the written assignments were (again, shortened only here to prevent the blog post from going too long):

Warm-up assignment: Give examples of four contrasting warm-up exercises. Two of a physical nature, and two of a vocal nature. Students agreed to share their assignments with the rest of the class, giving each student a "book" of warm-ups to take with them.

Creative Programming Assignment - Students were to seek out existing programs, either from our library of choral concert at the University, or only internet, and critque the programming choices of the artistic director. Comment on the sequence of pieces, composers, thematic structure and other observations as they see fit. Students were encouraged to listen to the concert, if the recording was available, or even GO to a live concert to get the overall impression of the concert, concentrating on programming choices. As we are a University that supports graduate choral conducting students, an opportunity to see a grad student recital was encouraged, as their programs tended to be quite diverse - and allowed for multiple works to be seen in a programming context.

Choral Rehearsal Assignment - this was a two part assignment, both practical and written. Students had to prepare a work to conduct for the class (the Renaissance madrigal was their repertoire choice slated for this unit, so it was used as their piece - they had freedom of choice from a list I created for them). A rehearsal "plan" covering 10 weeks of rehearsals was to be laid out, with very detailed plans for the first 3 weeks of rehearsals. Then the practical assignment was, naturally, to "rehearse" the class for one 10 minute rehearsal each.

Choir Management Assignment - (I have to thank my business manager (aka - Mrs. Brough for this one). Students were to prepare a three part assignment. First part was to prepare a budget for a concert of Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb" (their conducting assignment for this unit), including all details of venue, soloists, organists ... flowers ... you name it. They had to be "real costs". For example, talk to organists in the city and ask what they would charge - or call venues to find booking costs. The second part was to create a marketing plan, within the constraints of their budget, and the third part was to write a press release for the concert. This was a GREAT assignment. There was so much great creativity from the students on this one. I also had great support from the community, who gladly gave the students the information they needed to to this assignment.

In my next post, I address the challenges of grading students in a course - in particular the grades given for practical assignments. The stress the students feel conducting a short excerpt of music for "do or die" marks, and how I went about reassuring them that their marks wouldn't be solely based on one and a half minutes of conducting!

ChoralBlog has moved!

2009-04-24T07:54:00.001-07:00

As many of my readers are also Choral Blog readers - you might have noticed in your feed readers that there has been a lull in posts from the old ChoralBlog site, and in fact, if you go to the blog itself, you'll find the link may be broken.

That is because it has MOVED

Update your readers!

While you are there, you might like to check out the the Choralnet 2.0 Webpage and services. Things like the old Choralist, Choraltalk and other email listserves are now set up as online forums Everything you need in one place (although, you can still receive email updates).

Register today ... it's free!

For some great video help with the new choralnet, Philip Copeland has created a video which you may find helpful. It is found on his UAB Choirs blog.

A Miscellaneous Easter Monday

2009-04-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

I have been a rather neglectful blogger as of late.

Here are my excuses:

From Thursday night to Sunday afternoon, I have played, conducted and sung at five church services. Which included everything from Mozart's "De Profundis" motet to Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus, two trumpets and anywhere from 10 to 30 choristers depending on the service. It was glorious and rewarding, but tiring.
I have approximately 200 assignments to mark (US = "Grade") from my two courses at U of A, and one final exam to set.
I have a board meeting tomorrow night, and a budget meeting on Saturday, where I have to present my season for 09/10 and all expenses involved.
My wife and I are currently preparing to sell our house, which includes a list of painting, repairing and various cleaning activities. (Today, our black cat, Sarah, walked through the white paint tray. Paw prints through on the hardwood and coffee table had to be cleaned). She still has white highlights in her fur. I kind of wish I had a picture to show you. It's actually quite funny now - not so much earlier.
Golf season is quickly approaching. Mild weather lately has melted what is left of all the snow we have, and the grass is turning to the greener colour needed. Windows have been opened, sunroof has also been slid back. The driving range nearest to our home opened last Friday! However, the forecast for tonight and tomorrow is SNOW (10-20 centimeters is predicted). Oh well, the clubs are still in the basement for now. Probably a good thing though (see point two and three).

I Hope the Easter season has treated you all well - I promise a more fruitful output of posts in the next few days - both here, and on the new ChoralBlog (more on that later).

Blogging topics in the back of mind that you might look forward to:

The much anticipated blog about conducting competitions, and the challenge of grading conducting assignments in the college and university environment.
a new approach to marketing concerts, with ... beer.
my obsession with American Idol this year (have you heard Adam Lambert? My predicition - the most famous person to ever come out of the American Idol camp - even if he doesn't win - which would be an incredible failure on the part of the American viewers)

Springing out of action

2009-04-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

It seems the plague of early spring and post midterm concerts is rampant in these parts! Both my community choirs have seen a decline in attendance of up to 25% in the last three weeks since our last concerts.

The spring cold and flu season aside, it seems that with the snow FINALLY melting, and the sun shining later into the evening, the last thing people want to do is come to choir practice. The problem is, we have concerts left to do - BIG concerts left to come. Including an all German rep with Da Camera, including Brahms' Zigeunderlieder Op. 103 and Rheinberger's Cantus Missae for Double choir, and RES is putting on Bruckner's massive Mass No. 2 in e minor. All this needs to be rehearsed and performed by the end of May. I'm seriously considering ways of ending the choral season in early April for now on.

Anyone having attendance problems at this time of year?

In other news, my church choir is gearing up for the Triduum this weekend. We kicked off Holy Week in style on Palm Sunday with a service of nearly two hours, in which we sang the Allegri Miserere during communion. I was all proud and happy about that, (and just to toot my own horn, we did a fantastic job of it). And then I read Peter Phillips' article in The Spectator, where he tells the world that we probably shouldn't ever attempt it. Wasn't it Phillips who made the Miserere famous by recording it with the Tallis Scholars?

Tomorrow is the last day of classes at the University. Ask me if I'm happy!

Where are my golf clubs?

Twitterific!

2009-03-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Excuse the completely non-choral-related blog post. But in the last few days I've been thinking a lot about the power technology in my daily life.

First up - Twitter.

I've had a Twitter account now since the fall, and after a few hours of "huh?" I rarely went back to look at it again. Once in a while posting a "tweet" here and there, and reading the odd tweet from others.

Well, in the last 24 hours I have become a complete convert to Twitter, and have discovered all sorts of twitter-fun. I won't go into detail, but perhaps you should look up twitterfon, twitterfox, twittervision, hashtags, and all your favourite celebrities from the NBC Show "The Office", or the PGA tour, or whatever else you like. I now can't seem to stop Tweeting. I had actually wondered if people who twitter should be called "Twits" but apparently, they are just "Tweeple".

Second up - Quantum Computers.

I was listening to the local CBC One yesterday afternoon (because I can no longer listen to the national CBC Two anymore) and there was an interview with a computer scientist who said that the next step in computers will see a progress which is without precedent. Apparently, the speed, memory, and storage capacity of the computers of the future will make the new MacBook I own look like my 1200 baud modem I had bought for my Commodore 64 back in the early 1980s. One example he gave was that the new Quantum Computers will be able to do a mathematical calculation in a few seconds, which would take today's fastest computer months.

I wonder though, in the future, will people be able to manipulate computers as easily as the FBI agents can in the TV show "24"?

Yesterday, my cell phone went through the wash, and the power cord to my computer was left in my studio at the University.

I felt alone.

Home again, Home again ...

2009-03-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

After a whirlwind trip home to Ottawa to be named Godfather for the third time, I'm back in Edmonton for the foreseeable future.

Just thought I'd post a quick little announcement that I've been invited on as a contributor to ChoarlNet's ChoralBlog! I encourage you to add it to your feed reader!

I'm looking forward to posting regularly over there, but not to worry faithful readers, I'll still be quite active in this window as well, posting thoughts and observations from the life and times of a freelance conductor and teacher!

... Jiggidy jig!

What kind of music do you do?

2009-03-19T09:10:00.001-07:00

I received a phone call early in the afternoon yesterday inquiring about an audition for Da Camera Singers. Although we do schedule regular auditions in late August, I'm always open to taking auditions any time of year for future consideration, and as we have just finished a concert and CD recording sessions, now is as good a time as any to consider listening to potential voices.

It became apparent early in the conversation that the caller didn't know much about our choir, so I gave the usual run down of of the choir. "We are a 35 voice auditioned community choir, rehearse Monday evenings, perform three concerts per year of our own, and usually one or two concerts as part of another organization, like Alberta Baroque Ensemble, or The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

Then comes question, "What kind of music do you do?"

As quickly as the question was asked, the answer came out of my mouth, "Classical."

Really John? "Classical?" Is that the best you could come up with? Have you really succumbed to the notion that anything that isn't from a Broadway musical, Canadian folksong arrangement, or choral arrangements of Simon and Garfunkel is "Classical?" Are you not the same person who spend the better part of a week relabeling the "genre" category of nearly 4,000 "songs" on his iTunes list from "classical" to something more specific?

Next time the question is asked?

Q. "What kind of music do you do?"

A. "Good music"

O Crux - Knut Nystedt

2009-03-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

I decided it was just about time that I start putting up the odd Da Camera video on YouTube. Unfortunately, all the video I have is pointed right at me, as I've mainly archived video footage for audition requirements, however, I thought I would put a few up anyway.

So, here is me - and Da Camera Singers performing Knut Nystedt's "O Crux" last November.

I even managed to figure out how to sync the video with the archive recording, so you don't just hear whoever was singing beside the camera.

If you redirect yourself to YouTube, I put a couple of Michael Haydn excerpts up from about three years ago as well.

Welcome Home!!

2009-03-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is how my city has welcomed me home:

For my friends south of the border, that translates to:

ACDA - Oklahoma Final Day

2009-03-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

The effects of the end of the conference has caused time to skip forward, and the earth to shake. Well, Ok the time skipping forward was due to Daylight savings time, and at about 8:06 CDT this morning a small earthquake shook the east side of Oklahoma City, jolting a few of us out of our sleep. Perhaps neither of these two events had anything to do with the closing of the ACDA conference, but they did seem to put an exclamation point on what was an excellent conference.

I'll have to admit that on the last day I didn't take in as much as I did the first three days, mainly do to fatigue and "conference burn out", but the events I did take in continued to amaze and inspire.

I am looking forward to going home now (aside from the predicted cold weather and near 2 feet of snow we've had over the last week), as I have a fair bit of work to do in the coming week in preparation for Da Camera's concert and recording session this weekend, I'm also WAY behind in marking (oh - that's what our southern neighbours call "grading" by the way - I had no idea there was difference!)

Hats off to ACDA and the City of Oklahoma for this event. All the concerts where top drawer material, sessions informative, and venues excellent. The shuttle service was incredible, exhibit hall was fantastic, and scheduling excellent. I also had the chance to connect with old friends, and meet new people along the way. It was great to be able to travel with my former supervisor, as I was introduced to many people in the world-wide choral community to whom I'll likely keep in close contact with.

Farewell Oklahoma - Looking forward to Chicago 2011!

ACDA - Oklahoma Day III

2009-03-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'm going to keep this brief, as I have to admit that I've had my share of Cab. Sauv. this evening at the Canadian Reception.

Lecture on 21st century technology for choirs delivered by Philip Copeland of UAB Choirs and Choralblog was fantastic, and I wish it could have gone for 2 hours (although I did skip breakfast, so I was afraid that stomach rumbles might have caused disruption). It was also great to meet Philip, albeit, quite briefly. I'm looking forward to starting a blog for Da Camera Singers in the months to come and begin to implement many of the things I learned in this session to my rehearsal procees. And I think that tatango just might change the way I communicate with University students for ever. And now that I've finally got my church to use Google Calendar, it's time to start up Google Documents!

I think I'll wait until I get home to expand more on this session, but I can say that by far it's been the most informative session I've been to yet.

I then headed off to the finals of the conducting competition. Yes, I know I mentioned previously that they make me uncomfortable, and I was still uncomfortable in this one as well. Not only because the venue was so small, but also because watching a conducting compeition rehearsal still seems so wrong to me. I'll leave it at that for now. However, I am happy to say that they did pick all the right winners.

After another run through the exhibits, and the purchasing of two CDs (yes, I said I was done buying stuff, but they called out to me ... and I couldn't just leave them there without a home), I headed to the concert which opened with The American Boy Choir. It was, in a word, fantastic! Not that I would ever expect anything less of this world renowned group - but it was so wonderful to have the opportunity to see them live, as I doubt that a Canadian tour would see them in Edmonton anytime soon. After they finished their set, it hit me that I was choral concerted out, and it was time for my intermission.

Then off to the Canadian reception, where I was able to connect with so many friends - many of whom I didn't even know were here. It was a lovely evening - catching up with the past, and looking at the future of conducting in Canada. All in all, a great day!

Tomorrow's schedule looks incredibly full - but it ends with Rachmaninoff. A work I know quite well, having conducted it once, and sung it thrice.

A perfect day really.

Oh ... and just so you can feel slightly sorry for me... here's the 14 day forecast temperature for Edmonton. You may notice, that it is going to be so cold on Monday, my first day back, that the graph just bottoms out with no temperature reference.

Click on the graph for a larger image.

All degrees in Celsius: 0 degrees Celsius equals 32 Fahrenheit, and both scales come together at -40 - so the high of -30 or so on Monday translates to -22 Fahrenheit From 80 F to -22 F in four days for me.

By the way, if you don't have the conversion tool "A2Z pro" for your iPod touch or iPhone yet, you really should. It's free, and is by far the most useful application I've ever downloaded.

Intermission

2009-03-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, I will be posting an update on the ACDA "Day The Third" later this evening, however, I felt I needed to do a little interlude as observed on a walk through the south of downtown in the City of Oklahoma this afternoon.

First, the weather is still extraordinarily mild for March, even for Oklahoma. Temperatures in the high 20s (near 80s in F degrees), barely a cloud in the sky, and a bit more than gentle breeze across the plains (did I mention that I haven't been able to stop singing "OOOH-Klahoma" since I landed here on Tuesday night?)

Anyhow, I felt that after being inside pretty much all day, I needed to take a break from the festivities and go for a walk. I attended the America Boy Choir portion of the afternoon concert (more on that in the next post) and then walked from the Civic Center (Centre for us Canadians) to my Hotel, which is on the east side of the city in a place known as Bricktown.

I forgot my camera at home, so some lifted picture from various internet sources will have to do.

First - the Civic Center:
An absolutely gorgeous concert hall in the arts district of Oklahoma City. I had a nice long chat with a Civic Center volunteer who let me know that originally in the interior of the center the floor was flat and used for multi-purposes. Now, when I hear of a multi-purpose concert hall, I think, Ok, Musicals, Orchestras, Operas and etc. However, apparently at the time it was built, the Oklahoma Philharmonic shared the space with a basketball court. Now it is only a music concert hall, set up in a tiered horseshoe design, and holds, what I figure must be anywhere between 1,600-2,000 people. (alright - I just looked it up .... it holds 3,200 people. I obviously have never won one of those "How many jelly beans are there in the jar" contests)

About a 15-20 minute walk and I ended up back at the Cox Convention Business Center. Named after the local cable company (not too dissimilar to Edmonton's Shaw Convention Centre, also named after our local cable company). It is a wonderful venue for this conference, a huge exhibit hall, and very large conference rooms and ballrooms. There is also an "arena" inside, which I have NO idea what that entails. My guess is that my preconceived notion of an arena having a sheet of ice and two nets at either end is probably NOT what it is. Rodeos, concerts, monster truck and basketball events likely happen there though. Am I generalizing?

East of the Conference Center is where things get interesting. The Amtrack passenger train on the Sante Fe Line passes over the streets that run east and west (You know, of the "Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe" - or as one of my choirs knows it "The Atcheson Topeka and the Duruflé") marking the start of Bricktown. In Bricktown, there is a man-made canal, which you'd think with enough of a run up, you could jump over. A water taxi moves people up and down the canal, which I am guessing is about a 1/2 mile long. Situated along the canal are many bars and restaurants, a large multi-plex theatre, and middle-america's longest track run haunted house, only Disney World's is longer (I intend on going on it tomorrow, when it opens). To boot, it's in 3D! It also runs along side Bricktown Park, which hosts their Triple-A Baseball team. A classic open park design, similar to AT&T park of San Fransisco (I'm mentioning this for the benefit of my wife - who knows more about baseball than most sports broadcasters do).

At the end of the canal, is my hotel, where I am currently resting up before the Canadian reception tonight at 9 PM. I plan on getting really drunk and embarrassing myself and my country.

ACDA - Oklahoma Day II

2009-03-05T17:13:00.001-08:00

Another beautiful day in Oklahoma. My wife let me know that Edmonton received probably a foot of snow overnight, add the blowing snow to that and it was most unpleasant to walk or drive anywhere. Well, it's not the case here. It was a day to walk with out a coat on, eat lunch outside, and watch people drive by in their convertibles. That being said, I have spent most of the day indoors.

Another fantastic concert this morning, including the finale by the 8 voice "choir" from England called Voices8. A sort of King's Singers style spin-off group, this time from Westminster Abbey choristers, with two young female sopranos. This young group was quite fantastic, not quite at the standard that the King's Singers are at, but give them time, they will be an octet to be reckoned with.

I went to the Conducting Competition for a while, but left partway through, mainly due to the "heat" in the room, both the actual temperature, and also the uncomfortable feeling one gets when watching conductors in a competition like this. I may post more again about conducting competitions. Having done a few in my life, both successfully, and unsuccessfully. For example though - the candidate which I felt had the strongest "technique" of the seven that I saw did not advance. The rehearsal technique wasn't as strong, perhaps this is why the candidate didn't advance. What is a "conducting" competition supposed to judged on? Conducting? or Rehearsing? More on that another day. A quick lunch (outside on the patio as mentioned above!) followed by an afternoon interest session on doing group auditions was then followed by a spending spree at the Exhibits (I bought one of these for half-price to replace an aging and outdated minidisk recorder) I've now bought all I need, or can, at this conference. The evening interest session or Jazz choir concerts didn't spark an interest for me, so a little R&R back at the hotel was in order.

I'm now enjoying a brief rest once again, catching up on some emails and concert prep for next weekend (and watching .. ahem .. American Idol ... please don't judge me), and then I'm off to the feature concert of the Evening with the Oklahoma Philharmonic Orchestra and various choirs with a convention world premiere, and Vaughn Williams' "Dona Nobis Pacem". Mmmmm.. RVW!

Update: Back from the concert - which was great, particularly the RVW. The commissioned work had its moments, but it wasn't as inspirational as I had hoped.

I'm particularly looking forward to tomorrow's interest session on technology, i.e. blogging, podcasting etc, for conductors and choirs. It's a "Bring your own laptop" event. Podcasting is something I've always been interested in, and is something that our church is exploring. In fact, Vidcasting is what we are gearing up towards, and the more I can understand the process, the better prepared I'll be to enter the 21st century!

ACDA - Oklahoma Day I

2009-03-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

Ever since I began my masters degree some 11 years ago, I have always longed to go to a National ACDA conference. I've been to the Canadian version, "Podium" a number of times, but never had it in the cards to go the much bigger American version. I almost went to L.A. four years ago, but it being a week before my doctoral candidacies, I thought better of it. So when my supervisor suggest I go with him to Oklahoma this year, I had to make it work. And here I am!

After a full travel day yesterday (Edmonton - Minneapolis/St. Paul ... four hour lay over ... Ten hour travel day in total) we finally made it to where the "corn is as high as an Elephant's ear". First impressions of the city is that it reminds me a lot of Edmonton. It's flat, dry, and seems to rely heavily on oil and farming as an industry. The main difference is that on the front page of their paper was a picture of a choir (you'd never see that in the Edmonton Journal). Also the entire city has been taken over by choir directors. Nearly 3,200 in total I am told. Oh, and where it is about -15 and snowing in Edmonton, it is expected to be +30 here tomorrow (that's up near 80 in the scale they use down here).

Day one began with a long line up for registration. They did have the sense to organize the registration by last name in groups of three letters. What they didn't anticipate is that the majority of choral conductors seem to have a last name beginning with B. As a result, I was late for the first concert, seeing only 3 of the 4 choirs. However, I was NOT disappointed. The highlight of the morning was the Green Valley School Madrigal/Chamber Singers, who appeared in full period costume (knickers for the boys, frilly cuffs for the girls), and sang through repertoire from Sweelinck and Monteverdi to Whitacre and Rossini with the precision and tuning of an excellent University choir. And this was a HIGH SCHOOL choir.

I then spent a few hours at the exhibits, some 200+ stalls trying to keep my VISA card in my pocket, letting it out only to buy a few scores for works I will be conducting next year (I can't promise I won't go back for a new baton though!) I met up with a few old friends both from Ottawa and Edmonton and learned of the Canadian reception which is happening Friday night, after that it was off to Concert session II.

This concert also had it's highlights, which included the Michigan State Women's Chamber ensemble, and the University of Texas at Austin Chamber Choir.

A few casual observations from the the concerts thus far:

It really doesn't matter how many times it is announced to turn off the cell phones, there will still be at least 3 or 4 that will ring in a two hour period.
Programs that end with a spiritual will undoubtably receive a standing ovation, even though the one that ended with Frank Martin should have as well!
Further to point 2. Even though standing ovations are not a rarity here, they are all well deserved!
The wardrobe of the conductors is going to be a topic of discussion just as much as the quality of the music is. (So far the conductor for the Michigan State Women's Choir wins first prize for originality).
there are some FINE choirs in this country!

I'm back at the hotel right now, skipping the reading sessions in favour of a nap. One thing I have learned is that it is impossible to get to everything, and if you did go to absolutely everything, you wouldn't eat or sleep. So I'm trying not to stress about it. There is PLENTY to see and do.

After my nap, it will be off to the first reception and wine and cheese, and that will end day one.

Countdown to Oklahoma

2009-02-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the pause in postings as of late. Betwixt a major bathroom renovation and piles of marking that has to be done before I leave on Tuesday for the ACDA national convention, I just haven't had time. I hope, once I get to Oklahoma City, I can post a few bits of my experiences there, thereby negating the need for postcards.

In the mean time ... O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A here I come!

I hope to meet some of you folks there!

Some very good news

2009-02-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Some great news arose amidst the fog of plaster dust during the bathroom renovation this week (which, as an aside, is going very well by the way - we've decided to restore the claw-foot bathtub - and I was able to rig up a temporary shower over the basement drain, which is surprisingly effective)

On Tuesday night, I was informed that my next concert with Da Camera Singers will be picked up by CBC Radio for future broadcast on a future Choral Concert. Which is probably the only show aside from Saturday Afternoon at the Opera that survived this year's overhaul of the once vibrant national radio broadcast service.

It does put the pressure on us to produce an excellent concert. It will be a concert of all Canadian works, including two commissions. The program is listed below - broadcast date and time will be posted as we are informed of it.

"Eulogies"

Saturday March 14th, 8:00 PM

First Baptist Church, Edmonton

John Estacio's "Eulogies"

Eleanor Daley's "Requiem

Leonard Enns' "The Only Face I Want is Yours" (World premiere, Da Camera Commission)

Frances Macdonnell's "Arise, O God!" (Da Camera Commission, 2007)

Home renovations

2009-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

About a year and a half ago, we renovated our Kitchen - and we love it! We didn't love the two weeks of living in our basement with a microwave and a laundry tub sink, but for the most part we did just fine, and the inconvenience of it all is just a flitting memory.

So much so a memory in fact, that we've decided in a rather rush decision to do the bathroom, starting thursday! So, for approximately the next two weeks, we will be once again be living in plaster dust, and without a few essential amenities. Luckily, the church and school both have accessible showers, and a brother-in-law lives within a hundred meters. So use of facilities will be close by.

What does this have to do with music?

Well ... I'm thinking of a finding a new toilet seat ....

Seating Plan Part II

2009-02-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

The new seating plan for my chamber choir had it's first run on Monday night, with good success and no apparent displeasure! Either that, or I've become so good at filtering out the odd complaint that I just wasn't aware of it. Actually, my choir is great for letting me know how they feel about things - something that I think in a small choir is a good foundation for a healthy conductor/choir relationship.

In the comments of my post on this topic from last week, there is a nice comment from reader Liz Garnet who noted that singers sing better when they are "jolted out of autopilot", and that was a comment that stuck with me as I prepared for rehearsal on Monday.

Immediately the sound improved with the choir, and there was a renewed energy and focus that wasn't there last week, and much was accomplished. The funny thing is - this is a seating plan that I used in some form for the first two years that I conducted this choir.

For a while, I had so few tenors in my choir (a challenge I'm certain all choral conductors have had) that I had the tenors sit dead centre front row, with the basses behind them, and then sops on the left, alto on the right in two rows each. Once the tenor section grew to balanced numbers, I was able to have two rows of each section, going from left to right(S-A-T-B), and this is where I've been for the last two years. Now I'm back to two rows, front row all women, back row all men, basses behind sopranos, tenors behind altos. My main reason for doing this is that I do not have any "front row" type tenors in the choir right now, and having them buffered a bit by my altos helps that situation a lot.

I have experimented with mixed formation a bit in the past - although never for a concert yet, just for rehearsals. It always seems to go well in rehearsals for a limited time, then once we get into our performance venue, it never quite gels. Something I think we can work on in the coming years.

Perhaps in two years, when this feels stale again - a new seating plan will emerge - and out of autopilot we shall go!

When Music meets Science Fiction

2009-02-07T20:23:00.001-08:00

The good fellas at Robot Chicken present for us a remake of Star Wars II "The Wrath Of Khan" in the style of a Bel Canto Italian opera:

Just Brilliant.

You're a Musician? What instrument do you play?

2009-02-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

I've been asked this question many times. The simple answer is Piano or Organ, but really, I would never consider myself a Pianist or Organist in a professional sense anymore. I'm a conductor. So ... What is my instrument?

Many years ago, I was driving across the border taking the southern short-cut from Alberta to Ontario, when the customs agent asked me what I did for a living, I told him I was a musician. When he asked where my instrument was, I said I wasn't carrying one. This apparently raised a red flag, and they proceeded to search every known cavity of my car. I tried to explain that I was a conductor, but they were sill absolutely dumbfounded that I wouldn't have a guitar case in the car. "How can you be a musician if you don't have a guitar?". Seriously, that was the gist of the conversation. And if you think that's fun - try going through airport security with a tuning fork.

So, now my answer to the question is that on Mondays my instrument is a chamber choir of nearly 40 voices, on Tuesdays my instrument is a symphonic choir of 120 voices, and on Thursdays and Sundays, my instrument is a church choir of about 20 voices.

Is the choir really an instrument? Well, yes, I believe it is. The artistic interpretation and overall sound and tone will mainly depend on what I am able to do with it - although limited by the ability of the ensemble - but mainly limited by by my ability.

The main difference between a 9 foot Steinway and a 30 voice choir is of course, that the choral instrument is full of people. Each with their own personalities, abilities and above all, sensitivities. Yelling at a piano, or moving it to different locations, will not hurt its feelings. None of this of course is something that hasn't been written about before, but it is one of my main struggles as a choral conductor.

Where I struggle most is in my great fear of hurting people's feelings. I have difficulty choosing soloists, saying "no" after an audition, or standing up to people who confront me about artistic or interpretive decisions. Over the last few years I have become better about this aspect of the job - this has come with experience, and confidence. For example, I'm not afraid to tell people to shut-up during rehearsals, or to point out individuals in cases of poor blend, or pitch issues - and now that they know me better, they are very much open to this type of criticism, I've also become better about demanding more from an ensemble, and pushing them to achieve great heights.

The ONE thing that I still struggle with the most is seating arrangements! In fact, it is the one thing I wish I never had to do. In some choirs I don't worry about it at all, it is basically "Sopranos sit here, Altos here ... but where you sit within your sections is up to you" - but in my chamber choir it is something I am so often confronted with. Whether it is someone who really "likes" to be in the back row, or likes to be sitting beside "so and so". When I move voices, it is impossible for me to think that I am hurting their feelings - or moving them in a situation where they don't want to be - beside someone they don't want to be beside, or in a row that is not a row they want to be in. And in someway, I've made their experience less enjoyable. It's almost worse than not letting them in the choir in the first place!

Next Monday night ... new seating plan .... wish me luck.

beware of luting

2009-01-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

In today's Music 101 lecture, I was giving a very short description of early music continuo instruments - particularly the lute and archlute (aka. theorbo).

There are a couple of good pictures in our textbook - the one of the lute is shown below:

A few things strike me funny with the above photo - mainly the look on this poor girl's, or maybe young boy's face (you never can tell from these early paintings). I just think it is the epitome of the "practicing sucks" look. That and the fact there is a violin there, which makes me think "After I've done my three hours of lute, I have to do two and a half on this blasted violin!"

Below is a picture of the Archlute that is in our textbook as well.

The joke I attempted this morning? "The Archlute is kind of like a lute, on viagra". It was received with a moderate amount of laughter.

Sometimes, I should really think before I speak, before I am fired.

Music in our daily life

2009-01-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

One of the many things I enjoy about teaching at the U of A is the ability to watch the trends, fashions, and social interaction of today's youth.

In this morning's music 101 lecture, we were finishing up with the late renaissance, including in-depth discussions about the Madrigal. I explained to the class how the secular music of this time was intended for just pure entertainment - keeping in mind that we are hundreds of years away from the iPod or any personal music device at this time.

It got me thinking - how much does the average student rely on music in their lives. So I did a careful study which I believe is to be to within +/- 2% of accuracy. Ok, so what I really did was, on my walk across campus to find my wife and our car at the end of the day, I counted how many students walked past me with headphones on (by the way - why do people wear God-awful-huge-ugly headphones out in public? The ear buds are far more attractive folks!) I determined that approximately every fifth person I passed had some kind of music device playing in or on their ears, and for the record, every seventh person was talking on a cell phone, others were walking with friends and chatting - but very few people were walking alone without a phone or music device. From this I determine that music is a very important part of everyone's daily life.

I grew up in a house where there was always live music. From the sounds of instruments being practiced - between my sister and I, this included lots of piano, voice, guitar and a brief stints of trumpet and flute. On top of this, every family gathering ended around the piano with singing, not always in tune, but it was live music - not the same genre of music discussed earlier in this post, but certainly the experience must have been pretty close. I'm afraid that this tradition is lost in most of us now, thanks to the stereo. I have to admit, I'm a bit of a sterophile. I buy high quality components and speakers, and I spend a lot of time (and money) finding the right fit for me, and as I type this, I am listening to recorded music in my living room.

Many people have asked me what the best equipment is for sound - my new answer is going to be "Your Ears" Why do we spend so much money trying to recreate the sound of a live performance, when the best place to hear a live performance, is at a live performance?

Filling up empty spaces

2009-01-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

Quoting myself on January 1st, while looking at my calendar:

"How nice - Aside from my church obligations, It looks like from now until March most of my Friday, Saturday and Sundays are free!"

Three weeks later:

A look at my calendar this weekend, as of 9 AM this morning:

Friday night 7-9:30 Da Camera Men's sectional rehearsal

Saturday Morning 10-12:30 Da Camera Women's sectional rehearsal

Saturday Evening 4-7 PM Rehearsal for Monteverdi concert in February

Sunday afternoon 3 PM - playing Organ at a Hymn festival

Can someone tell me how I went from zero hours to eleven hours of work?

A fate of my own making I suppose.

Conducting IS Teaching!

2009-01-09T10:40:00.001-08:00

In reading my RSS Feeds this afternoon on Google Reader, I was drawn to the blog of David Griggs-Janower courtesy of ChoralBlog (Thanks for sending this out Philip - David's blog is now being added to my reader!)

In case you don't read ChoralBlog, the post that caught their eye and subsequently my eye was his post on "being on", and what it is like to have to be on the ball, or as he put it "in three times zones at the same time" for a full rehearsal. He also draws comparisons of how conducting, which is teaching, can be extremely draining, full of overtime responsibilities like marking, score marking, rehearsal preparation and the list goes on. In fact, my hat goes off to full times teachers who need to be in teacher mode all day long, not just for a few classes and rehearsals like me. Not only that, but I work with adults all the time, so I don't need to think about discipline, worry about class attendance, or deal with ... ahem ... parents! If there is any profession that deserves two months off in the Summer, you certainly have my support.

I remember way back when I was in my undergrad looking at my choral prof's schedule, wondering how he could do it. Three university choirs a community chorus, a few voice students, and teaching conducting courses. Every night must have had one rehearsal, if not two every day with his University choirs. I couldn't fathom his lifestyle at that time, yet here I am living it, and surviving (and even finding time to blog about it).

His subsequent post as a reply to the comments he received from the previous one is also great, and raises the usual point of teachers holidays, and responding to the all to many comments of "well, you're so lucky as a teacher you two weeks off for Christmas and two months off for Summer". Now, don't get me wrong, I've never had a 9-5 job, so I can't fully appreciate the responsibilities that tied into a job like that. My wife, however, does have a full time day job, and I certainly know that she works hard. Probably harder than the average actually, and doesn't take things like sick days, early departures, or long lunches for granted. I once heard of someone though who after getting their full time government employment was very quick to point out how great the Friday afternoon lunch was, which usually involved drinks, and then going from the restaurant, straight home. All I could do was smile, and wonder what it must be like to have that kind of freedom in a job - where you aren't being literally watched all the time (maybe I shouldn't have used the word literally there ... as people tend not to watch conductors enough)

I'll agree, the time off in the summer is great. It makes up for working most evening until 10 PM, and most weekends through the year. However, there is no income, and yet, there is still work to be done! Preparations for the next season, re-writing course outlines, organizing rehearsals, programs, program notes. And although sick days can be taken in the year, they are not without major consequence. Unless you have an assistant, finding a last minute sub is often impossible. You are faced with either canceling the rehearsal in the hopes to make it up for it later, or working while sick - and as a result, having a slower recovery time. I conducted a full concert once with an inner ear infection that would put most people in the hospital, and certainly you wouldn't see them at work - however, after eight weeks of rehearsals, and over 250 tickets sold - who was going to conduct it if I called in sick?

Musicians are also suckers for punishment. If you were, say, a dentist, and were offered to take off a portion of your holidays to do some complimentary crowns for approximately 18 hours, would you do it? Or an accountant who would spend the time between December 28th and January 1st doing taxes pro bono? Probably not. Yet, there I was in rehearsal from December 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st for a concert on the evening of the 31st and a recording session on January 1st - my week off, just two days after Christmas, and 4 days before classes begin on the 5th doing this, for not a penny. Don't get me wrong - it was fun, I got to visit with old friends, and sing great music, but it was hard work (and to be fair - I could have said 'No')

The bottom line is this. I love my work, I wouldn't trade it in for the world. What I don't like is when people assume that because I love what i do, it means I don't have to work hard!