Two Year College

Susanne VanDyke, Two-Year College

Each February the Mississippi Choral Community College organization provides a unique experience for their students. The format of the two day event includes: individual performances by each community college choir (ten minutes in length), a mass choir (actually two mass choirs due to large number of participants) conducted by musicians prominent in the choral field and a performance by a university choir, either state or regional in origin. This month I thought I would share with you what I’ve chosen for my ten minute concert.

NWCC repertoire was selected by taking into consideration the time slot in which we perform, as well as an awareness that our audience will consist of college students who will be listening to 12 choirs in a short amount of time.

Bach (Again) Come Sweet Death

SATB (a cappella)

Music by: J.S. Bach Conceived: Edwin London 

Arranged: Rhonda Sandberg

Colla Voce 45-21065

This is a great way to combine the importance of singing Bach chorales with a unique twist that makes it relatable to younger musicians. The piece begins very straightforward, simply singing through the chorale. Then hand motions are added to reflect the text. Finally, the beginning 8 measures are sung again, with each individual choir member choosing their entrance and tempo with the whole group ultimately returning to a unified ending in the last measure. The subject of death is obviously a heavy one. As a conductor, sensitive to the emotional ups and downs of the college students I teach, I chose to delve deeper into the symbolism of the subject of dying. We had an interesting discussion about the death of negative attitudes, the death of a bad habit and how we all desire for the death or the resolution of our problems. This was done with the intent of tempering a text that, for a student struggling with depression or anxiety, could weigh heavily on them. It’s an enjoyable piece to teach and the staging coupled with the solid score makes for a stunning opener for a concert.

Daemon Irrepit Callidus

SATB

Gyorgy Orban

Hinshaw Music 08763856

This is considered one of my “chestnuts”. I have used this piece several times in my 25 years of conducting and it is always a hit with the students and the audience.  There is rhythmic and melodic contrast throughout. In one section the sopranos, altos and basses hold a steady rhythmic pattern while the tenors soar with a beautiful melody. This is immediately followed by a syncopated portion with the altos, tenors and basses while the soprano line smoothly moves through an almost modal melodic line. The dramatic final two measures feature chromatic lines in varying directions simultaneously by all four parts.  The students always react to the constant dissonance as well as the subject matter with questions about not only their discomfort but also their attraction to the piece. Their insights as they compare their visceral reaction to the music as well as to the text that is reflected in the music make for great discussion. It is gratifying to watch them grow to love singing this piece, as they always do.

Bonse Aba

SATB

Victor C. Johnson

Heritage Music Press 15/2829H

I chose this song to contrast the intensity of the above mentioned choices for my ten minute concert at the community college state choral festival. It opens with 12 measures of hand drum, djembe and shaker that can give the choir the opportunity to change positions or perhaps incorporate some movement. This traditional Zambian folk song was discovered by the composer while teaching a fine arts camp in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa. The students sang Bonse Aba as a welcoming song to Victor Johnson and from there he composed this arrangement. It is an easy piece to put together with a short text and repetitive rhythmic and melodic lines.

Making More Sense of How to Sing: Multisensory Techniques for Voice Lessons and Choir Rehearsals

Alan J. Gumm

Meredith Music Publications

www.meredithmusic.com

Hal Leonard, Distributor

The book description states: “With multi-sensory techniques to match and build learning strengths, this book is for any singer from the rank beginner to the experienced and mature singer.”

One of the things that drew me to this book was the never ending quest we have as conductors to be able to reflect with a physical motion the sound we would like to hear. Certainly, this is not the first book to reflect this concept, but I found it worthy of consideration here. There are illustrations that help in the comprehension of the motions to be used in communicating abdominal support, breath, an open relaxed position for singing, posture and vowel production. A good reference guide.