Vermont ACDA

Dear Colleagues,

I am just now finishing up this book by Weston Noble before moving on to another, and I would once again recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this kind of thing. The title is “Creating the Special World” A Collection of Lectures by Weston Noble. It is a GIA Publication and I am sure readily available; indeed, it will probably be at the GIA table at the VMEA Convention in a few weeks at Vergennes Union High School!

Of interest to me this week is the realization that choral music performance and knowledge is not something that is very old in our country. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Colleagues,

I was slow at getting to my weekly messages this school year, and am one behind! I had intended to write this one to you earlier this week but got delayed with the many details that go into starting a school year. Having recovered somewhat from all that, I thought I might get this out today before leaving school.

This book I have been reading is really very informative and worth the effort if any of you are interested. It is called “Creating the Special World,” A Collection of Lectures by Weston H. Noble, edited by Steven M. Demorest, with a very nice forward by Paul Salamunovich. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Colleagues,

It was my privilege this past Saturday morning to attend and perform at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Sister Karen Pozniak, a Sister of the order Notre Dame de Namur. Sister Karen is a member of the Colchester Community Chorus, and has been a nun from August 14, 1960 to the present. This was a celebration of her 50 years of service; I was amazed, stunned and moved at what I saw and heard Saturday morning, and it got me to thinking………..

Before the service began, Sister Karen briefly and modestly spoke, and the first thing she said was that her life had been about a “calling” and about “commitment.” This was the first thing that I heard, and it was the first of many words that morning that struck me as important and worth mentioning here. In the middle of the service she once again renewed her vows of 50 years ago; I think that part of those vows are worth repeating here….

“God of Goodness, in response to your love for me, I renew the vows I made at my first profession in the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. I, Sister Karen Pozniak, seek to consecrate myself entirely to you and to live the Gospel by my vow of poverty-living simply and respecting the gifts of creation; by my vow of chastity-witnessing to your love in my life by a compassionate love for all people; by my vow of obedience-living with a listening heart to your presence in my life as I seek to respond to the needs of the poor in our world. May the Holy Spirit, the fidelity of Mary and the example of St. Julie inspire me to live these vows in a spirit of service and joy. Amen”

There is something about the above that I find very moving and inspiring Not only because Sister Pozniak is a very, very special woman that has committed her life to her work, but because there is an inherent wisdom and truth in these words that bears witness by all of us. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this letter finds you all well and rested as we all launch into another great year of choral music. I will make this initial letter a short one; just a few reminders and notices.

First, if you have not voted in our President-Elect election, please do so very soon, as it will close down on the 20th of this month. I have worked diligently to make sure that all who have had problems with the process have had those problems resolved. If there are still any unresolved problems, let me know this week!

Second, I will be continuing my weekly notes to you this year, with the first one due out starting next week. I encourage you all to respond if you wish; it is all an attempt to bring us all together in conversation in a very rural state!

Third, I will be featuring one or two choirs from our state on the List Serve every month. My intention is to interview the conductor, get a feel for the chorus, and write an article that will inform us all about the director, their music and performances, history, and maybe even some audio/video clips if they are available. We have many performing choirs in our state, and I am hoping that I might be able to bring their work forward in this venue so that we are all more aware of the work that our colleagues do. If I am able to keep this project going, I should be able to feature some 20 groups before my presidency ends in July.

Fourth, I would encourage all of you to visit our web site at vtacda.org and check out our Executive Board, who they are, what they do. I believe that all our event information is now up to date for this year. Dates are accurate, and there is a LOT of information available for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Lamentations Of Jeremiah / Thomas Tallis

Dear Colleagues,

I am moved back into my office after some extensive work in the Music Department here this summer, but this work has not been without some misplaced music, books and a general sense of not being in control; which is the reason for my last choral review of the summer being a week late. I had wanted to end the summer with one of my most favorite Renaissance works, but two things have me baffled. BOTH of my scores are gone, and so is my favorite recording! I cannot explain this, but will write a few words about this work anyway, without having my scores to consult.

“The Lamentations of Jeremiah (The Prophet) as set by Thomas Tallis is a set of extraordinary writing by this acknowledged master of Renaissance music. The text offers moments for beautiful writing, and a long line of distinguished composers have had their hand with it; William Byrd, Arcadelt, Palestrina and Ockeghem to name just a few! Even the beginning of each section announcing the source of the lesson (Aleph, Beth, Ghimel, Daleth) are beautifully set. If there are any words that might describe these settings, I might suggest deeply emotional and expressive; indeed, if you are fond of the music of this period and are able to respond to the writing, you will find many, many moments in these settings of incredible beauty, not to mention the extraordinary skill and masterful manipulation of musical textures that permeate this work. When Tallis died, William Byrd (one of his students) is on record as saying that “Talli s is dead and music dies.”  High compliments for this master composer! Read the rest of this entry »

The Here And Now, Christopher Theofanidis

Dear Colleagues,

I do not know if you have heard of the work of this composer; I certainly had not until the end of last school year when The Crane Chorus in Potsdam, New York performed his “The Here and Now.” This work has many moments that are worth hearing, with provocative texts. Theofanidis has had his works performed by many of the great orchestras of the world. He was educated at Yale, Eastman and the University of Houston and has won many prizes and recognitions as well. This particular selection was nominated for a Grammy in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexander Nevsky, Sergei Prokofiev

Dear Colleagues,

I am more than a little later in getting this weeks major work ready for sharing, so this will probably be brief at best; nevertheless I am hopeful that you will take notice of this masterful work for orchestra and chorus.

I am always surprised when I mention this piece to musicians, as many have not heard of it before. It is a wonderful, epic cantata that takes a large orchestra and chorus to perform; I imagine it is a bit of an undertaking. Read the rest of this entry »

Te Deum / Sir William Walton

Dear Colleagues,

A few things have been filtering their way through my mind this week; one is this week’s piece named above, the second is the text of the “Te Deum,” and the final thought is a book I have been reading called “Creating the Special World: A Collection of Lectures by Weston Noble.” I am hoping I can draw these three thoughts together in a short presentation of this work. If you do not know the Walton setting of the “Te Deum” text, I hope you will venture to order one and listen. It is not a long composition; maybe some 10 minutes in duration, and it is certainly not something that many of us will be turning to for our next performance. But it is worth knowing…………….. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Colleagues,

My work this week is a piece by Dave Brubeck called “To Hope.” I guess the best way to describe this rather engaging extended work of about an hour is to call it eclectic, and maybe it might be compared with Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” although it is not nearly as long or complex. I am sure that it comes as no surprise that this famous jazz artist/pianist and composer has written a fair amount of choral music, and maybe we had ‘ought to explore it a bit more; always with an open mind and a sense of adventure! Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Colleagues,

I hope someone out there is getting something from my weekly summer repertoire sharing. This week……….

Is a beautiful composition (A Requiem) composed by Mack Wilberg; a relatively recent composition, as this was recorded in 2008. This is indeed the Mack Wilberg that we are familiar with….the arranger of so many fine folk songs and other original shorter works. However, it is NOT that Mack Wilberg that we are accustomed to hearing from a compositional standpoint. This very original work of some 30 minutes is a very intimate, introspective choral/orchestral piece that would not be marked as one of Wilberg’s works on first hearing. Read the rest of this entry »