An Emotional Journey

There is a palpable excitement in the air as we head towards our "Erin Go Bragh" concert on March 11. At last night's rehearsal, I felt a distinctive buzz in the room.  It's more than the fact that we are quickly approaching performance day.  It's also the feeling that we've reached the point where the music has soaked into our souls.  Past the point of learning and knowing the notes and words, we have absorbed the music.

I love this part of the performance cycle - where the music is learned and we focus on the more subtle shaping of the experience.  We refine our crescendos and decrescendos.  We add diminuendos and bring out key words.  We tell the story with our singing, our faces, our interaction with each other and soon the audience, under the vision of our director.  From the gentle beauty of the "Welsh Lullaby" to the moving depth of "Lagan Love", each piece connects us with diversity of human emotions.  

We've also memorized several songs which allows us to look around, smiling, stomping with joy for "Mairi's Wedding" and letting our bodies feel the rhythmic sensation of "Mouth Music".

This is the joy of singing in a group.  Of creating something together to share with others.  Of taking an emotional journey with the music, each other, and our audience.

It's countdown to concert time.  As a new member of MCE, this will be my first performance with the chorus as well as my first choir performance in nearly a decade. I'm delighted to be part of such a passionate group of singers and joyfully anticipate sharing our hard work on March 11.

Juli-Ann Williams

Soprano

A Un Niño Llorando: An Under-Rehearsed Reverie

“A un niño llorando” does not really mean an under-rehearsed reverie. It means “To a child crying in the freezing cold”-- Also translated as “A child crying in the ice” or “A child crying on ice” on YouTube.

Source: ErinNoiePhotography.com

“A un niño” will be performed by MCE in our winter concert as edited from a 16th century Spanish carol by Artistic Director, Dr. Linda Gingrich. I imagine her descending into the depths of a dusty archive, poring over an ancient manuscript and emerging, radiant, with an edited version of this piece, brought to new life for our era. So far, she has told me nothing to contradict this fantasy. 

As for the “under-rehearsed reverie”, do not worry. At this stage, the chorus has adequately rehearsed the piece, so that previously disjointed, raggedy fittings of the complex polyphonic parts have smoothed out. As we sing, each word and note falls into its inevitable groove.  As with many pieces that we rehearse, I enjoyed some aspects of the “under-rehearsed” stage even more than the adequately rehearsed version. 

Our first sing-through of an unfamiliar piece often has a soft, gentle, unfocused, tentative, tender, innocent, searching, exploring quality that appeals to me. It seems to me that in this early stage of rehearsal, there is  maximum potential and possibility alive in the music. No firm interpretation has been formed, and the piece could go in almost any direction. At this stage, I feel the most open to fanciful impressions -- So here we go!

“A un niño llorando” traditionally begins with a solo voice which introduces the melodic theme and makes a surprising announcement --"To a child who is crying in the freezing cold, three kings go to worship . . . ” Then the message passes to a chorus of voices which excitedly repeat and expand upon the good news --"The child can give us kingdoms, life, glory, and heaven!”

It is easy for me to imagine this message passed along from voice to voice in the manner of village gossip. The villagers do not completely understand the message, but that does not prevent them from repeating it to each other with increasing enthusiasm. Their exclamations and conversations develop into a polyphony of boisterous rejoicing.

When the chorus of voices fades at the end, a solo voice continues the pure line of the melody and floats above the joyous tumult as a reminder of the divine aspect of the scene. In our earlier stage of rehearsal this solo voice had, for me, the effect of a beam of light projected through the cloudscape of a darkened sky.

Source: rhyno214, deviantART

Rehearsal Magic

There are magical moments that sometimes happen in rehearsal. They come unlooked for, which makes them all the more wonderful. One of those moments came at our rehearsal last week. We rehearsed John Jacob Niles haunting arrangement of the Appalachian carol, I Wonder as I Wander. It begins with a soloist singing the first verse while the choir hums background accompaniment:

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,

How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,

For poor on’ry people like you and like I…

I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

Two choral verses then follow, describing the Christmas story. Then the soloist sings the first verse once more to close. The piece is plaintive and beautiful, and seems to touch something basic in our American soul. This was our first run through so we sang it, worked on various musical aspects, then sang it through one more time. Magic happened. Our tenor soloist sang it as simply and naturally as a child, yet with a grownup’s artistry and sensitivity to the mood of the text. The MCE singers reflected that mood back to him and to me, and for a few moments we seemed to transcend time and place. It was breathtaking.

There are still a few rough places to smooth out, it isn’t quite performance ready, but what happened in those moments touched something beyond mere notes and rhythms; we made music! It is impossible to describe. We know it when we experience it, but those are the moments conductors live for. It makes all the hard work of rehearsal worthwhile.

Dr. Linda Gingrich, D.M.A
Artistic Director/Conductor

Master Chorus Eastside