To Sing Or Not To Sing

I found this interesting discussion on Choralnet.org about if directors should sing with their choirs or not. (See link below to view full discussion.) Personally, I think there is a time and place for everything and even through it should not be done all the time, in some cases singing with a choir can be beneficial. For example, when a section is unfamiliar or struggling with their part, having the conductor sing along with and model for them can help them learn it.
What do you think?
http://choralnet.org/456028

Vocal Warm-Up- Catherine and I

Catherine's Choral Blog: Vocal Warm-Up: Vocal Warm Up- Amanda and Catherine 1. Physical- Setting up a good singing posture - stand with feet shoulder width ...

Pechakucha Presentation: Voiceworks by Peter Hunt

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/FF3B6FW5V9dosZ

Choir Review

Cantabile Choirs of Kingston

Mark Sirett

-formed in 1996

-consists of seven choirs: Junior Choir, Children’s Choir, Young Women’s Choir, Young Men’s Chorus, Youth Singers, Women’s Chorus, Men’s Chorus.

-over 250 voices

- known for providing high standard performance and quality choral literature

-choral season consists of five themed concerts with invited guests of national and international acclaim.

-All seven choirs participate in season concerts.

-repertoire consists of old and new songs from Canada and around the world.

- 19^th choral season titled “postcards” will launch in November 2014

Mark Sirett:

-a Kingston native

-Queens University Graduate

-Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy from University of Iowa

-won two international awards, and several others

-also an award winning composer

-his works are frequently performed by some of Canada’s leading ensembles

Five repertoire recommendations:

-all of these pieces are new compositions by Mark Sirett

1.      It Is Good To Give Thanks – this piece can be used as a new anthem for Thanksgiving praise. It is an easy and accessible work that can be used for the average church choir.  

2.      Immortal Love- this piece was composed in honor of Dr. F. R. C. Clarke, a noted church musician and Canadian composer. This piece is moderately easy, yet delivers a powerful statement of faith and hope. Thus making it acceptable and effective to use for less advanced choirs.

3.      Beltane-A Branch of May- this piece can be used for a children’s or women’s choir, a SATB choir and chamber orchestra. It is a major concert work, running approximately twenty minutes. This is a more difficult piece that can be used as a good pedagogical tool to increase the choir’s skills in the process of preparing for a more serious performance.

4.      The Curragh of Kildare- a traditional Irish folksong. This piece is fairly easy and can be used in concert setting to balance out the difficulty of more difficult pieces.

5.      Every Child Has Known God- this piece is a treble work based on a spiritual by a Persian Poet, Hafiz. I chose this piece because it can be equally effective for children’s, teens and women’s voices, thus providing one with much flexibility for use with different ages and choirs. 

TEDTalk by Itay Talgam, Lead Like the Great Conductors.

I really liked how Talgam discussed different characteristics and techniques of different conductors. I think it is human nature to think more in terms of conformity, because for the most part it makes life run a lot smoother. However, there are so many different ways to do different things, like conducting for example. When I think about the various ways to conduct, I imagine a snowflake. Strange yes, but think about the various different points a snowflake has. Now picture each different point of the snowflake representing a different technique for conducting; possibly one for each different characteristic presented by each composer discussed in the video. Each point (technique) is connected, the characteristics woven together and interlocked, creating the very centre of the snowflake, and thus representing the "perfect" composer. I put perfect in quotations because each ensemble is different and may required slightly more of one technique than another. But even if one cannot reach the dead centre of this snowflake, I think to be in the general centre area would be suffice since neither single technique/strategy is 100 percent correct (or 100 percent wrong either). And to me that is what Talgam was trying to explain in his video. That sometimes you have to be serious, and other times happy. Sometimes you can be very lose and light in keeping time, while other times you must be very strict. Having a perfect blend of these characteristics and knowing which to use more prominently at the appropriate times is an important part of being a good conductor.

Welcome!

Hello,
    Welcome to my first ever blog, where everything and anything choral/choir related is presented and discussed with fellow students in the Bachelor of Music Education program at Memorial University. It's going to be a choralific ride of fun and learning! So stay tuned and enjoy :)