Dear March, come in!

Welcome, solfeggists!

As I look out my window today, I could easily be hoodwinked into believing that spring has arrived in Denver -- but, I've lived here long enough to know this is almost certainly just a tease.  I grew up on the west coast, and by now, we'd be at the end of crocus season and the daffodils would be raring to take over with tulips close on their heels, but here....not so much.  However, the 60-degree weather is a welcome change, though I know it's only for the next few days (for you non-Coloradans out there, I like to think of Denver as the only place I know where people could reasonably dream of a White Easter and probably eat their Thanksgiving Dinner on their outdoor picnic table later the same year...it's a weird place)....I have to make the most of bits of spring as they come here, since there's often just a stark segue from the last April or May blizzard directly into summer.

So, let's find some springtime music to enjoy!

Rising Level 2's


Here's a recording to listen to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf6P2K_uXH8

(There are plenty of other recordings of this piece on YouTube, and feel free to choose another one if you like it better)

Try to figure out the rhythmic pattern you're hearing before you look at the score below - note that the meter isn't constant and that the pattern seems to be anacrusic.  Speak the rhythmic pattern in tas and ta-tis, then transcribe it.

Check your transcribed rhythm against the score here:


http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/74/Lejeune_Revecy.pdf

What metric decisions did you make aurally?  Do they differ from the notation here?  How?

Now, sing through the various parts in solfa -- nothing too difficult, yes?  Almost completely diatonic (the odd fi and di pop up, but nothing earth-shattering), and lots of stepwise motion. What do you notice about the texture throughout the piece.

Finally, read this little Wikipedia write-up on the genre this piece is frequently used to exemplify in music history classes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_mesurée

So yeah, it's a piece about spring, but evidently it was also one more weapon in the arsenal of a bunch of French guys looking to save the world through music.  Some commentators have also said that the  rhythmic pattern of this little ditty (though the same pattern is also found in Latin American dances) was actually Bernstein's inspiration for writing this piece...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjy9acXwovE

Rising Level 3's


Listen to this lovely tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjJzPok_qmE

After one time through the whole recording, I bet you'll be able to derive the form of each strophe -- what is the form?  What is the meter?  How long does each phrase last?

Now that you have that information, listen a few more times and put each line into solfa.  Which line has the chromatic bit?  What interval does the chromatic syllable create with the note it is approached by?  How does the singer in the recording treat the chromatic note?

Memorize the melody.  Transcribe it in a key comfortable for your voice.

Now, look at this score:

(higher voices)
http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c0/IMSLP46772-PMLP99648-Mozart_-_Sehnsucht_nach_dem_Fr__hlinge__K_596.pdf

(lower voices)
http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/0/0e/IMSLP115749-PMLP99648-Mozart_-_Sehnsucht_MV_rsl.pdf

Does your solfa line up with what you see here?

Now, notice how simple the accompaniment is...you probably discerned that from the recording (although the pianist there added some fancy stuff), and maybe you even saw this phase of the assignment coming...

Do a quick Roman numeral analysis of the accompaniment, including figured bass.

Now, either working from your figured bass (which might prove to be easier) or from the score, accompany yourself as you sing the memorized melody in solfa.  If that's easy, transpose to a new key.

Rising Level 4's


Listen to this piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhxgM84Th8&feature=related

Listen to the whole thing the first time to get a sense of what happens in the piece.  Then, focus on the first statement of the melody by the sopranos and altos.  What is the metric structure of this theme -- is there one meter throughout, or are there several (hint: watch the conductor...he's extremely clear!)?  What is the tonal language being used?

The words (drawn from the Song of Solomon in the Bible) are:

Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south;
Blow upon my garden
That the spices may flow out
That the spices flow out
Let my beloved come into his garden
And eat his pleasant fruits.


Memorize the theme (upper part when it splits briefly) with the words.  Notice that it is treated imitatively later in the piece -- what do you think this depicts?

Now for the tricky part -- try to solmize this.  It won't be easy, but I bet you can do it.  You have my permission to use piano to help yourself if you get reeeeeeeeally stuck, but try to go without it as much as possible.  Here are my hints:

You will probably be tempted to call the first leap in the melody mi-la.  You can do that, but it'll mean you'll need to use fi several times later on.  However, the good news is that that's the only chromatic syllable you'll need at all -- and you won't even need that if you call the first leap la-re.

The first note and last note of the tune are the same.

The highest note in the piece is an octave and a fifth above the starting note.

If you successfully solmize the whole theme, you should transcribe it and send it to me and I will tell you that you're wonderful and send you a prize.  No, seriously, I will.

Good luck, all, and have a fantastic week!

Going on

Hello all,

So, I find myself at the end of my concert season (just one more show this weekend, and as a just plain choral singer), and it's been a wild ride this year. Good work has been done, obstacles overcome, friendships grown stronger, experience gained. It's been hard, and I imagine many of us feel the same weariness.

Over the past few weeks, my attention has been drawn to a sort of lousy habit of mine...I dwell. I get hung up on something, and I let it become my whole reality. Not only is this exhausting, it's almost always completely counterproductive. Sure, people need to talk about things and process things, but hanging on so, well....it seems....ill-advised. Interestingly (and, as life goes, appropriately), one of the biggest, most consuming projects of the year contains this lyric by Stephen Schwartz:

When the thunder rumbles
Now the Age of Gold is dead
And the dreams we've clung to dying to stay young
Have left us parched and old instead…
When my courage crumbles
When I feel confused and frail
When my spirit falters on decaying altars
And my illusions fail,
I go on right then.
I go on again.
I go on to say
I will celebrate another day…
I go on…

If tomorrow tumbles
And everything I love is gone
I will face regret
All my days, and yet
I will still go on…

It's hard to keep going. It's hard to bounce back, especially when the thing that seems like it's going the most wrong is also the thing you wanted and needed most to go right. Loss happens. Injustice happens. Deals are broken. The only thing to do is to go on, look toward the future, take the education of unfortunate events for what it is, and call upon the people in your life who love and support you. And soon, things will look better. Why? Because re-invention happens. New pathways can be found. New relationships will be forged.

A very wise friend of mine once told me years ago when I complained that it felt like people were lining up just to be able to fight with me: "Yes, but if you look around, you'll see that there are just as many people lining up to help you." He's right. And the hardest part is to just convince yourself to take that look, because if we allow trouble and bad situations to become our reality, we'll miss out on the opportunities for resolution.

Rising Level 2's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_MENDELSSOHN_ANLIEGEN.pdf

Look at the bass line first. Check your key signature and meter, but then try to just forge ahead. You'll encounter a D-flat in the last line -- call it "ta" for now. Next, look at the soprano line. Knowing what you know about the bass line, do you anticipate any modulations? Sing through it. Repeat this procedure for the inner voices. Then, if you're feeling like a little warm-up for the summer, do a quick Roman numeral analysis of the diatonic chords only. Next, look at the chromatic chords, and see if you can find a justification for each of them...meaning: do they resolve? What is their quality? Any idea about how to label them?

Rising Level 3's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_A_GABRIELI_ALLELUIA.pdf

Carefully examine your key signature and meter before you begin, but try to just read through each voice. When you encounter an accidental, see what your instinct tells you to do -- make a snap decision about whether to modulate the first time around, but then go back and see if you think it might have been easier to do things another way.

Rising Level 4's

Take a look at this score:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_J_HAYDN_DER_GREIS.pdf

....while you listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPvk0gOaM8&feature=related

What do your ears tell you about the chromaticism, especially the more adventurous bits? Print out the score and listen again, marking the bits where you definitely feel you may be in a different key than indicated by the signature. Next, read through the soprano part, and see if you can change keys at the places you've marked successfully. Repeat with the other voices. If you're feeling adventurous, do a Roman numeral analysis of the score and discover what sorts of modulation Mr. Haydn used.

Enjoy!

Fluency and Immersion

Hello, my faithful readers!

Well, I missed another week....naughty, naughty. I have good excuses, related to Holy Week, the Bernstein Mass, and some annoying health-related woes, but nobody likes a whiner, right? Onward and upward!

During aforementioned Holy Week, I was privy to some quite good sermonizing on the part of the clergy at my current gig....and I must say, the speakers at this gig really are a cut above. You know it must be something kind of special if I keep on stealing material...sincerest form of flattery and all that jazz, yes?

Anyhow, at Easter Vigil, the preacher talked about language acquisition, and naturally, my ears perked up. His language up for discussion was Spanish, and specifically, how he really wants to learn Spanish, and he can decline and conjugate and memorize vocabulary with the best of them (being, as he is, a scholar and teacher of Hellenistic Greek), but what he feels is the missing link in his linguistic learning experience is immersion. Immersion is the gateway to fluency.

The speaker went on to tell a story about a friend of his who learned formal Castilian Spanish in the classroom, and considered himself quite accomplished in the language, and then he up and moved to Nicaragua and guess what...all his vocabulary and skill was essentially non-functional in that environment. He toughed it out, but had an incredibly hard go of it for a long time -- months, maybe longer. Then, it's the part of the story you already know if you've had an immersive linguistic experience: he woke up one morning, and he suddenly understood. He was thinking, speaking, even dreaming in the language of his surroundings. Having had a small taste of that experience myself, I couldn't stop smiling through that part of the story, even though I knew it was coming. Why? Because that feeling of finally getting it, of finally fitting into the rhythm of what is around you, of not having to struggle for every word anymore feels SO GOOD. I remember it as euphoric, no exaggeration, and my own experience was just a small transition from idiot American to barely functional temporary expat. But, when my teeny-tiny functional Hungarian vocabulary became second nature, I was completely delighted, and I have a suspicion that a linguistic neophyte has kind of an advantage in these matters, because the jump from one plateau to the next must be similar each time, and the joy must be just as wonderful and just as surprising each time.

You probably already know where I'm going with this.

Why do I fuss at you for writing in all your solfa or for wanting to read things on a neutral syllable before you "add solfa" or for not keeping tuning forks on your person, etc.? Why am I so picky about things that don't seem to matter? Because it's about immersion. And, the difference between learning a language and learning to be fluent in solfa is that you have music to interact with everywhere, all the time, all around you. It can certainly be helpful to have other people around you to help reinforce the immersiveness of your experience in daily life, but you can actually opt to be immersed in solfa anytime you want.

Really.

I know it for sure...because I was the kid on the trampoline in my backyard with a hymnal and a Casio keyboard to give me starting pitches (this was before my first encounter of the tuning fork kind). Granted, that's a little extreme, and definitely very homeschooled of me, but I know that's the time it took for me to get from stumbling over re, fa, and la to being able to apply the syllables instantaneously. The same thing happened when I was in college and struggling with dictation -- I just made myself solfa everything I heard and then write some of it down. I opted in for an immersive experience in my daily life, and it took some mental discipline and some time, but mostly it just took me making the decision. It didn't cost me any money. It took a lot less time than I thought. It just took me committing to it, buying in, deciding I wanted it, and choosing to pay attention to what I heard all the time. And the best part of all? Once you have it, it's yours. You get to keep it, and it doesn't go away, and no one can take it away. The more you do it, the happier and more empowered it will make you. Check it out: personal fulfillment, happiness, and empowerment, courtesy of Guido d'Arezzo, a dude who's been dead for 1100 years. It doesn't get any better than that.

So, this week:

All Levels:

Make an immersive decision, just one, every day this week. Stop yourself when you hear a tune you like (even if it's something you already know), solfa it, and write it down. Pick up a piece of music, any piece you like, and read it in solfa. Then read another part in solfa. Then tap one and read the other. Switch.

You can do this. It just takes time, and making the decision. Who knows? You might become addicted! Don't say I didn't warn you!

We wait...

Hello, patient solfeggists!

Being performers, I'm sure you all know something about post-concert let-down. The glut of adrenaline left behind in your system from working way too hard begins to process out, the noise and activity dies down, and there you are....just you. No more concert. It happened. You did the work. It's over.

And then, thump! That's the sound of you dropping back into reality.

It's been that week in my world, although not completely. The Colorado Conductors' Chorus had their first winter concert last night, and they have their second this evening, and then next weekend is a University Singers' concert/mini-retreat to Winter Park, and the following weekend is the Denver Gay Men's Chorus retreat. So, it's necessary to keep up some level of adrenaline, but it's hard to keep the level of adrenaline compatible with the level of activity required. It reminds me of counting rests or taking 2-part dictation -- you have to be just present enough with both your own task and the sound world that's going on around you. If you lose track of either, you'll blow the entrance or miss what happens to the other voice. Rushing is just as bad as dragging. It's the art of being present, which has a lot to do with waiting....and I don't mind confessing to you, my dear readers, that I suck at waiting. I guess that means it's time to practice...and as usual, I'll drag you poor, hapless people into it, too.

Rising Level 2's

Let's have some fun with Ottman rhythms, shall we?

pp. 250-251 (15.1-15.19) is your realm, with these stipulations:

-You must set up the meter and tempo AND conduct throughout.

-Use a metronome (nooooooooo!!!) for at least five of the exercises you do.

-Choose tempi that make the syncopations feel convincing.

-If there are articulation marks, you must follow them.

Rising Level 3's

I think you all might find this tricky, but knowing you guys, you'll relish the challenge...

Ottman pp. 252-253 (15.27-15.38)

-You must set up the meter and tempo.

-To make things easier and more interesting, use one timbre for one voice and a different one for the other (meaning voice/hand or two hands on two different surfaces, i.e. right hand taps on a table and left hand taps your knee).

-Use a metronome (noooooooooo!!!) for at least three of the exercises you do.

-Choose tempi that make the syncopations feel convincing (meaning don't automatically choose a slower tactus for 6/4 vs. 6/8 unless it makes musical sense to do so).

Rising Level 4's

Since y'all are such hot stuff...

Ottman: 15.107, 15.112, and 15.114

Step 1: Treat each example as a 2-part rhythmic exercise (follow procedure above)

Step 2: Treat the top voice of each example as a melodic exercise (but be sure to conduct!)

Step 3: Tap the lower voice as you sing the upper voice

(Optional Step 4: Play the lower voice on piano as you sing the upper voice)

As always, feel free to choose an easier or harder assignment depending on how you're feeling this week.

And, if you're interested, here's my new waiting soundtrack...

Bernstein: Mass (Marin Alsop, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Jubilant Sykes)

Track 23: Epistle "The Word of the Lord"

At the risk of sounding hopelessly subversive, here's my favorite line from the piece:

So we wait in silent treason until reason is restored....

We wait.

Cooperation makes it happen

My dear friends:

It occurs to me today that I am extremely lucky.

School started back up this past Monday, which means a return to the helter-skelter busyness of my commuter-student lifestyle. And, a lot of big events are looming on the horizon, so there's a lot to think about. However, my path in the past week has been littered with little collaborative miracles. For example:

A colleague of mine completed a choral piece he wrote for my grad student choir to sing and for me to conduct and brought the first copy to our little basement office, and now I get to begin the process of helping to bring it to life. I think this is about the coolest thing ever.

A whole group of my choral pals and I gathered one evening to pool our collective skills for a listening/logistics/pedagogical strategizing party for an upcoming performance of the Bernstein Mass. Imagine: 9 conductors and 1 professional singer all in a room for the purpose of listening to a major choral work and deciding how best to handle its various challenges, and everyone not only contributed positively to the conversation, everyone had a good time.

And moments ago, a friend of mine who lived down the hall from me in a certain Hungarian monastery emailed me a document with an exhaustive poetic translation and analysis she'd put together for me, someone she hasn't seen or really spoken to in years. Why? Because I asked, and that's just the kind of person she is.

So, it seems that the fabric of this blockbuster of a semester is already shot through with threads of phenomenal generosity -- generosity of time, effort, and spirit, and I'm already amazed. It gives me hope, and it fills me with gratitude, and I'm hoping to spin this week's assignment to give all of you a chance to give and receive in this same spirit.

Rising Level 2's

Make a call or shoot an email to one of your classmates to see if s/he will be your buddy for this assignment. If you can't find a buddy, I'll happily fill in!

Prepare the following Ottmans:

8.20, 8.21, 8.26, 8.27

Make a phone date or two with your buddy and sing the melodies for one another. Encourage and help each other out, and offer helpful feedback. Share any tricks you used with your buddy. Then, take a few minutes and catch up on life!

Rising Level 3's

Make a call or shoot an email to one of your classmates to she if s/he will be your buddy for this assignment. If you can't find a buddy, I'll happily fill in!

Prepare the following Ottmans:

13.37, 13.38 (to modulate or not to modulate on the 3rd line....that is the question....), 13,39, 13.40

Make a phone date or two with your buddy and sing the melodies for one another. Decide whether to modulate or not and discuss the advantages to your choice. Encourage and help each other out, and offer helpful feedback. Share any tricks you used with your buddy. Then, take a few minutes and catch up on life!

Rising Level 4's

Make a call or shoot an email to one of your classmates to she if s/he will be your buddy for this assignment. If you can't find a buddy, I'll happily fill in!

Prepare the following Ottmans:

16.43, 16.44 (work on it in 4/4, but try to make it into 2/2, as notated) 16.48 (conduct, and don't go too fast!), and 16.51 (look at the whole thing before choosing your tempo)

Make a phone date or two with your buddy and sing the melodies for one another. If you think you'd like to modulate, discuss that decision with your buddy and see if s/he agrees. Encourage and help each other out, and offer helpful feedback. Share any tricks you used with your buddy. Then, take a few minutes and catch up on life!

Enjoy!