Ten Years to this Day

I am a singer.

There have been many moments in my life where I have wavered on accepting this title. But after 10 years of blogging, and over 20 years of choral singing, I know that who I am at my core is a singer. It is a huge component of my identity. Singing is an expressive means for me to communicate. While it is my pleasure to work with patients on discovering their communicative voice as a Speech-Language Pathologist, singing has always been and will continue to be my expressive mode of communication.

There is a overwhelming gratitude I feel towards the blog for holding me accountable to my passion: choral music. For the past 10 years, I have shared my thoughts while going through an artistic process and relayed these discoveries with my readers. In recent years, the blog has also developed into a platform where I am able to share the work of other singers, composers, conductors, organizations, and choirs as well. It is staggering to articulate the significance this blog has served for me, as well as others, over this past decade. I have enjoyed looking through my posts and photos to assemble some of my favorite moments. It's also exciting to look towards the future and contemplate what new projects, pieces of repertoire, singers, conductors, and composers I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting.

Please enjoy this anniversary post and my apologies in advance since I'm certain people have been missed from this sampling of content. Regardless, thank-you, dear readers, for continuing to read my choral musings.

10 Year anniversary by Sable C

Listed below are 20 significant posts on The Choir Girl Blog over the past 10 year. Many of them signal a change in my role as an artist, thinking, or direction at each chronological time point in the blog.


1. Camp: A Rite of Passage

2. We'll Sing Anywhere

3. Choir Uniforms Do's and Don'ts

4. Arrival of the Virtual Choir 2.0

5. ESO Reviews

6. Making the Cut

7. Sh*t Choristers Say-An Interview with the Vancouver Cantata Singers

8. Tweet Me. Embracing Social Media at Podium 2012

9. Opera Girl

10. Painting the Nightingale

11. The Culture of Fear in Rehearsals 

12. Epilogue: Life after the Circus  

13. Dear, Opera Chorus

14. Backstage at Madama Butterfly 

15. I'm a bit of a hippie: An Interview with Cy Giacomin 

16. Interview with the Queen of the Night and Sarastro, Teiya Kasahara and Neil Craighead 

17. Podium 2016 Social Media Team  

18. National Youth Choir Class of 2016  

19. An Interview with Jane Berry 

20. The Formation of FEMME

An Interview with Sound Artist, Raimundo Gonzalez

“I call myself a sound artist,” says Raimundo Gonzalez with a calm confidence. There is no internal struggle as he declares this label for himself. At the same time, that simple noun phrase feels inadequate to encapsulate the complexity of his musical interests. While he does work with the choral palette in his compositions, he does not see himself as solely a choral composer.

For Gonzalez, his compositional process is guided by what he wishes to communicate. He explains that he has a concept of what he wants to say, but depending on what that message is, the medium changes. “If I wanted to work with text, then a great medium would be an art song or choral. If I'm working with a painting, and I want to make a sonic representation [of the canvas], I would try other mediums such as electroacoustic music or sound improvisation,” he states with passion. Gonzalez describes how sound improvisation explores the aesthetics of sound and how individual sounds can be presented in organized and unorganized combinations. Gonzalez is cognizant of how challenging it is to incorporate technology in a way that is still accessible for audiences. He wishes to demystify much of the electronic complexity that is hidden under the hood of computer. “I want to bring technology in a form that is still expressive and something that people can relate to and enjoy,” Gonzalez explains. One such tool is using visual feedback. Making the compositional process visible aids in audience understanding.

Born in Santiago, Chile, Gonzalez had musical exposure to many different types of music in his formative years such as piano, sacred church music, death metal, and folk music. Gonzalez’s musical start took the form of singing and playing piano. By the age of 16, he began composing music. Gonzalez takes a moment of silent contemplation while he muses on his desire to pursue composition: “Creativity is the highest form of knowledge.” This statement is paraphrased from his father. “Basically, I was always creating. I was never just performing. I was always performing, learning, and writing at the same time.” Gonzalez challenged familial expectations by pursuing music performance and composition within the academic sphere. “My Dad wanted me to be a Doctor. Even though he loves music, he never supported me being a composer… it took a while for him to open up and start listening,” he reveals. Gonzalez completed his Undergraduate in composition, classical piano, and jazz guitar performance at the Instituto Escuela Moderna de Musica in Santiago before moving to Edmonton to complete a Master's degree in Music Composition from the University of Alberta. His parents didn’t show up to hear his musical work until Gonzalez had moved to Canada. “I had to fight my own way through music. It wasn’t a decision that was supported but something I did for myself. It was challenging in a good way,” Gonzalez states with a tone of quiet determination.

Choral music plays an important role within Gonzalez’s diverse sound interests. While he identifies as a sound artist, he is drawn to using the choral sound. “I love the human voice. I think it's an instrument with endless possibilities. It is not only the instrument I perform with but one that provides me with a palette of sonic colors I can work with,” he states. Gonzalez did not begin choral singing until he was pursuing his Masters at the U of A. “The first choir that I joined was [The University of Alberta MadrigalSingers] and the first piece we sang was Haydn’s Creation. The shock of singing in harmony was mind-blowing. There’s that blend of voices becoming one as a [choral sound object],” he states with a palpable excitement.

Gonzalez’s main choral work is entitled, My Soul, with the textual inspiration coming from the Matthew 26:38 phrase:

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

“It represents a moment of a [Jesus Christ] experiencing loneliness. I think it’s a very powerful thought to think that a strong and inspirational individual can experience weakness and express it. It makes you realize they're still human... Ultimately, [loneliness] is a universal truth. It’s an emotion that is not always dealt with and it is good to externalize it,” he explains as a motive for the work before continuing. “There are two sides to the piece: there is the announcement of loneliness but there is the desire for company and there is an uplifting feeling to that - a sensation of embrace.” It is clear that Gonzalez wishes to negotiate an overlap between the two worlds of choral and avant-garde music. He has done this by employing compositional tools like aleatoricism in My Soul.

It is clear that Gonzalez does not intend to be confined by a specific medium when it comes to sound expression. “There is a lot of judgment in what an artist has to do to be a part of a certain collection of work. If you are an experimental composer, everything has to be experimental. If you’re a choral composer, then everything has to be tonal. There’s a certain expectation that if you try things are too different, you don't know what you're doing. I disagree because I feel humans have different means of expression and degrees of complexity depending on what they want to say. I'm trying to be an integral human being in my works and not represent one sole genre,” he states in a wise tone.

“How do you view your role as a composer when views of music are changing?” I ask.

Gonzalez expires his remaining reserves of air before tackling my question: “The size of what music is nowadays is so huge. It's impossible to keep up with everything. I'm just a composer, one individual, trying to make a comment on one community… I try to create an awareness of sound as being a physical phenomenon that we don't think about enough.” 

Gonzalez asks himself a guiding question when initiating the catalyst for any new project:

“What is it that I wish I could experience?”

It stems from a desire to expand the paradigm of a listener and introduce an experience the audience didn’t think was possible. “I’ve worked a lot with biometrics - sensors that use information that comes from natural systems like pulse sensors or an EEG machine. I had an installation where a whole room was connected to a set of lights. Once an individual entered the room and placed their hand on panel, the whole room would light up with their heartbeat. The listener would get to listen to their heart and experience it through different sounds and lights,” he explains with a concrete example.

There is an established sense of identity as Gonzalez prepares to move to Edinburgh in the Fall to pursue a Masters in Science and Acoustics. His aim is to continue developing as an Acoustician and Composer. “You want to have your voice so people can recognize you but, at the same time, be consistent with yourself. If you’re really interested in the message of what you want to say, you have to find a way for the audience to understand it without losing yourself,” he states as a constant struggle. It is hard to not to feel inspired upon hearing Gonzalez describe his greatest challenge, which is also his greatest motivator, as he contemplates his future with promise.

A Chorister's Faith in Music

Pro Coro has been busy rehearing with the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers in preparation for our Good Friday concert together featuring works by Composer, Paul Mealor. Mealor has traveled to Edmonton and is in Canada for the first time to hear his works sung by PCC and MAD's. It is always a treat to have a composer actually part of the rehearsal process to provide context and clarification for the work they have written.

In addition to sitting in on rehearsals, Mealor presented a lecture on Faith and Music earlier in the week. He outlined the meticulous construction, symbols, shape, imagery, and thought process behind his works, such as Salvator Mundi, O vos omnes, and Stabat Mater. Mealor began with a disclaimer to the audience to not fear because there would be no undertones of religious recruitment during his lecture. Mealor stated this with a smile and the audience chuckled.

Mealor highlighted some of the techniques he uses in his pieces such as using contrasting dissonances in chords to create a sense of suffering or how many sharps and flats there are in the key signature to symbolize the cross, trinity, or five wounds of Christ. In Mealor's Stabat Mater, the poetic text details the sorrow of the Mother Mary at the base of the cross weeping for her crucified son.



I have a great amount of respect for the history and role of sacred choral music in our society. I cannot ignore the electric tingle buzzing beneath my skin when I hear some moving sacred music. Regardless of religion, faith or spirituality, music has the power to deliver and amplify a message. Music connects to individuals who are listening. I have faith in music. 

Over the past few days since hearing Mealor's lecture and working on his pieces in rehearsal, I have been given time to just sit and meditate on a musical work. All my fellow choristers are on the same musical frequency and its signal is strengthened because the Mealor is physically present to connect us to the thoughts in his mind and music.

It is a moment to be grateful as a performer to have a reflective moment of connection.

If you are free this Friday at 7:30 PM, you know where I'll be singing.

A Leap of Faith - An Interview with Canadian Choral Composer, Jason Noble

 

Braving the icy chill from Edmonton's abrupt onset of Winter composer, Jason Noble, shakes off the bite of the windchill as he enters the warm surroundings of Remedy Café.  He sits down to discuss the premiere of his newest choral work, Missa Remissionem Peccatorum. Pro Coro Canada sings the debut of the piece at their concert on Sunday. In addition to his work as a choral composer, Noble is a musician and PhD researcher at McGill's Music Perception and Cognition Lab. Noble sings with voces boreales, a professional choral ensemble founded by Pro Coro's Artistic Director, Michael Zaugg. Missa Remissionem Peccatorum is Noble's largest choral work to date. Drawing upon his previous history with Zaugg as a singer, Noble states that it gave him a better perspective when writing a piece for one of Zaugg's choirs. "Zaugg has a compositional approach to conducting. He looks at scores so analytically. There might be sixteen independent lines going on at one time and he helps choirs see harmonic underpinnings, understand global textural effects, and how each note functions in terms of the overall sonority.  As a composer, that is how we would look at a score too,'" Noble says with a tone of deep appreciation. "He's also very passionate about contemporary music," Noble continues,  "to have somebody gifted at bringing out inner intentions and the compositional structure of a piece... it was a real gift," Noble states as he reminisces about his time when Zaugg conducting voces boreales in Montreal before moving to Edmonton.

This Sunday will not be the first time in which Pro Coro has premiered one of Noble’s works. "The first piece that I wrote for Michael was The Shadows Flee Away which Pro Coro did over a year ago. I think everybody would agree it was a difficult piece. It was 16 parts throughout with polytonal layering, lots of textures, and [Pro Coro] did a great job," he states.  "As much as I was happy with that piece, it helped me grow as a composer," he says.

Taking what he learned from that experience, Noble kept what worked and applied it to the Missa Remissionem Peccatorum.  As a result, there is some continuity between the two works. "In the beginning of the Gloria, for example, there are just four notes sustained but every singer is articulating the text at their own free pace. Later the Sopranos and Altos have this canon where there is a floating texture above and in the tenors and basses there is more of a homophonic chorale," he says before apologizing and continuing with a burst of explanatory excitement. "Basically, you've got two textures going on at the same time. One is the sparkly texture over top and the bottom appears as a unified statement of familiar chords.  Also, the crossfades where you have one choir decrescendo as the other choir does exactly the opposite with a crescendo," he explains. There is intent behind every aspect of Noble's musical construction: "There may be a straightforward D flat major chord but one of the voices on the third may make it major or minor. Other voices may move in microtonal intervals that are not major or minor but more like a band in pitch space. It is this destabilizing thing that takes you out of familiar harmony.  It is that moment of trepidation and instability which the audience will feel as much as the singers." There is also a section where singers are instructed to sing their lowest comfortable note. The pitch descends into a “black cloud of undefined sound,” ridding the section of any harmonic identity. These are all techniques that Noble uses to highlight the textual meaning in the piece. 

There are challenges associated with setting sacred text for secular audiences and still making it relevant. Noble casts a contemplative look downwards while he formulates his loci of thought into words: "Liturgical composers in earlier eras could just accept the text as something the audiences both know and believe. We live in a multicultural age now. Where we have people from all different backgrounds of faith and no faith. It would very naive to assume modern audiences will receive these texts as universal truths or as affirmations of unifying faith as audiences from previous eras might have. I think a lot of composers in the 20th and 21st centuries cut themselves off from tradition, whether that is musical or religious. The idea of complete renovation. Something radically new and different. I believe that we still have a lot to learn from the wisdom that has been handed down to us through the ages. The emphasis on the now and the new may be the sources of problems we face in the world today. Maybe those previous generations knew a few things that we would do well to learn from, including the teachings of faith. I try to find values in those teachings that are morally legitimate, even in the world today, without alienating people from any background.  For me, the concept of forgiveness is one of the most powerful ones. I don't want us to live in a world that loses the ability to forgive.  As opposed to radical individualism, where you're only thinking about yourself and your own needs. We all make mistakes and I want to believe that we can still forgive others and ourselves even in a secular world.”

The concept of forgiveness is poignant in Noble’s Kyrie section.  "The movement is about the confrontation with sin. Sin is the recognition of having done wrong in whatever moral sense that means to you. That sense of shame and self-reproach that is familiar to most people. The Kyrie is not a prayer to some sort of deity or God, although it can be interpreted that way if you wish, it's more of a hope that wrong can be set right. And wrong, once done, doesn't have to define you forever or be irreparable. Mercy is essentially a hope this can heal. Not a literal request for somebody to set things right for you. Just a hope and faith in the universe and in other people that forgiveness and reconciliation is still possible even wrong has been done," Noble summarizes with a philosophical fluency.

There is a sense of balance while Noble outlines how his personal upbringing has shaped his worldview: “I wasn’t brought up in a church-going family. My parents wanted me to grow up and make up my own mind. Now I sing in a Cathedral Choir, so I have more exposure to the teachings of Christianity than I did as a child. I think I take it in the same way I take philosophy books or other works of Art whether secular or sacred. All of them have something to teach me. All of them have something meaningful and beautiful that I can make meaningful in my own life. It’s not about which one is right or wrong. It’s about finding the value and meaning in all of them that come together in my own personal worldview. I'm hoping to convey something through the selection of text and through the music that I write.”

Art communicates through the transmission of meaning from one mind to another. This concept ties in with Noble’s research at McGill where he investigates the processes of thinking and interpreting that are common between people. Even though there are breakdowns in the message between his compositional intent and audiences, he notes that the process is a leap of faith. “As a composer, I know that meaning is always interpreted against a subjective context that is constantly evolving for everybody. By definition, it is impossible that the meaning that I have in my mind while writing is going to be the same for any one member of the audience let alone all of them,” he says while laughing at this lofty goal.

Noble views himself as a top down composer: “I don’t start with motives and materials and build something up out of them. I start with global intuition and feeling I am trying to work with. From that intuition, I get a sense of form. And then down from there into selecting materials that are appropriate to the concepts I am working with. Form and material and concept are all very interwoven with one another. There are still lots of choices to make, if I ever get it right!” he says while laughing before continuing. “What I want the work to be is clear from the beginning. If it is not clear, then I spend lot of time meditating on what I am trying to achieve. In the pieces I am most proud of, the musical choices follow almost as a matter of course once that concept is worked out.  I try to restrain myself from moving on until the concept is very clear. To the point where it’s almost self-propelling and the process unfolds where I feel like an observer and not an agent. That doesn't happen every single time but it happens at the best times,” he states in describing his compositional process.

There is an importance in how new music can document contemporary cultural identity: “We live in an age where identify is very plural and divided. In a big way, one of the reasons why I want to be a composer and write works like this is to draw attention to values that stand apart from the general cultural and moral currents around me. It would be far easier to produce music in a popular domain, using techniques, which are known to be popular. I don't want Art to be a commodity. I don’t want it to be something that’s just there to give people what they ask for because they ask for it. If you do that, then you just reinforcing people in what they already know. Which means Art will never move forward. Art will just become the perpetual recycling of things that are already known to be pleasant, and that’s not how new meanings are discovered. Our age deserves to have a unique voice. Our age deserves to have an expression through Art that documents and expresses what is unique about being alive today. How our age is not the same as ages past. What are the challenges we face? What are the feelings that we deal with? I don’t believe the best way to achieve that is by using the materials earlier musical ages have generated. But, at the same time, Art loses its power altogether if it’s written in a way that too esoteric or arcane that people can’t relate to. I don’t want to be a strictly academic composer that is only writing for my colleagues in the University while the rest of the world is unaware.  I want to write thing that have the potential to reach out to people but challenge them. Open their eyes to things that might not familiar or comfortable. I hope, by my leap of faith, that they find meaning in,” he summates, highlighting many of the themes from the conversation.

There is an overwhelming sense of gratitude when a Noble professes how honoured he is when a choir gives his music a voice. He clenches his fist in front of his chest, "it lives in here for months," he says before noting the sense of release he feels when he hears it live for the first time. “I really admire Pro Coro. I think it’s great you have a performing ensemble of this caliber here in Edmonton and that you do take on these challenging projects and master them to the degree that you do,” he says with affection. Thus, it was fitting that Noble’s opening statement to the choir at rehearsal on Friday night was just simply: “I love you.”

Behind the Spotlight with Canadian Composer, Matthew Emery

--> "I don't like to be the centre of attention... I am more comfortable with writing and somebody else taking it into the world," Canadian Composer, Matthew Emery reveals to me during our interview at Choral Canada's Podium 2014 conference. 

In fact, the opposite of Emery's aversion to the spotlight was occurring over the four day conference. His piece, Lover's Chant, won the 2014 Competition for Choral Writing and was premiered by 2014 National Youth Choir/Chœur National des Jeunes at Podium 2014. Furthermore, professional choirs such as the Canadian Chamber Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Vancouver Chamber Choir, and Elmer Iseler Singers have already been programming Emery's work to bring awareness to his works. Not bad for somebody convocating from his UBC Undergraduate degree in Composition program that coming Wednesday.

--> Sitting in the lobby of the Westin Hotel, Emery emits a poised and calm exterior; however, it is evident there is a constant stream of interior cerebral activity. As Emery begins by musing whether or not he should buy a last minute ticket to Vancouver and crash the UBC Music reception on Wednesday, I realize that I am speaking to Emery at the transition point from student to full-time Composer. 
Emery sang in Elementary, Highschool, and Amabile Choirs in his hometown of London ON before moving to Vancouver to complete his Undergrad in Composition where he also sang with the UBC University Singers . Most recently, he was singing with Larry Nickel in Jubilate while living in Vancouver. Emery traces his start in composition to Grade 10 when he began experimenting with chords on the piano and writing them down. From there he began pondering how pieces could be better or what he would like to sing as a chorister.

"If you don't sing in a choir, you won't be able to write for choir very well," he states with a gentle bluntness. 
Emery feels that he is conservative in all of his own writing. "I might throw in a gliss or something in my next piece," he says, granting me a subtle smile before continuing, "but I'll probably stay pretty tame. There's other people to do the crazy stuff." He provides examples such as R. Murray Schafer or Pro Coro gargling water during their performance of Ugis Praulins' The Nightingale to highlight the possibilites writing for voice. "In some ways, voice may be the most versatile instrument," he states with a serene awareness.

In terms of starting a composition, Emery reveals that it all begins from the poetry: "I don't really hear a melody first and find the poem to fit that. Just reading the poem I come up with the melody or the chords. Or the form of the piece could be related to the text in some way. But then the instrumental pieces that I write I would try to find inspiration from nature, buildings or architecture." While Emery worries about running out of public domain poetry, he also realizes that there are great poems he doesn't want to use because he thinks there are already perfect settings of them, citing Stephen Chatman's "Remember Me," as an example. "I don't think I could a better musical expression of that poem," he plainly states.   

It is clear that choral music is at the heart of Emery's compositional voice."I grew up singing so [choral music] is what comes most naturally to me. When I think of music, I immediately think of singing something. Having the text and singing poetry is what makes choral music so inspiring and powerful that you can take a meaningful thought from someone else, combine it with music, to make a great thing," Emery says with an enlightened tone. 
Emery's self-imposed structure is impressive. He sets a goal to write a piece every other week, resulting in 24 choir pieces a year. He reveals more information on his process: "I've always been on a routine. I try to just write on the weekdays all morning, have lunch around 12, and edit all night. Somewhere in there, I'm always reading poetry. Sometimes I take the afternoon off from composing to do the work, e-mailing publishers or scores or finding poems. Originally, at UBC, that's when nobody was using the practice rooms from 7 AM until classes started and it was quiet where I didn't have to compete with the Opera singer or Tuba player beside me."

He notes that he has future aspirations to write a Cantata piece for Choir and Orchestra or something intimate with one voice per part, similar to David Lang's Little Match Girl Passion.

While Emery prepares for a season as Amabile Choirs' Composer in Residence, he will also be heading to the United States for other compositional residencies this upcoming year. The opportunity to work one-on-one with the singers performing his works is an aspect of his job that he welcomes. "I really enjoy going to the rehearsals. You can say whatever you want. The singers are not tense yet for the concert. Everyone is just chill. I spent a good hour with the National Youth Choir in rehearsal and it was great... it's interesting how people perceive the music. Whether they absolutely like it or hate it. Some people don't like that it's boring or too traditional. Or some people love that aspect and say 'it's a breath of fresh air.' What's most interesting I think is watching the choirs and how they sing my pieces. Some pieces they release all their tension and it looks like it's freeing for them. They look very calm and lose all their worries. It's interesting to watch people performing and see how they visually change," describes Emery. 

--> Emery prefers to be behind the spotlight instead of basking in the attention a premiere draws. "At the concert, I get all nervous and worried about what happens if it doesn't go well, or what the person behind me thinks. [The Podium listeners] are toughest audience outside myself. After the premiere, once it's out there, it's free, and I don't have to worry about it. But at the first performance, I'm a nervous wreck," he states in a tone that reveals a rare ripple of insecurity during the interview.
He notes that Podium has been a great time to reconnect as well as meet some of the Conductors programming his works. Emery is overwhelmed at the support from Conductors such as Julia Davids, Elroy Friesen, Michael Zaugg, Jon Washburn, and Lydia Adams. "I can't ask for anything more. I owe them a lot. Julia put two of my pieces in her new series with Cypress Music so that's great. I can't ask for anything better than that," he states with graciousness. Emery values Conductor insight from their gestural execution of his works or how he should consider notating a passage for a given effect. "Taking composition classes at school, you're only getting feedback from another composer, it is good to get feedback from the other side."

The future is full of possibilities. Whether Emery ventures abroad for Graduate studies in Composition or continues to compose out of London, ON, it is apparent the amount of support from the Canadian choral community will continue to foster his career. "I'm glad to be part of Canadian choral community supporting me and other young composers. We are taking pride in the music of Canada, and supporting our music, which is what we need." 

I'm a bit of a hippie: What you didn't know about Canadian Choral Composer, Cy Giacomin

Photo Credit: CyGiacomin.Comhttp://www.cygiacomin.com/music

Lounging in the corner of the Wired Monk coffee shop, Cy Giacomin takes a moment after his morning reading session at the Podium conference to chat about choral music. Giacomin, 26, already has a substantial resume as a Composer, Bass with the Canadian Chamber Choir, Artistic Director of the Bluewater Chamber Choir in Sarnia ON, and accompanist and teacher of Piano, Organ, and Trombone. As well, he just finished a run of Sound of Music with Theatre Sarnia as the Music Director prior to returning to his hometown of Halifax for Podium. The previous evening was the opening spotlight concert of Podium where his work, "There Was a Time" was premiered by Pro Coro Canada and the Halifax Camerata Singers.

Pro Coro Canada and Halifax Camerata rehearsing for the Spotlight Concert at Podium

A teenage chorister approaches at the start of our interview in the coffee shop. She gently apologizes for interrupting and continues by praising Giacomin for his music and her enjoyment in singing his works. Giacomin responds with warmth and a strong sense of modesty. He thanks her for sharing her regards. Giacomin later mentions to me an audience member comment from the previous evening. They were surprised that he wasn't older when he stood up to take a bow following his premiere. This is not surprising to me since there is a contemplative wisdom in the rich construct of his compositions, yet a vibrant energy weaves throughout his works, especially when he plays with time signatures and tempo in his music.

Giacomin elaborates on what it is like to hear one of his works performed live: "It's nervous excitement. [The choir] is about to come on stage and interpret your work. Your heart races a little bit. For me, it makes choral music the most exciting part of composing. That's why I focus on it. I have written for all kinds of ensembles but only in choir do you get to relinquish control of everything you've hoped for in terms of balance, dynamics, tone quality." He manifests a clear visual to demonstrate his point, for example, "if there are too many singers in the Alto section and the Sopranos need more singers and you have Altos that can sing high the conductor can say 'can you sing the Soprano part for these bars?' and move people around. I can't even imagine people do that in an Orchestra for an Oboe to play a Violin line. There is a lot of flexibility after a composition is done. It just means that what you write has to be that much stronger to survive those kinds of adjustments."

"Is it ever hard to relinquish this control to the singers?" I ask. 

"It was hard to come to terms with starting out. But once you come to terms to relinquish control, it is a decision you make, you only have to make it once. This is my music. It may not be accurately represented in the concert hall. It is still music I will be proud of," Giacomin states in a wise tone further enhanced by his Bass voice. "I can't release anything to a choir I am not 100% proud of. Because if I get compliments after, I feel guilty," he says with a laugh. I smile in response remembering the adoring glance from the teenage chorister earlier.

Giacomin elaborates on the challenge of trying to communicate complicated ideas with just black ink on white paper. He recalls one of his composition teachers said that a Composer's job is 10% creative and 90% problem solving. "I think my pieces are easier than they actually are. Because they come from my brain so I know the lines inside out and then when I try to sing them I think: 'oh yeah, that makes sense!' You give it to someone who has never seen or heard it and suddenly it's difficult. That is a huge hurdle to get over. Making sure you can accurately describe a difficulty level. That is one thing I need to know before I start writing for a choir. Each piece could have beginner attribute and then three bars you require an advanced choir. I try my best to hear the choir or talk to the conductor about strengths and weaknesses. There's nothing better than a piece specifically tailored for you. It is usually the most rewarding way to go," reveals Giacomin when approaching commissioned works.

It is all about text when Giacomin looks for an inspiration. "I can have an idea that is coherent and complete but it can take months to get it on paper. I don't particularly enjoy searching for text. I like coming across text and see if it desires to be set to music. I'll keep it in mind for later. If somebody is commissioning me with a text in mind, that much better, because I don't write text. I have tried but it is not my strength. But I can set any text to music. Text always drives the music. I have known some Composers who do music first then create lyrics after with that music and I marvel at their ability to do that. It's not easy. It's like designing your interior decor without having a house." Giacomin manages to find another visual example that perfectly compliments his point. Poetry, Biblical verses, Wikipedia, TV shows, Giacomin even gestures towards a poster on the wall at the Wired Monk to highlight how he draws upon all these textual sources in his environment and repurposes them for music. As a result of this constant stream of textual inspiration, there is no fear of running out of words.

As a singer as well as a Composer, Giacomin keeps a functional perspective when putting the finishing touches on a piece: "When I am getting close to the end of composition. I tend run through parts in my head one at a time. It's mostly traffic control. To make sure there is time to rest and swallow saliva. I hate those pieces that only have enough time to breathe.... where you're salivating so much it's hard to sing. I have to go through each part for those reasons. It's mainly for safety concerns. I don't know what it's like to sing a Tenor, Alto, or Soprano line so I like to check with those sections after the premiere to make sure things are singable," he states in a rational tone.

As a multi-instrumentalist, Giacomin draws upon all these musical facets when approaching his compositional style. While he states that he doesn't feel like he has a unique voice quite yet, he is conscious of combining all of his experiences, whether it is Musical Theatre or Punk. He states that it has taken a long time for him to consolidate and focus to develop his compositional framework. Giacomin further elaborates on the balance between the academic and emotional approaches to composition: "At school, I was writing for the intellect. On free time, I tend to write for emotional's sake. I need both. Choir music is more emotional than it is intellectual. Obviously all music is emotional and intellectual but I found the academic style was almost completely devoid of emotion. Nothing in the human heart for it to enjoy because it is so intellectual. And that's not a criticism, I appreciate both. I want to combine both so that a piece can be intellectually stimulating and emotionally stimulating."

"How do you know when you reach both of these goals?" I ask.

"The Composer's opinion is just one opinion. I always work a piece until I am truly happy with it," Giacomin states in a pensive tone while taking a pause to further elaborate, "you make sure that what you think of your piece is nothing but the highest compliment. It's something that you never want to change once you have the final bar line. Your happiness with the piece is what is actually communicated to the audience.  How happy is the piece is how happy is the Composer. That's what audiences can pick up on universally. You can't try to make anybody else happy. You can only hope to makes yourself happy and hope for the best after that."

Sarnia, Ontario is currently Giacomin's home base and he feels his timing couldn't be any better. Sarnia didn't have an a cappella ensemble prior to him co-founding the Bluewater Chamber Choir.

Prior to starting the Chamber Choir, he had never conducted before. The choir has now become a vehicle for learning more about choral singing. Giacomin shares that there are a lot of similarities between conducting and composing since putting together a concert program is like a miniature scale of composing. Different pieces will sound different in the context of neighboring works. There are some perks of having a test choir when one is a Composer and Conductor. Giacomin reveals that he may introduce some new works he is planning on writing this summer to the Bluewater Choir. Noting the newfound power he has to potentially program his own works with Bluewater, he notes that he wouldn't program too selfishly, "maybe just one or two," he says with subtle smile.

In addition to preparing for an upcoming tour with the Canadian Chamber Choir to PEI and New Brunswick this September, Giacomin notes that there has been interest by a dance studio in Sarnia for him to write a Ballet. Giacomin greets the prospect of future projects with anticipation and further brainstorms multiple ideas off the top of his head that include Opera as well as a Choral Theatre concept the includes five La-Z-Boy recliners on stage.

There is a strong sense of humility when Giacomin acknowledges the importance of Conductors and Choirs performing his works. He notes that a Composer alone would never be heard. It is the voice of the choir communicating his music to an audience. To further emphasize his point, Giacomin notes that Composers could all go on strike, not write any new pieces, and the world would be fine. "There are thousands of pieces out there. Choirs can function without the Composers but it's not the other way around. They're at least equally as important. I think Composers help perpetuate the evolution of Culture and help in that progression," he says with fervor.

This passion carries into Giacomin's next statement when he reveals that it was pure luck that he got into singing. In an honest tone, Giacomin states, "it's also a religious experience for me, singing in a choir - people coming together to create something greater than themselves. I am not a particularly spiritual person per say, but in choir there is something supernatural." 

Concluding our morning chat over coffee, Giacomin highlights the importance of collaboration within choral communities. While many people may think that Composers shut themselves away to compose, for many of them, it's a very active dialogue between Conductors, Composers, and audience members. Giacomin goes further to say, without an air of pretentiousness that "if everyone sang in a choir, there would be no war. We can do so much more together."

Giacomin composes a statement that perfectly concludes the past 45 minutes and his prior statement, "I'm a bit of a hippie."

Download and listen to Giacomin's "Lovesong" sung by Pro Coro Canada here

It's All in the Community

 

The first production of the season with Pro Coro Canada was a special one. Instead of just blogging my whole rehearsal process, I decided to immerse myself in the experience and see what thoughts surfaced as a result. The one that has been lingering in my mind is the concept of artistic collaboration.

Pro Coro Canada paired with Booming Tree Taiko in order to incorporate taiko drumming within choral pieces. Tormis' "Curse Upon the Iron," R Murray Schafer's "Magic Songs," and Eric Whitacre's "Cloudburst" was infused with an array of varying taiko drums. Two seemingly unrelated artistic forms: choir and taiko drumming paired perfectly together. It was as if the pieces should have been written to incorporate the dramatic forms of taiko drumming expression. The sheer showmanship of power and grace demonstrated by Booming Tree Taiko duo, Greg and Twilla, elevated the performance.

Booming Tree Taiko

Pro Coro also commissioned a piece from Vancouver-based composer, Kristopher Fulton. Pro Coro's Artistic Director, Michael Zaugg, met with Kris to discuss the inspiration for the commission, which led Michael to introduce Kris to the Belgian Graphic Novel, Twilight Cities or Les Cités obscures. The visual images from this series inspired the five part soundscape series for this world.

It is amazing how bringing together two elements eager for artistic collaboration can synthesize such a compelling musical compound. There is a trust within the relationship in addition to the flexibility for exploration and discovery. I loved watching Greg and Twilla try out different percussion sounds they could generate for each of the movements of Schafer's "Magic Songs," each creating a different tone until the desired mood was isolated. I can only imagine the excitement when a unified chord was struck between Michael and Kris to discover their joint passion for artwork and stories.



There is also a sense of discovery that comes from commissioning a Canadian composer. In the last season alone Pro Coro premiered works by Canadian composers, Cy Giacomin, Jason Noble, and Peter Togni. I hadn't even heard of some of these composers prior to singing in Pro Coro. The first time I heard one of Kris' works was at the end of the Cantata Singers' "Sh*t Choristers Say" video. When Kris arrived to rehearsed Twilight Cities, it was a huge luxury to be able to turn to him and ask in an inquisitive tone: "What were you thinking while writing this passage? Did you want the tonality to be in A?"

Kris Fulton with his gifts from the University of Augustana Choir

I vividly remember Michael mentioning how musical collaboration was something he was planning in his Artistic Director role. At the time, it seemed like an excellent thought to me; however, I don't think I truly grasped what it would look like upon execution. Pro Coro's opening concert this season solidified for me what successful collaboration can look like.



The music community is a small one... and the choral one is even smaller. Sometimes it feels like we are pitted against each other, as if only one type of choir with a certain demographic can exist or only one composer's work will be accepted for a commission. Can't we all agree that there are enough external forces making it difficult to thrive as Artists that the last thing we need is animosity between Artists? I know it is not easy when the structure of our system is not always conducive to this thinking. There are only so many pools of audience members and limited grant dollars.

However, I have seen positive things result when we recruit the talents of other artistic community members. We work alongside each other with trust and respect and we are a stronger community because of it. I am not saying that our musical community fails to function in this way. In fact, I am delighted with the sheer frequency of collaborative overlap between groups, but I am also aware of those moments when it isn't so easy to maintain "the more the merrier" philosophy and survival instinct sets in.

We are all looking for a medium to share our music, voice, and culture with the world; it is a great feeling when we are unified in that goal and are able to do it together.

Choral Descent

Hello again!

As you all might know, my final project for my electromusic course integrated something very close to my heart....choral sounds! In an earlier entry I blogged about my project progress and some of my ideas going into it. What I came to realize though is that the story in my mind during the initial stages could potentially box listeners in when they came to hear it.

Thus, when I had to give a small blurb about my piece before I played it, I just described it as a attempt to fuse sacred and secular choral pieces together. Often, you have to choose one or the other in choral music and there are few songs that integrate both. A piece is either sacred or it is secular. However, I wanted to expand how people listen to choral music so I tried not to subscribe to stereotyped perceptions of choir music. As well, I wanted to create a piece a regular choir wouldn't be able to sing unless they were in some kind of strange double choir formation where one half of the choir was singing sacred music and the other half would be singing secular. These different genres require different technique and mentalities so it would be extremely challenging to have a chorister do both at the same time. However, it's not impossible...

Overall, the piece just experiments with how these genres can be incorporated together to make something chorally unique. I think one of the things I like most is the end where there is an ascending vocal track. It is something I could hear an actual choir singing but there is a unique quality to it since it's actually a reversed track of the beginning of a Hungarian song called Magosh a Rutafa. Thus, it sounds melodic and something a choir could sing but a choir would never actually be able to recreate that sound. A little bit of my experimental electromusic nature creeping in there.

The song is entitled "Choral Descent" since choir music, whether it descends from a heavenly angel chorus or from cow callers in the hills, still arrives at the same goal...to share music with others.

Anyway, give it a listen and tell me what you think! The audience members sitting next to during the recital were kind of snickering to themselves (in a good way I think) since I suppose it sounded funny to infuse abstract choral sounds with Ave Maria choruses. Maybe there is some comedic element to my piece that I did not anticipate? In addition, I know a lot of my fellow choir friends will recognize the tracks I used and maybe can even hear their own voices :)

Joyce's Snow

Hello again everybody,

Since last night was the debut of my electromusic pieces, I thought I would post them here for my readers as well.

My recital went well. It was a bit longer than I expected but the whole recital just felt like an evening with friends, sitting in a dark room, and listening to music. It was intimate and enjoyable.

There were some really neat pieces the 500-level electromusic students did. There was a duet between laptops where they controlled their laptops using their cellphones. I'm not sure the programming details behind what they were able to achieve but it was very neat. They also used Photoshop tablets to control the Disklavier. For those of you who don't know what that means, they pretty much had a piano that looked like it was playing itself but they were being controlled by the tablet they were drawing on.

People from my own class did some very neat things as well. Jacek played his music concrete pieces. There is one where he recorded the resonances from saw blades to create a textural fabric and on top of that sound were sharp clips of everyday sound fragments. Catherine scored ominous music for a short film and she also composed a piece using Nintendo sounds from a unit she ordered from Ebay. Very cool! I won't post their pieces on their Internet but if you ever want to hear them, just ask me, and I'll play a c.d. of their songs for you :)

The piece I have posted below is my first project from the class and is entitled Joyce's Snow. You can read about my progress on this piece in an earlier entry. I recruited my friends to help and recorded them saying the IPA sounds, select words from the passage, as well as the entire last passage from Joyce's "The Dead." I tried to create something that reflected the gentle and illuminating nature of the text passage. That's all I will say now since I think it's better to say less rather than more so you can form your own thoughts about the piece. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section!

Special thanks to the following people who contributed their voices:

Twila B.
Nick T.
Shruchi B.
Matt G.

P.S I will post my other project in a few days

Musical Challenges

I was chatting with my friend, Tendai, the other day and something very interesting came up that I have not thought about for a long time until he mentioned it. I was telling him about my electromusic class and how I was finding it difficult to work through the musical genesis process. He just reminded me that I needed to challenge myself and face my musical fears head-on. I would never get better at the process of composing electromusic if I don't break away from my desire to always have a melodic line. It makes sense but it's so hard to muster the confidence to go outside of my comfort range. It's something important for me to remember. Instead of just avoiding something I am not able to do well...I just need to suck it up and do it since I'm not going to get better without any effort on my part. However, I am not embarking on the world of nodal sound music for my final project but I am trying to push what I can do with the software and the recordings I have extracted. As well, I am convinced there are a few checkpoints with every musical process:

1. You are excited to start working on the project because you have some really cool ideas
2. You start putting pieces together and maybe are surprised and excited by some cool new sounds you were able to create but soon notice it is not as easy as you thought to realize your goal when you see how much work lies ahead
3. You're extremely insecure as you start formulating the piece but you continue anyway because you can't seem to detach yourself from the piece
4. You feel like what you have done up to this point sounds like complete rubbish and it is extremely frustrating and you consider scrapping the project entirely
5. You take a break from the piece
6. Hopefully, after some time, you come back to the piece and it sounds better than you thought it did
7. As much pain you had to go through, there are some truly rewarding moments where things sounds exactly right and it's enough to put you through this whole painful process once again

It's interesting how much time away from a project can influence your feelings towards it. I was tinkering with my piece today and instead of being frustrated at the ghetto Protools program in the studio and everything it can't do...I just left. It was better than doing something I would regret. I'm not sure what that would have been...since Protools is an inanimate entity...but it wouldn't have been good...trust me. Or worse, it would have been my piece that would have suffered. I am hoping after a two day break Protools will be more cooperative with me. I still have a lot of finishing touches and edits that I need to do on my piece but I am also at the point where I just want to get it finished. Thank goodness I have a deadline or else I could spend forever just playing around with it!

I am writing finals for the next week so I won't have a massive amount of updates but I will be competing with Belle Canto at the St. Albert Rotary festival on Friday. I am sure I will have some thoughts about our performance!

Until then, take care everybody!