The Choir in the Czech Republic

It's coming down to crunch time for Belle Canto as they will be leaving in 2 weeks for Italy!

I apologize in advance to any of my fellow choristers if participating choristers going to the Seghizzi competition are reading my posts... but I just can't help myself from divulging what has been going on behind-the-scenes here in Canada.

Amidst the chaos of rounding up folk costumes for one of the classes and trying to obtain pieces for additional "summer version" of our current uniform, we have been rehearsing and memorizing an intense load of music. We bumped up rehearsals to twice a week, there are individual sectionals during the other days in the week, and this past weekend there was even a Sewing Bee to make costume components. I can see the stress wearing on fellow choristers since they have to learn, memorize, and prioritize what to pack for this upcoming tour, especially with all these additional uniform components. Did I mention there are about 5 costume changes and choralography during the folk song set? Not full costume changes but the use of song-specific accessories during each piece.

What is choralography you ask? It's choir+choreography. Within Belle Canto, it's more of a way to describe non-semi-circle formation on the stage but in the past few competitions I've been in, I've definitely seen an increase in the integration of movement in choral pieces. I'm not sure if it's this pressure for choirs to "put on a show" when they perform now but I think it's something more conductors are considering now due to the demand to create an engaging performance. It occurs to varying degrees but I like to think of it as a blend between the predictability of gospel swaying and the campy intensity of show choirs.

Also, our music is definitely coming but I can't say that it has clicked quite yet. We're still figuring out notes in some places and rehearsing the lines continuously to feel how the music is supposed to fit together but it has yet to feel effortless. It's so nice when you learn music so well that you don't even have to think about the notes or words and you can just focus on creating a unified sound with the voices around you. That's when true music emerges.

In time, this will come, most likely while they're rehearsing before the competition in Italy, but in order to motivate the choir an ongoing joke has materialized where we keep on convincing ourselves that we have a choral enemy that resides in the Czech Republic. No offense to Czech choral singers (be flattered that we thought you were threatening enough to be our choral nemesis). Whenever rehearsals are going a bit too long or our patience is wearing short, one of us just has to say... "Think about the choir in the Czech Republic!"

We're tired and we need a break?

"Do you think the choir in the Czech Republic takes breaks?" we collectively ask ourselves.

"I don't think so!"

Of course, we do end up taking a break but it's always good to keep in perspective the competition Belle Canto will be facing once they are in Gorizia. It's easy to fall into a safe buffer where we convince ourselves that the competition is a far ways away from us. However, only two plane rides away and they'll be in the heart of the competition. They can't afford to slack off now and be reduced to complacency. This hypothetical Czech choir is exactly the kind of stressful stimulus Belle Canto needs in this critical period leading up to the competition. Only a musical stimulus can elicit change.

These final weeks leading up to the tour is a critical time for musical consolidation and it's time for Belle Canto to make these Czech choristers quiver in their church pews as they rehearse.

You know what would make this even better? If there actually is a Czech choir competing against Belle Canto! How awesome would it be to have a choral face-off?!?! Yes, my inner choir nerd emerges, as if you had any doubt that it existed :)

Until next time, take care!

I posted the details again for our pre-tour concert this coming Monday!
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Andiamo! Belle Canto Pre-Tour Concert

Date:	Monday, June 28, 2010
Time:	7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Robertson-Wesley United Church
Street:	10209 123 St NW

In July, Belle Canto will compete in the 48th International Competition of Choral Singing Seghizzi 2010 in Gorizia, Italy. Choirs chosen for their prestigious international choral competition are judged by an international jury. The winning choirs then take part in the 22nd Grand Prix Seghizzi 2010.

Belle Canto will be competing in the Renaissance, Romantic, 20th Century, and Folk and Traditional Song categories with works by Monteverdi, Schumann, Weelkes, and Barber. Another highlight of Belle Canto's Italian tour will be to sing the Mass in St Mark's Cathedral in Venice.

Ticket Price:
$7 Student/Senior
$10 Adult

Tickets are available at the door and Tix on the Square

The Next Best Thing

Greetings readers!

I am happy to report that my bout of choral apathy has now subsided. Those were dark times when I was coming to terms with not going on tour with Belle Canto this July but now I just feel an overwhelming sense of calm towards the whole situation. It's also nice to not be apart of the frenzy of crazy that overtakes a choir before a tour where last minute decisions on uniform details and stress over how to pack all the uniform requirements emerge.

Everybody thought my last performance would be with the choir at the provincial music festival in early May. However, it actually killed me inside knowing that they would be rehearsing up until the time they left in July and I wouldn't be apart of it. Thus, I contacted my conductor to ask her permission to continue singing up until the pre-tour concert and she consented.

The rehearsal time that occurs before a choir leaves for a tour is an intensely unique time. It is rare to obtain the kind of musical focus and mental framework necessary for an international competition at other points in the year. Everybody is always focused on something else. It is only during the intensive rehearsal process before a tour where all the choristers in a choir collectively commit and you can hear the difference. Suddenly, music is being learned faster, the ensemble is beginning to click, and the connective energy that unites the voices is beginning to consolidate. Hearing the group get better with every rehearsal is reason enough for me to continue going to rehearsal. Plus, I enjoy experiencing the increased level of stress because it forces me to be a better chorister and it truly is the stimulus to bring about musical change. I definitely need a deadline when it comes to getting things done and though it is stressful to memorize numerous musical pieces before rehearsal... there isn't any other time in the year when I would be doing this.

People may think I may be wasting my time and putting myself through unnecessary emotional turmoil by emerging myself in an atmosphere that is buzzing around a music competition I cannot attend. I do not see it that way at all. I see this as an opportunity to increase my skills as a chorister, learn the musical to a level that is ready to use in competition, and feed off of the electrifying energy and anticipation that builds in the singers around me. This is an opportunity the only arrives every 3 years (since we only travel internationally every 3rd year) and the build-up to the competition is part of the competition itself. Just because I am not on stage with my choir doesn't mean that I wasn't capable enough to be with them. It's simply just a matter of timing and circumstance. Even if a chorister is vocally incapacitated before the performance and can't sing---they are still a member of the choir. That is how I see my situation.

Therefore, I will be singing with Belle Canto up until their pre-tour concert. It has been fun going along the same preparation road as the rest of them as they prepare for the tour but I will take my leave and say my farewell's at the concert in 2 weeks. If you are in Edmonton, you should come check it out because it will be an evening filled with excellent music!

Hope to see some of you there!

Until next time, take care!
__________________________________________________

Andiamo! Belle Canto Pre-Tour Concert

Date:	Monday, June 28, 2010
Time:	7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Robertson-Wesley United Church
Street:	10209 123 St NW

In July, Belle Canto will compete in the 48th International Competition of Choral Singing Seghizzi 2010 in Gorizia, Italy. Choirs chosen for their prestigious international choral competition are judged by an international jury. The winning choirs then take part in the 22nd Grand Prix Seghizzi 2010.

Belle Canto will be competing in the Renaissance, Romantic, 20th Century, and Folk and Traditional Song categories with works by Monteverdi, Schumann, Weelkes, and Barber. Another highlight of Belle Canto's Italian tour will be to sing the Mass in St Mark's Cathedral in Venice.

Ticket Price:
$7 Student/Senior
$10 Adult

Tickets are available at the door and Tix on the Square
T • 780/420-1757

A Late Night with the ESO

Thanks to an invite from Phil, I was able to attend the "Late Night Paris" concert last night at the Winspear Centre. Instead of detailing every meticulous musical moment from the concert, I will choose a laidback attitude in this blog entry (since the concert itself was relaxed) and document random details from the evening.

I have never been to a late night concert in the series since 9:30 pm is a late start time for a symphony concert. However, I must note that the concert had a very nice relaxed vibe to it. People were dressed in a range of attire from jeans to dresses and alcoholic beverage consumption were not only requested but encouraged. The two conductors from the evening, Eddins and Waldin, jokingly engaged in a light banter on the topic of alcohol as Eddins ordered Waldin to get some bubbly for him and Waldin eventually brought a glass out but proceeded to sip from the glass himself. Eddins had to emotionally appease himself with the fact that he would enjoy a martini in the lobby afterwards while listening to the live jazz trio and invited the audience to join him as well.

The evening was filled with French pieces which included two movements from Bizet's Symphony in C major, Poulenc Aubade and Suite francaise. For Poulenc's Aubade concerto for piano and orchestra Eddins played the piano solo but beforehand he took the audience through the musical highlights of the piece and played some of the musical motifs that they would soon hear later in the piece. It was nice to get a musical roadmap of the melodies to listen to and it was just entertaining to listen to Eddins passionately talking about the story being told within the piece which revolved around the character of Diana the Huntress. It felt like we were in Eddin's living room and he was just sitting at the piano and chatting with us.

Since I promised random musings in this post, this random thought is something that kept cycling in my mind. Waldin is the resident conductor for the ESO this year and the first time I saw him was at the ESO's Symphony Under the Sky Festival. I remember a bunch of middle aged women around me drooling at this curly-haired, statuesque figure standing on the pavement in his black, long-sleeved conductors shirt. The women around me were visually devouring Waldin with their eyes while my curiosity got the better of me and I craned my neck to try to get a better view. When he eventually turned around, I just thought, "Whoa! it looks like he stepped out a Viennese period film set in the 1700s!" His angular features and piercing eyes formed a composer-like profile that reminded me of the composer posters that used to line the walls of my elementary school music room. If he just wore a white wig, put on some tailored breeches, and a militant jacket, it looks like he could have been chumming around with Mozart in 1783! Once in a while I come across a face that looks like they belong from another time period and Waldin's is definitely one of them. Even though I expect Waldin's musical career will continue to flourish, if anything ever falls through, I could easily see him being in a production of Amadeus. I mean this in the best way possible of course! Since it's probably hard for you to picture, here's his artists' profile picture from the ESO website:















What do you think? Yay or nay to his period film profile?

Until next time, take care and hope you enjoyed my random post!

San Fran Day 3/4

In order to wrap up some travel sights here are some quick snapshots.

We visited the famous Alcatraz prison and it was actually surreal to imagine that the most dangerous criminals were kept here. It kind of felt like I was walking through a movie set but by far the most creepy were the isolation cells in the most secure block of the prison. An awesome audio commentary accompanied the tour and it was eerie to hear the voices of prisoners and wardens describe the prison and the famous characters through it's walls. They also detailed the multiple escape attempts that occurred and described how the prisoners would be able to see the lights of the San Francisco nightline in the evening and even the sounds of peoples voices during New Years Eve. Those happy voices a taunting reminder of the world they are locked away from.














The gorgeous Crown and Crumpet Tea Room.














Eating ridiculously large chocolate dipped strawberries



























High Tea at Lovejoy's tea room. By far one of our most delicious finds in San Francisco! It's away from the heart of downtown, further into the subburbs, but upon seeing the website and hearing some reviews, I knew it would be worth it to trek all the way out. It was in such a cute area of the city! Lots of cute little boutiques and salons lining the street. The tea shop looked like an eclectic grandmother's living room in the UK and the service and food was excellent. It was also nice to have a high tea in a very non-pretentious atmosphere. Often you have to head to 5 star hotel for high tea but the atmosphere here was so relaxed. I've never had tea choices described to me like wine so Christina and I opted for the signature house black tea to start with and we ended our tea experience with a pot of China rose petal. We munched on cucumber sandwiches, sugar cookies and warm scones with devonshire cream and strawberry preserves.















mmm high tea














After our high tea, we had to book it to make our 2pm performance of Peter Pan. The production is new to San Fran and I thought it sounded pretty cool since it is on the harbour and the special 360 theatre allows 360 images to be broadcast. Thus, when the actors are flying, they are actually flying through the the London night sky! It was so neat to watch the Darlings, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell swerve left to fly around the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and other famous London attractions! The show itself was amazingly done with aerial acrobats as mermaids, an amazing puppeteer handling Nana and the crocodile (complete with a ticking time piece in it's wire-framed centre), and singing pirates actually playing their instruments. One of the most magical moments was when Tinkerbell lies lifeless after drinking poison meant for Peter and he beckons the audience to chant "I believe in faeries" to revive her. Adults were hesitant at first but then I heard the sounds of whispering children all around me repeating that phrase with such dedicated fervour! Tinkerbell slowly began to twitch as the volume of chanting escalated until she launched into the air soaring through the theatre. Intermission was lovely too since outside the 360 digital theatre were tents and grassy areas to hang out on. It was a beautiful day and a great way for kids to run around for a bit of a break from the show.














After Peter Pan we walked Chinatown for a bit before heading to the Orpheum Theatre to see Wicked. Christina and I had seen Wicked before in different cities but it was nice to end our trip with something familiar and enjoyable :) Overall, a fantastic trip!

A Tourist's Day in San Fran

Our second day in San Fran was filled with tourist-friendly activities due to the fact that we signed up for a city tour with Dylan who takes people around in his own personal shuttle bus. He was a super friendly dude and I enjoyed the fact that he took us into random nooks and crannies of San Fran that I've never been to like the Latino Mission district (mental note to return to have an authentic burrito). Christina and I grabbed some breakfast at Sears fine food where we ate delicious oranges, pancakes and eggs benedict. Then we sat in Union square and just chilled until the time we were going to be picked up by the tour.

We went through a ton of San Fran areas which included:

• The Tenderloin area where there was a definite increase in free clinics, homeless people, and other social service buildings, it was also where movies like the Pursuit of Happyness was filmed
• The Mission district where I noticed a plethora of multicultural Latinos population the streets and oh so many delicious Taqueria joints
• The infamous rainbow Castro district where the Harvey Milk movie was filmed and Christina and I gawked at the beautiful men who had nicer bags than us
• The Twin Peaks to get a great view of the whole city
• The Haight-Ashbury district which was the centre of the hippie/summer of love movement in San Fran and checked out the homes of Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and Jimmy Hendrix
• The Pacific Heights district where all the beautiful mansions in the city are located. The homes were so beautiful and each one so unique! We also saw the house that was used in the film Mrs. Doubtfire
• Drove by the waterfront before heading onto the Golden Gate Bridge to go to Muir woods where the Redwood forests are located. It was nice to get out of the city and take a hike through the woods and get some fresh air
• Then we visited the seaside town Sausalito for a quick stop to pick up some lunch.
  
• We got dropped off back in Union Square and Christina and I proceeded to have one of our most productive shopping sprees yet. Niketown, DSW shoes, Nordstroms... and numerous other places where we picked up beautiful goods.
  
• We headed back to Fishermans' Wharf afterward to see if the tea shop in Ghiradelli's Square was open, alas, it was closed, but we received directions to a highly recommended seafood place called Scoma's. It's a good sign when the fish receiving station is right beside the restaurant :)
• Topping off our evening with a hot fudge sundae from Ghiradelli's!

Overall, a deliciously productive day!















Chilling out in Union Sq













A mural on the Mother and Childrens centre in the Mission district














The Grateful Dead house. Where all the band members and others used to all live together in a communal style living arrangement.














Jimmy Hendrix's mural outside his place on Haight Ashbury














Rusted stapes from numerous posters at the Haight Ashbury Intersection














A token tourist pic of the Golden Gate bridge














Redwood trees in Muir woods














A break from the city.

San Fran Arrival

I was able to get away for a few days to breezy and beautiful San Francisco for a much-needed break after an intense term of school. Christina and I packed a lot of activity in the 4 days we were there and I will attempt to document our activities in the next few posts. I didn't indulge in anything choral related there but I definitely made it out to see a couple of shows :)

Upon our arrival and hauling our packs to our hostel, we took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf where we proceeded to find some lunch in an open market-like area. Christina has never tried any shellfish of any sort. Perhaps I should have been more sensitive to this fact before asking her if she wanted to split a crab as she watched one being placed into the steamer right next to her with tentative fear. Maybe crab and shrimp cocktail and some clam chowder instead. No exoskeleton to deal with. It's always good to start off less intense :) Christina was a great sport and was keen to try any and all things I threw her way as her culinary experiences have been limited due to numerous killer allergies in her household.














Following our lunch we walked through the wharf and decided to check out a bike rental place: Blazing Saddles. I've wanted to bike the Golden Gate bridge since the first time I've visited so I was definitely interested. However, upon arriving at the bike rental place, I realized that not only did I want to bike the bridge, I wanted to tandem bike the Golden Gate bridge! I wasn't sure if the timing would work out, they said it would take 1.5-2h, I looked at my watch, just after 4 pm. The route included biking across the bridge to the seaside town, Sausalito, on the other side. From there we could take the ferry back and the last boat left at 630 pm. It was totally possible to do! I looked at Christina with ecstatic enthusiasm and our eye contact was consensus enough. Yay for spontaneity!




























I tried to sit at the front but my short legs proved to be too short to ride in the front so the seat of prestige went to Christina. I sat at the back and tried to keep the bike from wobbling. It was tough to steer or do any sharp movements but we got the hang of it once we started cruising. We climbed some pretty intense hills and I do believe it was easier to bike them since we had the power of two to push our bike forward and we even passed a biker on a hill who cursed us for our speed. The ride was just gorgeous! Right alongside the Marina waterfront and we got to use the unpopulated bike lane sidewalk on the bridge so we could just enjoy our ride. We also had super friendly locals help us along the way when we weren't quite sure which path to take. I highly recommend biking the bridge. You get to go through a beautiful part of San Fran where cars aren't allowed and you can choose to tour at your own pace. Upon arriving in Sausalito, we locked out bike to a traffic sign and took a water pit stop at a local grocery store. I just loved the freedom biking gave us. We could spend as much time as we wanted, whereever we wanted, and we could take photo stops along the way! It was just such a speedy and unique way to experience the city.



























After taking the ferry back to the San Francisco side from Sausalito, we walked over to Ghiradelli's Square which houses the beloved San Francisco Ghiradelli's chocolate factory. There was a store attached to a dessert bar but we weren't feeling particularly hungry for a sundae at this point. We decided to check out the chocolate milling process and peruse the cute boutiques in the square which included Kara's Cupcakes where cupcakes are made from local organic ingredients, an adorable tea room Crown and Crumpet, wine tasting places, stationery stores, and restaurants. However, most shops were closed so we made a mental note to return. Especially since Christina fell in love with a polka dot teapot in the window of the Crown and Crumpet store.



















































After our chocolate viewing we took a harbourside tram back to downtown and had some Thai food before turning in at our hostel for the evening. It was a very eventful day considering we only arrived that afternoon!

Stay tuned for more posts!

A New Project

Greetings everybody!

It has been a frenzied few weeks with the end of term but I am happy to report that finals are finished and I am taking a well needed break before I start my Spring term classes! For starters, I'm headed to San Francisco on Sunday!

I'm not sure what it is about writing final exams but I always seem to find myself drawn to something else other than studying... yes, some may call this procrastination.... but I think of procrastination as something when you're substituting the work that you should be doing with some menial task like cleaning or watching t.v. I chose a different procrastination route this exam period and I took on a personal recording project. I don't want to divulge too many details at this point, but upon realizing I needed voice recordings of myself, I was able to produce them within two weeks. It seems like a relatively painless procedure but it definitely is a challenge to produce a solo voice recording of yourself when:

1. You don't take voice lessons and your voice isn't coached into a state where solo rep can just be whipped out and performed
2. You're not a music student and do not have free access to music rooms to record in
3. You don't have all the special software and equipment it takes to produce a good recording
4. You don't have an accompanist
5. You don't have tons of money to shell out on said facilities, equipment, lessons, and services

I was deciding whether or not it was worth it to even do in the first place, but then I realized, what do I have to lose?

Time?

I suppose, but I thought that I could live with that since I've done less productive things with my time in the past. I could also part with time if I was learning something new and enjoying it in the process.

Money?

Well, there were ways I could keep the cost low, I could manage to do the recordings myself but there were other variables that I would need to call in favors for and things I was willing to pay for since it was only fair.

These were the things I needed to achieve:

Learn the music-I called in the services of my lovely mezzo soprano friend, Becky, whom I met in the U of A Madrigal singers (MAD's), to help coach me and work on my text and the musical goals I needed to achieve with the music. It was a few hours one afternoon where she worked magical things since I suddenly was able to connect to a soloistic resonance undiscovered in my voice and which I was unable to achieve during my teenage years of voice lessons. Stupid breathy teenage voice! In that few short hours, I knew what I needed to do and the sound that I wanted to achieve but obtaining it consistently was entirely another thing in itself. In order to crash learn the music, I went onto Naxos' e-online library and began listening to tracks of the songs I was looking to sing so I could learn notes by musical diffusion. It seemed to work quite well since the melodies were slightly familiar to me even as I went into my coaching session with Becky. I spent each successive day rehearsing the music at home and my parents were definitely wondering why I had suddenly unearthed my digital piano and was practicing in my brother's old bedroom. Also, probably wondering why I was so gosh-darn loud!

Find an accompanist-Probably my easiest task. I tried to comb my memory for my friends who accompanied voice soloists and a few came to my mind. At the same time, I was regretting the fact that I severed many musical connections via Facebook since it didn't occur to me that I would require their services in the future. Oops! However, a name did pop to my mind: Jessica! I sang with Jessica in MAD's and she is a lovely human being. I kind of felt like we came from the same background since we are both choristers at heart and she was also an excellent accompanist. I e-mailed her, detailing my grassroots recording ambition, and she had no problem in consenting to help me out. Lovely! The only juggle would be to find a time that would work for both of us.

Secure a Recording Location-By far my biggest challenge! If only I still had access to the music building since I knew how to work all the equipment in one of the recording studios (I had taken a music composition course last year) but I no longer had the privilege of accessing those facilities. I tried to make contact and get information from anybody who could help me out! My lovely MAD's conductor, Len, provided me with some good suggestions, Mary-Ellen, my friend, told me to check out some church venues, from here I inquired about some local church locations like Holy Trinity, Roberston Wesley, St. Joseph's. Most of these options led to me to dead-ends or they wouldn't fit my recording needs due to timing. However, I managed to secure a connection to record in the Fine Arts Building but I wouldn't know if the room was free until the very last minute. Needless to say, it worked out.

Obtain Recording Equipment-I knew that if I wasn't going to be able to get into the old studio to use their equipment, I would need to find it elsewhere. My department actually has a materials rooms with video recording and audio recording equipment so I decided to check that out first. The path of least resistance is always desirable. I signed out a small reporter-style digital audio recorder and decided to test it out. It worked alright, nothing amazing, but it made me feel better that I would be able to obtain a recording just maybe not a high quality one. However, my friend Christina from class graciously loaned me her professional recording microphone which is easy-to-use and just hooks into a laptop via a USB outlet. Excellent! We had a mini session where we tested out the equipment and this is when I began to hate Garageband on my Mac. I've played with it multiple times before and I had no problems, but when hooked up to the mic, it just wasn't recording the way I wanted and my insufficient troubleshooting skills forced me to seek an alternative. Upon hearing my recording lament over coffee, my friend Twila suggested Audacity instead. It was free and it would suit my purposes since it was closer to what I used in my composition course! I had used Audacity before but it just didn't occur to me that it was what I should have been using! It's so helpful to get a fresh perspective sometimes.

In the end, it seemed to work out smoothly. I was able to get into a room and I was laden down with so many bags that I pretty much felt like a one-woman recording show. I brought my laptop, numerous extensions cables, Christina's microphone, my backup digital recorder, my noise cancelling recording headset (which I borrowed from my Speech lab) for easy playback, a notebook for Christina to make notes in, and copies of all my music so she could follow along. In the middle room I set up a desk laden with all my personal and borrowed equipment. I was actually pretty proud of myself that I was able to whip it together. It looked equal to more professional recording sessions I've had in the past. The only difference being my equipment probably wasn't as nice.

Suddenly, I felt all this pressure to perform well. It took so many resources, effort, and time to bring all these variables together but it all came down to the fact that I needed to be... recordable. I didn't want to waste everybody's time! However, I just felt a huge amount of support which eased my stress. In the beginning stages when I asked Becky, "Is this even worth it? Am I even good enough or am I just making a complete fool of myself by doing this?" she assured me that I wasn't. I felt like an impersonator. A chorister trying to mimic the voice of a famous mezzo. What I discovered is that I just sounded like me but it was perceptually different from what I was used to hearing because I don't actually hear myself in choir. That probably sounds strange but I'm focused on bringing my sound forward to merge with the other voices that I don't muffle the sound so that I can hear it in my head. Occluding your own sound, just so that you can enjoy it, doesn't really do anything for your audience.

On the day of the recording, all I felt was support from Christina handling my makeshift recording station and Jessica at the piano. When I wasn't able to sing below a middle C, after being too warmed up (any other singers that run into this problem!?!?), they assured me that my chest voice didn't sound crappy and helped me stay positive while I struggled to access the lower range I knew I possessed. So frustrating! But I decided not to dwell on it, called it a day, and used a recording that I made earlier that week when I was playing with the digital recorder during my practice session. I was able to obtain the other recordings I needed from the session. Nothing perfect, I assure you, but probably the best I was able to produce with some slight blips and kinks here and there. I was alright with that. The world isn't perfect, therefore, there are no perfect recordings.

Overall, I have had a busy past 2 weeks! Upon handing in my last final, I went and set-up my own recording session and it seemed like everything just came together at once. I'm just so thankful for all the musical connections I have made and the people willing to help me out throughout the process. I am not used to asking for things so I was just amazed at the amount of generosity I received from all of my friends who were gladly willing to dedicate their time and talent to my cause. I tried to offer monetary compensation to Jessica for playing and even she didn't want it! She said it was just nice to help me out and even come out and see me. It just warms my heart :) I thank all of them here! For the ones that were able to help me out, the ones who weren't able but wanted to, the ones who helped indirectly by listening to me gripe about the frustration of putting a project like this together... thank-you! It was fantastic to feel the musical love and it worked well to counterbalance my headache from all those logistical details!

I'll keep you posted on the outcomes of my recordings :)

Take care!

A Chorus of Hits Indeed

I had the pleasure of attending the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) and Leonard Ratzlaff's Richard Eaton Singers (RES) performance tonight at the Winspear Centre and all of the songs revolved around the "chorus" in one way or another. I wrote a preview of this performance outlining some pieces I was interested to hear and it definitely was a very unique performance.

In the first pieces "With a Song in My Heart" and "The Trolley Song," you could hear that the choir was a little bit out of its element, since these are extremely character-driven songs, and the choir struggled at times to find a unified soloistic voice to represent itself. I can imagine that in the short of amount of rehearsal time that they did have, the bulk of the time was most likely spent on the 1812 Overture and less so on these musical theatre numbers. However, I loved the ESO's cheeky playing during "The Trolley Song" and the low strings appropriately responded with pizzicato when the chorus talked about tugging heart strings. The brass section also had the trolley signal down. Before the Sleeping Beauty waltz, Jack Everly made fun of the fact that Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty music was only recognized once the music received an Oscar nomination following Walt Disney's film. You could hear that RES began to settle their voices in the latin texts of Poulenc's staccato and light "Laudamus te" and Lloyd Webber's hauntingly beautiful "Pie Jesu."

I remember the Pie Jesu well from my childhood since I was raised in an environment that regarded Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Phantom of the Opera very highly. I remember we owned a VHS tape of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the many famous songs that he composed/arranged and Pie Jesu was on it. I still remember the cheesy 80s karaoke video vibe the video had where Sarah Brightman was singing with a young boy soprano. They wore oversized sweaters and were illuminated with soft lighting as images of clouds rolled by behind them. I just remember rewinding the tape to hear this piece over and over again. Oh yeah, I knew how to class it up as a child :)

The RES began with just a few select singers from the soprano and alto sections and it definitely was difficult for them to achieve an unified balance, due to exposed entries and the physical gaps between the singers during Pie Jesu, but it was still extremely beautiful and worked well within a choral arrangement. Another highlight of the first half was Fiddler on the Roof's "Sunrise, Sunset" and I just have to say that the RES women have an extremely wonderful maternal tone that was so resonant in this piece as well as their encore "Climb Every Mountain."

The two Hallelujah pieces extremely contrasted one another. There was a new arrangement of Cohen's "Hallelujah," and although I really enjoyed the ending and the shaping of the orchestral arrangement, the choral parts just had a very karaoke vibe to it at times. Maybe it is because I am desensitized to the song, since it is so often performed, but the piece is meant to be a solo one and the choral voice just didn't have the flexibility that the piece requires. Not due to any fault of the choir's or arranger's but I just don't think this piece is meant to be done choir-style. Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus, on the other hand, was extremely fitting and you could tell that the RES could sing this song in their sleep! Though, I was slightly disappointed the audience didn't stand. Maybe that is something that only happens during Christmas?

The second half was a nice contrast with more tradition classical and operatic choruses. Jack Everly's conducting would often take me by surprise, since as soon as he turns around, within a second, the orchestra would be playing. I almost didn't feel prepared as an audience member to start listening when the music had such an abrupt start! Thus, the start of the booming "O Fortuna" chorus right after the intermission startled me! As well, he had a tendency to conduct using upbeats which was throwing me for a visual loop. I almost felt like breathing instead of singing while watching him. However, he had a nice, light banter style between the pieces which was appreciated.

The Madama Butterfly humming chorus was resonant and ethereal and the ESO was showcased so well in the soaringly beautiful dawn section in the prelude to Act III of the opera. The choral arrangement of the Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture allowed me to hear what the RES does best and that is booming adult works with mass power. The ESO had so much majestic flourish in the 1812 Overture and I never get tired of hearing the victory bells of Moscow ring out at the end of the piece. Take THAT Napoleon!

All in all, I had a lovely evening out at the Symphony since it has been a long time since I took in one of their concerts. They are wrapping up their current season in the next few months and they already have many exciting concerts planned for their new 2010-2011 season and you can check those out here and look at subscription packages as well.

And, if I may, I would like to give a shout-out to Colleen Vogel in RES. I love watching your joyous face sing! It is always a pleasure!

Here is a video I found of Pie Jesu, it's not the chessy karaoke-like video that I personally grew up with, but it has the same kind of vibe :)

The St. Albert Sauna

Hello!

Last night Belle Canto sang in the St. Albert Rotary Festival or the St. Albert Sauna as we affectionately deemed it. There was a steamy hot heat that permeated the church where we sang. It always amazes me how long I find these festival classes even after years of competing in them. It is always nice to have the opportunity to perform for some new ears but my patience is wearing thin to have an adjudicator jot down notes in between each song while we stand up on the stage and have nothing to do. In that sense, I really enjoyed the Cork Music Festival since you have a set time frame and you just sang each piece one after the other so you can just stay in the performance zone without having to wait.

We ended up entering in a bunch of classes some with the full choir and some with a smaller ensemble. Many of our songs were quite new and our main frightening moment occurred during Montaverdi's "Surgens Jesu." Early music can be so challenging within a choir since it is so dependent on the fact that we all are keeping the same internal pulse and it really is up to the individual parts to move the line. Each section needs to have an unspoken consensus of where they want their individual line to go. It requires such a great amount of mental effort since you have to continuously feel the movement of the line and provide proper stress while knowing when to retract to let another section express its musical thoughts. It requires such finely tuned sensitivity and we were definitely lacking that respect. There was a tentative fear heard throughout the whole piece and there was so much tension I couldn't even take a full breath. A moment of doubt regarding the pulse caused the soprano section to miss an entry and we ended up singing the end of the piece without them. I remember thinking "maybe I should just jump up onto their line so they know where they should be" but I figured sight reading and coming in on a high F probably wasn't the best thing in case I butchered it. My lack of confidence is also due to the fact that we've just started learning the piece and it has yet to settle into our voices and be comfortable for us to perform. I am still dependent on my music to decipher my own line let alone start singing another part. I'm sure once Belle Canto is in Italy, singing inside beautiful domed cathedrals, this current fear will past.

Our other songs seemed to go smoothly enough. Our "Log Drivers Waltz" was cheeky and light due to Shannon's solo, our madrigal "Aye Me, Alas, Hey Ho" was surprisingly solid for a piece that was new for us as well and I was happy to realize that I had it memorized since I didn't need my music much throughout the performance. I love it when I'm unconsciously memorizing a piece! It really take the cognitive load off! Our French Canadian folksong, "V'la L'Bon Vent," was one of our most solid performances of that piece yet and we got some good tips from the French Canadian adjudicator, Dr. Andrée Dagenais, to ensure that we didn't nasalize the consonant but to nasalize the open vowel. For example, in the word "vent," we needed to remain on the open /e/ vowel and add nasalization rather than holding to the /n/ to provide that nasalization for us. A small detail, but as Dr. Andrée Dagenais said herself, it is all about the details when we are preparing for an international competition.

Overall, the performance definitely had its shaky moments but nothing that I am going to lose sleep over. We have another chance to perform at the Edmonton Kiwanis Festival this upcoming week so hopefully we can work through some more bugs at rehearsal on Monday. If you are in Edmonton and would like to see Belle Canto perform, we will be singing on Friday, April 23 at McDougall United Church probably starting around 7:30pm. The nice thing about festivals is that they're free :)

Hope to see some of you there!

Also, here's a video of the McDades singing V'la L'Bon Vent with Pro Coro. It's not the same arrangement but it has the right French-Canadian folk song feel.

An ESO Chorus Line

Greetings!

I thought I would just post a quick preview about an upcoming ESO concert that I will be blogging at this weekend. It will be a concert revolving around "chorus hits." Conductors Jack Everly and Leonard Ratzlaff will be leading the ESO and Richard Eaton Singers through beloved chorus tunes. When I first saw the title, "A Chorus of Hits," the first thing that came to my mind was spunky musical theatre tunes complete with jazz hands, vibrant costumes and show faces so optimistic that they could cure cancer. A glance through the program did not wholly agree to the stereotypical image in my mind. Clearly, my addiction for the musical t.v. show, Glee, is having a huge influence on me. Side note: Who's excited about the start of the new season!?!?

It was nice to see that lots of familiar tunes were on the program even though it's not the most cohesive set list I've seen put together. However, I appreciate the fact that the ESO wants to host a fun evening where familiar and accessible music is performed. Tis' the goal of their Robbins Pops series :) As much as I enjoy listening to the complete Carmina Burana set, sometimes you just want to skip to the "O Fortuna" chorus since that chorus is the piece's claim to fame. In the case of this concert, you are able to hear famous choruses one after the other. It's just like scanning through the tracks on a chorus c.d. and playing your favorites! Some chorus pieces will include the "Humming Chorus" from Madama Butterfly, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu", and "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. A programming choice that did make me smile with amusement was seeing two "Hallelujah" tunes one after the other. Cohen's Hallelujah followed by Handel's Hallelujah. Yep, if you're thinking what I'm thinking... that should be pretty interesting. I wonder if the audience will still stand (as per tradition) during Handel's Hallelujah...

Anyway, if you are interested in seeing how this musically eclectic choral program is going to fit together, you're in luck since there will be 2 performances at the Winspear Centre on Friday April 16 and Saturday April 17 both @ 8pm. You can get tickets online here and if you happen to be there for the Saturday performance, let me know, because I will be there :)

Until next time, take care!