Instrumentalists Teaching Choir

I'll be honest- one of my fears as a potential music educator has always been choir. Our choir conducting assignment, due tomorrow, has only served to increase these fears. Therefore I found this Choralnet discussion on instrumentalists teaching choir to be quite interesting in its various perspectives and ideas.

One of the first suggestions for this poster, who is an instrumentalist new to directing choirs, was to join a choir. I would tend to agree- the experience of being immersed in an activity can bring so many things to light. Relate it to the fact that so much of the band experience for students is simply done by absorbing and learning from what is going on around you. Chorally, having the experience of singing, observing others singing, the conductor's rehearsal and warm up techniques and more can be a great place to start off from.

The idea of taking charge of your own learning came into play, as well. A few posters suggests professional development clinics or classes relating to choral conducting or vocal pedagogy. While the choir experience from the previous paragraph can bring you so far, if you are going to get very serious it's important to understand how to teach voice, as it is a delicate instrument.

Several other posters also commented on the idea of "musicians are musicians," so at least for the artistic, musical side of things, trust your musical gut on what "sounds good." Further to that, many also discussed that concepts from instrumental playing carry over very well to the choral experience. The rhythmic discipline of percussionists, the breathing of wind players, the line and phrasing of string players, etc. There is a lot of skills different instrumentalists focus on, so bringing those ideas and benefiting from them could help a lot. As I have learned this semester, this is a scene of choral directors who use instruments, further to piano, to help direct their choirs.

One poster made mention of the fact that, for instrumentalists, choral conducting is also quite a different experience. Whereas instrumental conducting is very heavily related to metre, choral conducting is much more phrase-based.

Finally, I think the best thing to keep in mind is to keep positive. We all hit snags in the road, especially when learning or developing new skills. Use the resources around you and available to you, stay positive, and surely with experience and time things will come to you well.

Any other thoughts?

Choral Warm-ups from Shawn and Tony!

The following is our choral warm-up video! We incorporated a few suggestions from class. Thanks for all the feedback. Enjoy!

Pecha Kucha Presentation on The Choral Director's Cookbook

Found on the link below is my Pecha Kucha presentation on a choral resource book. The book as well as the presentation format is an interesting concept, and I'm excited to see how the presentation itself goes!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i9ywjskgvewai2i/tonypechakucha.ppt?dl=0

Amabile Choirs Review

My presentation can be found here: http://prezi.com/ziqfwyfm7p7z/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

My handout information is as follows (cross-posted to D2L):

Tony Taylor's Choir Review of...

Choir Background:

Amabile Choirs is actually 8 auditioned choirs based in London, Ontario. 4 female and 4 male choirs are lead by 7 conductors, a number of accompanists, and a handful of administrators. The Amabile program is world renowned, and boasts a membership of over 300 choristers. As a non-profit organization, an average of $50 is the monthly payment. With more than 12 visited countries under their belt from international tours, competitions and festivals, and 23 CDs recorded, it is no wonder that they are ranked among some of the best children's choir programs in the world.

By no means did Amabile start with 8 choirs. They have been added over the years for different purposes, but each gender has four performance-difficulty levels ranging from absolute beginner to professional-grade performances. The program has built in voice lessons, theory lessons in addition to the ensembles.

Female Choirs: Amabile Da Capo Choir Junior Amabile Singers Amabile Youth Singers Prima: Amabile Women's Choir

“Amabile is an Italian word that simply means “friendly”… and it’s really how Amabile began. At the end of the 1985 London Kiwanis Music Festival, local music teachers Brenda Zadorsky and John Barron took their respective choral groups – who had competed against each other – for ice cream at what is now known as Cherryhill Village Mall, to celebrate. The 27 girls with cones in hand, wandered onto a set of risers and just for fun, this impromptu group sang. The voices blended beautifully, and that fall, Amabile Youth Singers were born.”

Male Choirs: Amabile Treble Training Choir Amabile Treble Concert Choir Amabile Young Men's Ensemble Primus: Amabile Men's Choir

John Barron: Co-founder of the Amabile Choirs. John Barron was a legendary member of the Canadian choral community, known not only for his founding of the Amabile choirs, but for his work with the Ontario Youth Choir and bringing the Kodaly method to Canadian schools, among much more. He was awarded the Order of Canada. Barron recently passed away, but worked with Amabile until his death.

Brenda Zadorsky: Co-Founder of the Amabile Choirs. She has won numerous awards for her artistic leadership through the organization. Zadorsky travels extensively to participate in clinics, festivals and guest performances. She is recognized as a highly respected teacher and music education consultant. Her personal studio has produced many students who have gone on to pursue performing careers. Zadorsky continues to work with the Amabile organization, especially with the Amabile Youth Singers.

Repertoire Recommendations:

1. Amabile Chamber Choir's “Wrapped in Song”, Track 3: Morten Lauridson's “O Magnum Mysterium.”

• This piece has always been an absolute favourite of mine, and features the combined advanced Amabile Children's Choirs. I think it stretches the musicality of the choir as a whole, and the Amabile Chamber Choir's rendition is warm and colourful.

  
  

2. Primus: Amabile Men's Choir's “Inner Fie”, Track 10: Stephen Hatfield's “Nukapianguaq.”

• Amabile Choirs have a strong affiliation with Hatfield, having recorded two CDs of exclusively his works. This piece features Inuit song and related sounds- a uniquely Canadian composition, most certainly, which is but a sample of what Amabile Choirs do for Canadian music.

  
  

3. Amabile Choirs of London, Canada's “All Good People”, Track 14: Stephen Hatfield's “All Too Soon.”

• This track features combined Amabile Choirs, and is accompanied by a group of instrumentalists. The piece demonstrates the diversity of styles the choir can portray in just one track.

  
  

4. Primus: Amabile Men's Choir's “Inner Fie”, Track 16: Zoltan Kodály's “Esti Dal.”

• Originally a folk song, Kodály's “Evening Song” is in Hungarian, and is one of his most famous pieces. It is bare, quiet and requires a certain musicality to get the meaning across. Primus' performance draws you in with its subtle colour changes and calm, clear diction.

  
  

5. Amabile Chamber Choir's “Wrapped in Song”, Track 23: Billy Joel, arr. Bob Chilcott, “And So It Goes.”

• Versatility goes a long way. Chilcott's arrangement of this Billy Joel tune is stunning. It is a satisfyingly strong chorale arrangement of a pop song, and remains identifiable as such. The performance is the selling point though; the Chamber Choir sounds intimate and deep here.

  
  

Lead like the Great Conductors

In my first blog post, I will respond to Itay Talgam's TEDtalk "Lead like the Great Conductors."

I thought Mr. Talgam's TEDtalk to be rather interesting and fun to watch, especially from a musician's point of view. But it's easy to lose sight that this talk is more about leadership, and less about music. Music, and more specifically conducting, is the form of delivery here to demonstrate types of leadership.

Mr. Talgam's talk is engaging, humorous and makes great points. It took me a while to catch on where he was going with everything, but as it approached the end I had my "ah-ha" moment with it. I loved how we were shown many different extremes to leadership, especially with Muti. Then we discover that perhaps the merriment of a combined effort that was open, yet strict, and graceful, yet firm was the best way to promote a sense of teamwork between the leader and "followers." I think that's a great point to make, and framing it in the musical context was helpful. As a teacher and leader through my cadet experiences, I have always considered reaching goals with a group to be a combined effort. The leader needs to make some decisions and keep people in line, but the actual work is enabling others to do what they need to do.

I love TEDtalks and the great speakers they always have. Hope to have the chance to respond to another.

Hello and Welcome

Yes, hello. Welcome. Greetings. This is a blog dedicated to my Music Education Voice and Choral Methods Class at Memorial University of Newfoundland, in St. John's, NL, Canada. This blog will serve as a tool to post materials and responses to class work in the course. Hopefully there will be responses from my fellow classmates as well, which will prompt some conversation in the comments. If you are just randomly following along, please feel free to engage in the conversation as well.

I am currently enrolled in the Music Education program there, after having just finished my Bachelor of Music with a major in performance and minor in composition, my focus being tuba. I aspire to be a high school instrumental educator, so the voice and choral world is a new experience for me. That said, I'm excited to learn about it, as many aspects and ideas of it can be used in any musical setting. My part time job is in the Canadian Forces Reserves as a musician of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band. My hope is to eventually take a Masters in Conducting as well.

Looking forward to get the ball rolling on this blog. Check back for new posts soon!