September 1, 2010

Dear Colleagues in “Music in Worship,”

by Joel Ulrich, R&S Chair for Music in Worship

Last fall, I shared Bruce Leafblad’s riddle “Who Am I?” which he shared at the 2003 National Convention.  Scott Dean—Music in Worship, SI 2010 presenter—shared parts of the riddle at this past summer’s SI.  Leafblad concludes the riddle with:
“And you, my colleagues in this ancient guild, are the keepers of the SONG, the teachers of the SONG, the singers of the SONG, the leaders of the SONG in the church today.”

So, as “keepers”, “teachers”, “singers” and “leaders”, our work is and always has been the work of helping our singers find “the song”.  This is a never-ending, always-in-progress conversation and work. Throughout the history of the world, the “song” was always part and parcel of the world the people lived in. The August 11 Seattle Times featured an article about the Quileute Tribe on the Washington coast.  A quote from David Hudson, current Quileute Chief, caught my attention:

“We live our culture here. We have our ocean, clams, smelt, Halibut.
The woods are at our back door with elk, cedar, bear and deer for our carving and regalia and our food.
Our songs are our identity, and we can sing for hours and hours.”
“TRIBE: ‘TWILIGHT’ DOESN’T TELL OUR REAL STORY”—Seattle Times, August 11, 2010, A1

Native Americans and peoples of all continents of the world have understood the “identity” and the singing for “hours and hours” concepts throughout the history of the world.  The Lord gave us the song as a means to keep our hearts and minds on Him and to enable His people—when alone and when in community—to keep Him as our true identity.  Truly, His people have sung for HOURS and hours throughout the history of the world.

“The Lord has put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the Lord.” Ps. 40:3

The song of the Lord lived out faithfully in community will be a song that is not only heard, but also seen—what a concept.  May the Lord find us faithful in that song—our world today needs the song as much as it ever has in the history of the world!  As we begin our choral year together, let’s share with each other the various ways in which the song is “seen” in the midst of our work with church choirs.  Send me your thoughts and insights as they come to you through your work this year, and I’ll share them with our choral community.

My fall, winter and spring articles this year will follow these basic themes:

Fall 2010—Keeping the Horse in Front of the Cart

James Jordan (The Musician’s Soul) talks about the importance of soul in the song—what the Quileute talk about, too:
“As I observe the conducting profession, specifically the choral music genre, I have seen many fine teachers and “conductors”. Their choirs sing beautifully with impeccable intonation.  I have taught many conducting students who possess technical conducting gifts;  that is, their hands work well. Coordination and symmetry of pattern is seemingly effortless. Yet, whether it be a children’s choir or an adult professional chorus, many times there is something missing in the sound: That something which provides a brilliance of color and accuracy of pitch that is unmistakable, if one is listening.  What is missing? What is missing to those who really listen is a humanness to the sound—a sound that is born because of the conductor’s selflessness and understanding of human love through music. The often used expression “the music has no soul” is not far from the truth and the aural reality.

I have great concerns for music education. At the risk of over-generalizing, music education has understandably focused itself on techniques of teaching, and sometimes on the methods of teaching and its consequent learning. However, the profession has not remained focused on those basic, bottom-line elements which allow children and adults [church choirs…] to make music that really has little, if anything, to do with the reading and replication of the right pitch and right rhythm.  Music in the classroom and ensembles can be “made”, but it is created and generated from the very souls of those that produce it.  Soulful human beings create profound music, regardless of their level of musical achievement. 

Such music is, at the same time, honest and direct, and speaks in the most direct way to all that hear it.

The pedagogy of conducting has likewise focused on the teaching of technique. In many quarters, it has focused on a teaching of conducting devoid of sound. A conductor does not “conduct”; he/she, by the nature of his/her being and his/her sprit, causes people to sing;  he/she evokes sounds that hopefully, are reflective of each person’s individual life experiences.

Granted, technique and the mechanics of conducting must be taught and respected. However, the stuff that allows for the creation of great music is rarely dealt with in the teaching of conducting.  What is usually easiest learned is hardest taught. Soulfulness is a hard thing to talk about and teach.”  --The Musician’s Soul, Intro.

I have found in my over 42 years of working with church choirs that “soulfulness is a hard thing to talk about and teach” at times—not always, of course.  I have also found that the song has been a most “releasing” idiom to begin the “soulful” conversation in the work with music. 

Through technique (vocalization—breath, resonance, space, etc., etc.; solfege—finding tonality, sight-reading, etc., etc.; theory—key sigs, counting, etc.,; and tactus—pulse, rhythm, etc.), we are able to find the song more truly, but sometimes the song conversation is taken for granted and the means becomes the end in-and-of itself.  We can all tell our “stories” about our encounters with this problem: “soulful” choral performances were not always the most musically proficient, and musically proficient ensembles have not always been the most soulful. 

“Keeping the horse in front of the cart” is constant work in many ways.  In regard to text, Monteverdi reminds us that “The Word, the Text, with all its values and qualities, should be the Master and not the servant of the Musical Harmony”. 

Keeping the soul in front of technique is the constant work of choirs.  And of course, even when the cart’s in front of the horse, they are never miles apart, but the order is really important if we want to reach the “destination”.  The conductors who influence us the most bring more than technique to the work—they bring personality/soul.  Our work is to bring that to our singers.

So, 1) nothing “new” here.  So often, in all of life, remembering to do what we already “know” is the work; and 2) this is life-long work—we never get there completely, but getting on the “right road” is important in reaching the destination. 

Share your insights with us—this is an on-going conversation, not just an “article”!

Two Community Choral Events coming up soon

1st Covenant Church Chancel Choir is hosting two choral community events this fall which you and your choir are invited to join:

October 16-17                       
Hymn Festival, featuring Royce Eckhardt, organist.  Saturday morning choir rehearsal/Sunday morning Hymn Festival.  Royce taught organ at SPU for several years in the late 60’s/early 70’s before going to North Park Univ. in Chicago.  He’ll lead 12 hymns plus the Choir anthems below:

The Church’s One Foundation, arr. Craig Courtney w/brass & organ
Ubi Caritas, M. Durufle
Lord, You Have Been Our Dwelling Place, set by John Carter       

November 17            
Rehearsal/Clinic with Geoffrey Boers, UW.  Geoffrey personifies the “soulfulness” Jordan talks about—if you haven’t had him work with your choir before, you’ll love this time together.  Currently (confirmed in September), these songs will be included: Cantate Domino, Hassler; Thank the Lord, R. Clausen; There Shall a Star, Mendelssohn; Magnificat, Zacharia, 16th C./arr. L. Long

Again, we’d love to have you and your choir members join us for these events.  Let me know if you are interested or have questions.

Looking forward to our time together this year in WA ACDA—Yours in song,
Joel

soli Deo gloria

You're the "keeper of the song," a sacred trust

by Joel Ulrich, R&S Chair for Music in Worship

Dear Colleagues,

Wow—has your year gone by as quickly as mine has? Seems like it was just yesterday I submitted by first Unison article featuring Bruce Leafblad’s poem “Who Am I” which he presented at the 2003 National Convention in New York.

“Who am I?  I am the SONG, the Lord’s song, the song of creation, the song of salvation, the song of victory and deliverance, the song of praise, the song of thanks, the song of supplication, the song of joy and gladness, the song of worship.  I am the song of the morning stars, the song of Moses and the sons of Israel, the song of Deborah and Barak and of Hannah, the song of the Levitical musicians Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and the sons of Korah; the song of Kings David and Solomon; the song of priests and prophets; I am the song of choirs and congregations, the song of God’s own people.  I am the new song, the joyful song, the sacred song.  I am the SONG UNENDING. (His entire poem and convention address is attached for those of you who’d like to see it again.)

And you, my colleagues in this ancient guild, are the keepers of the SONG, the teachers of the SONG, the singers of the SONG, the leaders of the SONG in the church today.”

The second article shared thoughts about “Singing Is Listening”: “A little less singing + a little more listening = a little more music”! The article shared some reflection on a page from “Dear People…Robert Shaw”, a biography by Joseph A. Mussulman.  This excerpt was taken from a letter written by Shaw to his choir:

“It is a work of frightening difficulty [Bach’s Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied]…and a couple of weeks prior to the concert, we had rugged rhythm and a fair-to-middling sonority—but very little Bach. What we had was not a motet—but a contest.
Fortunately, we also had friends, among them musicians, and among the musicians Julius Herford. He attended a rehearsal, and after we had sung it through, I turned to him. “It seems to me, “ he said kindly, “that if we all did a little less singing and a little more listening, we’d have a little more Bach.”
    
We have all been “keepers of the song” in our work with church choirs this year, and hopefully, too, we have all worked on a “little more listening” in our singing together.  At 1st Covenant rehearsals, we’ve continued to work with ear-training: I’d sing some short, 5-8 note melodic patterns  on a “lu” syllable and have the choir sing the notes back using “solfege” syllables.  Over time, this habitual work as part of our “warm-up” time at the beginning of each rehearsal has enabled the choir to improve their ability to “hear” and identify the intervals they see in their music: “that’s a sol-mi, a minor 3rd”, etc., etc. Their intonation and ability to maintain pitch has grown tremendously and the “ah ha” moments have brought such joy to rehearsals.  Last night after rehearsing the “Soulful Celebration” setting of Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah for 30+ minutes without touching the piano or pitch-pipe, they were exactly on pitch.  Wish you could have seen their faces when we checked pitch and they heard they were right on. 

So, as “keepers of the song” and as those who help our choirs to “sing a little less and listen a little more”, we find that our choir-year flies by as we participate in the only true “life-time sport”:  singing! Hope you’ll all plan on coming to Tacoma this summer for our annual Summer Institute so we can all share our “stories” and find the refreshment that will bless our year-long work together. As we realize at each rehearsal: we need you—you need us!  See you in July!
Gratefully, Joel

January 25, 2010

A little less singing + a little more listening = a little more music!
by Joel Ulrich, R&S Chair for Music in Worship

Dear Colleagues,

In a recent e-mail from one of my former students who now sings with a community choir, I was reminded of one of the fundamental tasks of choral musicians: “Singing is Listening”…and listening to those around us in order to sing more musically.

“Now my latest choir challenge is a new soprano: she has experience that can't be beat, is more than competent at any difficult bits, already knows how to pronounce everything except Russian, and either knows everything by heart or else reads completely flawlessly.  Just as I am about to be completely overcome with unbecoming envy, she sings SO LOUDLY there is really no point in anyone else singing at all. AND - she's nice too, so one can't even evilly justify much rancor toward her.”

Nothing new here—we’ve all experienced this issue at some point or other in our life work with choirs, either singing or conducting.  We had this conversation at my 1st Covenant rehearsal last week.  Each week, I often share an article or phrase from a book to keep shaping our work as choral musicians—beyond just learning the “notes for Sunday”.  Last week I shared from “Dear People…Robert Shaw”, a biography by Joseph A. Mussulman.  As you know, Shaw wrote regular letters to his singers to review basic technical principles or to document his own personal growth as a musician.  This paragraph came from a letter dated February 14, 1946, in which he recounted four experiences that had taught him one important thing.  I share his “third” lesson below:

“The third lesson came with the Bach motet that the small choir had sung for the New Friends of Music on February 3. (It was a “railroad-rhythmic version” of Bach’s Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied—a distinctively “Americanized treatment”, said one reviewer, which was “giddy and exciting, having somewhat of the sect-group revival spirit about it, more earthy and physical than reflective or devout in nature. A touch more and those on the mourner’s bench might have been sent.”)
Shaw’s words in his letter:

“It is a work of frightening difficulty…and a couple of weeks prior to the concert, we had rugged rhythm and a fair-to-middling sonority—but very little Bach. What we had was not a motet—but a contest.

Fortunately, we also had friends, among them musicians, and among the musicians Julius Herford. He attended a rehearsal, and after we had sung it through, I turned to him. “It seems to me, “ he said kindly, “that if we all did a little less singing and a little more listening, we’d have a little more Bach.”

So much of our work in church choirs is just getting the notes learned for Sunday, with some dynamics and text articulation thrown in for good “measure”.  Hopefully, we’ll never take for granted that the over-arching work of listening will always be our first and foremost work:

“A little less singing + a little more listening = a little more music”!

Share your thoughts and experiences—we’ll share them with each other.
Yours in this ministry together,

Joel