Choir Madness!!!

[Sean]

"How Can I Keep From Singing?", by Ronald Staheli

[youtube]xPHe54QrDIw[/youtube]

This is probably my favorite song from this concert, if not the whole year. It's a cappella, so no instrumentals, just our voices. The soloist tells a story of sorts, while the choir echos her sentiments, as though they are inside her head. I think it kinda sums up why a lot of the members of the choir enjoy singing. Enjoy!

[RJDiogenes]

Well, there's proof that the best musical instrument is the Human voice. That was beautiful.

[Sean]

^ Thanks! I agree.

I'm still planning out the final video from the UB concert, but in the meantime, here are some recordings ( with actual video!) of past concerts.

John The Revelator. This was performed years ago, before I was even in the High School, but I went to the concert, and after hearing this, I was determined to end up in the group some day. I had no idea how much work it would be though...

I believe on the video you can hear the voice of one of our local weather men commenting on the song near the end. His eldest son was in the group that year ( I think he was a senior), and now his youngest is in the group.

[youtube]NJaZMLIzOIQ[/youtube]


And The Father Will Dance. This was the the first song on the program at last years January Concert, so the first song I ever performed with the group. I think it sounds good, but you can definitely tell that it is earlier in the year than the songs we performed at the University. Or maybe, that's just me. I guess I've trained my ear to pick up on such things...

[youtube]ExatMl5SY1o[/youtube]

[RJDiogenes]

I like them both. I like the first one better, but it's the song, not the quality of the performance; both are great. The second one sounds strangely familiar, like I've heard it on a TV show or something. I can't quite remember....

[Sean]

Another Youtube search has revealed a video from Last week's concert. This is the newly formed Men's Chorale performing Brown Eyed Girl, by Van Morrison. I was surprised that we pulled it off, but I think it was spectacular. I know all the soloists personally, and I can say from experience that they are some of the funniest people I know. If you listen closely, you can occasionally hear some really high squeaking notes. Yeah, that was us Tenor 1's. Singing where no man was meant to sing before.

[youtube]tEWa5RC_5Kw[/youtube]


The girls...are planning their revenge on Mr Zogaib as we speak. To their credit, they took it all in stride.

I'm so proud of my boys!

[RJDiogenes]

I was going to ask why they'd want revenge-- now I see.

That was great. I love that song.

[Sean]

^ It was fun, if painful to perform. I'm going to edit my first post to include the Youtube function, instead of links, and I think I will also change the title of the thread...I googled Concert Chorale, just for the heck of it, and this thread was one of the first hits. I'd like to retain some anonymity, lest my fellow singers ( or teacher ) discover how proud I am of our escapades.

[RJDiogenes]

But they'd be so happy.

Okay, I edited all the other Post titles, since the search engines would find them just as readily.

[Sean]

Thanks! I just realized that I could have used my modly powers to do that also.

[RJDiogenes]

Yup, don't forget your Modly Powers.

[Sean]

And finally, after many months, I give you the last song that 28 of our number performed with the group. So, this song was just a little emotional, for all 92 singers, not just the graduating seniors.

Ride On King Jesus, by Moses Hogan.

[youtube]vg3ebYuPLJg[/youtube]

Being the sentimentalist that I am, I felt the need to add a little "dedication" to our hard work at the end, by using a quote that became the official motto of our choir for the last 5 days of school. ( although technically, it still is) Oh, and, Diet Dr Pepper, the official drink of the man that helps us to unleash our potential.

Hopefully, our next concert at Slee Hall, with guest conductor Andre Thomas, will be recorded ( I have no reason to suspect it won't be), so I can do the same thing with that performance.

[RJDiogenes]

Nice dedication. That sounded great, as always. I suspect all these people have this "pitch" thing in their voices which I seem to lack.....

[Sean]

Yeah, we try to get that "pitch" thing down, but it's hardly the most important thing to worry about. I'm glad you liked the dedication. I was going to do some sappy thing using " If music be the food of love...sing on, sing on.", but then I decided that would be a bit too sappy and cliche. Anyways, it's meant to be more of an in joke...not that too many of my fellow singers actually watch these ( which, is good, because some of them have really big mouths...). I wish I had songs to work with. I quite enjoy making these...even if my main purpose in doing so is to post them here.

[Sean]

And, after going through some files on my old computer, I finally have a new video to post!

Crossing the Bar, by Gwyneth Walker. This is a recording of the chorale's 2005 performance at Kleinhan's Music Hall in Buffalo-the world premiere of this piece, accompanied by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. A bit before my time...but it has a special meaning. This is always the last song performed at our end of the year concert. Every single vocal student at the High school performs this piece as one big group, and we always have alumni return and perform it with us. I first sang this song freshman year, before I was in Concert Chorale. This is normally the last song that graduating seniors sing with the group, before leaving for college...and for some, it's the last piece they perform in a group, ever. It'll probably be the last piece I sing as a member of Concert Chorale, if our performance schedule follows the same pattern as this year (with our annual end of year performance before the final district performance). So, without further adieu...

[youtube]y9fP7h19m64[/youtube]

[RJDiogenes]

Very nice. I just listened to it about six times.