Choir Madness!!!

[Madeliaette]

Nice.
so - what are yr #2/other top ten?

[Sean]

RJ-yeah...I'll have to fool around with the design next time I work with her. Actually I could probably just do so on my own, since I have full access to it, but I don't want to do so without her permission. For now I'll also moderate any comments that pop up on there (negative ones at least), until she learns how to. To be honest, even thought it was cool to do a world premier of a piece, especially one by Dr Thomas...and a piece that we commissioned in honor of her 25th year as director, I hated the piece. It sounded like it was composed on his lunch break. Certainly not one of his finer works...

M, my top ten...hmm. Right now it's these, with the last 5 in no particular order. Essentially to get on my list, I have to have performed it and created a deep emotional connection to it, and have to really love performing it.

If Music be the Food of Love, David Dickau
In Remembrance, Jeffery Ames
Omnia Sol, Z. Randal Stroope
My Flight for Heaven, Blake Henson
Alleluia, Ralph Manuel
Sweetheart of the Sun, Eric Barnum
I Am in Need of Music, David Brunner
How Can I Keep from Singing?, Ronald Staheli
I Am Not Yours, Z Randall Stroope
Amor di mi Alma, Z Randall Stroope.

As you can see...I'm a fan of Stroope's work, mainly because he writes some freaking awesome music. Hopefully Alleluia and In Remembrance will get posted to this new channel eventually, because we really did them well at this last concert. The Manuel piece is actually a BCAS favorite that I recently was introduced to. It's simply gorgeous. The U of Utah Singers have a stunning rendition on Youtube.

[Madeliaette]

wow - I only recognize two of those. (Mind you, people do not often recognise anything in my own top ten songs/music list....)

[Sean]

^Most people wouldn't recognize any of them, so you're already ahead of the game! I'm not a fan of any of the choral "classics"..Brahms, Mozart or stuff like that, or even religious music that people would be more familiar with, so most people have never heard any of these pieces. Which is a shame, because they are all beautiful.

[Sean]

Just closed out our season with a fantastic set of concerts. This concert celebrated our director's 25th anniversary as music director, and as such featured all of her favorite pieces from the Broadway stage (our May concerts are usually Broadway themed, and she loved Broadway music anyway).

Bring Him Home, from Les Mis. This song is one of my recurring favorites with this group...each time we sing it it gets better. We sang it in DC as well. Just us men for this one. The soloist is an awesome guy with a beautiful voice. The two of us essentially make up the backbone of the the tenor section (and the entire First Tenor section most of the time).

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUo_aDN_ ... ure=relmfu[/BBvideo]

More videos are being posted to the choir's YouTube page...I'm not sure which though, because I'm not directly involved in this round. Some more from this concert are already up, actually, but I'm only going to share my favorites here. I'm not the biggest fan of Broadway music, actually.

However, I do think that this is one that some of the more...youthfully challenged among us may enjoy.

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA5llN_BN98[/BBvideo]

[Sean]

Excerpts from Chicago. I didn't mind this medley too much, and I just had to share it for the soloist...he's one of my good friends, and was my pharmacist for a while. He's a ham. Last year he sang the part of Nicely Nicely Johnson in the Guys and Dolls Medley (Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat). Totally blew me (and everyone else) away with that.

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjC16Nzj9Mw[/BBvideo]

[RJDiogenes]

Youthfully challenged indeed! Although I did enjoy that variation on one of my favorite songs.

Nice Chicago medley, too.

[Sean]

^That was one of the medleys that I found good and tolerable. My main issue with showtune medleys is that it seems to give everyone a license to do their own interpretation of style...and vowels...and tone. And they usually end up sounding rather sloppy.

Can You Feel The Love Tonight. Several years ago, our director had her nephew direct this piece. He was 5 then. Now...he's 13 and she had him do it again. He actually conducted it this time, as opposed to just waving his arms, so the choir actually followed him, as opposed to the pianist. The kid's got some talent. His dad was on drums. Truly a family affair. (like I said...this concert was all full of her favorite things...and these two are certainly two of her favorites. ). I like this song...mainly because I like the Lion King, and because it's one of the few individual octavos we did on this concert, as opposed to a chopped up medley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJAkyBk81XQ

I do hope I'm not sounding too negative...this set of concerts were good, it's just that there wasn't much music that I could actually identify with. Singing showtunes without actually putting on the show is...well, it's sort of like singing just to sing, in my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of that. When I perform, I want something that I can really get into. It's really hard to get into a dozen or so characters in the space of a concert...as opposed to just being myself emotionally enthralled in a song. And there's really no emotional depth to most showtunes (the exception being the songs of the Beauty and the Beast medley, which I adored, and will be sharing if it is posted).

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Nothing wrong with being a purist. I'm that way myself when it comes to writing. Out of curiosity, how do you feel about "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha?

[Sean]

^It was actually almost my audition song for the choir 2 years ago. It was between that, or Oh What a Beautiful Mornin', and I went with the Oklahoma! piece because it fit my range a bit better. I've never seen the musical, but I like the song just fine. That's my problem, actually, is that I've never seen half of the shows that this music comes from. Which is sad, being a theatre geek. I guess I'm not into the bigger shows. I enjoy seeing other things.

[RJDiogenes]

Interesting. It's been one of my favorite songs since the 60s, but I didn't actually see the show until a few years ago.

[Sean]

This is the medley from Beauty and the Beast. Probably my favorite medley we did...I'm kinda disappointed that the first tenor notes didn't carry through well in the recording of If I Can't Love Her (they are truly blissful), but other than that...I like it. I actually went out for that solo, but didn't get it. You can't win them all though...this soloist did a damn fine job.

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNnD7duM ... e=youtu.be[/BBvideo]

[RJDiogenes]

That was really nice. Somebody did a good job on the video, too.

[Sean]

That was really nice. Somebody did a good job on the video, too.

The videos are really nicely done. Whatever program she uses (ProShow, I think) puts together really nice slideshows. And the medley was one of the best on the concert. Actually the best, as far as medleys were concerned.

This was one of the best octavos, I think. It was the finale, and while it's a fitting and grand song, in this case we could have ended with something that the audience may have actually recognized. Either way it was a damn fine piece of music. It's actually the only chorally published piece of music from this musical.

Children of Eden

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFFOTDCWiCM[/BBvideo]

(it appears that the embed code isn't working...)

[RJDiogenes]

Apparently, the embed code doesn't like the "https." When I got the "long link" from the "Share" button the page, it worked-- and that link is exactly the same, except it has "http" instead of "https." That's a little feature I've never encountered before.

That was nice. I must investigate this ProShow software.