Dos horas ha que callejeo, pero no veo nerviosa ya sin calma al que le di confiada el alma.
Translated, this means (roughly): "For two hours I have been roaming the streets nervously and restlessly, but I cannot find the man whom I gave my soul." It's the first verse of the song "Callejeo," which I will be singing at Linda McNeil's studio recital on Sunday. It's a Spanish-themed recital, and the program is organized by the eras wherein the different composers lived. My composer was Enrique Granados, who lived in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. My song, although I don't actually like it very much, is very different from the other songs that will be sung at the recital. The other songs are mostly slow, long ballads. Mine is fast (ridiculously so) and short, and I have to sing it twice in order to get it to sound like it's even a moderate length. Dr. McNeil is working on getting me to be expressive with the piece, but since I've never haunted the streets of Spain with passionate revenge against a man who betrayed me, it's a tiny bit difficult. I'd better get my heart broken before this week ends so I can sing on Sunday like I know what I'm singing about.
On Tuesday, October eighteenth in the year of our Lord two thousand and eleven........Trinity Choir sang. Oooh, exciting. Well actually, to be more specific and to explain why this not-particularly-shocking fact is significant, this date is the date on which Trinity University put on its 2011 fall choral concert.
Trinity Choir (22 men, 20 women) started off, followed by the Chamber Singers (12 men, 12 women, all from Trinity Choir) and then by the Women's Choir, Voix d'Esprit (34 women). Trinity Choir opened the concert in mixed formation with a German a capella song by Schumann - "Und Ob Ich Schon Wanderte Im Finstren Thal," continued with "Super Flumina Babylonis," moved to sections and finished the Trinity Choir portion of the concert with the Estonian segakoorile by Tormis and "A Dream Within A Dream" by Debra Scroggins.
I like standing in mixed formation (which is basically when everyone kind of just roams around and finds a spot among singers of different voice parts, and then Dr. Seighman moves a few people around to get the sound he wants, and then that is our set "mixed formation") because I can hear the other voice parts around me. I stood at the stage right end of the second row, with a Bass 2 (who also happened to be my very good friend Josh) behind me, an Alto 1 (who also happened to be my lovely suitemate Amanda Leard) in front of me, and a Tenor 2 (whose name I unfortunately cannot remember) to my left. So I was surrounded by lovely sound from all different voice types, and since I was the only Soprano 2 in the near vicinity, I could hear myself sing and check to make sure I was singing the right pitches, counting correctly, and being musical. However, this freedom can be detrimental when singing songs like "Super Flumina Babylonis," which sounds like a medieval chant and has very, very difficult entrances for each section. We always find it difficult to stand mixed when singing that song, because we need to hear each other in our sections and feel the beat and rhythm of the piece together. However, we pulled it off fairly successfully, and right after it, we moved to stand in our sections, which look something like this:
Audience
Alto 2 Soprano 1
Alto 1 Soprano 2
Tenor 1 Bass 1
Tenor 2 Bass 2
We sang the Tormis (very well, I might add), and then finished with our favorite piece ever, "A Dream Within A Dream." *insert sarcasm here.*We can't stand the song. It's pretty....and it's gorgeous to listen to....but singing it.is.impossible. And we didn't even sing the whole thing during warmup before the concert. It was not the best performance of that song we've ever done, but at least it wasn't horrible. We were all glad when we finished it, and we got to go sit in the back pews and listen to the Chamber Singers, and then the women's choir, sing their pieces. They all did a wonderful job, and there were several solos in the women's songs that were sung quite well.
Overall it was a nice evening, and even though I wore a half-velvet, half-garbage-sack-plastic dress for at least three hours, I was pleased with my first college choir concert. I look forward to many more.
You might think that being a music minor involves a lot of classical music, theory, and more classical music. Well, that is true. What is less well-known is that many different styles of music are studied, with emphasis given in some areas depending upon the concentration of the student. I don't have an emphasis, but so far I have performed classical art solos in German, Italian, and English, for state competitions in high school as well as voice lessons here at Trinity, and I've also performed musical theatre songs for auditions. While the classical songs are an indispensable part of music education, I've always preferred singing musical theatre - no wonder, when my favorite movie since I can remember is The Sound of Music. I also love all the other Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, as well as The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and My Fair Lady.
This particular song I have been working on in my voice lesson is "If I Loved You" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical Carousel. I love Carousel - it's the tragic story of a carousel barker who marries a beautiful mill worker, mistreats her, and turns over a new leaf when he learns his wife is pregnant, only to be killed in his attempt to steal money to provide for his family. I auditioned for the R&H musical Oklahoma! in Houston with the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel, and I also sang that song for my auditions here at Trinity - one for Dr. McNeil to be placed in her studio, and one for Dr. Seighman to be (hopefully) placed in a choir (I made Trinity Choir). "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a powerful, sweeping ballad that speaks of hope through tragedy. It is sung by Nettie, the cousin of the widowed Julie on the death of carousel barker Billy Bigelow.
However! "If I Loved You" is the song I've been working on recently. It is sung earlier in the show; a duet between Julie and Billy during their first conversation. Neither will admit to secretly loving the other, but the depth of their feeling is revealed in their singing, and the song ends in a kiss. Obviously I don't have a bass range, so I can't sing both parts, but the soprano solo part of the number is what I sang today in Dr. McNeil's voice studio. I need to work on producing the notes towards the front of my face instead of swallowing the sound, and throwing the high notes instead of reaching for them. Also it would be nice if I could somehow become less nervous while performing. I think it affects my vibrato. Speaking of which, I need more vibrato on my high notes - when I sing straight tone on high F's, G's, and A's, I sound like I'm reaching for the notes instead of floating on them.
(Side note: last semester, during my senior spring in high school, my homeschool choir performed a show choir medley of Rodgers & Hammerstein songs. My show choir - the top mixed one, Bravo - danced to "The Sound of Music," "June is Bustin' Out All Over" from Carousel, "Oklahoma!", a reprise of "The Sound of Music," and "You'll Never Walk Alone." My dance partner and I were given some of the more advanced lifts to do, and my friend Haley and I got solos because we were the graduating seniors who were both dancers - we danced the first verse and first chorus in the finale "You'll Never Walk Alone," the verse by ourselves taking turns, and the chorus with our respective dance partners. "You'll Never Walk Alone" was a much jazzier version than the original, and our assistant choral director sang it beautifully. The picture is of the ending pose of the entire 16-minute long R & H medley.)
I don't know who invented the German language, but whoever it was had a very cynical sense of humor. German pronunciation is a very difficult skill to master, and while I am by no means proficient, I can say that I am getting closer to becoming cautiously comfortable with it. For example, I've gotten used to pronouncing the letter "e" with an schwa at the end of words like "liebe" (which means "love"). This is the symbol of a schwa: Ə. It looks like an upside-down "e," and it indicates pronunciation of the neutral vowel in the word "the," the "e" in the word "taken," and the "i" in the word "pencil."
Anyways, I am singing two German songs this semester. The first is a solo - "Von Ewiger Liebe" by Johannes Brahms. The second is a choral piece that will be performed by the Trinity Choir at our fall concert - it is called "Und Ob Ich Schon Wanderte Im Finstrin Thal" by Georg Schumann.
"Von ewiger liebe" means "Of eternal love," and it is the story of two young lovers who, wending their way to the girl's house on a dark (dunkel) evening, converse about their love. The young man tells his beloved that if he should ever bring her shame or disgrace, then "our love shall be ended ever so fast." ("Werde die Liebe getrennt so geschwind.") The girl assures her lover that "Steel is firm and iron is firm, yet our love is firmer still." ("Fest ist der Stahl und das Eisen gar sehr, Unsere Liebe ist fester noch mehr.") It's a beautiful song.
The Schumann piece isn't a love song. It's a Bible verse; Psalm 23:4 - "And if I even wander in the dark valley, I fear no misfortune because You are by me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me, my God, because You are by me." This song speaks to me especially right now, because I am currently not in choir rehearsal (where I am supposed to be) due to an untoward but not wholly unexpected sickness. I went to the doctor today at Health Services, and I think the fact that the nurse drew blood from my arm might have contributed to my current state of physical ailment.
Anyhow. Enough about German. I'm ready to move on to something interesting.
"Ich fürchte kein Unglück denn Du bist bei mir, mein Gott!" I fear no misfortune because you are by me, my God!"
"I've got Trinity Choir lovin' for..." everyone in the Trinity Choir. :)
This past weekend, the Chamber Singers and the Trinity Choir went on their annual retreat to Mo Ranch. We rehearsed, we ate, we played, we sang, we stayed up late, we laughed, and overall had a grand ol' time. I know in my introduction blog post, I indicated that this post would cover my feelings towards the German text of two songs I will be singing this semester, but I find that German text will always be German text, and can wait until a later post, while Mo Ranch is a once-a-year event, the story of which will be best related on the day I returned.
During rehearsal, we spent a good chunk of time working on our seven-movement segakoorile called Sugismaastikud...which is Estonian for "Autumn Landscapes." I can't find a definition for "segakoorile," but I have learned that "segama" is the Estonian infinitive for the English word "stir," and that "koor" is the Estonian word for "choir." There has to be a connection there somewhere. Now, I sing second soprano. When I auditioned for Dr. Seighman, he found out what my range is, and since he liked my high voice, asked whether I preferred to sing first (soprano) or second. I said I'd rather sing second (because I enjoy singing harmony, and first soprano is always the melody), but now I'm rather regretting my words, because at the end of the last movement of the segakoorile, the first sopranos sing a high C. The high C is also called the "soprano C"...it is also called "C6" because it is the sixth octave on the piano...and it is also two octaves above middle C. It takes a very soprano-y soprano to be able to hit that C. Altos as a general rule can't sing much higher than a G5, if they can reach that high in the first place. I don't want to brag, but I can indeed hit the C6, and I very much wish I could sing first soprano in this Estonian piece, for the sheer sake of hitting a high C at the very end of it. Instead I must sing no higher than an A, and I am slightly disappointed. Ah well. Such is life.
On the bright side, I get to sing a seven-movement choral piece in ESTONIAN. How cool is that???
