abcd Convention 2013

This year's abcd Convention was held at Brookes University, Oxford over the weekend of 23rd-25th August. This is an account of my Convention.

Friday 23rd August

Come and Sing with John Rutter

All Saints Parish Church. John Rutter was his usual self in a two hour sing through of several pieces. Not much of it was new to me. His Amazing Grace and The Gift of Music I have workshopped with him before. The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and Who is Sylvia (Shearing) I have done myself. Two of the three songs from Friday Afternoons I already knew and Feel the spirit has appeared at Convention before. The only pieces that were new to me were A good night  by Richard Rodney Bennet and Rutter's own arrangement of Skylark. One of the highlights of the evening was the solo singing of Melanie Marshall who sang in Skylark and Feel the spirit. It was a very enjoyable session and got the voice going again after a long lay off and before Germany. 

Saturday, 24th August

Friday Afternoons

This session, led by Dominic Peckham, was designed to encourage delegates to join in Aldeburgh Music's project to get as many young people involved in some sort of performance of Friday Afternoons on 22nd November, Benjamin Britten's birthday.

It surprised me to discover that we were encouraged to be creative with the songs using beatboxing and improvisation. A very practical, informative session and a lot of fun. Dominic referred to the work of Stephen Leek, Australian composer and Bobby McFerrrin. All resources, including free downloads of the sheet music available from Aldeburgh Music

Working with young singers

Ben Parry, Therees Hibbard and Jo McNally. This session was a talking shop as Ben and Therees talked about their work with the National Youth Choir and the Oregon Bach Festival and Jo about her work with very young school children in London. Whilst very informative and interesting I was disappointed that there was very little in the way of practical use that could be taken away and used. The three key statements for me were:

Choral directors have to build their instrument before they play it   

Preparation is everything. 

Body, breath, voice  warm up sequence.

Repertoire session SATB

A lot of music very well led by David Lawrence. There was sufficient music in this one session for it to have been spread across two. Several of the pieces would have been better served by devoting slightly more time to them and one piece was done more harm than good by not having enough time to get some accuracy in the sing through. I did get several good ideas for repertoire form it though.

Intermediate conducting Masterclass

Led by Nicholas Cleobury with the University of Nebraska Chamber Singers. Three female conductors were schooled on the following pieces:

Beati quorum Stanford

The Lamb Tavener

Drop slow tears Walton

Nicholas was quite pernickety with the conductors focussing especially on gesture and fine detail often stopping them after just one or two beats.  Although he was fussy he wasn't critical of the conductor's basic technique or interpretation and made them feel at ease. The choir were very good.

Building choirs, practical marketing

Gillian Dibden, Gretchen Kurhmann, Tim Sharp and Mike Sheppard each gave a brief presentation keeping very well to their appointed time although it was a bit rushed at times.

Mike Sheppard

Building a community:

Use Social Media - it is time consuming and frustrating but used correctly a most useful tool.

Facebook, Twitter and a YouTube channel recommended.

Join all social media up along with a web site to create an on-line community.

Use crowd funding - Indiegogo, Kickstarter recommended sites

He also recommended the following book:

How to create a successful music ensemble - Patrick Gazard

Gillian Dibden

As someone who has started successful groups she gave the following bullet points:

• Be successful by reputation
• Member recommends member
• Regular open rehearsals
• Share concerts with other groups
• Update website frequently 
• Publicise in schools, libraries, local press, music retailers
• Advertise even if there is no point
• Move with the times
• Feel good factor is important

 Gretchen Kurhmann

The first thing they hear is how you look

Tim Sharp

Ruthless about change

• Community
• Contemporary music
• Cost-cutting and fund-raising

Choirs for seniors, complaint choirs, bicycle choir, lawyers chorus, prison choirs, open voices, hospice choirs

Concert at the Sheldonian 

NYCGB Girls' Choir

176 girls aged 10-14. A big sound with clear diction and some very bright vowels. Sang most of the Britten Ceremony of Carols very well and with impressive control from such a big group. A bit of Monteverdi, Pulchra es, also very impressive. Three small pieces of lighter nature very entertaining.

University of Nebraska Chamber Singers

Began by making an entrance with Navajo Prayer then seamlessly went into O quam gloriosum and The spheres from sunrise mass (Gjeilo). Bogoroditse Devo followed and a lively My soul's been anchored in The Lord and a couple of American pieces. Very good choir singing from memory and responding to Therees' expressive conducting. A bit soprano light occasionally and the conducting distracted once or twice.

Commotio

All modern programme, none of which I'd heard before. Not ever so keen on As kingfishers catch fire or I hear the rain but the Bob Chilcott In a golden world, written for Len and Mavis and the Britten movements from Sacred and Profane were very good.

Voces8

Absolutely brilliant. The first time I have heard them live and was bowled over. Very professional, skillful, well presented and entertaining. 

Sunday, 25th August

A.G.M.

It has been a good year financially.
Forum

Martin Ashley is reviewing our training set up with theaim to make abcd the organisation of choice for teacher training. 

There are plans for an Open Forum Day.
The financial situation is such that another member of staff will be sought.

Regional meetings did not happen at this convention -  lets have them back please

There was a discussion about abcd Awards.

Voces8

This group is really good. In this session the Voces8 method of education and outreach was explained. Beginning with a warm up exercise that started with chanting numbers and ending with a four part jazz sequence with body percussion they outlined the methods used in all abilities and ages workshops. The Voces8 brand now has a number of books, a second ensemble (Apollo5) and a London venue. It has a clear philosophy of music for all and as a basis for a complete education. It was described as a pyramid with the workshops at the bottom and ending with the eight professional voices. In the middle was a good exercise for tuning and they ended with a performance of Fever and the world premier of a piece by Michael Sheppard.

Let your body sing

Therees Hibbard led this session with the assistance of the University of Nebraska Chamber Singers. I have experienced Therees' work before and I am a fan of her philosophy and approach while accepting that I am unlikely to use much of it. There were two things about this session that were of note. Firstly the skill and professionalism of Therees' delivery and secondly that the use of technology for accompaniment needs a second person, as a piano does. This physical approach to singing is fantastic for young people, especially if you have extended time with them.   To incorporate into the traditional approach of adult choirs requires a lot of flexibility (in all of its meanings). It was a superb session but I fear that for most of the delegates it was an entertaining side show and not much of it will appear their work.

2/5 Inspring Saturday Conducting Masterclass

Peter Broadbent and David Lawrence led this Conducting Masterclass in the second of my inspiring Saturdays.

There were ten conductors and about a dozen observers attending this very well structured day. Members of  Viva Voce, Nottingham University's Chamber Choir, provided the choir.

The structure of the day was quite simple: after a short, but effective, warm-up each delegate in turn was given two 10 minute sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, in front of the choir. The choir had prepared four pieces and each conductor was given a go at two of them. This had the advantage that as the day went on the pieces became more familiar and in the afternoon more advanced concepts could be tackled. Billed as an advanced masterclass each conductor had some experience and the day focussed on using gesture and body language to elicit a better sound from the choir. A lot was covered because of the variety of the repertoire and the wide background of the delegates. Every participant was already a competent director ad I was encouraged by the majority of them could be described as "young" conductors.

I always think that masterclasses are of more use to the observer than the recipient. When you are participating it is difficult to remember what is taught. Each participant, in this case, was able to observe someone else rehearsing the same piece as them  and Peter and David frequently referred back to other conductors.

Although I was there as a steward and photographer I was able to observe most of the day and learned a lot myself. A lot of attention was given to beginnings and endings, organising breathing points and non-verbal communication while conducting. Mouthing the words and counting in were discouraged and show and not tell was encouraged. I was encouraged by the fact that many points I already attempt to address and spotted several faults that I need to address to improve my own work.

Over lunch I was able to meet with the other judge to adjudicate the Nicholas Thorpe Composition Award. The result will be announced on February 1st.

1/5 Inspiring Saturday with Jeremy Jackman

Over the next ten weeks I have five Saturday workshops, three of them I am helping with the organisation, one I am leading and one as a participant.

Burton Joyce Choral Society hosted a singing day led by Jeremy Jackman in which half a dozen members of The Newstead Abbey Singers, including me, participated. I find these events interesting on several levels. It gives me opportunity to sit anonymously inside a large chorus and experience what it is like on the receiving end of a rehearsal. I am able to observe the conductor and analyse the rehearsal and also observe the reactions of the singers. As a singer it gives me a chance to do something different.

Jeremy Jackman is one of several former Kings Singers such as Nigel Perrin, Brian Kay, Bob Chilcott and Simon Carrington who have made good reputations as a choral practitioners. His local reputation is founded on the excellent work that he does with the St. Cecilian Singers, based in Leicester. The repertoire chosen for the day was Haydn's Te Deum, Schubert's Stabat Mater, Bruckners' Du bist wie einer Blume and Pearsall's Light of my soul. I knew the Haydn and Schubert quite well, having conducted then in the past. The Bruckner and Pearsall were new to me and both will probably find their  way into the Newstead Abbey Singers repertoire.

Jeremy's aim for the day was not to extract perfect performances of the pieces but to give the singers skills and tips to apply to singing in their own choirs. Catch phrases for the day were "George - don't do that" and "EBC" (Endings and Beginnings are Critical). One of the most impressive skills of the day was Jeremy's successful battle with an inoperative voice. We started with a gentle warm up. Nowadays warm ups are the thing and, too my mind, are often overdone. This one was short and effective. Starting with humming then going to "vee", "aw" and "ah" with exercises that gradually increased the range. In the first session we then looked at the first few bars of each piece which gave us a chance to see the challenges ahead. Jeremy's style was nice and easy, overcoming difficulties with humour, injecting the occasional, relevant, anecdote and lots of simply explained advice. Enough singers either knew the pieces or could read them that he didn't need to "note bash" very often and could concentrate on how to sing the music. My chief observation was that he knew the music and was well prepared.

In the other two learning sessions he adopted a similar pattern. Spending a short time on each piece in turn until he had got through all the notes. Another good thing was the way that he got the singers to stand up regularly. I am aware that is something that I am not good at, especially with the Choral Society. The timings of the day were also good. Each session was long enough, but not too long, allowing singers to keep voices fresh and good social time.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the final performance session so I don't know how that went but I'm sure it went well. These days are very useful education for singers and conductors. I learned a lot.

Burton Joyce Choral Society are a fantastic community choir which my late father used to conduct and who very kindly commissioned me to write a work for them on their 25th Anniversary. It was very nice to meet some of them again and share affectionate memories. There were also a number of acquaintances from other choirs that I hadn't seen for a few years.

One thing that struck me about the event was the age profile of the participants. Charles Tebbs, the very good accompanist for the day, appeared to be the youngest person there (I don't know his age and wouldn't want to guess). If there were any singers under the age of 40 I didn't see any and there were not many under 50, most of the singers were 60+.

Thank you Jeremy and thank you Burton Joyce Choral Society for staging the day.

Social networks and snow disruption

The snow and ice of the past two weeks has disrupted activity in our local area. One of my choirs has cancelled two rehearsals, another one and the third cancelled one and only had 50% attendance at the other. Fortunately there are no immediately imminent performances so time can be made up if necessary.

It has, however, given me time to address the problem that I talked about in my last blog , namely that of falling numbers. These days a lot of people use social networks so I have increased the choirs presence on social networks. I realise, of course, that it is not sufficient to create a presence on a site and hope that it will increase footfall. It is like all other forms of publicity in that you can only get out of it what you put in. The work has only just begun and I hope that current members of the choirs will eventually take some responsibility for maintaining the sites.

So, there are now pages and accounts for the Newstead Abbey Singers and Southwell Choral Society on Facebook and Google+. Lets see if they make any difference.

Newstead Abbey Singers Facebook     Google+   web site

Southwell Choral Society Facebook    Google+    web site 

Elijah, Christmas and falling numbers

This has been an interesting term for several reasons. Having changed my work pattern I have been able to change the way that I approach my Choral work. The most notable thing is that I have more time to spend on preparation. Warm ups can be more tailored to the needs of the rehearsal and be more varied. When I had minimal time for preparation I increasingly relied on formulaic warmups and didn't pay much attention to the flow of rehearsal. With more time I can pay more attention not only to the structure of  the individual rehearsal but the overall rehearsal period. The result is that as performance draws near there is less tension all round. All the performances were less stressful in the end.

Choral Society performed Elijah in November. Elijah is an unusual work in that the chorus has a more important role than in many oratorios. There is a lot of chorus work and we had a relatively short rehearsal period. Many of the singers went into the last few rehearsals feeing underprepared for whatever reason. The performance, though, was good with some fine singing and playing.

The Newstead Abbey Singers gave a vey good Christmas Concert. They were able to welcome back the instrumental group that had to be dispensed with a couple of years ago for a variety of reasons, the principal of which was cost, thanks to the generosity and loyalty of the players. Charpentier's Messe de Minuit formed the basis of the first half and we debuted four pieces from Carols for Choirs 5.

Junior Choral just had one performance as part of the nativity at the White Post Farm Centre. Owing to a mistake on my personal diary I left the direction to Vicky. It's nice to hear children singing nicely.

My main concern over the past few months is the question of decreasing numbers. Membership of both adult choirs is reducing and also audience numbers are going down. Choral Society membership is now about 90, it was well over 100. Some members have gone through retirement and moving on and a few have moved to different choirs. This in itself is nothing new but the difference is that there has not been an equivalent number of replacements. I know that we are not alone. The question is: do we need to do anything about it? If the answer is yes it prompts the further question of what do we do about it?
The Newstead Abbey Singers are also losing members. Recently two men have moved on which leaves a balanced group but no room for manoeuvre should anyone miss a concert for whatever reason. Any recruitment for this group needs a different approach from the Choral Society.
The Junior Choral is a different kettle of fish. It has held its numbers well from last year, such that it has been unnecessary to recruit new members.

Elijah is one of the choral works that usually draws an audience but on November 17th the audience was disappointing despite having a large number of performers and good soloists. Concert going has gone down in recent years - we are not alone in that - but we need to think how to increase audience numbers to increase revenue. We need to address questions of ticket prices, programming, dates and venues of concerts to see what we can do.

Here we go again

September, season of keen conductors and keen singers, but first to clean off the rust. It is time for choirs to get back to work. For me it's four first rehearsals in five days. Fortunately it was the singing one first, which served as a reminder of how the singers in front of me will be feeling. Lots of warmup and fairly gentle repertoire to start with.

Newstead Abbey Singers are first up. The last time that they sang together was in a very successful concert in July. It will be straight into Christmas as there is quite a bit of new repertoire to learn. Using Carols for Choirs 5 for the first time.

Saturday afternoon is the first rehearsal of the Nottinghamshire Federation W.I. Choir. This year I will be sharing the conducting with the young lady who stood in when I had my stroke last year. On the first rehearsal we introduce the music and the ladies go away and work on it in their own choirs. We have three more rehearsals before the concert on 1st December.

On Monday it is the turn of Southwell Choral Society. Their season includes Eljah and St. Matthew Passion. Lots of big music to sing. Both works have been sung in the past 10 years but there have been quite a number of  new members recently so it will be dangerous to assume that they know it.

A very exciting time of year with lots of exciting music to look forward to.

2012 abcd Convention Day 3

Conundrum of tuning, Easter sorted and shopping.

Tuning in a capella music is always a difficult one because of the unnatural nature of the equal temperament that keyboard instruments are tuned to. Should we force singers to adhere to equal temperament or not. David Howard began his session with the statement that "if sung correctly a piece MUST go out of tune". We sang a 13 chord exercise. A room full of choral conductors went a semi- tone flat. We listened to three recordings of the Allegri "Misere" he isolated three chords that should be the same - none of them were. In his work at York University he has researched this extensively and the bottom line is that pitch drift will occur when the key changes. He showed a prediction exercise that demonstrated that 30 well known anthems should change pitch - usually downwards, some of them quite a long way. The conundrum is - stay in tune chord by chord or stay in pitch. The question is - does it matter? It does give us something else to think about when considering tuning.

In the afternoon Bob Chilcott led us through Alan Bullard's "Wondrous Cross". A meditation on the seven last words in a very approachable style achievable by modest singers and conductors. It is a viable alternative to Crucifixion with opportunities for congregational hymns and flexibility of approach. We also sang through Bob's "Jazz Songs of Innocence" - a very good collection for upper voices.

During the day I added to my stock of music with pieces mainly for Junior Choral.

Privileged to share a carriage with Alan Bullard in the way home.

A good, rewarding conference.