Today, well maybe yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of attending Megan's choir concert at the Winspear Center. There were a few other friends in the choir including Courtney and Mike but since Megan was the one who invited me, I'll just call it Megan's choir. :) Megan and Courtney performed as singers while Mike performed as a singer and a drummer.
Anyways, when Megan first told me about the concert's repertoire being gospel music, masses and the alike, I was thinking oh great...Gregorian Chants, requiems, masses built on modal scales, and more modal scales. Needless to say, I was a little reluctant to attend. I guess this is mainly because of one of my experiences attending this type of concert in China when my uncle bought the wrong tickets for the entire family and we didn't realize this until somebody else showed up on stage. And holy, it was so damn boring...some of us fell asleep, others had tears in their eyes from yawning too much and the only highlight of the concert was watching other audience members stay awake. There was this one guy who took out a newspaper, unfolded it completely and read it as if he was sitting at a park bench...so funny - yet so disrespectful! Hate Chinese people! And after this concert, I vowed never to listen to another one of similar type again. But since I heard all good reviews from my friends who attended this concert previously, I decided to go and I definitely did not regret that decision.
This annual concert was performed by the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus. It is called mixed because many members come from different parts of the world and from different faculties. But not only that, even their repertoire was mixed. They performed music from the 15th century, to early German and French folk songs, to rearrangement of renowned classical music and to even modern day composition of Gospels. It was definitely a good mix and always kept the audience on the edge of the seats as to what comes next.
The first half of the concert showcased early compositions with accompanying instruments ranging from none to trumpets, violins, handbell ringers, piano and even spoons. I can't possibly describe every song but in general, I really enjoyed them all. Even for the 15th century songs where there was no accompanying instruments and the melodies didn't really leap and thus didn't go anywhere (back then it was a rule not to make leaps in the melody) , I still found it quite enjoyable which in large part is due to the quality of singing. The chorus was very smooth, in tune, and fluid with the melodic lines and with each other. The rise and fall in volume would be carried from one section of voices to another as if they were passing the melody and harmony around in a wave like motion. The articulation too was also impeccable. From the staccatos to sforzandos to the delayed accents, the chorus hit them all. Not a single voice trailed behind after an articulation or sudden pause (something that is common in amateur performers or at least for orchestras I've been in...but that was probably because of me. ) Particularly, I really like the ending for the piece “How Can I Keep from singing?” by Robert Lowry with the tenors (and bass?) repetively chanting the word “singing” in a diminishing sforzando until the song came to an end. I don't know why..I just thought that was cool. Despite the coolness of these unaccompanied songs, I still have to say I prefer the ones with instruments. Among my favorites are “They Who Wait Upon the Lord” by Carl Nygard, Jr. which has a very beautiful piano accompaniment and “J'entends le moulin“, a French-Canadian Folk Song arranged by Donald Patriquin. It was very energetic in both the chorus and the accompanying piano and percussion parts. But clearly, the lyrics of the song is not French...or maybe it is - afterall, French is gibberish. haha just kidding (I just pulled a Conan O'Brian!).
Following the intermission, we entered a more recent era of music. The first set of pieces which included songs from Saint-Saens and Bizet was performed by the UofA Handbell ringers and speak of synchronization! Each ringer would hold at most four bells where each bell plays a single tone. During the performance, each ringer would switch and swap between different bells and at the sametime, they have to share ONE melody line among several ringers just to get the full range of tones and that takes A LOT of synchronization. Its not just about when to come in, its also about coming in with the right volume in order to achieve the “one performer” effect. Its like almost switching feet on the gas pedal between different drivers while maintaining the same cruising speed. Or even one person playing the keyboard for the violin and another person controlling the bow. Even with orchestra music, a lot of the time it is just making sure the melodies of each sectionals works together. But with handbell ringers, its making the notes of one melody work together..very amazing indeed. Another thing to note is the performance of the Gypsy Song, a fast and climatic exerpt taken from “Carmen” by Bizet. Originally written for Opera, I've heard different arrangements of this and now I can add handbell ringers to that list. Although it was not as fast, it was fast enough to give the ringers a good work out - quite entertaining! Other arrangements I've heard was from a world champion whistler and he did it at full speed. He's not human...Lungs of a Laura I tell you! (By Laura, I mean the name of a horse...) But out of all the arrangements, I still prefer the piano and violin version. It is a VERY WICKED piece. At full speed, you fly through the bars like there is no tomorrow. You look down from the music, its over. In order to play the piano accompaniment part, you literally have to memorize it. This Gypsy Song is definitely very popular and I'm sure there is more arrangement out there for different instruments.
The last song of the evening (excluding the encores) and the longest , was the “Gospel Mass” by Robert Ray. Unlike traditional Gospels, this one included instruments like the piano, electric bass and drums. As well, there were also three solo singers for this piece. The gospel is broken down into 7 parts where each part has its own unique harmony and mood. Although composed not too long ago (1946), Robert Ray has been able to capture the energy and style of the gospels. I can't really describe it but the song was very uplifting! In the forth part of the song, entitled Acclamation, the melody was very serene and watching Mike there with a slightly slouched back and nonchalantly tapping the drums with one hand made him look so peaceful. In fact, so peaceful that I envisioned he was going to pick up a coke can next and drink it on stage..I don't know why, but it really seemed like it at that moment. (Mike is a coke fanatic, more so than Mack) Anyhow, this was a very good song to end of the concert and I wouldn't mind hearing it the second time! But screw you guys, I'm not going to Fort McMurray to see it again ;)
All in all, I found this concert very enjoyable and if I were to compare them to professional choirs, I would have a hard time telling them apart (Except for the second soloist in the Gospel Mass who had a slight nasal voice). The last time I heard something this good was the performance of “The Magic Flute” by Mozart with the UofA Symphony and Drama students (I think). Except, there was a quite a few screw ups...but I'm sure that was mostly from me.. :)
I'm sure I will be attending next year's concert and I might even bring my family! My only question is why didn't you invite me before? Is it because I'm chinese?...geez, Hate white people! haha jk. Good job, you three.