music « Breaking Barriers

15 Aug

Rach Five

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Time, New England — Recently, musicologists have made a startling discovery, perhaps more startling than the unearthing of a treasure trove of music written by PDQ Bach, the black sheep of the Bach family.

“We’ve just found a new piano concerto composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff,” proclaimed Larry Lowman, professor emeritus at McDonalds University. “It’s a true miracle that we found it.”

This piece has tentatively been designated as Rachmaninoff’s Fifth Piano Concerto in E.

The discovery of the work,…..

12 Jun

It Was Fifty Years Ago

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My relationship with the Beatles got off on the wrong foot when a relative living in Great Britain sent me the album “Rubber Soul” as a Christmas present. As an eight-year-old kid, I had no opinion about the band, except vague annoyance that screeching girls often made it hard to hear their songs. Since classical music was the primary music heard around our house, I thought that it was politically incorrect to like the Beatles.

“I hate the Beatles!” I…..

14 Apr

Fascinating Meters

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Throughout grammar school, I took piano lessons, and most of the classical music I played was in four-four time, with a few pieces in three-four and six-eight time. In fifth grade, I ditched the piano for the drums, and again most of the rock and jazz pieces I learned were in four-four time, with a few pieces in three-four and six-eight time. This became dull.

In seventh grade, while listening for the first time to Andrew Lloyd Weber’s and Tim…..

08 Mar

Musical Tensions

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Music is full of tensions: dissonant sounds that our ears believe should be resolved. And most of the time, they are.

But sometimes, composers and arrangers set up a unique type of tension when they deliberately write (or improvise) something in a style totally different from what we expect.

Take, for example, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic improvisation on “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (1) Instead of the usual militaristic waltz with which most of us are familiar, Hendrix’s performance is full of guitar…..

22 Jan

One of Those

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“How do you memorize the music that choir directors throw your way even though you’re blind?” many people have asked me with awe in their voices.

I never quite know how to answer questions like these, as I don’t think what I do is particularly awe-inspiring or interesting. I usually try to deflect the question with humor while promising to write about it in a future blog post.

So how do I remember all that music?

When I started singing…..

08 Dec

Music Echoes

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A minor humiliation of my piano-playing grammar school days was that clunky three-handed piano arrangement of something mysteriously called “Heart and Soul.” The girls in my class played it incessantly, which reinforced the commonly-held belief among boys that girls had cooties, whatever they were. Occasionally, an authority figure would force me to be part of this three-handed indignity, but I maintained my place with the boys by inserting notes and rhythms that didn’t belong, resulting in whiny howls from the…..

20 Sep

Hooked on Marty

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In high school and college, I sang in several choirs, each led by talented, well-organized conductors. I currently sing in four choirs with equally talented, organized conductors, and appreciate their leadership as they steer us volunteer singers towards performing repertoire in wide-ranging styles.

And then there’s Marty.

I first met Marty several years ago when he took charge of the Agape Singers, a church choir that sings contemporary Christian music. I wasn’t sure what to make of him. He never…..

29 May

Cheesy Corn

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Last night, about sixteen of us sang during a banquet honoring military personnel throughout the United States and Canada. We sang what our conductor called “cheesy” arrangements of “This Land Is Your Land”; “Flanders Field”; and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, along with the Canadian and American national anthems.

Growing up, I didn’t like cheese, unless it was part of a grilled cheese sandwich (called toasted cheese sandwich in Missouri). The word “cheese” was also associated with one of…..

16 Mar

Tea

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Choir culture confuses.

Women and men divide themselves into four groups, except that one of the men’s groups sometimes includes women. The women’s groups call themselves sopranos (sops for short) and altos, while the men’s groups call themselves tenors and basses.

Idle chatter ceases when someone calling herself or himself a conductor calls the meeting to order by asking participants to stand and participate in such adult activities as “follow the leader”, making silly noises, and waving their arms.

Then…..

02 Mar

Rainbows and Spring Mornings

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Last summer, I received a commission to compose a piece that a small choir will perform as part of the The Missouri Composers Orchestra Project concert. This concert, sponsored by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, will take place on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at Broadway Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri.

I asked Emily Edgington Andrews, the choir’s conductor, if we could reach out to the local high schools to encourage students to submit poems for me to set. One thing led…..

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