A Choral Director's Death Glare

Seriously, THIS is THE BEST meme I've seen to capture the sentiment all of us choral directors feel when you've been over a piece and maybe even the cutoffs (maybe even a few times)  and someone sings through a cutoff. LOOK UP! HAHA! I found this on FB and shared it and it was confirmed by a startlingly large, yet unsurprising number of my singers that this is indeed my look when this happens!
    

Choir of St. Paul's Episcopal, New Orleans Sings for St. Bernard Project Event: Nun's Build

My wonderful, sweet choir at St. Paul's Episcopal did SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB last night singing at a St. Bernard Project community event held at the Knights of Columbus Hall. The event was a thank you dinner for Nun's Build for their week of disaster recovery construction work in New Orleans. Nuns Build is comprised of dedicated sisters and non-Nun friends from across the US. I'm so proud of this wonderful, dedicated, and super-talented choir! GREAT WORK, ALL! Thanks to a former choir member, working for the St. Bernard Project, for inviting us!

We sang: I'm Gonna Rise by Paul Marsena, Away in a Manger (both the William Kirkpatrick and Norman traditional tunes), and Andrae Crouch's Soon and Very Soon - all some of our "lighter" repertoire :-)

Louisiana ACDA Fall Vocal Conference 2015

I'm having that weird, yet awesome butterfly-filled feeling of the calm (sort of....ok not really calm, LOL) before a joyful & exciting storm of choral goodness! Our state ACDA convention begins tomorrow! Everyone has worked so hard to prepare and there will be TONS of energized students in the honor choirs who will have an absolute blast working with our marvelous clinicians! I'm really looking forward to a fantastic time for everybody and I am so proud of what the students, teachers, chairs, coordinators, and executive board are all doing in our state! LET'S DO THIS!!!!! ‪#‎ACDA‬‪#‎LAACDA‬ ‪#‎NOLA‬ ‪#‎Louisiana‬ ‪#‎Music‬ ‪#‎Choirs‬

http://laacda.info/

OUR FABULOUS CLINICIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Alternate View: A Day of Hospitality, Love, and Legislature #GC78

Today began with passion fruit tea as it was early and HOT. I don't know what I was expecting today, but I headed out to try and catch the shuttle from our hotel to the Salt Palace and....success!

LOVE WINS!

The biggest news of the day for many was the Supreme Court Ruling that Same-Sex Marriage is now legal in all 50 states! I'm so glad for sooooooooo many people!! It has affected things here today as there are many people on either side of the ruling. We must be sensitive to that fact as we move forward in conversation here, especially because of legislative motions on marriage within the church and also rites within Liturgy & Music. Still, here is my favorite picture of the day, from Hilary Clinton's FB page:



The first item on my agenda was the daily Media briefing. Neva Rae Fox is amazing! I'm super grateful to have media credentials and to have a place to go to either catch up on various social media fronts (like the Instagram and Pinterest accounts been ignoring fo a few days!), type up my reports and blog, and it's also a room where I can chill between things if I need to or if I don't see anyone I know between sessions. Here is friendliness!

Having the morning briefings also helps greatly to plan the day. The overall GC schedule is clear, but as a first time alternate, I'm not exactly always connected to the main deputation and their schedule. This is also true because as Media, I have a separate bunch of things to be doing and that I can attend.

I had the great fortune to sit with my bishop this morning during the worship service. The music was a jazz combo and soprano and they were FABULOUS. I must say that I enjoyed ot very much. Not too far away from the written melodies and they even alternated the Widor toccata postlude with jazzy Widor interpretations! The sermon was by The Rev'd Gay Clark Jennings, the president of the House of Deputies and it was terrific! She has a great sense of humor too!

Here's my Bishop Morris K. Thompson singing the first hymn :-) I love my bishop! LOVE!
                                    
After the service, the Young Adult Service Corps missionaries and their Bishop Pierre Whalon. These folks have spent lengthy amounts of time aboard in extremely tough situations. They truly help make the world a better place and have been in front lines providing on-the-ground help and relief to refugees, the homeless, and the marginalized. I was only able to spend 25 minutes there, but it was packed with hope and refreshing willingness to make a difference.

                                 

Now to the joint legislative session! Today, it was about Governance and Structure (GAS, rather than SAG)...there was MUCH discussion regarding what shoud be kept and what should be changed. Alternates were watching people discuss and some of us were indeed discussing the same items amongst ourselves, but....there was verily a great need for snacking.
                                   
There was a nice and thorough introduction to the historical structure and current structure of the Episcopal Church. I was impressed and actually, as an aspirant for the priesthood, and smack dab in the middle of discernment, it was awesome for me to hear it all. I tweeted this out and this was the result!
                                        

Indeed, EVERY coin has two sides :-)
Deputies to tweet lists of what they thought were essential programs, structures, etc, in GC to keep and what to change. Not seeing any tweets from EDOLA, of course I tweeted my opinions.

I left the session a wee bit eatly to return to the cathedral with the media for a special tour and to take photos with my "good camera". I again ran into one of mah best frrrrrrrriends, Chuck Robertson, who asked me if I wanted to do lunch. He was thinking of dropping by the CEEP (Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes) lunch and I had the media session. We realized both events were at St. Mark's Cathedral and we decided to drive over there. This was a most excellent free ride as it was officially --- one million degrees ---

Once at the cathedral, the hospitality was again amazing. Yesterday, I blogged a bit about the exhibits and the church, but here are some more cathedral facts and pictures:

- It's the oldest continuously worshipping house of worship in Utah
- gathered 1860, cornerstone laid 1870
- St. Mark's was the first church in Utah with a bell.
- There are at several Tiffany windows in the sanctuary and they are each worth $1.2 million!

- History of the cathedral
- This is probably THE most hospitable church I've visited. Seriously, they've got it right! :-)
- There's a retreat center at the cathedral and if you're ever in Salt Lake City, go visit!

Afternoon held a legislative session and re-electing Gay Clark Jennings as president of the House of Deputies.There is such appreciation and love in that room and Gay Jennings' re-election without opposition is an example of the bond that has formed over the years with her and the HOD. It was great to see. There were several resolutions and amendments discussed including those from Stewardship & Development. One, A089 (Approve Donor Bill of Rights) is very interesting. Lots of good testimony for and against amending the resolution regarding the rules and situations when donors giving funds for specific gifts and the particular body (church, diocese etc.) cannot fulfill the desired use. "To be assured that their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given" was left without the amendment "to the extent possible". It's really quite eye-opening for me, rarely having witnessed debate and testimony on amendments to resolutions, to see the depths to which each side can interpret the *possible* future repercussions of each line of text!

  
Today, with the Supreme Court ruling, singing alongside my fantastic bishop in morning worship, seeing dearest friends, laughing at #GC78 tweets, sharing food at St. Mark's with new Media friends, and stopping by the calm & quiet prayer chapel in the Salt Palace has shown me greatness, reminded me of the strength of lifelong friendships, and the power of hospitality  :-)
Thank you for reading!
Stay tuned,
Caroline
Previous posts:
1. #GC78 - An Alternate View: 'Twas the Night Before Synod
2. An Alternate View: Heading to #GC78
3. An Alternate View: Arrival Day - IT'S ALL GOOD
4. An Alternate View: Orientation and Presentations, June 24 at #GC78

5. An Alternate View: #GC78 The First Official Day of Convention

Verdi Requiem!

Behind the scenes in rehearsal with the LPO, NOVA Chorale, The Jefferson Chorale, and the Newman School Choir. Wow, it's going to be a FABULOUS concert! 

The concerts are:

1. Friday at 7:30 PM in Covington, LA at First Baptist Church

2. Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts in New Orleans, LA

This requiem is my favorite piece of music, EVER. I first sang it on Thursday, April 22,1989, at 8:00 PM, with the Charleston Symphony Singers Guild and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (conductor: David Stahl). I was eighteen years old. The Singers Guild is now called the CSO Chorus. When I was in it, it was directed by Ms. Emily Remington, one of my first mentors and truly amazing woman. Through the years, both she and David Stahl were major influences  and role models for me. This first and formative experience singing the requiem was sooooooooo magnificent! I was simply transfixed. It's interesting for me to remember that the work is actually the reason why I went into music. Since 1989, I've had the great fortune to sing it with several different orchestras and choirs. I do believe this is my eighth or ninth time singing it. Now THAT is lucky! :-) Robert Shaw, Larry Wyatt, Richard Conant, Robert Lyall, and Yoel Levi were a few of the conductors. I also use this piece when I teach choral literature and occasionally a movement or two when teaching conducting. 

By the way....I made sure to wait until after the break and when Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto was working on a passage with orchestra only before I snapped these photos!

Mungeli, India Mission Trip: Working with the Nursing Students

In addition to teaching music and later, giving some spacey NASA-ish talks at the RamboMemorial School, I am getting to work with the nurses and nursing students for about 40 minutes to an hour daily. They are so wonderful and so sweet! I see them all around the hospital in the afternoons and evenings and they are always smiling and ready to say a hello and chat a bit or help me understand what is going on with a patient. My music sessions are to help with their chapel services and provide some instruction that can make the small groups better when leading the congregational songs. I am also helping them to consider adding some prayers and Gospel message and/or a few minutes of a mini-sermon / the word / a testimony from someone to the chapel services. At present, there are some extremely lengthy songs, one psalm, the Lord's Prayer, and more singing. The pastor that used to be on staff left last year so the service has morphed slightly is more like a prayerful singing time than a structured service (which is completely fine). I am hearing that some would like to incorporate more prayers and some would like less verses in some of the many lengthy songs.

I am teaching them about head voice, chest voice, and different styles of singing (basically some of the the same lessons I am doing in the school classes.) The nursing group also doesn’t know how to read music, but I'm teaching them some basics so we will make some progress! 

I noticed right away on the first day here in chapel that they sing everything by rote and most of the English songs are from a pretty terrible book of texts called “Adore”.  I think they think that I know all 500 songs in there, but I don’t. I know very few “contemporary praise songs”. They may not change their whole way of singing, nor should they, while I’m here, but at least they will learn a bit about reading music and some new songs. I am thinking of how I can send them some newer hymnals and/or some more musical materials. My hope for the music instruction that I am giving is to present the tools to continued independent learning in music and maybe one or a few of them might choose to pick up an instrument one day. The hospital owns a keyboard in the library where we are holding chapel services (b/c of the rains and flooding in the actual chapel) and Dr. Anil Henry, the head of the Christian Hospital Mungeli, owns one which I took to the school. Dr. Henry sings very well! He also seems to really have a love for good music and music in any style done well. He listens to the singers at the chapel services and makes good comments when he gives his morning announcements. I like him because he has a vision for this hospital, vision for the nursing students (both to be good nurses and to be confident and independent women who know their options in jobs and in life), and he is a kind and gentle man with a twinkle in his eye that tells me he has a sense of humor and is very observant.

I love hearing the nurses and students singing in Hindi. I am in awe of the lengthy melodies and all of the ornamentation that I hear. The style of singing reminds me of what I heard in my many visits to Bulgaria and the throat singing styles which are loud and chesty. Many people say that it's "flat", but I have heard Bulgarian (and now Indian) choirs as well as many others, that sing perfectly in tune using the throat singing as long as each sectional part is in perfect unison. Sometimes, I hear microtones as well, adding to the already eastern tonalities. It really sounds cool! I have some video from a couple of the morning chapel services and when the internet is back in full force (or maybe when I get back home in August), I’ll post some videos of some cool Indian music sung by these lovely ladies.

Mungeli, India Journal: Day 2

Today, I attended the morning chapel, currently being held in the hospital library because of the heavy rains. There was a fair amount of good singing going on and some prayers and then during one of the songs, a GIGANTIC clap of thunder sounded and the roof began to wobble down toward us and back. Then, I was told that it was a tin roof and that wasn’t thunder…..it was the giant monkeys jumping on the roof!!! These guys are rather large…

                   

At the end of chapel, we were introduced to everyone and then everyone dispersed. I attended the nurses’ rounds. Today was not a very busy morning so I went back to have some breakfast and afterwards Kahala showed me around the hospital.

We attended the doctors’ rounds and I got to see each patient in the men’s and women’s wards as well as a private room patient. There was an encephalitis patient, one with a back cast, one with splenomegaly as a secondary to what he came in for. I also saw two newborn babies in their incubators. They were in a quiet room by themselves. (Since Tuesday when this was written, there have been ten more babies born and two of them have died). The hospital does a ton of C sections here for two reasons: Malnourishment is high so bone structure demands C section and many women give at a birth very, VERY young age.

After these rounds and exploring the other hospital rooms, someone picked us up to go to the Rambo School. As I was walking across the schoolyard, tons of little kids came running up saying “hello, how are you” and extending their hands! SO CUTE!!! The older ones seemed more shy, but still said hello as I passed by.  I went in to meet with the principal, Avanash, for a while and we talked about what kinds of things the students knew and might not now about various subjects. After our chat, he took me around to each classroom and I got to meet each teacher and say hello to each class. As with my Bulgarian teaching experience, the students immediately stood up when they saw me and said “Goooood morning ma’am” They are being taught in both Hindi and English and the school has grown from 600 to about 750 students. Indeed, their classrooms are extremely packed and they not only need space, but better conditions in general. There is some construction going on at the school, but it is slow.

Tomorrow, I will begin teaching three or four classes (not sure yet) and then I may ride the school bus as it takes them home around various outlying villages. I’ve heard riding the bus is fun and I can see some of the countryside and smaller villages this way. I also met with someone who puts together the weekly Sunday evening service and I will be helping with that as well as meeting with the hospital nurses every evening for music (and English texts) time etc. So excited! Things are shaping up for me to do!

Mungeli is not as hot as Delhi, but it is hot. It’s also high monsoon season and rained almost all day today. I love it!! I tried walking to one part of the village to go to the market, but I was wearing sandals and they were slippery so I will try another day. I did manage to drop off some cloth I bought in Delhi to a woman living near the hospital who is a good seamstress and she will make me a sari “suit style” outfit from the material! To ask her to do this and another errand, we were invited into her house. It had a hardened mud/concrete mixed floor, partially no roofing, but the covered rooms have electricity, ceiling fans, cooking stuff etc. Items like toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrushes etc. were kept outside between roof tiles. 

looking out from someone's house into the road

Interesting to be in someone’s house. 

The internet has been out here for some time in the town so I am writing daily, but will post all at once when I get the chance! I’ve taken lots of good pictures, but many were from a moving car and not the best. I plan on taking some time for photography in between breaks and monsoon rains!