InChoir - Another chance to Sing Messiah for Free

Minnesota Chorale has a wonderful program called "InChoir" where people can come and sing along during specific rehearsals. The next event, December 15, is one of our Messiah rehearsals. It is free, and a wonderful chance to sing the work. For more information, click here. 

Messiah Sing-along

Central Lutheran Church will be presenting a free Messiah Sing-along on December 21, featuring the Minnesota Chorale and Minnesota Orchestra. This will be a really fun event. Because it is free, it will likely fill up quickly, so I recommend arriving early. For more details, click here.

If you would rather listen to a live concert, the Minnesota Chorale will join with the Minnesota Orchestra for three performances - December 10, 11 and 14 at the Basilica of St. Mary, the Cathedral of St. Paul, and Orchestra Hall respectively. For tickets and more information, click here.

Brian Eno on the value of collective singing

This essay called "Singing: The Key to a Long Life" is a wonderful testament to the power of singing with others. I loved this article. Here is the link: "Singing: The Key to a Long Life"

Minnesota Chorale Presents Bridges: Ashes into Light

Ashes Into Light

Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

The O'Shaughnessy at the College of St. Catherine

St. Paul, Minnesota

Minnesota Chorale

Kathy Saltzman Romey, Conductor

Allegro Choral Academy, Bel Canto Choir

Gregory Douma, Conductor

Gaia Philharmonic Choir and Yokohama Chamber Choir "Kai"

Ko Matsushita, Conductor

Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra

William Schrickel, Conductor

Minneapolis Youth Chorus

Patrice Arasim, Conductor

Mu Daiko

Rick Shiomi, Director

This October, the Chorale and partnering artists, all under the direction of Kathy Saltzman Romey, will present the world premiere of Ah Nagasaki in St. Paul, which since 1955 has maintained an active sister-city relationship with Nagasaki (the first of its kind in the United States). Joining the Chorale will be the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Chorale's own Minneapolis Youth Chorus and the Bel Canto choir of the Allegro Choral Academy, taiko (traditional Japanese) drummers from Mu Daiko, and vocal soloists. Members of the Gaia Philharmonic Choir and Yokohama Chamber Choir "Kai" and their conductor, Ko Matsushita, will travel from Japan to take part in both the performance and the educational programs surrounding the event.

The performance and education programs are presented by The O'Shaughnessy and planet Ordway as part of their 2008-09 series, and will be held at The O'Shaughnessy at the College of St. Catherine. In addition to the premiere performance of Ah Nagasaki, the concert will feature individual presentations by each of the participating ensembles.

Sub-titled “Ashes into Light,” the centerpiece of the program is a three-movement, half-hour cantata for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra by the American composer Robert Kyr. The work was commissioned by the Nagasaki Peace Museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city; the text, in both Japanese and English, is a collaboration between Mr. Kyr and the Japanese writer Kazuaki Tanahashi. The musical forces called for are large: four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone), boy and girl soprano, mixed (adult) choirs, children's choirs, chanter, and orchestra (with a percussion section that includes Japanese taiko drums as well as Western instruments). This visionary work is a journey from the profound tragedy of nuclear annihilation to reconciliation and 'waging peace' as a means of freeing the world from weapons of mass destruction.Images created by artist Kazuaki Tanahashi, librettist for "Ah Nagasaki." Interested in reading more about choral singing and community engagement? Click here for Shekela Wanyama's thoughtful and provocative paper on the subject. Click here to learn more about past Bridges programs

Graduate Astounds!

One of our recent graduates, Jonathan Pinkerton, was interviewed by Angela Davis at WCCO, as part of WCCO's "Graduate Astounds" series. Jonathan was a member of the choir while at MCTC, and his interview speaks to the power of music in healing. Click here to view the interview.

Ear Training and Music Theory

Many of you have asked me for recommendations on free ear training and music theory software. There are many excellent options available.

Some of these programs are complete in and of themselves, while others are demos. Several options are online programs. The music reading softwares will help you learn more about notes on the page and how they function. The ear training softwares are designed to help you hear and identify intervals, scales and chords.

I am including some of my favorites in this posting. For more possibilities, check my website by clicking here.

Music Theory

eMusicTheory
is a really fine website. Instead of providing software for you to use, this site is web-based, which means that all of the exercises can be done directly on the web. You will hear pitches, you can check your score and the amount of time that has elapsed as you work on your skills. Because it is web based, if your connection speed is slow, it may take a bit of time to load various pages. However, it works very well. Also, this site connects to some other very good sites for improving music skills.

Ear Training

www.good-ear.com
Good Ear is a free ear-training program on the web.

GNU Solfege
Great freeware for improving your ears. Available for Windows and Linux.

Big Ears
Big Ears is another online ear training website.

The Musical Intervals Tutor
The Musical Intervals Tutor is a study aid on the web to help you learn the sound of basic music intervals.