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.

Kodaly Hand Signs

The Kodaly or Curwen hand signs are visual and physical cues that are often used to accompany the teaching of sight-singing. These signs each relate to a solfege syllable, do, re, mi and so on. They can be very useful, especially for more visual and kinesthetic learners. For more information, check out:
http://www.classicsforkids.com/teachers/training/handsigns.asp

For a chart that you can download and print for your reference, go to: http://www.kodaly.org.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=21&Itemid=65.

Look for "Hand signs diagram". Very nicely done.

Free Sheet Music and Midi Files

The complete Mozart Neue Ausgabe is now online. This means that critical edition scores of everything that Mozart wrote are available as pdf files to anyone, for free. These were the scores that my colleagues and I had to spend hours in the library studying. Call me geeky, but I think this is a fantastic resource. Here is the link: http://www.mozarteum.at/03_Wissenschaft/03_Wissenschaft_NMAOnline.asp?SID=90

Midi files are abundant on the web, and many of them can provide useful information for learning songs. Some even provide full accompaniments. Here are some of the sources out there:

Kunst der Fuge has a very large collection of classical repertoire in midi format.
http://kunstderfuge.com/

Hamienet has a wide variety of midi files, but their strong point is music from Broadway musicals. This is especially helpful for learning Broadway showtunes, or preparing for an audition, because many of these midi files are full orchestrations of the song. In other words, an accompaniment to practice with. http://www.hamienet.com


Free classical sheet music and midi files: http://www.mutopiaproject.org/

Software for Midi Files

There are several elegant and free solutions for playing midi files.

My current favorite is Sibelius 5 Demo (Mac and PC).

Sibelius has many excellent features, but there are three in particular which make it stand out. First of all, it can open and play midi files. (Many free notation software programs do not have this feature). Second, tempo is easily adjustable. Third, it has a mixer, so that individual parts can be boosted, and other parts can be softened. Since Sibelius is notation software, it also shows notes on the screen. The demo version has most of the functionality of the full version, except for the ability to save and print.

Download Sibelius 5 Demo at http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/get.pl?com=sh&prod=sibdemo. Install the program per directions.

To play a midi file, go to File/Open and locate the file you want to work with. To change the tempo of a piece, look for the floating playback window. If it is not on your screen, you can find it by going to Window/Playback. You will find a fader toward the right hand side of the screen, with a number to its left. This is where you can change the tempo. Just move the fader back and forth to get the tempo you would like to work with.

To boost an individual part you will need to view the mixer. Go to Window/Mixer to bring up this window. The mixer has faders to control each individual part.

Anvil Studio (PC Only)

Anvil is studio software and its graphic interface looks somewhat like a mixing board. It will open and play midi files, tempo is relatively easy to control, and individual parts can be boosted.

Download Anvil Studio at http://www.anvilstudio.com/. Install the program per directions.

To play a midi file, go to File/Open Song/ and locate the file you want to work with. To change the tempo of a piece, look for the tempo tool toward the top of the screen. To speed things up, type in a higher number than the number that is there. To slow things down, type in a lower number than the number that is there. For example, if 120 is too fast, try 100 or 90. Press “enter”, and the new tempo will be set.

If you hear nothing play, you may have the internal synth volume set too low. You can find the fader controller for that toward the top of the screen. Just slide the fader to the right to make it louder, to the left to make it softer.

You can adjust the volume of individual parts by moving the faders back and forth.

More options are available at http://home.minneapolis.edu/~paulyel/shared_files/software/studio.htm.