Chris Rowbury's monthly music round-up (November 2024) issue #112
Welcome to the November edition of my monthly music round-up.
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A bot analyses a choir rehearsal
This was written by Emily Hageman.
I had a bot watch 1000 hours of choir rehearsal. This is what it produced.
DISCLAIMER: I am the bot. The bot is me. I wrote this.
It is eighth note period. CONDUCTOR enters. Her personality is anger and snapping.
CONDUCTOR
It is forte o’clock which means it is time for vocal diphthongs from your diaphragm please.
The SINGERS do not want to sing even though it is their only identity in this room. They want to deviously lick a slapping teacher.
CONDUCTOR
Sopranos, please have less loud.
SOPRANOS only know loud. They do not understand. They only grow in loud.
CONDUCTOR
Altoids, please find less melody.
ALTOIDS find more melody, though this should be physically impossible.
CONDUCTOR
Tenders, please get less vocal ouch.
TENDERS sing with maximum pain. Their vocal chords flee in protest.
CONDUCTOR
Basements, please do more not bad.
BASEMENTS sit on each other’s kneecaps and scream with a most glad sound.
CONDUCTOR
Now please take out “I Will Shout for Rejoicing Joyful Jesus” by Ludwig Van Victor C. Emerson-Gilpin.
SINGERS do not have their music because it has never existed in the first place. A lone pencil flies from a Basement’s hand and hits a Tender in the eye hole. The pencil knows a freedom the Conductor never will.
CONDUCTOR
Do re help me.
No fee, but you’ll get great exposure!
Great thread on ‘exposure’
Twitter/X thread by Jamie Mathias on “Outrageous requests I’ve had for personal songs from people who really don’t understand how businesses work.”
New music terms
Laura Barton’s Notes on Music
This is a great BBC Radio series, and I just love Laura Barton's gentle voice. There are currently nine episodes to listen to. I found “Laura Barton Goes West” fascinating. It dealt with how Western music creates the ‘feel’ of the American West, and also the role of indigenous people and their music.
Russian Orthodox chant
This is a gorgeous piece from the Orthodox Church that I have taught for many years. I originally got it from a male voice choir in the Netherlands. Since then I've been trying to track down the composer. It turns out that it doesn't have one!
Apparently many chants in the Orthodox Church are anonymous, as are the countless beautiful arrangements. Thanks to Russian singer Tatiana Soloviova I now know that this piece is an Obikhod chant, a common chant of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Although well-known composers such as Kastalsky and Rachmaninoff have done fancy arrangements of these chants, many arrangers choose to remain anonymous. An interesting twist when trying to track down the source of a song!
The chant is Part of the Orthodox Catholic Church service sung at the Great Entrance during the Liturgy of the Holy Pre-sanctified Gifts, which is served on Wednesdays and Fridays during Great Lent. The first two verses are sung very slowly, then there is a silence during which the priest carries the pre-sanctified gifts through the holy doors. All the people prostrate in silence and then the last verse plus three alleluyas is sung.
Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us
For behold, the King of glory doth enter.
Behold the mystical sacrifice is escorted in.
Let us with faith and longing draw near and become partakers of life everlasting. Alleluya.
Larry Gordon
Larry Gordon died following a cycling accident in November 2021. Larry founded Village Harmony in 1989. Village Harmony “is an educational organization dedicated to the study, performance and celebration of diverse styles of traditional choral music. Working with an international team of culture-bearing musicians we provide a wide range of educational and performance opportunities for amateur musicians around the world. Our aim is to promote cultural awareness and community through direct and ethical cultural exchange.” I owe a huge debt to their work and the many songbooks and workshops that they’ve created.
Here is a 2015 interview with Larry detailing his background, upbringing and musical history. Lovely to hear his voice again.
Russian folk rock from Otava Yo
Otava Yo is a Russian folk rock band from St Petersburg, formed in 2003.
This is a really fun video! It’s billed as The tale of Ivan Groove, Russian gothic R ‘n’ B.
Oh Ivan, my dear Ivan, where you've been all night?
Where you've been all night?
You haven't been to your darling's place
Haven't been to my darling's place
Didn't see my pals, my sweet girl, don't be angry with me
Don't be angry with me, that I didn't come to you, that I didn't make it over
I found myself on the street, playing fiddle all night down on the street!
A blog post you might have missed
How many songs can you teach in an hour?
When I teach songs, I teach very fast. This is partly to avoid people thinking too much and engaging their critical/analytical brain, but it’s also because I have a low boredom threshold and always try to squeeze in as many songs as possible. Not always a good idea!
In an average one-day workshop (six hours with an hour for lunch), I can get through up to eight songs, all quite complex. I have been known to teach four songs in a single hour (including a warm up before I start teaching).
But am I trying to cram too much in? What is a reasonable number of songs to teach in a given time period?
Song of the month
Vem kan segla is probably the most well-known folksong of Åland (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish), which is an autonomous province in the south-western archipelago of Finland, consisting of about 6,500 islands of which some 65 are presently inhabited.
The islands had a referendum and chose to remain part of Finland if they could retain their Swedish language and customs. They have a strong sea-faring tradition there, which this song reflects.
The opening line is found in the fifth stanza of an 18th-century ballad, Goder natt, goder natt, allra kärestan min (“Good night, good night, my dearest”) and in its current form the song was first published in 1909. The song relates to a theme that is common in seaman’s songs – to be separated from those you love.
The words are in Swedish.
Vem kan segla förutan vind?
Vem kan ro utan åror?
Vem kan skiljas från vännen sin,
Utan att fälla tårar?
Jag kan segla förutan vind.
Jag kan ro utan åror.
Men ej skiljas från vännen min.
Utan att fälla tårar.
Who can sail without wind?
Who can row without oars?
Who can part from a friend without shedding a tear?
I can sail without wind
I can row without oars
But I cannot part from a friend without shedding a tear
Here is a very simple, straightforward version by Swedish singer-songwriter Annasara Lundgren:
Next is a version by Lee Hazlewood and Nina Lizell from the 1970 movie Cowboy in Sweden:
And here is a simple choral arrangement from the Gurt Lush choir from Bristol:
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