EXPLORING HYMNODY

I spend a lot of my time with hymnals -- more than half of my workshops are church-sponsored, and I always want to use the volume in the Church I'm visiting. Every hymnal is a historical collection of tunes and texts, and when looked at from that vantage point, yields unusual fruits as well as the more familiar pleasures. I took a small part in the production of the Hymnal: A Worship Book, and discovered anew what an incredibly complex project that is. Pressures come from every side: composers and poets, denominational leaders and specific congregations, advocates for early hymns and those for the very latest -- and no one wants their favorite hymn left out. It's a wonder that these volumes ever make it to publication.

But now I'm thinking of compiling one containing only my own work. This would be principally a reference volume -- I can't imagine that any church would use it as their only collection. But they might want to obtain copies for their choirs -- and, as a member of the Hymn Society, I know there are thousands of people who collect hymnals for their own enjoyment. My justification for embarking on this project is to collect in one place the many settings I've made of American hymns, my own compositions, and other shorter rounds and responses that would be useful in worship.

My good friend Marion Dolan visited me for a whirlwind three days last August to compile a beginning list. I've just begun the next phase, which is to get each one of the titles into a one-page format. That will keep me busy for a year.

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SINGING -- OF, BY AND FOR WHOM?
Editorial

In Southern New Jersey, there is a remarkable chorus called Joyful Noise, which unites adults 'with physical and neurological challenges to develop a sense of pride, confidence, self-esteem, value and the potential to contribute to our world.' In February they presented a session at the ACDA Eastern Regional Convention in Hartford, CT, led by their founder and director Allison Fromm, and myself.

I became interested in the group when Allison brought a video of one of their programs to a Chorus America Conference. Here was a group of people literally lifted out of themselves in the act of singing. It was a clear demonstration of the true value of choral song: it may lead to transcendence for all of us. We lose for the moment the constraints that our existence places around us, and merge our voices and minds in the sound coming from our throats.

It doesn't happen by accident. In this case, there's a large amount of background planning -- just getting people there (most are supported by Bancroft NeuroHealth and live in surrounding communities), providing a gathering meal and aides, choosing repertoire, leading rehearsals and appearances, providing transportation and, in the case of Hartford, overnight accommodations. Conductors of this kind of group must truly have a sense of being called to their profession, and must gain their principal satisfaction from the effect of the singing on the singers.

Do we teach this in our schools and conservatories? Most of the time we seem to be dealing in ideals: the perfect, balanced sound, the careful diction, the historical accuracy, the formal concert. There's nothing wrong with this, but it is surely not the whole picture. My thoughts about preparing leaders to work with choruses like Joyful Noise can also be applied to working with small children, or in retirement homes, or hospitals and nursing homes. The difference seems to be in the principal aim of the activity: is it to serve the 'art', or the 'people'? I don't mean to force a choice: in the best cases, it does both. But I believe firmly in art-for-humans'-sake. And when one begins with that presumption, the other goals fall into a different relationship.

Joyful Noise will never sing with a perfectly focused tone, pure intonation or a balanced texture. But they can aim at those things, as Allison does in each rehearsal. There's a warm-up period with stretches, tunings and lip-and-tongue calisthenics. There's movement, laughter, listening to one another, competition for solo lines, and uninhibited comments on their current achievements. But there's also deep breathing, improved posture, moments of lovely sound and clear words and communicative intensity. New songs are taught by rote and old songs polished. Rounds are attempted and triumphantly achieved. About half the singers like to have a book, but most work is done by ear and heart.

And do they love to sing! It's visible in their faces and bodies, in their enthusiasm for the songs and the way they reach out to audiences as they perform. They are literally moving in a world without disabilities, restored and made whole by their absorption into the universe of sound. One wheelchair-bound singer told me of her first experience of floating in water -- the incredible sensation of feeling no weight pulling her body down, of being able to move freely as others did. I think the singing makes a similar difference for all these singers, and for all of us human beings.

We can lose our fears and disabilities, we can overcome our intellectual, linguistic, physical and spiritual differences, we can work with our neighbors to achieve a common goal, we can transcend our daily lives in the act of singing together. When leaders hold this as the aim, and regard the technical aspects of the 'art' as means to that end, lives can be transformed. Lives will be transformed, and perhaps the political world as well. "Make babies, not war", said the bumper stickers of the 60's. What's our counterpart? "Sing together, not alone". Or "Singers of the World, Unite". Or how about a "United Nations of Song", where all the choruses of the world join to out sing the voices of hate, fear, pride and selfishness that divide us. Now that would truly be a Joyful Noise.

For more information about Joyful Noise, visit their website at www.joyfulnoisechorus.org

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PROVOCATIVE QUOTES

In Proust was a Neuroscientist, (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) author Jonah Lehrer holds up artists in different media as precursors of scientific truths which are only recently being confirmed by modern research. Proust foretold the nature of memory,for instance. My favorite chapter is on Escoffier -- The Essence of Taste -- who knew how and why our taste buds functioned. "He realized that what we taste is ultimately an idea, and that our sensations are strongly influenced by their context... What we think we are tasting is only partially about the morsel of matter in the mouth. Equally important is the sum of past experiences enclosed within the brain, for these memories are what frame the sensation." p. 69 "The fact is, each of us literally inhabits a different brain, tuned to the tenor of our private desires." p.74 (All of my teaching reinforces this notion that each one of us hears differently. AP

The quote at the beginning of this chapter is from M.F.K. Fisher, The Gastronomical Me: "So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it...and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied...and it is all one." p. 53

(This is equally true of music, of framed sound. AP)

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THE VIEW FROM HERE
A White World

It's really different this time. . . We've been having wonderful snowstorms this winter, with the ground continually white since the beginning of December. Most have been the soft, fluffy kind that shovels easily (a big plus in this house), and that is possible to walk to the mailbox on, and drive through (after the town plow has come and gone.

But this last one was on the line between snow and rain, and succeeded in laying down a thick layer of ice and then cover it with a couple of inches of wet, heavy snow. It's a job to get down to the wood planks on the deck, which needs to happen before the next storm. And the front walk is really closed for a while -- there's no way I can chip through all that ice.

The amazing difference this time is in the trees. Often, when we have a storm, each twig will be sheathed in a thin layer of ice, which sparkles in the sunshine, and soon melts. The boughs seem to be stretching up to the sky with all that refracted color. But this time, we have not only the ice but a half-inch of snow on top of it, and each twig is heavily outlined in snow. It means that the view from my window is almost unbroken white -- only dark, vertical boles striping the canvas. It seems to balance the white in winter with the green in summer -- and the light within the house echoes it. Even the darker rooms are lit with a strange blue glow.

It has lasted for three days. We drive through white tunnels where the branches meet overhead; the brook is mostly white with snow-on-ice, with glimpses of green water moving below. There's more snow coming tomorrow: what will happen then? One of the joys of living in real country is that no one can truly predict. Another joy is that the snow stays so beautifully clean -- no ugly oil-drifts along the sides of the roads, no jumbled fields from human traffic. . . just occasional animal tracks picked carefully along a purposeful route, or tiny mounds where a branch, for some reason, has released its load and created a noiseless explosion below.

But now I must stop and refill the bird-feeders. That's my main job in this white world.

Alice Parker

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FROM THE MAIL-BOX

After a Senior Seminar SING:

"From where I sat, I could see (and hear) the glow of attenders, bringing out to meet you their fondness for an area of life so often left to 'professionals.'"

After a concert of Songs for Eve

"I read the poetry in advance, and didn't see why it was poetry. When the music began, it all came together and was an unforgettable experience! Not just a few, but many of us felt this..."

The Anatomy of Melody -- A Review
Alfred V. Fedak, writing in The Hymn, Summer 2007, concluded:

"Perhaps the most important reason to acquire this book is for the wisdom it contains. "It" represents the distillation of a lifetime spent studying, creating, performing, teaching and loving music. Thus it is understandable that Parker's tone is both reflective and personal throughout. She laments the fact that our modern, post-melodic society pays less and less genuine attention to music in general and to melody in particular. As a society, we have forgotten how to sing. This book is Parker's latest, and perhaps best, effort to reverse that loss. It is a must read for singers, choir directors, teachers, composers, arrangers, and in fact, for anyone who loves the voice and its music."

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Contents:

Exploring Hymnody

Singing -- Of, By And For Whom?

Provocative Quotes

The View From Here

Tina Mansfield

From The Mail-Box

Study With Alice Parker

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