'Sweet Manna' for all

Spring in the Berkshires

The Fellows, Class of 1999

Jerry Brabec, Omaha, NE; Methodist Church
Barbara Durost, Claremont, CA; Methodist Church
Carleen Gerber, Lyme, CT; Congregational Church
Judith Harrison, Reston, VA; Unitarian Universalist Church
Stephen Johnson, Mahopac, NY; Evangelical Free Church
Kinley Lange, Austin, TX; Presbyterian Church, conductor, Austin ProChorus
Jan Lanterman, Napa, CA; Methodist and Unitarian Universalist Churches, Conductor, Napa Valley Chorale & Aurora Voce
Brian and Kellie Malone, Akron, OH; Kellie, conductor, Akron Symphony Chorus and the Concord Singers; Brian, baritone and writer
Ed Rollins, Columbia, MO; Baptist Church

Of Song and Life

Alan Harler sent along an e-mail he received from a chorister, Phil Jones, after a recent concert which ended with the audience singing folk songs:

" . . . At one point Saturday night when Alice was doing her 'thing' I looked down the row to my left and just sighted along the profiles of the men I saw . . .And of course there was at least one intent face of every variety represented there (all seriously trying very hard to make mouth percussion (!): gray-haired Korean gentleman, young hulking Hispanic man with nifty colored strip around his shoulders, grizzled black basso with an incredible voice, Mendelssohn Club old-timer, MC newcomer, solemn Chinese scientist. And they were all completely INTO IT in exactly the way she intended. Of course I'm
sure Alice would have liked a bit more enthusiasm on the part of the percussion section, but eventually we were getting there. . . At that moment, I though, Yup, this is what it's all about; it was not the exquisite perfection of the diction or the intonation or the phrasing or anything on that level. It was the earnest desire to work together to produce something that would be meaningful to all of us. Pretty cool stuff. . . a reminder of the power of what we do together." Amen.

And Ann Chase: "Can art and beauty save the world? Surely just a little of its passion and riches could have affected those desperate, tortured, troubled boys in Colorado. . ." To which I replied in part: "We have a profoundly out-of-balance national life. A central focus on the arts would begin to restore the balance more quickly than any other possibility. What if our primary schools offered only arts experiences of all kinds: kids would be beating down the doors to get in, and be learning to work together to create - not destroy."

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The View from Here

"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring" exults Gerard Manley Hopkins - and particularly a cool New England one which arrives late and lasts, at least this year, for weeks. It started early in April, with the first shoots timidly pushing out of the cold earth, then by Easter we had the vivid yellows of forsythia and daffodils. Now, a month later, the gold is reflected in the dandelions (it's an abundant crop), and there are also tulips and pansies and Johnny Jump-ups (tiny pansies) and blues and pinks and other exotic shades enlivening the fields. The mountains just turned green this week, against a dazzling blue sky. In a week or two more we'll get the apple blossoms, and then lupine. One feels positively starved for color after the five months of drab when the maple leaves have gone.

All of this demands outside work, and while I don't do much, it's more than last year! I've been clipping away at wayward branches, trying to keep the woods from my door. My raised flower beds are a joy to prepare: I already have a flourishing crop of lettuce, parsley which survived the winter, and three herb beds. I've planted seeds for radishes and chard: we'll see what happens.

The town trucks have been up, clearing drains and sweeping a huge accumulation of dirt off the roads after a very icy winter. Farmers' fields are harrowed and rolled and planted, and the cows, full of milk and new life, decorate the meadows.

And since the Fellows arrive next week, there's been Spring house-cleaning, too. Beth and Faith and I put in a great day cataloguing music - just the tip of the iceberg. We got the shelves looking nice once: now they are overcrowded again, and it's time for the next round. The furniture in the studio is re-arranged to accommodate ten of us around the big table, and the rest of the house is as ready as it is going to get - as long as no one peeks in the corners or behind doors!

Spring - it's worth the wait. And when we don't plunge from winter into summer, as happens some years, if lasts long enough to - almost - satisfy. "What is all this juice and all this joy? A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning . . ." I'm setting four Hopkins sonnets - and the line that lingers in my memory as I dig in the fragrant earth is the second one: "When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush." He had it right!

Recent Publications

Several of Alice's new works have been released in the last few months. Ask your dealer for review copies.

A Letter from Barbara

Editorial

Immediately after the Charlemont Church Music Workshop I received a letter from one of the participants, a young woman whom I have known for several years. She responded immediately, with her whole heart and mind - and her questions were just right - they arose from the quick skimming-over we had to do in limited time, and posed topics that we can spend the rest of our lives poring over. I'll share it with you.

Dear Alice:
Thank you. You told me things I knew and didn't know in ways that have renewed me. The thunder of "Foundation" still rings in my heart*. . . Thank you for saying we as church musicians have a need, a commission if you will, to share the messages of God with those around us through music. So often the world shouts me down. Thanks for "shouting back", along with all those I met this last weekend. It was truly an oasis to me. The thunder of "Foundation" still rings in my heart*. . .
* We had sung 'How Firm a Foundation' very slowly and thoughtfully as a round: unison first verse, two-part 2nd, etc. 5th verse repeating the four-part canon very quietly. It is a martyr hymn, and does pack an enormous punch both in words and music when it's not rushed through.

Some topics for consideration . . .
1) How do you sort through the many catalogs, tapes, CD's and scores we get from the various music companies to find "the jewels"? Is the process the same as for hymns? (good words, good musical melody, good fit between the two?) Are there short-cuts? So often an anthem will strike me as good after hearing a recording, but one verse is "not as good" (or worse) when I come to examine the score. Do you then discard it? or buy it and skip the verse? or buy it and live with it?
You have partly answered your own question. The worth of the basic materials comes first: text and tune. Are they of a quality that you want to spend time with? Do they work well together? If you like them, then go on to the setting: is it skillful? the right voicing and difficulty level for you? Does it progress easily from beginning to end? Does the coda, if any, grow out of the setting? If the answers to any of these queries, in this order, strike you as inadequate or negative, then there is no need to progress further. If you like all of a piece but one verse, you have a problem: you could either edit it or omit it, but either is apt to have unintended results. (This is editing for your use alone.) If it really seems "wrong" to you, for heaven's sake don't buy the piece! There are plenty of others! Or write a new setting of the text yourself.

2) You know so well the time periods, their styles of music and the peoples of a given era. How can we develop this knowledge for ourselves? What resources can help us? Could you offer a class giving descriptions of "typical" music of a time or location and ways to make the hymns come alive to show the style? (I realize that the above question is exactly what you did with us last weekend. I guess I'm asking for more of an outline of times and music and periods and people to apply to a date I might see on a hymn.)
I'm sure that you know more about historical styles than you realize. People apply 'music history' to their organ playing, but often don't think of applying it to hymns. . . Resources I have written are: Creative Hymn Singing (Hinshaw), which deals exactly with historical and folk styles); MELODIOUS ACCORD: Good Singing in Church (Liturgy Training Publications), which has one chapter on history and style; the video Yes! We'll Gather (Liturgy Training Publications), which shows me working with a group of singers to find the right style for many hymns; and two recent recordings with church groups for the same purpose: New Song from Old Hymns (GIA) and SING! (Congregational Song Series #3, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians). [All these are available from the MELODIOUS ACCORD Bookstore.] But in the end, there are no rules that guarantee stylistic purity. There's almost endless variation, and the one constant to be avoided is dullness!

3) You alluded to the "gospel hymns" and some more contemporary music of today as "not good music". What makes it so? How could I as a composer and/or poet of Christian thought and music rise above the "not good" category? The people in some of these churches sing their hearts out. The melodies can linger long in my ears after attending such a service. The words can be moving (uplifting, wrenching, challenging, soothing). What makes this music "not good"? Or is it like [in] our more traditional churches, the rendition or execution of the song is lacking?
This is one of the most difficult questions! There are at least two contradictory ways of evaluating hymn texts and music. Songs that you learned as a child (or in a particularly moving more recent experience) are hallowed by memory and defy rational justification. On the other hand, if you are a professional classical poet or musician, you have all of the poetry and music that you know and love as a background for the judging of newer materials. On this scale, you can suggest that certain poems and songs hold their own in comparison with the best, and predict that they will prove of lasting worth. Fortunately both of these systems are inadequate to human experience, and all of us can often guess wrongly. Your own emotions teach you things that no one can explain: what is right for you is all right, and not to be down-sized. But I would like to suggest that in your position as the selector of music for your church, you spend some time thinking about what music you want your children to learn, and your adults to spend time on. What will stand by them in the adversities of life? Much of our 'contemporary' music is highly influenced by electronics and advertising, both of which are dedicated to this-year's-hits; is this 'disposable' music what you want to teach?

4) I was intrigued by your description of how you taught piano. I would love to sit down and have you describe this to me again. (Perhaps other instrumental teachers would like to, too.) I was never taught "how to teach music" in college, even though I have a music education degree. It frustrated me as a new music teacher at a private school when I got through college 20 years ago, and it has continued to frustrate me ever since. The "book"
method I've used has probably done more to squelch budding musicians that I care to know. Breaking through this barrier of "having" to use a book to begin teaching music is my challenge with piano students, both children and adults.
I'll have to write a longer article about this one day soon. But the basis of my teaching, then and now, is the conviction that melody - song - is what brings us into music in the first place. So base your teaching on songs which the child (or adult) already knows or learns to sing, building on that which they already love. Getting the fingers to play the tune musically (phrasing, breathing, changing dynamics, etc.) is the first order; then comes learning simple accompaniment patterns, and exploring all around the keyboard. The only book we used was a music manuscript book: either they or I wrote every note in it. They learned to 'read' by 'writing'. By Christmas time they could play the melodies of several carols well, or chord them as we switched off in duets. With the new year I would introduce a beginner's book which was found to be, of course, ridiculously simple - then I'd give a new book each lesson until we found the level they had attained.

Thank you for giving me a glimpse of this alternative method. And again, thank you! Your workshop was an answer to prayer for me.

Gratefully, Barbara Goodchild
(Shelburne, MA)

Study and Perform with Alice

Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ
July 5-9, '99, Writing for Voices
improvisation/writing/melody studies
info: 609-924-7416, X228