May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Change of Plans
Double Dutch Date
May 24, 2010
My mornings all begin about the same. I usually wake up long before my roommates. I’m a bit of an early riser. I like my mornings. I like to be productive in the morning. So, I always get up even if I was up late the night before. Sleep is always the easiest thing to sacrifice in a busy schedule. This morning was fairly relaxed though because we didn’t have anywhere to be until 10:45. We were scheduled to observe another rehearsal of the BBC Singers. Instead of meeting at the church where we watched their last rehearsal, it was held in the studio for the BBC. It was an interesting building. It was built in the 1960’s as a roller skating hall. Apparently it didn’t do very well and the BBC purchased the building and have had their music studios there ever since. There were pictures on the wall of all kinds of famous musicians who had performed or recorded there. Everyone from Pierre Boulez to Sting was on the wall. It was neat to be there, hanging out where so many famous musicians have come through. The rehearsal was good to listen to. It was a different set of voices than we had heard before. They were working on a work by William Schuman for 16 voices. It was an incredibly difficult work. I couldn’t imagine trying to piece it together, especially with one person per part as they were attempting. Each part was so incredibly difficult; it really requires superb musicianship from each member of the ensemble. Despite the difficulty of the work, I found myself more annoyed at the sound they produced. The aesthetic the group reaches for is that of a group of soloists. It was so apparently so. There was little in terms of blend present in the sound. When the group was below a forte level, each individual voice quality could be identified and scrutinized for its inability to blend with the other voices. However, when the group was at forte or above, the sound was so large that it produced, for me, a high pitched hissing sound that was very unpleasant. It was simply too much. This high pitched hiss is present when speakers are played too loud and at rock concerts. In my opinion, it totally crossed the threshold of beauty which was so unfortunate because each member is so individually talented. It was exciting and frustrating all at once. Michelle and I left during the lunch break since we weren’t required to sit through the second half. Outside, the weather was so glorious. We had to take advantage of it. We’ve heard that it’s legal to swim in the fountains at Trafalgar Square and also in the Serpentine which is the pond in the center of Hyde Park. So, we went to Hyde Park to check things out. We found the swimming hole and hurried back to the flats for our swimsuits. It was nearly 80 degrees that afternoon. Who could blame us for ditching the cultural beauties of London for a little vitamin D? When we got back we had a difficult time finding a patch of grass. There were so many sun bathers. We nearly found a place, but then discovered a woman who was sunbathing topless. So, we obviously found another location. Sitting out on the grass taking in the sunshine was so great! I love spending time with Michelle. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing. Swimming in the Serpentine was a little bit gross. The water was quite green from algae. We didn’t stay in too long, but long enough to time each other racing from one end of the pond to the other (I think Michelle was too scared to go toe to toe with me in an actual race). We dried of in the sunshine and finally left in time to eat dinner together and leave for a rehearsal that evening of the London Philharmonic Choir. Their rehearsal was really interesting to watch. They were by far the worst sight-readers we’ve seen in any choir rehearsal (excepting the college choirs at Oxford who are composed of untrained volunteers). The conductor was good at guiding them through the music though. He was quite adept at running the rehearsal. Their sound wasn’t particularly impressive either. All of these struggles made us chuckle just a little bit when several members of the choir came up to us during the break talking about how awesome it is for them to be part of a world-famous choir. World-famous for sure, but maybe not world-class. They were really nice though. They even gave us copies of the music so that we could sing along during the second half of their rehearsal. It was pretty fun. After their rehearsal, we had time to grab a bite to eat. I went with Michelle, Logan, Robert McLellan, and Robert Crappo. We went to the Dutch Pancake House which is becoming a favorite for many of the study-abroaders. Michelle and I each got a pancake that we shared. She got a savory pancake called the Amsterdammer, which was actually the one that I wanted (isn’t she so cute?), and I got a sweet pancake filled with bananas, nutella, nuts and ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. Since we both paid for one pancake each, we coined the evening a Double-Dutch Date which is quite punny if you think about it. The only bad part of a Double Dutch Date with 3 other guys is that you might have to compete for the attention of the girl, even if she’s your girlfriend. Logan was giving Michelle a hard time and started flirting with her by quasi-beating her up. When Michelle cried out wondering why I didn’t help her I teased her a little bit saying that I wouldn’t help save her if she was going to be flirting with other guys. She’d have to get herself out of the situation she’d gotten herself into. It was pretty funny. Michelle is a flirt. That’s one of the reasons I like her so much.
Calm Sunday
May 23, 2010
I love the Sabbath. It’s so nice to have a day of the week to stop thinking about all the craziness of life and consider the most important relationship we can have in this life, the one with our Heavenly Father. Re-evaluating ourselves is such a necessary part of our progress in life. It can be difficult to grapple with yourself as you consider all your shortcomings, especially the ones that have been shortcomings for a long time. You’d think that with the passing years it would be so simple to abandon the errors of our ways. Conventional wisdom that we gather should inform us to prevent us from doing silly things that don’t make us happy. Yet, here we often find ourselves as we go to church to pray and think about the things of God. My Sabbath was spent mostly in solitude which only added to my experience as I carried out my own self-evaluation. I had planned to go to a sung Eucharist but didn’t wake up in time to make it there. Since I didn’t go, I didn’t see Michelle at all until after the block of meetings. We spent the majority of the rest of the day blogging. We went to Hyde Park since the weather was so lovely. We had to move several times though because the sun kept chasing us and because of the smoke coming from this guy who was smoking hookah. All in all, it was one of the most low-key days I’ve had so far in London. It was nice to relax. The unfortunate part of the day was how we lost track of time at the park and so we missed the Evensong that evening sung by Tenebrae. We were totally bummed because everyone was talking about how good it was. The difficult thing about London is that it takes about an hour to get anywhere, so you really have to plan in advance. It was nice to sit back and relax though.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Recovery
May 22, 2010
We got back from our adventures in Brighton at about 9:30 in the morning. I didn’t even bother to shower. I went straight for my bed where I remained in a coma until 2:30. It was such blissful slumber. When I woke up, I showered which made me feel quite a bit like the earth right after rain. I discovered Michelle was already up (apparently she didn’t really sleep except for little naps here and there throughout the day). The day outside was so glorious that we just had to be outside. We went across the street and found ourselves in, oh wait, Hyde Park! It was so beautiful and lovely. I never get sick of going there. We spent the afternoon blogging away! We came back to eat dinner (pasta, again) and get ready for the concert that evening. The concert we went to was at Cadogan Hall where we heard the Tallis Scholars. I think we would have much preferred to hear the Tallis Scholars again. The concert was put on by the Ealing Choral Society, an amateur volunteer choir with orchestra. They had programmed a fairly difficult concert including Beethoven’s Elegy, Haydn’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor. We also heard by the orchestra Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture and the Guardian Spirit Aria for soprano by Haydn. I really love the literature they chose, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of performance we’ve become accustomed to hear. My favorite thing about the concert was how much the members of the choir really loved what they were doing. Despite all the crazy problems they were having, you could tell that they really love music and they were going for the gusto (one tenor was particularly exuberant and excited). Another really fun thing about the concert was the orchestra which was composed of instrumentalists playing on all period instruments. It was fun to see the very old style strings and woodwind instruments as well as the natural horns which are so incredibly difficult to play. After the concert we came home and Michelle and I took a little bit of time to chat.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Cambridge
May 20, 2010
No class today! Only because we had a day trip to Cambridge! We had to be to the bus by 10:00 a.m. Normally that would be no problem at all, but I had a particularly late night last night so I really had to rush to be there on time after sleeping in too long. Cambridge is about the same distance from London as Oxford but in the opposite direction. On the way we stopped at an American memorial dedicated to the soldiers who gave their lives during World War II. Although I’ve seen similar memorials (I’ve even been to Arlington a few times), it never fails to impress me when I look over a memorial that reverences the sacrifices of men who fought to preserve our freedom and that of others. There were about 4000 buried there along with a wall with 8,000 names inscribed, honoring those soldiers whose remains were never found. There was also a beautiful chapel dedicated to their memory. The experience started an interesting conversation between Michelle and I about how people deal with grief and death. For me, it was a really neat experience. When we arrived at Cambridge, Michelle and I found ourselves in a group with Nick Herrick, Jessica Jardine, Logan Bradford and Robert McClellen. We really wanted to go punting in the river that runs through the river. Punting is a sport I was previously unaware of. A punt is essentially a gondola without wood sticking up on both ends of the boat. We rented a punt, climbed in and began figuring out just how to make the darn thing steer straight. It was certainly more difficult than anyone would have guessed. Despite the difficulty, I’m going to take a moment to brag about my unique adeptness in learning how to push us down the river with that long stick. Michelle also bragged to the rest of the group how her boyfriend really got the hang of it. Do I suffer from the vice of pride? Probably. Confession is the first step of repentance. But, the only thing I feel like confessing is that punting is certainly the best way to see Cambridge. It’s the most incredible campus I’ve ever seen; the flowers that grow everywhere, the beautifully trimmed grass, and of course the amazing architecture. We spent about an hour on the river laughing at our inability with the punt because we kept getting in the way of other boats that were going up and down the river. We became convinced that lying out on the grassy banks of the river to laugh at the tourists who try to punt is a favorite pass time at Cambridge. After punting, we spent the next several hours exploring Cambridge via the streets and lanes that cut every which way through the city. We stopped by the market to buy some produce and enjoyed the lunches we’d packed for the day (see, we’re already making our goal of eating out less a reality). After a nice day of exploring the city, we went to Trinity College to observe a rehearsal and Evensong service. We were surprised to see Stephen Layton there as the conductor as he was surprised to see us. We’d only seen each other the night before. The Trinity College Chapel Choir was a 30-something voice mixed choir. Despite the presence of women, there were still a few men singing alto as countertenors. The most exciting thing for me watching the rehearsal and the service was the selection of music. It seems that most of the services we’ve attended have had very similar selections of music. The music this evening was much more contemporary and, for lack of a better description, a bit more Eric Whitacre-esque. Though not for that reason, I felt as though the sound of the Trinity College Chapel Choir most closely resembled the BYU Singers sound. We seem to share similar musical weaknesses and shortcomings. I really enjoyed the service and was astounded by the chapel. I loved visiting Oxford, but I found Cambridge to be even more beautiful. On the coach ride home, I spent some time writing about these adventures on my ipod. It’s been so handy having that thing around. It’s the only reason I’ve been able to keep up on my blogging. I just whip it out and write a little here and there. When we got back, Michelle and I finally got things figured out and planned out trip to VENICE where we’ll be visiting some of Michelle’s family friends in the final days before coming home.
Little Venice
May 19, 2010
Where do I begin? I woke up this morning filled with wonder that I found myself in London. It is such a fantastic opportunity. I went running this morning in Hyde Park. As I've already described, it is a unique experience. I love the pace of my mornings here. Class this morning felt a little bit long. We covered a lot of choral literature including four of Bach’s Motets. It was interesting to study them because the motet was an old genre, especially since he wrote the motets near the end of his life. We spent time looking at the ways Bach looked to the past to find the particular writing style for them. We also discussed our recent concert experiences with the BBC Singers, the London Bach Choir and at Westminster Abbey. After class was over, Michelle and I came back to the flats and made lunch together. Gotta love pasta. Cheap and easy. We had quite a bit of free time for the rest of the day so we decided to head to a new place in London called Little Venice. I had heard that Little Venice was a nice place to visit and walk through. While we found it interesting, it wasn’t exactly what we had in mind. The most interesting thing about Little Venice is the canal system that it’s a part of. At the same time the Eerie Canal was being built in the United States, England was building a canal system of its own for massive transport and shipping. The canal system became obsolete with the spread of trains and later with the thoroughfares (highways) and motorways (freeways). Nowadays, the canal system is traversed by folks in their house-barges. We stopped to talk to a couple who were moored with their boat on the side of the canal and learned about their story. Mick and Jenny, a lovely couple from Manchester, bought a house-boat barge and spend three quarters of the year living on it going from place to place enjoying their retirement. The boat they bought, much like the others on the canal is 7 feet wide and 70 feet long. Once the boat is licensed to you, you may take the boat wherever you please, docking for two weeks anywhere you like for free. There is no need for a captain’s license or anything. It was really interesting to talk to them about their way of life. They suggested we rent one if we ever decided to come back to England for an extended stay because it’s so cheap to rent, easy to get around and a great way to see a lot of the country. I took note of that thinking that it might be the means to some future adventure. While we enjoyed talking to Mick and Jenny, Little Venice wasn’t everything we thought it would be. The website I’d looked at before going promised a museum, an art gallery and a few other sites to see. We didn’t really find any of it except a really lovely park where we took a short nap on the grass. Evening plans looming, we decided to pack up and head back to get ready for the rehearsal we were scheduled to attend that evening. The rehearsal was for the Holst Singers conducted by Stephen Layton who also conducts Polyphony (made famous by THEIR recordings of Eric Whitacre’s choral works). I asked Nathan Wright and Sister Hall if they would enjoy seeing a fist fight between Dr. Staheli and Stephen Layton over the Eric Whitacre recordings. Nathan laughed and said he would. The rehearsal was held in Temple Church. I’d never heard of the Holst Singers. It’s always fun to see a new choir and see how they work. The Holst Singers is composed of amateur singers with approximately 8 people per part. They rehearsed in a half circle around the conductor. The first thing I noticed about their rehearsal was the amount of time Stephen Layton took to address their sound and phrasing. It’s really the first choir we’ve seen that has worked to really perfect their pieces. As always, the sound was treble dominated. The rehearsal was rather lengthy and I was impressed how hard they worked for as long as they worked. We heard them rehearse the Bach Motets that we’d studied in class. Listening to classical music is so much more enjoyable when you are familiar with the form and structure of the piece. It’s easier to appreciate the works of the masters like Bach when you’ve invested time to learn how they practiced their craft. I really appreciated how much each member of the ensemble seemed to contribute. It made me rethink a little bit Bob Chilcot’s comments about the British being so individualistic. Maybe it’s truer in the professional world. The best part of the rehearsal was when Michelle went to put down the prayer bench in the pew right in front of us, it slammed down and a large crack echoed through the whole church. It was hard not to laugh out loud! Funnier still was when we nearly lost it when the German diction coach went to approach Stephen Layton with a correction in the diction and was nearly whacked with a vigorous sweep of his hand. Warning! Conductor on the premises may strike you with his waving arms or baton causing injury or death! After the rehearsal, Michelle and I needed to get to the grocery store. The problem is that the stores around here all close at 10:00 and we got out at 9:30. We were commenting on this problem when one of the choir members overheard us and offered us a ride to the nearest Sainsbury to shop. In the small talk that commenced with Steve, we learned that he was a vicar at a nearby church. He was so nice to drive us around until we eventually found the market. We made a goal to buy more food from the grocery store so that we’d eat out even less than we are. I’m totally cool with it because I love to cook. When we got home, I enjoyed a nice cup of tea.
BBC Singers
May 18, 2010
There was no class this morning. We only had to arrive at a church to observe the BBC Singers rehearsal with Bob Chilcot. What a treat that was. The rehearsal went from 11:30 to 1:00 followed by a lunch break and then again from 2:00 until 3:30. The BBC Singers perform a complete program every single week and the music that we watched them rehearse was their first sight-readings of music of Samuel Barber and William Schuman, both American composers. The group consists of 6 singers per part and Bob Chilcot was happy to announce to us at the beginning of the rehearsal that the BBC Singers are essentially the only (professional) choir in England with female altos. All other choirs use countertenors on the alto line. It was interesting to take note of that. The incredible thing about watching the BBC Singers was observing their professionalism. The music for this week’s program is so incredibly difficult. It surprises me to watch these choirs rehearse. The machine works so well from the very first sight-reading in most cases. It doesn’t seem like very much is done to improve the sound or phrasing generally, but that’s likely because the point of departure is already so incredible. One of the most interesting characteristics of the BBC Singers compared to other choirs we’ve heard was the amount of vibrato. It was a very full sound that went beyond the threshold of beauty at times when the choir was singing fortissimo. It was usually fixed though when Bob Chilcot pointed that out. There were so many things like diction and dynamics that were so surprisingly present for a first sight-reading. I would hope that our choirs back home could somehow learn to step up to the plate a bit more and read more than just the notes. Speaking of reading notes, however, there were a surprisingly large number of wrong ones in the BBC Singers rehearsal. Lucky for them, they’ll have more rehearsal time before performing this program because this professional choir is the only one in England that is fully professional. Other choirs, like The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars have paid singers, but the BBC Singers work a full 35 hours per week as members of the choir, so their output is extraordinary. I really enjoyed listening in the first half of the rehearsal to Barber. His music is so beautiful. It’s so obvious that he was a singer because he wrote such incredible singing lines. We heard Sure on this Shining Night, The Monk and His Cat, Under the Willow Tree and Barber’s recently published Motet. For me, the most interesting thing was listening to Bob Chilcot as he would turn around to speak with us about some of the fundamental differences between the American approach to choral music and the British approach. He made comments that really helped me understand. He talked about the origin of these differences for our two countries. In Europe, vocal singing is very much based on part singing. From the earliest motets that were published for amateur use, European singing has been largely built on part singing. The musical tradition in the United States is built largely on the musical traditions of its founding groups such as the Puritans. As such, singing in the United States is built largely on hymn singing; homophonic declamation of text in four parts. It’s much simpler than the complex part songs common among amateur singers in Europe. Another fundamental difference is that the British people are individualists. In the United States, singing in a choir is more than the music; singers become a member of a musical family that provides close relationships and emotional fulfillment. In England, choir members want to get in and out as quickly as possible because they do it for personal reasons rather than societal ones. It was so interesting to hear Bob comment on these things and apply those comments to the things we’ve seen and experienced so far. It does much to explain the whole choral experience here. During the lunch break, Michelle and I got wrap sandwiches from a restaurant that serves Damascene cuisine. It was unique and yummy. When we came back after lunch break, we resumed listening, this time to the music of William Schuman. His music, which is quite contemporary, is much stranger. Bob Chilcot kept poking fun at how quirky and strange it was while we sat shrugging our shoulders not wanting to claim Schuman as a fellow American. To give you an idea, a series of pieces we heard them rehearse were based on text taken from a 1897 Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog. One of the products advertised and set to music by Schuman was a hair removing tonic for women to remove their facial hair. Rather eccentric if you ask me. When we got back from the rehearsal, Michelle and I ate pasta together before leaving with the whole group for Westminster Abbey to hear music of Vivaldi and Handel. It was wonderful to be back in the abbey again. It’s such an incredible building with so much history. Our seats were quite different from those we’ve had before. Because this concert was discovered too late, we didn’t have a visual on the choir and orchestra. We sat in the choir seats behind the ensemble that was in the nave. While most of the people in our group commented on their displeasure at not seeing the ensemble (mostly because the sound we heard was merely indirect reverberations), I quite enjoyed the experience. Sacred music was composed the way it was, in part, because of the acoustics of those magnificent churches that are so large that most people really didn’t have much of a view of the musicians. They could only listen and wonder at the sound. So for me, it was wonderful to sit and listen to this music that had undoubtedly echoed through that church so many times before to the delight of many thousands. During the interval of the concert, I ran quickly to the water closet (restroom). On my return, much to my delight, I discovered Handel’s burial site. It was a neat experience as I was about to listen to his incredible work Dixit Domino which is considered by many to be the most difficult piece in all of choral literature. It was so amazing to be there under those circumstances. The choir was wonderful and it’s incredible how those young boys can stay so clear and free at the top of their range for so long on the high notes. There were some noticeable challenges, particularly with the men who rehearse much less than the boys do, but so glorious still. After the performance, Michelle, Logan and I went to a sing-a-long piano bar. The bar is located right next to the Lyceum theatre where Lion King is showing. In the middle of the street there is a staircase that goes down under the sidewalk which made it a little bit difficult in finding. We walked in to a very small but smart looking bar which we later learned had been converted from a trashy public bathroom with a bad reputation. Amazingly, it had been totally transformed and we had a nice little place to sit and listen to people get up and croon with the keyboard player who could sight read like a mad man. Michelle and Logan both found music they knew so they quickly got on the list to sing. I didn’t know any of the music there, so I didn’t really feel comfortable sight reading a Broadway show tune (although looking back, the drunken people there probably wouldn’t have cared much). When I went up to order a drink (which is requisite if you want to stay in the bar) I asked the bartender for a couple of orange sodas. The girl next to me wheeled around and said in a loud voice, “ORANGE SODAS?” I quickly shrugged it off and said, “Well, it IS a weekday.” She seemed somehow satisfied with my answer. We enjoyed the emcee quite a bit who kept making cracks about how many lesbians were present that night. Michelle sang “Popular” from Wicked. She did a great job and covered forgetting the words like a pro. I took off early after Logan sang because I wanted to get home in time to chat on Skype with my mama and papa.
An Education
May 17, 2010
I hope that from wherever you are sitting you may feel to congratulate me and Michelle. We both went running this morning… together! It was amazing that we both were able to drag ourselves out of bed. I’ve gone a few times by myself, but it was so nice to have her along. We ran through Hyde Park of course. It’s the best run we can find; endless pathways, green grass, tall shady trees, flowers, ponds. What else can you ask for? It was great to start off the day with some fresh air. We got ready and headed off for class. We've had a very educational day today with a lot of unique opportunities. Class discussion was interesting. We had a lot of catching up to do in reviewing our observations of the Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen and our experiences in Oxford. It's always unique to discuss musical aesthetics. A group of people can sit in the same concert yet can have very different experiences. For some, the freedom and fullness of the soprano section is a joy to listen to while someone else may complain about how overpowering they are. I wonder about the roots of those disagreements. I think that, as a baritone, I am much quicker to perceive strengths and weaknesses of the bass section which will add to my praise or criticism of the choir as a whole. It's difficult to remove bias. It's also difficult to remember just what you've heard. Listening to as much music as we're doing, it can sometimes get a little muddled in your head. I was happy to observe a lot more individual thought in the comments given, but there was no concordance in them at all. Simply put, everyone has very different preferences and experienced very different things at our recent concerts. We spent some time looking at more important choral works like the Bach B Minor Mass, Handel's Dixit Domino and Vivaldi's Gloria. I learned some new things particularly about Vivaldi. Apparently his music had been all but forgotten until some of his scores were discovered in the 1930's. Because of World War II, it wasn't really brought to the attention of the world until the 1950's. If it hadn't been for that discovery, no one would know the famous Four Seasons. I enjoyed getting a bit into the Bach B Minor Mass. It's such a huge important work. You could spend a year studying it and still not really get to the bottom of it. Incredible work! After class was over we went back to the flats for lunch. Michelle and I put our ingredients together and I made spaghetti while she started looking for flights to Venice for our 5 day break next week! After lunch, Michelle and I split off again just the two of us. We decided to go find the British Library. We’ve heard there are some really neat things on display there. I really like going with just Michelle. In terms of practicality, it’s so much easier to go with just one other person. It’s even better than just practical though because Michelle is such a delight to be around. We found the library fairly easily and went into the gallery. I was really unprepared for what I was about to see. We saw original manuscripts of Beowolf and also a play that Shakespeare collaborated on with several other playwrights. It was in his own hand! We saw Jane Austin’s writing desk. It was pretty small compared to the number of books she wrote. We saw a copy of the first music book ever published in England containing part songs by Taverner and his contemporaries. We saw Purcell’s autographed score book. We saw a hand written original copy of Handel’s Messiah! In addition to the classical music display, they had a display on the Beatles. They had on display the scraps of paper on which were written the lyrics for I want to hold your hand, Help, Yesterday, Ticket to ride, A Hard day’s night which was written on a birthday card and of course my favorite was Michelle written on an envelope. We saw several pages from Da Vinci’s notebooks on physics and mechanics. It was really neat to see his sketches and wonder about his incredible mind worked. On display also was the Magna Carta. I was floored to realize that I was about to see such an incredibly important historical document. Even though only 3 of the original 63 points of law that it outlined are still part of British law, it was so important for the establishment of freedom that has continued to grow throughout the world. We are so blessed to live in a land ruled by laws that protect us. It is a somber thought to consider how many of God’s children have lived under tyranny throughout the history of the world and how many of them still do. Seeing the Magna Carta left a huge impression on me. Housed in the library were 2 of the 3 most important biblical texts in the world. The codices of Sinaiticus and Alexandrines are among the most important texts in verifying correct translation of the Bible. It was such a neat experience. It ended all too quickly. We had to hurry over to meet up with the study abroad group to attend the rehearsal of the London Bach Choir. It was an impressive sight to see. The choir consists of about 200 voices. The members are auditioned but pay a fee to participate. They also purchase all of their own music and cover their own expenses when they tour. As surprising as that was, their sound was more surprising. The first and most obvious observation made was how overpowering the soprano part was. The British love the sound of melody. Essentially all the choirs we’ve heard have been treble dominated. The London Bach Choir was no exception. Despite the problems with balance, I was amazed at the ability of these singers. They were rehearsing the Bach B Minor Mass and the Brahm’s Requiem; no small feat. I was surprised at the agility of the singers. I’ve never heard such agility and accuracy in articulation from such a large choir. Generally as the size of the choir increases, articulation and agility decrease, exponentially at times. There were some issues of intonation that were never dealt with. The rehearsal was broken down slightly because they were auditioning two new conductors. David Hill rehearsed the choir for a portion of the time and the two auditioning got roughly equal portions of time. The first of the two was clearly the better choice. After watching the London Bach Choir rehearsal, Michelle and I joined with Steve and Emily to go to a Dutch pancake house. On the way we nearly had a mishap. Emily and Steve were walking ahead of us as we came to an intersection. They looked down the street and realized there was enough space for them to jaywalk if they hurried. Michelle was just a step or two ahead of me when she entered the intersection. Unfortunately, there was a motorcyclist who was coming to turn as she was going into the intersection. He honked, began swerving because he couldn’t judge what she was doing. In a panic Michelle stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the intersection which brought the motorcyclist to a complete stop. Just then the light turned red for him and green for the pedestrians. I stepped out to get Michelle and walk across and heard the motorcyclist mutter some things under his breath. We laughed pretty hard about it. I guess I just need to always hold her hand when we’re out. Once we found the pancake house we sat down to some laughs with Emily and Steve. They’re pretty fun to be around. We didn’t order much of anything because we’re trying to be smart about money. What we did order was quite scrumptious. On the way home from the pancake house Emily and Steve were several steps ahead of us again. Suddenly I realized that a bus was coming up that would take us to the tube station. Michelle and I called out to Steve and Emily but they couldn’t hear. We dashed back to the bus stop and hopped on. We thought that would be the end of it but after we got on the tube something unexpected happened. We had only gone one stop when we saw Emily and Steve just outside the train on the platform. Somehow they had walked all the way to the next tube station but didn’t quite manage to get on it before it took off. It was a pretty enjoyable night.
p.s. I'm trying to catch up. Sorry I've been bad about posting lately.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Oxford: Part III
May 16, 2010
Today was our final day in Oxford. :( We’ve really enjoyed our 3 consecutive day trips there. The only bad part has been the hour and a half bus rides to and from every day. Buses just aren’t very comfortable. Wait, is he complaining about the bus again? Yep, I am. I think I can sleep better in any other location. Oh well. The unfortunate thing was that we had to be ready at the bus by 8:15 this morning to make it in time to go to church at the Oxford ward. Despite going to bed at 1:30, I was up and at it at 5:40. Go figure. It gave me plenty of time to have another leisurely morning though. :) The nap I took on the bus this morning gave me a kink in my neck that is still rendering me nearly incapable of turning my head without turning my entire torso. Ok, I’m done complaining. We had a really great time visiting Oxford ward. You could just tell they were a very strong, tight-knit ward with big open arms. We felt so welcome there. There was a big line of people shaking our hands as we walked into the church. I was so impressed. Priesthood and Sunday school were hard for me to stay awake in. (I guess my 4 hours of sleep caught up with me.) I still got a few important points from the lesson though. Sacrament meeting was really great. They were focusing on the restoration of the priesthood. They had 4 deacons speak and the Young Men’s President who was a really great, young, energetic 28 year-old. It was such a great meeting. We sang two numbers in between the talks. After the block of meetings, we were invited to Much-n-Mingle. We each brought a little something to contribute, but the ward brought a lot of something to contribute. It was yummy and really fun to talk to so many neat people. The best part for me was discovering this 3-4 year old boy who was hiding on the stair-well, his shirt un-tucked and hair sticking up, cupping both of his hands filled with chips and eating them right out of his hand. If it weren’t for the circumstances, he would have looked like something straight out of Lord of the Flies. Instead, it was really cute to see him devouring his chips so ravenously. After stuffing ourselves, we had some time to rehearse a bit more in the church building before taking a bus to our respective colleges for the final rehearsal and Evensong performance. I really enjoyed the experience. The rehearsal went much better with the organist present (he couldn’t make our Friday evening rehearsal). It’s just so interesting how the demands made of these choirs shape their musicianship. Their ability to follow the crazy format they have for hymn singing and psalm singing is remarkable as is their sight reading ability. Other issues, like intonation don’t seem quite as important. I don’t know how the other colleges were, but ours was an interesting mix of casual and formality. Most of the choir members were wearing jeans while some were wearing their robes. The director chose to omit the procession (which was too bad because I was looking forward to that, especially in choir robes which were also not included). We didn’t have a very big turnout. There were about twelve people in the congregation. The clergy was composed of all women. It was really interesting; very different from my other Evensong experiences. I felt really good about our performance though. We BYU kids definitely held our own. After the service, we were offered drinks to socialize. Luckily they got the memo that we don’t drink and they had some orange juice to offer us. We were also invited to dine with them in their dining hall. We felt pretty cool. The dining hall totally reminded us of Hogwarts; same setup. I ended up sitting next to the music director and got to pick her brain. She is actually an organist. The tradition in England is for organists to run the choirs and their assistants to accompany on the organ. It’s somewhat counterintuitive, but that’s how things have always been done. Since she is American, it gave me an interesting view into the differences between the British approach and the American. She seemed convinced that the British system is superior. There are some definite advantages that are readily recognizable. Dinner was nice. The conversation was stimulating, but we had to hurry back to the coach to come back to London. I was happy to see Michelle again. We’ve been separated by our distinct groups a lot lately, so it was nice to see her for a bit, even if she just slept of my arm again on the way home.
Oxford: Part II
May 15, 2010
Today was another great day. We had an early rehearsal this morning in the flats because we were asked to sing in the Oxford ward on Sunday. So I didn't get enough sleep yet again. I was able to catch up a bit on the coach we took to Oxford. I never sleep well on a bus though. I have a general annoyance with typical bus mentality. Choral people especially seem to have a talent for being loud, obnoxious and generally inconsiderate. Don't get me wrong. I love all of these people, but small, enclosed spaces aren't conducive to a pleasant atmosphere. It's common practice with Dr. Staheli to maintain a strict no-singing policy on the bus. I'm not sure why, but this rule has been slackened a lot on these day trips to Oxford. It might be simply because we're not spending much time traveling by coach. Either way, there has been some singing and loud boisterousness. Oh well. I still love them dearly. I should bring my earplugs tomorrow. Wow, that was kind of a rant. When we arrived in Oxford we had some free time to enjoy and discover the place. Michelle and I went with Logan Bradford to the covered market. Along the way we were taking a lot of pictures. Logan has a pretty nice DSLR camera. He has wanted some headshots for him to use for his auditions. Michelle and I took turns shooting and using a price of white paper to bounce a little more light into Logan's face to get the lighting right. It was a little hodge-podge, but it was really fun. At the market I almost bought an umbrella because I found the same umbrella I used on my mission. It was the greatest umbrella ever. It was constructed with a brass rod, 16 points made of fiberglass and a nice non-slip curved grip. It's a gentleman's umbrella. I used the one on my mission for most of my time in Chile but lost it about a week before coming home. Saddest day! I didn't get the one I found in the market because it isn't really very rainy in London this time of year, I don't really have an easy way of getting it home and I didn't really want to spend the money. I wrote down the website though, so I might order one when I get home. We had to go meet our group to go on a walking tour of Oxford. It is such a beautiful place. The buildings everywhere you turn are so old! Incredible! We saw the colleges of people like William Tindale and where Tolken and C.S. Lewis taught. It is so neat to be in such a historic and majestic place. So many of the world's best minds have come through there! We learned that, because of its position relative to The Prime Meridian, Oxford decided to change their time to be more precise based on its location. As a result, Oxford time runs five minutes behind. Most of Oxford has given it up by now, but Christ Church College still runs five minutes later (ex. Evensong begins at 5:05 local time instead of 5:00). After the tour I went with Michelle and Logan, still taking pictures along the way. We ate sandwiches on fresh baguette bread from a small sandwich shop called Morten's. They had an outdoor area with tables and chairs. So great! We ran over to the Ashmolean Museum to see a few exhibits. We only had time to see some 16th century paintings, some jewelry and some stringed instruments from the 18th century including a Stradivarius violin. It was beautiful! Of the paintings we enjoyed The Adoration of the Shepherds by Paolo Caliari and The Resurrection of Christ by Jacopo Robusti. We didn't have much time at the museum because we had to meet our group again to go to Evensong. We could choose between New College and Magdalen College. I wanted Michelle to hear New College, so that's what we opted for. Michelle got to sit in on a bit of the boys' rehearsal before the service. I was glad she got to experience the same kind of thing I'd seen yesterday. Again, they only took 6 people in, so I think she thought it was pretty neat. We all went into the chapel for the last portion of their rehearsal with the basses, tenors and counter-tenors. It was amazing to hear the entire group together. The service was beautiful. This one wasn't open to the public. New College seems to be quite exclusive. We were lucky to be there. There was a much more reverent attitude in New College than any of the other services we've seen. The British sound is so distinctive. The quality is very close to my own tastes. I disagree with vowel formulation in many cases because it seems to stress unimportant syllables in the text. My opinion about vowels is purely founded upon the indoctrination I’ve received by being a student at BYU. We really enjoyed the trip to Oxford. It gets pretty tiring though. Michelle slept on my arm the whole way back. I feel to take a moment to express how glad I am that Michelle and I got a head start on experiencing London. We get free time every day, but we got to do so much that first week that now we can really spend our free time doing exactly what we want without feeling a need to squeeze in all of the big tourist attractions because, by and large, we've already done them. It's great. What an amazing experience this is. Who gets to do this sort of thing? Who has the chance to go to Europe with their girlfriend for 6 weeks? Incredible. So grateful.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Oxford
May 14, 2010
Every day is a great day. We’re just having such an incredible experience. I’m astounded by the opportunity it is to be here to learn and observe some of the best music making in the world. I am proud to announce that I was able to strap on my running shoes this morning and went for a lengthy run around the entire perimeter of Hyde Park. It was a beautiful morning. The weather forecast is showing 60 degree weather with few clouds for the next 4-5 days which is even warmer than Utah from what I’ve heard. Today we took a coach and travelled to Oxford to observe choral activity there. We were split into smaller groups to see the goings on at boy’s schools. I was chosen to go with Dr. Staheli and 4 other students to see the rehearsal of the treble boy voices of the boy’s choir attached to New College at Oxford. The organization of Oxford is really quite confusing. All students are placed within a college. For the most part, the students live, eat, drink and do most of their studies there in the college they are placed into. Each college has a chapel. Each chapel has a choir to perform the weekly services. While some of the choirs are mixed, many consist of the men of the college combined with young boys who are part of the associated choir school. These choir schools are highly specialized and very intense. Most of the professional singers from the choirs we’ve seen all went through these choir schools. Every member of the King’s Singers went through choir schools. The New College Choir is quite famous. (It is called New College because it was built in 1349 and was then the newest college of the university.) They have won Grammy awards in the recent past and are really incredible. For whatever reason, they only allowed 6 individuals to sit in on the rehearsal. It was a real privilege to be chosen to do so. After what I experienced there I wish that everyone had been afforded the same opportunity. What I witnessed there was truly incredible. The boys in the choir at New College are ages 6 to 12. They are auditioned and if accepted, their whole life becomes the training school. They sing 5-6 services per week and sing many hours every single day. Despite knowing the circumstances of their training, I was unprepared for what I heard. We were ushered into their music room and soon the choir boys filed in (they march together everywhere they go) wearing formal dress including robes and mortar boards. They slipped off their robes and hung them with their mortar boards on the wall. They quickly took their places standing on small podiums that encircled a piano at the center of the room. The conductor instructed them to “Open to Gibbons page 12.” Yeah, Gibbons as in Orlando Gibbons, the renaissance composer. They quickly opened their scores and began singing. It was incredible to watch their conductor at work. “What key is this written in?” “A flat major”, came the response from a boy with his hand uplifted. “What key are we singing it in?” “We’re transposing it down by one half step to G”, one boy answered. In their training and ability it wasn’t too different watching them at work as it was The Sixteen the day before. The first half of the rehearsal was in the music room. For the second half we shuffled into the chapel of New College. It was one of the most gorgeous halls of worship I’ve ever been in. They began with a Mendelssohn piece “Lift up My Eyes” in three part harmony. Part way through the conductor stepped back and allowed them to continue singing un-conducted. At the end he asked, “What was wrong with the performance?” One little boy raised his hand and said, “We went flat in bar 5 and remained flat for the remainder of the piece.” Incredible! At one point during their rehearsal of a Heinrich Schutz piece done in German, one boy had to be reminded not to sing a particular word with an umlaut. I don’t know any 6-12 year old boys who sing in German, let alone know it well enough to isolate and correct vowels by omitting the umlaut (the umlaut vowel is the German ‘u’ vowel with two dots over it and is formed by forming a “ooh” vowel mixed with an “ee” vowel and putting a slight “r” sound through it). It was incredible. I couldn’t believe how much theory they understood, how well they sight read music (since they sing 5-6 services a week, each with several large anthems, psalm singing, versicles and responses). After watching that rehearsal, we went to a café to get some hot chocolate and discuss how worthless we are as musicians by comparison (we didn’t really). After the yummy hot chocolate that was served to us at the site of the first coffee shop in England, we went to the Magdalen School (pronounced maudlin, just like it’s spelled). We went on a tour of the school which is a preparatory school for boys age 7-18 and is associated with Magdalen College at Oxford. It was a really neat school. We sat in on a music theory lesson for boys aged 11. They were doing an exercise dictating rhythms. They weren’t to the caliber of the New College boys, but it was quite impressive to see them at work as well. After eating a bite to eat, we met back with the rest of the study abroad students only to break into our singing groups to go rehearse with our respective colleges for the services we will be singing on Sunday. I was assigned to Wadham College with my group. The conductor of the choir was actually an American. She studied at Boston University and Eastman School of Music. While she was delightful, the rehearsal was of a different sort. It was interesting to participate. We certainly held our own despite only a few hours practice on a significant amount of music. The Wadham Chapel Choir only sings 1 service per week and consists of about 25 voices. We were certainly a good addition to the group. Their sight reading ability was quite good, but we didn’t stop to fix much with intonation, good vowels, or proper vocal production. We just crunched through the pieces, stopping only at train wrecks. It was fun to talk with the members of the choir afterward to learn more about their educational experience at Oxford. I think it’ll be a neat experience once we rehearse a little more. After the rehearsal we got back on our coach and headed back to London. It was a really great day. The only bummer was that Michelle and I were in different groups the whole day, so I didn’t get to see as much of her as I would have liked. Now it’s very late and I have to wake up early to rehearse.
The roses were a gift I got for Michelle. I think she liked them because she took a picture of them that I’m going to post before she does.
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