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.