#choral directors

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Eva Jessye

Singer, composer, and choral director Eva Jessye was born in 1895 in Coffeyville, Kansas. In 1926, Jessye founded the Dixie Jubilee Choir, which would later be renamed the Eva Jessye Choir. The choir recorded for major record labels and performed at the 1963 March on Washington. In 1935, George Gershwin selected Jessye as choral director for Porgy and Bess, and she would be involved with nearly every production of the show for the next thirty years. During her career, she also published a collection of traditional songs and composed three oratorios.

Eva Jessye died in 1992 at the age of 97.

Image source: New York Public Library

[libearyn]

Out of the Box

The heavens declare the glory of God;    the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech;    night after night they reveal knowledge.     ~ Psalm 119:1-2 (NIV) God’s glory is on tour in the skies,    God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.Madame Day holds classes every morning,    Professor Night lectures each evening.     ~ Psalm 119:1-2 Nothing exists until or…

[grntaire]

guys i had an interview/audition that went really well today send good vibes that i get it teehee

[shredsandpatches]

tfw your voice teacher is right and you do pull back on the higher notes 😭

[transboysoprano]

I told my church choir director about my plan to transition last night. We were both several drinks deep at the bar and having a heart-to-heart. He was supportive and said he is ultimately very excited to see me becoming myself, but admitted he feels not having me as a soprano in his choir would be a huge loss. Naturally, I’m pretty conflicted about that. I really hate to inconvenience people, and I’m terrified of people pitying me when my voice isn’t what they remembered, especially when it’s inevitably going to be in that crackly unstable place for a while.

On a lighter note, when he saw me, he said he thought I had already started transitioning. I’ve lost a little weight this summer and got a good haircut so my face is a little less round than usual right now. Plus I have like, dark peach fuzz on my face naturally even without HRT, which he touched like “what is this?” I said, “It’s my mustache, any questions?” It was a weird interaction but we had a good laugh about it. I feel a real kinship with him. He’s an older gay man and really makes an effort to understand me. I think of him like a queer role model, and I think he thinks of me like a young queer to take under his wing. I’m glad we have a good rapport, and I sincerely hope I can keep singing for him while my voice changes.

[shakebelton]

he's so insane you guys. this is insane. he's insane. i'm simply losing my mind at how good this is. HOW

[help-help-i-need-an-adult]

I directed a chorus today. Like, at a performance the chorus was getting paid to perform at.

I don’t usually direct a chorus.

I did direct a (very small) school chorus when I was in high school and college. That was roughly a decade ago.

I haven’t had ANY formal training in music ensemble conducting, but I did learn some things by being in choirs (like, really good ones) as a kid. I also learned a little by being the “lab rat” for a choir director’s workshop that my childhood director ran and taught every year.

But again, nothing where I was the intended student.

Despite all that, today went really well. And I was really nervous about it.

Yay small wins!

[unidentifiedfuckingthing]

someday we gotta talk about how deliriously horny american choral directors are for songs that sound like "here in my nation in a far off foreign land we speak a foreign tongue and do things differently! *clicks heels like a leprechaun*"

[void-tiger]

That moment when:

You’re tempted to do more Catchup with text reading after technically enrolling late ‘cause disability bullshit even as said text punches ya in the face for “oh wait that’s adhd making me tense” and “well shit PT just found THAT and it’s not gonna be as simple as Just Relax and Imagine A Balloon Aligning You Proper…”

…because…

…the elearning spot for the practice journal is…not actually showing up. (Also practice is boring and idk if I understand the syllabus since I missed two classes asyoudo when enrolled last minute, and singing when you’re tense and tension causes pain is…frustrating.)

…buuuut I really need to stop practicing at like. 10 PM. Worrying about singing too loud doesn’t do me any favors.

[wausaupilot]

DCE choir students perform at All-State Conference

What an honor! Well done!

APPLETON – Three D.C. Everest Senior High School students performed Jan. 12 and 13 among others in the Vocal Jazz Choir at the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association All-State Conference in Appleton. Just 12-18 students from across the state are selected for this choir based on recorded auditions they submitted. The choir members rehearsed for two days and then performed at the event, which was…

[the-music-keeper]

Objective #16 is done! I did my towels today.

[shredsandpatches]

Spent a lot of time last night rehearsing this and now it's stuck in my head. Which is fine, really. It's absolute filth and I love it.

(Here's the next bit, to prevent cockblocking caused by the nature of album tracks)

[teaandstargazing]

personal post about my life ahead, but good news!

i just got into the final stage in the audition process for a professional choir ahhhhhh!!!!

[count-doodoo]

(anon here! wish i could ask from sideblogs :/)

i just realized this gif is EXACTLY what the conductor was doing. that precise hand shape accompanied by wild swinging of a stick in the other hand.

My brain is currently stuck on the idea of Dooku as a conductor. Was at rehearsal and the director was conducting with a baton and the other hand behind his back, and naturally my brain went IT'S MAKASHI. And THEN he did the, you know, "GIVE ME MORE CRESCENDO" gesture (we were playing the chorale part of Jupiter, you know the bit) that kind of looks like a Sith trying to use the Force to deconstruct your organs. Anyways! Thought that might give you a kick <3

AHAHAHAH I CACKCLED, ANON

He would so be a conductor. I've had plenty of music directors who would have loved to arrange my orchestra's internal organs with a single gesture. (oooh the stories I could tell, many of them true! to quote Hondo Ohnaka)

Dooku has the pretension and the artistic eye and ear to sculpt an ensemble to his vision. He has the civility to hobnob with rich benefactors. He has the temper and linguistic skills to swear at the entire ensemble in at least 3 different languages when something goes wrong during the Mon Calamari opera dress rehearsal (don't ask me how I know about these things). He would definitely find a handful of "chosen ones" to deign with his goodwill within the ensemble. He would be incredibly exacting in rehearsal. (And probably a bit petty and tyrannical (see what I did there?) - not uncommon traits among many of higher echelon conductors in the business, although it's slowly improving).

But anyway - it 100% tracks.

Also, Jupiter is a banger. Although I personally prefer the Mars and Neptune movements of The Planets.

[whencyclopedia]

Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was a British composer of Swedish origin most famous for his dramatic orchestral suite The Planets, first performed in public in 1919. Holst also composed several operas, wrote sacred choral works such as The Hymn of Jesus, and was a dedicated collector of folk songs.

Early Life

Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham on 21 September 1874, where his parents, who were of Swedish descent, had set up home. Gustav's father was an organist and piano teacher in Cheltenham. Gustav continued the family interest in music, learning piano and also conducting the local choir. His musical talent shone through, and in 1895, Gustav won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. The Holst family had only modest means, and the scholarship – won at the second attempt – was a necessity for Gustav to widen his music education. He studied to play the trombone, an instrument he would use to eke out a living, teaching others to play the instrument and performing as part of seaside brass bands and as a member of the orchestra at the Carl Rosa Opera in London.

After graduation, Holst became a general music teacher in London. In 1903, Holst moved to Dulwich where he taught music at a girls' school, a position he would hold until 1920. In 1905, Holst also became the director of music at the St. Paul's School for Music in Hammersmith. Holst was certainly dedicated to teaching; he remained at St. Paul's for the rest of his life, but other teaching positions he held simultaneously included the music directorship at Morley College for Working Men and Women in London (1907-24) and a professorship of music at Reading University. In addition, Holst found time to return and teach composition at the Royal College of Music.

Continue reading...

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish singer songwriter Justin Currie.

Born Justin Robert Currie 11th December 1964 in Glasgow, Justin is best known as a founding member of the band Del Amitri and, along with Iain Harvie, is one of only two members of the group to be present throughout its entire existence, he is the son of John Currie, who was chorusmaster for the Scottish National Orchestra from 1965 to 1984 and music director of the Los Angeles Chorale from 1986 to 1991.

Del Amitri released six full-length records between 1982 and 2002 and had several top 40 hits including Kiss this thing Goodbye, The Last to know and Nothing ever happens, as well as being the last act to record a Scotland World Cup tune, the pragmatic Don’t come home too soon, which as usual we did!

Although they never officially split up Currie embarked on a solo career which although was critically acclaimed never bore any commercial fruit. The band however got back together in 2013 for a UK tour which included playing to 8,000 people at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro. Currie later continued on his own releasing his fourth album, This Is My Kingdom Now in 2017.

Speaking about the pandemic, Justin and Del Amitri had like many others, had to cancel gigs;

“Five months in, I realised that was the longest I’d not been on a stage since I was 15, So, you start thinking, are you going to lose the brass neck to go on a stage and believe you belong there?”

And on their return to the stage;

“The first night [a gig in Edinburgh] was a total car crash, but the audience seemed to carry us through it. The audience was vibrating at a high frequency.”

Thee band released their 6th album in 2021, Fatal Mistakes, which landed them a top-five place on the UK album charts, they toured after the restrictions eased at the “end” of the pandemic, The tour included six dates in Australia and one in New Zealand in February 2023.

Earlier this year Justin revealed he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In the BBC interview, the singer-songwriter said he first suspected something wasn't right when he began having trouble grasping his guitar plectrum.

"When you are doing something you know really well, like riding a bike or something and you suddenly can't do it properly anymore- you think you're going mad," he said.

"I was spending the whole time on tour, when I was still playing the guitar on this song, just thinking about where the plectrum was between my fingers, and when you start thinking about things like that then all the other stuff just starts falling apart."

Parkinson's disease is a condition that affects the brain and causes problems like shaking and stiffness that get worse over time. He said he was told he could have a brain scan, but it would be a year before he would receive his diagnosis.

"So you are saying I have Parkinson's but you can't confirm the diagnosis for a year? How do you know?" Currie recalled.

The doctor instructed the singer to relax both his arms by his side. Mr Currie said his right hand gently trembled at his hip "as if it was remembering something tricky".

Twelve months later, he received his diagnosis.

As if this news wasn’t devastating enough, the fates had not finished with Currie nor those he loved. In a two-month period around his diagnosis,

Further heartache occured whne, unbelievably, his long-term partner suffered a catastrophic stroke, which has left her with significant care needs.

Justin continues to tour, their latest tour kicked off on December 1st down south, they return to Scotland next week for five gigs on the folowing dates, tickets are still available.

Wed 18 - Aberdeen Music Hall     Thu 19 - Perth Concert Hall     Fri 20 - Edinburgh Usher Hall   Sun 22 - Glasgow Barrowland       Mon 23 - Glasgow Barrowland