November 2009

CHORAL ESSENCE NEWSLETTER

Rehearsal Season Opens With New Theme Song

“It’s about time we get started!” seemed to be a shared sentiment at the first rehearsal of Choral Essence‘s new season. With the addition of six singers, we held our breath [figuratively speaking] to hear the fresh blend of our 22-voice ensemble. And it was good! With stronger, fuller sections, our sound is well balanced with sensitivity and warmth. The group’s expectations have been raised a notch by the extra demands of the songs for next season.

We open the program with Harry Woods’ “Side By Side” arranged by Jack Litten. This unique arrangement has a split personality, pitting a sophisticated madrigal against a groovy swing style. The mix is quite a party! As we claim this work with our own vocal imprint, we’ll update and reinterpret “Side By Side” with new jazz concepts and a very “cool” sound. This number really speaks to us: about whom we are and what we are about. We are in fact “side by side” in our mission outreach to the community and “side by side” in our common bond to achieve musical excellence. What better reason to adopt “Side By Side” as our theme song as we begin our new year.

New Website

Our new website www.choralessence.com has opened a new world of communication for us. It was designed, created and powered by Wilde-Ideas Website Design & Development.

The site is an impressive state-of-the art design with a picture gallery, e-mail lists, RSS feed, YouTube, Facebook, Newsletter Archives, Press Releases, Concert Promo Packet, audio and video downloads and more!

Jeff Wilde, who is a business associate and friend of Choral Essence member, Jim Green, offered to set up a web site for our group. Walt Freytag, Choral Essence’s tech liaison, supplied a wish list with the understanding that this site would be user friendly to everyone. Then it started happening rather fast! Jeff fired off e-mails about our goals, design needs, formats and all kinds of promotional suggestions and “Wow!” we had a quality web site under construction. We discovered that Jeff was one of our biggest fans, impressed by our sound and our outreach mission. It became obvious that he was not only an experienced webmaster but also a marketing guru. He was taking on Choral Essence as HIS mission. As a group, Choral Essence strives for high musical standards, but when we walked out of our first meeting with Jeff, we were really revved up. He had just raised the bar. We now can have a “loud voice in the community” as Jim put it. We have access to Facebook and YouTube using the title: “Choral Essence Vocal Ensemble” and Jeff is committed to maintaining the web site for us. But most of all, he believes in us and is our dear new friend.

For webmaster info, please visit Wilde-ideas Website Design & Development

“Bravo” For The Firemen

If it hadn’t been for a singing fireman, Franz Biebl might never have composed his Ave Maria (1964). Biebl was directing a choir in a parish near Munich when a choir member, a fireman, asked him to compose a song for the fire department’s choir.

It was common practice at that time for companies, police and fire departments, etc. to sponsor employee choirs in competitions and festivals. Biebl obliged by writing Ave Maria for double male choir for the local fire department. But Ave Maria was all but forgotten until Biebl introduced his piece to the touring Cornell University Glee Club in 1970. The group took Ave Maria back to the states where it was recorded by the Harvard Glee Club. However, it wasn’t until Chanticleer, the popular men’s ensemble, recorded it and made it part of their repertoire that Ave Maria became a hit, not only in the US but also in Germany.

Today, Biebl’s seven-part mixed choir arrangement is the version most performed. Ave Maria, based on portions of the Angelus liturgy of the Catholic Church as well as Ave Maria, is sung in Latin with men and women’s choirs singing responsively in ethereal overlapping choral texture. “Bravo” for the firemen who inspired such a musical treasure!

For video of Cornell University Glee Club singing Ave Maria, click here.

The Universal Language

Move over, LOVE! You’re not the only way to a person’s heart. What about MUSIC?

Sure LOVE is a universal language. But so is MUSIC! And it makes the songs that make the whole world sing! Hey! Here’s a thought. Choral Essence, a group of twenty-two exceptional musicians, speaks the language of both love and music. They turn language into action by volunteering their talents and time in order to donate performance proceeds for community outreach. In that vein you could say we all speak the same language and in that bond we truly stand “Side by Side”.

Each season Choral Essence presents five concerts, four of which are benefit performances. Our one paid performance covers music expenses for the season. All benefit proceeds are donated to Religious Community Services (RCS), Faith and Action for Strength Together (FAST), Food Pantry (FEAST), United Methodist Cooperative Ministries (UMCM), and youth missions and non-profit pre-schools.

What a privilege to communicate though Love and Music, the universal languages.

©2009 Choral Essence