REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016

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1 REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016 Choirs of America presents the AMP Nationals Rehearsal Notes as a tool for the choral music educator as they incorporate the Festival Choir repertoire into their choral curriculum. Choirs of America Nationals A New Level of Excellence Christopher S. Olin, Artistic Director Choirs of America is excited to have you and your choir participate in our COA Nationals for Top Choirs in New York City! This three day invitational festival has attracted some of the finest youth choral programs in the country to study with our world-class faculty and perform in some of the finest venues in the world, including historic Carnegie Hall. We are so pleased to welcome Dr. Z. Randall Stroope, Director of Choral Activities at Oklahoma State University, to the 2017 COA Nationals series. As the Master Conductor of our Festival Choirs, Dr. Stroope is bringing tremendous breadth of experience to the podium. We invite you to explore the pages of this newsletter and discover the incredible repertoire that our conductor has selected for performance in Carnegie Hall. Please review your assigned mass choir, repertoire list, and performance notes from Dr. Stroope. Most selections can be ordered through the provided JWPepper link; however, certain selections (as noted) will only be available directly from the publisher. Our faculty lineup for the 2017 COA Nationals for Top Choirs is truly inspiring. We are pleased to welcome Pearl Shangkuan, Tim Sharp, Karen Kennedy, and Tesfa Wondemagegnehu as our Choirs of America Master Clinicians. These brilliant educators will work tirelessly, providing invaluable educational feedback for you and your ensemble. Dr. Stroope will also serve as our 2017 Nationals for Top Choirs PREMIERE! composer. One of the brightest minds in choral music today, Stroope has been thrilling audiences around the globe with his innovative and beautiful compositions. We are so happy to provide the opportunity for your students to study with Dr. Stroope and to premiere his latest composition as the finale to our concert in Carnegie Hall! Look for more editions of Rehearsal Notes with valuable information in the coming months. Now it s time to begin the journey to New York and a new level of choral music excellence. 1

REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016 This was the first festival I've ever participated in where I felt like it was really designed as an educational experience.

Liberty (CA) Lowther Hall (Aus) Pendleton (SC) Spain Park (AL) Tualatin (OR) VIVACE CHOIR (Concert Part II): Boulder Creek (AZ) Fort Osage (MO) Red Mountain (AZ)

2 REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016 This was the first festival I've ever participated in where I felt like it was really designed as an educational experience. Barbara West, Director, Branham High School Choir Meet the Choirs 2017 COA Nationals For Top Choirs GRANDIOSO CHOIR (Concert Part I): Galaxy MS (FL) Hanna (TX) Liberty (CA) Lowther Hall (Aus) Pendleton (SC) Spain Park (AL) Tualatin (OR) VIVACE CHOIR (Concert Part II): Boulder Creek (AZ) Fort Osage (MO) Red Mountain (AZ) Southwest Christian (MN) Waterford Kettering (MI) ARMONIOSO CHOIR (Concert Part III): Downer's Grove (IL) Mason City (IA) Sprague (OR) Starr's Mill (GA) Vestavia Hills (AL) 2

3 Festival Repertoire: Together in Song CLICK ON THE CHOIR NAME TO GO TO AN ONLINE ORDER FORM AT J.W. PEPPER! GRANDIOSO CHOIR: From Heaven Distilled a Clemency Tarik O Regan - Novello/HL Dance for Love Z. Randall Stroope - Santa Barbara Music Publ./Lorenz (Note: This work is a pre-release, and is available only through the SBMP web site or its distributor, Lorenz. Do not use JWPEPPER) On Jordan s Stormy Banks Arr. Ken Berg - SBMP 811 VIVACE CHOIR: Consecrate the Place and Day Z. Randall Stroope - Alliance Music Publ. (Note: New work; being printed: available Sept. 15 only direct from Alliance. Do not use JWPEPPER) Solder, Won t You Marry Me? Robert De Cormier - 00-LG51280 ARMONIOSO CHOIR: Let All The World in Every Corner Sing Ralph Vaughan Williams Theodore Presser I Am Not Yours Z. Randall Stroope - Walton An Unclouded Day Arr. Shawn Kirchner - BH TUTTI: WORLD PREMIERE! (To be released later this year) Until Then Z. Randall Stroope - Colla Voce Our Mission: To engage, inspire and educate choirs across the United States and beyond.

REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016 Z. Randall Stroope Festival Choir Master Conductor Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer, conductor and lecturer.

Choir, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and National Presbyterian Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), Carnegie Hall (New York), and five performances at the Vatican in the past four years.

4 REHEARSALNOTES FALL 2016 Z. Randall Stroope Festival Choir Master Conductor Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer, conductor and lecturer. He has had recent conducting engagements at the Sopra Minerva (Rome), American School in Singapore, Canterbury Cathedral (England), Berliner Dom (Germany), Salzburger Dom (Austria), Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and National Presbyterian Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), Carnegie Hall (New York), and five performances at the Vatican in the past four years. He is also the Artistic Director for two summer music festivals in Europe. Stroope's composition teachers were Cecil Effinger and Normand Lockwood, both students of the famous French teacher/composer, Nadia Boulanger (student of Gabriel Fauré). The principal publishers of his 125 publisher works are Alliance Music Publications, Walton Music, Colla Voce and Oxford (England). His shorter choral works best known of which are Conversion of Saul, Lamentaciones de Jeremias, Magnificat, We Beheld Once Again the Stars (ACDA Raymond Brock Commission), O Magnum Mysterium, The Pasture, Revelation, Homeland, I Am Not Yours, Caritas et Amor, Song to the Moon and Inscription of Hope have sold over three million copies. His choral cycle Four Sonnets of Garcilaso (which contains Amor de mi alma) is based on the poetry of Spanish poet, Garcilaso de la Vega and one of his most performed works. Extended works include Hodie! (This Day) for brass/organ/percussion and mixed/treble choirs, the solo song cycle Love's Waning Seasons, and American Rhapsody are also very popular. He has published many instrumental works, including Fanfare (brass/percussion/organ) and Amor de mi alma (wind ensemble). Stroope is particularly drawn to the poetry of Sara Teasdale, George Herbert, Rainer Maria Rilke, James Agee and Robert Frost. He has conducted and produced 28 YouTube recordings of his works. Dr. Stroope is the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he conducts the Concert Chorale, Chamber Choir, and Women s Chorus and coordinates the undergraduate and graduate choral conducting program. The OSU Concert Chorale recently recorded Stroope s Song to the Moon, Go Lovely Rose, toured France and England (2013) and plan a tour of Ireland and Scotland in Under his direction, the ensemble also presents a sevenconcert season each year, which has included works such as Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms), Messiah (Handel), Requiem (Verdi) and Rejoice in the Lamb (Britten). Dr. Stroope has received many awards, including Distinguished Professor of Creative and Scholarly Research ( ), the Douglas R. McEwen Award for National Choral Excellence, Nebraska Choral Director of the Year, Doug and Nickie Burns Endowed Chair in Choral Music (2013), and one of five Oklahoma State University Distinguished Professors ( ), as well as several composition awards. As a guest conductor, Stroope has directed 38 allstate choirs, and conducted music festivals in 45 states. He has directed 12 summer international music festivals in England, Germany and Italy.

5 REHEARSAL NOTES FROM THE CONDUCTOR GRANDIOSO From Heaven Distilled a Clemency (from Triptych ) TEMPO think half note = 96. Choir should memorize 8 bar intro and just be turned to page 2, rehearsal 9. In the best performance, of course, this work is memorized. It is highly effective, but very easy to memorize. BREATHING: m no group breaths; no group breaths; in these long phrases, it is better to breath in the middle of a measure (because you will need to breath somewhere), and not on a barline. Please breathe in bar 35 on the and of beat 2 (in cut time) make sure this is precise. Adding more singers in a festival will not clean up a poor release from one choir. Breath on bar 39 on and of beat 2 (in cut time). PAGE 6 (bar 43) break at bar 43 after -fraid ; break on bar 47 after blest ; break on page 7 on the downbeat of bar 51 ( -fraid ) and on bar 56 downbeat put the st of blest. Bar 59 men NO breath after blest ; page 8: bar 69 break on and of beat 3 (cut time); page 9 break on bar 73 after us ; break on bar 79 as indicated by the quarter rest; the rest of the work is largely repetitive (in a good way), and breathing should be consistent to the first half. NOTE about the cut : when doing this work with orchestra or with the percussion ensemble version, I do not put a cut; however, with the piano version, be sure your singers put in this cut: page 12 from the end of bar 107, cut to the downbeat of bar 125; then go on to the end of the work as is. SOLO: please select one soloist from your choir (bar ). It needs to be memorized before you arrive. Last page, SOPRANOS on high A blest is not an easy word to sing at that high altitude.. Best to sing an oh here ( Blow-st ) - when blended into the other three parts, it will sound perfectly like blest, while also sounding very mature and like a seasoned singer. FINAL THOUGHT this is a rhythmic work learn it with every note being slightly pulsed. Avoid long legato phrases at the start a slight accent is needed on each moving note. This articulation cannot be added later if the singers read it with accent and pulse, then it is embedded in their memory and they know no other way to do it. Articulation should always be a part of sight reading. Dance for Love m. 5: softly is pronounced saw-flee in English diction; please make sure students sing it this way from the first time on, and they will need no reminder. BREATHING is marked in the score RHYTHM m. 7 (and its repeat later) is steady 8 th note rhythm on first 2 beats. Help singers avoid dotting the rhythm as in bar 5, 6. M : men need to sing rather aggressive here, but with feeling. Convinced. M. 31, 32 S/A the breaks (both on beat 4) are marked. Careful to learn correctly the first time so that the s sound on Dance is not a precision challenge at a festival. It is simply correct. M. 35 this is very gentle, a personal moment of anticipating seeing someone again after years of being gone with no guarantee of return. M. 48 end: strong; full of confidence! His family is right around the next bend, and his faith that no matter how hard the circumstance, there is still hope has carried him successfully home. On Jordan s Stormy Banks Baritone solo on first page: Please select one male soloist (baritone/bass or tenor) from your choir, and then a final determination will be made (chosen from the various choirs) at the festival. Careful that the soloist is rhythmically accurate against the piano rhythm. Not as easy as it looks. The solo must be memorized before arriving at the festival.

Music Festival & Tour

Z. Randall Stroope Guest Conductor Music Festival & Tour May 28 to June 4, 2019 Main Tour June 4 to June 6, 2019 Tour Extension 425.357.0245 info@sechristtravel.com Itinerary- Main Tour Tuesday, May 28