CDs coming soon!

Hi Lambuth Singers,

The recordings from our concert tour came out well. I've had problems with the CD burners in our computer lab freezing up in the middle of burning...I think they're starting to show their age. I have my laptop back from the Computer Center now, so will be able to resume burning tomorrow. I should be able to mail out CDs by the end of the week. The jazz combo will be burned on a second CD which I'll send later in the summer--they wouldn't all fit on one CD with the choral stuff.

Hope everyone's summer is going well. I'm getting ready to go to the Oregon Bach Festival in 3 weeks. I'm taking Amtrak out, going from Memphis to Chicago, then across the Northwest to Oregon. Should be a fun trip!

Cheers,
RCB

Hostile birds in Houston, TX

Howdy!

It's a good thing we're not still in downtown Houston - click on the link below for a story on Yahoo News about attack of the killer grackles!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/attacking_grackles

Cheers,
RCB

Tour pics

• Amount per meal Dr. Cheapskate gave the Singers = $5
• Cost of the tour bus = $6,000
• Kendal's expression in lower left corner = PRICELESS

Wacky singers! 

Here's our group photo from St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston. 

TMEA photo

Jayme Holloway sent me this photo that she took at the TMEA exhibit booth. Enjoy!

CDs of Texas tour

Hi all,

Catherine Childs posted a comment to ask about CDs of the Texas tour. I have a good portion of the recording session and concerts edited and should have it done by the end of the weekend. I'll send each of you a CD and should have them in the mail by the middle of next week.

Catherine, could you e-mail the group photos from Houston to me? I'll put one of them on the CD cover. The clearance rack at Wal-Mart this week had case insert paper for next to nothing, so I'll be able to design a cool jacket for it.

New singers for the fall

Hi gang,

I was up at Dyersburg High School today for their scholarship awards ceremony. We have four men coming to Lambuth this fall from the Dyersburg choral program -- two All-State tenors, an All-State baritone, and an All-West bass. They're excited about coming to Lambuth!

Also got an e-mail from Carol Culbreath, choir director at Whitehaven HS in Memphis. Her daughter Amy (2nd chair All-State alto!) has paid her deposit and will also be joining us this fall.

Several more people coming - I'll give you more details later. If my calculations are correct, we should have at least 50 singers in the choirs this fall!

Cheers!
RCB

Thanks Lambuth Singers - keep in touch!

Hi everybody,

Singers - Thank you SO MUCH for a fabulous Texas tour! I was really pleased with your performances -- and even happier with your positive spirit, professionalism, and desire to succeed. Plus you're a fun bunch of folks to hang out with!

I sent out the ACDA Southern Division audition CD yesterday. We'll keep our fingers crossed for getting an invite to Charleston. I'll be sending out a TMEA audition CD later this week as well.

I'd love to hear from you over the summer. Post a comment on the blog and let all of us know what you're up to! I'll be posting news and thoughts from time to time. I'll hopefully be posting daily from the Oregon Bach Festival to give you my impressions -- although I can't get my laptop to start up, so I may be computerless! (It was plugged in to the cigarette lighter on the bus, so I'm hoping it's just a fried power adapter.)

Have a great summer - I'm looking forward to the fall!
RCB

Thanks Concert Choir and 2005 grads!

Hey gang,

Great job at commencement today! I heard a lot of comments about how good you sounded.

Thanks for all your hard work this year. I've really enjoyed my time with you! And to our new alumni--thanks for all that you've done for our department over the past several years. You've added to our musical community here ENORMOUSLY, and we wish you all the best in your future achievements! (If you become rich and famous, give a couple of million to Lambuth, and we'll name the new music building after you....) :)

Everyone, check in on the blog from time to time and let me know what you're up to this summer--I'd love to hear from you. Have a great summer!

RCB

Lambuth Singers - rehearsal, tour update, dorm checkout

Hi Singers,

Rehearsal: Just a reminder that we will meet at 11:00 a.m. Thursday here in the Chapel to run through some things before going on tour. We shouldn't need to take long, provided you have everything memorized, and should be done by noon.

Tour: I've updated the tour itinerary to show some small changes to events on Tuesday and Wednesday. You can view it by clicking here. The Tuesday evening concert hasn't materialized; rather than try to schedule one at this late date, I'd like to schedule a late afternoon/early evening recording session in a church with a good acoustic, and then have the evening free. Jeanne Larson is checking on a good church for us, and hopefully she'll be able to get together with us that evening. On Wednesday we'll do the West End/Dealey Plaza sightseeing in the morning and sing at Hebron HS from 12:30-2:15 p.m. We'll be singing for their top choir of 30 singers, then they'll do their contest stuff for us, and I'll be working with them as well.

Dorm Checkout: For those of you wanting to wait until after tour to pack up your stuff to leave, Cameron Burton said just to be sure you have your stuff packed up and ready before you leave for tour; you'll then have until Sunday evening the 8th to empty the room and check out.

Times for baccalaureate and graduation

Quick reminder about Sunday, May 1:

Baccalaureate - Lambuth Singers - meet choir room 9:45 a.m., service starts at 10:00. Singing "I Sat Down Under His Shadow".

Graduation - Concert Choir - meet 12:45 p.m. either in gym or on Spangler steps, depending on weather. Ceremony begins at 1:00 p.m. Singing "Freedom Come".

Steven Whitson, Meghan Arnold, Dustin Walters: Thanks for all you've done for our department the past several years! I hope you'll be able to come to the Senior Breakfast on Saturday morning in Wisdom Parlor. I'm on the Social Committee that puts it on so will definitely be there to say howdy!

BRAVO!

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful Sunday evening of music!

Your performance last night was MARVELOUS! There were so many moments in the Faure where I was simply swept away in your musicality. The nuance and shape of your singing really captured the heart of the work. The First UMC choir was a great addition to your sound, but YOU led the way! Bravo also to the Lambuth Singers for a great performance of the Monteverdi Beatus Vir! That piece will just keep getting better and better as the week in Texas goes by.

You have really attracted attention from our administration and community this year, and I want to thank you for all your hard work in both semesters. You are rapidly becoming THE choral program of West Tennessee, and I'm really excited about our future together!

Best wishes for your final exams and projects. See you at baccalaureate and graduation!

RCB

Game plan for dress rehearsal

Hi all,

If anybody sees this before this afternoon, here's the general game plan for everything.

1. Rehearse Requiem (choirs only) starting at 3:00
2. Orchestra joins us at 3:45
3. First UMC choir - rehearse Leavitt Te Deum with brass
4. Concert Choir - Freedom Come and South African
5. Lambuth Singers - Monteverdi

We should be done by 4:45 or so.

After rehearsal, I'm going across the street to Dixie Castle to have steak for dinner if anyone wants to join me!

Fall choir retreat?

I've been thinking that it would be valuable to have a choir retreat sometime in September -- Friday night and Saturday. We could do something like reserve the group lodge at Chickasaw, or go someplace else interesting, and combine singing with fun group activities. It would help build team spirit and make some headway towards doing a memorized fall tour program.

Whaddya think?

RCB

Another great audition day!

I had several more prospective students audition today and heard some really wonderful talent! Another All-State tenor from Dyersburg came -- he's already coming here on full-tuition academic, since his ACT is in the stratosphere. I also heard a transfer soprano from Dyersburg State who has one of the best soprano voices I've had audition here.

You veterans may remember going to Wilson Central HS on tour last year. Their director, Joe Bullock, came to our TMEA clinic last week, and today he came over and brought an All-State bass to audition, as well as his own daughter. (Three cheers to the Lambuth Singers -- you guys really impressed him at the clinic!) She's a great mezzo and is going to Austin Peay right now but is interested in coming here to focus on choral conducting and composing. Another nice All-West alto from White Station HS came as well.

We have a HUGE influx of men in the fall and a lot of good female voices as well. Our numbers should be up around 60 in the Concert Choir, if all of them come. Woohoo!!!

Singers: Post-finals, pre-tour rehearsal

Hi Singers,

Since we're going to spend most of the time in rehearsal today getting ready for the performance this Sunday, we could really use another rehearsal to go over the rest of the tour program and make sure everything is fully and accurately memorized.

The last two exam blocks next Thursday (10:30-12:30 and 1:30-3:30) are the ones assigned to classes in our Concert Choir and Singers time slots. How about if we meet at 10:30 that morning (April 28)?

RCB

Music majors - end of year stuff

Reminders to all music majors:

1. You are required to attend TWO off-campus recitals each semester. The penalties are severe! See the departmental web site for details. Bring me programs from your two recitals NO LATER than Thursday morning of finals week!
2. Juries are Tuesday afternoon of finals week from 1 to 4 p.m. Signup sheet is posted on the chapel bulletin board. Please sign up for as early a time as possible!
3. Our final studio recital of the year is this Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. If you are performing, be sure that you or your teacher let me know what you're performing so I can type the program.
   

Texas tour itinerary

Hey Singers,

Click the link below and you'll see the Texas tour itinerary as it currently stands. It's about 95% complete - just a couple of details here and there to iron out still.

The motel in Galveston is right on Seawall, a block from the beach.

Cheers!
Dr. B

Go to the Texas itinerary

Music....a HARD major!

Christie Terreson posted a comment on the blog this afternoon which all of you (both majors and non-majors) should read. I've inserted the main points below:

"A few people said something to me this morning that really set me off and I feel compelled to write something on the blog about it. I was essentially told that being a music major is easy.

It really frustrates me that people view music as easy because it isn't. Not in the slightest. I would pay BIG money to see the girls who made the "music is easy" comment to me, sit through Theory or Musicianship Skills and UNDERSTAND the concepts or memorize the 8 page German Aria I have in voice."

AMEN, CHRISTIE!!! And I'd love to say that it gets better....but this is still one of the biggest frustrations I have as a professional musician. There is a perception (unfortunately fueled by the popular music industry) that music is just something you do if you have talent--it doesn't take any particular training, knowledge, or intellect. I can't tell you how many times I've had people calling up asking, "We've got a women's group meeting tomorrow night - do you have some students that could come over and sing for 45 minutes for us?" They have NO CLUE about how demanding music is!

Take music theory, for example. In most college courses, it's a given that only about 10% of material is retained after the class is over. Music theory, however, is cumulative. You have to retain ALL of it to be able to succeed in upper-level classes or in grad school. It impacts your success as a performer, conductor, and/or educator immensely.

Most majors have 3 or 4 hour credit courses, so a student can take 4-5 courses and have 15 hours in a semester. In music, however, most classes are 1-2 hours credit--and your music professors (who shall remain nameless....ha ha....) always tend to have more expectations than a 3-4 hour course in another major.

It's not just uneducated people that have this perception, either. I've had to battle perceptions here (with success, fortunately!) that ensembles at Lambuth are activities rather than academic classes. Hmm....let's see....required by the National Association of Schools of Music...studying vocal technique, music history, foreign language pronunciation, religion, poetry...sounds like academic content to me, how about you?

So, music majors, "fight the good fight, with all your might"!