The ideal university choir

In a nutshell, this is what I was talking about in Thursday’s rehearsal - my view of the ideal university choral rehearsal environment.

1. The atmosphere is relaxed but energized, with energy focused on the music.

2. Any talking in rehearsal is fleeting and non-distracting to the conductor, fellow singers, and/or themselves, so nothing ever needs to be said about it.

3. Nothing is ever said about posture or breath energy, because the singers have good singing habits so ingrained into their system that they occur without conscious effort.

4. The singers are able to “multitask”, maintaining focus and concentration on more than one aspect of rehearsal at a time.

5. Nothing is ever said about absence or tardiness, except to worry about the missing singer, since absence is so rare that it makes the choir afraid something bad has happened to them.

6. Motivation is internal, coming from the singer’s love of music and the desire to make the best musical performance they can achieve.

7. There is a sense of common goals, and the knowledge of what needs to happen in rehearsal to achieve those goals. The singers take on more responsibility for their share of the music-making. The conductor is not a dictator but a facilitator, working with the singers as fellow adults on a shared musical journey.

8. The conductor is thus free to deal with nothing in rehearsal besides making music. This in turn creates a more relaxed, open atmosphere that helps create tension-free but energized singing.

You have achieved SO MUCH this year, and you’ve realized most of these ideals already. But we can be more consistent with these, can’t we? And believe me, it’s MUCH more rewarding for both conductor and singers to work in an environment like this than in a high-school type environment where:
1. The atmosphere is rigid and controlled;
2. Behavior is strictly controlled by the conductor because the students can’t be trusted to control themselves;
3. Good singing habits need constant reinforcement;
4. Motivation is external, driven by awards, trophies, and/or fear of the teacher;
5. The conductor has to spend too much time dealing with peripheral issues and not on the music being sung.

The ideals listed above are what need to occur consistently if we’re going to produce what I know we can produce–the best choir in Lambuth’s history, one that will literally blow your audiences away and take them (and you) to a higher plane of musical experience. Let’s do it!

WOW...electric performance!

Hey gang,

I have heard SO MANY people say they were blown away by your performance Friday night! Thanks so much for sitting through all the speeches--yes, they were supposed to be shorter, but looks like only Huneycutt followed instructions! You were very poised and professional through the whole evening, and really impressed a group of people who are exactly the right ones to impress. Maybe someone will be inspired to give money to the music department...

Your tour is going to be phenomenal! Looking forward to making more music with you!

RCB

Tour itinerary

Hi all,

I still have a few things to work out on our fall itinerary, but it's 95% complete. If you'd like to look at it, click HERE.

Dr. B

Nice picture of Elise on the Lambuth web site

Hi all, I hadn't been on the official Lambuth web site in a while, logged on this evening and saw that they're using a photo taken of Elise Lobo in their opening screens. Here it is! Nice plug for us!

Nunc dimittis study files - updated edition

Alto 2 Singers:

I made a transcription error in one measure of your part when I was creating the MIDI study files. The corrected files are now on the website. Sorry! Hope this didn't cause you too much grief in working on your part!

RCB

Off-campus recital options

Hi music majors,

I just added another off-campus recital option to the online calendar. The Jackson Symphony Youth Orchestra is performing Oct.11 and it's FREE! Dr. Weimer's wife conducts the group, so it's a good opportunity to brown-nose your professor! :)

There are a couple of recitals in Nashville that I added to the calendar as well, and flyers for them are also tacked to the chapel bulletin board. I encourage all of you to get at least one off-campus recital out of the way early before we get into the busier season in November and December, when we have tour, Candlelight, fall concerts, and final projects/exams to deal with.

mywebalarm.com - tried it, works great!

Hello students,

I tried one of the free wake-up call services and it works great! You have to set each alarm time separately on this service (no repeating times) but it did successfully call my office phone and cell phone. Those of you who aren't morning people might find this useful!

It's at www.mywebalarm.com. Try it out!

Dr. B

No choir or Singers performance Sat. Oct. 1

Hi Singers,

We didn't have a balanced enough group to be able to sing for Parent's Weekend, so Melanie Overton decided to have Pres. Zuker speak during that 6:30 time. Thanks to those of you who volunteered, though!

RCB

Blog spam

Hi all,

Our blog is starting to get some spam entries on the comments. So far it hasn't been very much so I'll delete them by hand. If you see anything that looks like an advertisement, it's not from me! If we start to get flooded with spam I'll turn on word verification (makes you input a code word in order to post comments).

Facebook

Hey everybody,

I checked out Facebook and it looks really cool. Christie Terreson has set up a Lambuth choir group on there, you should check it out - www.facebook.com.

Great job singers!

Hey Lambuth Singers,

Thanks SO MUCH for great performances this weekend! The high school students really enjoyed your singing on Saturday...hopefully we'll get some prospective students from it. And what great PR for Lambuth and our music program this morning! Some of the best AM performing I've heard in my 11 years here!

See you tomorrow! - RCB

Upcoming performance reminders

Hi Lambuth Singers,

Just a recap of upcoming gigs:

Saturday, Sept. 24:
Meet in the band room at 11:30 - perform for All-Northwest audition workshop
Travel to Memphis - perform at 2:30 for All-Southwest audition workshop, St. Luke's UMC
Attire: Lambuth shirt (music or other) and khakis

Sunday, Sept. 25:
Meet at 10:00 a.m., First UMC Jackson choir room
Sing for 10:50 a.m. worship service
Attire: Dressy church clothes

See you at rehearsal this afternoon!

Irish Blessing tests

Hi gang,

Reminder - Irish Blessing tests are this week! I stated Sept. 15 as the beginning date, but since my class schedule is light on Tuesdays, I put up a schedule on the office door for Tuesday the 13th as well. If any of you are ready (particularly choir veterans) and want to get it out of the way on Tuesday, that would be great. You can sign up 2 people for each time slot. See you at school! - RCB

Hurricanes and communities

Hi folks,

I watched Dateline NBC this evening and the reports of how the people of New Orleans (those who end up returning there, anyway) will struggle for months, even years, to rebuild their community. But what constitutes a community? Is it a geographic area? A certain demographic of the population?

One of the things I really believe in is building "choral community". I have my thoughts on what that means, but would like to hear yours. What do you think constitutes a community? What makes an ensemble a community? What does it take to build a community?

Post comments as you feel inspired.....
RCB

Test submission for music technology

This is a test to show the Music Technology class how to create a blog post!

Unexcused absences

Hi folks,

In the second week of classes, I've already had 2-3 students with unexcused absences in Lambuth Singers and voice lessons. I am speaking with them individually and wanted to communicate to you as a group that this is really unacceptable. Short of being unconscious or another life-threatening emergency, there is NO REASON why you cannot call me beforehand! Remember that each unexcused absence lowers your grade one letter in that class.

In the case of Lambuth Singers, remember that there are several good people who didn't get selected. Your attendance is VITAL to the success of the group! A person with continued unexcused absences will lose their spot in the ensemble.

And thank you very much to the vast majority of you who have attended consistently and have contacted me regarding illnesses or other absence-related issues!

Voice seminar Thursday

Hi gang,

Sorry I had to miss class today (Wednesday). I had a stomach bug that wouldn't let me venture far from home. :) I'm feeling better now (must have been something I ate!) so will be back in full force on Thursday.

Mrs. Prewitt's grandmother has died, and since I'll be at a faculty meeting at 1:00, we won't have our first voice seminar this Thursday. We'll convene next week. My choirs and lessons WILL meet tomorrow, however.

See you tomorrow!
RCB

Still need some info forms

Hey Concert Choir,

I still need information forms from some of you. Very important that I get these ASAP! Bring them by my office, or to choir rehearsal tomorrow. Thanks! - RCB

Correction to recital calendar

I made an error when I wrote the dates of the student recitals on the board yesterday. The first student recital is NOT Oct. 20, but the following week, Oct. 27, at 1:00 p.m. in the Chapel sanctuary. The second recital is on Dec. 1 as stated. Sorry for the goof!

Info for applied voice students

Hi voice students (both Bernhardt and Prewitt),

1) Reminder about the voice seminar we will be having on Thursdays at 1:00. This is an opportunity for you to perform for each other, talk about concert etiquette, vocal health, and other topics of importance to the singer.

2) If you don't already have one, we'd like you to get a USB flash drive or an MP3 player (iPod, etc.) that is connectable to the computer. Both teachers will be recording your lessons on the computer and dumping the recording to your device so you can listen to your lessons. The bookstore has flash drives - each lesson will take about 30 MB of space, so you don't need to get a huge one if you don't want.

3) Please bring whatever solo voice books (if any) you've used in lessons before. We may have you purchase additional books as well.