MTC Week #8 - Joys & Concerns

Feb 23, 2014 - During each Chorale rehearsal (Tues nights), Ryan Murphy pauses halfway through to give choir members opportunity to share "joys or concerns". It's a way for us all to get to know each other a little better and also a way for us to pray for one another, should a sorrow be shared. Not everyone participates (completely voluntary) and there are those who like to share something each week...but they are always fairly interesting and in some cases, very inspiring.

Siope

One of those inspiring ones came this past week as Siope Kinikini got up to share a "joy". He recounted an experience his mom had a few weeks ago as he was singing at his first Music and the Spoken Word program (along with the rest of us volunteers). Apparently the TV reception his mom gets in Tonga is very spotty and unreliable. So much so that she rarely tries watching anything. However, she had just arrived back from work and since she knew her son Siope would be singing, she turned on the TV to catch the program. To her sorrow, she couldn't get the antenna to pick up anything. She kept waiting and waiting and right as the program started, the reception became clear. With tears she watched the program and was even able to see her son as the camera zoomed in on Siope at one point in the program. Right as the program ended, the reception cut back out. A small miracle for a mom far away!

Another inspiring story was shared by my mother-in-law a few weeks back (I think she'd be OK if I shared this with you). I plan to share this one myself during choir one week as I'm sure others would love to hear it. I include it here straight from an email she sent:  

"As you know my father was the first person on my side of the family to join the Church.

 I'm not certain right now exactly when he was baptized, but I know it was around a year before my Mom and Dad were married.  His conversion to the Church though began years before then.

When Grandpa was younger he had a radio in his bedroom.  He often played the radio on Sunday.  One Sunday morning he was tuning his radio to a station and he came across the Tabernacle Choir singing so he left the dial there and listened to the program, which was Music and the Spoken Word. While he was listening, he suddenly had a warm feeling from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.   It left him with an indescribable joy.  Dad just thought this was all because they were a terrific choir.  He didn't think too much of it until he met my Mom and found out she belonged to the same Church.  It became apparent to him that the feeling he had all those years ago was the Holy Ghost witnessing the truthfulness of the gospel.   The feeling that he had those many years ago listening to the Choir helped him know that he should join the Church."

   

What a great story!

Anyway, there weren't a lot of additional things to report this week. Rehearsal itself on Tuesday was tiring but productive and the Thurs night school session was a revisiting of music theory. I quickly realized that all of the cramming I did for phase two of the audition (the music theory exam) has since left my brain and I was grateful for the refresher. Major, minor, triads, intervals, and lots of other fun stuff!

As an aside, they did say before rehearsal that the Tabernacle Choir was asked to sing the 2nd verse of It's A Small World for the Disney Company. Apparently Disney is going to film a bunch of notable choirs singing this song to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the song. The video will then be played at their various theme parks and venues. 

Have a great week. Look for those tiny miracles and keep a song in your heart! 

May God be with you....

MTC Week #7 - The Joys of Recording Sessions

Feb 16, 2014 - As you all know, the MTC puts out several CDs each year and this past week, those who had volunteered from the Choir School joined the regular choir is recording a new CD to be released in time for Easter. 

While that sounds like a lot of fun, rest assured the experience was really anything but fun. We met each night (Tues, Wed, and Thurs) from 6:30 to 10:30 and recorded three pieces each night (minus Thurs in which we did only two). Employing your math skills, you'll quickly figure out how much time we spent on each piece! 

One director would be out on the floor directing us and the orchestra while the other director would be in the recording/sound booth listening to how it was sounding through the 40

microphones that were setup. If something didn't sound quite right, we would redo it. There was

so much start, stop, start, stop that it quickly became a exercise in patience. Just when we thought we had nailed a particular section (and even when the director on the floor had thought the same thing), the director in the sound booth would pipe in saying it wasn't quite right. "Sopranos--on measure 36, the pitch on the F# needs to higher. Tenors, you really need to round the "eh" vowel in measure 40. Basses--those sixteenth notes need to be a little crisper. . .".  Ug. Microphones are very unforgiving.

Anyway, lest you think, when you listen to the CDs, that the songs you hear were recorded start to finish, I assure you they were not. I would say that each piece we recorded probably had between 30 to 50 takes. Not that we'd sing each piece through that many times, but if a piece had six pages for example, we'd do five takes of page 1, five of page 2, and so on. Some measures were isolated on their own because of their complexity.  So, when it was all said and done, the sound engineer and directors will listen to all of these takes, figure out which ones are the best, and then stitch them all together. No small task I'm sure!

Aside from the patience required and the achy feet from standing so much, it was nice to meet more people from the choir proper, as we had ten minute breaks in between pieces to sit, talk, get a drink or whatever. The other benefit was the fact that those of us in the choir school now felt like we were done with choir school and an actual member of the choir! We couldn't help but feel that way after spending so much time with them and creating an Easter work of art! Reality will set in next week though as we resume our regular schedule and continue our preparations.

Hope you all have a great week. God be with you!

PS: Check HERE for downloading the Easter album (after March 4th).

MTC Week #6 - 3-2-1...We're Live!

FEB 9, 2014 - What a rush singing with the choir today for Music and the Spoken Word! Can't quite describe all the feelings I was having. Nervous, humble, excited. . .and always wondering when the camera was coming my way (which apparently it did a few times). Overall, I was just grateful once again for being able to sing with this choir. I was praying the most that my testimony, fused with the music and lyrics of today's numbers, would touch someone's heart and inspire them to be just a little better.

A special thanks to Jenn, Rebekah, and Sarah who were there to watch (my other kids were supporting from home), and for numerous texts, emails, and pictures posted by other family members. You guys are the best. 

The week leading up to today's performance included our regular Chorale rehearsal on Tuesday and then Thursday's choir school was replaced with singing with the regular choir so we could prepare for today. Most of us had not yet sung through three of the four numbers so we were glad to get a chance to go through them at least once or twice. I have a feeling this is how it is though...You get just enough time to go over it a time or two and then you have to be ready to perform it. 

While today was sort of a cloud 9 experience, it was tiring as well. The routine each Sunday

morning is to start at 7:25 with prayer and announcements from the Choir president. Then we start rehearsing music until 8:40 when we do a complete taped run-through of the program. After that, we get a ten minute break while Bro. Newell gives the audience some instructions. We come back at 9:20, and then the stage manager announces when we have 30 seconds. "30...20...15.." he calls out, and then with our director giving the downbeat, cameras roll and we're live!  Once the program concludes, we stay for additional rehearsal until 11:30. Quite the morning.


Until next time, God be with you!

PS: You can check out Feb 9th's Music and the Spoken word HERE. 

PPS: You can check out a cool behind-the-scenes look of Music and the Spoken Word--showing its history, how it's put together, the amount of work that goes into each week, etc. Quite fascinating if I do say so myself!

MTC Week #5 - Making the Best of It

Feb 2, 2014 - In both the choir school and the chorale for this week, we actually did lots of singing (versus reading or studying or listening about HOW to sing). The choir school night we broke off into smaller groups and received individualized attention in how we could improve our voices. We did multiple "record what we sing and then analyze the playback" sessions and it was very educational. Funny how much a mic can pick up versus just listening to a performance live! But it's something we need to be made aware of as choir members since 95% of the music we sing is recorded on microphones for the world to hear.

The sad thing about all of this is I lost most of my voice this past week. The only notes I was able to produce sound on were the very low ones. And it was actually quite awesome to finally sing a low A (instead of barely rumbling out a low B)! The singer in front of me heard my A and said "very cool!". What I didn't tell him was that this was temporary and when my normal voice came back, I would never get down that low again. Ah well. Regardless of not being able to sing too well this week, I learned a lot by just listening and observing. There's certainly power in doing just that.

Rehearsals are getting to the crazy levels as we prepare for the Easter Concert (and recording of an Easter CD) as well as preparing for recording of The Messiah. The Tabernacle is indeed

becoming my second home as I was there four times this past week. And interestingly enough, Bro. Wilberg wants those of us newbies who volunteered for these recordings to join the choir on this next Sunday's Music and the Spoken Word (2/9). So...I may just make my TV debut then. Though I'd have absolutely no problem in letting those cameras settle in on anyone but me. :)

As we were rehearsing a specific section in a piece of music today, Bro. Wilberg was mentioning how we have the opportunity to sing it really well and very powerfully. He said that power not only comes from being talented singers and working hard, but combining that with the power of 400 testimonies, and it can work miracles in the lives of our listeners!

This week, whether you are being a student, being a parent, being a friend, or simply fulfilling your various responsibilities, let that testimony be heard or felt or seen in your countenance. It can do miracles!

Until next time...God be with you!

MTC Week #4 - The Challenge of Implementing

Jan 26, 2014 - As I sat in Choir School this week learning all about full-voice vs. half-voice singing, sub-glottal pressure, and resonance chambers to produce "long" or "tall" vowels, I kept looking around at other choir members wondering if they were truly taking all this in or if I was the only one swimming in a sea of confusion. After school was over, I found out I was not the only one thankfully.

Here's the deal: it's one thing to intellectually know something. You can study and study how to sing perfectly. It's another to put it all into practice. Even when I THINK I'm getting it down, I'm never quite sure since the instructors don't have time to give full 1x1 attention/feedback. So we all learn what we can and implement what we can, hoping that our native singing intuition (and the Spirit) helps make up for what we can't seem to do right, or what we can't seem to interpret correctly. At the end of the day, when we stand up to sing before the lights and cameras and millions watching, our native, cumulative abilities are brought to bear much more than anything we've recently learned. So the challenge is to work hard to bring in those more recently acquired skills to help create that perfectly unified sound.

That said, I can say I have made improvements in some areas we've focused on and for that I'm grateful. Little by little...

Along with a great chorale rehearsal on Tues, I'm happy to report that Bro. Wilberg has agreed to let some of the newbies sing with the actual MTC for the upcoming Easter Concert in March. So, today, after Music and the Spoken Word concluded, those of us who "opted-in" for this opportunity filled in the rest of the choir seats and started rehearsing for the concert. It was so great to be directed by Bro. Wilberg again! Many BYU Concert Choir memories started floating around in my head. But not for long as Bro. Wilberg runs a tight ship demanding attention all the time. If you tune-out for a few seconds, you've missed what page we're turning to or what dynamic to mark or what instruction to receive. 


I also leave you with a few MTC facts. Until next time, God be with you!
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*The choir was founded in August 1847, one month after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.
*Visited 28 countries outside the United States.
*Performed at 13 World’s Fairs and Expositions.
*Released more than 130 musical compilations and several films and videotapes.
*The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has performed for ten presidents of the United States beginning with President William Howard Taft.The choir has also performed at the inaugurations of United States presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), Richard M. Nixon (1969), Ronald Reagan (1981), George Bush (1989) and George W. Bush (2001).
*Performed over 20 times at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, including at the Opening Ceremonies, where they sang the national anthem and the Olympic Hymn under the direction of John Williams.

MTC Week #3 - Chiaro & Scuro!

Jan 19, 2014 - Those are two things we covered this week in choir school as we talked about TONE. Did you know that when you sing, you either sing with more brightness or more darkness? If bright, you have chiaro. If dark, you have scuro. If you know how and think about it, you can change those bright and dark tone elements when you sing and that's what we were being taught how to do this week.

We also talked all about the head anatomy (hard palette, uvula, epiglottis, pharyngeal arches, and the larynx). It's important to know how all of these work to produce sound so we can try and produce the best sound possible. We also spent considerable time learning about high vowels and low vowels and what to do or not to do with your head and your tongue when trying to make the vowels sound the way the conductor wants them to sound.

One thing that may be applicable to you reading this email, is the discussion we had about singing as an individual or as a group. The danger when singing in a group is that personal responsibility and accountability seem to "go out the window" because you think you can rely on those around you to cover your mistakes. You start to develop an attitude that others can carry you and if you don't do your very best, well, no one will really know. The best choral groups are those filled with individuals who fight that "complacency trap" and bring their best each and every time they sing--whether in a group or not. By doing so, they start listening better to those around them and make adjustments to produce a unified sound.

So...if you liken that to our lives in general, the time to let our guard down or coast along in life is never. Every day brings it's challenges and only by doing our best each day can we hope to be happy and unified as brothers and sisters in the gospel (and in Zion). Note that being unified doesn't mean we all sound exactly the same. There is still variety and each voice is inherently different and unique. But as we sing out with our uniqueness, paying attention to the knowledge and rules that guide our sound to be the best it can, unity and blend is achieved. The result is truly remarkable.





I'll leave you with a few more interesting tidbits about being a Tabernacle Choir member:
*our parking passes allow us to park at the church office building parking which comes in handy for going to downtown events/shopping
*tickets for concerts and general conference are available to choir members (as for how good of tickets, not sure!)
*the choir has its own prayer roll. Member of the choir can put names on the prayer roll each week and those individuals are included in the prayers offered at the beginning of each rehearsal
*Attendance for all choir rehearsals and concerts is 80%
*Choir seating is rotated every six months or at the direction of the choir director

MTC Week #2 - To Sing and Observe

Jan 12, 2014 - So on Tuesday evening, we met for the first "Chorale" session. (As I mentioned last time, Tuesdays are for Chorale and Thursdays are for Choir School) Chorale was great! I think we were all very anxious to finally start singing and sing we did. We divided into sections, started off with 15 minutes of warm-ups, and then got right into learning the main piece we'll be doing at our upcoming concert - Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughn Williams. Contrary to the title, most of the words are in English so I was happy about that. 


Here's the scoop before continuing with this note. This year is quite a bit different than other years for the Chorale and Choir School. The MTC has decided to do an Easter Concert and part of that concert is performing Handel's "Messiah". Along with that, they plan to record it. AND, Bro. Wilberg has decided to extend the invitation to the Chorale members to be a part of it, even though we haven't "graduated" yet. They won't be able to take everyone, so I'm not sure if I'll be selected or not. But it would be a fun opportunity. Anyway, because of all of that, the Chorale concert is a bit earlier than normal and a bit shorter as well.

After singing Dona Nobis, we started learning one other piece, the name of which eludes me right now, but it was a Bro. Wilberg original which sounded wonderful. Time went by quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to stop and go home. On the way out, one of my fellow choir members made the comment to no one in particular "Wow, I hope this never gets old." I think we all hope that same hope though it is something that I think we'll have to constantly work at. Doing something year after year does, by nature, become routine. But I think if we can remember all the people we're singing for and that there might be someone out there, even in a different country, who hears us and wants to change their life and come closer to Christ---I think that will be the key to keeping it fresh and exciting.

Thursday night we met for Choir School session #2. For the first 40 minutes, we actually went upstairs to watch the choir rehearse for Sunday's performance of Music and the Spoken Word. We were given a two page questionnaire to fill out critiquing the choir and the rehearsal. For example, one of the questions was "How responsive is the ensemble to any conductor instructions and coaching? Do they react quickly? Do they need continual reminders? How noticeable is the difference in sound when the choir responds positively to an instruction or correction? Make some observations."

After that experience, we learned all about BREATHING correctly. You'd think

that we have mastered that by now, but given the fact that us new choir members all come from different music backgrounds, it's important to learn or review. The goal for the next 60 min was "To develop an awareness of and strengthen the muscles involved in the breathing cycle: inhalation and exhalation. Their proper coordination and use results in the energized airflow required for beautiful tone--both individual and collective."  I must say that even though I've been given instruction on breathing in a choir setting, I did learn a lot and have some things to work on.

For the last part, the instructor had us pick up our hymn books and start signing a hymn while she recorded it. Playing it back for us, we all picked out things we needed to work on, and then tried singing it again. Everything from pitch, to breathing, to vowel placement, to dynamics was talked about, and after five recordings, I think we got it! Great exercise to help us listen critically and make necessary adjustments. It comes down to this: because there are so many in the choir, each person really has to police themselves and make corrections/adjustments as necessary so that the overall tone and blend come together correctly.

It's just nice to sing with individuals who love to sing, who are good at it, and who actively make slight corrections to improve when needs be!

Until next time...God be with you!

MTC Week#1 - It Begins

Jan 2, 2014 - As many of you have inquired as to how the choir is going, I thought I'd start sending out a weekly "journal entry" if you will, of my experiences. By no means am I inferring that my experiences are any better or more important than the ones you're having as the Lord gives us all the experiences we need to learn and grow and become who we need to be. However, since this is a somewhat unique experience and one that I constantly get questions about, I thought a weekly update might be of value. So with that intro, I'll begin with week one of my Mormon Tabernacle Choir (MTC) experience! 

 Last Thursday was deemed as "Choir Orientation" and also Day #1 of our Choir School. (Just to get things clear, Thursdays are Choir School where we learn listening skills, singing techniques, music theory, and the like. Tuesdays are Chorale days, where we work on getting songs ready for our eventual Chorale Concert.) Anyhow, I drove into Salt Lake with a friend of mine who made the choir, and who I sang with while in Utah Voices (community choir),

Ben Blauer

named Ben Bauer. Dressed in standard choir attire (slacks and collared shirt), we flashed our newly acquired security badge to park at the Conference Center and then flashed it again to enter a tunnel that led from the parking lot to the Tabernacle. As we found our room, they took our picture, we signed in, grabbed a binder with our name on it, and sat down at tables arranged in alphabetical order. I scanned the room to finally lay eyes on the others who had made the choir and then chatted a bit with a younger woman who sat next to me (she's just finishing college) about try-outs and about our music background. Promptly at six, the Choir President (Ron Jarrett) stood and welcomed us all there. He proceeded to introduce others on the Choir Staff telling us a little of what they did, and then the director of the choir, Bro. Mack Wilberg got up and gave us a few words.

Mack Wilberg

Bro. Wilberg, after welcoming us himself, said that he needed to get a few things "out of the way." He said we needed to learn six very important words: EVERYTHING IS DONE FOR A REASON. He had us recite those words and said that every time he lifted up his hand, he wanted us to say them. He then told us about five reasons why we'd be very disappointed during our time in the choir. We'd be disappointed if we thought were were going to be on TV. Some in the choir have never been on TV and depending on where you sat, you may never get much of a chance to be on TV. We'd be disappointed if we had particular songs we had composed ourselves that we wanted the choir to sing. "No," he said. "Don't call us, we'll call you if we need your songs." We'd be disappointed if we expected that we'd be able to perform solos while in the choir. "Again," he said with a smile. "We'll let you know." You'll be disappointed if you feel like you have lots of suggestions to share or feel like we should be doing things a different way then we're doing them. "This choir has been around a LONG time, and we've pretty much considered every way of doing things." After each of those "you'll be disappointed" statements, he had us recite those six important words. After that though, he very seriously told us that the audition process is a very prayerful process and he ensured us that we had been selected because the Lord wanted us to be in the choir at this time.

Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy, who is the assistant or associate director, got up next and built upon what Bro. Wilberg had said about the prayerful audition process. He said that it's easy to think, that in a choir of 400, you really don't matter that much. However, you each have specific gifts you can bring to the choir and your voice and testimony, along with those gifts, matter very much to the overall effect the choir has on people. He then read a letter of a church member who had written him a couple of months ago.

The letter shared an experience of a mother who had lost her daughter and how one of the songs Bro. Murphy had directed during conference was the same song that had been highlighted at her daughter's funeral. She told Bro. Murphy that because of that song, she felt an overwhelming amount of Heavenly Father's love at a time she really needed it--and thanked him for being in tune to pick that song. Bro. Murphy then said that such letters from members and non-members alike, are common and are frequent. 

 After that, they took us all on a tour of the Tabernacle--the underground portion which I can tell you right now, is full of catacombs, hidden offices, and tunnels galore. I think I was more turned around and confused after the tour! They showed us the large library (the choir sings about six pieces a week, so times that by weeks in a year and the # of choir members and, well, you can do the math), the large dressing rooms, and our lockers where we store our folders, etc. The time we were taking the tour happened to coincide with when the regular choir members were arriving for practice. I got to see several I

Scott Russon

knew in the choir, including Bro. Scott Russon who, upon seeing me, put his arm around me and gave me a very big welcome :) Sometimes I just stop and think, "Is this all real?" 

 The rest of the night was filled with our first school session and we focused on critical listening skills (listening to various choirs sing and jotting down what we heard, both the good and the bad), and on the importance of posture. You would have laughed to see us all walking around the room with a hymn book balanced on our heads and the various other exercises we did relating to posture and poise. One of the goals is to have us all look as unified as possible and without good posture, that isn't possible. 

This morning, Sunday, we attended a Wardrobe Meeting where they told us all about the suits we'd be getting, the 14 ties, the shirts, and everything else. We got measured and then we went up to "the loft" (which refers to where the choir sings) and we observed the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. I don't remember ever having been there to see one so it was really great. 

As I watched them sing, I had to shake my head in wonder again to think I'd be in those chairs soon. 

Strange. 

I felt very grateful and very humbled. 

All in all, it was a great first week. I'm very excited and it has been fun getting to know other new choir members. 

I leave with you a few FYI tidbits: 

1. The Choir School and Chorale go for 16 weeks after which I'll be singing in the actual choir. During the 16 weeks, I'll get to sing in one Music and the Spoken Word (in March) and will also get to sing at April Conference. 
2. As soon as the new choir members actually join the choir, there will be about 415 of us. 
3. The church pays for all of what we wear. They also take care of the dry cleaning and laundering. 
4. The choir goes on tour EVERY OTHER year. Since they were on one last year, the next one will be in 2015. Spouses can go. Church pays for the tour, minus the spouse costs. 
5. There are over 100 volunteers who work behind the scenes to make the choir successful. The main staff (ten of them) are paid positions. 
6. The demographics of the new choir members are probably 60% age 50+, while 25% are my age or thereabouts and 15% younger. 
7. I don't yet know about ticket "perks". I wish I did because that is the question I get the most asked about. 

I think that wraps up newsletter #1. I'm grateful for my wife and kids who continue to be so supportive and continue to endure the topic of the choir that seems to come up often when we're out and about :) 

Until next time, God be with you!