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.