Parts

My singing is not the most renowned, but I struggle with the tenor parts and Harmonica Monday gets it pretty right on the night. HM is a modest group, practicing mornings and performing for friends and relatives and taking on the most satisfying on repertoires. This concert covered the waterfront for choral eras, from mediaeval through to modern, extant, Canberra compositions: de Victoria, Bennet, Handel, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Faure, Barber and Canberran international choral master, Stephen Leek. His piece was a quirky song from the northern Australian islands, Monkey and turtle. Fabulous fun. There were some seriously interesting harmonies and considered parts displayed. Nice one.

Harmonia Monday (choir) is directed by Sheila Thompson and Oliver Raymond (conductors) with accompanist Jenny Kain (piano).

Love and other stories

I enjoy my Harmonia Monday choir for the opportunity to learn to sing (it's a slow process!) but I wouldn't if it weren't for the music. Admittedly we can struggle with it. The Messiah choruses are complex and fast and sometimes get up high. The parallel but temporally moved lines of canon singing can be an worthy challenge. Finding the harmony and not dropping into another part, not least struggling with the soprano melody, is a playful task. I like all that. This last open day featured a string of interesting tunes in 4-or-more part harmony from baroque to modern, many in religious traditions (it seems that's where a lot of choral music comes from). Music from Mozart Missa Brevis, Handel Messiah, Bach B minor mass, Hassler Dixit Maria. Music as far back as Greensleeves in harmony, attributed to that great lover Henry VIII. Through a string of love songs (love has ever been a theme of popular songs): Go lovely rose, My sweetheart's like Venus, She's like the swallow, The shower, and one more seductive, Fine knacks for ladies (their seductions were discrete compared to ours). And a final return to religious singing, but modern: Lauridsen from Lux Aeterna. A fine program directed by our two conductors, Shiela Thompson and Oliver Raymond, with our repetiteur, Jenny Kain.

Harmonia Monday sang under Shiela Thompson and Oliver Raymond (conductors) and accompanied by Jenny Kain (piano).

Relations devout and otherwise

This may have been the most harmonious Harmonia Monday gig that I've done. It started with a thing of beauty, Saint-Saens Ave verum corpus, then Stravinsky Ave Maria. The Saint-Saens was just heavenly and I liked the Stravinsky for its changing counts and unexpected rhythms and intervals. Then a few Victorian-soundings things that invited apt accents and a strange one, Banchieri Contrapunto bestiale alla mente. That one sounds strange and it was but it amused and was easy to learn and remember, mostly for tenors who just barked (yes, arfs) regularly as a bridge between Fa-la-las. There were tunes from Schubert and Mendelssohn and Grainger and Elgar and the like with themes ranging from religious to indulgent, even carnal. But along with the glorious religious songs above, I fell for a few madrigals dated around 1450, from Morley, Sing we and chant it, and Dowland, Come again sweet love. There's some schmaltz out there, of course, not least from Schubert with lyrics by Shakespeare. Unlikely? Try Who is Sylvia? Lovely, fair, wise and with swainly commendations. But it's a good way to learn something of singing and reading and the music ranges widely and informatively. That's Harmonia Monday.

Harmonia Monday performed its bi-annual open day under Shiela Thompson and Oliver Raymond (conductors).

Harmonious

I didn't actually sing at the Harmonia Monday open day concert, but there were times I wanted to. I usually sing with this group. They are guided and conducted by Shiela Thompson and Oliver Raymond, both well experienced local singers. They were, today, accompanied by Jenny Kain and Lucus Allerton, even playing together in one series of pieces, selections from Brahms Liebeslieder waltzes, that required four hands. The program was broad. I like the fact that this is SATB, harmony singing, of works by major composers from Palestrina to extant. There's a lot for me to learn and this is my vocal vehicle. This program included Haydn, Brahms, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Schubert, Elgar and Copland as well as a few arranged traditional pieces. My favourites were Schubert, Holst, Copland and Shenandoah, a famed American folk song, here arranged by Luke Jakobs. These songs settled best with the harmonies that were clearer and time that was more easy. I itched to sing a few lines, I found some harmonies and seached for the tenor lines, although there were few tenors and they are easily overwhelmed in practice. Like most choirs I hear of, tenors - and men generally - are in short supply. But there's a love of the music and some interesting challenges here. Nice one; I'll be back for more practice in the new year.

The Harmonia Monday Choral Studies group performed its end-of-term open house concert. Shiela Thompson and Oliver Raymond (conductors) variously directed and by Jenny Kain and Lucus Allerton (piano) variously accompanied.

Right on the night, again

"She'll be right on the night" is a favourite line of mine. It's jazzers' wisdom but it's recognised by all manner of musos and I find it's usually right. Harmonia Monday proved it right again just a few days ago; as it did at a previous gig. HM meets weekly and performs, as noted by our secretary at the gig, as an open day rather than a concert, but concert it was with audience and some little nerves and a need to get it right this time. Mostly we did and it was a pleasure. HM is an SATB choir (although occasionally doubling some parts), heavy on altos and light on tenors (common enough). We sing all manner of music. This gig had several movements of a Palestrina mass and the Mozart Requiem, a Bach fugue, Reger and Pinsuti for the florid dynamics and Copland for the earthy Americanism and the fun (although I personally had some considerable difficulty with one line in the song "I bought me a cat": he also "...bought me a wife"; very questionable). Otherwise, the harmonies, energy, intervals weren't all perfect but presentable and way better than even the warmup. It's amazing what the gig can do.

Harmonia Monday (SATB choir) performed under Oliver Raymond and Sheila Thompson (conductors) with accompaniment by Lucus Allerton (piano)

Tremenda, sometimes lacrimosa

It's that time of year when the final concerts happen. I have two orchestral concerts coming over two weekends, but this was our choir, Harmonia Monday, presenting its open day session. HM is called a choral study group. That's about right, because the music is great and a challenge for us. It's led by two stallwarts of the local choral scene: Oliver Raymond and Sheila Thompson. This session included three pieces from Mozart Requiem under Oliver (Dires irae, Rex tremendae and Lacrimosa) and two from Mendelssohn Elijah under Sheila (He that shall endure to the end and Oh come every one that thirsteth). As well as Ascendit Deus (mid C16th, from Peter Philips), an earthy, perhaps suggestive, piece of Victoriana from Ciro Pinsuti (Goodnight, goodnight, beloved) , a lovely Shaker song called Simple gifts and a gospel piece, Deep river. Also Faure and another. It's all a challenge, I am too ill-prepared, but it's glorious the times the harmonies sit nicely. An enjoyable outing.

Oliver Raymond and Sheila Thompson led the Harmonia Monday choral studies group for its open day concert.

Thanks to MozartForum and Wikicommons for the Mozart autograph pic, Requiem dies

Monday's harmonies

Monday's harmonies aren't always perfect and sometimes the quicker lines can get bogged down (the semi-quavers in Handel can be a doozy) but when it works it's wonderfully pleasurable for the singers and hopefully for the audience, too. This is Harmonia Monday, my weekly choir, led by two unreasonably good leaders who are seen commonly enough around town in choral circles, Sheila Thompson and Oliver Raymond. And we are singing some seriously satisfying music. This time it was several from each of Handel and JS Bach (from his B Minor mass, no less) and Elgar and several lesser-known others. I'm getting more certain on intervals and the count with more experience, but slips remain too easy. I notice the confidence that comes when someone from a section takes a lead. I'm pleasantly surprised that we hold pitch without piano when we go piano-less. Going free of piano seems to be a worthy challenge in choral circles. The concert wasn't perfect but the development is satisfying and I was surprised when I attempted some jazz harmonies on a gig and my voice responded decently in pitch and with volume and a satisfying firmness. It's amazing what some practice will do! Much enjoyed and thanks to the choir and leaders and see you all after the break for the next batch of songs to learn.

Harmonia Monday choir performed Handel, Elgar, Eriskay love lilt, JS Bach (from the B minor mass), Verdi, Knipper, Wood and Hatton at St Mark's Red Hill under Sheila Thompson (conductor) and Oliver Raymond (conductor).

Thanks to WikiCommons for the pic of some JS Bach B minor mass manuscript

Right on the night

She'll be right on the night. It's so often the case that I've come to accept it. Despite a horrid practice the week before, we done reasonably good. Not perfect, of course. As our MC said, we are a Choral Study group, so expect students. The audience of family and friends expected that and that's what they got. Some pieces worked well; some of the longer pieces got bogged down as we followed complex counterpoint or confusing canon. I'm new, so the feel of a baroque bar still tricks me (the 1s aren't where I expect them), and finding the starting note and harmony, and also the bigger intervals remains problematic. But students learn, and I drool over the clear harmonies when they sit neatly and the complex interplay of parts and the baroque canon writing and the beauty of Mendelssohn and the modern romantic voice (no bar lines) of Eric Whitacre. (What wife could resist This marriage as a wedding gift? Have a listen to Ingenium Ensemble singing it on YouTube). Congratulations to the choir, and thanks to our guides in all this, conductors Sheila Thompson and Oliver Raymond and wonderful accompaniment from pianist Jenny Kain. We're on leave for a few months then there's tons to learn in the NY.

Harmonia Monday choir performed Palestrina, Byrd, Charpentier, Handel, Mendelssohn, Stanford, Clausen, Whitacre and Durante attrib. Pergolesi at All Saints under Sheila Thompson (conductor) and Oliver Raymond (conductor) with accompaniment by Jenny Kain (piano).

Timely folk

The late 19th/early 20th Century was a time of great change and a time when many composers were inspired by folk music. I caught the Capital Voices choir singing some of these works at the monthly St Albans concert yesterday. Oliver Raymond led the choir and introduced the works: by Kodaly, Hindemith, Milhaud, Vaughan Williams, arranger Hugh Roberton and Samuel Barber, and, to finish, a quirky English weather report sung as Anglican chant. Asanka was there and told me after of a Hungarian-Australian workmate who laughed off Bartok's music being rooted in Hungarian folk songs as too cerebral and changed beyond recognition. It’s quite true that folk is simple and local and fine music is sophisticated and cosmopolitan. But I still enjoyed the compositions. I caught melody sounding as far back as Mediaeval and even shanties; I struggled to follow English poetry of Shakespeare and Rilke; I even struggled to recognise the language in some French chansons. This was often very difficult choral music (Asanka used the word “fiendish”), with complex rhythms and closely moving harmonic textures and chromaticism and dissonance. The choir was challenged and the tunes weren’t always clear, especially earlier ones, but I could understand. Later songs seemed more straightforward and the choir was sharper and warmed up by then. These songs were also in English, which I expect made things easier. The Vaughan Williams Elizabethan love songs were sweet and To be sung on the water by Samuel Barber was quite beautiful. It’s not a large choir and the space was small, so I could hear individual voices. This time, I particularly enjoyed the male voices that seemed to sit so rich and resonant in the mix. It’s irrelevant, but it amuses me that choirs often suggest to me that sexual politics are futile, given that all the voices are so different and yet so necessary. Then to finish, the weather report. It was a strange thing, as weather reports from other countries are, even when they’re not sung (how often do we get mention of the Azores). A nicely fantastical finish to a demanding and interesting choral performance.

Oliver Raymond led the Capital Voices choir at St Albans singing European, British and American compositions of the late 19th/early 20th century.