MuseScore

Recently, Finale started charging for their Notepad program. I certainly didn’t want to pay for a program that doesn’t even have everything I need to do. Thankfully, I found another program, MuseScore.  The program seems functional. Not being a technology expert, there are still some things that I need to figure out.

The Christian Teacher and Discipleship

My ‘91 Dodge Shadow died a few weeks back. At the time, I was both relieved and stressed out because of it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that a sword of Damocles was hanging over my head while it was around. I never knew when the old car would die. Thankfully, the Lord provided a 2002 Mazda 626 for me to drive just a few weeks later. Little did I know that the timing would be of great spiritual benefit to me.

I had initially planned on visiting my sister and brother-in-law much sooner.  They live in Greenville, and I had not seen them in a while. But whenever I planned on seeing them, my car started acting up. I finally made it to Greenville a couple weeks ago.

While there, I attended their church, Heritage Bible Church in Greer, SC. That morning one of the pastors spoke on the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Even though I had heard sermons on that passage before, this one stood out to me. The speaker brought some things to light I had not seen before in that text. The passage is as follows:

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The KJV edition of this passage tells us to teach all nations, but the ESV really hits the nail on the head. We are to make disciples. There are two aspects of this command: we are to give the gospel, and disciple those who believe. Most preachers I have heard speak on this passage concentrate on the former aspect rather than the latter.  Both are important, however.

In my vocation, I do get the opportunity to give the gospel. Unfortunately, many times I neglect discipling. Why is this? Giving the gospel is quicker and requires less work. Think about it. It takes less than five minutes to give the gospel. Discipling takes years of effort. The discipler would have to commit him/herself.

Another reason why we fail to make disciples is because it’s safer to just give the gospel. Well, at least in this country, anyway. The person we are trying to evangelize will usually either become a disciple of Christ or he/she will not. Perhaps you might be cussed out, and that’s it. But when we disciple, we take the chance that years of emotional and spiritual investment might be for nothing. The student might reject us, the teacher. Personally, I know I have struggled reaching out to people because of this fact.

The last reason I can think of is that Christians might feel inadequate to disciple a fellow believer. As a Christian, I know how often I fail. I am often crushed by the weight of my sin. How could someone follow and learn from me?

All Christians are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God. Our Christian life is in a progressive state of sanctification. We are pressing toward the  mark, but we have not attained perfection. It follows that God intends Christians to be constantly building each other up because and in spite of our sinfulness. But don’t just take my word for it.

Col. 3:16-Le the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to the Lord.

Heb. 10:24-And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

It is our duty to follow the great commission. It might not be your job as a businessman, lawyer, nurse, doctor, or teacher to make disciples, but it is your duty and privilege as a Christian. This is something I will be working on in the coming weeks/months/years. I invite you to do the same. As for the obscure mythological reference at the beginning of the post, I apologize. I’ve always wanted to use one of those.:-)

Diaphragmatic Singing

Over the course of the year, I have been teaching certain vocal techniques. These techniques are essential to good choral singing. I think of techniques like inhalation, posture, raised soft palate, and sustained exhalation.

This week, I introduced the technique of diaphragmatic singing. After introducing the idea, showing them what the diaphragm was, and teaching them how to feel it (pant like a dog), my choirs did a simple warm-up exercise. We sang do, mi, and sol staccato using diaphragmatic action. Then we sang do, mi, and sol legato. I was amazed at the change in sound! They sounded breathy before. Now, their sound was full and much more mature. We will definitely be doing more work with this in the future.

BJU Competition

Next week I will be attending the annual BJU Fall Fine Arts competition. Please pray for my girls that they will perform well and to God’s glory. We still have a few things we need to get right. What has been scary is that the swine flu (as well as other flus and sundry diseases) have infiltrated my school. I already had one girl back out because of it.

An Excellent Article on Inner Hearing Importance and Development

I found this excellent article on the importance of inner hearing. The author gives some very important advice. I will be considering some of these ideas, such as multitasking, in the years to come.

The New Musical Snobbery

Just yesterday I picked up the newest edition of the Choral Journal. Some articles I found particularly helpful, such as Patrick Freer’s article on rehearsal practices. One article, however, concerned me. It was titled “The Influence of Znamenny Liturgical Chant on the Nineteenth Century Russian Choral School” by Jeffrey Wall.

Why was I concerned, you may ask?  It certainly was not because Dr. Wall is inexperienced or ignorant. The article is full of information. Dr. Wall is an extremely knowledgeable Russian musicologist. He has a greater knowledge of znamenny chant than I will ever have. And it certainly was not because I hate znamenny chant.  Back in college I had the privilege of singing 4 of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. It was and still is counted as one of the best musical experiences of my life.

What concerned me was something Dr. Wall said at the beginning of the article. He said, “The ancient znamenny chant was largely saved from Italianate abuses and permutations, but derivations of znamenny chant morphed into younger forms like Kievian, Gree, and Bulgarian chant, that were not so fortunate.” Dr. Wall’s concern was that the chants were nearly lost because of the “infiltration and influence of the Italianate and Germanic styles.”

The loaded language of this article highlights a current attitude I have seen in music. Notably, a reverse discrimination of Western European music. Instead of simply seeing the infusion of new musical styles into Russian music as a change, the author makes a value judgment. The change was bad because the old way was almost lost. Western European musical conventions were to blame. The change could not be because certain people within the culture decided to make changes to their music.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against learning, practicing, and maintaining musical traditions from other cultures. Cultures and their music have always fascinated me. When I teach about music from other cultures, I regularly tell my students that some of the music might seem strange to them. This does not mean the music is not quality music. It just means it is different. And that is okay.

My problem is not with teaching about, understanding, and valuing cultures, but about cultural purism. Instead of appreciating that all culture changes, new ideas and techniques imported from outside the culture are seen as corrupting. Culture changes, and those changes themselves become a new culture. Many times this fact is neither good or bad. It just is.

The Western influence on world music has been a profound one. Our notation is taught across the world, from Asia to South America. Students from non-Western countries regularly come and study at Western colleges and conservatories. This does not devalue the students’ traditional music. It merely brings change to them.

In order for music teachers to be effective, they must be able to appreciate different kinds of music. Teachers must recognize the value in all music, including music from the West.

VOKE Choral Festival

I have recently joined the Virginia chapter (VOKE) of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE). This was done for a couple reasons. (1) I will be able to learn more about the Kodaly approach to education by reading articles and attending conventions. (2) I can take students to the Virginia Organization of Kodaly Educators (VOKE) Choral Festival. God willing, about 10 of my students will attend. More to come on that development.

NC ACDA (Part 2)

As promised, here is the second installment of things I learned at the NC ACDA.

3. One man’s conservative resurgence is another man’s fundamentalist takeover. I had the opportunity to meet several southern baptists at the conference. Two of them were Southeastern Seminary grads and one was a full time music minister. I enjoyed talking to all of them. The Southeastern Seminary grads were very kind.

The full time music minister was very vocal about his displeasure over the conservative resurgence. Because I am a grad of two unashamedly christian fundamentalist institutions (high school and undergrad), I do not consider the SBC fundamentalist. However, the “moderates” consider the conservatives in the SBC fundamentalist. I found this out when I spoke with a moderate at the convention. When he mentioned the conservative/moderate controversy, I made the mistake of calling it a resurgence. He was quick to label the controversy a take0ver. I thought it was very interesting.

4. If you are not teaching your musical groups theory, you are not truly teaching them. Because I was a 2nd year teacher, I was asked to sit on a panel of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year teachers and discuss what I had learned. I tried to be helpful and give much of what I learned. The moderator of the panel discussion, Fred Spano, made a dogmatic -and, I think, justified-statement concerning JH and SH music. He said, “I don’t care how good your choir is, if you are not teaching them how to read music, then you are not teaching them.

This statement struck me as particularly poignant. When I entered college, I knew very little theory. The reason was not because I had no musical background. I come from a very musically active family. My father is an amateur guitarist, trombone player, and singer. My mother is a piano player who also picked up the cornet on the side. My family always sang together (in parts) after family devotions. You should hear us sing the happy birthday song.

I also attended a Christian school with a strong musical program. My school won many music competitions. I participated very heavily in this program. I sang in choirs, ensembles, quartets, duets, and solos. I took voice lessons at  the school. I also played trombone in band from 5th grade to 12th grade.

The reason I did not know theory was because I was not taught any in the secondary. It was assumed that the students could read music, but I could not. I learned everything by ear. Naturally, I struggled a lot in college. This is something I wish to rectify with my high school students. There is sight-reading curricula out there. Teachers just need to find it. I will be doing this in the coming months.

5. It’s always great to listen to fellow teachers. The other teachers on the panel had the same problems that I had. Apparently, students are the same everywhere.

I would encourage all students and fellow choral teachers to join the ACDA. In addition to the seminars and music, the conventions are a great place to connect with other teachers and commiserate/learn new teaching ideas. Chances are that if you have a problem, someone else has had that same problem as well. Who knows. Maybe you could bounce ideas off each other.

NC ACDA (Part 1)

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the North Carolina American  Choral Directors Association state convention. The convention was excellent, and I learned much from the speakers, Bob Chilcott (composer and former King’s Singer) and Bradley Almquist (president, ACDA Southern Division). An overarching theme echoed by both speakers was the connection between text and music. Both stressed the primacy of communicating text in choral singing.

Along with the sessions, I also had the opportunity to take part in a panel discussion concerning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year teachers. The discussion was particularly helpful for me as I was able to hear other young teachers explain the ideas and techniques that were effective in their classrooms.

As it is always a good thing to document what you’ve learned at these conferences, I have listed five things I learned at the NC ACDA convention. Due to space considerations, this post will be part 1. I will continue this post at a later date.

1. The personal element in choral singing is extremely important. I heard quite a few talented choirs. Some of the strongest performances occurred on the first day. The first group to perform was the Thomas Jefferson Middle School 8th Grade Choir.  I enjoyed their musical sensitivity. It is so hard to develop that in middle school. The other Friday performance was by the Catawba Singers. Their concert was practically flawless. The only criticism I could offer was that there were not enough feeling in it. The choir–even though its rhythms, blend, and dynamics were flawless–lacked phrasing and word stress.

Perhaps the strongest concert was by a group of church choirs who premiered a new piece by Kenney Potter, “My Shepherd Is the Living Lord.” You could tell that the singers loved the music and had a strong, personal connection with it. Kenney Potter did an excellent job preparing and conducting the choir, who had only sung together for three hours on that Saturday morning. Not only was their blend excellent, but their phrasing and word stress were spot on as well.

2. Choral singers must have specific instruction on musical expression from their teachers. Dr. Bradley Almquist gave an excellent seminar entitled “Beyond the Notes: Making Expressive Decisions.” Some ideas he put forward I had learned before while in choir with Dr. Warren Cook down at BJU. The big idea that really struck me was Dr. Almquist’s statement that choir directors are to teach the teachable elements. In other words, conductors should teach specific, concrete elements of musical expression, such as dynamics tone, tempo, and articulation. Conductors should avoid vague words relating to feeling. This is because feelings cannot be consistently generated. However, if you teach the expressive elements, then the choristers will be able to generate and communicate the correct feelings. Conductors should lead choristers to feeling, not force them.

Music Competition at BJU

This year I get the opportunity to take a large vocal ensemble to BJU for their annual fall fine arts competition. God willing, we will be competing against other Christian schools and homeschool groups. This year will be our inaugural year attending.  Please pray as our school prepares some students to speak (1 speech and 1 preaching) and sing (my ladies ensemble!).

Hopefully, we will be able to have an even bigger presence next year. It’s always wiser to start small and then build, though.