Trecento: Early Flowers of Polyphony

This afternoon is our final rehearsal for our first performance of the "Trecento" music set. This concert will be repeated at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June 2010. We might get a few minutes of a break before the concert begins at 7pm.

Pedro Memelsdorff will be attending. The group is a little nervous since he is considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on the very music we will be performing. Many of the tunes will will perform tonight, his ensemble, Mala Punica, has recorded.

We are doing some very interesting pieces by Landini, Jacopo, Firenze, and Ciconia. There are now only 22 pieces on the concert.

My clothes are ready to be donned and I begin warming up once I finish up here. I leave in about 2 hours to head out into the unusually heavy rain to drive the 42 miles to the venue. Sometimes the rain makes for a small crowd at events and sometimes, it bring people out in droves. It will be interesting to see which it is this time.

Concert Week

It's Sunday. Only a week until Coro's preview concert.

The week ahead will be extremely busy with the concert coming up next weekend. I have several rehearsals in preparation for it between now and next Sunday, April 11th. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is an immense amount of music and only one short piece is somewhat easy. Not only are the individual parts challenging, but the ensemble aspect is quite a challenge all in itself.

I have also been offered, and I have accepted, an opportunity to sing with an ensemble in south bay in September. I am slated to sing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit" from "Nisi Dominus, RV 608" and a cantata or other large work of my choice in an all Italian concert set. Pretty awesome. I am considering Pergolesi or Scarlatti for the larger work. There are to be multiple performances of this set of Italian works around the bay area.

That invitation was very exciting.

Here is Andreas Scholl singing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit":

Upcoming Coro Concerts

Wow! I hadn't realised that it had been so very long since I had posted to the blog.

We are working on 26 songs for Coro Ciconia's next concert. It concerns me since it makes the performance much longer than audiences typically prefer. I have a firm belief in, "leave them wanting more". I'm sure that we will trim the program and focus on the best sounding pieces.

This concert set will be performed on April 10th, 2010 at St. Alban's Epicopal Church in Albany, CA. It will be repeated for the Berkeley Early Music Festival on June 8th at the Berkeley City Club.

The following evening, we will present a completely different set of music, the "Western Wind Mass" by Taverner, at the same location.

As seems to be rather typical of altos, I am currently experiencing some sort of sinus/ENT malady. For the longest time, I thought it was just me, but apparently, this is common among altos. We are prone to issues in this area. It would be great if someone in medical research did a study on it. Perhaps it's somehow connected to why it takes altos longer to warm up before singing.

Coro Ciconia Dates

"Trecento: The Earliest Flowers of Polyphony"

April 10th, 2010

7 pm

St Alban's Episcopal Church

Albany, CA

June 8th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

"Western Wind Mass"

June 9th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

Invited Back To Coro Ciconia

Well, it was a very busy concert season. My last post in November was the last time I really had an opportunity to devote any time to the blog endeavor. I couldn't believe that the performance season began so early for me this year. And that I was so terribly busy.

I have been invited back to sing with Coro Ciconia. It seems to be a good fit, thus far. My greatest appreciation for this group is their overt appreciation for having a real alto. Throughout my career, I have witnessed an enormous amount of dismissive attitude regarding altos and alto lines, in general. It has only been in rare circumstances that groups acknowledge the importance of this line and the importance of having a real alto singing it. The real kicker is that most of the time when acknowledgment is given, the alto line and singing voice is only given any real recognition when a man is is singing it.

Coro Ciconia's next concert is on Sunday April 11th; a mere 12 weeks away. I have already received 10 of the pieces. I think there will be about 16 of them. We will be singing Ciconia, of course, along with Jocopo, Landini, Firenze, and other 14th century Tuscan composers.

We will reprise the concert set a couple of times, in addition to a completely different concert program, for the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June. I am really looking forward to this experience.

Alto Pride

In polyphony of the Early Music periods, every line is important. Altos were featured greatly. Many of the lines in Early Music polyphony that are marked as soprano lines today, were actually alto lines. The re-labeling of these parts beginning to occur during the Classical era.

Once we entered into later periods, particularly starting in the Classical era, the alto line in choral music became more like what seems "an after thought" for many composers. Creating parts that are terribly boring, or conversely, alto lines that "fill in the gaps" of the chordal and/or rhythmic structure without having much of a line of their own, that verge on the unmusical. The "catch-all" line.

You know the joke: "Altos are just sopranos who can read."

Well, no.

Yes, there are a few modern composers who write real lines for us, but altos have never really regained their position in choral music in any kind of widespread way.

However, now, alto sections are littered with the remains of sopranos who have been "demoted" because they have lost their high notes, or who never trained to have any.

Yes. I said "demoted". That is the word I have heard used time and time again in regard to this common practise. It's negative propaganda. As if being an alto is somehow, a lesser position, rather than a voice type. And that negative propaganda has certainly led to that widespread mindset and perpetuation of "after thought" alto lines in compositions. And that propaganda has certainly effected the numbers of altos who are putting it out there.

I'm An Alto

A contralto, really. Not a mezzo. Not a soprano without a range. A real alto.

It's not so easy to be a true alto. Throughout my career I have encountered literally dozens of people who refuse to even use the word, as if mere utterance of the word itself would somehow cause the earth to open up and swallow them. I have had my bio changed after submission to read "mezzo soprano" in programs, countless times, for reasons that still elude me to this very day. The message has been sent time and time again, that for some reason, being an alto is wrong.

How can it be wrong? I am what I am.

As educated as most musicians are, it astounds me that so many think that the alto voice isn't actually a real voice type. Voice type isn't about range, it's about quality within a range. A soprano who has lost their top notes doesn't magically become an alto by virtue of a limited range. But this seems to be how this is viewed.

I have a 3 octave singing range. Not merely 3 octaves of notes I can voice. I am an alto. I am in the middle.

Altos are like air; we are mostly invisible and largely taken for granted. Sopranos and baritones covet our solo music.

It's not easy to be an alto. But it's absolutely wonderful.