MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic Day 1, Part 2

Part 1 of this thread of consciousness was posted here.

During the 2:15-3:15 session period on Thursday, 12 February 2015, I went across to Central Lutheran Church where the choral performances are held.  The Mound Westonka High School Choir under the direction of Kate Larson was the first choir to perform.  Ms. Larson is the 2014 ACDA-MN Young Director of the Year, and she has created an outstanding program at Mound Westonka during the past 8 years.  Not only do I enjoy the sound this ensemble creates for a high school group, Ms. Larson utilizes very inventive programming ranging through a variety of cultures, time periods, and styles.

The Mound Westonka Program...

• "Alleluia Incantation" Andrew Miller (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
• "Cantate Domino" Claudio Monteverdi (CPDL)
• "Bobinom' Saintom'" arranged by Stephen Hatfield (earthsongs)
• "Good-Night" Matthew Emery (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
• "Fear Not" Daniel Schreiner (Santa Barbara Music Publishing)
• "Balleilakka" A. R. Rahman / arranged by Ethan Sperry (earthsongs)

Larson selected music predominantly from SBMP and earthsongs, two publishers I regularly trust due to the high quality of the repertoire that they put out.  Rarely, do I find pieces published by these two smaller companies lacking in musical quality.  When I am looking for new repertoire, these are the two websites I check first.  The repertoire was both a choral nerd's delight, and contains music that an audience will find entertaining and moving.

The second choral performance during the 2:15 session was the Willmar Senior High School Cardinal Choir under the direction of Neal Haugen.  Mr. Haugen has had a distinguished career as a vocal music educator at Willmar.  I appreciated the Cardinal Choir's vitality of sound, and the numerous genres represented in Mr. Haugen's programming.

The Willmar Program...

• "Hainerot Halalu" by Stanley Hoffman (ECS Publishing s492)
• "Ave Verum Corpus" by William Byrd (ECS Publishing 2976)
• "Evening Prayer" by Ola Gjeilo (Walton Music / GIA Publications WW1520)
• "Run to You" by Pentatonix (www.ptxfans.com/run-to-you)
• "I Can Tell the World" by Moses Hogan (Hal Leonard HL08703198)
• "One Day More" from Les Miserables, arranged by Mark Brymer (Hal Leonard HL0862112)
• "The Ground" by Ola Gjeilo (Walton Music / GIA Publications WW1460

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two selections, especially hearing the Byrd.  EC Schirmer is another publisher of quality choral repertoire who I trust and appreciate. Ola Gjeilo is arguably one of the most popular composers in the current repertoire and much of his work is published by Walton Music. Walton recently transferred over its distribution rights from Hal Leonard to GIA Music.  

The Pentatonix arrangement I did not find particularly interesting, which is unusual because I enjoy Pentatonix, and have followed them since their season on the Sing-Off.  Brymer's "One Day More" performance did not particularly move me either.  However, this is not a criticism of the programming of either piece.  These are pieces that will connect with the regular audience in our communities the most.  In the end, we as choral educators need to sell our programs to our audiences. By programming these pieces for the MMEA Conference performance, Mr. Haugen shared with his colleagues two pieces that have worked for him in that manner.  

I think programming like this is valuable to the membership from a community advocacy perspective.  Too often, I see choral directors at an ACDA or NAfME convention program to show off to his or her colleagues.  (On the flip side, I see and hear too many choir directors make snide comments about a choir's performance or a director's programming at a convention.)  I love the program Mr. Haugen showed in this instance, a complete combination of Ivory Tower programming and programming for the masses. 

Well done to both Kate Larson and Neal Haugen!