The Awakening

"The Awakening" by Joseph M. Martin
Performed by The Lee High School Men's Choir 



Wow. What a song.  There are some good men's pieces, there are some not so good men's pieces out there. This is something that has an incredible text, deeper meaning, and is able to give the listener chills.  This being said, I am a little put off by the lack of emotion that one can hear from the choir itself.  I am not going to try and analyze any physical emotion because the quality of the video doesn't allow for it.  Sound-wise, there doesn't seem to be much tempo or dynamic contrast as a group, or within parts.  The tempo could be the directors fault. there are some instances where it sounds like the group wants the piece to speed up (I think it should) but the conductor is just beating away. There are some chordal moments where the sound locks in, but when listened to individually, the group has a tendency to go flat and be behind the beat in many sections.  This seems to be a common trend with many of the men's choirs I have listened too. This most likely has to do with the tuning between the tenors and the basses.   There are some basses that should be singing baritone.  They seem to be just pushing for the lower notes, just as some of the tenors are reaching for some of the higher ones.  This makes me realize that especially within a men's group, the singers need to be comfortable with their voices, and singing on the correct part no matter what.

If I were to do this with a group, I would definitely play more with the tempo, omit the "silence" whispering portion, and add some word painting among other things. Despite my qualms, this is a very interesting piece that I would definitely use in the future.

African Noel - Brad Holmes

I found this particularly interesting.  A variation on the traditional Noel, this is "African Noel" by Brad Holmes performed by the 2009 Michigan State Honors Choir.  The song is from the Congo. It incorporates the "messengers" at the beginning of the piece that would shout or sing messages to the next village. The piece also involves movement with the music in a more obvious way than perhaps a traditional hymn.  The group tone is extremely full and round, without overdoing it. It stays true what I believe is stylistically appropriate.  Sometimes one can hear individual voices that have a bit of a nasal quality, but the sheer number of singers makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly where in the group they are coming from.  This also probably has to with the fact that the hall where they are performing (in Ann Arbor) is quite forgiving.  My only other qualm is the fact that there is a tenor sing "Pie Jesu!" right after the "Noel!" of the group that can't always be heard with great clarity. This is a great piece to do with a large group. If it were a smaller group, I don't quite think the amount of power would have quite been enough.  Listen until the end of the video. The director, Andre Thomas, has a great explanation of the dialect and the origin.

There Will Be Rest

-Marquette Senior High School Chamber Choir

28 Singers, Mixed Auditioned Group

I chose this because as a group, the blending and locking of chords is very good.  The phrasing is also phenomenal.  One particular spot of fluidity is at 2:03 where the women continue right into the next phrase. There are however some issues of blending within the sections, particularly in the altos and tenors.  This is particularly evident when it is either just the women, or just the men. I don't quite know how to classify the diction because I am familiar with the song, and it is not exactly the highest quality recording. In general, I think that the "st" sound was a bit much, but it may have been used for a separate reason.  It is easy to tell from the sound that most, if not all of the singers (and conductor) are emotionally invested in the piece and have reflected on the text.  I believe that this is a recording that I would play for my choir if I had the chance to perform this piece.