Many a 'Happy Birthday'

Well, Monday was my twenty-first birthday- a day for a lot of things, but it seemed to be dominated mainly by spontaneous choruses of "Happy Birthday".  I know you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "the intent is always nice but...musically? Happy birthday always is a little painful,"- wrong. Being a music major of course means being surrounded by musical people. Now, if you will, imagine 'happy birthday' being sung by a chorus of music majors. Much more pleasing to the ear- occasional harmonies thrown in, and of course, sung by people who are my friends.
     I have to say, each chorus of 'happy birthday' seemed to have a different function- though it was always being sung to me.  The first time was when I walked into my Harmony&Form IV class, completely unsuspecting, truly. En route to my seat, I hear a sort of piano intro, characteristic of 'happy birthday' and immediately began to become embarrassed- before I knew it, the whole class was singing to me (including my professor), accompanied by a fellow classmate, a nice way to start class before more discussion of twentieth century music :)
     'Happy birthday' round two: Choral Methods. At the start of one of my classmate's teaching episodes a friend of mine raises her hand: "Yes, Janice?" "CAN WE SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BECKY, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!"  Of course this results in another chorus of 'happy birthday' but this time, it was not as musical as you might think- despite taking place in choral methods. For piano proficiency, one of the things you have to do is play and harmonize happy birthday by ear; F is a good key to do this in.  What does happy birthday start on? Sol. (Or Do, if you prefer fixed Do.)  So my friend who is teaching plays an F on the piano- and the class takes this to mean 'this is your starting pitch'. I don't blame them, I probably would have as well. As imaginable, starting on F4 was kind of difficult for the choral methods class in terms of vocal range.  Regardless, it was nice.
     Round three: Conducting. I walk into conducting and immediately my professor wishes me a happy birthday.  At this point, I thought the outbursts of song were pretty much over, but I was wrong. One of my classmates eagerly: "can we sing happy birthday to Becky? Can we conduct it?!" My professor agreed. This was a perfect opportunity, as we have been discussing preps on different beats.  "Happy birthday is in three, starts on three, where's the pickup?" My classmate who asked to conduct this couldn't seem to get the inflections right, so it ended up being a teaching experience for all of us, and my professor (amazing conductor) ended up conducting our class. So great.
    Round four: Yes, the fourth time a chorus of 'happy birthday was sung to me, and possibly my favorite of all (no offense to the beautiful people of the music department). Bella Voce.
Bella Voce is an all women's choir that I sing in, (do check us out here!) and it just so happened that my birthday fell on a rehearsal night.  Although this meant I wouldn't be finished with my day until about 9:30PM, I knew there was a pretty good chance I would receive a lovely rendition of 'happy birthday'- and I was right.  One of my friends announced it was my birthday after she finished leading warm-ups and a collective 'WOOO!' sounded from the choir.  Right then and there I almost cried, because these women were genuinely excited for me.  Shirley one of our accompanists/choir members moved down to the piano and played a lovely flourish to lead the choir into and out of the most colorful, harmonious, and joyous renditions of 'happy birthday' I have had the pleasure of receiving; so much so that I had to hold back my tears of joy.  Never have I felt so accepted in a choir, and I fear I would not have such an immense appreciation for women's choral music and choral music in general were it not for Bella Voce- and I'll say right now this is not the last time I will write about this wonderful choir.
This post was not intended to be about my birthday, and I hope by now it has been perceived as a review of ways that 'happy birthday' can educate and influence.  I would certainly be remiss if I did not thank my wonderful family members for the various voice-mails and their own lovely renditions of 'happy birthday', as those will always be near, dear, and irreplaceable to me- regardless of musical quality.

Happy reading,
Becky

"An Evening of Song"

This evening I had the pleasure of attending An Evening of Art Song, a faculty recital given by David Neiweem, baritone; accompanied by David Feurzeig, piano and Alan Parshley, french horn. I was excited about this recital for a number of reasons. The first being- I had heard Dr. Neiweem sing a song or two in collective faculty recitals, and of course had heard vocal modeling from him, but I had never heard him sing a full recital- and generally speaking, when any faculty member gives a full recital it's bound to be enlightening, so why not go and hear some good music for free? Secondly, Dr. Neiweem has quite an earnest love and appreciation for, and understanding of art songs, and (in my opinion) specifically Lieder. Lastly, as a vocalist, I was not about to pass up this opportunity to see one of my vocal influencers (if you will) perform.
     As soon as Neiweem walked on stage he had that 'air' of a performer- if you will.  As a student of voice, it is interesting to see him in a sense practice what he preached to all of us in various studio classes; and from an audience member's perspective, it really did make a difference- the immediate 'performer's air' he adopted while entering the stage. He carried himself with confidence and grace while wearing a welcoming smile.
Neiweem opened his recital with two Italian arias- pieces that -in genre- were separate from his art song 'theme'.  The first I recognized as an aria he had given to a former student and classmate of mine, and it really was a treat to see him perform this.  If I had to assign one term to this particular aria it would be agility.  It was interesting and educational for me to hear him execute all the fast moving notes with what seemed to be ease- though I know and appreciate how much work singing such an 'agile piece of music', as it were, takes.  Before continuing, I should say that throughout this performance I experienced a sort of inner struggle- and this seems to happen at every musical performance. Sure, I am there to enjoy the music, support the performers, and have a great musical experience, but it always seems that I can't "turn the teacher in me off", as they say.  So here I was, blessed to be at this wonderful performance, yet not able to fully immerse myself in the beauty of the performance itself-  continually noticing Neiweem's mouth-space, pronunciation, diction, posture- everything I am trained to be conscious of as a vocal performer, and as a music educator.
     Following you will find the program of his recital, a wonderful selection of songs which were all beautifully well done!

• Two Arias:
• Si, trai ceppi e le ritore (Berenice)
  Va tacito e nascosto (Julius Caesar in Egypt)
• Selected songs of Schubert:
• Wanderers Nachtlied (Goethe) 
  Wanderers Nachtlied II (Goethe) 
  Fischereise (von Schlechta) 
  Die Forelle (Schubert)
• Selected Songs of Carl Lowe
• Tom, der Reimer (scottish, adapted by fontane)
   Die wandelnde Glock (Goethe)
• Selected songs of Hugo Wolf:
• Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen (Italian Songbook) Der Musikant (Eichendorff)
• Selected songs of Ernest Chausson
• Les papillons (Gauthier) 
  La dernier feuille (Gauthier)
• Three settings of poems by Paul Verlaine (Fetes gallantes)
• Claire de Lune 
  Colloque sentimental 
  Mandoline

"All of us are made of many places"

     This past Friday evening I was graced by a wonderful soul, but kind of by a fluke.

My jazz improv professor had been raving about Meklit Hadero (see her website here) all week and how lucky we were to be able to see it at a reduced student rush ticket price. We were crazy not to go, he kept insisting.

So here I am Friday night, recuperating from eating at a dining hall- a place I try to avoid eating at. I sat down on a couch in the music building and started to think about doing my theory homework- yes, on a Friday night. I had decided that while I would have liked to go to the concert, I really shouldn't spend even the reduced price on a ticket. All of a sudden, this woman comes up to me and asks me if I need a ticket. Confused, I asked why she didn't want it for herself, this was great music, and she should hear it, after all, she had the ticket! "Oh, I am going- I just bought this ticket for one of my daughters who can't attend, and I wouldn't want it to go to waste, I'd love for you to see this concert," she explained to me.  I couldn't believe this wonderful soul, giving me a ticket for free which she had purchased at general admission price. World/ jazz music? Of course I'd see it! 

   Meklit was a lovely Ghanian girl, bubbly and kind- the kind of person you are just drawn to.  Some great quotes from her biography inside the program:

"I've always felt at home with movement"

and

"All of us are made of many places."

That was a pretty good clue as to how the show was going to be for me, and it served to be true. Incorporating her roots into her music, dancing as if she's really feeling the music, and not worried about what she looks like to the audience, having what seems to be the time of her life...this is what I am seeing when I watch this musician interacting with her band-comprised by the way of drum kit, upright bass, and trumpet. Meeklit is playing acoustic guitar and singing.

  Inside the program I was unable to find song titles or an order of the performance, but instead was met with "tonight's program will be announced from the stage". While I was expecting there to be a program of song titles and orders, this made me kind of excited as well- wondering what was coming next instead of reading a title and forming an idea of what the song would be like based off of it's title before hearing it. 

     I really liked that Meklit let her personality shine through the performance. She interacted with the audience, telling us short little stories, including quirky little side comments, and really, just having a ball.  Before intermission she introduced us to the idea of the star guitar, a project she had been working on with a scientist at NASA. (Bear with me as I try to explain this idea, and know it will probably not do justice...)

     You know that twinkling you see when you look up at a star? That twinkling is actually sound waves, and each and every star has a different sound, a different pulse. This scientist at NASA has duplicated the frequencies of these pulses of the stars to a frequency that is audible by the human ear! With her guitar and the stars, Meklit played a truly mesmerizing piece- and gave the audience a taste of the universe as well. Music truly is everywhere.

     One of the most connected moments I felt was at the end of the show when Meklit asked us-the audience- to sing with her. She taught us a simple melodic pattern which we were to sing on 'oh'.  This particular audience sing-along was so special to me. It felt as though everyone was wrapped into Meklit's song, and this was how we could all be in the same place at the same time- through her music. 

   I realize this post isn't particularly eloquent, but I'm not sure if I know how to properly put into words the experience I had at this show, and with this girl. I do know that I surely wish I had the money on me to buy her CD at the concert, but I think I may order it online!

I will leave you readers with this in case nothing else I have said has managed to speak to you about this wonderful soul:

“You may not have heard Meklit Hadero’s music before, but once you do, it’ll be tough to forget. Hadero’s sound is a unique blend of jazz, Ethiopia, the San Francisco art scene and visceral poetry; it paints pictures in your head as you listen.”- NPR’s Tell Me More   

And do check out her website!

Happy reading,

Becky