Bay Choral Music eZine

Additionally, these youngsters are often more enthused and less jaded
than the average for-hire choir. They don’t get paid, yet they appear to
enjoy the experience more and invest a lot of themselves into the
organization. Sure,they don’t have to worry about department meetings or
picking up the kids up by 3, but such day to day issues that many pro
singers encounter should not affect the music. Rehearsals and
performances should be considered an opportunity for singers to get their
minds off of the rigors of the day job or the chaos that awaits so many at
home. Every engagement offers a release for pent up emotions and
creative energy, but more and more, that seems to be something the
college youngsters are embracing and the pros are dismissing.

Understandably, sometimes you’re just plain not in the mood to work your
voice and get your breath support to kick into high gear. You might be too
tired at days end to think as fast as the fugal sequences are flowing across
the page, but the lack of effort all too often shows in the music and affect
those around you. Your fellow singers don’t have as much fun, and the
audience is deprived of seeing your best possible performance. They only
get one chance to hear the music, but we get the opportunity to reinvent it
every time the conductor says, “Let’s take it from letter C.” There may not
be time to stop and perfect every chord, but there’s always the ability to
evoke your love of music in every note.

In short, too many professional choristers are reduced to simply going to a
gig and singing notes instead of applying their true musicianship and
digging in each time like some of today’s college singers. So it’s no
wonder U of Michigan vocalists won this year’s Grammy for Best Classical
Album, and it’s no wonder why I’ll be attending their concert in a few
weeks on a day that several notably good professional choirs are
performing. Don’t you think it’s refreshing to hear and see a concert that’s
the result of more than just getting together good voices for yet another
call? If you want to make music, you have to care about every note, every
song, and every call.

-Jonathon C. Hampton

NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED MEN’S CHOIR TO PERFORM IN SF

May 13th Program Features Choral Music Spanning the Ages

In a rare and exciting San Francisco appearance, the University of
Michigan Men’s Glee Club will present its unique sound and showmanship
in concert, Saturday, May 13th. Saint Ignatius Church, one of the city’s
most popular choral venues, will host Michigan. Their 8pm concert will
feature varying themed sets of repertoire.

The Glee Club’s selection of Psalms includes such works as Cantate
Domino by Hans Leo Hassler and Schubert’s Gott Meine Zuversicht. The
singers will tell Tales through the extensive and heartfelt masterpieces,
Tarantella by Randall Thompson, and Britten’s The Ballad of Little
Musgrave. The men of Michigan have also prepared a special West Coast
set of music with pieces by local artists Ron Jeffers, Richard Nance, and
Chanticleer’s Joseph Jennings. Spirit comes alive with vibrant gospel
pieces, followed by ever-popular Michigan Songs that bring back college
days gone by.

The Friars, an a capella subset of the Glee Club, will also perform several
popular music pieces displaying their distinctive brand of humor and
musicianship.

Since 1859, the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club has represented
their school in song, both on campus and abroad. The Glee Club has won
four first-place victories at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales,
and in recent years has performed for audiences from Carnegie Hall to
Europe. The 55 graduate and undergraduate singers represent a cross-
section of all academic programs at the university. Though most are not
music majors, they all sing at a level of musicianship that marks them as
one of the finest collegiate choirs in the country.

Tickets for the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club concert are
available at the door from $10-$15 or visit www.ummgc.org. Saturday, May
13th, 8pm, St. Ignatius Church, 650 Parker Ave. in the Inner-Richmond
district.

-Ben Saukas

SINGING TO MYSELF

The series about a struggling musician, his landing in the Bay Area, his
trials and tribulations aspiring success, and his young humor about it all.
After graduating from a prestigious Midwest music school as a promising
Tenor vocalist, I did what most 22 year olds do fresh out of college - I
moved back in with my parents. There I was in Podunk, Midwest,
reviewing my half-assed application to business school, singing to myself,
when a certain choir conductor/friend called me up. He said, "The only
thing you'll learn in business school is why you're not making it as a
musician. Come out to California, and we'll find a way for you to make a
living doing music."

I arrived with one suitcase, a book-bag, my guitar, and the remains of my
daily train rations: generic peanut butter, squeezable jelly, and generic
Pop-Tarts. I hadn't shaved or showered in three days, and I could smell a
stench that was certainly my own; it wasn't the picture perfect arrival
considering that the cold rain provided my only sense of cleanliness.

Nothing was as romantic as I had hoped. There was no adventure in the
way my life’s plans were manifested. Using the internet and my cell phone,
I was able to line up job interviews, a church singing job, a coffee shop
singing/songwriting gig, and a hot date. Ultimately, the job interviews fell
through, the church and coffee shop gigs worked out, and my hot date
turned out to be a man. Hey, if you're gonna’ live in the bay area, you
gotta’try being gay at least once. Maybe twice. But any more would strip
me of my bragging rights for being a straight singer. Any good-looking
gay singers out there wanna’ hang out? Email me at
theonlystraightsinger@sanfrancisco.com

Anyhoo, if you're a half-decent tenor who can sight-read, you can make it
in the Bay Area. Referrals get around quickly if a director likes your voice
and you're reliable. I just pray every night that a Tenor somewhere gets
sick and needs a sub, or that somebody who dies wants a choir at their
funeral. Between my steady church singing job, random choral and
acoustic gigs, and working for a temp agency, I've been able to scrounge
up a semi-decent living.

So here I am, 23 years old, four months living in the Bay and sorta’ making
it as a professional singer. But it's not as glamorous as I've clearly made it
out to be. A friend just invited me out to hit on some hot women, and
though I'd love to go cruising, I have to go to church and sing tomorrow
morning. It turns out your weekend nights are only free if you don't have to
sing the next day. If you're fortunate as a singer and have steady work, you
don't have the privilege of being able to drink your inhibitions away and hit
on loose women every weekend. I'm a loser, and I have no ability to hit on
women unless I'm nearly passed-out drunk, so this singing life makes
things a lot sharper on both edges of the sword. And that's why I'm here
spending every Saturday evening at home, singing to myself.

-Call Me, Ismael