Topic: Learning Music
School music programs include all students, although the performance groups, like church choirs, may be restricted to those who can carry a tune in a recognizable key. They are very much descendants of the congregational Anglo-Scots Reformation tradition that was reinforced in schools by the requirement for democratic participation.
As mentioned in the post for 11 September 2017, church singing was done by professionals prior to Henry VIII. In the mid-nineteenth century a group at Oxford [1] began pressing for the reinstatement of parts of the liturgy lost in the Anglican church during the Commonwealth that lasted until 1660. [2] This occurred at the same time as a secular revival of earlier music forms, some of which had used boys’ treble voices. [3]
In this country the introduction of boys’ choirs coincided with a greater separation between the congregation and the choir that had begun with Charles Finney. His criticisms of congregation singing had arisen, in part, from his being a listener, rather than a participant. [4] As congregations became accustomed to being audiences, their demands for musical perfection increased. By the end of the nineteenth century, wealthy Episcopal churches were hiring professional singers like Harry Burleigh to sing in their services. [5]
The short-lived interest in boys’ choirs was reignited in the 1950s when the Vienna Boys Choir began touring this country and, more important, appeared on Ed Sullivan’s television program. [6] The American Boys Choir copied its program and established a boarding school where members were trained, [7] much as they had been before the Reformation.
By 2000, such exclusively-male organizations were being criticized because they were all male, and more important, because they attracted predators as leaders and members. In Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Larry Cooper created a more American choir that was an extra-curricular activity like a local theater or dance company. Parents paid an annual fee, children attended early-evening rehearsals once a week, and the co-directors were a married couple. [8]
Ironically, the group’s performance of "Kumbaya" included more obvious mistakes than the ones by the Grant Elementary and Buds of Promise choirs. [9] In one place, a boy with a dominant voice sang the wrong words; in another, a younger boy sang a wrong note in a chord.
This was not because the arrangement by Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck was more challenging. The choir began singing "kumbaya" in parallel octaves, then divided on two verses (humming, singing) with one group singing the melody and the other humming or crooning "doo." This was followed by most singing the shouting verse, and the deeper voices joining on "kumbaya." The last verse, praying, was softer than the others.
This was a simplification of the original arrangement, which had the higher voices sing the melody for shouting, and some lower voices sing kumbaya against the tune and others sing it during the rests. [10] For dancing, different vocal groupings of voices sang the melody and rhythm. Weeping was sung in parallel octaves, and praying had the lower voices sustaining "bom" in parallel fifths.
Conductors always make aesthetic decisions. In this case, some in Scottsbluff may have been responses to the inabilities of the youngest boys to sing anything more complex than a hum as a countermelody or rhythm. Other choices, like dropping the dancing and weeping verses, may have been acknowledgments of what was considered appropriate material for boys and, with dancing, a capitulation to the conservative views of some parents.
A different type of decision was made in adding an introduction and conclusion that featured a trio of younger boys. It was not obvious if they were singing chords or if the timbres of their voices did not blend. Whether or not they were too young to be trained to sing together precisely, the directors no doubt had been taught that the skill was beyond the capacity of the average boy.
This signified the importance of culture. In England, boys selected to sing in choirs were assumed to be extraordinarily talented and capable of greater work than other children. The Scottsbluff directors were trained to teach in public schools, and may never have been exposed to the disciplines of European boy choirs.
Probably more important than culture was the size of the pool of available talent. Scottsbluff may have been the largest settlement in its part of western Nebraska in 2010, but it only had 15,039 people [11] in a county that numbered 37,000 residents. Excluding women, that meant there were 3,234 boys between the ages of 6 and 18 of whom about two-thirds or 2,166 were eligible for auditions in the county and 1,033 in the town in 2010. [12, 13]
Cooper’s intentions were different than those of English music professionals. When he was ten-years-old, he had been asked to join a group of forty boys preparing a Christmas program. He wrote:
"I remember very little about the actual performances but I do remember the joy of practicing a piece of music, as a group, and over time learning the harmonies and understanding the phrasing. After the piece was perfected there was great satisfaction singing with the group and listening to what we had created. That feeling never goes away!
"The lessons a young boy learns while working with other young boys to accomplish what seems impossible will last a lifetime!" [14]
Performers
Soloist: Alex Backus
Vocal Trio: Alex Backus, Destin Egan, Zachary Wharton
Vocal Accompaniment: eleven boys
Vocal Group Conductor: man
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Choir
arr. Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck
Sheet Music
Traditional/arr Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck 2010
© by Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck, 2010
Released into the Choral Public Domain Library
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: all syllables in kumbaya were given equal emphasis, with the last sustained longer
Verses: kumbaya, humming, singing, shouting, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Format: 7 verse song
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxxxA
Line Meter: trochaic
Line Length: 8 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature:
Sheet Music: 3/4
Tempo: moderate
Key Signature:
Sheet Music: two sharps
Vocal Parts:
Choir: three parts for preadolescent male voices
Sheet Music: SATB
Basic Structure: small group or ensemble supported by larger group
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for Lord in last line; one person trilled "by" in kumbaya one time.
Group Style: unison, chordal harmony
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: a piano played the first three notes before they began. It was not obvious if they needed it to set the pitch, or if it was part of the ritual of a capella singing. After the trio introduction, the piano played so softly it barely was heard.
Notes on Performance
Occasion: spring concert, 2015.
Location: Saint Agnes Roman Catholic church, Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The younger boys stood on the floor in front of the steps into the sanctuary. The older ones stood on the platform. A carpet was laid over the tile floor in the central aisle to absorb any sound.
Microphones: one floor mike for trio; two standing overhead microphones for choir
Clothing: white shirts with logo patch on left pocket, black slacks, and maroon stripped ties
Notes on Movement
The boys stood erect with their arms at their sides. The choir’s handbook gave precise instructions for proper carriage. [15] When the three boys in the trio stepped forward to the microphone, the other boys adjusted their positions. The boys stepped away from the mike after their solo, and returned to it only for the ending trio passage.
The director used both hands to conduct. The right marked the beat. The left often pointed to individuals or groups who had featured parts.
At the end, he stepped toward the group, turned and gestured toward them. The boys did not bow.
Communication between the boys during the performance was physical. When one boy did not move to his location after the trio stepped forward, the boy next to him touched his arm. I could not see how the older boy learned he was singing the wrong verse. The boy next to him may have whispered to him, the director may have glared, or he may have heard the others.
Notes on Audience
The audience sat still during the performance and applauded at the end.
Notes on Performers
Scottsbluff was a farming community since it was founded near the railroad tracks in 1899. The introduction of diesel pumps for irrigation made sugar beets profitable. Immigrants from Russia, Germany, and Japan did most of the work. After the restrictive immigration law of 1924, Mexican laborers took their places in the local sugar refining plant. [16] The community was still predominantly white, with most of the current immigrants speaking Spanish. [17]
Cooper was raised in Scottsbluff where he studied engineering at Western Nebraska Community College. [18] He made his living as a product distributor. [19]
The directors were Alyssa and Scott Harvey. They both graduated from Northwest Missouri State University, and both had been active in musical productions since they were a children. Both taught vocal music before moving to Scottsbluff, where he was teaching in the local public schools. He originally was from Scottsbluff and they lived on his family’s farm. She attended the local Episcopal church. [20]
Schultz-Kokerbeck was educated in Hamburg, Germany, gymnasiums [21] where she sang and learned to play guitar and accordion. She earned a degree in computer science, but preferred to direct choirs. [22] Google Translate garbled her comments when it indicated she believed:
"As a choral conductor, it is important to the individual singers to show how much joy they can prepare to discover the facets of their own voice, thereby underlining the content of the choral pieces, thus conveying the listeners accordingly." [23]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Larry Cooper, 6 June 2015.
Sheet Music: "Kumbayah, My Lord." Uploaded to Scribd website by yannisyanni2; access required subscription.
End Notes
1. Oxford had supported the crown in the English Civil War. It was Cambridge that was aligned with Parliament and the Puritans.
2. Wikipedia. "Oxford Movement."
3. Percy M. Young. "Chorus §5: Later Developments." 4:356-357 in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan, 1980. 4:356-357.
4. For more on Finney, see the post for 3 September 2017.
5. Burleigh was mentioned in the post for 15 August 2017. He was a soloist for Saint George’s Episcopal church in New York City from 1894 until 1946. When some men on the hiring committee were concerned about his race, J. Pierpont Morgan cast the deciding vote. (Wikipedia. "Harry Burleigh.")
6. I could not find many details on their appearances of Sullivan’s shows, which I remember were heavily promoted at the time. I did find a reference to an appearance on the 22 March 1953 program (Imdb website), and another to 18 September 1955 (tv website).
7. Wikipedia. "American Boychoir School."
8. Fortis Boychoir website.
9. Grant Elementary school was discussed in the posting for 25 September 2017. The Buds of Promise choir of the Kyles AME Zion church was described in the post for 27 September 2017.
10. Unlike the Teresa Jennings arrangement used by Grant Elementary that had children sing "kumbaya" on one tone, this assigned three different tones to the word.
11. Wikipedia. "Scottsbluff, Nebraska."
12. United States Census Bureau. "Quick Facts: Scottsbluff County, Nebraska." Census website. Calculations were mine.
13. The website said any boy at least six-years-old could audition. He would be asked to sing a few exercises "to determine range" and prepare a short piece. ("Audition Form." Fortis Boychoir website.)
There was no maximum age, but the average age for boys’ voices to change today is 13.5 years. (Wikipedia. "Boy’s Choir.)
14. Larry Cooper. "My Story." Fortis Boychoir website.
15. Handbook for Parents and Choir Boys. Fortis Boychoir website. It also covered attendance, academic standards, lying, memorizing music, staying healthy, and not harming the voice.
16. "Scotts Bluff, Nebraska." National Park Service website.
17. Wikipedia, Scottsbluff.
18. "About Larry Cooper." Facebook.
19. "Breezes Favorable for Power." [Scottsbluff, Nebraska] Star Herald, 10 March 2009.
20. "The Fortis Boy Choir is PROUD to introduce your co-directors." Fortis Boychoir website.
21. "Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck." Stay Friends website.
22. "Sigrid Schultz-Kokerbeck." Preetzer Gesangvereins von 1869 website.
23. Preetzer Gesangvereins. The original was: "Als Chorleitung ist es Frau Schultz-Kokerbeck wichtig, den einzelnen Sängerinnen und Sängern zu zeigen, wieviel Freude es bereiten kann, die Facetten der eigenen Stimme zu entdecken, dadurch den Inhalt der gesungenen Chorstücke zu unterstreichen und so den Zuhörerinnen und Zuhörern entsprechend zu vermitteln."
Friday, September 29, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Kyles Temple AME Zion - Kumbaya
Topic: Learning Music
Churches are the second place where children sing in groups. Unlike schools, which segregate students by age, churches bring together people of all ages. Those choirs dominated by adults do not need to change their style or repertoire when children join, but children’s choirs are limited by the abilities of their youngest members. Thus, children in the one absorb music from exposure to those around them, while those in others learn their roles in communities.
The Buds of Promise choir of the Kyles Temple A.M.E. Zion church in Sacramento, California, included eleven people, ranging from one whose eyes were below the level of the lectern to twelve-year-olds. [1] Only three were girls, all among the tallest. They sang in unison, and there was no sound of any voice maturing with adolescence.
Their variant had been published by Zondervan in 1973. Instead of ending each line with "kumbaya," it asked the Lord to provide the "someone" with a specific gift. Thus, if "someone" was lonely, the song asked the Lord "to give him friends." This effectively changed the song from "Come by Here’s" request for the Holy Ghost to materialize into a prayer.
The editors said the source was "unknown." However, one of them, Don Wyrtzen was the son of an evangelist who had founded youth camps for Word of Life, and was closely associated with Youth for Christ. [2] Before he was named Zondervan’s youth editor, he had been influenced by "the folk music trend of the sixties," according to Jim Ruark. [3] He probably heard the song, and may have standardized the verse format.
The Buds version used the "somebody" of "Come by Here," instead of Zondervan’s "someone." They also made clear "somebody" referred to people in general, when they used the pronoun "them" in the second parts of the lines.
Their lyrics shared two verses with the published version. Another was the "Kumbaya" crying verse with "give them peace" in place of the refrain. Zondervan used that request with "someone’s fighting." The children substituted "come by here" in the praying stanza. Their "somebody loves you" was unique to them.
Before they began, a piano played the melody through once, with a drum accompaniment, to set the pitch and pace. The instruments continued while they sang, without pauses between the verses. Even the youngest seemed to have learned all the words.
Performers
Vocal Group Conductor: unidentified woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set
Credit or Credits
Sheet Music
Source: unknown
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom-BY-yah, with short "kum," long "ya," and accented "by"
Verses: kumbaya, loves you, crying, hating, doubting, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody, them
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Format: 8 verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxxxxA
Line Meter: iambic
Line Length: 9 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: group singing in unison
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Notes on Performance
Location: the children were standing in front of a maroon curtain that served as a communion rail hiding the altar. They were in the raised area next to the lectern at stage left (right to the audience).
Microphones: none
Clothing: green and white are the Buds of Promise colors. The girls, and some of the boys, were wearing apple-green robes. The other boys wore green vests with white shirts and black trousers. The conductor was wearing a green smock.
Notes on Movement
The children stood in two rows, arrayed by height. They stood as still as children their age can. The youngest swivelled from side to side. The others touched their hair or other parts of the bodies, especially when the piano was playing and they were not singing.
The conductor used both arms symmetrically, but stood in place.
Notes on Audience
One man from somewhere behind the microphone started making comments about half way through, usually between verses. The rest of the audience sat still, and applauded at the end.
Notes on Performers
Kyles Temple was founded in Sacramento in 1916 by Thomas Allen Harvey. At the time this was uploaded, the pastor was Gloria Clemons-White. [4] Most of the 383 registered members in 2007 had lived their entire lives in Sacramento. [5]
Lynwood Washington Kyles was the AME Zion bishop assigned to the west coast from 1916 to 1924. [6]
Buds of Promise was organized in 1904 by Marie Clay Clinton for the Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society. She was raised in Huntsville, Alabama, but then was living in North Carolina where her husband was a church bishop. [7]
Don Wyrtzen was raised in New Jersey, and graduated from the Moody Bible Institute. He furthered his studies at the Dallas Theological Seminary, where he remembered, "most theologians don’t know a lot about music, and most musicians don’t know much about theology and doctrine." Phil Anderson added, "his background, in which the two areas of study came together, helped him formulate songs that were not only musically solid, but biblically sound, as well." [8]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Kyles Temple AME Zion Church, 23 February 2016.
Sheet Music: "O Lord!" 89 in Hymnal for Contemporary Christians. Compiled by Norman Johnson and Don Wyrtzen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Corporation, 1976.
End Notes
1. Buds of Promise is the AME Zion program for children from 1 to 12 years.
2. Wikipedia. "Jack Wyrtzen."
3. Jim Ruark. The House of Zondervan. Nashville: Harper Collins Christian Publishing, Inc., 2006. 147.
4. Kyles Temple AME Zion Church, 101st Anniversary Program. 21 May 2017.
5. Dale Nelson. "Oak Park Church Rolls into Future." Sacramento News and Review website, 4 August 2007. The membership, no doubt, increased in the past decade.
6. "Kyles, Lynwood Westinghouse." In Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Edited by Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, and Gary L. Ward. Abington-on-Thames: Routledge, 2013 edition.
7. "Mrs. Marie Louise Clay Clinton." In Program for Marie L. Clinton Day, 24 January 2016. Prepared by Cynthia L. Revels-Young and Sandra L. Gadson. Charlotte, North Carolina: Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society.
8. Phil Anderson. "The Poet of the Piano: At 74, Don Wyrtzen Still Making Christian Music." The Topeka Capitol-Journal website, 19 May 2017.
Churches are the second place where children sing in groups. Unlike schools, which segregate students by age, churches bring together people of all ages. Those choirs dominated by adults do not need to change their style or repertoire when children join, but children’s choirs are limited by the abilities of their youngest members. Thus, children in the one absorb music from exposure to those around them, while those in others learn their roles in communities.
The Buds of Promise choir of the Kyles Temple A.M.E. Zion church in Sacramento, California, included eleven people, ranging from one whose eyes were below the level of the lectern to twelve-year-olds. [1] Only three were girls, all among the tallest. They sang in unison, and there was no sound of any voice maturing with adolescence.
Their variant had been published by Zondervan in 1973. Instead of ending each line with "kumbaya," it asked the Lord to provide the "someone" with a specific gift. Thus, if "someone" was lonely, the song asked the Lord "to give him friends." This effectively changed the song from "Come by Here’s" request for the Holy Ghost to materialize into a prayer.
The editors said the source was "unknown." However, one of them, Don Wyrtzen was the son of an evangelist who had founded youth camps for Word of Life, and was closely associated with Youth for Christ. [2] Before he was named Zondervan’s youth editor, he had been influenced by "the folk music trend of the sixties," according to Jim Ruark. [3] He probably heard the song, and may have standardized the verse format.
The Buds version used the "somebody" of "Come by Here," instead of Zondervan’s "someone." They also made clear "somebody" referred to people in general, when they used the pronoun "them" in the second parts of the lines.
Their lyrics shared two verses with the published version. Another was the "Kumbaya" crying verse with "give them peace" in place of the refrain. Zondervan used that request with "someone’s fighting." The children substituted "come by here" in the praying stanza. Their "somebody loves you" was unique to them.
Before they began, a piano played the melody through once, with a drum accompaniment, to set the pitch and pace. The instruments continued while they sang, without pauses between the verses. Even the youngest seemed to have learned all the words.
Performers
Vocal Group Conductor: unidentified woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set
Credit or Credits
Sheet Music
Source: unknown
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom-BY-yah, with short "kum," long "ya," and accented "by"
Verses: kumbaya, loves you, crying, hating, doubting, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody, them
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Format: 8 verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxxxxA
Line Meter: iambic
Line Length: 9 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: group singing in unison
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Notes on Performance
Location: the children were standing in front of a maroon curtain that served as a communion rail hiding the altar. They were in the raised area next to the lectern at stage left (right to the audience).
Microphones: none
Clothing: green and white are the Buds of Promise colors. The girls, and some of the boys, were wearing apple-green robes. The other boys wore green vests with white shirts and black trousers. The conductor was wearing a green smock.
Notes on Movement
The children stood in two rows, arrayed by height. They stood as still as children their age can. The youngest swivelled from side to side. The others touched their hair or other parts of the bodies, especially when the piano was playing and they were not singing.
The conductor used both arms symmetrically, but stood in place.
Notes on Audience
One man from somewhere behind the microphone started making comments about half way through, usually between verses. The rest of the audience sat still, and applauded at the end.
Notes on Performers
Kyles Temple was founded in Sacramento in 1916 by Thomas Allen Harvey. At the time this was uploaded, the pastor was Gloria Clemons-White. [4] Most of the 383 registered members in 2007 had lived their entire lives in Sacramento. [5]
Lynwood Washington Kyles was the AME Zion bishop assigned to the west coast from 1916 to 1924. [6]
Buds of Promise was organized in 1904 by Marie Clay Clinton for the Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society. She was raised in Huntsville, Alabama, but then was living in North Carolina where her husband was a church bishop. [7]
Don Wyrtzen was raised in New Jersey, and graduated from the Moody Bible Institute. He furthered his studies at the Dallas Theological Seminary, where he remembered, "most theologians don’t know a lot about music, and most musicians don’t know much about theology and doctrine." Phil Anderson added, "his background, in which the two areas of study came together, helped him formulate songs that were not only musically solid, but biblically sound, as well." [8]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Kyles Temple AME Zion Church, 23 February 2016.
Sheet Music: "O Lord!" 89 in Hymnal for Contemporary Christians. Compiled by Norman Johnson and Don Wyrtzen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Corporation, 1976.
End Notes
1. Buds of Promise is the AME Zion program for children from 1 to 12 years.
2. Wikipedia. "Jack Wyrtzen."
3. Jim Ruark. The House of Zondervan. Nashville: Harper Collins Christian Publishing, Inc., 2006. 147.
4. Kyles Temple AME Zion Church, 101st Anniversary Program. 21 May 2017.
5. Dale Nelson. "Oak Park Church Rolls into Future." Sacramento News and Review website, 4 August 2007. The membership, no doubt, increased in the past decade.
6. "Kyles, Lynwood Westinghouse." In Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Edited by Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, and Gary L. Ward. Abington-on-Thames: Routledge, 2013 edition.
7. "Mrs. Marie Louise Clay Clinton." In Program for Marie L. Clinton Day, 24 January 2016. Prepared by Cynthia L. Revels-Young and Sandra L. Gadson. Charlotte, North Carolina: Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society.
8. Phil Anderson. "The Poet of the Piano: At 74, Don Wyrtzen Still Making Christian Music." The Topeka Capitol-Journal website, 19 May 2017.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Grant Elementary School - Kumbaya
Topic: Learning Music
Every reform in Anglo-Scots Protestant music has been prefaced by comments that congregations were not singing because they were bored. Isaac Watts responded with psalms shorn of alien Old Testament references, [1] John Wesley thought churches needed to improve their song-leading methods, [2] and Thomas Hastings believed singers needed better training in public schools. [3] In the 1960s, people complained about the irrelevance of school music programs.
The Grant Elementary School choir’s 2011 rendition of "Kumbaya" indicated music publishers had responded. Teresa Jenning’s arrangement came with tapes so students could hear and sing along with their parts. The sheet music was intended for the instructor.
The publisher also suggested the "lively African style" arrangement could be used for Black History Month. While most schools now include African-American history in their curriculum, Grant’s students had different interests. It was located in the Little Armenia district of East Hollywood were Armenians had begun moving in the 1940s when the Japanese were removed. [4] After the elimination of immigration quotas in 1965, [5] Asian and Hispanic immigrants moved into the area because there were no restrictive covenants. [6] At the time the choir was singing, pupils in the school spoke more than twenty languages. [7]
The choir was composed of older students who stood on risers with their arms at their sides. The school had two classes of fifth and sixth graders, and they probably were the singers. Younger children have problems with the recognition of variations in tunes that is necessary to singing parts, [8] but have no problem hearing them as generalized sounds. The audience of younger students sat on the gymnasium floor for the Freedom Day assembly, did not grow restive during the singing, and applauded at the end.
The ability to sing harmony comes later, after children have developed new skills in listening that occur around the age of eleven or twelve. [9] Arnold Gesell found a twelve-year-old was the one who "especially enjoys singing in harmony." [10]
Jennings’ arrangement used three groups who did not need to heed each other: one sang the melody and two rhythm. A teacher faced with all the aptitudes found in a public school could put those able to remember a text and tune into the one group, and the rest into the groups who intoned fewer words on a single note. They only needed to conform on timing. Variations in tempo was something they had mastered when they were eight-years-old. [11]
However, the rhythmic parts were alien. Jennings dictated kumbaya be sung as three even eighth notes followed by a rest. She hoped having one group sing the pattern, followed by the other would create a "rollicking African triplet feel." Instead, the students converted the XXXx triplets into XxXx by emphasizing the first and third syllables of "kumbaya." This turned what should have been a simple form of polyrhythm into a chant.
The danger with dividing groups into melody and rhythm is girls usually sing the one and boys get bored doing the other. The Grant music teacher avoided such gender distinctions. The choir stood on risers placed into a U formation, with boys and girls mixed in each section. In addition to black tops and jeans they wore cerise or chartreuse scarves. There was no gender or part coding in the scarves.
The arrangement came with a tape of African music that groups could use for an accompaniment. It included a "conga, udu, log drum, shekere, and shells, as well as djembe." Jennings warned that, if the chorus director did not use the tape, he or she would "need to give starting pitches and tempo." The Grant teacher played a few measures of the tape, then the groups began a capella.
Performers
Vocal Group Conductor: woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: sound track introduction
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
arr. Teresa Jennings
© 2006 Plank Road Publishing, Inc.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KOOM-by-YAH
Verses: kumbaya, walk with me, sing with me, come by here
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: me
Term for Deity: Lord used, but "oh" often substituted. The teachers’ notes cited guidelines from the Music Educators National Conference that indicated spirituals could be sung in public schools "solely within an educational context."
Special Terms: none
Format: 4 verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Line Meter: trochaic
Line Length: 8 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain, with the rhythm groups repeating the key words of the statement: "kumbaya" with that verse, "sing with me" with the second verse.
Notes on Music
Score
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: quarter note is 112 beats per minute
Key Signature: two sharps
Basic Structure: melody with vocal rhythm
Singing Style: One syllable to one note, except for "oh" and "Lord" in the last line. Each group sang in unison.
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Freedom Concert, 2011
Location: gymnasium with no strong echoes
Microphones: none
Notes on Movement
The white director stood in front of the students and used her right arm to conduct. She did not move from her position, except to manage the tape recorder.
Viewers’ Perceptions
One parent commented: "my daughter is one of the singers .i am going to tell ever one to watch all of the videos that grant has . BEST I EVER SEEN!" [12]
Notes on Performers
Lisa Smith uploaded the tape with the implication she was the music teacher. In 2017, a woman with that name was teaching at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood where her pupils were enthusiastic about music classes. [13] She had studied at Brigham Young University and California State University, Northridge. [14]
Both Jennings’ parents were college-trained musicians. Her father, Donald Riggio, studied music at Murray State College in Kentucky and chaired the music department at West Virginia Institute of Technology. [15] Her mother, Suzanne Mouton Riggio, was raised in Bayou Teche, Louisiana. She received her first training at Louisiana State University, and later played French horn with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. [16]
Teresa learned oboe, but turned to composition and music education. She and her husband started Plank Road Publishing after their employer, Jenson Publications was sold to Hal Leonard. [17] It had specialized in "band and vocal arrangements for high schools, colleges, churches and choral groups." [18]
Her parents were Roman Catholics [19], and she believed "Kumbaya" symbolized "a desire for social change through peaceful means."
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Lisa Smith, 26 February 2011.
Sheet Music: Golden Rule website. Includes all the quoted comments.
End Notes
1. Isaac Watts. "Preface." Hymns and Spiritual Songs. London: J. Humfreys for John Lawrence, 1707. He observed "the dull Indifference, the negligent and the thoughtless Air that sits upon the Faces of a whole Assembly, while the Psalm is on their Lips."
2. John Wesley. "Directions for Singing." Select Hymns: with Tunes Annext. London: 1761. Reprinted in Martin V. Clarke. "John Wesley’s ‘Directions for Singing’: Methodist Hymnody as an Expression of Methodist Beliefs in Thought and Practice." Methodist History 47:196-209:2009. "[. . .] take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first." 197.
3. Thomas Hastings. Dissertation on Musical Taste. New York: Mason Brothers, 1853 edition. "few members of the congregation know enough to sing for the edification of others." 95.
4. Susan Park. "Iconic Neighborhood Restaurants: East Hollywood & Little Armenia." KCET-TV [Burbank, California] website.
5. Wikipedia. "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965."
6. Park.
7. "School History." Grant Elementary School website.
8. Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman. Musical Characteristics of Children. Washington: Music Educators National Conference, 1971. She found third-grade students, normally eight-years-old, usually could recognize a tune when it underwent some variations in form, like changing tempos. They could not perceive others, like changes in key.
9. Karl Wilson Gehrkens. Music in the Grade Schools. Boston, C. C. Birchard and Company, 1934. He considered the improved ability to listen fundamental to the ability to sing well. 89-90.
10. Arnold Gesell, Frances L. Ilg, and Louise Bates Ames. Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956. 133.
11. See quotation in #8.
12. Sam Arzumanyan. YouTube comment, 2011.
13. "Lisa Smith." Rate My Teachers website.
14. "Lisa Smith." LinkedIn website.
15. "Professor Exhibits His Paintings at Tech." [Charleston, West Virginia] Sunday Gazette-Mail, 13 November 1966. 49.
16. "Suzanne M. Riggio." Obituary. Posted by Schmidt and Bartelt funeral home, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 10 May 2016.
17. "About Teresa Jennings." Music K-8 website.
18. "Jenson Firms Now in Gotham." Billboard, 6 Septempter 1980. 32.
19. Jennings’ mother was buried by the Saint Mary’s Visitation Roman Catholic parish. See #16.
Every reform in Anglo-Scots Protestant music has been prefaced by comments that congregations were not singing because they were bored. Isaac Watts responded with psalms shorn of alien Old Testament references, [1] John Wesley thought churches needed to improve their song-leading methods, [2] and Thomas Hastings believed singers needed better training in public schools. [3] In the 1960s, people complained about the irrelevance of school music programs.
The Grant Elementary School choir’s 2011 rendition of "Kumbaya" indicated music publishers had responded. Teresa Jenning’s arrangement came with tapes so students could hear and sing along with their parts. The sheet music was intended for the instructor.
The publisher also suggested the "lively African style" arrangement could be used for Black History Month. While most schools now include African-American history in their curriculum, Grant’s students had different interests. It was located in the Little Armenia district of East Hollywood were Armenians had begun moving in the 1940s when the Japanese were removed. [4] After the elimination of immigration quotas in 1965, [5] Asian and Hispanic immigrants moved into the area because there were no restrictive covenants. [6] At the time the choir was singing, pupils in the school spoke more than twenty languages. [7]
The choir was composed of older students who stood on risers with their arms at their sides. The school had two classes of fifth and sixth graders, and they probably were the singers. Younger children have problems with the recognition of variations in tunes that is necessary to singing parts, [8] but have no problem hearing them as generalized sounds. The audience of younger students sat on the gymnasium floor for the Freedom Day assembly, did not grow restive during the singing, and applauded at the end.
The ability to sing harmony comes later, after children have developed new skills in listening that occur around the age of eleven or twelve. [9] Arnold Gesell found a twelve-year-old was the one who "especially enjoys singing in harmony." [10]
Jennings’ arrangement used three groups who did not need to heed each other: one sang the melody and two rhythm. A teacher faced with all the aptitudes found in a public school could put those able to remember a text and tune into the one group, and the rest into the groups who intoned fewer words on a single note. They only needed to conform on timing. Variations in tempo was something they had mastered when they were eight-years-old. [11]
However, the rhythmic parts were alien. Jennings dictated kumbaya be sung as three even eighth notes followed by a rest. She hoped having one group sing the pattern, followed by the other would create a "rollicking African triplet feel." Instead, the students converted the XXXx triplets into XxXx by emphasizing the first and third syllables of "kumbaya." This turned what should have been a simple form of polyrhythm into a chant.
The danger with dividing groups into melody and rhythm is girls usually sing the one and boys get bored doing the other. The Grant music teacher avoided such gender distinctions. The choir stood on risers placed into a U formation, with boys and girls mixed in each section. In addition to black tops and jeans they wore cerise or chartreuse scarves. There was no gender or part coding in the scarves.
The arrangement came with a tape of African music that groups could use for an accompaniment. It included a "conga, udu, log drum, shekere, and shells, as well as djembe." Jennings warned that, if the chorus director did not use the tape, he or she would "need to give starting pitches and tempo." The Grant teacher played a few measures of the tape, then the groups began a capella.
Performers
Vocal Group Conductor: woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: sound track introduction
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
arr. Teresa Jennings
© 2006 Plank Road Publishing, Inc.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KOOM-by-YAH
Verses: kumbaya, walk with me, sing with me, come by here
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: me
Term for Deity: Lord used, but "oh" often substituted. The teachers’ notes cited guidelines from the Music Educators National Conference that indicated spirituals could be sung in public schools "solely within an educational context."
Special Terms: none
Format: 4 verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Line Meter: trochaic
Line Length: 8 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain, with the rhythm groups repeating the key words of the statement: "kumbaya" with that verse, "sing with me" with the second verse.
Notes on Music
Score
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: quarter note is 112 beats per minute
Key Signature: two sharps
Basic Structure: melody with vocal rhythm
Singing Style: One syllable to one note, except for "oh" and "Lord" in the last line. Each group sang in unison.
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Freedom Concert, 2011
Location: gymnasium with no strong echoes
Microphones: none
Notes on Movement
The white director stood in front of the students and used her right arm to conduct. She did not move from her position, except to manage the tape recorder.
Viewers’ Perceptions
One parent commented: "my daughter is one of the singers .i am going to tell ever one to watch all of the videos that grant has . BEST I EVER SEEN!" [12]
Notes on Performers
Lisa Smith uploaded the tape with the implication she was the music teacher. In 2017, a woman with that name was teaching at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood where her pupils were enthusiastic about music classes. [13] She had studied at Brigham Young University and California State University, Northridge. [14]
Both Jennings’ parents were college-trained musicians. Her father, Donald Riggio, studied music at Murray State College in Kentucky and chaired the music department at West Virginia Institute of Technology. [15] Her mother, Suzanne Mouton Riggio, was raised in Bayou Teche, Louisiana. She received her first training at Louisiana State University, and later played French horn with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. [16]
Teresa learned oboe, but turned to composition and music education. She and her husband started Plank Road Publishing after their employer, Jenson Publications was sold to Hal Leonard. [17] It had specialized in "band and vocal arrangements for high schools, colleges, churches and choral groups." [18]
Her parents were Roman Catholics [19], and she believed "Kumbaya" symbolized "a desire for social change through peaceful means."
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Lisa Smith, 26 February 2011.
Sheet Music: Golden Rule website. Includes all the quoted comments.
End Notes
1. Isaac Watts. "Preface." Hymns and Spiritual Songs. London: J. Humfreys for John Lawrence, 1707. He observed "the dull Indifference, the negligent and the thoughtless Air that sits upon the Faces of a whole Assembly, while the Psalm is on their Lips."
2. John Wesley. "Directions for Singing." Select Hymns: with Tunes Annext. London: 1761. Reprinted in Martin V. Clarke. "John Wesley’s ‘Directions for Singing’: Methodist Hymnody as an Expression of Methodist Beliefs in Thought and Practice." Methodist History 47:196-209:2009. "[. . .] take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first." 197.
3. Thomas Hastings. Dissertation on Musical Taste. New York: Mason Brothers, 1853 edition. "few members of the congregation know enough to sing for the edification of others." 95.
4. Susan Park. "Iconic Neighborhood Restaurants: East Hollywood & Little Armenia." KCET-TV [Burbank, California] website.
5. Wikipedia. "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965."
6. Park.
7. "School History." Grant Elementary School website.
8. Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman. Musical Characteristics of Children. Washington: Music Educators National Conference, 1971. She found third-grade students, normally eight-years-old, usually could recognize a tune when it underwent some variations in form, like changing tempos. They could not perceive others, like changes in key.
9. Karl Wilson Gehrkens. Music in the Grade Schools. Boston, C. C. Birchard and Company, 1934. He considered the improved ability to listen fundamental to the ability to sing well. 89-90.
10. Arnold Gesell, Frances L. Ilg, and Louise Bates Ames. Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956. 133.
11. See quotation in #8.
12. Sam Arzumanyan. YouTube comment, 2011.
13. "Lisa Smith." Rate My Teachers website.
14. "Lisa Smith." LinkedIn website.
15. "Professor Exhibits His Paintings at Tech." [Charleston, West Virginia] Sunday Gazette-Mail, 13 November 1966. 49.
16. "Suzanne M. Riggio." Obituary. Posted by Schmidt and Bartelt funeral home, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 10 May 2016.
17. "About Teresa Jennings." Music K-8 website.
18. "Jenson Firms Now in Gotham." Billboard, 6 Septempter 1980. 32.
19. Jennings’ mother was buried by the Saint Mary’s Visitation Roman Catholic parish. See #16.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Voices Of Joy - Come By Here
Topic: Learning Music
The toddlers who watched the Voices of Joy in Moselle, Mississippi, in 2012 heard different vocal sounds than did the one in Steeple Ashton, England. The slightly older children absorbed different attitudes about music than did the two girls in the Wiltshire choir.
Darqueitta Cook said the Voices were singing at the The Gospel Upsetters 32nd anniversary. [1] There were enough people in the New Zion Missionary Baptist church pews for it to have been a concert, [2] but the five women were dressed informally in black skirts, bright colored tee-shirts, and running shoes.
The event was informal: people sat or stood or walked in the center and far aisles. No boundaries existed between them and the artists. Several women stood next to the soloist in the space between the front pews and the sanctuary with toddlers in their arms. Later, the soloist walked down the center aisle into the audience.
The video was made by someone standing next to the women with toddlers, probably with a telephone that had limited storage. It was filmed in two parts, with the end missing. The hand holding the camera was not always steady, so parts were blurred or jerky. The microphone picked up the three backup singers and the drummer who were on the right side of the church, but not the soloist or the other instrumentalists.
Toward the end of the first video, a young boy walked along the far aisle to stand by the empty front pew. A few seconds later he had advanced into the empty space and was bent at the waist to look more closely at the singers or musicians. In the second video two slightly taller children moved toward the center aisle on the left side to see better.
The voices they heard were poised between speaking and melodic singing. The backup singers were in their normal range, while the soloist used her upper register. More important than the way they sang were the ways they used pauses to establish a rhythm separate from that established by the drums. The soloist took a brief rest between "come by" and "here Lord." The trio did the same, but attacked "here" with greater force.
The toddlers then heard voices that were both melodic and rhythmic, and that used many tonal qualities in a wide range. Even when the three women sang harmony, the children heard distinct voices, not the submerged chord of Steeple Ashton. They saw women maintain their identities when they were members of groups supporting someone.
Performers
Soloist: woman
Vocal Accompaniment: three woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar and organ heard
Rhythm Accompaniment: woman playing drum set
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Verses: come by here, crying
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Verse Length: 4 lines
Line Meter: iambic
Line Length: 7 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: call-response and soloist supported by group
Singing Style
Solo: melismatic with great uses of pauses. Her voice was more harsh then melodic.
Group: chordal harmony. They voices were closer to the shout tradition than the melodic one.
Solo-Group Dynamics
Prelude: in the first video, the soloist sang the statement, and the group followed with the refrain.
Denouement: in the second video, the group repeated "Oh Lord." The soloist could not be heard because she had moved too far from the camera’s microphone. At the end, she moved back to the group and they sang "come by here" together."
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: a guitar made some sounds, followed by an organ. Once the drum began, they could only be heard between verses.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: drums set the pace for the women. The women’s phrasing created another rhythmic pattern.
Notes on Movement
As soon as the drums began, the backup singers may have begun shifting their weight from foot to foot. While they were singing, they held microphones in their right hands, and moved their left arms from the elbows. Toward the end, they moved closer to each other and put their arms around each other’s waists.
The soloist began with a mike in her right hand and a large white handkerchief in her left. Toward the end of the second verse she turned in different directions, and lifted her left arm high. At the end of the second video she returned to the trio, turned towards them, and took off her glasses. They she returned to the aisle, before coming back for the final line.
Notes on Audience
They began sitting in wooden bench pews. By the end, many who were on the left side of the church had moved toward the aisle where they stood. Some were dressed in suits or dresses, and others in slacks and casual tops. If any made responsive sounds or moved, they were not recorded by the camera.
Notes on Performers
Voices of Joy were middle-aged African-American women. The drummer was dressed like the rest of the members of the group. The other musicians never were seen.
The Gospel Upsetters who sponsored the event originally were from Chicago, but had moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Their manager was Ella Cook. [3]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded in two parts by Darqueitta Cook, 26 November 2012.
End Notes
1. They brought together local gospel groups for a two-day festival. Clara Ward’s mother held her first anniversary concert in 1934; I do not know if she was the first or the most famous, but she may have established a precedent for other groups. (Willa Ward-Royster. How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers. Told to Toni Rose. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 31.)
2. "The Gospel Upsetters 32nd Anniversary." All Events In Moselle website.
3. "About Gospel Upsetters." Facebook.
The toddlers who watched the Voices of Joy in Moselle, Mississippi, in 2012 heard different vocal sounds than did the one in Steeple Ashton, England. The slightly older children absorbed different attitudes about music than did the two girls in the Wiltshire choir.
Darqueitta Cook said the Voices were singing at the The Gospel Upsetters 32nd anniversary. [1] There were enough people in the New Zion Missionary Baptist church pews for it to have been a concert, [2] but the five women were dressed informally in black skirts, bright colored tee-shirts, and running shoes.
The event was informal: people sat or stood or walked in the center and far aisles. No boundaries existed between them and the artists. Several women stood next to the soloist in the space between the front pews and the sanctuary with toddlers in their arms. Later, the soloist walked down the center aisle into the audience.
The video was made by someone standing next to the women with toddlers, probably with a telephone that had limited storage. It was filmed in two parts, with the end missing. The hand holding the camera was not always steady, so parts were blurred or jerky. The microphone picked up the three backup singers and the drummer who were on the right side of the church, but not the soloist or the other instrumentalists.
Toward the end of the first video, a young boy walked along the far aisle to stand by the empty front pew. A few seconds later he had advanced into the empty space and was bent at the waist to look more closely at the singers or musicians. In the second video two slightly taller children moved toward the center aisle on the left side to see better.
The voices they heard were poised between speaking and melodic singing. The backup singers were in their normal range, while the soloist used her upper register. More important than the way they sang were the ways they used pauses to establish a rhythm separate from that established by the drums. The soloist took a brief rest between "come by" and "here Lord." The trio did the same, but attacked "here" with greater force.
The toddlers then heard voices that were both melodic and rhythmic, and that used many tonal qualities in a wide range. Even when the three women sang harmony, the children heard distinct voices, not the submerged chord of Steeple Ashton. They saw women maintain their identities when they were members of groups supporting someone.
Performers
Soloist: woman
Vocal Accompaniment: three woman
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar and organ heard
Rhythm Accompaniment: woman playing drum set
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Verses: come by here, crying
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Verse Length: 4 lines
Line Meter: iambic
Line Length: 7 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: call-response and soloist supported by group
Singing Style
Solo: melismatic with great uses of pauses. Her voice was more harsh then melodic.
Group: chordal harmony. They voices were closer to the shout tradition than the melodic one.
Solo-Group Dynamics
Prelude: in the first video, the soloist sang the statement, and the group followed with the refrain.
Denouement: in the second video, the group repeated "Oh Lord." The soloist could not be heard because she had moved too far from the camera’s microphone. At the end, she moved back to the group and they sang "come by here" together."
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: a guitar made some sounds, followed by an organ. Once the drum began, they could only be heard between verses.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: drums set the pace for the women. The women’s phrasing created another rhythmic pattern.
Notes on Movement
As soon as the drums began, the backup singers may have begun shifting their weight from foot to foot. While they were singing, they held microphones in their right hands, and moved their left arms from the elbows. Toward the end, they moved closer to each other and put their arms around each other’s waists.
The soloist began with a mike in her right hand and a large white handkerchief in her left. Toward the end of the second verse she turned in different directions, and lifted her left arm high. At the end of the second video she returned to the trio, turned towards them, and took off her glasses. They she returned to the aisle, before coming back for the final line.
Notes on Audience
They began sitting in wooden bench pews. By the end, many who were on the left side of the church had moved toward the aisle where they stood. Some were dressed in suits or dresses, and others in slacks and casual tops. If any made responsive sounds or moved, they were not recorded by the camera.
Notes on Performers
Voices of Joy were middle-aged African-American women. The drummer was dressed like the rest of the members of the group. The other musicians never were seen.
The Gospel Upsetters who sponsored the event originally were from Chicago, but had moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Their manager was Ella Cook. [3]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded in two parts by Darqueitta Cook, 26 November 2012.
End Notes
1. They brought together local gospel groups for a two-day festival. Clara Ward’s mother held her first anniversary concert in 1934; I do not know if she was the first or the most famous, but she may have established a precedent for other groups. (Willa Ward-Royster. How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers. Told to Toni Rose. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 31.)
2. "The Gospel Upsetters 32nd Anniversary." All Events In Moselle website.
3. "About Gospel Upsetters." Facebook.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Steeple Rocks - Kumbaya
Topic: Learning Music
Singing is a form of language that utilizes the same parts of the body. One’s vocal abilities are formed at the same time, because language is more than a collection of words bound together by grammar. The spoken word has a melodic range and arc, along with a cadence. It may be individuals begin to speak actual words [1] before they hum or sing syllables, [2] but at two months most are "capable of making all of the sounds of the vernacular," [3] plus a great many others "which, lacking social sanction, will never be crystallized into words." [4]
What matters most are infants’ exposure to sounds. Those who are taken into communal situations will hear more than those who are kept in the home. What they hear they accept, and possibly imitate.
The public places youngsters hear live music include concerts and churches. James Cleveland remembered, when he was young, his mother left him with his grandmother while she was working. The older woman took him to her choir rehearsals. [5] It was there, hearing Thomas Dorsey’s group in Chicago, that he absorbed the chorale aesthetics that formed the basis of his mature work.
Rehearsals are ideal places for the very young because people tend to be more tolerant than in concerts. A video of one by the Steeple Rocks choir in southwestern England in 2011 showed a mother with an infant girl. [6] You never saw more than the top of her head. From that you know she was old enough to sit in her mother’s lap, and young enough to get restive when she was not rocked.
What was not clear was if the woman deliberately moved to the rhythm of "Kumbaya" or if it was coincidence that she leaned to her left on the downbeats. The a capella choir emphasized harmony at the expense of other musical elements. Whatever emphasis syllables received came from the durations of the notes, not from the way they were articulated.
Even more important than the infant to the perpetuation of music in the community were the two middle-school-aged girls singing with the group of adults. They were not there because the arrangement required the special qualities of their voices, but because the group included men and woman on all ages.
In this particular selection, the group was more important than any individual. There were no solos. It was pure chordal harmony based on the Seeker’s recording. Each person was expected to blend into the whole. Unless you looked at the group, you would not know it contained at least five men or two young voices. The performance highlighted the voice, pure and simple, shorn of all individuality.
This style was derived from the modern revival of medieval and Renaissance music, which, in turn, drew on the English cathedral tradition. [7] The conductor of the Tallis Scholars told an interviewer, he had
"had a single sound in his head since he founded the group, ‘which I had got from listening to a mixture of choirs that were around at that time,’ he said, mentioning the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the Clerkes of Oxenford as two primary examples." [8]
It was "very clear and bright," and turned the choir into an instrument. [9] Gilbert Reaney argued there should be no vibrato or wavering, and "the tone of voice should be as smooth as the unvarying tone of a cornett." [10] Daniel Leech-Wilkinson went further, and said it was "abstract music, not expressive in any modern sense of the texts it set; it was characterized by clarity of harmony and texture." [11]
The words were clearly heard; it was still post-Reformation music. However, the variations in harmonic patterns were not tied to content. They did not occur between verses, but between lines within verses that repeated the same words.
In many ways it was a return to the time in an individual’s life when words had no concrete meanings, but were perceived as sounds that were associated with outcomes. That is, "ma ma" did not signify a particular person, but it brought the attention of that person. [12]
The young infant probably heard nothing to expand her repertoire, but the young girls learned other lessons. When they sang they were expected to stand erect and not move. Many in the front row dropped their arms and clasped their hands. The director, Adrienne Hale, also stood erect, using large gestures with her right hand to conduct. When she used both hands they moved symmetrically.
They had been well coached. While a few held music, there was no sign any turned pages. More important, everyone began together without anyone setting the pitch.
The choir was standing in a limestone Anglican church in the space in front of the pews and before the sanctuary. Hale did not exploit the acoustics of the building. She used sharp gestures to indicate everyone should end together, leaving no lingering sounds. A moment of silence marked the transition between verses.
Performers
Choir: I counted 20 adults, including at least five men, in addition to the two adolescent girls.
Conductor: Adrienne Hale
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-BYE-ya, with no strong emphasis
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: Someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: five verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxxA
Line Meter: trochaic
Line Length: 8 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Seekers
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with variations in harmony
Harmonic Structure: major chords, with some minor ones in later repetitions
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for "Lord" in the last line
Notes on Performance
Location: Anglican’s Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Steeple Ashton, Wilkshire, England.
Microphones: not used
Clothing: the choir members and director were dressed informally in slacks and tops.
Notes on Audience
Three people were visible in the audience, all sitting on the right side of the church. An older couple sat in front of the woman with the infant. None responded in any way to the music.
Notes on Performers
Hale studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and sang with the Scottish Opera [13] before moving to Bath in 2009 where she directed the City of Bath Bach Choir. [14] Since 2011 she had been teaching music in local schools and organizing choral groups. She formally organized Steeple Rocks in 2012, but this video was uploaded in December 2011. The amateur group met once a week. [15]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by choirconductor99, 17 December 2011.
End Notes
1. Arnold Gesell and Helen Thompson. Infant Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1934. He suggested "sixty-seven per cent of the children at 52 weeks and 86 per cent at 56 weeks uttered two words." He also noted another researcher found children of professionals had larger vocabularies. 251.
2. Gesell observed humming at 18 months. 254.
3. Gesell. 251.
4. Gesell. 288-289.
5. Kathryn B. Kemp. "Cleveland, James." American National Biography Online website.
6. I am assuming the infant was a girl because it was wearing a pink knit cap and what looked like a pink blanket was spread on the back of a pew across the aisle.
7. Todd M. McComb. "Medieval Perspectives: Sounds of Voices." Medieval Music and Arts Foundation website. 28 August 2001; last updated 16 August 2004.
8. Stephen Raskauskas. "The Secrets to Heavenly Singing from Peter Phillips, Conductor and Founder of the Tallis Scholars." WFMT-radio Chicago website, 5 April 2016.
9. Raskauskas.
10. Gilbert Reaney. Quoted by Daniel Leech-Wilkinson. The Modern Invention of Medieval Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 131
11. Leech-Wilkinson. 131.
12. Gesell said the infant "comprehends movements before he comprehends words and we may suppose that in their nascent stages the word-sounds are closely bound up with a system of motor predispositions or anticipations. The words do not have a distinct and mobile status in his mental life. They are moored in his postural and manipulatory reaction system. Accordingly he comprehends many words before he masters their utterance and, even after he learns to speak them, it may be years before the words attain a high degree of detached autonomy in his thinking." 253.
13. "Angel Fish." Purple Fish Band website.
14. Wikipedia. "City of Bath Bach Choir."
15. Steeple Rocks Choir website.
Singing is a form of language that utilizes the same parts of the body. One’s vocal abilities are formed at the same time, because language is more than a collection of words bound together by grammar. The spoken word has a melodic range and arc, along with a cadence. It may be individuals begin to speak actual words [1] before they hum or sing syllables, [2] but at two months most are "capable of making all of the sounds of the vernacular," [3] plus a great many others "which, lacking social sanction, will never be crystallized into words." [4]
What matters most are infants’ exposure to sounds. Those who are taken into communal situations will hear more than those who are kept in the home. What they hear they accept, and possibly imitate.
The public places youngsters hear live music include concerts and churches. James Cleveland remembered, when he was young, his mother left him with his grandmother while she was working. The older woman took him to her choir rehearsals. [5] It was there, hearing Thomas Dorsey’s group in Chicago, that he absorbed the chorale aesthetics that formed the basis of his mature work.
Rehearsals are ideal places for the very young because people tend to be more tolerant than in concerts. A video of one by the Steeple Rocks choir in southwestern England in 2011 showed a mother with an infant girl. [6] You never saw more than the top of her head. From that you know she was old enough to sit in her mother’s lap, and young enough to get restive when she was not rocked.
What was not clear was if the woman deliberately moved to the rhythm of "Kumbaya" or if it was coincidence that she leaned to her left on the downbeats. The a capella choir emphasized harmony at the expense of other musical elements. Whatever emphasis syllables received came from the durations of the notes, not from the way they were articulated.
Even more important than the infant to the perpetuation of music in the community were the two middle-school-aged girls singing with the group of adults. They were not there because the arrangement required the special qualities of their voices, but because the group included men and woman on all ages.
In this particular selection, the group was more important than any individual. There were no solos. It was pure chordal harmony based on the Seeker’s recording. Each person was expected to blend into the whole. Unless you looked at the group, you would not know it contained at least five men or two young voices. The performance highlighted the voice, pure and simple, shorn of all individuality.
This style was derived from the modern revival of medieval and Renaissance music, which, in turn, drew on the English cathedral tradition. [7] The conductor of the Tallis Scholars told an interviewer, he had
"had a single sound in his head since he founded the group, ‘which I had got from listening to a mixture of choirs that were around at that time,’ he said, mentioning the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the Clerkes of Oxenford as two primary examples." [8]
It was "very clear and bright," and turned the choir into an instrument. [9] Gilbert Reaney argued there should be no vibrato or wavering, and "the tone of voice should be as smooth as the unvarying tone of a cornett." [10] Daniel Leech-Wilkinson went further, and said it was "abstract music, not expressive in any modern sense of the texts it set; it was characterized by clarity of harmony and texture." [11]
The words were clearly heard; it was still post-Reformation music. However, the variations in harmonic patterns were not tied to content. They did not occur between verses, but between lines within verses that repeated the same words.
In many ways it was a return to the time in an individual’s life when words had no concrete meanings, but were perceived as sounds that were associated with outcomes. That is, "ma ma" did not signify a particular person, but it brought the attention of that person. [12]
The young infant probably heard nothing to expand her repertoire, but the young girls learned other lessons. When they sang they were expected to stand erect and not move. Many in the front row dropped their arms and clasped their hands. The director, Adrienne Hale, also stood erect, using large gestures with her right hand to conduct. When she used both hands they moved symmetrically.
They had been well coached. While a few held music, there was no sign any turned pages. More important, everyone began together without anyone setting the pitch.
The choir was standing in a limestone Anglican church in the space in front of the pews and before the sanctuary. Hale did not exploit the acoustics of the building. She used sharp gestures to indicate everyone should end together, leaving no lingering sounds. A moment of silence marked the transition between verses.
Performers
Choir: I counted 20 adults, including at least five men, in addition to the two adolescent girls.
Conductor: Adrienne Hale
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-BYE-ya, with no strong emphasis
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: Someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: five verses
Verse Length: 4 lines
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxxA
Line Meter: trochaic
Line Length: 8 syllables
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Seekers
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with variations in harmony
Harmonic Structure: major chords, with some minor ones in later repetitions
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for "Lord" in the last line
Notes on Performance
Location: Anglican’s Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Steeple Ashton, Wilkshire, England.
Microphones: not used
Clothing: the choir members and director were dressed informally in slacks and tops.
Notes on Audience
Three people were visible in the audience, all sitting on the right side of the church. An older couple sat in front of the woman with the infant. None responded in any way to the music.
Notes on Performers
Hale studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and sang with the Scottish Opera [13] before moving to Bath in 2009 where she directed the City of Bath Bach Choir. [14] Since 2011 she had been teaching music in local schools and organizing choral groups. She formally organized Steeple Rocks in 2012, but this video was uploaded in December 2011. The amateur group met once a week. [15]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by choirconductor99, 17 December 2011.
End Notes
1. Arnold Gesell and Helen Thompson. Infant Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1934. He suggested "sixty-seven per cent of the children at 52 weeks and 86 per cent at 56 weeks uttered two words." He also noted another researcher found children of professionals had larger vocabularies. 251.
2. Gesell observed humming at 18 months. 254.
3. Gesell. 251.
4. Gesell. 288-289.
5. Kathryn B. Kemp. "Cleveland, James." American National Biography Online website.
6. I am assuming the infant was a girl because it was wearing a pink knit cap and what looked like a pink blanket was spread on the back of a pew across the aisle.
7. Todd M. McComb. "Medieval Perspectives: Sounds of Voices." Medieval Music and Arts Foundation website. 28 August 2001; last updated 16 August 2004.
8. Stephen Raskauskas. "The Secrets to Heavenly Singing from Peter Phillips, Conductor and Founder of the Tallis Scholars." WFMT-radio Chicago website, 5 April 2016.
9. Raskauskas.
10. Gilbert Reaney. Quoted by Daniel Leech-Wilkinson. The Modern Invention of Medieval Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 131
11. Leech-Wilkinson. 131.
12. Gesell said the infant "comprehends movements before he comprehends words and we may suppose that in their nascent stages the word-sounds are closely bound up with a system of motor predispositions or anticipations. The words do not have a distinct and mobile status in his mental life. They are moored in his postural and manipulatory reaction system. Accordingly he comprehends many words before he masters their utterance and, even after he learns to speak them, it may be years before the words attain a high degree of detached autonomy in his thinking." 253.
13. "Angel Fish." Purple Fish Band website.
14. Wikipedia. "City of Bath Bach Choir."
15. Steeple Rocks Choir website.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Commodores - Inez Foxx - Come By Here
Topic: Instrumental Versions
Synthesizers and electronic keyboards have become so common, it is hard to remember they once were avante garde. Bob Moog introduced the first melodic synthesizer in 1964. Orchestrations for live performances changed after ones capable of playing chords were produced by Yamaha in 1976. [1] When the Commodores recorded an instrumental version of "Come by Here" in 1983, they had three men who could play electronic keyboards or synthesizers.
The six-man band was organized by students at Tuskegee Institute, who eventually moved to New York where they began opening for the Jackson Five in 1971. Although they often recorded lyrics featuring Lionel Richie, their first Motown hit was an instrumental, "Machine Gun." Another dance song, "Brickhouse," became their theme song. [2]
The audience for "Come by Here" was not interested in subtle variations on a theme. Disco may have peaked, but people who danced still needed records with predictable rhythms. The men played the same melody twelve times in 2:53 minutes with no variations in pacing.
They began with three brass chords, then a synthesizer initiated the disco beat. It started phrases, and the trumpets entered on the second measures and completed the lines. The second, fourth, and fifth iterations used only the synthesizer and drums. A saxophone played the melody on the eighth repetition. The band finished with a sustained brass chord.
At some time before they were famous, the Commodores worked as a backup group for an African-American duet, Inez and Charlie Fox. [3] She had recorded "Come by Here" in 1966 with Mariachi-style trumpets [4] in the interludes between verses. The Commodores simply used synthesizers in place of the strong Xx drum beat that dominated the rest of her version.
Their tune was difficult to discern, while Foxx smoothed the Hightowers’ melody. She used different lyrics, which she treated perfunctorily. She simply sang six verses with little variation in vocal style, and no allusions to the prelude-denouement structure used by the Hightowers. Her record, like the Commodores, was intended for dancing.
"Dixon - Foxx - Gaskins" were given credit for the words. [5] All were born in the same general cultural area. She and her brother Charlie were from Greensboro, North Carolina. [6] Her guitarist, Barbara Gaskins, came from Kinston on the North Carolina coastal plain. [7] The producer, Luther Dixon, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but raised in Brooklyn. [8] They shared enough cultural experiences with each other and with the Hightowers to make collaboration possible, but did not have the sorts of religious feelings that would have inhibited converting a church song to secular ends. [9]
Performers
Commodores
The members in 1983 are listed below with their usual roles. [10] The actual instrumentation heard on the recording, no doubt, was altered by engineers.
William King (trumpet, rhythm guitar, synthesizer)
Milan Williams (keyboard, trombone, rhythm guitar)
Walter Orange (vocals, drums, keyboards)
Ronald LaPread (bass)
Sheldon Reynolds (guitar, vocals)
Skyler Jett (vocals)
Foxx
Vocal Accompaniment: female backup group
Instrumental Accompaniment: electric guitar, trumpets, saxophone could be discerned
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums
Charlie Foxx was listed as a performer, but no male voice was heard. He was shown in publicity photographs holding a guitar in imitation of Ike and Tina Turner. [11] His name may have been included simply because that was stipulated by their contract.
Credits
Commodores [12]
Written-By - Inez Foxx, Luther Dixon
Foxx [13]
Producer - Luther Dixon
Written-By - Barbara Gaskins, Charlie Foxx, Luther Dixon
Published By - Vee Vee Music (BMI)
Foxx’s first name may be an assumption by the Discogs contributors. As mentioned above, first names did not appear on the label for Foxx’s first release. By the time an agent for the Commodores was seeking copyright permission, Inez had married Dixon. They may have gotten credit because they were the ones contacted.
Notes on Lyrics
Foxx
Language: English
Verses: come by here followed by ones original to her like "feels like rain"
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: 6 verses with no repetition
Verse Length: 4 lines
Line Meter: trochaic with strong opening and closing syllables
Line Length: varied
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Commodores
Opening Phrase: their own
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with few variations
Foxx
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with few variations
Vocal Parts:
Singing Style: One syllable to one note
Solo: she used two notes for "oh" and "Lord," usually in the last line. However, she also avoided glissandi by repeating "oh" on different tones. The first two verses were lyrical, while her voice was harsher on the third. She returned to the melodic tone after an instrumental interlude.
Group: parallel chords
Solo-Group Dynamics: she sang the statements, and the women sang the refrain. They sometimes came together on the last line, and sometimes the group sang while Foxx used different words.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: an instrumental introduction, 3 sung verses, an instrumental interlude, and 3 sung verses, with sound fading on last line. An electric guitar could barely be heard, except in the introduction when it played the melody. Trumpets dominated the interlude.
Notes on Performers
Commodores
None of their short biographies mentioned anything more about their childhoods other than they came from Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, and shared had a desire to play music. [14]
Availability
Commodores
Album: Uprising. Intermedia Records, QS-5047. 1983.
Reissues: several in Europe with the titles Keep On Dancing and Rise Up.
YouTube: uploaded by The Orchard Enterprises, 8 November 2014.
Foxx
45 rpm: "No Stranger To Love" / "Come By Here." Musicor, MU1201. 1966.
Album: Come by Here. Dynamo Records, DS 8000. 1967.
YouTube: uploaded by soulfuljakazz07, 3 September 2011.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Electronic Keyboard."
2. Craig Lytle. "Commodores." All Music website.
3. Associated Press. "Charlie Foxx, Songwriter and Musician, 64." Obituary reprinted by The New York Times, 12 October 1998.
4. Mariachi groups play a wide repertoire. When people borrow the style, they usually are using two trumpets played with sharp attacks, fast variations in pitch, and bright, high-pitched, loud sounds. (Lauren Vork. "How to Play the Trumpet Like a Mariachi." eHow website.)
The preferred manufacturer, Bach, advertized it used a special bronze alloy with a slow taper for the 5" bell. Many Mariachi trumpeters use shallow Parduba mouthpieces, which were designed to easily produce brilliant, high-pitched tones. (Websites for Bach and Parduba vendors, and Trumpet Master website "Discussion of the Mariachi brass sound please" begun 21 November 2008.)
5. The YouTube video showed a close up of the record label for the 45-rpm record.
6. Wikipedia. "Inez and Charlie Foxx."
7. Wikipedia. "Barbara Roy." She was born Gaskins, but used the name Roy when she sang with Ecstacy, Passion and Pain. (Ed Hogan. "Ecstacy, Passion & Pain." All Music website.
8. Wikipedia. "Luther Dixon."
9. Inez and Charlie Foxx sang in a gospel choir when they were children, but went to New York with hopes of success in popular music. (Wikipedia, Foxx.) Dixon learned to sing in church, but his first vocal group did doo-wop. (Wikipedia, Dixon.) Gaskins is now recording gospel music (Wikipedia. "Barbara Roy.")
10. This list was drawn from "Commodores." Rate Your Music website.
11. Pierre Perrone made the comparison to the Turners in "Obituary: Charlie Foxx." [London] Independent website, 3 November 1998. Michael Jack Kirby made similar comments in "Inez Foxx." Back Attack website.
12. "Commodores – Uprising." Discogs website.
13. "Inez & Charlie Foxx – No Stranger To Love / Come By Here." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "William King (Singer)," "Sheldon Reynolds (Guitarist)," and "Milan Williams." Lee Zimmerman. "Walter Orange on How Motown Legends the Commodores Built Their Brick House." New Times [Broward-Palm Beach, Florida] website, 31 March 2016.
Synthesizers and electronic keyboards have become so common, it is hard to remember they once were avante garde. Bob Moog introduced the first melodic synthesizer in 1964. Orchestrations for live performances changed after ones capable of playing chords were produced by Yamaha in 1976. [1] When the Commodores recorded an instrumental version of "Come by Here" in 1983, they had three men who could play electronic keyboards or synthesizers.
The six-man band was organized by students at Tuskegee Institute, who eventually moved to New York where they began opening for the Jackson Five in 1971. Although they often recorded lyrics featuring Lionel Richie, their first Motown hit was an instrumental, "Machine Gun." Another dance song, "Brickhouse," became their theme song. [2]
The audience for "Come by Here" was not interested in subtle variations on a theme. Disco may have peaked, but people who danced still needed records with predictable rhythms. The men played the same melody twelve times in 2:53 minutes with no variations in pacing.
They began with three brass chords, then a synthesizer initiated the disco beat. It started phrases, and the trumpets entered on the second measures and completed the lines. The second, fourth, and fifth iterations used only the synthesizer and drums. A saxophone played the melody on the eighth repetition. The band finished with a sustained brass chord.
At some time before they were famous, the Commodores worked as a backup group for an African-American duet, Inez and Charlie Fox. [3] She had recorded "Come by Here" in 1966 with Mariachi-style trumpets [4] in the interludes between verses. The Commodores simply used synthesizers in place of the strong Xx drum beat that dominated the rest of her version.
Their tune was difficult to discern, while Foxx smoothed the Hightowers’ melody. She used different lyrics, which she treated perfunctorily. She simply sang six verses with little variation in vocal style, and no allusions to the prelude-denouement structure used by the Hightowers. Her record, like the Commodores, was intended for dancing.
"Dixon - Foxx - Gaskins" were given credit for the words. [5] All were born in the same general cultural area. She and her brother Charlie were from Greensboro, North Carolina. [6] Her guitarist, Barbara Gaskins, came from Kinston on the North Carolina coastal plain. [7] The producer, Luther Dixon, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but raised in Brooklyn. [8] They shared enough cultural experiences with each other and with the Hightowers to make collaboration possible, but did not have the sorts of religious feelings that would have inhibited converting a church song to secular ends. [9]
Performers
Commodores
The members in 1983 are listed below with their usual roles. [10] The actual instrumentation heard on the recording, no doubt, was altered by engineers.
William King (trumpet, rhythm guitar, synthesizer)
Milan Williams (keyboard, trombone, rhythm guitar)
Walter Orange (vocals, drums, keyboards)
Ronald LaPread (bass)
Sheldon Reynolds (guitar, vocals)
Skyler Jett (vocals)
Foxx
Vocal Accompaniment: female backup group
Instrumental Accompaniment: electric guitar, trumpets, saxophone could be discerned
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums
Charlie Foxx was listed as a performer, but no male voice was heard. He was shown in publicity photographs holding a guitar in imitation of Ike and Tina Turner. [11] His name may have been included simply because that was stipulated by their contract.
Credits
Commodores [12]
Written-By - Inez Foxx, Luther Dixon
Foxx [13]
Producer - Luther Dixon
Written-By - Barbara Gaskins, Charlie Foxx, Luther Dixon
Published By - Vee Vee Music (BMI)
Foxx’s first name may be an assumption by the Discogs contributors. As mentioned above, first names did not appear on the label for Foxx’s first release. By the time an agent for the Commodores was seeking copyright permission, Inez had married Dixon. They may have gotten credit because they were the ones contacted.
Notes on Lyrics
Foxx
Language: English
Verses: come by here followed by ones original to her like "feels like rain"
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: 6 verses with no repetition
Verse Length: 4 lines
Line Meter: trochaic with strong opening and closing syllables
Line Length: varied
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Notes on Music
Commodores
Opening Phrase: their own
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with few variations
Foxx
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic with few variations
Vocal Parts:
Singing Style: One syllable to one note
Solo: she used two notes for "oh" and "Lord," usually in the last line. However, she also avoided glissandi by repeating "oh" on different tones. The first two verses were lyrical, while her voice was harsher on the third. She returned to the melodic tone after an instrumental interlude.
Group: parallel chords
Solo-Group Dynamics: she sang the statements, and the women sang the refrain. They sometimes came together on the last line, and sometimes the group sang while Foxx used different words.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: an instrumental introduction, 3 sung verses, an instrumental interlude, and 3 sung verses, with sound fading on last line. An electric guitar could barely be heard, except in the introduction when it played the melody. Trumpets dominated the interlude.
Notes on Performers
Commodores
None of their short biographies mentioned anything more about their childhoods other than they came from Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, and shared had a desire to play music. [14]
Availability
Commodores
Album: Uprising. Intermedia Records, QS-5047. 1983.
Reissues: several in Europe with the titles Keep On Dancing and Rise Up.
YouTube: uploaded by The Orchard Enterprises, 8 November 2014.
Foxx
45 rpm: "No Stranger To Love" / "Come By Here." Musicor, MU1201. 1966.
Album: Come by Here. Dynamo Records, DS 8000. 1967.
YouTube: uploaded by soulfuljakazz07, 3 September 2011.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Electronic Keyboard."
2. Craig Lytle. "Commodores." All Music website.
3. Associated Press. "Charlie Foxx, Songwriter and Musician, 64." Obituary reprinted by The New York Times, 12 October 1998.
4. Mariachi groups play a wide repertoire. When people borrow the style, they usually are using two trumpets played with sharp attacks, fast variations in pitch, and bright, high-pitched, loud sounds. (Lauren Vork. "How to Play the Trumpet Like a Mariachi." eHow website.)
The preferred manufacturer, Bach, advertized it used a special bronze alloy with a slow taper for the 5" bell. Many Mariachi trumpeters use shallow Parduba mouthpieces, which were designed to easily produce brilliant, high-pitched tones. (Websites for Bach and Parduba vendors, and Trumpet Master website "Discussion of the Mariachi brass sound please" begun 21 November 2008.)
5. The YouTube video showed a close up of the record label for the 45-rpm record.
6. Wikipedia. "Inez and Charlie Foxx."
7. Wikipedia. "Barbara Roy." She was born Gaskins, but used the name Roy when she sang with Ecstacy, Passion and Pain. (Ed Hogan. "Ecstacy, Passion & Pain." All Music website.
8. Wikipedia. "Luther Dixon."
9. Inez and Charlie Foxx sang in a gospel choir when they were children, but went to New York with hopes of success in popular music. (Wikipedia, Foxx.) Dixon learned to sing in church, but his first vocal group did doo-wop. (Wikipedia, Dixon.) Gaskins is now recording gospel music (Wikipedia. "Barbara Roy.")
10. This list was drawn from "Commodores." Rate Your Music website.
11. Pierre Perrone made the comparison to the Turners in "Obituary: Charlie Foxx." [London] Independent website, 3 November 1998. Michael Jack Kirby made similar comments in "Inez Foxx." Back Attack website.
12. "Commodores – Uprising." Discogs website.
13. "Inez & Charlie Foxx – No Stranger To Love / Come By Here." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "William King (Singer)," "Sheldon Reynolds (Guitarist)," and "Milan Williams." Lee Zimmerman. "Walter Orange on How Motown Legends the Commodores Built Their Brick House." New Times [Broward-Palm Beach, Florida] website, 31 March 2016.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Blasorchester MTV Salzhausen - Kumbaya Variations
Topic: Instrumental Versions
The unification of text and tune into an indivisible whole is a relatively recent concept, perhaps influenced by copyright laws. Early Protestants sang psalms to several tunes, and tunes were used for a number of texts. The psalter used by the Separatist Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 had 39 melodies for 150 psalms. [1]
Once the linkage existed between melody and lyric, the Protestant emphasis on words as the vehicle for salvation meant composers’ treatments of songs with religious associations risked being labeled blasphemous if their settings did not honor the intent of the writer. As a result, most instrumental versions of "Kumbaya" and "Come by Here" uploaded to YouTube repeated the melody with the variations limited to dynamics and orchestral texture.
This differed from the symphonic theme and variation form that assumed it was the melody that was to be varied. The only version of "Kumbaya" uploaded to YouTube I heard that altered the melody was an arrangement performed in a German church in 2012 by the brass orchestra of a local sports club, the Blasorchester MTV Salzhausen.
The beginning of the performance where the melody would have been clearly played was not recorded. When the video began, the music was slow with minor or eastern harmonies. The brass played parts of the melody, but the unaccompanied oboe solos made no reference to it. Then, without a break, the pace increased with horns and flutes, and a rhythm of a hora was discernable.
The orchestra stopped to begin the next movement which was a Viennese waltz. Parts of the common melody, which originally was published in 3/4 time, were clearly heard. The statements (someone’s singing Lord) were recognizable, while the refrains (kumbaya) were replaced by generic waltz patterns.
The roles of the two line parts were reversed in the third variation. The movement, in the style of Glenn Miller’s "In the Mood," [2] emphasized the refrain on the line while the beginnings of lines were played in swing rhythms.
The final movement returned to the complete melody, but still in the style of pre-rock-and-roll American popular music. The whole group played the tune, with breaks for drum solos. It concluded by repeating a two-note phrase four times, each time beginning on a higher note, before a final sustained chord underlaid by the drums.
One can speculate on the reasons why this particular brass band enjoyed more musical freedom than the others. The same Friedrich Wilhelm III who demanded all his military bands play the same music, [3] also merged the Lutheran and Reformed traditions into a single form of service in 1817. [4] Salzhausen was a Hanoverian holding [5, 6] that was not taken over by Prussia until 1866. It remained Lutheran. [7]
The church where the group performed had a high raised pulpit to the congregation’s right at the boundary between them and the sanctuary. A cloth-covered altar and ornate backdrop was in the rear. The congregation sat in wooden pews on the main floor and in a balcony.
While the expectations of the audience are important, it is often the seeming random occurrence of artistic talent that is more significant. The audience simply sets the parameters for what is acceptable. The musicians must be both willing and able to play unconventional parts.
The name of the arranger was not given, and I could find nothing about the man who founded the group, Christof Koert, or the conductor, Raphaela Backhaus-Olbrich, other than she played saxophone. [8] One of them was they key person.
My description of this arrangement may have destroyed your ability to experience the same mystification I felt when the slow variation slowly turned into a hora and then a waltz. My first reaction was surprise. Then, once it became apparent the arranger was challenging prevailing conventions, I wondered, during each pause, what could follow, how far would the arranger go. Finally, I felt delight that so many of the variations were successful.
If anyone can identify the source of the last movement more precisely, I would love to hear from you. Please, leave a comment or send an email.
Performers
Instruments: these are the ones I recognized in the video. Sometimes nothing more was visible than the mouthpiece or the bell. The list may not be accurate or complete.
Wind: oboes, flutes, clarinets, saxophones
Brass: trumpets, French horns, baritone horns, trombones, tubas
Percussion: snare drum set, lower pitched drum or drums played with both plain and padded sticks
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: the opening theme was not recorded
Tempo: varied
Basic Structure: theme and variations
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Kirchenkonzert (church concert), 2012, in Salzhausen, Lower Saxony.
Location: The brass-and-wind band sat in the sanctuary behind low wooden partitions and before the altar table.
Microphone: none
Clothing: the band wore black pants and shirts, often with colorful ties or scarves. The conductor wore black slacks and tails
Notes on Movement
The band was seated and the conductor stood. She used a baton in her right hand, and both hands to conduct with contained movements. She sometimes bent forward or faced to a diagonal to signal particular instrumental sections, but otherwise did not move her body.
Notes on Performers
The MTV Salzhausen sports club was founded the same year Prussia laid claim to the area, 1866. [9] Christof Koert organized amateur musicians into the brass orchestra in 1994. [10]
There appeared to be more women than men in the group. While the usual gender division existed, based partly on physical abilities and the sizes of mouthpieces (for instance, men were the ones who played tubas), women played trumpets, baritones, and saxophones in this group, while one man was in the clarinet section.
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Blasorchester MTV Salzhausen, 9 December 2012.
End Notes
1. Percy A. Scholes. The Puritans and Music in England and New England. New York: Russell and C Russell, Inc., 1962 edition. 258. Their psalm book was edited by Henry Ainsworth in 1612. (Wikipedia. "Ainsworth Psalter."
2. Duke Ellington. "In the Mood." Bluebird B-10416-A. 1 August 1939. Released September 1939.
3. See post for 13 September 2017 for more on Friedrich Wilhelm III.
4. Wikipedia. "Prussian Union of Churches."
5. Wikipedia. "Salzhausen."
6. Wikipedia. "Lower Saxony."
7 Wikipedia. "Kingdom of Hanover."
8 . Blashorchester website.
9. MTV Salzhausen website.
10. Blashorchester website.
The unification of text and tune into an indivisible whole is a relatively recent concept, perhaps influenced by copyright laws. Early Protestants sang psalms to several tunes, and tunes were used for a number of texts. The psalter used by the Separatist Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 had 39 melodies for 150 psalms. [1]
Once the linkage existed between melody and lyric, the Protestant emphasis on words as the vehicle for salvation meant composers’ treatments of songs with religious associations risked being labeled blasphemous if their settings did not honor the intent of the writer. As a result, most instrumental versions of "Kumbaya" and "Come by Here" uploaded to YouTube repeated the melody with the variations limited to dynamics and orchestral texture.
This differed from the symphonic theme and variation form that assumed it was the melody that was to be varied. The only version of "Kumbaya" uploaded to YouTube I heard that altered the melody was an arrangement performed in a German church in 2012 by the brass orchestra of a local sports club, the Blasorchester MTV Salzhausen.
The beginning of the performance where the melody would have been clearly played was not recorded. When the video began, the music was slow with minor or eastern harmonies. The brass played parts of the melody, but the unaccompanied oboe solos made no reference to it. Then, without a break, the pace increased with horns and flutes, and a rhythm of a hora was discernable.
The orchestra stopped to begin the next movement which was a Viennese waltz. Parts of the common melody, which originally was published in 3/4 time, were clearly heard. The statements (someone’s singing Lord) were recognizable, while the refrains (kumbaya) were replaced by generic waltz patterns.
The roles of the two line parts were reversed in the third variation. The movement, in the style of Glenn Miller’s "In the Mood," [2] emphasized the refrain on the line while the beginnings of lines were played in swing rhythms.
The final movement returned to the complete melody, but still in the style of pre-rock-and-roll American popular music. The whole group played the tune, with breaks for drum solos. It concluded by repeating a two-note phrase four times, each time beginning on a higher note, before a final sustained chord underlaid by the drums.
One can speculate on the reasons why this particular brass band enjoyed more musical freedom than the others. The same Friedrich Wilhelm III who demanded all his military bands play the same music, [3] also merged the Lutheran and Reformed traditions into a single form of service in 1817. [4] Salzhausen was a Hanoverian holding [5, 6] that was not taken over by Prussia until 1866. It remained Lutheran. [7]
The church where the group performed had a high raised pulpit to the congregation’s right at the boundary between them and the sanctuary. A cloth-covered altar and ornate backdrop was in the rear. The congregation sat in wooden pews on the main floor and in a balcony.
While the expectations of the audience are important, it is often the seeming random occurrence of artistic talent that is more significant. The audience simply sets the parameters for what is acceptable. The musicians must be both willing and able to play unconventional parts.
The name of the arranger was not given, and I could find nothing about the man who founded the group, Christof Koert, or the conductor, Raphaela Backhaus-Olbrich, other than she played saxophone. [8] One of them was they key person.
My description of this arrangement may have destroyed your ability to experience the same mystification I felt when the slow variation slowly turned into a hora and then a waltz. My first reaction was surprise. Then, once it became apparent the arranger was challenging prevailing conventions, I wondered, during each pause, what could follow, how far would the arranger go. Finally, I felt delight that so many of the variations were successful.
If anyone can identify the source of the last movement more precisely, I would love to hear from you. Please, leave a comment or send an email.
Performers
Instruments: these are the ones I recognized in the video. Sometimes nothing more was visible than the mouthpiece or the bell. The list may not be accurate or complete.
Wind: oboes, flutes, clarinets, saxophones
Brass: trumpets, French horns, baritone horns, trombones, tubas
Percussion: snare drum set, lower pitched drum or drums played with both plain and padded sticks
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: the opening theme was not recorded
Tempo: varied
Basic Structure: theme and variations
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Kirchenkonzert (church concert), 2012, in Salzhausen, Lower Saxony.
Location: The brass-and-wind band sat in the sanctuary behind low wooden partitions and before the altar table.
Microphone: none
Clothing: the band wore black pants and shirts, often with colorful ties or scarves. The conductor wore black slacks and tails
Notes on Movement
The band was seated and the conductor stood. She used a baton in her right hand, and both hands to conduct with contained movements. She sometimes bent forward or faced to a diagonal to signal particular instrumental sections, but otherwise did not move her body.
Notes on Performers
The MTV Salzhausen sports club was founded the same year Prussia laid claim to the area, 1866. [9] Christof Koert organized amateur musicians into the brass orchestra in 1994. [10]
There appeared to be more women than men in the group. While the usual gender division existed, based partly on physical abilities and the sizes of mouthpieces (for instance, men were the ones who played tubas), women played trumpets, baritones, and saxophones in this group, while one man was in the clarinet section.
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Blasorchester MTV Salzhausen, 9 December 2012.
End Notes
1. Percy A. Scholes. The Puritans and Music in England and New England. New York: Russell and C Russell, Inc., 1962 edition. 258. Their psalm book was edited by Henry Ainsworth in 1612. (Wikipedia. "Ainsworth Psalter."
2. Duke Ellington. "In the Mood." Bluebird B-10416-A. 1 August 1939. Released September 1939.
3. See post for 13 September 2017 for more on Friedrich Wilhelm III.
4. Wikipedia. "Prussian Union of Churches."
5. Wikipedia. "Salzhausen."
6. Wikipedia. "Lower Saxony."
7 Wikipedia. "Kingdom of Hanover."
8 . Blashorchester website.
9. MTV Salzhausen website.
10. Blashorchester website.
Friday, September 15, 2017
Caleb Adeleye - kumbaya
Topic: Instrumental Versions
Brass bands spread quickly in Europe, and appeared in New Orleans in the late 1830s. [1] They became more popular in the 1880s, [2] partly as a result of the Cotton Exposition when the concert band of the 8th Mexican cavalry played from December 1884 to June 1885. [3] Nationally, the number of bands probably increased with the number of Decoration Day parades honoring the Civil War dead. [4]
In New Orleans, brass bands marched in funeral processions where observers joined at the end to dance to the music. [5] America’s most famous trumpet player, Louis Armstrong, grew up in the city hearing bands in dance halls and brothels. [6] Laurence Bergreen credited him with shifting the "focus" of jazz "from collective improvisation to solo performance." [7]
The British army took its brass bands into the Empire. Ola Balogun remembered "British officials in stiffly starched white uniforms and white tropical helmets were waiting to review" the school bands in Nigeria "as we marched past where they stood on podiums on occasions like Empire Day." [8] He continued:
"On the way back from the parade grounds to which we had been shepherded to stand at attention while the British national anthem was solemnly played (followed by a song known as ‘Hail Britannia’, which proclaimed that Britons would never be slaves!), all protocol usually disappeared, and the school brass bands would change their repertoires and move into lively rendition of what was then known as ‘kokoma’ music, enabling all of us to dance home joyfully along with all the bystanders and onlookers in the native-style melodic and rhythmic patterns that are still practised in present times by school marching bands and funeral bands known in present day Lagos as ‘bocos’." [9]
Despite similar brass band traditions in Lagos and New Orleans, Balogun said most Nigerians did not appreciate jazz. However, in the years before and after independence in 1960, "Louis Armstrong made all of us feel proud and fulfilled because he was a world famous black man whose fame was only matched by that of the iconic boxer Joe Louis." [10]
Caleb Adeleye was too young to have been alive when Armstrong visited Lagos in 1960, but he listed him as a Favorite on his Facebook page. [11] Balogun, who was there, remembered trumpet players used to "to vie with each other in hitting high notes la Louis Armstrong." [12] Adeleye used some of Armstrong’s techniques in his version of "Kumbaya," including air-filled cheeks [13] and a high, sustained final tone.
Adeleye varied the common melody. Instead of playing the first two tones of the primary chord (1-3), he began below the home tone, then ran up to the second syllable of kumbaya. He often trilled the "kum" syllable by rapidly pressing and releasing the first valve.
He played around the melody in the second iteration without obscuring it, while the third variant was higher pitched and more staccato. The next variation was lilting. There were no pauses between repetitions, but he took a brief break after the fourth.
He resumed by repeating the basic patten of the first verse, but this time he used the second key for his trills. To finish, he repeated the last line four times, each time more softly. He played the phrase one final time at normal volume, with a trill on the second valve, and finished with the sustained high note.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Adeleye’s variation
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in melody, tempo, and dynamics. After a brief piano interlude, another repetition and an amen ending.
Solo-Accompaniment Dynamics: the piano was not near the microphone, and was hard to hear. In the introduction, the right hand played the melody and runs between phrases, while the left played chords. It also was heard in the brief interlude.
Notes on Performance
Location: recorded in a church hall.
Microphone: none
Clothing: Adeleye was wearing a blue shirt.
Notes on Movement
Adeleye held his silver-colored trumpet with his left hand and fingered the keys with his right. He occasionally moved the trumpet up and down. After four repetitions, he stopped, moved the trumpet and put his hand to his mouth. He then returned the trumpet to its position to finish.
Notes on Performers
Adeleye’s hometown was Ilesha in Osun state. It was one of the oldest Yoruba settlements, and founded by "one of the 16 sons of the deity Oduduwa." [14] He earned a degree in physics in 2012 from Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology in Oyo, and worked as a web programmer. [15]
He said his main activities in school were music and the Apostolic Faith Campus Fellowship. [16] Pentecostalism began in the United States in a 1906 Los Angeles revival led by an African-American, William Seymour. His mentor, Charles Parham, was involved with the men who organized the Apostolic Faith Mission in South Africa mentioned in the post for 29 August 2017. The Apostolic Faith, West and Central Africa grew out of evangelistic efforts by a breakaway group in Portland, Oregon organized by one of Seymour’s white supporters, Florence Crawford. [17]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Caleb Adeleye, 26 April 2015.
End Notes
1. E. Lawrence Abel. Singing the New Nation. Mechanicsburg, Penysylvania: Stackpole Books, 1999. 133. Cited by Wikipedia. "Music of New Orleans."
2. National Park Service. "Jazz Origins in New Orleans." NPS website.
3. Samuel Charters. A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. 36-38. He also quoted John Storm Roberts. The Latin Tinge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. No page given.
4. Decoration Day and the first parade occurred in 1868. (Wikipedia. "Memorial Day.") The number of parades increased with the power of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans who dominated politics in the 1880s. (Wikipedia. "Grand Army of the Republic.")
5. Wikipedia. "Second Line (Parades)."
6. Wikipedia. "Louis Armstrong."
7. Laurence Bergreen. Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. 1. Cited by Wikipedia, Armstrong.
8. Ola Balogun. "Victor Olaiya and the era of Nigerian dance bands." Guardian, 21 September 2012. Latest Nigeria News website.
9. Balogun. Sonny O. Braide said kokomo was a drumming music introduced by Fanti and Ewe immigrants in Lagos. (Kengema Kalabari: Owuame Kengema. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2017.) Kye Whiteman associated it with boys’ associations. (Lagos: A Cultural History. Northampton, Massachusetts: Interlink Publishing, 2013).
10. Balogun.
11. "About Caleb Adeleye." Facebook.
12. Balogun.
13. I remember in grade school band the brass players were told not to fill their cheeks with air. This was more than sixty years ago, so I am not sure what they were told to do, but think it was to fill their lungs instead. Proper breathing and embouchure were the marks of a good musician. If you look at the video of Wayne Preusker playing a much larger brass instrument (posted 19 September 2017), you will notice his cheeks are flat. This is not simply a difference between the ways cultural groups treat an instrument. Some academic rules are rooted in physiology. I have read about trumpeters who damaged their facial muscles using them incorrectly.
14. "Ilesha." Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998; last updated 30 December 2014.
15. "Caleb Adeleye." LinkedIn.
16. LinkedIn.
17. "Chronology of the History of The Apostolic Faith in Africa." Apostolic Faith WECA website.
Brass bands spread quickly in Europe, and appeared in New Orleans in the late 1830s. [1] They became more popular in the 1880s, [2] partly as a result of the Cotton Exposition when the concert band of the 8th Mexican cavalry played from December 1884 to June 1885. [3] Nationally, the number of bands probably increased with the number of Decoration Day parades honoring the Civil War dead. [4]
In New Orleans, brass bands marched in funeral processions where observers joined at the end to dance to the music. [5] America’s most famous trumpet player, Louis Armstrong, grew up in the city hearing bands in dance halls and brothels. [6] Laurence Bergreen credited him with shifting the "focus" of jazz "from collective improvisation to solo performance." [7]
The British army took its brass bands into the Empire. Ola Balogun remembered "British officials in stiffly starched white uniforms and white tropical helmets were waiting to review" the school bands in Nigeria "as we marched past where they stood on podiums on occasions like Empire Day." [8] He continued:
"On the way back from the parade grounds to which we had been shepherded to stand at attention while the British national anthem was solemnly played (followed by a song known as ‘Hail Britannia’, which proclaimed that Britons would never be slaves!), all protocol usually disappeared, and the school brass bands would change their repertoires and move into lively rendition of what was then known as ‘kokoma’ music, enabling all of us to dance home joyfully along with all the bystanders and onlookers in the native-style melodic and rhythmic patterns that are still practised in present times by school marching bands and funeral bands known in present day Lagos as ‘bocos’." [9]
Despite similar brass band traditions in Lagos and New Orleans, Balogun said most Nigerians did not appreciate jazz. However, in the years before and after independence in 1960, "Louis Armstrong made all of us feel proud and fulfilled because he was a world famous black man whose fame was only matched by that of the iconic boxer Joe Louis." [10]
Caleb Adeleye was too young to have been alive when Armstrong visited Lagos in 1960, but he listed him as a Favorite on his Facebook page. [11] Balogun, who was there, remembered trumpet players used to "to vie with each other in hitting high notes la Louis Armstrong." [12] Adeleye used some of Armstrong’s techniques in his version of "Kumbaya," including air-filled cheeks [13] and a high, sustained final tone.
Adeleye varied the common melody. Instead of playing the first two tones of the primary chord (1-3), he began below the home tone, then ran up to the second syllable of kumbaya. He often trilled the "kum" syllable by rapidly pressing and releasing the first valve.
He played around the melody in the second iteration without obscuring it, while the third variant was higher pitched and more staccato. The next variation was lilting. There were no pauses between repetitions, but he took a brief break after the fourth.
He resumed by repeating the basic patten of the first verse, but this time he used the second key for his trills. To finish, he repeated the last line four times, each time more softly. He played the phrase one final time at normal volume, with a trill on the second valve, and finished with the sustained high note.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Adeleye’s variation
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in melody, tempo, and dynamics. After a brief piano interlude, another repetition and an amen ending.
Solo-Accompaniment Dynamics: the piano was not near the microphone, and was hard to hear. In the introduction, the right hand played the melody and runs between phrases, while the left played chords. It also was heard in the brief interlude.
Notes on Performance
Location: recorded in a church hall.
Microphone: none
Clothing: Adeleye was wearing a blue shirt.
Notes on Movement
Adeleye held his silver-colored trumpet with his left hand and fingered the keys with his right. He occasionally moved the trumpet up and down. After four repetitions, he stopped, moved the trumpet and put his hand to his mouth. He then returned the trumpet to its position to finish.
Notes on Performers
Adeleye’s hometown was Ilesha in Osun state. It was one of the oldest Yoruba settlements, and founded by "one of the 16 sons of the deity Oduduwa." [14] He earned a degree in physics in 2012 from Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology in Oyo, and worked as a web programmer. [15]
He said his main activities in school were music and the Apostolic Faith Campus Fellowship. [16] Pentecostalism began in the United States in a 1906 Los Angeles revival led by an African-American, William Seymour. His mentor, Charles Parham, was involved with the men who organized the Apostolic Faith Mission in South Africa mentioned in the post for 29 August 2017. The Apostolic Faith, West and Central Africa grew out of evangelistic efforts by a breakaway group in Portland, Oregon organized by one of Seymour’s white supporters, Florence Crawford. [17]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Caleb Adeleye, 26 April 2015.
End Notes
1. E. Lawrence Abel. Singing the New Nation. Mechanicsburg, Penysylvania: Stackpole Books, 1999. 133. Cited by Wikipedia. "Music of New Orleans."
2. National Park Service. "Jazz Origins in New Orleans." NPS website.
3. Samuel Charters. A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. 36-38. He also quoted John Storm Roberts. The Latin Tinge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. No page given.
4. Decoration Day and the first parade occurred in 1868. (Wikipedia. "Memorial Day.") The number of parades increased with the power of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans who dominated politics in the 1880s. (Wikipedia. "Grand Army of the Republic.")
5. Wikipedia. "Second Line (Parades)."
6. Wikipedia. "Louis Armstrong."
7. Laurence Bergreen. Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. 1. Cited by Wikipedia, Armstrong.
8. Ola Balogun. "Victor Olaiya and the era of Nigerian dance bands." Guardian, 21 September 2012. Latest Nigeria News website.
9. Balogun. Sonny O. Braide said kokomo was a drumming music introduced by Fanti and Ewe immigrants in Lagos. (Kengema Kalabari: Owuame Kengema. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2017.) Kye Whiteman associated it with boys’ associations. (Lagos: A Cultural History. Northampton, Massachusetts: Interlink Publishing, 2013).
10. Balogun.
11. "About Caleb Adeleye." Facebook.
12. Balogun.
13. I remember in grade school band the brass players were told not to fill their cheeks with air. This was more than sixty years ago, so I am not sure what they were told to do, but think it was to fill their lungs instead. Proper breathing and embouchure were the marks of a good musician. If you look at the video of Wayne Preusker playing a much larger brass instrument (posted 19 September 2017), you will notice his cheeks are flat. This is not simply a difference between the ways cultural groups treat an instrument. Some academic rules are rooted in physiology. I have read about trumpeters who damaged their facial muscles using them incorrectly.
14. "Ilesha." Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998; last updated 30 December 2014.
15. "Caleb Adeleye." LinkedIn.
16. LinkedIn.
17. "Chronology of the History of The Apostolic Faith in Africa." Apostolic Faith WECA website.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Wayne Preusker - Kumbaya
Topic: Instrumental Versions
Brass bands developed outside the hymn aesthetic dictated by the Anglo-Scots Reformation. They did not exist until the 1830s, and then emerged as part of Prussia’s militarization after its defeat by Napoléon in 1806. Prussian generals were shocked by how easily they were defeated at Jena-Auerstedt. Friedrich Wilhelm III was appalled so few of his subjects cared. [1]
Under restrictions imposed by France, Prussia began rebuilding its army by freeing the serfs and rotating the new pool of commoners through local units every few months to build a systematically trained reserve and develop a sense of patriotism. [2] Friedrich Wilhelm extended the quest for uniformity by asking all the brigade bands play the same music the same way. [3]
As mentioned in the post for 7 September 2017, much western music before the perfection of modern keyboard instruments was based on natural harmonies of fifths and octaves. Military music was learned aurally and varied from place to place. Soon after Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier appeared in 1722, Ferdinand Hase published the first collection for calvary bands in the Holy Roman Empire in 1753. [4]
The diffusion of harpsichords, virginals, and other keyboard instruments led to a desire for military instruments to play similar music with half-tones. The limitations in trumpets were addressed by adding valves. It took time spent in experimentation and acquiring greater knowledge of acoustics for men to create reliable ones that could be reproduced. Wilhelm Wieprecht introduced chromatic brasses to Prussia calvaries around 1828. [5] James Walker suggested the first civilian brass band was founded in 1835. [6]
One reason for the adoption of valved instruments by Wieprech was they allowed mounted calvary bands to play 6/8 to match the gait of the horses. [7] Once printed arrangements were available, the repertoire expanded for both military and civilian groups to include hymns, anthems, and other music required to open or close public functions.
The trombone quintet version of "Kumbaya" uploaded to YouTube in 2010 was arranged by an able seaman in the Royal Australian Navy. [8] By then Wayne Preusker probably was in the reserve. He played and composed for baritone horns, euphoniums and tubas. [9]
Instrumental quintets usually featured one instrument with a basic quartet. [10] With brasses, that typically meant two trumpets, one French horn, one trombone, and one tuba. [11] Preusker’s arrangement featured three soloists and an ensemble. While the slow tempo was within the hymn tradition, his harmonies were more complex.
The first of the four iterations was a solo. Another, slightly lower instrument began the second repetition and was joined by the others on the "kumbaya" phrase of the first line. They played chords with the soloist, and runs in the rests. They continued alternating parts through the rest of the stanza.
A much lower instrument played the melody the third time, while the others played accompanying chords and countermelodies. They finished by playing the entire tune in chordal harmony.
Although Presuker was from Melbourne, Australia, he used the standard melody, not the one popularized by The Seekers.
Performers
Preusker’s Silver Cornet Band Trombone Quintet
Credits
arr. Wayne Preusker
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in instrumentation
Harmonic Structure: parallel chords
Notes on Performance
Preusker noted it was "recorded with a laptop and a Yamaha Silent Brass trombone mute."
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by silvercornetrecords, 30 May 2010.
End Notes
1. Mitch Williamson. "Prussian Reforms 1806-15." Weapons and Warfare website. 20 December 2016.
2. Williamson.
3. Bruce P. Gleason. Sound the Trumpet, Beat the Drums. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016. 18-19.
4. Gleason. 18.
5. Gleason. 16.
6. James Walker. "Brass band." 105 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition.
7. Gleason. 19.
8. John Thompson. "The Power and the Passion." RAN Navy Daily website. 2 September 2017. Preusker was the photographer.
9. Concert videos of his compositions on YouTube include "Euphoism" and "Frantique." One uploaded by Ozwinds on 26 May 2011 to promote a new model euphonium showed Preusker demonstrating the instrument by playing two passages: one slow, the other requiring quick valve changes.
10. Willi Appel. "Quintet." 712 in Harvard Dictionary.
11. Wikipedia. "Brass Quintet." Variations existed for each voice: cornets and flugelhorns could be used in place of trumpets; alto horns could play French horn parts; baritones or euphoniums could be substituted for trombones; bass trombones and sousaphones could replace tubas.
Brass bands developed outside the hymn aesthetic dictated by the Anglo-Scots Reformation. They did not exist until the 1830s, and then emerged as part of Prussia’s militarization after its defeat by Napoléon in 1806. Prussian generals were shocked by how easily they were defeated at Jena-Auerstedt. Friedrich Wilhelm III was appalled so few of his subjects cared. [1]
Under restrictions imposed by France, Prussia began rebuilding its army by freeing the serfs and rotating the new pool of commoners through local units every few months to build a systematically trained reserve and develop a sense of patriotism. [2] Friedrich Wilhelm extended the quest for uniformity by asking all the brigade bands play the same music the same way. [3]
As mentioned in the post for 7 September 2017, much western music before the perfection of modern keyboard instruments was based on natural harmonies of fifths and octaves. Military music was learned aurally and varied from place to place. Soon after Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier appeared in 1722, Ferdinand Hase published the first collection for calvary bands in the Holy Roman Empire in 1753. [4]
The diffusion of harpsichords, virginals, and other keyboard instruments led to a desire for military instruments to play similar music with half-tones. The limitations in trumpets were addressed by adding valves. It took time spent in experimentation and acquiring greater knowledge of acoustics for men to create reliable ones that could be reproduced. Wilhelm Wieprecht introduced chromatic brasses to Prussia calvaries around 1828. [5] James Walker suggested the first civilian brass band was founded in 1835. [6]
One reason for the adoption of valved instruments by Wieprech was they allowed mounted calvary bands to play 6/8 to match the gait of the horses. [7] Once printed arrangements were available, the repertoire expanded for both military and civilian groups to include hymns, anthems, and other music required to open or close public functions.
The trombone quintet version of "Kumbaya" uploaded to YouTube in 2010 was arranged by an able seaman in the Royal Australian Navy. [8] By then Wayne Preusker probably was in the reserve. He played and composed for baritone horns, euphoniums and tubas. [9]
Instrumental quintets usually featured one instrument with a basic quartet. [10] With brasses, that typically meant two trumpets, one French horn, one trombone, and one tuba. [11] Preusker’s arrangement featured three soloists and an ensemble. While the slow tempo was within the hymn tradition, his harmonies were more complex.
The first of the four iterations was a solo. Another, slightly lower instrument began the second repetition and was joined by the others on the "kumbaya" phrase of the first line. They played chords with the soloist, and runs in the rests. They continued alternating parts through the rest of the stanza.
A much lower instrument played the melody the third time, while the others played accompanying chords and countermelodies. They finished by playing the entire tune in chordal harmony.
Although Presuker was from Melbourne, Australia, he used the standard melody, not the one popularized by The Seekers.
Performers
Preusker’s Silver Cornet Band Trombone Quintet
Credits
arr. Wayne Preusker
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in instrumentation
Harmonic Structure: parallel chords
Notes on Performance
Preusker noted it was "recorded with a laptop and a Yamaha Silent Brass trombone mute."
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by silvercornetrecords, 30 May 2010.
End Notes
1. Mitch Williamson. "Prussian Reforms 1806-15." Weapons and Warfare website. 20 December 2016.
2. Williamson.
3. Bruce P. Gleason. Sound the Trumpet, Beat the Drums. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016. 18-19.
4. Gleason. 18.
5. Gleason. 16.
6. James Walker. "Brass band." 105 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition.
7. Gleason. 19.
8. John Thompson. "The Power and the Passion." RAN Navy Daily website. 2 September 2017. Preusker was the photographer.
9. Concert videos of his compositions on YouTube include "Euphoism" and "Frantique." One uploaded by Ozwinds on 26 May 2011 to promote a new model euphonium showed Preusker demonstrating the instrument by playing two passages: one slow, the other requiring quick valve changes.
10. Willi Appel. "Quintet." 712 in Harvard Dictionary.
11. Wikipedia. "Brass Quintet." Variations existed for each voice: cornets and flugelhorns could be used in place of trumpets; alto horns could play French horn parts; baritones or euphoniums could be substituted for trombones; bass trombones and sousaphones could replace tubas.
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