Neil Ginsberg - Kumbaya (continued)

Topic: Pedagogy - Vocal Rhythm

Continued from previous post dated 21 August 2018

Notes on Movement
Bonita High School
The choir was standing of three risers and executed choreographed moves. The drummer was seated on the floor in front, and the boys with the shaker and triangle were in the choir. The grand piano was on the floor to their right. The director stood by the piano and used both arms symmetrically to conduct. He and pianists were the only ones with music.

Illiana Christian High School
The choir was standing on three risers with the director standing in front. The upright piano was to their left and the three instrumentalists were at the right. They and the pianist were the only ones who had a music; the women with the triangle and shaker stood, while the male drummer was seated. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct.

Martin Luther High School
The choir was in three rows on two risers with the director conducting from the grand piano to their front right. A boy stood next to him to turn pages. The three instrumentalists were at stage left with a music stand. The drummer was seated and the others stood. No one else had music. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. A few girls at the end of the first row moved between diagonals.

Mission Viejo High School
The choir stood facing the audience on three risers with the director in front. The grand piano was to their left and drummer was seated near the piano. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct. She and the pianist were the only ones with music.

Notes on Audience
The video of Martin Luther’s concert cut off with the last note. The audiences for the other three were heard applauding.

Audience Perceptions
The only video to attract comments was posted to YouTube by Illiana. They included the usual notes of appreciation in English, French, Portuguese and Polish, as well as religious discussions. Rhode Lopez remembered "singing this in 6th grade." [1]

Some whites complained about the whiteness of the group singing with percussion. One wrote:

"Ok, first of all that was beautiful.

Second. I can’t keep a straight face when any group of people that White bread, sings an African song. (The darkest kid in the group looked maybe Sicilian or Hispanic)

Third, Acapella means.....Oh, never mind......" [2]

His YouTube logo was the fife and drummers from Archibald Willard’s painting, The Spirit of ‘76.

A gamer suggested "Need some Kumbaya Dubstep...

add some bass ‘woo woo woo woo, wowwowowow, wowow wowowow, woo woo woo’." [3]

to which a white video-game composer responded "qoaa shut up u wierdo , dubstep is wack, it would spoil it lol." [4] He also observed "there is no black guys there." [5]

For the most part, they seemed to be saying Ginsberg’s attempt to combine legato singing with Cuban percussion diluted the rhythm. However, since several of the criticism were made by people who promoted the idea of a coming war, it’s hard to know if they were serious, disdained whites adopting African-American rhythms, or were being ironic. One other person who used a Russian moniker wrote: "If you turn up the Tempo to 1.5 it sounds with a Better Rhythm!!!!!" [6] He also posted videos about trucks.

Notes on Performers
Ginsberg earned his music degrees from the Hartt School at Hartford University and Brooklyn College. [7] He taught at Brooklyn Friends and Essex Academy High School in New York, and worked on Broadway and Hollywood projects. [8] He said another composition, the theme to "From Israelite to Jew," was meant "to demonstrate my commitment to 21st century media and my religion." [9]

La Verne, California, was orange-grove country until the end of World War II. [10] Its first high school opened in 1903. By 1959, it was overcrowded and Bonita High School was built. [11] Today it has just under 2,000 students in four grades [12]

The school had five "auditioned choral ensembles" directed by Todd Helm. [13] The "Concert Choir is a select vocal ensemble of approximately 70 singers in grades 11-12." [14] Helm’s music degrees were from UCLA and California State Fullerton. He also directed the music program at St. Juliana Catholic Church in Fullerton. [15]

Mission Viejo was south of La Verne in Orange County. It was located on dry lands used for grazing before Donald Bren turned it into a planned community. The high school was built in 1966, [16] and served just over 2,400 students. [17]

Sarah Norris oversaw four vocal groups. The entry level ones were the mixed-voice Concert Choir and the all-female Diablo Chorus. The more advanced ensembles required auditions. [18] She earned her music degree from Chapman University and the directed the choirs at San Clemente Presbyterian Church. [19]

Martin Luther High School was built by Lutherans in 1961 to provide religious education for families living on the south side of Milwaukee. [20] Many of the area’s original religious leaders were born in Germany. [21] One group within the Wisconsin Synod rejected the imposition of Reformed Practices and joined the Missouri Synod in 1872. The latter adhered to the confession of the older Lutheran tradition. It originally required all its hymns "be in harmony with the Bible and Book of Concord" [22] and accompanied by an organ or piano. Recently, some congregations have accepted more contemporary religious music, including guitars and praise bands. [23]

Great Schools reported the school located in Greendale, Wisconsin, had just over 300 students in four grades. [24] The high school offered a "Jazz Band, Brass Choir, Flute Choir, Clarinet Choir, Woodwind Ensemble, Sax Choir and Pep Band. Martin Luther also has a choir program comprising four choirs, including a men’s and women’s choir and two mixed choirs." [25] The choral director, Tim Franz, earned his music degrees from Concordia University, Nebraska and Concordia University-Wisconsin. [26]

Lansing, Illinois, the home of Illiana Christian High School, was founded by German and Dutch farmers in the 1840s. [27] Dutch Calvinists maintained a separatist tradition when they seceded from the Reformed Church in 1857. One reason they left was they still sang psalms rather than hymns. [28]

Most Reformed children only attended religious primary schools until World War II; those who wanted a secondary education went to a religious school in Chicago. A number of Dutch Reformed communities located south of Calumet in Illinois and Indiana joined together in 1945 to establish a local secondary school [29] controlled by the parents, not the church. [30] One teacher explained:

"Reformed Christian education is about so much more than chapel and Bible class. It’s about how the Lordship of Christ affects every area of life, every subject, every action, every recreation. So Illiana Christian High School emphasizes that science and history, business and band, lunch time and basketball practice all have to do with our faith in God. There’s no area that’s not sacred; there’s no part of school life where we can hang up a ‘Keep Out’ sign for God." [31]

Illiana enrolled 520 students in four grades. [32] The choir director was Erin Lanenga, who graduated from Calvin College in Music Education and Spanish. At the time she was at Illiana, she was working on a masters from Northern Illinois University, and left for Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, Illinois, in 2011. [33]

Availability
Neil Ginsberg
Sheet Music: Neil Ginsberg. "Kumbaya." Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Publishing Company, 2001.

Bonita High School Choir, La Verne, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by mychannel on 14 October 2009.

Illiana A Cappella Choir, Lansing, Illinois
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by abajkl on 31 October 2008.

Martin Luther High School Concert Choir, Greendale, Wisconsin
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Paul Kiyono on 29 May 2013.

Mission Viejo High School Concert Choir, Mission Viejo, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Mission Viejo on 22 June 2014.

End Notes
1. Rhode Lopez. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. "awwww!!!!! i remember singing this in 6th grade :')"

2. Tony Dadon. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2013. SysExDump also complained about an a capella choir using instruments. He wrote: "Somebody needs to look up a capella...." (YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.)

3. qoaa. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. Dub step was a fast form of syncopated electronic dance music that emerged in London in the late 1990s. (Wikipedia. "Dubstep.")

4. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
5. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. Different YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
6. Ivansky1. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
7. "GIA Publications." Its website.
8. "Neil Ginsberg." Santa Barbara Music Publishing website.
9. "Musical Director/Pianist." Neil Ginsberg’s website.
10. Wikipedia. "La Verne, California."
11. Wikipedia. "Bonita High School."
12. "Bonita High School." Great Schools website.
13. "Mr. Todd Helm." Bonita High School website.
14. Choir class description. Bonita High School website.
15. Helm.
16. Wikipedia. "Mission Viejo High School."
17. "Mission Viejo High School." Great Schools website.
18. "Mission Viejo HS Choir Program." School website.
19. "Mrs. Sarah Norris." Mission Viejo High School website.
20. "History of Martin Luther." School website.
21. Wikipedia. "Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod."

22. The Book of Concord "published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession." It was compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz to resolve disputes that arose after Luther died, and is taken as the "doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church." (Wikipedia. "Book of Concord.")

23. Wikipedia. "Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod."
24. "Martin Luther High School." Great Schools website.
25. Wikipedia. "Martin Luther High School."
26. "Tim Franz." LinkedIn.
27. Wikipedia. "Lansing, Illinois."
28. Wikipedia. "Christian Reformed Church in North America."
29. "Our History." Illiana website.
30. "Governance." Illiana website.
31. Mary Lagerwey. "What Does It Mean to be Reformed?" Illiana website. January 2006.
32. "Illiana Christian High School." Great Schools website.
33. "Erin Lanenga." LinkedIn. Timothy Christian was a Dutch Reformed school.