Jennifer Hayman is a Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia 2010-11 Apprentice Conductor, Program Coordinator for Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare, and Music Director at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.
JENNIFER HAYMAN
Oh My Lord Didn’t It Rain!
February 8, 2011
Spending time with a chorus chock full of lingering coughs and sniffles on a rainy night in February may not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially if you still have a two-hour commute ahead of you. But Rollo Dillworth seemed not to mind. In fact, I think he made us all forget our winter blues for a least an hour at last Wednesday’s rehearsal, where he led us through his brand new piece, “Didn’t It Rain.” As one of this season’s conducting apprentices, I must confess that I may have secretly rejoiced when I found out that rehearsal had been cancelled the week prior, as I had been asked to lead the group through our first rehearsal of, “Didn’t It Rain.” As I read over the score throughout the week, I thought to myself, “How am I going to teach a chorus of 150 voices to to sing these complicated, syncopated rhythms? And once they learn the rhythms, how am I going to teach them to move away from the score and just feel it?” Most conductors know that it’s one thing to get a chorus to sing correct pitches, rhythms, and dynamics, but an entirely different thing to help them to truly capture the spirit of a piece; especially a piece like, “Didn’t It Rain,” which comes from the African American Spiritual tradition, and requires a certain level of abandon: a willingness to step away from the printed page, to just feel it and tell the story. When Dr. Dillworth stepped to the podium last Wednesday, it was clear that he had a plan. He let us read through the first verse of the piece once with little input. The chorus feverishly tapped their toes, made marks in their scores for rhythms that gave them trouble, and barely fumbled through. Then, Dillworth asked us to put our scores down. How funny that a choir that sings the Verdi Requiem with ease would feel so uncomfortable doing this! He then asked us to turn to our neighbors and have a conversation, in rhythm, using the words of the text. Of course, this activity was met with mixed review. Some people felt goofy. Some people barely participated. But he made us keep at it until everyone was engaged, and until it felt as easy as having an everyday chat about the weather. When we put it back together with the music, the transformation was astounding! In fact, we basically put the entire thing together in less than 10 minutes! The result was a high-energy, call and response, Stevie Wonder-esque celebration, and a great conclusion to Dr. Dillworth’s new commission. And believe me, there was a lot of “secret rejoicing”: at the end of rehearsal, people were still singing and whistling the tune, with a little pep in their step, as they headed back out into the rainy night.Celebrating 15 years of Composition with Composer-in-Residence Donald St. Pierre
November 14, 2010
December 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of Donald St. Pierre’s tenure as Composer-in-Residence with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. “Don” has composed over 20 pieces for Mendelssohn Club. This year’s A Feast of Carols program includes a reprise of his Songs of Sweet Accord for harp and men’s chorus, in addition to the premiere of three new pieces: Ben Jonson’s Carol, intended as piece for the audience to sing with the chorus; the tone poem Cherry Tree Caro; and a new rendition of Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day. When asked about his creative process, Don explains that he nearly always begins with the text. This is not surprising since Don, an avid reader, can often be spotted with a book of poetry in hand, many pages dog-eared with future song ideas. Don is a master at setting unusual and refreshing texts for the holiday season. His new compositions for A Feast of Carols offer varying perspectives and musical styles. For example, Ben Jonson’s Carol, named for the text by the controversial poet contemporary to Shakespeare, offers a humanist account of the birth of Jesus. The Cherry Tree Carol is an apocryphal account of Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, which portrays Joseph as a skeptical, scornful husband transformed by the voice of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day is a joyful first-person account of Jesus’ life characterized as a dance. Songs of Sweet Accord was intended as a companion piece to Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, last performed by Mendelssohn Club in 1996. Because choral works with harp accompaniment are such a rarity, Don thought it would be an interesting contrast to showcase men’s chorus on the same program as A Ceremony of Carols, which is written for treble chorus. Sensitive to personnel costs, Don scores works for Mendelssohn Club that use the same instrumentation on other parts of a concert, a graciously utilitarian approach. His works often feature brass quintet, organ, and/or a cappella chorus– textures and colors common to the holiday season. While Don is a respected pianist, he confesses that he very rarely composes at the keyboard. “When I write at the keyboard, I just regurgitate tunes that I’ve heard before.” Don usually works from his home without the help of a keyboard or MIDI computer system. In fact, he writes everything by hand. “If I sit with a piece for a while, still like it, and it doesn’t sound too familiar, I know it’s good.” Don typically starts writing pieces for December in the summer. When asked if it’s hard to write about snowfall and reindeer in the sweltering summer months, he says, “I’ve been doing it for so long now, it doesn’t seem strange to me at all!” We are so fortunate, on many levels, to have Donald St. Pierre as an integral part of Mendelssohn Club. Congratulations and thank you, Don, for fifteen wonderful years of compositions!
