June 15, 2009 - Jazz hands, people

Many of you know about my deep affinity for choral music. I don't know when it happened, but I fell madly in love with it and can't get enough of it.

In 2004, I was offered a gig at the Hartwick Summer Music Festival (now called the New York Summer Music Festival). I was only 27 years old and had just finished my Master's degree at MSM. I had no idea what to expect. In addition to teaching private lessons, running a combo, playing with guest artists and playing in the big band, I was expected to run a vocal jazz ensemble. Vocal Jazz Ensemble?!?!

I immediately called upon my singer friends who gave me scores of jazz choir music and most of it was really corny and cheesy. "Do ba do wee?" "Badalabado DAY?" Oh dear. I didn't think I could conduct any of that with a straight face, so I did what any self respecting woman with no previous experience in composing vocal music would do. I wrote my own.

The first few charts I wrote were pretty intense. The harmonies were really dense, the ranges were a bit extreme (I am still apologizing to the poor tenors) and the music would have been EASY for instrumentalists to play. Singers, on the other hand, YIKES. I was blessed with eager students who worked hard and had MANY sectional rehearsals so that they could pull off what I was putting in front of them. I am still amazed that those first groups were able to perform those nearly impossible charts! (You know who you are.)

That was six summers ago. (And magically, I am still only 27...) Since then I have spent a great deal of my creative life composing and arranging music for voices. My Sacred Voices Project - music for four voices and jazz quartet will be recorded at the end of the summer, and I have done commissions for a variety of choirs in the US and Canada.

And here I am six years later writing 10 more charts for this summer's festival. I have been thinking and planning all year, trying to put together the perfect program for each two week session, which will showcase the talent in the group without killing us all in the rehearsal process. As always, I still have a lot of writing to finish before D-Day (the first day), but I think this year is going to be the best yet. And yes, I do say that every year.