8 minute read
Choir Features
from Tactus Fall 2022
by tactuswacda
CHOIRCHOIR FEATUREFEATURE
Nevada choir feature :
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From offering tuneful holiday cheer at assisted living facilities and rousing patriotic songs at Memorial Day and Veterans Day events to singing the National Anthem at Las Vegas Aviators ballgames, the Silver Statesmen Barbershop Chorus has been delighting audiences throughout southern Nevada with its award-winning Barbershop harmonies for more than 50 years. As Nevada’s largest a cappella men’s chorus, The Silver Statesmen also provides the community with a varied assortment of classic and contemporary Barbershop music throughout the year in partnership with the Clark County Library District, the Nevada Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additionally, the Chorus has joined with local music educators at annual “Real Men Sing” events to help introduce middle school and high school boys to the Barbershop style of singing.
The Silver Statesmen range from seniors with many years of experience singing Barbershop to teenagers and college students who are just starting to embrace the rich harmonies and ringing chords of the Silver Statesmen’s signature Barbershop sound. Chorus members come from all walks of life. With the goal of bringing people together in harmony and fellowship, all are warmly welcomed, regardless of musical ability. Many Chorus members also participate in one or more quartets and enjoy singing “tags” during post-rehearsal social “afterglows. ” As we like to say at the end of every rehearsal: “It’s GREAT to be a Silver Statesmen!”
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P H O T O C R E D I T : T O M B R I L L , L A S V E G A S , N V
Over the past 36 years, the Tucson Girls Chorus programs have grown and evolved based on the needs of the Tucson community. We understood that offering scholarships was not enough to support and engage with our diverse community. TGC’s main building and rehearsal location is in an affluent part of the city, and although a robust scholarship program helped to remove financial barriers, it did not address the many other issues that prevent youth from accessing group singing in a choral setting. These challenges include lack of transportation (a prevalent issue in Tucson), scheduling issues due to families working multiple jobs, or the community perception that choir was for the well-off and neurotypical.
TGC’s Engagement Program continues to grow into a fully staffed, multi-tiered community engagement effort that emphasizes access, connection for youth and music educators, and removal of boundaries. This program is implemented through pillars of focus, depth and breadth. For example, one pillar, depth, consists of robust scholarships and dependable subsidized programming to ensure access to all. This includes financial support for singers at our Central and Northwest locations, as well as operating choirs that meet weekly in underserved communities (Engagement Choirs) and hosting one-day choral festivals for singers from around the Tucson community. In-person choirs at partner schools meet weekly throughout the school year for one-hour sessions and are led by highly qualified music educators and professional accompanists. Participants are girls, grades 2 – 5, whose schools do not otherwise have a choir program on-site and participation ranges from 12 – 20 singers at each location. Engagement Choirs sing a diverse repertoire that aims to reflect and validate both dominant and non-dominant perspectives in the Tucson community and the world.
In 2021, TGC began a partnership with the Native American Advancement Foundation (NAAF) to provide a singing program delivered virtually. NAAF is a grassroots education nonprofit in the GuVo District of TON, led by Tohono O’odham educators in cooperation with the GuVo District and the TON Department of Education. The GuVo District is a rural remote region on the U.S. -Mexico border and children attend the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools. The partnership is multi-faceted in approach by providing GuVo District’s first music education program for pre K – 12 grade students, mentoring two middle school students as music teaching assistants, and creating a cross-cultural exchange between classical music education and Tohono O’odham traditional music and language. The pilot program began with singers in grades 2 – 12, and because programming was virtual younger siblings joined in along with other family members. The program continues to grow and adapt as the TGC learns more about the needs and culture of the TON community.
TGC programming is designed to affirm the agency of young people to accomplish challenging tasks, persevere through uncertainty and unfamiliar content, and build relationships with peers and adults in constructive ways. TGC focuses first and foremost, both inside the classroom with our singers and outside the classroom with our partners, on building and nurturing relationships that are based on mutual respect, understanding of each other's needs, strengths, limitations, and the desire to understand and serve each unique community. Pieces in a variety of languages and from a variety of musical traditions are included. Also, explaining cultural, historical, and social contexts are vital aspects of the rehearsal process. Students should know how music was originally performed, its significance to the culture it comes from, and how it is performed and held by people from that culture.
Our partner at Tohono O’odham (TON) connects all learning to the language and culture, part of the himdag (lifeways). The language and sacred geography are a vital part of the regional cultural foundation and are important for TGC to understand when programming.
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P H O T O C R E D I T : C O U R T E S Y O F T U C S O N G I R L S C H O R U S
The Midvale Messiah performances began in 1984 and have continued annually with the exception of the last 2 years due to Covid 19. Originally we performed at Christmas time, but the last several years have changed the performance to the Easter season. It began with a chorus of about 40 with an organ accompaniment and grew to a choir of around 80 with a full orchestra. It is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but is open to people of all faiths in our community. Anyone who wishes to participate in the choir is invited to sing regardless of skill. This gives many people the opportunity to participate in this work that would otherwise not have that opportunity. The orchestra, out of necessity of balance and limitation of instrumentation, consists of those in the community who have the proper skills and others needed to cover all the parts. This is always a free performance, but attendees are encouraged to bring a can or two of food for the local food bank in a reference to the proceeds of the first performance of Messiah being given to the foundling hospital.
I have two experiences, among many, that I would like to share. At the performance, we usually tape off the first two or three rows of seats in the audience for convenience of the performers. One year several of those seats were occupied by people that looked to be of very little means. I was irritated at first because of the inconvenience it caused me, but then remembered that this was a performance for the community and not the elite or well-to-do as well as being about the Messiah and His work.. I thought how this might be one of the few programs of this kind that these people would be able to attend. At the end of the performance, I could tell by their demeanor that it had truly been a wonderful and uplifting experience for them.
The second experience involved a special needs woman who loved to sing, but could not sing on pitch. Singing Messiah was the highlight of her year. She sang loudly and enthusiastically. One day, an alto came to me and offered to have this lady sit by her. She took special care to make her feel included and really helped alleviate a rather uncomfortable situation. To me, this is what community is about. Several other communities in the Salt Lake area began their own community performances of Messiah after participating in or attending the Midvale Community Messiah.
The annual performance of Messiah is a community tradition here in Midvale and Sandy. We have community members who tell us every year how much they look forward to it. We think it's even more impactful now that we've moved the performance from the Christmas season to the Easter season. December is a busy month for folks and it could be easy for our performance to get lost in the hustle and bustle of that time of year. We don't have as many tributes to the Savior, especially of the musical variety, near Easter, so our performance comes at a time that really has an impact.
We believe that singing with a group like our Midvale Messiah gives singers a sense of belonging as well as a sense of accomplishment. Most of our singers would not ever have the opportunity to sing with a full orchestra. Our soloists, which are drawn from the choir, may never have the opportunity to perform in this type of performance without our Midvale Community Messiah.
A U T H O R E D B Y J A N L I S T E R & S E A N R A L E I G H
P H O T O C R E D I T : C O U R T E S Y O F M I D V A L E C O M M U N I T Y M E S S I A H
