For those of you who don't know, not only do I do sound engineering, but I also perform.
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| Dr. Lynda Hasseler |
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| Mr. Craig Courtney |
The Chordsmen, the group that I'm involved with, performed three songs ourselves, one song with all of the men in the choral department, and two songs with all members of the choral department. We also sang along with several hymns. The Chordsmen pieces specifically were Craig Courtney's "The Yarning," "What Child Is This?" and Howard Helvey's "On Christmas Night, All Christians Sing." "The Yearning," has to be my favorite piece. Mr. Courtney is tough. He expects you to know how to sing properly and he lets you know if something is wrong. The Chordsmen, as with any male ensemble, tends to sing a little bit flat. Mr. Courtney has to constantly remind us that we need to fix our intervals going up as well as going down. "What Child Is This?" was composed last year, and dedicated to the Chordsmen for this year's Christmas Festival. This was an a cappella arrangement of the classic Christmas hymn, and had a lot of very complex jazz harmonies. Howard Helvey's "On Christmas Night, All Christians Sing," was by far the most difficult song to learn for some reason, but it should have been the easiest. We've performed songs composed by Helvey before, and I've found a pattern to his songs. What I don't understand is why this song was so hard to learn, considering that it sounded almost exactly like a song we performed for last year's Christmas Festival titled, "Tomorrow Shall By My Dancing Day."
The combined men's piece was called, "How Great Our Joy," an arrangement by Craig Courtney based on the old German hymn of the same name. The vocal lines were set in duple time, while the piano was set in triple time, creating a contradictory feel. "I Can Tell The World," is a gospel piece composed by the late Moses Hogan. The men start off with a percussive, "I can tell the world, yes, about this. I can tell the nations, yes, that I'm blessed." This was by far the most fun song to perform. Dr. Hasseler didn't direct the men much, so she did a little dance, what I'm going to call the Hasseler Jig. She did have to direct the women a lot though, because they fell behind a lot. The finale, "I was glad when they said unto me," a piece by C. Huber H. Parry, that should be familiar to those who followed the Royal Wedding this past March. You can watch a version of it here. Because of the many ranks required to do this song properly, Mr. Baker had to really put his advanced organ skills to the test. The first night went fantastic. However, the second night, for some reason, Mr. Baker hit the wrong foot piston and the organ roared to life when it was suppose to get very quiet. On Saturday night, the organ did the exact opposite at the same time. The organ quit playing! However, Mr. Baker was able to get it back up and running within seconds and continue the song. On Sunday night, the ghost of Mees Hall finally let Mr. Baker do the song without interruption. These are what made this Christmas Festival so special and memorable to me. Overall, the 2011 Christmas Festival was a joy to be part of. I will surly miss it next year when I'm at the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, Ohio.
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This year, my father was able to attend the Christmas Festival. My dad, as many of you know, has Hepatitis C, and was in dire need to a liver transplant last year. My mother and sister were able to get away from the Cleveland Clinic just long enough to come see the Saturday show last year. Last year's shows were bitter sweet, as my entire family couldn't see me perform. On the Friday of the Christmas Festival, my mother informed me that there may have been a liver available for dad. I informed Mr. Courtney that I would not be able to finish the Christmas Festival, and he said that it was alright. About two hours later, my mother called me again and said dad was too sick to receive the liver, so it went to someone else. This was the second time this had happened. I was so upset. My dad was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. I went ahead and performed the rest of the Christmas Festival, but I was completely upset. I don't remember much about the last three days. I do know that I didn't perform to my best. Just a few days later, on the day after the end of the semester, dad received his liver at about four in the morning. This year, dad was able to come and meet Mr. Courtney. Mr. Courtney was so nice. He told dad that he was in his prayers.
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