By: Kobi Russell, Central Intermediate This is Kobi's 5th year singing with BCC. He is 11 years old.
I recently had the chance to experience two great opportunities for boy singers. A BCC Staff Member invited me to the Young Men’s Choral Festival at Boston Latin School, and I decided to go. I did not sing in it, I was part of the audience. I went with my family. It wasn’t just the BCC YME (Young Men’s Ensemble), but other boy and men choirs as well. It was very cool to see and hear so many males in song at once, which is rare! The music went from silly and quirky, to Gospel, to sea shanties! It was very enjoyable! I could imagine myself doing that concert when I was older!
Kobi demonstrates his changing voice for Fernando Malvar-Ruiz and other music educators in attendance at BCC's Professional Development weekend
In the last two weeks before winter break, we had the privilege of working with Magda Albarracín, a choir director from Venezuela. She was teaching us two songs, Pata Pa’ca, and Acto del Árbol from Opereta Ecología. Both songs are in Spanish and have a percussion line with a complicated series of claps, snaps, and stomps. It was hard to figure out, but extremely fun. Unfortunately, Magda had to go back to Venezuela. But however short it may have been, that was definitely an experience to remember, and Pata Pa’ca should be extremely fun to perform.
Here is a video of Concert Choir working with Magda - please leave a comment to let us know what you think! We hope you'll come see the final product at our performance on April 9th at Old South Church, featuring another Venezuelan, Conductor-In-Residence Maria Guinand! For detailed information on this concert, please visit our website: http://bostonchildrenschorus.org/feature/maria_guinand
As we head into Winter and begin to prepare for MLK Day 2011, its time to reflect on the Fall of our 8th performance season at BCC! There has been no shortage of excitement for BCC this Fall! This is the first of a two-part series on the Top 10 of Fall 2010!(in no particular order)
1. Performance at the Deval Patrick Rally
On October 16th a small group of BCC singers had the incredible opportunity to perform the National Anthem at the Democratic Rally for Deval Patrick, at which Barack Obama spoke. Following the Anthem, the BCC singers got to stay at the rally and mingle with James Taylor and Barney Frank among others, and following the rally, some singers shook hands with Barack Obama. What a great day for BCC!
2. Hubie Jones awarded the Purpose Prize Hubie Jones, our fabulous founder, is a winner of this year's Purpose Prize for his work in founding BCC. The Purpose Prize is a title awarded to social entrepreneurs over 60 who, in their encore careers, are using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on society’s biggest challenges. Way to go Hubie! Read more about it at boston.com. 3. Villa Victoria performance at Fenway Alliance Event This year the Villa Victoria Traning Choir continued the wonderful tradition of performing at the Fenway Alliance's Opening Our Doors Day, an event that brings together various arts organizations in the Fenway Area for a shared celebration of creativity. This was the first performance for John Reynolds in his new role as Conductor of the Villa Victoria Training Choir -- kudos to John! 4. Our First Composer-In-Residence -- Bill Banfield This year, for the first time ever, BCC has an official Composer-In-Residence! Bill Banfield, a exceptional author, recording artist, and composer is joining us this year to create various pieces of music to compliment our repertoire. Most recently, Bill composed a pair of pieces for us, titled "Love Is" and Love Says". Watch the video below to see Bill explain the inspiration behind the piece.
5. BCC Participation in the Samaritans 5k On October 2nd, PC members got up bright and early to sing, and run at the Samaritans' Annual 5k! Over a dozen BCC members and staff participated in the race, and raised nearly $1000 for Samaritans! Click here for more photos from the event.
Maddie Mechem, a Concert Choir member, describes the her current experience in Concert Choir...
Editor's Note: Concert Choir is performing Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Nashua Symphony this weekend! Click here for more information.
Lots of Music by Maddie Mechem, 11/8/10
Well, these last two rehearsals were certainly busy for those of us in Concert Choir. In the past two weeks, we have had professionals from the Boston Children’s Theater, and the Executive Director of the Nashua Orchestra, Eric Valliere, visit our rehearsals to see what we’re doing at BCC and help us prepare for upcoming performances. The amount of music we have to learn is reaching a crescendo. You could say that German has become kind of a second language, and the holidays have come early. The major piece for this half of the season is Gustav Mahler’s 8th symphony, which is over 200 pages long! Of those 200 pages, we have to sing more than sixty. This piece is one of many pieces currently residing in our black BCC binders. After a quick count, the most current Concert Choir music tally is seven holiday songs, two German and/or Latin songs, and two so far uncategorized songs. That is eleven pieces of music, nine of which will be performed sometime in the next three months. That is a lot to learn in not much time! On the bright side, we will never run out of things to keep us occupied, AND we get fancy new shirts to wear for performances this year, along with the usual white BCC oxfords.
More Mahler by Maddie Mechem, 11/15/10
The Mahler madness is reaching its peak, as the first concert is less than a week away. Sunday was our first rehearsal, and our last rehearsal is on Friday. Then, on Saturday, it’s off to Lexington for the first of two concerts. We have some work to do between now and then. We were missing cues and whole sections of the song, and we have the equivalent of about five hours to get this right. But after all of this is over, we get to take a break and begin to prepare for the holiday concert. As mentioned in a previous post, we have seven songs to perform, four of which we have been assigned for homework (CC: don’t forget! This is highly important!). Because Mahler requires a ton of time and effort to learn/perform, delaying preparation for the holiday concert is kind of a given. Even with all the stress of looking for cues and singing over all the other people, it will be fun to perform, especially with the awesome, all-black uniform, as well as the fact that we are going to be part of a huge group of people, all of whom have worked hard to make this work. As to what happens and how well it works, that must wait for another post.
After two weeks of beginnings, its safe to say that the 2010-2011 BCC season is underway. Every season at BCC brings new opportunities, and this year is no different! First of all, this year marks the first year for BCC's newest choir, Choral Union, which brings together talented high-school aged singers to learn the fundamentals of music theory. Irene Idicheria, who directed Villa Victoria Training Choir and West End House training choir last season, takes on Choral Union this year. CU rehearsals are off to a great start. Additionally, John Reynolds who served as a Teaching Fellow last season, is directing Neighborhood choirs this season!
One change that directly impacts singers at who rehearse at BCC Central is that this year, instead of signing in on paper singers sign in on one of two laptops set up in the BCC Central lobby. Pretty cool, right?! So much paper and time saved!
Overall, this season is off to a great start. Stay tuned for more updates!
