Flurries

So far Griffin GA has avoided any significant snow flurries this winter, but there is certainly a flurry of activity surrounding THE ARMED MAN right now. Here's a sampling:

• Of course the choir and ballet company are in full-rehearsal-swing already. At the choir rehearsal on Monday night, I could not believe the level of concentration and the amount of mastery already demonstrated by the GCA singers! this is great news, especially because we have guest conductor Kevin Hibbard (from University of West Georgia) coming next week Monday, February 1, to work with us.
• Behind the scenes, we have been finalizing arrangements this week to obtain "grand rights" for the production. Because we are creating a new combination of music and ballet, there are more legal considerations than for a typical concert.
• The orchestra has been hired and I have all their names, addresses, email addresses to process. We have negotiated fees and we will be ready to send the (rental) music out to them when it arrives in a few weeks.
• Some are busy working to make the choir look a certain way on stage. I don't know if I'm allowed to disclose details about that, but there are people finding various shirts and coordinating colors, and shopping for bolts of cloth. I'm glad that's not my job...
• The TAM publicity committee (affectionately named TAMPR by Bill Pasch) has been writing articles (THANKS Mary Drew), gathering information about singer churches (THANKS Liz Fortson), and putting together a publicity packet to send out early in February. The GCA Board has also approved GCA becoming a contributor to SOUTHSIDE ARTS AGENDA, a weekly e-publication distributed to 7200 families. Our first full page ad will go out on February 1. (To subscribe, go here: www.southsideartsagenda.com and "Join Our Mailing List")
• Bill Pasch has disseminated a draft of the program notes to the chorus and others to help us all get educated and become familiar with some of the background and history surrounding TAM. These notes will be on the GCA website soon. I'll post an update here when they are available.

Much more to come! Keep spreading the word about THE ARMED MAN.

On Peace as a Goal

As we come to the end of the MLK week, I thought I would share a quote that Katrina Lazenby brought to my attention. I meant to share this quote on Monday, but I forgot in the heat of the rehearsal! Dr. King said:

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Beginnings

Mary Drew (one of those helping GCA with publicity), asked me for some information about how "The Armed Man" work was "discovered" and chosen as a GCA project. I sent her the following paragraph.

In March 2008, I was judging a choral festival with Dr. Kevin Hibbard of the University of West Georgia. GCA was in its first season and on the ride to the site I was picking his brain about possible community chorus repertoire. Kevin directs a community group at Emory called Collegium Vocale (http://www.cvchorus.org/newsite/Home.html). He said that, hands down, the most popular work he had done was Jenkins “The Armed Man.” He said it was a favorite of the chorus and the audience alike. Upon returning home, I was reading a music journal (probably a week later) when I stumbled on a piece about “The Armed Man.” That following Sunday, our accompanist Seth Davis came in and said that he had just purchased a new CD called “The Armed Man” and he thought the music was fantastic and might be something GCA would want to program. So, in the months that followed I obtained a recording and did some searching on YouTube. I ordered a DVD of the composer directing a performance. The videos all included a film background showing various war images and combat footage, etc. As I listened to the music, it struck me that the music really lent itself to a visual element or movement of some kind. The “politicalness” of the film turned me off slightly and sent red flags about possible alienation of parts of our audience. For example, the film projects images of Ronald Reagan and George W Bush during the singing of “Bloody Men.” That’s when I thought it would be really neat to collaborate with the Griffin Ballet Theatre. I sent Mitch Flanders a score and a recording and suggested we collaborate. He immediately responded in favor and we started making plans.

The rest is history!

Intreresting Background

At our first choral rehearsal for "The Armed Man" a few weeks ago, I shared some interesting background to the work.

• The melody on which the first and last movements are based is L'homme Arme. This secular tune was perhaps the "greatest hit" of the Renaissance period. Over 40 composers wrote Mass settings based on this tune as a cantus firmus, including Josquin des Prez, Palestrina, Dufay, Ockeghem, and Busnois. Each composer paid homage to those before, but also tried to outdo the predecessors.
• John Rutter was one of the other English composers on the "short list" for the TAM commission.
• The Armed Man (2000) has been compared to Britten's War Requiem (1962) and Ralph Vaughn Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem (1936) because of its use of sacred and secular texts juxtaposed within the large cantata form and because of its themes about war and peace.

TAM is an ambitious work, and it seeks to find a place in a musical tradition that dates back many centuries. By incorporating a Renaissance era tune, biblical and liturgical texts, and secular texts ancient and modern, TAM encourages us to think about war and its effects on humans historically and throughout our civilization. Experiencing TAM may help us better understand the conflicts in our world today, or at least gain perspective.

Grant us strength to DIE!

Griffin Choral Arts has now had two rehearsals for "The Armed Man" (or TAM, for short). There seems to be great enthusiasm in the choir and the music is already attaching itself to our hearts and minds. At the first rehearsal, I felt it most during the "Hymn Before Action" movement.

The earth is full of anger, the seas are dark with wrath.
The Nations in their harness go up against our path:
Ere yet we loose the legions; Ere yet we draw the blade,
Jehova of the Thunders, Lord God of Battles aid!

High lust and froward bearing, proud heart rebellous brow,
Deaf ear and soul uncaring, we seek thy mercy now!
The sinner that foreswore Thee, the fool that passed Thee by,
Our times are known before Thee, Lord grant us strength to die,
Lord, grant us strength to die!

(two of the five verses written by Rudyard Kipling)

When we finished, I told the choir that I believed them! I think it is the strength of the poetry that lit the fire in our collective bellies. The music is dramatic and sweeping and provides momentum as the choir gets ready to "Charge!" in the following movement.