My Support for the Plan

by JoAn Segal, President

While I am aware that some of you aren’t “sold” on it, I’m going to use this column to present my reasons for being in support of the restructuring plan. At the end of those remarks, I’ll have more to say about what is going on right now.

The Plan overview we presented is the result of months of work by the Planning Committee, whose members had different points of view and who were able to come to agreement that this plan is best for the Boulder Chorale.

I want to be part of a chorale whose expertise is acknowledged by the Boulder music community. I bristle when I hear people say, “Oh, the Chorale is not auditioned? Well, then, it wouldn’t be good enough to do X”. While I know not all our members agree with me, I think we have been fortunate in being able to sing with the Boulder Philharmonic for the past three seasons. The access to an orchestra capable of performing major works is very important to me. We have sung with other orchestras, but the best fit for us is the Philharmonic. Other orchestras are either geographically separated (Jefferson Symphony, Longmont Symphony) or not really of the caliber we need for a first-rate performance.

I also know that the choral music community in Boulder is abuzz with the knowledge that Michael Butterman, the Phil’s new conductor, wants to do choral works. He is the target of much wooing right now by groups that call themselves “auditioned.” (Not all of them are of a quality as high as ours.)

When Maestro Kuchar demanded that the Chorale join Peak Arts and become auditioned, our leadership legitimately balked, not only because of the auditioning aspect, but because we would have lost our autonomy. How glad I was when a new opportunity opened for us. I, for one, don’t want to lose that chance. I feel if we can approach the Phil with the news that the Chorale has almost completed its gradual move into becoming an auditioned choir, we will have a strong claim on the position of “The Community Chorale positioned to sing with The Community Orchestra.” And that’s the group where I want to belong!

Next steps: Jack, Tim, and I stayed after rehearsal last Tuesday and spoke with about six people; we made notes of their reactions. We have received several e-mail responses from members. Members of the Board and of the Planning Committee have sent us messages about conversations they have had with members.

Altogether we have had about 40 responses of various kinds as I write this on Sunday, March 4th. We may get some more, since we have called people who don’t have e-mail and invited them to respond via phone or written messages left at the office, and we announced on Tuesday Feb. 27th that people may also send or deliver anonymous messages to the office.

Members of the Planning Committee will take all of these messages into account as we draft a response to the concerns being voiced. We said we would like to receive your responses by March 6th, because the Board will consider the question of restructuring at its March 12th meeting. If you still have something to say, please let us know right away.

Chorale Tour to Greece

Erin Christensen-Mandel, Coordinator

Three months to go! The next tour payment will be due by Tuesday, March 20. I will need a photocopy of everyone’s passports by April 12. Please note that the Chorale office does not have a working photocopy machine. Also, please look at which *optional* shore excursions you would like: the deadline for signing up will be Tuesday, March 20. In the meantime, if you have any questions, contact me at: 303-554-7692 / boulderchorale@yahoo.com

Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the Boulder Chorale will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Jubilee Hall. Last year’s meeting was great fun and we hope we’ll have some entertainment for you that will help us close a fine year of hard work.

All Boulder Chorale members are welcome to attend Board of Directors meetings, or talk with any board member about an issue that we should discuss at the meetings.

Ticket Sales

by Karen Haimes, Ticket Manager

On February 24th, several of our members attended the Resonance concert, entitled Earth Voices, which was held at the same venue where we have been performing--First United Methodist Church.

It was interesting to me on a number of levels…first to get the perspective of watching a concert as a non-participant, in the venue where I’m usually a participant; secondly, to have a sense of the different types of musical offerings we are so fortunate to have here in Boulder; thirdly to see how a different group sets up for ticket sales in the lobby area!; and lastly to get a feel of what it’s like to sit in a sold-out capacity audience at FUM!

Our March concert will be the last one of the season presented at this venue. I’m looking especially forward to singing there after listening to a different group, from a different viewpoint perform there. Let’s try our best to fill the house!

For our April 28th concert at Macky Auditorium with the BPO, watch the email announcements for exactly how members can acquire tickets. The Audience Enablers will not be handling sales in the typical fashion during rehearsals. You will be informed as the specific details are worked out.

Bon Voyage!

Even if you can’t go with us, do come and wish us “Bon Voyage” as we prepare for our tour of Greece, which will take place June 28 – July 7.

The Bon Voyage concert will be held on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. Watch for more details.

Puttin’ on the Ritz!

We’ll be Puttin’ on the Ritz on Sunday, May 6th from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Boulderado in the Mezzanine. It’s time to dress up, dance to Pete Barbieri’s Jazz Quartet, and enjoy goodies in a festive atmosphere. This is your official invitation from the Committee: Esri Albritten, Dianne Ewing, Julie Hale, Jeannette Hillery, David Leander, Miriam Lindahl, Jeff Livesay, Inge Moorby, and JoAn Segal. Save the date!

American Tapestry

Our upcoming concert is a wonderful opportunity to share with your family and friends music that is upbeat (NOT a Requiem!), American, and familiar – but beautifully performed. We also have exciting Guest Artists – Heavenly Echoes, a Gospel group from Denver with a long history (almost 40 years), and a long track record of successful performances all over Colorado.

Among other pieces, our program will feature Spirituals – songs of a slave culture carrying secret messages about the possibility of freedom to those “in the know” – and Gospel music, a celebration of religious fervor and intense expression. Add to this that the concert comes on March 17 and 18, just as we are about to feel Spring beginning! Let’s get a good audience out to join us on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Boulder.

Time for Boulder to Reciprocate!

No sooner will our American Tapestry concert be over than we will be working on Boulder Sings for Dushanbe: a benefit performance for the Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities program, proceeds from which will be added to the fund for building a Cyber Café for our sister city, Dushanbe, in Tajikistan. It was the citizens of Dushanbe who donated and built, piece by piece, the beautiful Teahouse on 13th Street in downtown Boulder.

The concert will feature sets by Jubilate! Sacred Singers, the Boulder Chorale, and the Kutandara Marimba Ensemble, culminating in a performance of Randy McIntosh’s Kyrie and Gloria with all participating. The date is April 1, the place Macky Auditorium, the time 4:00 p.m. Tickets will soon be on sale through Boulder Theater.

Ode to Joy

What a joyful piece! When the young Friedrich Schiller wrote this exuberant poem full of boyish enthusiasm about brotherhood and ideal relationships among people, he could never have imagined it would become his best-known work because of its use in a symphony by Beethoven! Our April 28th performance at Macky with the Boulder Philharmonic will be an occasion of great joy for all of us, too – the pinnacle of a great season, and the start – we hope – of a long collaboration with Michael Butterman, the Philharmonic’s new Music Director.

An exciting opportunity for 2008!

Tim and the Boulder Chorale have been invited to be a part of the Colorado Mahlerfest 2008. (Probably Jan. 9 – 13). This annual event is a fantastic achievement, for which the group won the International Mahler Award in 2005. The choral work to be performed is Das Klagende Lied, not as well-known as some of Mahler’s other works.

It is a great honor that Tim will be the choral conductor and we will be the major participants. The work isn’t easy, and we will have to spend a lot of time on it in the fall, so much that we probably won’t have a fall concert in 2007, though we shall Make Joy at the holidays! We are really coming up in the world to receive such an invitation – we can look forward to it with pride and enthusiasm, but also with a resolve to work hard! More information as it becomes available!

Using Chorale MIDI Files–a Step-By-Step Primer by Esri Allbritten

How do most of us learn a piece of music? By hearing it over and over again. That’s why the MIDI files on the Chorale web site are so useful. Here’s how to use them. (These instructions are for PC users. I don’t know if they’ll work for the Mac crowd.)

First of all, MIDI files are small. It doesn’t take a lot of time to download them, even if you have a dial-up connection. So save the files to your computer. That way, if your online service or the site goes down temporarily, you’ll still be able to listen to the piece. If a piece isn’t listed yet, Joe Frank is still working on getting it up. If you find errors in your part or have a problem, feel free to email him at joe@bugev.com.

Our starting point is http://www.boulderchorale.org. On the brown stripe that runs below the photos, click on Members. A menu will drop down. Click on MIDI Files. On the new page, scroll down to see that the pieces are grouped according to whether the big group or one of the small groups is singing them. Text that is colored blue is a link, and can be clicked on. If you want your part to be loudest, click on the name of your part. If you want to hear all the parts weighted the same, click on the name of the piece. If you don’t see all these options at first, click on whatever blue text is available. Eventually you’ll get there.

As an example, let’s say you click on the Sop I part for Go Where I Send Thee. Windows Media Player will open in a separate window, and the piece will start to play. Go to the top left corner and click on File. Now click on Save As. Click on the My Documents picture of a file folder, to the left. Now, in the main section to the right, find My Music and double-click on it. Click the Save button. The file is now saved as garden-Sop1, and you don’t have to go online to play it. You just pull up Windows Media Player in your programs list, hit File, Open, go to My Documents, My Music, and double click on the file name. The piece will start to play.

Let’s say that you want to change the speed of the piece. Find the Now Playing tab. It’s on the left, the fourth line of text down from the top. Click on it, then go back up two lines and click on View. Scroll down the menu that pops up and put your mouse on Enhancements. A menu will pop up on the side. Click Show Enhancements. Now click View again, put your mouse on Enhancements, and this time, go below Show Enhancements, which now has a check on it, and click Play Speed Settings. A slider bar will appear at the bottom of the page. You can move the pointer in the middle of the bar to the left, for slower, or to the right, for faster. If the pointer doesn’t show up immediately, click on the bar at the 1.0 marking. It will appear.

Another neat trick is to choose Repeat, so the song plays over and over until you tell it to stop. This way, you can listen to your part while you’re cleaning house or filing (bring headphones to work!). You don’t even have to pay attention. It will sink in, believe me. To get the song to repeat, go to the fifth line of text from the top, on the right, and click on Now Playing List. On the menu that pops up, click Repeat.

The song, once started, will play over and over. To stop it, click on Now Playing List and click Repeat again. It’s a toggle. If it has a check next to it, it’s repeating. If it doesn’t, it plays once and stops. And by the way, the stop and start buttons are at the very bottom of the screen, and look just like they do on a tape or CD player. Hold your mouse over the buttons if you’re not sure, and a little text box will come up telling you what the button does.

Also, you’ll notice that while the piece is playing, a little pointer moves along a bar that runs across the bottom of the screen. You can move this pointer. So if there’s a particularly tricky section you want to hear over and over, pay attention to where the pointer is when that part starts. Put your mouse on the bar at that point and click. The piece will start up again right there. Keep your mouse at that spot and click it as many times as you want. Change the speed to slow, find the part again, and play it over and over slowly. This is extremely helpful for learning fast, tricky parts.

Calendar of Events

Tuesday Evening Rehearsals—

Women’s Chorale 6:00-6:50 p.m.

Chamber Chorale 6:30-8:15 p.m.

Full Chorale 7:00-9:30 p.m.

Monday, March 12— Board of Directors Meeting

7:00 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church

Please let JoAn know if you plan to attend.

Thursday, March 15—Dress Rehearsal

6:00-10:00 p.m.

First United Methodist Church (1421 Spruce Street)

You do not need to wear concert attire to this rehearsal.

Saturday, March 17—American Tapestry Concert

6:00 p.m. Call Time

7:30 p.m. Concert

First United Methodist Church (1421 Spruce Street)

Sunday, March 18—American Tapestry Concert

3:00 p.m. Call Time

4:00 p.m. Concert

First United Methodist Church (1421 Spruce Street)

Tuesday, March 20—Walk-In Registration

Male Tenors and Basses for Beethoven performance

5:30-7:00 p.m.

Registration forms will be available at the office and on our website: www.boulderchorale.org

Tuesday, March 20—Greece payment due

Optional Shore Excursion sign-ups are due.

The third of four payments is due.

Friday, March 23—Newsletter Deadline

Please submit articles to boulderchorale@yahoo.com or to the Boulder Chorale office.

Saturday, March 31—Dushanbe Dress Rehearsal

8:00-10:00 p.m.

Macky Auditorium (CU Campus, Boulder)

You do not need to wear concert attire to this rehearsal.

Parking arrangements will be announced.

Sunday, April 1— Boulder Sings for Dushanbe

3:00 p.m. Call Time

4:00 p.m. Concert

Macky Auditorium (CU Campus, Boulder)

Parking arrangements will be announced.

Monday, April 9—Board of Directors Meeting

7:00 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church

Please let JoAn know if you plan to attend.

Tuesday, April 24—Final Greece Payment due

Optional Shore Excursion payments are due.

Thursday, April 26—Beethoven Dress Rehearsal

6:00-8:30 p.m.

Macky Auditorium (CU Campus, Boulder)

Friday, April 27—Beethoven Rehearsal

No chorus rehearsal is currently scheduled, BUT please hold the date!

Saturday, April 28—Beethoven Rehearsal

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Macky Auditorium (CU Campus, Boulder)

Saturday, April 28—Beethoven Concert

6:30 p.m. Call Time

7:30 p.m. Concert

Macky Auditorium (CU Campus, Boulder)

Sunday, May 6—Cocktail Dance Benefit

“Puttin’ on the Ritz”

$50 per person

Boulderado Hotel

Tuesday, May 8—Annual Meeting/Potluck

Lots of business with some entertainment, too.

6:00 p.m.

Sacred Heart of Jesus Church

Greece Tour Ensemble Rehearsals—Tuesdays:

May 22, May 29, June 5, June 12, June 19.

7:00-9:00 p.m.

Atonement Lutheran Church

Sunday, June 3—Tour Social/Meeting

5:00 p.m. (no rehearsal afterwards)

**Please note new date and time.

Tuesday, June 19—Greece Ensemble Rehearsal

7:00-9:00 p.m.

Thursday, June 21—Bon Voyage Dress Rehearsal

7:00-9:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 24—Bon Voyage Concert

4:00 p.m