What's Up at the 2007 Youth Choral Festival: Hard Work, Some Pizza, and Non-Stop Singing

Ben Johns, Education Director and former ensemble member, reports on this year's Youth Choral Festival in San Francisco.

On Monday, October 22, 2007 Chanticleer held its seventh annual Bay Area Youth Choral Festival, fostering a brilliant variety of music with some 200 students from six high schools.  These are the days I look forward to most as Education Director with Chanticleer.  The energy of the enthusiastic high school singer is unmatched in the professional music world.  But the best thing, by far, is to watch students exceed their expectations.  Participating choirs bring a ten-minute program to share and prepare some pieces to perform as a massed ensemble with the other schools and Chanticleer.  This year those pieces were “I Have Had Singing” by Steven Sametz, “Vamuvamba” (an African piece published by Earthsongs), and “May the Road” by Philip Rice.  After a morning warm-up our Music Director, Joseph Jennings, led a rehearsal of these tutti ensemble pieces.  I think this was a scary moment for the students, because all the things the singers thought they knew about the music were exposed under Joe’s ears.  The ensuing work was fast-paced and intense, with corrections flying from all angles: fixing vowels, intonation, notes, rhythms, interpretation, attitude, posture, balance, blend, dynamics, tempos, pronunciation and word inflection (just to name a few…).  It’s a good thing that lunch was next – time to refuel after that massive focus session!

At lunch students entered their names in a drawing for the latest Chanticleer CD, Let It Snow.  I got to eat and converse with Michael Najar, the choir director from Palo Alto High School and Bruce Lamott, the choir director from San Francisco University High School.   And then it was time for each school to share their ten-minute programs. I love that this portion of the day is a non-competitive sharing session.  Every choir had strengths in different areas – a tribute to the strengths of their directors.  And every student listening could witness those strengths.  I’m reminded that choral music is a very social phenomenon, an exploration and celebration of relationships. 

Morning warm-ups....	...and afternoon coaching sessions.

When the sharing session was done, the schools went to their “homerooms” for workshops with a pair of Chanticleer members.  Several students from various schools told me afterward that this was their favorite part of the day.  I saw some groups singing their folk songs while running around the room, holding hands as if channeling the very folk whose music it was.  Other groups were deep in discussion on philosophical aspects of their music.  And still others were highly focused on precision and vocal technique.  The hard work done here was evident in the evening concert.

This year’s festival was different than most because of a special guest.  Philip Rice, one of Chanticleer’s Student Composer Competition winners, flew out from Michigan to see Chanticleer and the 200 high schoolers combine to sing the winning piece “May the Road” from his larger work Celtic Blessings.  The 19 year old vocal performance and composition major at Central Michigan University spoke to festival participants about his piece just before the second tutti rehearsal.  He also answered questions like “Which composer influences you most?”, “When did you start composing?” and “How long did it take you to write Celtic Blessings?”.  (Answers: Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen; since he was really young – when he first started playing the piano; a few weeks).   The ovation Philip received after his interview indicated a jump to cult status among Bay Area high schools. 

There was a pizza break, and then the closing concert for parents, chaperones, and invited guests.  Even though this day of singing went on for twelve hours, these students were STILL singing in the hallways on the way to their buses to go home.  You can’t help but smile at that!

*  *  *

Thank-you to all the schools, students, chaperones and choral directors who made this day special: Napa High School (Travis Rogers), Gilroy High School (Phil Robb), Palo Alto High School (Michael Najar), San Francisco University High School (Bruce Lamott), Lowell High School (Othello Jefferson), and Nevada Union High School (Rod Baggett). 

-Ben Johns

A final ovation for ALL the participants

Choir Directors write:

“Thanks so much for … a smoothly run and musically enriching Choral Festival. My students were very enthusiastic about the experience, and this morning we had a very positive (and sometimes amusing) "debriefing" session about what they saw/heard/learned; they are indeed like Frederick in "Pirates." Some of them had never heard another HS choir!”

“On behalf of my Chamber Choir, I would like to say thank you again for the opportunity to participate in the Chanticleer Youth Choral Festival. It was indeed a pleasure and honor. Thank you again.”

“As far as the day and evening were concerned - what a wonderful day of music making!  I am so pleased that Chanticleer continues to provide this opportunity for our kids.  As I told you yesterday morning, I personally look forward every year (we attend, as an entire group, one of your Christmas Concerts every December) to seeing the reactions of the students who have not heard Chanticleer before…As always, the Chanticleer members themselves could not have been more gracious and kind to our students, many of whom were thrilled to actually sit next to a Chanticleer singer in rehearsal and stand by one during a performance.”

Countertenor Michael Match: “[The students] are all blessed with wonderful directors and solid programs to explore such diverse styles and varieties of music. I wish I had that when I was in high school! I worked with Palo Alto [High School] and I couldn't believe how diligently they worked to correct things in just a few hours…The whole day was the kind of experience that breeds a life-long interest in music and especially choral singing. We loved seeing students that were committed to making the best music possible and having fun in the process. That's why we all do what we do!”