Choral extravaganza celebrates international music diversity

Traditional Japanese wind chimes sound as the choir begins to sing, drums keep the beat to a piece from Kenya, a cappella singers get their pitch for a traditional Irish song, and the soothing sound of a cello strings the notes together from a selection from Finland. As each song begins, a different language is introduced. From the useful Spanish, to the somewhat familiar sounds of Latin and then to the foreign sound of Swahili, GCSU’s three choral groups are preparing for a World Choral Extravaganza that will premiere Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on South Liberty Street.

Stemming from a student’s idea, the World Choral Extravaganza is the first event of its kind that Dr. Jennifer Flory, Director of Choral Activities, has attempted to have her students perform.
“It will be a learning experience, both for the ensembles and for the audience, as they are transported to different parts of the world through music,” Flory said.

Songs from countries including Israel, South Africa, Rwanda and Sweden will be performed by The University Chorus, Max Noah Singers and Women’s Ensemble, during their upcoming performance.

“Probably the biggest challenge we have experienced while trying to learn music for this performance is trying to learn the different languages, when many of them are not typical languages that any of us have ever heard, much less spoken in language class,” said Mathis Wilkens, senior, political science major and member of Max Noah Singers.

In order to perfect the pronunciations used for each of the languages being performed, international students and faculty members were brought in to help share their knowledge of a language with the GCSU choral groups. These rehearsal sessions were recorded and later uploaded as podcasts for students to download.

Traditional instruments will also be used during several of the musical selections to be performed in the extravaganza. Some of these include certain percussion pieces as well as piano, cello and clarinet.

“It has been so much fun learning music from the different cultures,” said Kymon Carriker, freshman, biology major and member of Max Noah Singers, “because it helps me, as a singer, appreciate all types of music that are not traditional to me.”

Preparation for the Nov. 1 extravaganza has received mixed emotions from some choral students. For Elizabeth Lengel, freshman, business management major and member of the Women’s Ensemble, it has not been the easiest task.

“It has been more difficult than other performances because this is the first time that I have had to learn six or seven other languages to sing in,” Lengel said. “Other performances, I have been in, consisted of familiar tunes, or ones that were easy to learn.”

As rehearsals quickly become more intense, with instrumental accompaniment being added to practices of musical selections, the choral groups are anxiously awaiting the payoff from all of their hard work. Not only have they worked to perfect their tones and diction, but they have also worked to create an opportunity to give back to another culture.

In an effort to give back internationally, donations will be collected at the performance and donated to American Friends of Georgia, Inc. to help aid relief efforts in the country of Georgia.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 24 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry