Vocal Arts Tours Sweden and Norway!

Stockholm Airport!

Stockholm Airport!

Look at us all so tired!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

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TAKING MUSICAL JOURNEYS WITH THE VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE -- by Dale Wolff

HARMONY is a beautiful thing: both the mixture of musical notes in ways that create great sounding chords AND people from different worlds getting together in a positive spirit. Choral groups make BOTH kinds of harmony, with thrilling results, when they embark on international singing tours. The S.L.O. Vocal Arts Ensemble is getting ready for such a tour, heading for Scandinavia in late June, and local audiences will get to hear their traveling music at three concerts earlier in the month.

Gary Lamprecht, Vocal Arts founder and director, always assembles very special repertoires for tours. First priority is to honor those visited, so this time singers are learning some lovely songs in Swedish and Norwegian. Another hallmark of such programs is to bring positive, unifying messages such as those found in “You Are the New Day.” European audiences (like people here) always seem to love rousing American spirituals, so pieces like “Witness” and “Great Gittin’ Up Morning” will be featured. Lively Caribbean and Filipino tunes will add to the fun. And concerts will be anchored by ethereal sacred music like Vocal Arts’ signature “Sicut Cervus.” The Ensemble is especially excited about its opportunity to sing the “Ecce Dedi Verba Mea” which received immediate standing ovations when performed by a visiting choir at last year’s International Choral Festival at the P.A.C.

Vocal Arts has made touring a regular part of its activities since its inception thirty-five years ago, singing in specially-arranged concerts as well as large music festivals and competitions. This takes a lot of work and personal investment by the travelers, along with local community support, but the payoffs are impressive.

PRE-TOUR CONCERTS. The fun begins even before the trip. The excitement of working toward a concert is amplified when preparing for a tour. “Bon Voyage” concerts seem to inspire extra applause and warm wishes from local audiences. That makes the singers particularly determined to be good ambassadors and to represent the community well.

KEEPING PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. The “faraway places” phase starts with a groggy arrival in a distant airport, followed by the effort to see the first city sights through a sleepy haze, and some amazement about the director’s plan to top off the first day with a rehearsal. “The beatings will continue,” he says, “until the morale improves…or at least until you can sing pitch perfect on every piece.” In fact, everybody wants to take the music to that next level, to polish it up to its brightest and create breathtaking moments for the new audiences. So rehearsals continue from city to city, and songs are tried out in roadside churches, halls, and restaurants along the way.

SURPRISING THE PUBLIC. In fact, the unplanned “guerilla” concerts and spontaneous bursts of song can create especially memorable moments. Other visitors to churches gather around with closed eyes and uplifted heads to listen to an impromptu “Ave Maria.” At a subway stop, “Ride the Chariot” is revised a bit, becoming, “I’m gonna ride the METRO in the mornin’ Lord,” as other commuters smile, clap, and snap photos. Boarding little boats in an underground cave, someone starts “Deep River,” and each singer adds a mournful wave as the group floats off to its own musical accompaniment.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE. Meeting people through music creates special experiences. On one occasion, a somewhat confused man joins the singing procession into a church for a concert. He stands in front with the ensemble until a member helps him to a seat. There, he applauds each piece by clapping two hymn books together. At another event, a Czech high school choir teaches the klutzy Americans a folk dance, and in turn the kids receive instruction on doing the “chicken dance.” At an outdoor cafe, a street accordion player volunteers to accompany a small group of tour singers, with the minor impediment of playing an entirely different song.

HOSPITALITY. The stories collect, and veteran Vocal Artists replay them regularly. Some of the most touching are about responsiveness and generosity: individuals in audiences, beaming their approval, tears in eyes, refusing to quit clapping; home-stay hosts taking their guests on special extra excursions. If visitors admired anything in one Hungarian woman’s home, she would immediately try to give it to them. The leaders of one host choir had been studying English for months to be able to converse with the visiting Americans. And on the 4^th of July, they did a surprise rendition of “America the Beautiful” and brought out an American flag-decorated cake for their homesick guests.

BEYOND BOUNDARIES. Most moving are the times when diverse choirs at an event come together as one human family. Admittedly, each group wants to be the best, to get the title, “Choir of the World.” But in most festivals there are also times for groups to informally sing back and forth to each other, to cheer for each other, and to find songs in which all can join together. At a castle in Austria on awards night, there were 500 singers of 10 nationalities, arm in arm, swaying and singing “We shall overcome…we shall all join hands…we shall live in peace.” There were many new friends and few dry eyes among the singers that night. In a few minutes of song and embraces, voice was given to a common ideal: valuing each other as people.

TOUR BENEFITS. To sum up, touring can make wonderful things happen. It can facilitate amazing demonstrations of people reaching out to each other. It provides a concentrated opportunity for singers to polish skills and music; to learn about other lands, songs, and musical techniques; to laugh and work as part of an increasingly close group; and to find others in the world who can become friends in the wink of a song. You could say that touring gives a choir the opportunity and the privilege of adding a few notes toward more harmony in the world.

Weather is so nice!

Weather is so nice!

Cool flowers and butterflies outside Stockholm Airport

Cool flowers and butterflies outside Stockholm Airport

Ellie and Kris

Ellie and Kris

Our entourage!

With our driver Magnus!

VAE on tour!

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