Acacia Quien, Alto

I was already a huge Beatles fan by age eleven, so when PME did a rendition of “A Day in the Life” in 1994, the choir earned major cool points in my mind. See, I have been attending the Jazz & Pop concerts since I was a little girl. My father discovered PME in the late 80s, and every year since then and until I left for college, my parents & I have been going to this consistently enjoyable spring show.

When I auditioned for PME at the dawn of the J&P season, I recognized at least half of the choir immediately. I could put names to the faces of the repeat arrangers and soloists, so to me it felt like these folks were either quasi-celebrities or adults from my childhood whom I already knew but who didn’t recognize me yet. Crazy, I know. I half expected Jim Hale or Kathy Longinotti to approach me and ask if I was indeed that scrawny girl in the audience every year in the 80s and 90s, all grown up. Yeah, that never happened.

From the first rehearsal I knew that this choir was no joke. These guys were serious about music, and they were good! Coming from the band world—a nebulous world of dimly lit, noisy bars, smoky casinos, and cocky horn players (singing along side 10 horn players can often feel like a competition), this was a new awakening. No one taking cigarette breaks? No musicians jiving each other, or the singer? No glasses breaking or obnoxious drunks? I knew that my ten year hiatus from choirs was officially over. I had finally found my musical happy home!

I also realized that my choir game was a bit down after all these years, and I needed to stand next to certain people (Polly, Kim–yeah ladies!) to get my sight reading and harmonic mojo back. PME moves fast, and, unlike the choir directors of my youth, Lynne Morrow doesn’t take time out of rehearsal to teach sections their respective parts. We are expected to know our stuff upon arrival, which means a combination of great sight reading skills and a bit of homework. I was officially in the land of real adults and it was intimidating.

However, I had never met a more friendly and supportive group of musical people in my life. Really! PME is unusual in its lack of snake-pit vibe that I’ve seen in other musical groups—the environment is so positive and encouraging, it’s extraordinary. The Pajaro retreat was awesome (see Kate’s blog), and I really dug that such hard work was accompanied by an abundance of quality food and drink. Great singers are great eaters, that’s for sure.

We finished our final concert on Sunday.  I was unfortunate enough to acquire a nasty cold for the first show, so although I sounded a bit like Janis Joplin after a doing some damage to a fifth of whiskey, I rose to the occasion as best I could and made it through without passing out. The versatility in the musical selection and styles of arrangement is amazing—each song is unique and beautiful in its own way. Because there is such a collective support system for risk taking, I am already considering arranging my own tunes for next season.

So I’m finally old (and mature) enough to be singing with my choir idols, and it feels fabulous! I have a feeling that I will be a PEEMER for a very long time, and I hope to see more young adults hope on the bandwagon and join this talented, disciplined choir full of awesome, supportive folk. So where my young choir dorks at?

Acacia Quien
Alto

“We are here to play! Just have a good time!”

- Bobby McFerrin, just before the 4/10/10 show at the Masonic Auditorium

PME Rehearsing with Bobby McFerrin

And with that, we were off!

The Bobby McFerrin “ride” was amazing, frustrating, rewarding, scary, thrilling, and worth every moment of at-home practice, sectionals, rehearsals and hand-wringing! Talk about a learning experience! I’m still glowing from the knowledge that we were onstage for more than 90 minutes contributing to the success of an almost sold-out house at a Bobby McFerrin concert! When Bobby came out to the adoration of the fans, you knew there was a magical connection that had been established long ago and was just being tended to by the master. He didn’t disappoint.

Bobby McFerrin

When we were introduced to him, McFerrin exuded kindness and love in his face and looked genuinely pleased with us and our valiant effort to put his music “out there.” And when he was onstage, the whole “Bobby McFerrin mystique” was like watching a beautiful butterfly. He would fly–then land, and settle briefly, only to then suddenly and silently leave one musical flower, fly to another and dance delicately there, finding that certain balance, center– elusive “thing” that just “feels right,” and then begin the whole process again. And that’s just McFerrin!

Also on stage with us were another three of the tip-toppest musicians I’ve ever seen! Roger Treece’s boundless energy and enthusiasm were infectious, leaving us wanting to show him a YES, WE CAN! attitude and performance. He was awesome and Bobby is lucky to have him alongside. His interpretation of the “groove” helped make sense of the complicated McFerrin licks and made them more singable.

Jan Zovickian

As someone new to PME, I am not used to having these kinds of experiences! Need I say I’m glad I stayed aboard for the ride instead of giving in to my insecurities. (Thanks to Lynne, Antonia, Peggy and Kathryn for that!) The key word, like in “Little Match Girl” is PATIENCE! I await the next challenge with enthusiasm and a little bit of breathlessness. (Whew!) This group is not for the faint of heart.

Thanks all for the terrific group experience–singing our hearts out and making it happen!

In the PME spirit, (almost 30 years young!)

- Alto Jan Zovickian

Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin?  We’re going to sing with Bobby McFerrin?  It was thrilling to hear this news a few months back and now we are less a week away from the concert which will be Saturday, April 10, 8:00 pm at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, part of the SFJazz series (Bobby McFerrin presents VOCABuLaries).  We are working hard on our four numbers and excitement is growing.

I remember when I first heard Bobby McFerrin before “Don’t worry, be happy” at San Jose State in the early 80’s.  In a small way he made a profound impact on me. The vocal training I had had up until that point was oriented towards using lots of vibrato. His sound was so clean and instrumental and when he sang Bach I knew I wanted to try that, too.  His exploration of vocal sounds opened up creative experimentation for a new generation of singers.   Thanks, Bobby.  I wonder what other Peemers have to say about how he has influenced them?

Now we get to sing with “the master”.  The music is challenging so I am a little worried but I’m mostly happy, really happy.

- Lorna Baird, Soprano

It was so worth it! Pacific Mozart Ensemble should feel proud and humble. Yesterday we accomplished a very rewarding and equally challenging concert program. It was the final concert of “The Little Match Girl”. I took today off because I am so exhausted. Granted, I have extenuating circumstances that made my weekend even more tiring, but this concert was just plain demanding.

The program was well thought out, with intelligent and beautiful music. It featured compositions about women, one a pulitzer prize winner, and also some young composers. It was refreshing to be singing about women and feminine energy during the holiday season, when choral concerts are usually exclusively oriented towards Christmas. It is especially gratifying to perform the work of someone who is developing as a composer. There is a special responsibility to deliver the piece in a way that he or she can experience the realization of their ideas in a live situation. I can only imagine how that informs their process.

Especially gorgeous was Michael Roberts’ “Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters”. It was my favorite, for personal reasons. It explored the same space as Match Girl, where pain and joy merge, in a musical vocabulary that is perhaps more accessible. Michael was there, and I hope he was pleased. When he stood up to be acknowldged, I felt so humbled to think that he had etrusted us with his music.

Actually, it is hard to say that any one piece was more beautiful than another. They were all wonderful. I had friends in the audience who said that every piece was great. I was surprised that the carols we sang with the audience at the end were what had me crying. Watching the joy in the audience as all 200 people joined us was overwhelming. Also I think I was working too hard to feel much emotion until then.

I wonder if the audience knows that the conductor and singers have their attention on dozens of technical details at every moment to create an experience for them. I stand in the back row, where it is difficult to hear much more than the people on either side of me, so I don’t get the experience of hearing the ensemble the way they do. Also, I am listening specifically for mistakes in the alto section, so we can fix them. The altos had three extra sectional rehearsals to prepare for the concert, which is perhaps a record for us. Modern music is often deceptive. Transitions from one section to the next are unexpected. Tempos change often. Voices alternate between leading and background in unusual and dramatic ways. Tuning can be challenging, as are tone clusters. And then there is just learning the piece, spending whatever time you personally need to be able to stand in the group and hold your own.

David Lang’s “Little Match Girl” is a special challenge with its polyrhythmic and range challenges and the pristine silences. You don’t want to “step in the hole” as we say, that is to sing into a silence, and this piece is built around the silences. It is like racing your bicycle along a street that is filled with potholes and rocks. You might avoid the big potholes but the little rock at the edge of the road makes you wobble or even crash. If you do, you must get right back on the bike and back into the peleton. Not quite, but you get the picture.

The honor of performing David Lang’s “Little Match Girl” was one that no one took lightly. This piece won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music, an honor shared by the likes of Aaron Copland, Virgil Thompson, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Ornette Coleman and Wynton Marsalis. We gave its West Coast premiere. Talk about pressure. It was gratifying that KQED’s Cy Musiker gave the concert a plug. Those who were there were so lucky. Lang’s piece gave them a unique experience. Everyone I spoke to indicated in words or just with gestures that “Match Girl” opened a wide, wide space in their heart. Often they didn’t have words for what it did, always the best response, if you ask me.

I have been wondering how many man-hours this concert took to produce. This is off the cuff but for me it was perhaps 28 hours of regular and dress rehearsal and 6 hours of sectional rehearsal. Another 20 hours of personal practice, say 6 hours preparing for sectional responsibilities, 3 hours talking with others about our process, 12 hours travel time, 2 hours communicating about the concert with potential audience and dealing with my friends” ticket concerns, 2 hours shopping for ways to better organize my music, 10 hours on the two concert days. I can safely say that I spent the equivalent of two work weeks. Please don’t imgine that I am complaining. Doing this is my great joy. However, multiply that by 50 and add the work of our conductor, administrator, board members, marketer, webmaster, program creator, sound and lighting technicians, hosts, stage manager, volunteer coordinator and volunteers who man the door and sell the albums,… I am sure that I am forgetting plenty of folks…it is an impressive commitment of time all spent to give our audience a brief experience that will move their soul and hopefully open their heart. I am convinced that humans need music and story as much as we need food and shelter.

So today I am a dishrag. The last two weeks I felt tight with worry, lost sleep, and fretted over not finding enough time to squeeze in extra practice so I could NAIL every moment. Was it worth it? You bet!

-Peggy Rock, Alto Section Leader

Technorati : Dave Brubeck, David Lang, Little Matchgirl Passion

It’s coming. Soon. The always-entertaining, uniquely wonderful Jazz & Pop à la PME. You loyal readers of past blogs may recall that the first step in putting the show together involves finding new and existing arrangements, finding members of the group to sing them with you, and finding time in otherwise super-busy lives to rehearse them like mad. Then you audition said arrangements for a friendly crowd of your peers and hold your breath overnight while you await the results. The next morning we have a List of Songs.

The List, which generally runs the stylistic gamut, then has to undergo another kind of scrutiny. This takes place at the always entertaining, uniquely wonderful J&P Retreat, held at the always picturesque, uniquely inspirational Pajaro Dunes vacation spot near Monterey. We’ve been going there for years and love it. For reasons we can’t fathom, they keep letting us come back.

This is not your average I-am-reliving-my-college-spring-break moment. No, indeed. Real work is involved. We sing for hours in our small groups and with the whole ensemble, for our super coach/directors, Lynne and Dick, and for a hired gun, the spectacularly talented and breathlessly energetic Kerry Marsh. They nit. They pick. They fix the broken stuff and pat us on the head when we do it well. We make Progress.

While all this work is going, we’re bonding. This is an essential part of ensemble singing, not some I’m reliving-my-last-encounter-at-Green-Gulch moment. Plus, we don’t have to sit still while we do it.

This is good because we wouldn’t be able to get up and consume large quantities of noshes, which is an essential part of singing as any Peemer will tell you. As loyal readers of this blog will tell you, eating goes hand in hand with singing. Just ask us. Heck, ask Shakespeare (see title of this blog). Clever, huh?

On Saturday night, the bonding, singing and food components come together in a fabulous feast for the senses. We wax rhapsodically about 1) how great the food is (no lie - it’s GREAT); 2) how great the coaching was (and to prove it, we sometimes sing our tunes for each other); 3) the great selection of wines, which most certainly impacts how GREAT we sounded in item 2; 4) how much we enjoy each other in a really GREAT way; and 5) how GREAT this concert is going to be.

You can see all the pictures from the weekend here:
2009 Pajaro Retreat
(Thanks to Dick, Steve and Doug)

But hey, don’t take my word for it. I certainly wouldn’t. Come see/hear/taste for yourself at the upcoming concerts!

Sunday June 7, 2009 at 5 pm
Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley

Friday June 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm
The Green Room, War Memorial Veterans Building
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

Saturday June 13, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Finnish Brotherhood Hall
1970 Chestnut at University, Berkeley

- Kate Berenson, Soprano

Technorati : A Cappella, Jazz & Pop, Kerry Marsh

Change has definitely been in the air this year. The biggest, most exciting change, of course, was the election of President Barack Obama to lead this country with new energy and hope for the better. Most of us are still feeling all warm and fuzzy from that change.

Last spring, after PME’s 2008 Fundraiser event, we felt the need to change something in our fundraising format, as well. We weren’t sure what that would be, so the committee went to work in the summer, hoping to come up with an idea that would make the Fundraiser fresh once more. We considered many options and after the usual twists and turns that go into organizing an event (and some unusual ones as well), we locked in to a new venue. The Hillside Club in Berkeley.

Hillside Club was founded in the late 1800s and rebuilt after a fire in 1923. It offers a beautiful, historic setting for our evening themed “Hope Springs Eternal”. We decided to go with family style hors d’oeuvres, inspired by Italian and Mediterranean cultures rich in tradition surrounding food, and table seating. Emily with her team of volunteers has been working tirelessly to bring some new flavors onto those tables on March 14th. Other committee members have secured tasty wines to fill the glasses of our loyal patrons.

As Antonia wrote some weeks ago in her blog entry, the membership went to work looking for musical material to fit the theme. Some even wrote their own. The process of putting together an original piece that incorporates solo or duet lines for every singer in the show, has been a lot of fun and something new and different for PME. Eric’s “Change Song” will definitely bring a breath of that fresh air we are all longing for. The other repertoire includes something for everyone, from beloved classical pieces to spiritual, jazz, pop and even rock classics.

Although limited in size, our silent auction will bring forth some old favorites and some never before seen prizes, such as a gorgeous vacation home in Inverness, or a relaxing stay at a B&B in San Francisco. A lively raffle will allow anyone to test their fate with Lady Luck. Will you be the one bringing home the prizes?

Now, the dress rehearsal is behind us. The final touches are being put into the running of the evening. We just need to make sure everyone knows about this fantastic event ahead…

-Mari Marjamaa

Technorati : Change, Hillside Club, Obama

Save the date for PME’s annual fundraiser, March 14! I have saved the date all right. In the last several weeks, I have been wracking my brain and all the local libraries to find songs that will fit into the theme for the fundraiser, “Hope Springs Eternal.” You probably know that the fundraiser is different than other PME shows. This show has some full group numbers with and without solos, but the rest of the show and songs are brought by individuals to audition, rather like Jazz and Pop. But with the Fundraiser, many of the songs are from Broadway shows. Now, contrary to some people in PME who have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the wonderful solos and duets in shows across the decades, my knowledge is a little thin.

So what do I do? I rely on the jazz standards I know (most of which came from OLD Broadway shows) and then try and update my knowledge about the new shows, of which there are many. Then you have to find the music. So take this for example. A friend suggested doing “I’ll Know” from the show “Guys and Dolls”. No sweat, I thought, and I found a great version of it in a duet book I had and it was in the key of A Major. Oh, but then I listened to the original cast recording and instead of being in A major, it was in F major. “Oh that’s good,” my husband Greg said (who is a bass in PME and my partner in crime), “because the original is a little high for me.” (Ah ha, I thought, it sits a little high for me too!). So I go to my handy, dandy music store to get a download where they can change keys of the songs for you and what do you know? The downloaded music was already in F Major. Hallelujah, I thought. Oh, but wait. There’s no verse, and it isn’t set up as a duet, the words aren’t right, and the piano part doesn’t match the words if I was to try and patch them in. The triplets are all wrong. Oh man! (And then there is a lot of whining and snuffling and calling my friends and yanking of hair.) So what does that really mean…the extra work of playing the chart into Sibelius, the arranging program, and then shifting the key to the desired key. And not that it happens perfectly. As you know with computer programs, nothing is as easy as it is projected to be. So I haven’t done that yet and it could be a couple hours work and that is just one song, and not part of actually LEARNING or practicing the song. But this is what we sometimes have to do to get a song. And then again, there are several people in the group who will arrange the whole song from scratch just to get it exactly the way they want it - and that takes hours.

But there is an ache to get songs to audition. There is a stretch that is wanted, desired, beseeched upon, for a song that is new, unheard, fresh, and sometimes funny or simply known and lovely in a timeless way. The other part of the search for songs is that, not only do the songs have to fit your voice, you have to find the music that you love, and the songs have to be good for the programming. In other words, you can’t have 16 ballads on one program. On the other hand you can’t have every song be happy pappy because then people will feel ill from the sheer sucrose intake. In an uplifting theme, you have to have some dark side, the intensity of not getting what you want, but still wanting it. We are still trying to reach the light, still being hopeful, no matter what the circumstance. But the programming has to have just the right balance, just as we hope to have in our daily life: uplifting and true, hopeful and bright, and yet realistic and not too sweet.

- Antonia Van Becker

Technorati : Broadway, Fund Raiser, Guys and Dolls

Now we are on to the big recording project, Dave’s three movement work entitled Canticles (performed in our Winter ‘08 concert). We’re working in the St Albert Priory Chapel in Oakland. The space is beautiful, and almost completely hidden from the traffic in nearby Rockridge. As you can see, I became obsessed with one very cool stained glass window in the back of the Chapel. There is a scene on each side that involves the flames of hell. On the left we see devout, praying individuals ascending away from the flames. On the right we see the damned falling down in to the flames, eventually gobbled up by this crazy cool beast. I especially got into the flames. Ah, but enough about cool windows…

As usual, the chorus is rising to the challenge. This recording is probably the highest quality project we’ve self-produced. Often we produce recordings of our live performance. The live nature of those recordings allow for slight blemishes. In this case, we have to make sure everything is pristine without, of course, sacrificing the passion and intensity the piece requires. A tall task, especially on a Friday night after everyone has been working all week. Amazingly we got through a mountain of material in a very short time and it sounds great!

But enough of my prattling. Here’s a slide show of pics so far:
Brubeck Canticles Recording Pics

-Eric

Technorati : Dave Brubeck, St Albert Priory

Sea Ranch seemed like the ideal place for this event, and most of us were able to spend a beautiful weekend together on the northern California coast. During that weekend we pondered the possibility that we would all still be in PME ten years hence. How could we continue the tradition? Not being content with mere repetition, we agreed that in 2008, when we all turned 60, we would have to go to Italy!

It felt like the distant future back in 1998, but lo and behold we actually pulled off a trip to Tuscany last September. Not only are all seven of us still in PME, but four of us, plus SOs, were able to make the trip. On a previous venture, my wife, Jacquie, had found a resort in the center of the Chianti region and could not wait to show our friends what a great place, and a great bargain, the Villa Petrolo is. Not only are the room rates low, but we could also hire a local cook to prepare an authentic regional dinner each night for an amazingly good price. Jacquie’s planning for the villa was the anchor that made this vacation the success it was.

Coincidentally, three of the couples decided to go early and spend some time in Bologna. Among the many benefits of knowing the people in this group is that they are such rich sources of information. Andy Stewart, one of the 48ers, is a professor at Cal, a specialist in ancient art, and has extensive knowledge of all European culture. (”This is not my expertise,” he warns as he explains the symbolism of Quattrocento painting, but take that with a handful of salt.) So some of us got to experience a Bologna that would certainly escape the average tourist thanks to myriad historical and aesthetic subtleties Andy could bring to our attention.

The same goes for Florence, Siena, and a couple of lesser-known towns and restaurants tucked in the Tuscan hills. The Prof booked the museums, led the tours, made it informative without overwhelm, and opened our eyes just that much more to the wonders of Italy. Andy’s Italian also greased many wheels for our logistical and dining pleasure. His GPS avatar, Medusa, led him astray once or twice, but we always made it to our destination on the poorly-marked Italian backroads.

The stress of foreign travel can test friendships. Even simple day-to-day decisions become a challenge when ten people are involved. Each of us had done some research to help the group get the most out of the time we had. I must say that this trip exemplified the patience and resourcefulness of everyone on it, and I recall it with great fondness. I tip my glass of Petrolo Rosso to you all.

Jim Hale
Dec 3, 2008

Addendum (12/10/08):
Here is a pic of the 48ers. There are also a bunch more pics in the slideshow of additional Italy Pics:
PME 48ers in Italy

Technorati : Italy, Tuscany, Villa Petrolo