First I met the conductor, Celia Canty. Then I saw the college choir perform. Next I wrote reviews.
Now I accompany the singers, arrange for them to perform, and blog about their upcoming performances.
Maui College Chorus, April 2012. Photo: Lloyd Canty
I asked Celia about her choice of songs for the Spring 2012 concert. “They all have to do with the earth,” she replied in a recent interview. “The songs are from all over the world, and the choir sings them in original language. But ‘earth’ also has another meaning, too — as in planting trees, jasmine flower, etc.”
In the beginning, the choir was a collection of individuals with separate voices and universes. After weeks of rehearsing, they blend into one single sound. It requires hearing oneself and hearing others. Celia Canty, who has perfect pitch, can hear if someone sings out of tune. She says it’s both a blessing and a curse to have this ability to hear absolute pitch, as it’s sometimes called.
When we arranged to have the college cable TV crew film the singers, it was intended as a concert performance with no audience. I would have preferred a video of a rehearsal, for that’s far more interesting than a concert. At a rehearsal, one gets to learn. One gets to see how the raw material becomes refined into something beautiful. See the video below of a rehearsal of the popular Chinese folk song — Jasmine Flower, which Puccini used in the opera Turandot and which I once arranged for harp (PDF) because I loved it so much and wanted to play it.
In preparation for Easter Sunday Lunch Concert on 24th April 2011, I asked the organizers for requests.
“Nice relaxing music, nothing too religious, maybe throw in Peter Cotton Tail Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail just for the fun of it!”
I have never heard of this song, much less know of any Easter songs. I asked a colleague if he has heard of it. The American father of four started humming the tune. Could it be a song that kids in the USA grow up with? A tradition even?
In my years of living in London and the Netherlands, this occasion is generally given to orchestras and choirs to perform Bach’s St John’s Passion or the Easter Oratorio or the Mass in B Minor. Usually at Easter, all the violinists I know are hired to play in orchestras. The opera Cavalleria Rusticana takes place on Easter Sunday. What else happens on Easter besides looking for painted eggs?
I googled “Peter CottonTail” and discovered a wealth of information on its creator, its history, the TV series, a new movie, cartoons, and music. Peter Cottontail is the quintessential Easter Bunny. There are even articles on giving rabbits as an Easter gift! And he turns 40 years old this year.
But where is the sheet music for this song? How am I supposed to play it this Sunday in Kihei?
I went to the local public library. I flipped through a dozen songbooks. No sign of Peter Cottontail.
The sheet music is only available by purchase. Given the short lead time to Easter Sunday, I decided that the best thing to do is to transcribe from the audio version of this song — from Youtube.
One of the reasons why I so enjoyed the choral concert I attended two days ago was that it was not amplified. Even the conductors abandoned the microphones to speak directly to the audience. Now you might exclaim, what’s the big deal? Of course it should not be amplified.
Neither were the Hawaiian Youth Symphony (HYS) concert and the Maui Pops Orchestra & San Francisco Pocket Opera production of “The Elixir of Love” amplified at the Castle Theatre in Maui. Except for the soloists in the HYS (which I did not think needed it), nothing was amplified. But the sound engineer could not wait to flip on background (amplified) music before and between the performances. I preferred to hear the sound of the audience rather than recorded music to fill the void.
The unamplified sound of a rehearsal of Handel’s Water Music in the big concert hall of the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands was infinitely better than the live performance outdoors on the canal the next day. Why? Because the latter was amplified. [For more, visit the 10th paragraph in this blog post.]
Something I notice in Maui and elsewhere in the USA, there is constant background music filling the air space in hotel lobbies, shopping malls, department stores, restaurants and other places. Even when there is no music, an eternal fountain of noise is stifling the silence.
I daresay from years of working with classical musicians that they prefer to have pure silence when they are not making music. The ears need a rest. The ears need recharging.
I get annoyed when told by the guitarist to close the lid on the piano because it’s too loud. Equally, he gets annoyed when he has to use amplification to bring out the sound of the guitar. We as a piano guitar duo prefer not to use any amplification. We adapt to the acoustics, just as any classical music performer would, not with amplification or filter.
No, I don’t have a portable electric keyboard. No, Robert Bekkers does not have an amplifier for his acoustic guitar. We produce music the way we hear it for you to hear it —- pure and unamplified. Of course, it won’t sound the same outdoors. The instruments have to be amplified outdoors as we experienced it in Cape Town and Provence.
Below, amplified background music of slide guitar as audiences leave the Castle Theatre for the Yokouchi Pavillion in the Maui Arts and Cultural Centre.
Last December I reviewed the Christmas concert of the Maui Choral Arts Association (MCAA) in Kihei. It was an entertaining performance, launching the holiday season for me and my partner who had just arrived in Maui the previous month for a long sabbatical.
Last Saturday 19th March 2011, on the eve of the biggest full moon in 24 years, we attended the spring concert of MCAA “Sing On, Sing On!” The location was the same — Kihei Baptist Chapel. The choir members were largely the same — same size, same make-up. Yet the Lei of Stars Maui Choral Festival Concert was entirely different from the December concert.
How best to put it? My partner said, “There is a thin line between entertainment and art. They have crossed it.”
There was no question of the entertainment value of this well-attended concert. The programme was varied enough to please anyone. From the opening blessing and chant of deep voiced Jimmy Aarona to the familiar “If Music Be the Food of Love” that was also sung at the December concert, we heard famous choral works of Verdi’s Nabucco and La Traviata as well as Haydn’s The Creation. The harp was awakened with two solo harp interludes by artistic and executive director Celia Canty, who is the founder and resident conductor of the Festival Chorus and Paradise Singers. Several soloists stepped out of the choir to sing Verdi and Haydn.
Maui Choral Arts Spring Concert 2011 in Kihei, Maui
From the flowing Hawaiian song “No Ka Beauty O Honokohau” with a young hula dancer Makena Pang on stage to the exciting and syncopated Israeli folksong “Zum Gali,” the singers sang with unmistakenable passion and love. It was sheer joy to see, hear, and feel their enthusiasm.
We as the audience were not mere onlookers. The conductors spoke to us and involved us. In recognition of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Canty invited us to sing the first piece “E Ho’omaluhia” or Dona Nobis Pacem. We were also invited to sing the last piece “Aloha ‘Oe.”
The singers sang to us. Audience engagement led to a very appreciative audience, particularly of the conductors’ acknowledgment of the accompanist Angie Carr behind the Baldwin grand piano and the individual soloists.
If an interesting and diverse programme coupled with audience engagement is essential to entertainment, then what is art?
Guest conductor Dr Donald Neuen from UCLA worked with the choir for several consecutive days before the concert. Although we were not present for the intensive rehearsals, we imagine them to be somewhat like those from the movie “As It is in Heaven” in which a conductor changes the choir, the way they perceive themselves, the way the view the music, and the result is art not entertainment.
One example of this was demonstrated in the prequel to Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria. After briefly introducing the composer’s background, Neuen asked the men to sing a passage with crescendo and decrescendo. Because it was so repetitive, he asked them to sing the same passage again, adhering strictly to correct rhythm and articulation but without any variation in dynamics whatsoever. He did the same with the female singers. This short exercise gave a glimpse into the sort of extensive nuances Neuen asked of the choir members in the rehearsals —- weaving colourful layers upon each other to paint an art work that does not just impress but take us on a journey far from the familiar.
After the concert: Celia Canty, David Neuen, and Angie Carr
For those of you who missed this concert, mark your diaries for their season finale concert on Saturday 30th April 2011 at 7 pm in the same location: Kihei Baptist Chapel. Strangers in Paradise will present an evening of music from broadway, movies, and opera. More info, visit Maui Choral Arts Association.
It’s been 8 years since I last played background music as a solo pianist. When I was resident pianist at a London hotel, I blogged about the interesting conversations I had with hotel guests and what I thought I should play for the 3 hours in each of the 4 evenings per week. I came to the conclusion that a variety of music was a sure way to please everybody. I also recalled that background music required a balance of the familiar and the unfamiliar, including the familiar played in an unfamiliar way.
At times it did not feel like background music, but rather foreground music. When the people gathered around me and got involved in what I was playing, I felt like anything but a hotel pianist.
Tonight’s 2 hours at the white grand piano reminded me of those winter months in London when I sight read and improvised new selections every evening. Eight winters later in tropical Hawaii, I was not in a hotel but in an upscale holiday home where the residents could stay for long periods and get chef-prepared meals several times a day. There’s a swimming pool outside. It’s in the touristy area of Kihei on the south west side of Maui.
White grand piano in Kihei, Maui
Tonight’s selections (in order of play):
Blue Velvet
Que Sera, Sera
Tango in D by Albeniz
Arabesque no. 1 by Debussy
Traumerei by Schumann
Nessun Dorma from Turandot by Puccini
Pachelbel’s Canon in D – jazzy version
Tea for Two
Diana
Main theme from “Forrest Gump”
My Heart Will Go On, theme from “Titanic”
Volare
The Pink Panther
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
Nessun Dorma (request)
Theme from “Terms of Endearment”
Theme from “On Golden Pond”
Clair de Lune by Debussy
Yesterday (2007) – arranged by Anne Ku for ensemble
Theme from “Jurassic Park”
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman from “Don Juan DeMarco”
Over the Rainbow — my arrangement of the popular Iz reggae version
Dinner ended half-way through “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.” As the guests entered the hall way and sat down, I was suddenly aware that I was no longer playing background music. The first request was “Nessun Dorma.” I had already played it earlier, but the gentleman wanted to hear it again.
“Will you come back?” several guests asked when I ended.
I stopped going to choral concerts unless I was personally invited by someone who was performing or the programme contained works I wanted to hear. Back in the Netherlands, I was constantly racing against time, juggling various activities and struggling to set aside time to play the piano. I had to be selective in attending concerts where I was not personally involved.
With the shopping malls already playing Christmas songs since the day after Thanksgiving, I didn’t want to get an overdose too early. So I had tuned out to Christmas music.
If not for my sister who knew the director of Maui Choral Arts, I probably would not have gone.
Sometimes last minute plans turn out to be the best. Tonight we drove south to Kihei for an evening concert performed by the Maui Concert Chorus, University of Hawaii Maui College Chorus, and Petite Orchestra. It was our first “cultural” event on the island since we arrived on Thanksgiving Day.
A more comprehensive review of this concert is due. For now, let me share my first impressions with you.
We arrived 20 minutes before the concert was expected to start. Yet, the Kihei Baptist Chapel was already half-full. The church was air conditioned and even had a creche with glass windows for parents to see their children being looked after. It’s the first time I’ve seen such an arrangement.
The artistic director and principal conductor Celia Canty wrote in the nicely printed colour programme booklet: “Without you, the people who listen to music, buy tickets to music events, and volunteer with and donate to organizations that produce live music here on Maui, the variety of musical nourishment accessible to the people who call this island home would be diminished.”
I have never seen such an acknowledgment of the audience — upfront — and repeated at the end of the concert. “Thank you for supporting those who support the arts.” Ms Canty went on to invite the audience to volunteer and tell others about Maui Choral Arts. The audience IS very important. She obviously appreciates the audience, as she spoke directly to the audience during the programme.
Before the intermission, Canty asked everyone to read the programme booklet and see the businesses and entities who are supporting the concert. The notifications and ads of the sponsors were also projected on screen before the concert began. She also invited everyone to fill out the survey. This was not just a way to get feedback from the audience but also to recruit volunteers, enlarge the mailing list, and invite newcomers to audition for the next season. The surveys were also to be entered into a raffle for prizes at the end of the concert.
Before the final work of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Canty spoke once more to the audience. She stated something that was not so obvious to most people. Ticket sales typically cover 37 to 40% of the expenses needed to put on a concert. She also announced that an anonymous donor had offered to match the funds raised by Maui Choral Arts dollar-for-dollar if $1,111 is raised by 1-11-11 (11th January 2011). Coincidentally 1111 is also the PO Box number of the organisation.
Active fundraising, incentives to participate (such as raffles) and feedback to enlarge the mailing list are activities I have not seen in choral concerts in the Netherlands or England. Such promotions are what’s needed to support the arts in communities. The concert was very well attended — nearly full, with $20 tickets.
At no point did I, as a listener, feel that the mention of “money” was inappropriate. I have experienced this in New York City at an off-broadway play. It seems to be well-understood that the arts needs additional help and that the arts cannot support itself.
Besides sharing our music with audiences in America, I realised then that we have much to learn from American philanthropy and methods of fundraising. If ticket sales cover only 40%, who will fund the remaining 60% if no one donates or volunteers? No wonder I could not bring myself to produce another house concert in Utrecht. It was too costly and time-consuming. There must be another way. Maui Choral Arts has shown me how.
Watch the encore (below) and read a review in Bon Journal (13 December 2010).
Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers and Brunei-born overseas Chinese pianist Anne Ku share their love of music and the behind-the-scenes stories of their quest for sheet music, composers, performers, concert venues, house concerts, audience development, sponsorship, fundraising, and adventures.
Since they met in 2001, they have given concerts in various locations, including Europe: London, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, the Hague, Famagusta (North Cyprus), Madrid, La Coruna, Ferrol, Cortona, Brugge. Capetown, SA. Taipei, Taiwan. USA: Boston, Houston, Durham NC, San Francisco, and Maui (Hawaii). They now divide their time between Utrecht, Netherlands where they founded the Monument House Concert Series and the USA (Boston & Maui).
