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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Men's Chorus Blog 9

DUE WEDNESDAY 10/27/10 BY 9:00 AM! For directions, please visit BLOG9 at the CBHS Theatrical & Choral Academic Activities website. I look forward to your posts!

31 comments:

  1. 1) Hokkra Negra was ominous, emotional and very driven. The higher notes sent shrills up my spine. I felt like someone or something was haunting me. It was eerie, creepy, almost scary.

    2) Ngana was interesting. It started out quickly with beautiful harmony just like Hokkra Negra. it frightened me when the loud percussions began; overall it was very different from Hokkra Negra. Ngana had a more pondersome feel to it, whereas Hokkra Negra was intense and frightening.

    3) These groups used all the techniques that we've learned with exact precision. Their consonants were annunciated fully and directly. At times, some of the concepts we've learned to always use were ignroed to create a sound that fit more into the moment. The notes were bent, certain pitches were elevated-chorally the music was very dynamic.

    4) At this point in choral music- or the studying of it-I have have really become more interested in how varied choral arrangements can be. They are synesthetically pleasing. I really have become more interested in singing because of the blogs. The pieces are always enervating and fun to listen to. I have really enjoyed the more tribal pieces, though. More energy is threaded into those pieces, and a picture is really painted.

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  2. 1. Hokra Negra focuses on the dark side that all people have. It has this air of evil and wickedness that emanates from the song as you listen. As I listened, I couldn’t help but imagine a cult who worshipped some type of pagan god and they were preparing a human sacrifice to give them good fortune in battle. All I feel is darkness, anger, and hatred.

    2. Ngana has a much different tone than that of Hokra Negra, it’s style is much more fast-paced and focused on something completely different. I picture a tribal dance, the type mostly found in the more isolated parts of South America, Africa, and even Asia.

    3. Both pieces use strong vowels and hard consonants. Even though we don’t necessarily know intellectually what they are saying, we do know phonetically what words they are using. Despite the fact that it’s in a foreign language, it is still a great piece to listen too. What broke away for me was the sound, the tone of the music sounded as if they were shouting instead of focusing on tonal control

    4. Choirs are powerful. It spans a large spectrum of music that focuses on control of one’s voice and it has helped me learn to respect sung music better than I have before.

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  3. 1. This piece was very interesting to me, because it has a very dark feel to it and that is what I’m attracted to. As I was listening to it, a story seemed to unfold to me. I could picture a massive force of darkness taking over the natural world, going from an anarchic scene on ruins and scattered life, to a world covered with a massive shadow to lingered for years and years, only to go away have time eroded it back it light.
    2. This piece kept me very attentive to it because it was unusual to me. A series of small flashes of a person running kept appearing and reappearing in my mind. The more and more I saw of it, I realized that it looked as if it were taking place at the base of a huge dried up canyon, I woman running from something unknown, something that had never been seen before. As I listened more and more whatever it was she was running from was slowly fading away and finally gone about 30 seconds before the song ended. The final scene I saw was of the woman resting and smiling at the mouth of the canyon.
    3. There were too many things to say that was done in these pieces to say each one, but one of the things that broke away from the norm that I noticed was done over and over was scooping. It was done over and over and it sounded great.
    4. This has just furthered my interest in singing and strengthened my faith in the power of music to tell stories and heal (or in some cases) destroy hearts.

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  4. 1.) It reminds me of a tribe ritual. Just the way the language is used and the strong emotion put into it makes it seem very ritualistic. The voices seem to float at parts and then become very rigid at others, creating this dramatic effect that resonates between sections.

    2.)The images that come to mind are masked individuals praising a god. You can almost hear them say God at parts, but that's simply what I hear. The didgeridoo makes for a cool effect in the background as well.

    3.) They techniuqe used was flawless. They were very passionate in how they sang these pieces but that never detracted from their techniuqe. Strength in vowels, percussiveness and exsplosiveness, proper pitch made this a wonderful piece.

    4.)Choral music seems to have one main goal, which is to display the vocal talent of the performers. The paths to acheive this goal are obviously very unique and different for every choir but the end is still the same

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  5. 1. I immediately thought of Lord of the Rings (the Fellowship) when I heard Hokra Negra. The demonic shrieks and ominous rumble of the voices molded the image from the movie when the group ventures into the Mines of Moria. The image that really resonates in my thoughts is the the scene in Moria where the Balrog (ancient demon of fire and shadow) chases the fellowship at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.

    2. Ngana paints a very primordial picture and story in my mind. Images of early man in Africa dancing to and fro filled my mind. For some unknown reason the country of Tanzania came to mind while I listened to this music.

    3. The choral concepts of tallness in voice and perfect diction were very apparent in both pieces. However, I did notices a break from the norm in pronunciation.

    4. Choral music most importantly evokes the sound of vocal unity. My impressions of choral music from what we have done this year are obviously good impressions. It is amazing to see such an uncanny group of guys produce the sound we have.

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  6. 1) Hokra Negra was very scary to me, it reminded me of a scary movie and the music was leading up to the bad guy about to kill everybody. Also it seemed like there was a huge storm coming and the clouds were turning dark. The music seemed to be building up, till the storm hit.
    2) Ngana, is very up beat and is very up lifting. The image that comes to my head is a Indian tribe, preforming before a feast. Also it make me think about a Pray of some sort.
    3)Both pieces use strong vowels and hard consonants. The vowels were pronounced perfect and the consonants were spoken correctly. Even though I couldn' t really understand what they were saying, i could tell that the pieces were sung with a beautiful tone. The only bad part of the pieces was that it sounded like they were shouting at some parts of both pieces.
    4) My impression of choirs and choral music is that it is much harder than it looks. In every piece that I have heard so far in our blogs, I am amazed at how perfect the music sounds and how it seems like a lot of practice and time has been put in to each song.

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  7. 1.) For Hokra Negra I interpreted a dark russian forest and I felt like I was being sung the story of Van Helsing through all of his adventures. The song makes a morbid aura around the one that's listening to it.

    2.) Ngana, on the otherhand made me imagine that I was on the Avatar planet running around in the jungles.

    3.)There were many proper choral tools used for instance the very stong consonants in Hokra Negra stood out and the blending of the last letters of every word to the next in Ngana were a couple examples of proper choral devices.

    4.) At the point of my studies I feel that a choir can do anything a normal band can, just with different instruments, our mouths,( insert sexual joke here)anyway there are many styles and roads a choir can take to make a awesome piece of music.

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  8. 1. i had bad images come to mind. music that is always very high and loud seems to fright me. i really didnt like it and though it went with a super intense movie.
    2. ngana was allot more peaceful and easy goind. it had parts that where louder but overall was allot more enjoyable. i see some lion king type story coming along with this music.
    3. i can tell that in some ways they really hold and get louder the longer that they sing certain parts. i couldn't tell if they where doing anything outside of the normal box though.
    4. my view on choirs and chorus pieces is that some that have incredible talent can do awesome things. i also think the better the music picked the better the chorus is. both must fit.

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  9. 1.) The Hokra Negra made me imagine a scary moment which is very suspenseful. It seems as if it is leading up to a intense moment or something is about to pop out and scare you.

    2.)Ngana was a much more peaceful song. it made me imagine someone running through the woods or a tarzan type deal.

    3.) Hokra Negra sounded good because they blended their sounds and used good vowels. They also increased their sound as they went on which made it sound good.

    4.)My impession of choir is that it takes alot more than just singing. someone can be a good singer but may not know how to blend a sound into a choir to make it successful.

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  10. 1) I thought that Hokra Negra would be in some movie where they were doing some scary ceremony, not gonna lie it was a little scary sounding. It reminded me of a tribe performing some kind of voodoo ritual.

    2) I like Ngana alot more. It gives me kind of a weird rush and if I was a movie producer I would definately consider it for a scene. It reminds me of another tribe ritual being performed but with alot more action.

    3) On every verse their voices got louder and louder throughout the notes.

    4) I really like choir and doing these blogs makes me appreciate it more. Its almost like your a singing a play or movie which is really cool.

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  11. 1. Hokra Negra was very ominous. It reminds me of a scary movie where something very bad is about to happen. It is kinda disturbing in a way.

    2. Between the two, i like Ngana better. It is sounds like something that would be played at a tribal ritual. It is also sounds like it would be played when you are on an alien planet.

    3. From my point of view, it didn't see like anything that wasn't normal. They blended sounds very well. The only thing that I would say isn't completely normal was that they got gradually louder as they progressed through the song.

    4. These blogs have helped me understand that choral music isn't just what we learn in class. It is much bigger and has a wide ranges things in it that I didn't think existed in choir. It really makes me appreciate choral music as a whole

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  12. 1) Hokra Negra is very illustrative. Darkness with depth definitely comes to mind, with the use of unexpected voice usage, rhythmn, and notes to mirror the fear of the unknown that comes with darkness. The way the voices crescendo and decrescendo definitely brings to mind a hole or pit.
    2) With Ngana, I imagine an African hunt for a large wild animal. I hear in the song the preparation, the pride, the stalking and searching, the monotony, and finally, the spotting of the prey and the capture of it.
    3) Strong enunciation was used, along with control of voice volume, but I also heard contrasting rhythmns that were not "proper," but succeeded in producing the right mental image.
    4) For me, I see choirs and choral music as varying as much as every culture in the world varies. Technique very often links the different kind of music that is separated by vastly different styles and messages.

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  13. 1) For Hokra Negra I imagined an Indian tribe doing a lion kingesk dance. As for the point of the dance I am drawing a blank.

    2) with Ngana the event I saw in my head was of a wild horse. The horse was the higher voices. Later in the song the deeper voices (an Indian rider) subdues the beast and tames it. Eventually the horse starts to follow ,and mimic the human.

    3) Both pieces differed from the rules a bit by not blending an entire section. They sounded amazing and the offset gave them a cascading effect, it was just not with the rules of singing in a group like this.

    4) For anyone who wants to get into choir is given a wide selection.

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  14. 1) When I listened to Hoka Negra I thought of a very drak and kind of evil place. It reminded me somewhat of a fairy tale when the evil witch or another evil creature is first introduced or it something bad is about to take place.

    2) When I listened to Ngana I thought of something totally different. It made me think of a new undiscovered world full of native people that do things that arent what people are use to. Walking into that place just looking around at all of there structures and what not.

    3) I thought that both pieces were very good. They both had very deep sounds with that high pitched female voices that came in to give the sound its high points.

    4) At this point in our class my impression of choirs and chorus is a good one. Throughout these blogs I have mainly noticed just how difficult and how much practice it must take to become a great singer and a great chorus like a lot of these pieces we have listened to. There are so many elements that go into being a good singer and making a group sound good.

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  15. 1.My opinion of Hokra Negra is that it sounds like a dark type of song. The image that comes to mind when listening to this song is that of a battle of good vs. evil.
    2.My interpretation of Ngana is that it sounds like a native type of song that the Native Americans or the native tribes in Africa might sing. When I listen to this song, it brings up the image of a type of tribal celebration.
    3.I thought both pieces were very good. The "proper" choral concepts that were used were the blending, the crescendo, the decrescendo, and the articulation that the choir used. Even though they were singing in a different language, I could hear every word that was sung.
    4.My impression of choir and choral music is that I have found that there are many types of choral music and that they are very diverse.

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  16. 1) A town spreading rumors around to everyone. People singing of the sorry for the poor soul. Women of town are conversing about what the youth did. The mother sings about her sadness over the news. People are gathering and talking along the way. They are telling him his crime and punishment. People are becoming restless saying how he was framed because he was too nice for him to be killed or they are angry and upset for what the youth did even though he was known for being kind. The youth is killed by swing of the executioner’s axe.
    2) It’s a small settlement of Indians that is just waking up to dawn and are preparing to go hunting until the men leave. They search and search until they find a herd of beasts for food. They quietly creep up on them and then frighten them and the herd stampedes. The men shave down the herd by cutting off some from others until a few stragglers are left. They kill the stragglers and bring them back to the settlement as the woman and the elderly set up for tonight’s feast. They dance to show appreciation for the products of their hunt and it ends with the dancers falling into a final position.
    3) there was much crescendo along with much vibrato to make it seem more like it’s actually creating a scene of great importance and dire consequence. There was a lot of scale rising in the of some of the pieces. They seemed more exaggerated on some of the words to make it seem more thunderous and booming.
    4) There is so much to take in and it takes a lot of time to get the right sound. They take days at a time to make sure they get 3 or 4 pages of song down to the best of their ability. I knew there would be a lot to cover but the thought of just understanding most of the concepts used in chorus is difficult because not only knowing it is enough, people have to learn how to sing with that concept and learn the many ways it can best be used. This is going to be one tough lesson to learn in one year but I think we can make it as long as we try.

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  17. 1) Its very dark and ominous. It reminds me of the music they would play during a Roman battle against an evil mythical creature. This song would be best for a good vs. evil fight.
    2) This one is not as dark and ominous its a happy medium cause it changes key. It reminds me of tribal dancing before war or a chase scene in the jungle.
    3) Both pieces show that they don't always blend their vocals but individualize them. They do cascade together at some points to create a luring effect to the pieces.
    4) My impression was that there were only a small type of choral music but I have now been enlightened to that there is more to choral music then school Choirs. Choral music stretches across into any and all groups of music.

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  18. 1. I get a sense of feeling that a tragedy is happening before my eyes, when I listened to Hokra Negra. Also. I think I’m watching a climactic battle scene of a war movie in slow motion. I don’t get a lot of joy from this piece of music. I feel more terror and excitement from this interesting song.
    2. I get similar images when I listen to Ngana. It has an abundance of high pitches and the tempo is relatively fast paced. None of these pieces of music I would recommend to listen to when in a happy mood.
    3. Both of the pieces of music used harmonies as well as unison singing. A listener can easily depict the women singing from the men in places and this makes both pieces interesting, and somewhat complicated.
    4. I have noticed that choir has no limits. At first I thought choir music only covered historical music that was relatively serious. As I progressed through the years, I discovered choir can be any type of music. It really makes you appreciate the talents the choir singers put in their songs to make them come alive.

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  19. 1) It sounded dark and morbid almost like someone had died or somone in a hopeless situation but the person strives to make it through like there is a slim chance that he will survive. Sounds of hope and dispare.
    2)It sounded like preparation for some kind of big event in a tribal village. It hard to tell but it sounds war-like but it didn't feel that way. It felt like they were on their way to a ceremony. Maybe a coming of age ceremony where the boys in the village become men. They stand tall as they march on to become the warriors and hunter for the village. The older generation pass down the torch.
    3) The voices don't blend in the usual sense but in a unique way. They are jumbled toghether sounding like the hustle and bustle of a tribe going through their daily routine. It sounded really cool. I could "see" each work group of the tribe performing their own job in the village.
    4) It gives me an idea that choral music isn't always united voices singing "Ave Maria". It showed me a world of choirs with their own individual style. No two are alike but they have their own way of speaking to an audience. It ranges to all kinds of voice groups, voice types, tones, all kinds of variations. There is certainly more to choirs than I originally thought. Now that I know I can begin to be a better member of the choir.

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  20. 1. Hokra Negra made me think of a scary moment. It seems likes it is leading up to a intense moment and is about to surprise you.
    2. The images that come to mind are scary. You can almost hear the scary aspect of the song in their voices.
    3. Both pieces didnt blend at all. They sounded good but the not blending was something we arent used to.
    4. Overwhelmed. I still am in awe of new pieces like this.

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  21. Honkkra Negra was very creepy it had an eerie feel to it, it felt as if there was some type of feast of haunting ceremony that was going on. It made me feel as if I was in some rural part of the world where there are village people that are still basically secluded from the rest of the world.
    The images that come to my mind are images of people praising a pagan god or a big ceremony in a village. It also puts in my head early tribal dances in Africa.
    They really pick the pace up from the beginning and their words become harder and stronger as the song progresses.
    My impression on choir music is that it is much harder than it looks, especially when you have a lot of guys. You have to make sure everyone is on the same pitch and know what they’re doing on every single part and you also have to be dedicated to choir its basically like a team and if everyone isn’t giving their all then the choir wont sound as good.

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  22. 1) Hokra Negra was definately a weird song. It made me feel like i had just witnessed an evil ghost or something that was going to kill me. It is really creepy and generally incites the heeby-jeebies.
    2) Ngana is also quite creepy. It might actually be even scarrier. Where Hokra might have been a little like a sound track for an epic battle, this one just screams, "You're about to get killed by a demon."
    3)It seemed to me that they both were done very well, but not too well. They were done with the best people to make them the best mediocre songs ever. There was just simply not too much flair.
    4) Having now been in a chorus, i realize how the human voice can be used not only to sing lyrics, but as it own musical instrument also. I used to think chorus was just like the mormon tabernacle choir, but now i see differently. It is great to hear people like the Kings Singers perform such good music using nothing but the human voice.

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  23. 1. I feel like Hockra Negra would play when a husband and his drunk buddies stumbled into his wife's Wednesday night book club meeting. The foreshadowing of a fight or argument with a bunch of very uptight women.
    2. Ngana reminds me of an African tribal dance with big fires and lots of dancing and bongo drums.
    3. The mouths are very open and blend together very well for the most part. There is not a constant crescendo going on, it is all very sporadic giving the pieces the out of the ordinary vibe that they give off.
    4. I really wish we could start doing stuff that is just really epic. The stuff that you show us is like war-movie-soundtrack epic, I wanna sing stuff like that. It's empowering. not gointobethlehemgointobethlehemgointobethelhem.

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  24. 1. Hocka Negra is very strange. To me, Hocka Negra sounds like something you would hear when something bad is about to happen in a scary movie.
    2. The first part of Ngana, to me, sounded a lot like something you would hear in Pirates of the Carribean. Once you get intou the song, though, it starts sounding like a tribal dance with big fires and crazy dances.
    3. The proper choral techniques these pieces show is the stressed vowels and consonates. The voices of all the singers are blended so one does not carry past all the others.
    4. When you see someone in chorus, you think, Oh, they are in it for the easy A. There is nothing to it. Thats what I thought at least. That is what is most interesting and challenging to me. Its not just singing, its singing properly with the right vowels, consonates blending, etc.

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  25. 1. Listening to this song feels like i am being cursed. It chills me to listen to the sour, high-pitched squeels.
    2. Nothing stood out in this song, not the creepy sound i was getting in the first, i can't hear a story in this song.
    3. They put drums into the song to make it more tribal. lots of squeeling going on as well.
    4. I like the unique songs that choral music can cover, that no other genre can.

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  26. 1.) The Hokra Negra made me imagine a frightful encounter. It seems as if it is leading up to a intense moment.

    2.)Ngana was a much more peaceful song.It made me have better thoughts that scraed away the ones from the first piece.

    3.) Hokra Negra sounded good because they blended their sounds and used good vowels. They also increased their sound as they went on which made it sound good.

    4.)My impession of choir is that it takes alot more than just singing. We have to blend more and just work harder.

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  27. 1) The hokra Negra makes me feel like something is happening to me, which is good. It sounds quite forboding and terrifying.
    2)The Ngana makes me think of some type of dance or tribal music or something like that. I didnt really see where it was taking me though. It was kind of just noise compared to the first one.
    3) Proper choral things they did was make good sounds when they did make them, and they sounded good.
    4) At this point in my study of choral music I have learned that my traditional thought of choirs is completely wrong. I thought of a bunch of artsy people singing christmas music. I have learned you cant really put a lable on choral things.

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  28. 1 the Sounds that the hokra negra make me think of something scary
    2 It sounds like some type of tribal meaning dance or something.
    3 the choral things to do is to make it sound better.
    4 in my studys of choral music that some choirs are good others are not.

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  29. 1) hokra Negra seemed kinda dark and eerie, i was kid of waiting for it to pick up but stayed slowly and methodically at a even pace with a few emotional peaks.
    2) I felt like i was in some kind of african intiation or even like a celebration of a newborns birth because of the womens voices in it that came out to me. But tribalism came out to me.
    3) I felt like they got rid some volume in order to get a more windy sound especially in hokra negra. Ngana had more of fierceness to it but both blended and used there sound to controll the pace of the music.
    4) I always thought choirs were for christmas pagents and church music. Although these last blogs have showed me that choir groups can tackle all types of music.

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  30. 1) The hokra negra gives you a dark and gloomy sound. It should be used for horror films or suspenses parts. It gives me that feeling that something bad is going to happen.
    2) This one is more like a spiritual sound. I almost image some type of tribe gathered together and they are having a celebration. I think it wasn't as good as the first one but it still had good parts.
    3) The proper sound of this is good. The did a good technique and it shows with the final result.
    4) I have found out that there is more to what you can do with a choral group than i thought. You can make all types of music with them, not just church hymns and such.

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  31. 1) well this one kinda freaked me out it sounds like something that plays in the background when someones about to get killed in a miovie.
    2)this one sounds very africano and tribal. this sounds like this could go along with lion king or something like that.
    3)well i liked both but the second one used good consinents and echoed. the second one was kind of hard for me to understand what they where saying and it reminded me of an axe murder movie.
    4)well i see that choral music is not just a european thing it is global and it can connect us all.

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