looking back: the politics of election

 

Wendynicolenn Duong

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America and Democracy--Election Day

This election has shown me the part of America I do not wish to see, where choices and lack of choices become intertwined for many "little people" who want to think for themselves...So after this election, i may become truly borderless...The dream of Eleanor Roosevelt about Universal Human Rights becomes the dream for all those homeless, stateless, and borderless individuals. So being "borderless" means a lot to me. I will vote, has I have voted the last time, for the choice that may not necessarily represent my notion of idolized statesman[woman]ship, but instead, the choice that I believe will push the direction of social changes -- toward my vision of the America I would like to see when it's time for me to close my eyes in the final moment of my "Robert Frost" journey...(The road not taken, and I have promises to keep, and miles to go before i sleep...)

I notice also that billionaire businessmen have not traditionally gone all the way to become the people's choice for the country (remember Ross Perot???). Nor have true public advocates (remember Ralph Nader???). Yet diversity and gender have changed the faces of America...Let's see, the morning after...

As a "little woman" evacuated by America, I decided right at the beginning of my "little career" in America, that I will also pursue the "borderless" "public interest", but I do not want a public life...I don't want politics of any style, although I am always motivated by polity (and I don't mean Plato). I want my work to be known, but I don't want myself to be known. I wonder out there in the voting public, there are people who feel like me. In American politics, are we seekers of ideals or idols? Do we vote for stars, do we vote for adversarial process experts, or do we vote for public servants who give us a chance at truths (knowing that even truths are relative so diversity should be the pusher and the landscape for the delivery and discovery of all such truths)? The campaign trail, the debates, the dirt and the glory, etc. etc. etc. -- (̣same as the gist of my law profession (and that of the young Mrs. Clinton) --due process and freedom of speech and cross examination and impeachment and all that good stuff) -- all about fighting, merciless character assassination, competing, smearing, name calling, all types of adversarial combats that supposedly get us to all such truths. It's as though to get at beauty and purity (truths), one must encounter so much trash, so much mud, so much ugliness, like the princess who must kiss so many frogs in order to find prince charming. Yet, the frog kissing process is...bipolar!

Is free and full access to truths in such "bipolar" manner the essence of democracy? We might have all become the exhausted, dazed, confused kissing princess, so...? (I let you, those nameless and faceless, but identifiable at the poll, those who may think like me, fill out the rest).

At the end, should we review candidates, or should we begin to review the process of democracy itself?

so much for my rambling....

artwork: on the occasion of the US 2016 presidential election day, i give you my L'Art Brut three versions of a woman's face, a la Picasso style...

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13Hoa Hoang, Do My and 11 others

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the standard for choir

Wendynicolenn Duong shared a memory.
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from 2017, on choral music

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TRUONG CA ME VIETNAM, CHORAL SYMPHONY, NGAN KHOI: THE STANDARD FOR CLASSICAL CHORAL IN AMERICA
sorry to tell the truth: using the standards of 100+ member choirs in the U.S., and justifiably so, I am disappointed. Especially the second number (and the 4th?, right upfront?) (my favorites from the whole symphony): with such great substance, I expected much much more vitality and nhip dieu nhun nhay created with voices, vi la su ca tung sac dep cua me VN... the music and semantics both call for this. More allegro? more uon eo? more nuances? more up and down, high and low, rise and fall, etc. My soul wants to be grabbed. it's not happening. what did pham duy want? he took this from folk, so use tinh tu ngat ngay cua dan toc ma`... set the piece! What did this conductor want? The arrangement and the performance were just dragging in the second number. not "vivant," not vivacious enough.
Come on choir, you don't just stand there and sing well to express volume of a group and be on pitch. You are there to express. Where is the grabbing of the attention, the submerging, emerging, dampening or envigorating of your entire being, with sounds?
The best part, khoan ho ho khoan to express the waterways and ocean coasts of vietnam??? if yes, then NOT DRAMATIC enough. COM ON, CHOIR, I AM FRUSTRATED. YOU NEED TO GIVE ME MORE. THAT STRONG LEGATO AND THEN SLIMMING DOWN, into silence. you are expressing the waterways, the ocean, aren't you? 100+ VOICES collectively, PLEASE. COME ON. I want virtuoso. I want rise and low, small and big.
Some of the solos are not strong enough. again, too much vibrato. not steady enough, not enough control with resonance. not enough skilled, stunning legato. therefore, no or little nuance during solos. LIVE AND DIE WITH YOUR LINES, GUYS AND GALS, LIVE WITH THE CHORAL FOR MONTHS WITH THE WHOLE OF YOUR BEING, BEFORE YOUR PERFORMANCE DAY/NIGHT, PLEASE. and then each one of you, xuat tha^`n for me. GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR BEING, 100 members you are, AND THEN ONE SOLO CAO VUT OR TRAM HUNG, PLEASE. (Even if you don't have that number, 100 of voices, still give THAT EFFECT!
And, I DON'T LIKE the use of individual microphones for the solos, too close to the solo singer like singing night club, because that does not comport with natural acoustics of the whole choir. If you've made it to a 100+ voices for choir, then use natural acoustics with added microphone enhancement strategically positioned only. The individual microphone uproots and upsets the balance of acoustical hy' vien, so i have to be there to tell what the imbalance is. Strictly, tHE USE OF MIC FOR SOLOS CAN BE A FORM OF CHEAT, KIND OF!
i don't know if this has been adjusted sound-wise to make it sound better for the tape, having being recorded professionally during the live performance??? All that technical adjustment, IF ANY, will be affectatious and not true to life. Again, I have to be there to know what i hear, live.
Choir experience is a terrific, almost surreal, OUT-OF-BODY experience. it's unique. when the conductor's hand gives a sign, the voices stop, precision, precision, precision, and the ensuing silence is breathtaking. When the voices rise, forte, or drop/dwindle down, pianissimo, when the voices dance with the pitches, rushing, spreading, or cooling, seemingly catching with timing or elusively letting go with timing, etc. etc.etc. it's out of this world. It grabs your soul. The audience nin tho. Do we have this here? I don't know, but not on this youtube.
the live experience of a choir performance is special and one has to be there. But with all the sound assistance, have it on youtube is still a disappointing experience for me.
it's like a strong train running at the same pace with a few stops here and there, from A to Z.
Good try. but not enough virtuoso to carry the soul of virtuoso spectacular vietnam where it could have been.
it's been almost half a century >40 years. I want more out of you. too much đều đềũ. not enough breathtaking quality. if you just sing, and sing well, that's not enough for me. I want to see and feel what you express as a group. I want to see those images thru your voices.
"nuoc di la nuoc khong ve, etc." I want more ni? non, more virtuoso, i want all such soprano-range female voice(s) into a string of silky water stream, gleaming thru the airspace, and when the male voices come in, i want all that drama, i want a waterfall!.
and, the silence, the pauses. those dau lang, rests. I want more distinction. i want that tension of expectation with the next note.
I know what i am saying, highest standard, because i've been in choirs. It's America and we have had >four decades and a whole vibrant community there in orange county, with lots and lots of money earned and spent.
toward the ending, all those ascending phrases written by Pham Duy (allegedly coming out of the best of vietnamese folk -- the melody is folk influence, clearly), I want THAT CRESCENDO. DISTINCTION: Small to big, climbing, so naturally gliding, yet distinctively in nuance, please.
the last piece, Vietnam vietnam, is just part of the same train already running. Yuck. This piece alone should stand out with so much vigor to distinguish it from the virtuoso -- the rise and fall that should have been before it. One way is to speed up the tempo more hao hung for VietnamVietnam. that's the epitome, supposedly!
You the arranger and choir conductor have all those choices at your fingertips. why didn't you use them more fully and selectively?
the last phrase: give me more holding on the notes powerful powerful powerful and then gleaming down to end. tension is in the silence, and tho? pha`o for the end -- this is the beauty of choir. the collectivity of voices at their best.
I am not substituting my preference or judgement. I am asking for all this as an informed member of the audience who has been with, and listening to, the best.
You and all your voices just carry... the train. but the training running smoothly and efficiently is NOT enough. this is music at long dantoc, in the global standard of one vast America. Choirs happen everywhere at every church, at every community, university, regional theater, the best of form, the best of music. As a member of the community at large, a music lover, and an oldie classical buff (for lack of a better word), I have the right to expect more of this conductor and this choir. I want to see the Vietnamese excel and distinguish.
One question: what did Pham Duy write? It is the three-part symphony? I don't hear three parts with breaks. I could be wrong!
ON TO CON DUONG CAI QUAN:
now I am going on to hear con duong cai quan. the next piece IN THE PLAY LIST. the solo female is weak. FAR too weak. "dong dang co pho ky lua" "nuoc non ngan dam ra di" all requires more expression. reo rat ni non. Virtuoso, virtuoso. Even when it's nhe nhu lieu nhu gio thoang nhu mua bay, it has to be full of that internal energy underneath the voice. distinguished legato please. AND, less "h," please. I have lost my voice so I am now full of "h" in my high notes. but you, soloist for this kind of choir, you have to give me resonance and a solid, steady stream in your high notes. (Toward the later part, there's one voice with a couple of lines that impresses me more.)
and then that gorgeous line coming in: toi di tu ai nam quan qua vai ngan nam le. the rhythm, the rise and fall of pitches, the appoggiaturas that is: I would even play with staccato on this phrase!
The male tenor is ALSO far TOO WEAK FOR THE VIRTUOSO LINEs, or this piece!
and when the whole choir comes in: not dramatic enough.
oh my...I don't like what I hear for the beginning or most part of con duong cai quan. same problem: the same train going without the grabbing of your whole being: ru`ng minh, run nhu run than tu thay long nhan, nhu han mac tu noi, do moi la kinh nghiem cua choir o Tay Phuong. Get me there. the solos or the soprano group are too weak. I am using a high professional standard here.
Should be nothing less but the highest standard of America. the more i expect, the more RESPECT I AM GIVING TO YOU MY FELLOW MUSICIANS/choir vocalists AND FELLOW VIETNAMESE. You are representing us in America from our capital home-away-from-home Little Saigon, aren't you? DO BETTER FOR ME because i can't do it, but i have heard and been with the best. Do it for US. AGAINST at least THE BEST OF REGIONAL, UNIVERSITY, AND COMMUNITY CHOIRS OF THIS COUNTRY.
the richness of pitches rise-and-fall the virtuoso of lines must be the standard of delivery for this type of music, this kind of professional setting, bec it is the best of lo`ng dan toc. Make it on par with the best of the world, even if you are amateurs. You've gone this far. YOU ARE AFTER ALL, apparently A TRAINED CHOIR even if each one of you might be an amateur.
(I personally would add one full measure to each ending and make the choir hold legato for each part. give more tension to breaks. so, conductor, decide when to raise your arm/hand gestures for that beginning, recommencement or resumption of sounds.
nhung doan chap chung: be at it! Be "chap chung." Rhythmic without a drum! don't be just...a train! you can do better!
Me, who am I to say? No career musician. don't need to be. just an audience member with high expectation for classical chorus and a lot of respect for you. enough respect to write this long commentary. DNN





All reactions:1Dzu Ng

on old vietnamese friendship

On this day
7 years ago
Wendynicolenn Duong
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happy birthday to my sweet childhood friend do thi khanh my of TV high school, Saigon, VN. We shared the same math tutor and you were the only one to respond and join me in those lessons. So diligently and quietly you walked the long long alley so we could have joint lessons together...I still remember the table where we sat. Our tutor is already dead. I miss her so terribly each time memory returns. Your image is unforgettable in my memory. You are the same today, just better, better and better...Your high spirit and cordiality, good-natured and positive, open and genuine...That wonderful smile, My. How lucky i am to have shared your path in our teenage days...More than 40 years later, here we are...The earth is not just round. It is also a closed circle meant for reunion...

artwork: leaves and petals, nhung ca'nh hoa va la, enamel and pen on paper, UND c2012

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21Anhlan Nguyen, To Hanh and 19 others

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tieu chuan cho dai hop xuong

On this day
6 years ago

Wendynicolenn Duong is with Anhlan Nguyen and
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V/D TIEU CHUAN TRONG AM NHAC:

Choir, Đại Hợp Xướng, phải như thác đổ mưa tuôn nghiêm trang lâng lâng hay như tiếng gọi lồng lộng trong rừng, tiếng trong như gió thoảng ngoài,tiếng khoan sầm sập như trời đổ mưa ..Tiêu chuẩn tiếng đàn Thuý Kiều N/Du đã nóí, và đ́ó cũng là tiêu chuẩn tôi dùng cho Đại Hợp Xướng classical style. V̀i cần tiếng trong tiếng khoan tiếng đục cho nên mới chia bè: first soprano, second soprano, alto ̣even contralto, tenor, barritone bass...mới viết nhiều giòng nhạc, mới có conductor hoặc là ca sĩ thượng thặng từ Julliard mà ra, họac là Ph.D. in music với đôi tai và bàn tay, trí tuệ, là cả cuộc đời hiến cho âm nhạc. Đó mới là choir đại hợp xướng, vượt trên cả một giàn đại hoà tấu, "crossing the full orchestra" to reach the very audience member at the farthest corner of the concert or recital hall...
...AND BEYOND, vì khán giả đi về sẽ nhớ một đời, vì âm nhạc, chứ không phài vì ethnocentricsm cuả aí quốc cực đoan. Đó là tiêu chuẩn tôi dùng ở đây, vì tôi respect nguồn cội cuả tôi và tôi respect âm nhạc, chứ không phải vì tôi rảnh thì giờ để khoe khoang kiến thức..."Music is enormous." M/Callas. Tôi vì phà̉i đi làm đi học khoa nhân văn cả đời không có thi giờ theo đuổi âm nhạc tận tụy toàn thời gian, tôi tự cho mình là kẻ không được học hay đào luyện đến nơi đệ́n chốn như tôi muốn, và vì thế chẳng có lý do gì để khoe kiến thức nghệ thuật với đồng hương...
thế nhưng tư cách cuả một khán thính giả, tôi và nhiều người gốc Việt khác, có tư cách ấy, khá nhiều....Tư cách cuả một khán thính giả, độc giả có lòng và biết suy nghĩ. Tôi không muốn nhìn thấy sư tự mãn cuả tinh thần aí quốc cực đoan trong địa hạt văn nghệ và dân trí, mà trái lại tôi muốn nhìn thấy con đường thiên lý đ̣i đến xây dựng pḥuc hưng toàn diện renaissance sau khi đã đổ nát. Muốn vậy chụ́ng ta phải thành thật nhận thức tiêu chuẩn là gì, và cho ai...
Cha tôi lúc hoc ở Âu Châu được nghe đại hợp xướng của Nga, về kể lại cảm tưởng, tôi là đứa bé đã nhớ lời cha nói trọn đời, và tôi năm 1991 ĐƯỢC gặp gỡ, thử giọng và học sơ đẳng một buổi với một Bolshoy singer. Gịọng bà ấy vang rền như chuông vàng, như thác nước. Bà ấy dùng phương pháp "physical" để đẩy cho tôi đi, ngay cả cử chỉ đấm vào bụng để bắp thịt hoạt động và để tôi cảnh giác. Và rồi qua đến 2013, tôi đến Nga, được nghe Đại Hợp Xướng và solo classique ở địa phương, thành phố chôn nhau cắt rốn của kịch tác gia Anton Chekhow., được chứng kiến tài năng văn nghệ tuyệt vời cuả các học sinh Nga, chẳng phải là ở hý viện cuả St. Petersburg, cũng đã thấy tài năng và cái đẹp.
Trong cuộc đời tuối trẻ cuả một luật sư quốc tế bương chải nhiều nơi, tôi đã ở và học tại nhiều thành phố, và tôi luôn audition/đến với tất cả các choirs đại họ́c và choirs cuả symphonies thành phố, ngoại trừ hai thành phộ́ mà thôi. Tôi đã là khán giả ở London, Paris, New York, D.C., San Francisco, Houston, Singapore, Melbourne, etc.
Trong đ́ó, kinh nghiệm đáng nhớ nhất là tôi đã được hát Classic Canons, Haydn's Salve Regina và Mozart's Regina Coeli, Mendelson, Schubert, Beethoven, dưới tài điều khiển cuả choir director: Dr. C. DeFotis:
http://www.thecrimson.com/.../associate-choir-director.../.

https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/854324

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/5/13/associate-choir-director-will-leave-only/?fbclid=IwAR1tkGwn1EhC4PYtBM8PyyUgq04xkJq1ni_1fXLzvMRLvxfSS6jwJEhDz7

https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/854324

Và dĩ nhiên ở vài đại học hay thành phố khác: được nghe live, được hát Mozart's Requiem...
riêng về Haydn: Sau khi đượ́c hát dưới sự điều khiển cuả Dr. DeFotis tại Harvard Radcliff choral society, tôi nhớ mãi câu Ad te suspiramus...và đã dùng câu đ́ó để vocalize trong đời, mãi cho đến khi tôi mất giọng và không còn hát nghiêm trọng nưã. Bây giờ nếu hát, tôi chỉ hát với lòng thành...
Tại Houston, tôi cũng đã đượ́c gặp beautiful Barritone Carlton Ford để ông thử giọng, và được nghe gịọng hát cũng như experience tài conduct cuả ông. ̀Ông đã chỉ bảo cho tôi vài điều tôi chưa hề biết̉ sau nhiều thập niên....
Những tiếp cận và sinh hoạt trong môi trường âm nhạc chuyên môn về classical làm tôi một cá nhân nh̉ỏ bé muốn quỳ xuống...
Trong khán giả ở Sanders Theater tôi có mời vị đồng hương VN độc nhất: đó là ̣(ông) bà Truong Hoa Diên Fuller ở Boston, cựu giám đốc Công Ty Thanh Sơn, VNCH, là cựu giáo sư Đồng Khánh dạy mẹ tôi, và hình như bà là phự nữ đầu tiên tốt nghiệp Cao Đẳng Thương Mai tại Pháp trước 1954. "I am proud of you," she said, and I was only a member of the Radcliff society choir, first row, the only Vietnamese. It's not my style to go around having pictures of myself taken at these occasions, but I wish I had had a picture of me on the first row of that choir, under Dr. DeFotis, or with Dì Hoa Diên ̣-- năm nay chắc đã 90+.
Tôi nghĩ như thế đủ để tôi trình bày quan điểm cuả mình về Đại Hợp Xướng cho cái gọ́i là quốc hồn quốc tuý cuả VN, trong tinh thần xây dựng, đứng về phiá khán giả...Cḥi Nhuận, Suong cuả Ngàn Khơi là tình nghĩa TV, có chút́ quen biết. In fact, that same year when we worked under Dr. DeFotis, 1999, chi Nhuan or chi Suong from CA contacted me at Cambridge, wanting my consent to use a tape of my choreography and solo dancing for Bac Le Van Khoa's composition, on stage at Rice University here in Houston back in 1992 or so, for a charity. ̣(That was among the very few times i even danced amateurly for a Vietnamese audience, no luxury of real practice because i worked 60+ hours a week, litigating in CA federal courts for a big law firm, those days (later, undertaking, on top of that workload, a magistrate judgeship, which required me to conduct night and weekend court...).
As a self-acknowledged amateur, i consider myself a perpetual student of the arts.
For professional singers who have developed individuality in a style outside of the classique, choir experience may be too restricting for them...For me, participation in classical choral symphonies is the ONLY way I can get instant beauty and musicality, as well as appreciation for both, in the spirit of the highest musicianship accorded me, and the most cooperative and professionally responsible teamwork for vocal music.
Vì chi NMN đã share, tôi xin nhờ phổ biến cho quý vị nào đã đọc tôi, để hiểu v/d tôi đặt tiêu chuẩn rất cao cho ca đoàn Ngàn Khoi, vì ḥo đã đi vào địa hạt g̣oi là tượ́ng trưng cho quốc hồn qu
ốc tuý cuả VN qua những trường ca bắt nguồn từ âm nhạc dân tộc, trước ̃1975.

Wendynicolenn Duong is with Chuong Ha and
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TRUONG CA ME VIETNAM, CHORAL SYMPHONY, NGAN KHOI: THE STANDARD FOR CLASSICAL CHORAL IN AMERICA

sorry to tell the truth: using the standards of 100+ member choirs in the U.S., and justifiably so, I am disappointed. Especially the second number (and the 4th?, right upfront?) (my favorites from the whole symphony): with such great substance, I expected much much more vitality and nhip dieu nhun nhay created with voices, vi la su ca tung sac dep cua me VN... the music and semantics both call for this. More allegro? more uon eo? more nuances? more up and down, high and low, rise and fall, etc. My soul wants to be grabbed. it's not happening. what did pham duy want? he took this from folk, so use tinh tu ngat ngay cua dan toc ma`... set the piece! What did this conductor want? The arrangement and the performance were just dragging in the second number. not "vivant," not vivacious enough.
Come on choir, you don't just stand there and sing well to express volume of a group and be on pitch. You are there to express. Where is the grabbing of the attention, the submerging, emerging, dampening or envigorating of your entire being, with sounds?
The best part, khoan ho ho khoan to express the waterways and ocean coasts of vietnam??? if yes, then NOT DRAMATIC enough. COM ON, CHOIR, I AM FRUSTRATED. YOU NEED TO GIVE ME MORE. THAT STRONG LEGATO AND THEN SLIMMING DOWN, into silence. you are expressing the waterways, the ocean, aren't you? 100+ VOICES collectively, PLEASE. COME ON. I want virtuoso. I want rise and low, small and big.
Some of the solos are not strong enough. again, too much vibrato. not steady enough, not enough control with resonance. not enough skilled, stunning legato. therefore, no or little nuance during solos. LIVE AND DIE WITH YOUR LINES, GUYS AND GALS, LIVE WITH THE CHORAL FOR MONTHS WITH THE WHOLE OF YOUR BEING, BEFORE YOUR PERFORMANCE DAY/NIGHT, PLEASE. and then each one of you, xuat tha^`n for me. GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR BEING, 100 members you are, AND THEN ONE SOLO CAO VUT OR TRAM HUNG, PLEASE. (Even if you don't have that number, 100 of voices, still give THAT EFFECT!
And, I DON'T LIKE the use of individual microphones for the solos, too close to the solo singer like singing night club, because that does not comport with natural acoustics of the whole choir. If you've made it to a 100+ voices for choir, then use natural acoustics with added microphone enhancement strategically positioned only. The individual microphone uproots and upsets the balance of acoustical hy' vien, so i have to be there to tell what the imbalance is. Strictly, tHE USE OF MIC FOR SOLOS CAN BE A FORM OF CHEAT, KIND OF!
i don't know if this has been adjusted sound-wise to make it sound better for the tape, having being recorded professionally during the live performance??? All that technical adjustment, IF ANY, will be affectatious and not true to life. Again, I have to be there to know what i hear, live.
Choir experience is a terrific, almost surreal, OUT-OF-BODY experience. it's unique. when the conductor's hand gives a sign, the voices stop, precision, precision, precision, and the ensuing silence is breathtaking. When the voices rise, forte, or drop/dwindle down, pianissimo, when the voices dance with the pitches, rushing, spreading, or cooling, seemingly catching with timing or elusively letting go with timing, etc. etc.etc. it's out of this world. It grabs your soul. The audience nin tho. Do we have this here? I don't know, but not on this youtube.
the live experience of a choir performance is special and one has to be there. But with all the sound assistance, have it on youtube is still a disappointing experience for me.
it's like a strong train running at the same pace with a few stops here and there, from A to Z.
Good try. but not enough virtuoso to carry the soul of virtuoso spectacular vietnam where it could have been.
it's been almost half a century >40 years. I want more out of you. too much đều đềũ. not enough breathtaking quality. if you just sing, and sing well, that's not enough for me. I want to see and feel what you express as a group. I want to see those images thru your voices.
"nuoc di la nuoc khong ve, etc." I want more ni? non, more virtuoso, i want all such soprano-range female voice(s) into a string of silky water stream, gleaming thru the airspace, and when the male voices come in, i want all that drama, i want a waterfall!.
and, the silence, the pauses. those dau lang, rests. I want more distinction. i want that tension of expectation with the next note.
I know what i am saying, highest standard, because i've been in choirs. It's America and we have had >four decades and a whole vibrant community there in orange county, with lots and lots of money earned and spent.
toward the ending, all those ascending phrases written by Pham Duy (allegedly coming out of the best of vietnamese folk -- the melody is folk influence, clearly), I want THAT CRESCENDO. DISTINCTION: Small to big, climbing, so naturally gliding, yet distinctively in nuance, please.
the last piece, Vietnam vietnam, is just part of the same train already running. Yuck. This piece alone should stand out with so much vigor to distinguish it from the virtuoso -- the rise and fall that should have been before it. One way is to speed up the tempo more hao hung for VietnamVietnam. that's the epitome, supposedly!
You the arranger and choir conductor have all those choices at your fingertips. why didn't you use them more fully and selectively?
the last phrase: give me more holding on the notes powerful powerful powerful and then gleaming down to end. tension is in the silence, and tho? pha`o for the end -- this is the beauty of choir. the collectivity of voices at their best.
I am not substituting my preference or judgement. I am asking for all this as an informed member of the audience who has been with, and listening to, the best.
You and all your voices just carry... the train. but the training running smoothly and efficiently is NOT enough. this is music at long dantoc, in the global standard of one vast America. Choirs happen everywhere at every church, at every community, university, regional theater, the best of form, the best of music. As a member of the community at large, a music lover, and an oldie classical buff (for lack of a better word), I have the right to expect more of this conductor and this choir. I want to see the Vietnamese excel and distinguish.
One question: what did Pham Duy write? It is the three-part symphony? I don't hear three parts with breaks. I could be wrong!
ON TO CON DUONG CAI QUAN:
now I am going on to hear con duong cai quan. the next piece IN THE PLAY LIST. the solo female is weak. FAR too weak. "dong dang co pho ky lua" "nuoc non ngan dam ra di" all requires more expression. reo rat ni non. Virtuoso, virtuoso. Even when it's nhe nhu lieu nhu gio thoang nhu mua bay, it has to be full of that internal energy underneath the voice. distinguished legato please. AND, less "h," please. I have lost my voice so I am now full of "h" in my high notes. but you, soloist for this kind of choir, you have to give me resonance and a solid, steady stream in your high notes. (Toward the later part, there's one voice with a couple of lines that impresses me more.)
and then that gorgeous line coming in: toi di tu ai nam quan qua vai ngan nam le. the rhythm, the rise and fall of pitches, the appoggiaturas that is: I would even play with staccato on this phrase!
The male tenor is ALSO far TOO WEAK FOR THE VIRTUOSO LINEs, or this piece!
and when the whole choir comes in: not dramatic enough.
oh my...I don't like what I hear for the beginning or most part of con duong cai quan. same problem: the same train going without the grabbing of your whole being: ru`ng minh, run nhu run than tu thay long nhan, nhu han mac tu noi, do moi la kinh nghiem cua choir o Tay Phuong. Get me there. the solos or the soprano group are too weak. I am using a high professional standard here.
Should be nothing less but the highest standard of America. the more i expect, the more RESPECT I AM GIVING TO YOU MY FELLOW MUSICIANS/choir vocalists AND FELLOW VIETNAMESE. You are representing us in America from our capital home-away-from-home Little Saigon, aren't you? DO BETTER FOR ME because i can't do it, but i have heard and been with the best. Do it for US. AGAINST at least THE BEST OF REGIONAL, UNIVERSITY, AND COMMUNITY CHOIRS OF THIS COUNTRY.
the richness of pitches rise-and-fall the virtuoso of lines must be the standard of delivery for this type of music, this kind of professional setting, bec it is the best of lo`ng dan toc. Make it on par with the best of the world, even if you are amateurs. You've gone this far. YOU ARE AFTER ALL, apparently A TRAINED CHOIR even if each one of you might be an amateur.
(I personally would add one full measure to each ending and make the choir hold legato for each part. give more tension to breaks. so, conductor, decide when to raise your arm/hand gestures for that beginning, recommencement or resumption of sounds.
nhung doan chap chung: be at it! Be "chap chung." Rhythmic without a drum! don't be just...a train! you can do better!
Me, who am I to say? No career musician. don't need to be. just an audience member with high expectation for classical chorus and a lot of respect for you. enough respect to write this long commentary. DNN



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V/D SO SANH PHU NU: cac ban FB than men, co mot so ca nhan so sanh giua cac phu nu VN voi nhau, giua ban be, dong nghiep, cac em cac chi trong gia dinh, tieu gia dinh, dai gia dinh, truong lop, xa hoi, ve nhan sac, tai nang, hoc van, tien bac, chuc phan, dai gia, tieu gia, oi thoi du thu, va muon NN cho y kien.

NN khong thay can tra loi hay phan tich, vi nhung so sanh nay khong can thiet va rat tieu cuc, phu nu khong ai hon ai thua ai. Dieu nay khong du'ng va khong nen lam. Tat ca chung ta khong ai so sanh hon thua, tat ca phu nu doan ket, mổi nguoi la mot kho tang, mot ngoi bau, mot dac diem. Tat ca phu nu, tu gia dinh, truong oc, nghe nghiep, doan ket thanh mot tap the voi nhau, lien doi luon luon, khong co su chia re so sanh phan bi.

Con viec phe binh, do la doc gia khan gia thinh gia noi ve cac co ca si, hoa hau, thoi hu tat xau cua xa hoi ma thoi. Minh co the noi Tham Thuy Hang dep hon...Huong Lan, Huong Lan hat cai luong hay hon...Tham Thuy Hang, etc.etc.etc. nhung do la quan niem ca nhan ve cac phu nu trinh dien ngoai xa hoi...Noi Tuy Hong viet hay hon... Minh Duc Hoai Trinh la mot phe binh van hoc thi pha?i dả~n chu'ng...So sanh trai quit voi trai cam thi cung phai dẫn chứng...Va tot nhat la khong nen so sanh cam quit...

NN co the noi ngay: NN chi? la mot hat ca't dung ben canh tam guong sang ngoi cua bao nhieu phu nu tan tao buon ban ngoai cho. do`i de nuoi nam, muoi, con. Phu nu vao tu ra kham vi ly tuong. Moi loi khen tang cua cac ban ve ca nhan NN la mỏ~i cau nhac nho? cho NN biet so phan kem coi cua minh, ben canh nhung tam guong sang cua trieu trieu phu nu ngoai kia...Gap ho cui dau khong dam noi. Vo danh hay huu danh, nhan sac hay khong nhan sac, tien bac dia vi khong bao gio la tieu chuan....Phu nu lon tuoi lam chi, phu nu nho tuoi lam em. Va neu la phu nu voi luong tam va trai tim, se khong bao gio so sanh giua phu nu voi nhau ca.

NN hy vong cau tra loi nay la du?.