the standard for choir

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

6 Years Ago
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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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