News, June 2007
Just when I thought I wouldn’t get any busier, I have. For the 4:30 mass at St. Augustine’s I’m now working with an Oshawa-based choir director of German descent, Uwe Liefländer, who years ago co-founded the Sacred Music Society in Toronto and is now starting a branch of it here in Ottawa (he is moving to Ottawa at the end of July). Along with the Sinfonia Sacra Orchestra, the SMS consists of several choirs, including the 500-voice World Youth Day choir which sang at the World Youth Day celebrations in Toronto in 2002. The SMS concept also includes the Sparrows Choir School, a children’s choral training program in which the students sing at weekly mass, thus gaining performance experience as well as training in basic theory and classical vocal techniques. The idea is to have them eventually graduate into the adult choir. The Ottawa branch of the Sparrows, currently consisting largely of students from St. Augustine’s School and Maryvale Academy, was introduced at St. Augustine’s Parish on April 27 and began singing at the 4:30 mass on May 12. They will wrap up for the summer on June 30 and start up again in September.
Since May 4 I’ve also been working with Herr Liefländer’s senior choir downtown. Because I’m involved with so many other music projects, the time involved in learning new material is at a premium for me, and to speed up the learning process I generally enter the music scores note-for-note into Musicator, the music software I use. This approach is also advantageous for those situations where Herr Liefländer wants me to play in a different key from the original. At first I thought the combined repertoires between this choir and the Sparrows might end up being large enough to create an excessive workload for me in that regard, but as it turns out, there’s some overlap in repertoire between the two choirs. So far it consists mainly of sacred music by Bach, Schubert, and Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart, and Herr Liefländer has mentioned the idea of having us do Händel’s Messiah in August. (Thank God I know where to find MIDI files of that!)
On the band front, Soul Review Board, following a less-than-perfect gig at the Rainbow Bistro on April 20, rebounded with a much stronger performance at the Château Montebello on June 1. The band will begin a series of outdoor patio gigs at the Metropolitain Brasserie on June 8.
Meanwhile, Hotter than Ice is continuing its preparations for a house party gig on June 16, and is once again working with its bassist from the Good Companions gig it did last November.
In the early part of July I will be going on vacation in Toronto, primarily to attend Polaris, a convention formerly called Toronto Trek. It’s a pity I can’t go a couple of weeks early--I’d love to visit Sam the Record Man at Yonge and Dundas one last time before it closes down at the end of June...
Since May 4 I’ve also been working with Herr Liefländer’s senior choir downtown. Because I’m involved with so many other music projects, the time involved in learning new material is at a premium for me, and to speed up the learning process I generally enter the music scores note-for-note into Musicator, the music software I use. This approach is also advantageous for those situations where Herr Liefländer wants me to play in a different key from the original. At first I thought the combined repertoires between this choir and the Sparrows might end up being large enough to create an excessive workload for me in that regard, but as it turns out, there’s some overlap in repertoire between the two choirs. So far it consists mainly of sacred music by Bach, Schubert, and Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart, and Herr Liefländer has mentioned the idea of having us do Händel’s Messiah in August. (Thank God I know where to find MIDI files of that!)
On the band front, Soul Review Board, following a less-than-perfect gig at the Rainbow Bistro on April 20, rebounded with a much stronger performance at the Château Montebello on June 1. The band will begin a series of outdoor patio gigs at the Metropolitain Brasserie on June 8.
Meanwhile, Hotter than Ice is continuing its preparations for a house party gig on June 16, and is once again working with its bassist from the Good Companions gig it did last November.
In the early part of July I will be going on vacation in Toronto, primarily to attend Polaris, a convention formerly called Toronto Trek. It’s a pity I can’t go a couple of weeks early--I’d love to visit Sam the Record Man at Yonge and Dundas one last time before it closes down at the end of June...
posted by Jamie at 8:44 p.m.
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