YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

SPELMAN COLLEGE GLEE CLUB Tuesday, March 27, 2018

6TH – 12TH GRADE Compiled and edited by Melanie Darby

Contents ABOUT THE ARTIST ......................................................................................................................... 2

Special Topic: HISTORY OF CHORAL MUSIC ................................................................................ 2

Special Topic: GLEE CLUBS ........................................................................................................ 4

ABOUT THE MUSIC ......................................................................................................................... 5

Program ....................................................................................................................................... 5

CURRICULUM STANDARDS ............................................................................................................ 7

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

ABOUT THE ARTIST The Spelman College Glee Club is the premier performance organization for the College and sings for most campus events. The Spelman College Glee Club has maintained a reputation for choral excellence since 1925. It has had the unique opportunity to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, world- renowned singer Jessye Norman, and as part of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. With each performance, audiences are left in awe. Spelman College Glee Club Highlights Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women’s college located in Atlanta, Georgia. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Spelman College, a historically Black college and a global leader in the education of women of African descent, is dedicated to academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and the intellectual, creative, ethical, and leadership development of its students. Spelman empowers the whole person to engage the many cultures of the world and inspires a commitment to positive social change.

Special Topic: HISTORY OF CHORAL MUSIC

CHORALE: a choir or chorus, a body of singers who perform together as a group. Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four sections intended to sing in four part harmony, but there is no limit to the number of possible parts as long as there is a singer available to sing the part.

Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella (literal translation is ‘as in the chapel’) singing though much unaccompanied music today is secular). Accompanying instruments vary widely, from only one to a full orchestra.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

Mixed choirs (with male and female voices) usually consist of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices (SATB). Male choirs can have the same SATB voicing as mixed choirs, but with boys singing the upper part (often called trebles or boy sopranos) and men singing alto (in falsetto). Female choirs usually consist of soprano and alto voices. Children's choirs or Treble choirs, are

often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices. Choirs as we know them began in church. Originally monks sang Latin religious texts in unison. To vary the monotony, composers (often not credited) wrote faster, more interesting melodies above the original line to create polyphony (literally, ‘many sounds’). The choral sound suited the cathedral acoustics. ‘Women should keep silent in churches’, St Paul is quoted as saying in his Letter to the Corinthians. Having only men’s voices to play with was problematic for composers, who needed singers for the higher parts they were writing. So from the 12th-century, boys (trebles) were trained for the top lines. Men divided into basses (low), tenors (high) and altos (very high) while composers exploited the range with thrilling effect. The Catholic Church forbade women to sing in choirs from A.D. 500 into the 20th Century. It wasn’t until 1958 that Pope Pius XII cautiously sanctioned female choristers. In the 16th century, choirs discovered that music does not have to be complex to be emotional. This affected secular (non-religious) choral music too. Composers of madrigals created music which served the poetry. Even when the text wasn’t up to much, it still ruled the music. If the words said ‘weep’ or ‘hush’ or ‘fall’, so did the music. This was called word-painting. Choirs continued to grow in size. Handel wrote choral works for the English public, who responded by forming choirs, or choral societies, with hundreds of members. Swing and syncopation emerge in choirs through Gospel music, which came from the same African-American spirit that generated Blues and Jazz. Technology has taken choirs beyond the merely human. The legacy lies in a choral industry now that is the healthiest, busiest, broadest and richest in history. It is the uniformity which impresses. Togetherness is essential to those who would sway to one beat and tune to one note.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

Special Topic: GLEE CLUBS A glee club is a musical group or choral group, historically consisting of male voices but may also include female or mixed voices. A glee club traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets.

In the late 19th century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition to have in American high schools from then on. The first named Glee Club was founded in Harrow School, in London, Kingdom of Great Britain, in 1787, where an annual Glee competition is still held.[1] Glee clubs were very popular in the UK from then until the mid-1850s but by then they were gradually being superseded by choral societies. Glee in this context does not refer to the mood

of the music or of its singers, but to a specific form of English part song popular between 1650 and 1900, the glee. But by the mid-20th century, proper glee clubs were no longer common. The term remains in contemporary use, however, for choirs established in North American colleges, universities, and high schools, although most American glee clubs are choruses in the standard sense, and rarely perform glees.1

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_club

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Program

The Spelman College Glee Club’s repertoire consists of sacred and secular choral literature for women’s voices, with a particular focus on traditional spirituals, music by African American composers, music from many cultures and commissioned works. Their program in Spivey Hall may include selections from the list below.

Lift Every Voice and Sing arr. Roland Carter Listen America the Beautiful arr. Kevin Johnson Tota Pulchra Es Maurice Duruflé Listen Laudi Alla Vergine Maria Giuseppe Verdi Listen Sicut Cervus Rosephayne Powell Listen As the Deer Pants Rosephayne Powell Listen

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

Kyrie Kevin Johnson Glory to God Kevin Johnson Listen Sanctus and Benedictus Kevin Johnson Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory Listen Ain’t a That Good News arr. William Dawson Listen Crossin’ Ovah arr. Richard Jackson Listen Wade in the Water arr. Kevin Johnson Listen I Want Jesus to Walk With Me arr. Brooke Joynes Listen My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord arr. Moses Hogan Listen Can't Give Up Now Mary Mary Listen & Lyrics We Shall Overcome/Keep the Faith arr. Kevin Johnson Listen Spelman Hymn Eddye Money Shivery

Listen

A Choice to Change the World Kevin Johnson and Sara Stephens Benibo,

Listen

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2017-2018 STUDY GUIDE

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

Standard Explanation

MMSMA.9 MHSMA.9

Understanding music in relation to history and culture a. Identify and explain a particular music example’s historical and cultural significance. b. Compare and evaluate the roles of musicians throughout history. c. Recognize music’s role in today’s culture. d. Identify sources of American music genres, trace their evolution, and identify musicians associated with them.

Program Focus

MMSMA.6 MHSMA.6

Listening to, analyzing, and describing music a. Identify and describe simple forms of music. b. Use music terminology to describe tempo, dynamics, and texture. c. Analyze the uses of elements of music in representing diverse genres and cultures. d. Explain characteristics that distinguish musical styles

MMSMA.7 MHSMA.7

Evaluating music and music performances a. Identify and examine criteria for evaluating music performances. b. Identify various uses of music in daily experiences. c. Apply specific criteria to evaluate the quality of their own performance. d. Offer constructive suggestions for improvement of classroom performances.

MMSMA.8 MHSMA.9

Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts a. Describe ways in which other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music. b. Identify and describe common terminology used in music and another fine art. c. Discover and research persons who have achieved professional or commercial success in more

than one fine art discipline. d. Explain how the roles of creators, performers, and others involved in the production and presentation of the arts are similar to and different from one another in the various arts.