Sa Yahweh Concert

Come 20September2009, my choir will be presenting a concert "Sa Yahweh" in our home church, the Emmanuel Baptist Church (of Taytay).

We'll be singing English and Pilipino Gospel Songs; and as added wake-upper, we rehearsed some Pilipino folk songs.

If you can find the time to attend, your presence will be dearly appreciated.

See you.

Praise the Lord!

(Click the image to view up close.)

Be An Asset Tip No.3 "Isolate!"

Isolation Exercise: Isolating the Mid-Section

(You should have read Tip No. 2 'Be conscious' for you to really understand this particular post.)

*Ok, this is not an AB Crunch Instruction. The image is just to attract you. :)) Seriously, this is Part 3 of my "Be An Asset Series" for choral singers. :)

Our purpose is to maximize and maintain the breadth of our (human) sounding board (to produce a free and ringing voice very conducive to choral singing) without stiffening in all other areas. For the inexperienced, when you expand your ribcage and attempt to hold it while you continue breathing and singing, you may find it hard to relax on some other areas as the chest, neck, face, scalp, arms, even legs. It may be very evident in the chest and neck, but if you become very sensitive to it, you may be surprised to find that even the scalp and facial muscles can be under undue stress. Facial tic, headache, during or after singing, anyone?

For the process to be all-natural, our body needs to be used to the routine. MHM! Muscles have memory. Yes, they do. So, our best shot is to train them. How? By employing the Muscle Isolation Technique. Upon mastery, the next time you stand up to sing, your body would automatically shift to 'singing mode' meaning every body part will synch to provide you, the singer, with the state of the art sounding board, so to speak.

In the gym or at the exercise corner in your home you learned to isolate certain muscle or body part from the rest of the body to maximize the full benefit of certain exercises. E. g. as you do arm curls with a dumbbell, you learned to keep your upper arm (bicep) glued to your sides, never allowing it to swing in front of your profile. That way your biceps really get worked out to the core. You may find every tiny string of muscle tingling with the stress. You do not let your arms 'cheat' so as to really benefit from the exercise. That's the point. Isolate.

So, let's try it. Stand or sit erect (do not sit back), keep your alignments as if you have a string attached at the center top of your head to the ceiling. Breathe in three large amounts of air without exhaling in between. As your lungs fill up, you may also feel your muscles grow taut and stiff; the chest, neck, upper arm, and facial muscles to mention some. Hopefully you also feel your back ribs while doing this routine. If you reached this point, you are doing fine. Now start to relax all the previously mentioned muscles while maintaining the wide midsection. Keep doing it until what is left un-relaxed is your ribcage and abdominals (I prefer to combine the two and call it midsection). Once you enter this point, REMEMBER the feeling. Relax everything afterwards.

Now, do it again but do so by springing back directly to the REMEMBERED feeling; i.e. a wide and taut midsection minus any contraction anywhere else. Now, 'open the masque' i.e. defy the gravity's pull from your facial muscles. Put a sparkle in your eyes and keep a pleasant countenance. There.

Remember that people will never notice what you just did. So don't worry that you would look like a cadet trainee on attention when you need to do it before singing. What they would see is a person exuding calm and confidence.

Keep that 'hollow' feeling in the midsection, never allowing the ribcage to sag through the entire length of the song; remember what I said about those 3rd and 4th images here. There is always the right way to sing. Keep growing in your singing knowledge. Till next time.

MY PALAWAN WEEK- Arrival (14 January 2009)

What a week! Read about it here. 

Oh Dear Choir!

"Underdevelopments"

The previous year's 4th quarter developments (or whatever you may want to call it) in the choir put me in a reality-check of sorts. I realized that my Adults choir is terribly out of shape after many singers opted  out of the Christmas choral events.

 

Covenant Signing

Prior to this, I merged my Youth and Adults choirs for the Christmas season. I even printed  a poster covenant to let people sign in. Sad part is: a considerable number of trained singers have "resigned" halfway through. Then I realized that I am left with mostly newbies in the singing ministry.

 

Christmas Events

And to cut a sad story short, when a shopping mall invited us to grace their Christmas events, I had to shrug my shoulders and not accept the invite. My consolation is that my Kids Choir was also invited and for the second time around, they sang Carols at this mall.

 

Re-Auditions Coming Up

I have decided to re-audition everybody so that 1: I could examine every new singer and design a plan for them to be equipped with the best training I can give them; and 2: so that I can monitor my regular singers and see where each of them stand. But how do I-pray tell me-reject people who cannot really sing but want to really be a part of this group. I know you have quick witted remarks in your heads, but I say it's easier said than done.

 

Sense of Accountability

I also saw that I need to address the lack of dedication among them. And the growing lack of enthusiasm  in the  ministry they are in. What made me really think was when those who aren't well-trained exhibit the lack of sense of accountability. Well, there are those who behaved well; they kept a set of the Christmas pieces which they bring home to review. Sadly, about 75% were happy-go-lucky types. I failed to notice earlier that they have not heeded my instruction to get their own individual set of copies.

 

The Price Paid

Too late for me when I noticed that they search for copies as we rehearse week after week. It's my fault, I grew very relaxed when it comes to behavior. "Laging nasa huli ang pagsisisi." (Regrets always comes at the end), so goes a famous Filipino saying.

 

Resolution?

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. I'd rather not, for many resolutions do not succeed. But this is my resolve-refurbish this choir.  We'll see what we can do.

 

Cartoon on top courtesy of http://www.reverendfun.com/

 

EBC Christmas Banquet/Concert/Party

The early afternoon was marked by busyness; everyone was doing his/her own thing as all prepare for the evening. Men and women doing the kitchen, kids chorus rehearsing for the early part in the program, and a musical Korean (Koh) family rehearsing in the sanctuary.

We were given the cue to get ready, so I concluded SonBeams (kids)Choir's rehearsal with a prayer, and the Salmo (adults) Chorale grabbed the last few minutes to warm up. After Pee Wee prayed, we headed to the sanctuary.

A few moments later, the program started, with a very special cello and piano duet with Joanna Seungmin Oh and Juvy . A prayer was said by Philip, then, a strings group, composed of Carina, Corinne, and Michael Woojai did a medley of Christmas and some classical piece accompanied by Ms. Joanna Seungmin on the piano. Everyone was gladly surprised to know Corinne has learned to play the violin.

Then the SonBeams sang their repertoire. See the previous post, "EBC SonBeams Sang at SM City" for the song titles.

Pastor Roi delivered the meaningful Christmas message, "Christmas, A Time for Family to Be Together," Luke 2:16. Very timely, for there were several OFW fathers and a mother who flew home to be with their loved ones this yuletide season.

Afterwards, Peter Heeton Koh, Frank Woojin, and Michael Woojai (father and sons) sang "O Holy Night" together, accompanied by Joanna Seungmin Oh, Peter's wife on the grand piano. We were glad they shared that special evening with us; an endearing family. They had some Korean youngsters with them too.

The Salmo Chorale then took the stage and sang the following traditional English and Filipino carols:

Lo! How A Rose E'er Blooming

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Kumukutikutitap! ("Twinkly" is the most that I can to translate)

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)-usually centered on the Christmas Eve Feast

Pasko Na Naman (It's Christmas! [Once Again!])

The night's program segued to the Christmas Party. Janeil and Jael led the people through various parlor games, exchanging gifts, et. al. and then, the Christmas Banquet.

It was a long 'Christmas Day' at the church but was a very happy one indeed. Surely, everyone had a grand and blessed time.

A very Merry Christmas to you, Emmanuel Baptist Church!

Photos courtesy of Che Santillan

EBC SonBeams Sang Carols at SM City

It was almost 7PM and we were running  late for our engagement at the SM City mall which invited my Kids & Adults choirs to sing  Christmas carols. Only the EBC SonBeams (Kids choir) obliged for the Salmo Chorale had other plans. But as we arrived, the technical crew are cramming some last minute changes.

 

The stage was already set but my contact person, Atche, who is also a church mate, advised the backstage team to clear the floor area in front of the stage because my kids would have some choreo in their performances and it looks like the stage for its size cannot be very safe for kids to move themselves around as they do their singing and choreos. So, the floor would do. Anyway, the stage will still be our backdrop. The place was quite abuzz with all the goings-on; after all, we were in a food court.

 

The place has few diners when we entered. But we brought a crowd with us and the place became semi-filled with people.  As I gave instructions to kids, I felt they were so ready and eager to begin. So on my cue, everyone stood on his/her spot. The kids were amazing.

 

The mini concert went smoothly without any technical glitch. 

 

The repertoire consisted of six songs. I planned the order for the mood to slowly pick up as concert progresses. I began with two calm songs to prepare the audience. My niece, Jaira Mae sang the solo part on the second song.  The third number is upbeat and picked up the pace, and here's where the choreo started. The fourth song temporary mellowed the pace, but sign language remained part of the performance. The fifth, is the Carols medley part of the program and we concluded with a very trendy and upbeat song with a very apt title. Here they are.

 

1. The Story of Gloria
2. The Miracle
3. Go, Tell It
4. The Christmas Tree Medley
5. The Christmas Carol Medley
6. Super Duper Christmas

 

The first five titles were selections from "Visions of Christmas" by Jeff Slaughter and the finale was taken from the Christmas Cantata with the same title, Super Duper Christmas.

 

And we did two sets that night. We were just given a 15-minute break for kids to take some rest and a sip of bottled water. Then a pizza treat for the kids courtesy of the mall as they concluded the final set.

 

Come Sunday, we will be presenting it all again in the church. The adults choir, EBC Salmo Chorale will be rendering about five songs as well. It will be a big night; and everything will begin with the Christmas Banquet. Then, we will also be having our church Christmas program after the musical presentations.

 

But of course, the highlight of it all will be the Birthday Celebrator Himself, our Lord Jesus. The world may have its focus on everything else and forget the "birthday 'Boy' " but we should be careful to remember Him for He is the only Celebrator who, instead of receiving presents, gave all that we could ever need. Even the gift of eternal life. Praise the Lord.

 

A Blessed Christmas, everyone!

       (Photos courtesy of Nadine Cruz and Bethel Faye Galvez)