Laurel Massé

Gravity, gravity, all is gravity

FIrst, I was given Hal Weiner's beautiful photo (see my 11/5 post). Then, this morning, I discovered a blog called Real Live Preacher. Gordon Atkinson (the preacher of the title) has written a lovely piece about gravity that I have been thinking about since I read it. You will, too.

Sweet silence, and Bach

As I am packing my suitcase for a trip to Annapolis and Baltimore, I have found an acorn tucked into a corner of the bag. It was a keepsake from last weekend's inspiring retreat at The Monastery of the Holy Cross, an Anglican Benedictine monastery on the west bluff of the Hudson River just south of Kingston, NY. We spent the weekend alternating between silence and Bach's Jesu, meine Freude, and sinking into the rhythm of fixed-hour prayer that pulses through the brothers' days. It was a privilege to be there, and a great gift.

Our retreat was led by my congregation's vicar, Canon Pastor Victoria Sirota, who is also a musician with an international career as an organist. I will be thinking deeply about the retreat for a long while to come, and intend to follow Rev. Sirota's suggestion to use Bach as a spiritual director as I start to polish several more movements from his suites for unaccompanied cello.

Here is a photo, taken at the retreat by Hal Weiner. An icon of surrender: leaf accepting gravity.

Photo (c) Hal Weiner, www.halweiner.photoworkshop.com

All Saints and Souls

In the fall, when the leaves in the northeast turn yellow and red, and are tossed by the wind and rain to the ground, I miss my dogs more acutely. They loved the leaves swirling and the bite in the air. They glowed in the autumn light. They lifted my heart even as the days grew short and the darkness long. 

So, in their honor and memory, and for every one of you who has been loved by a dog, here is Wendy Francisco's perfect dog song.

Sonya 10/31/1978 - 3/8/1990.   

Shekinah  5/1/1991 - 9/15/2004.   

Shadow  4/28/1993 - 8/9/2006.

Masters, all, of the art of being fully alive. "Amen, bow wow".

Going south

Hello all!

I am going to be singing in Annapolis, Maryland at 49 West Café this coming Friday, November 6th, with guitarist Tom Mitchell. Also on the bandstand will be Robert Redd and Tommy Cecil. The shows are at 8 and 10 PM, cover charge is $20.

49 West Café is located in downtown Annapolis on 49 West St. For more information and to make reservations, call 410.626.9796, or go to the website.

I am looking forward to this very much. Tom is one of my favorite musicians on this or any other planet. He's one of my fellow staff members at Ashokan Western and Swing Week, and swings hard and sweet. 

I'll be hoping to see you there!

Since we last met...

I don't know where to start. Since I last typed here, I have taught and sung at Ashokan, been let go from the Cathedral choir because there will now be only male altos (a.k.a. countertenors), taught and sung at Yale, seen Julie and Julia, read Tim Keller's The Prodigal God, lost my voice, prayed a lot, regained my voice, sung with Janis and Lauren in JaLaLa's debut performance, seen and loved It Might Get Loud, looked at my finances, did some math, and started looking for a cheaper apartment. Then I found an apartment, packed, moved, and unpacked. Then I had to recover from from all that, and though I am not quite rested, I am becoming cheery again. I was in Ithaca last weekend, singing for the elementary students at the Enfield School. They are lucky, and blessed, to have a wonderful, inspiring music teacher, Karla Notarianni. I wish every child in this country had a teacher like Karla, and to know why, read her blog.

On Saturday, October 24th, I will be teaching a workshop with Wendy Lane Bailey and Tex Arnold in Edison, NJ, and am singing in Annapolis with guitarist Tom Mitchell in early November. More details to come... but in the meantime, here are some steps toward a more musical life...

JaLaLa takes Manhattan...

 JOIN JaLaLa AT OUR FIRST-EVER PERFORMANCE AND CD SIGNING TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF That Old Mercer Magic on DARE RECORDS

WHEN: AUGUST 18TH, 2009 @ 7PM
WHERE: BORDERS @ COLUMBUS CIRCLE (TIME WARNER CENTER)
WHO: JaLaLa is Janis Siegel, Laurel Massé, and Lauren Kinhan
HOW MUCH: Free!

John Herndon Mercer, aka Johnny Mercer, was more than just a lyricist of popular song; he was a true American poet and That Old Mercer Magic is an amazing new project from three equally amazing ladies who have come together to form the vocal trio JaLaLa: Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, Laurel Massé, who was a founding member of The Manhattan Transfer, and Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices fame. The group will be accompanied by the stellar rhythm section from the CD, Yaron Gershovsky on piano, Dave FInck on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums. Meet JaLaLa after their performance to have your copy of their new CD signed.

ALSO- catch us on WBGO SUNDAY AUG 16th at NOON
being interviewed by the inimitable MICHAEL BOURNE

Tabs o' Dawn

Here are this morning's open tabs:

PBS Great Performances: King Lear with Ian McKellan
Sound Business: a fantastic blog about how sound affects us
Union Theological Seminary iTunes University

There was a logical thought progression in play, "believe it or don't" (as drummer and friend Charles McFarlan used to say). Do you see it?

JaLaLa sings!

Here we go!

JaLaLa is having her first in-public performance (and cd signing!) in New York City. Come join us to celebrate the release of our first recording, That Old Mercer Magic when we sing at Borders at 10 Columbus Circle at 7 PM on Tuesday, August 18th. For information, call Borders at 212.823.9775.

Bloggie goes a walking... to visit ChoralNet

I just discovered that my blog post of June 12, Why SIng? was picked up on ChoralNet. I was quite surprised, and also rather flattered that something I wrote "went choral" (next best thing to going viral).

I checked out the site, which seems a marvelous resource for choral singers of all kinds. There, I also discovered that Hal Leonard Music has purchased Shawnee Press. This pleases me. I am forever talking to students about pronouncing the words so that the listener can understand what the lyrics are about. Now, just maybe, it will be possible to get that helpful little Shawnee Press pamphlet, Tone Syllables, that outlines the techniques I first learned at my grandfather's knee - he was for many the lead baritone with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians - and then had reinforced at Fred Waring's Youth Choral Workshop in 1966 (when I was extremely youthful!). I have never once sung onstage without using what I learned that summer, and I am completely mystified as to why every chorus and choir doesn't use this same concept. If a song has words, there is no reason whatsoever for the words to be unintelligible. I don't mean that lyrics in German should be understandable by non-German speaking listeners, but they certainly should be making sense to Germans! I am especially shocked to hear opera sung in English that is so mangled as to have to be supertitled. For cryin' out loud, folks! I realize there are technical difficulties in producing that incredible volume of sound, and several classical singers (and teachers of same) tell me that it is impossible to clearly enunciate. I might have believed them... had I never heard Rufus Muller.

I was privileged to get a ticket to his recent performance in Jonathan Miller's production of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Rufus sang the tenor role ot The Evangelist (the central role) with exquisite control of his voice; able to caress, grieve, whisper, thunder, and inflect with a razor's edge of irony when called for. It was thrilling and gorgeous singing - and I understood every word.

Which proves it can be done, and there, for the moment, I rest my case. Let's have a run on Shawnee Press's Tone Syllables, and change the singing world!

Face to face

All right now, gang. Today I am hoping we are going to talk about Facebook.

I am very conflicted about the site. There are things about it that I really like. Finding old friends is at the top of the list, as I have moved many times in my life, and never knew what some of my junior high and high school friends grew up to be. Or where they are. Through Facebook, I have reconnected with several folks I have not seen since 1965 in Paris. Or 1968 in Andover. I also have made the cyber acquaintance of some very lovely people, some long-time fans whose support means a great deal to me. And I certainly know what a lot of people are doing at any given moment.

But...

I am not a fan of applications, of green plants in computer art form, of digital ponies. Of being hounded by people who invite me over and over to join something I don't want to join. Of seeing how many of my friends are Facebook-obsessed. Of finding so many emails from friends (who already had my email address) coming to me now through Facebook. And most importantly, I am not comfortable with Facebook's ownership of what is posted to its site, which is why I am no longer feeding my blog directly to my Facebook page, at least for the moment.

Those of you who are performing artists: have you seen an increase in your audience, your bookings and your income because of your Facebook page? Is there enough gain to offset the world domination aspect? Am I just being too 20th century, or is Facebook really devouring everything?