Choral Music

I don't think I've mentioned exactly what this study abroad is.  We are studying British choral music, past and present. This program was open only to those currently in a BYU audition choir.  We started classes yesterday, which usually go from 10am to 1:30pm.  Then we have the rest of the day free! So yesterday in class, we discussed the Eucharist service we attended. We talked about the music we heard at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, including Handel's anthems (music that was played during the king's coronation and anointing).  We spent a half hour analyzing Elgar's "Ave Verum Corpus," like tonic and dominant keys, cadences, expansions, and other delicious components of music pieces.  Today we delved deeper into High Renaissance music with tonality versus modality, and we compared and contrasted Palestrina's and Byrd's masses.  I love classes here.  Today we began practicing music, we are going to Oxford for three days to sing with the colleges there. We are divided into mini quartets. I was with the Corpus Christi college, but now I'm with Wadham.  I am pretty stoked.

Tonight we went to Cadogan Hall and got to hear the Tallis Scholars.

What a treat!  They were mindblowing.  It's amazing how 10 voices can resonate so loudly to fill the entire concert hall.  The only thing was that they sang all the same type of music, so although it was beautiful it got a little old after 20 minutes. I hope I don't sound high brow.  I suppose I am not very musically sophisticated, because I honestly cannot detect the differences between Palestrina, Gabrieli, and Phinot. The tonality is so perfect, that it's pleasing to the ear and easy to tune out and drift off after a long day.  Renaissance music doesn't stretch your ears as much.