Kathy and I have just returned from a week in Salt Lake City where I attended the national convention of NATS (the National Association of Teachers of Singing) . . . and when people ask me what was most fun or exciting, the first thing out of my mouth is “watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse.” I’ve gotten some bewildered looks from people for whom watching a choir rehearse would be about as exciting as watching grass grow or water evaporate. But for Kathy and me and for several hundred other people, it was nothing less than a thrill. . . made all the more thrilling because there was no way of knowing if it would be a once- in-a-lifetime thrill. (Even if Kathy and I find our way to Salt Lake City again, who knows if we will be there on a Thursday evening when these open rehearsals occur.)
Actually, the excitement begins with the moment you walk into the room in which the choir rehearses and performs in the summer… although calling it a “room” is laughable. It’s an awe-inspiring space that seats 21,000 people, so you find yourself inspired before you’ve heard so much as a note of music. But then you hear the sound of that choir rolling out in that warm, vibrant acoustic, and it’s hard not to feel like you’ve found your way into a little corner of the celestial spheres.
I was actually afraid that this might be more of a quasi-rehearsal, a rather perfunctory run-through of songs already fully mastered . . . but no, this was a working rehearsal. To be sure, the choir already knew all of the notes- as did the orchestra accompanying them- but there was very real polishing and perfecting going on- and because conductor Mack Wilberg was miked, we could hear at least most of what he was asking of the choir. (By the way, I think he’s as much miked for the sake of the choir as he is for the hundreds of eavesdroppers out in the audience.) They were working on rhythmic pulse, vowel shapes, dynamics – the basic stuff that all choirs work on – and they were also having fun doing it, which was gratifying to see and hear. (There were moments when the members of the choir laughed uproariously. Most of the time, we couldn’t quite catch what the director had said to tickle their collective funny bone, but it was just fun to hear “America’s Choir” so merry.)
The program they were working on was a patriotic program for that following Sunday morning’s live broadcast (and if I understood correctly, it was also being videotaped for later telecast on PBS.) And everything sounded great, including “76 Trombones” from The Music Man. That was by no means a given. I still remember hearing the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus – a magnificent group, in their own right – singing songs from “Oklahoma” with very fussy diction and a rather uptight precision that sounded gorgeous but was entirely “wrong.” The MTC does well with this kind of repertoire. . . maybe not quite sounding like a bunch of common folk from River City, Iowa – but also not sounding like a bunch of people with their doctorate in musicology. They sing it “real.” I also enjoyed their spirited performance of “This Land is My Land” and found myself sort of marveling that this song has really planted itself into our collective cultural hearts. Not too many people know that Woody Guthrie wrote this piece in the mid 1940’s at least in part because of his distaste for Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” which had taken the country by storm. Guthrie thought we needed a patriotic song with a different message and this was the result- and by now no one even thinks about that.
And by the way, “God Bless America” was on this program as well, and I have to say that while I have never been particularly fond of this song, especially the way it so often is sung- the Roy Ringwald arrangement that the choir sang for us was mesmerizing. It sounded so heartfelt – and after soaring to a thrilling climax, it ended very prayerfully. . . in contrast to the blunt insistence of most performances and arrangements. I was in tears at the end- and I honestly don’t ever remember this song touching me like it did in this instance.
But my very favorite thing on the program – and maybe Kathy’s as well – was a work which I eventually learned was titled “Hymn for America” by Stephen Paulus, which was actually composed for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir several years ago. It was the only piece that was a cappella, which allowed us to savor its rich harmonies all the more. And the words were amazing:
We have loved you for your rivers. . .
We have loved you for your shores. . .
Every treasure you have shown us. . .
Every seed that you have sown . . .
I am still getting shivers as I think about this piece and its transcendent beauty, both textually and musically.
The rehearsal began at 8 and director Mack Wilberg did not address the “audience” until right around 9, when the orchestra was excused. As they were packing up and exiting the stage, Mr. Wilberg welcomed everyone there- asked for a show of hands of who had never been there before (that was most of us) – who was from east of the Mississippi (that was maybe a third of the audience) – who was from other countries (a handful, but more than you might think) — – and finally, he said a special word of welcome to the members of NATS and actually asked us to stand and be recognized, which I thought was such a classy move. And with each of these welcomes, the members of the choir applauded, which was nice. They then went on to rehearse another half hour, and Kathy and I were happy to remain to the very end. (Earlier in the day, we stopped by the visitor’s center in downtown Salt Lake City, and we asked about the choir rehearsal, just to make sure that we didn’t have to register for it ahead of time. This cute little guy spent some time making us understand that the choir might not be singing pieces in their entirety… that they might stop in the middle of a piece to work on something… they might repeat pieces…. etc. as though we had no idea of what happens in a choir rehearsal. We just smiled and let him explain it to us.)
I was so taken by what I had seen and heard that I elected to return Sunday morning for the actual live radio broadcast, which was from 930 to 1000. And while there had been maybe 600 people watching the rehearsal, there were probably 6000 or 7000 people in the hall Sunday morning. The program included all we heard at the rehearsal plus an organ solo—- and the biggest difference for us in the audience was that we were asked to refrain from applause or any extraneous noise. Also, two large screens on either side of the stage area gave us essentially the view that television viewers would have, with not only close-ups of the choir but also some lovely video shots of various American locales laid over the music. Above all, there was the wonderful singing of that 360-member choir- all volunteers….. and when the broadcast was all done, our applause for the choir and orchestra had died away, and words of welcome had been spoken, the choir and its director sang for us “God be with you ‘til we meet again.”
Talk about a mountaintop experience. . .
pictured above: Kathy watching Thursday night’s rehearsal. Next to her is Sharon Hanson, head of choral activities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who is a member of NATS and moderated a very interesting discussion on how choir directors and voice teachers can work together more effectively. We crossed paths with her at the Salt Lake City Airport as we were gathering our luggage, and we ended up attending that rehearsal together as well as walking the lovely grounds of Temple Square.