The Pacer

Issue date: 1/23/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: SAMANTHA LAWLEY/ UTM Choir The UTM Choir performs at the First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C.

The Southeastern Coastal Concert Choir Tour was quite the journey for UTM's University Singers, New Pacer Singers, and Clarinet Choir.

"The purpose of the tour was two-fold: to expose new and beautiful places to the choir and clarinet choir members, and to expose distant audiences who may not know much about UTM to the character, artistry, and enthusiasm of our students. These goals were achieved many times over," says Dr. Mark Simmons, Director of Choral Activities at UTM.

A week before the spring term was to begin, 70 vocal performers and clarinetists returned to Martin to rehearse for a tour that would last eight days and cover approximately 2,000 miles.

Under the direction of Dr. Mark Simmons and Dr. Amy Parks Simmons, the professor of Clarinet and Saxophone at UTM, the choirs performed nine times in seven days including both formal performances and appearances at a regional university and church services.

This musical adventure began in Savannah, Ga. at Armstrong Atlantic State University where UTM's choirs performed for AASU's choral department on the first day of their spring term.

That same day the choirs gave their first formal performance, consisting of 14 selections from the participating ensembles, at Skidaway Island Presbyterian Church of Savannah.

The University Singers began with three American pieces, the first of which was Aaron Copland's Zion's Walls, a piece with a somewhat traditional melody that evoked a sense of comfort and familiarity with the audience. They continued with Ave Maria by David Conte and Alice Parker's arrangement of Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal.
The next piece was certainly an accomplishment for the ensemble, Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, Op 27, lyrics set by the infamous W.H. Auden. This piece featured solosists Erin Horton and Sarah Jenkins, sopranos, alto Kim Kraft, tenor Sean Campbell, and bass Chris Buckner. Britten's Hymn speaks both musically and lyrically of the loss or gradual movement away from a certain childlike innocence. Hirtenchor (Shepard's Chorus) from Rosamunde, a composition of Franz Schubert's, ended this part of the concert.

Dr. Amy Simmons accompanied the choir on clarinet, as did pianist, Delana Easley.
The first set change allowed for the University Singers to leave the stage area and make room for the New Pacer Singers, who opened their portion of the concert with selections from Jenny McLeod's "Childhood". The piece in 10 movements depicts with a certain unique expression the daily experiences and imaginations of a young boy, first waking up to a beautiful morning in Movement I and being sung into a sweet sleep by his mother in Movement X.
The ensemble then followed "Childhood" with "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine", a composition by the young American composer, Eric Whitacre. In this piece, the audience is taken on a musical journey to the time of Leonardo daVinci and the dreams this brilliant mind had of human flight. Soloists featured in this piece were soprano Erin Horton and tenor Matthew Cook.
The small choir then closed their portion with a satirical selection of pieces by Paul Sjolund titled "Love Lost".

The Clarinet Choir was next to present. Consisting of 12 performers and playing on various types of clarinets, the choir opened with a smaller ensemble of six performers playing Henry Davis' arrangement of P.I. Tschaikozsky's Danse Des Mirlitons from The Nutcracker Suite. The excitement from this piece flowed to the next as the entire Clarinet Choir performed P.I Tschaikozsky's The Nutcracker Suite: Trepak arranged by Lloyd Conley. Gypsey Dance from Carmen by Georges Bizet was the spirited and excellently executed conclusion to this portion of the evening's concert.

Finally, The University Singers return to the stage to sing Deep River and Elijah Rock, two spirituals by the late American composer, Moses Hogan. The piece chosen to send a farewell to the audiences was one dear to the hearts of the choir members and director, How Can I Keep from Singing, an arrangement by Ronald Staheli.
The selection opened with a most sentimental solo by soprano and graduating senior, Rosalyn Lake.
As the choir joined with her, each part with an individual melody that somehow made a perfect whole, the audience was stilled in each performance, frozen in the passionate expression from each member of the ensemble.

With each word sung and every breath taken during the last five minutes of the concert, UTM's University Singers were able to express exactly what kind of growth their musical experiences have allowed them to understand. And for a brief moment, the audience was a part of that understanding, too.

With the final cutoff, the simple chord resounded off the walls of the church. The sound stayed in the air as a shadow of the beautiful music that was just brought to life there and filled the sanctuary with a sense of peace.

This concert was performed again in several more locations: The First Baptist Church of Charleston, S.C., the First Methodist Church of Myrtle Beach, Lowman Home of Chapin, S.C., Bethelem Lutherman Church of Irmo, S.C., and Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C.
The tour was extensive, but resulted in introducing an entire region to the artistic growth occurring in West Tennessee.

The choirs were proud to be able to share what they felt was a wonderfully beautiful expression of art in music.

"Time and again audiences commented on the quality of performances and the professionalism of the ensembles. I could not be more proud of the students. They represented the very best characteristics of our university," said Simmons.

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