The first question of what to do next came up over the "Credo" movement of the "Mass for Five Voices Kyrie Eleison" by William Byrd (c.1540-1623). Someone said it was too long that early in the evening. Someone said, "We never do the Credos." Two hours later, we had sung not only this Credo, but also a second one.
Welcome to Summer Sing, a program hosted by Musica Spei, Rochester's a cappella group specializing in sacred Renaissance music. Started in the summer of 1995, when Steve Marcus and Tom Grande hatched the notion of getting people together to sing Renaissance music, the group went on to perform full seasons of concerts and to record two CDs. Musica Spei is now in its 17th year.
The idea of Summer Sing is quite simple. Anyone is welcome to show up at St. Anne's Church on Mt. Hope Avenue, pull up a chair, and join in the four-, five-, and six-part choral works dating from roughly the 14th through 17th centuries. You can attend one or all six Wednesday evenings. There is no homework or memorization, and there is no public performance.
"Summer Sings is really an experiment in making as much music as you can on the spur of the moment," says Eric Lobenstine, a member of Musica Spei.
At the first Summer Sing on July 6, there were five members of Musica Spei, two former members of Musica Spei, and about 15 others. The July 13 edition had 16 participants, four of whom were current members, two of whom were former members, and five of whom were first-timers. "Last summer, we were up to 30 or 35 people at one point," says Lobenstine. During its regular season, Musica Spei is designed as a group of 16 performers.
Every Wednesday, one person is the designated leader. "We pass out music. We have a designated arm waver who tries to keep us together. We're all sight reading. We're often buried in our music. And, sometimes, things pull apart," says Lobenstine. "We sing basically without much discussion, and without much pause until people give up."
Jim Blake acted as leader for the July 13 edition. A former college choir director, Blake had the ability to sight-sing the score in his left hand while conducting with his right. He also had the ability to jump in when the group was not quite together, or just starting to slide off pitch by a half tone or so, including one instance where it appeared the entire group had simply slid itself into another key signature altogether.
The music for any given evening is "pretty random," says Lobenstine. "We bring up an entire file box of music - some of it will be easier, some of it will be harder."
Indeed, selections for the July 13 meeting ranged from the Byrd piece to a piece by Gasparo Alberti (c. 1489-1560), a five-part "Missa: Sacredos et Pontifex" by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594), a motet by Antoine Brumel (c. 1460-1512) "Beata Es, Maria, Virgo," a Jean Mouton selection "Celeste beneficium," and then a short Byrd piece, "O Magnum Mysterium." The final Byrd piece, resolving itself on a major chord, was declared "a good place to stop," by Musica Spei member Mary Cowden, and on that note, the group did.
Although the group was more-or-less ad hoc, the "Amens" and the "Jesu Christis" were glorious, enhanced by the acoustics of St. Anne's Church.
I was seated in between Musica Spei members Mary Cowden, soprano, and Jeffrey Tabor, tenor, both of whom have perfect pitch and have been sight-singing for years. My sight-singing was rusty, but trusty. And the often square-shaped notes and other historic notations in the scores didn't throw me, but the meter managed to grab me several times.
Cowden was positively diplomatic when I offered my humble apologies for my early entrances and various abbreviated holds. "It's the rhythms," says Cowden. "The rhythms are the hardest part to get. You'll be going along at one tempo and the composer will just stick in this group of notes and some extra beats."
Lobenstine identified only two things as potential prerequisites to participating in Summer Sings: being able to sight-sing or being a "really good follower" and having "a somewhat lighter and somewhat more flexible voice."
Musica Spei is not the only group in Rochester to offer an open singing program this summer. The Eastman School of Music offers four Tuesday-evening sessions in Kilbourn Hall, led by conductor William Weinert. The Eastman Summer Sing has an accompanist and soloists, and occasionally collaborates with the RIT Summer Orchestra. The music is scored for a larger chorus and is more of the classical genre.
Two of the tenors at the July 13 Musica Spei Summer Sing had been at the Eastman School Summer Sing the night before. I, too, had been at Kilbourn Hall on July 12 to hear what would happen as voices randomly came together for the choral sections of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Movement V, Der Grosse Appell - "The Great Call") and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Movement IV, "Ode to Joy").
The line to get in to the auditorium stretched through the foyer and out the door by 7:15 p.m., and the last person entered about a half-hour later. High-fives and hugs were exchanged, and some people greeted each other for the first time since last summer's sing. By my estimate, there were approximately 200 voices, and from the first note this ad-hoc chorus was up and running, punctuated by Weinert's directions, including that the sopranos stick to their line and not wander into the soloists notes.
I had spoken to Weinert earlier that afternoon, and he mentioned how much he enjoys the range of singers who show up, from community-chorus members to ESM students to high-school students part of the Music Horizons camp (through Eastman Community School of Music), to a couple from Buffalo who drive in for the event, to people who have moved away and are back visiting during the summer.
Lobenstine considers Rochester "a remarkable town for choral music," he says. He references the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium, which has approximately 25 member groups, ranging from children's groups, like the Bach Children's Choir, to more advanced groups with several hundred members, like the Rochester Oratorio Society.
A truly wonderful experience that Lobenstine and Weinert believe may only be offered in a few other cities around the country, these Summer Sings offer an opportunity to immerse yourself in Rochester's classical music scene in a manner that goes far beyond sitting in the audience.
St. Anne's Church, 1600 Mt. Hope Ave.
Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St.
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