How Can We Keep From Singing by Joan Oliver Goldsmith

HOW CAN WE KEEP FROM SINGING:
Music and the
Passionate Life

    by Joan Oliver
   Goldsmith
    Pub. by W.W. Norton
    also available through
    Penguin Canada
    Publicity: Elizabeth Garriga
    (212) 790-4295
    egarriga@wwnorton.com

Raise Your Voice!

Topic: How do you play your invisible instrument? Share your story.

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Joan, your stories are SO touching and moving. You are able to speak for that deep part of my soul where music alone resides. It's a part of me that never has had words. When I'm in that space, I'm no longer glib, no longer articulate, no longer the teacher, the explainer. When I'm in that place, I am direct experience.

I also appreciate being reminded to pay more attention to the "thisness" in my life. The scholarly, academic part of me tends to regards most things, including my own personal experiences, as members of a class of things, rather than the one-of-a-kind events they really are.

Thanks for writing this book!

Thomas Wright

Dear Ms. Goldsmith,

I have been meaning to write you for some time. I was one of the lucky people who received a copy of your book at the Chorus America conference. I must say that I enjoyed reading it very much and that it struck home a number of times.

I was particularly touched, however, in reading about Sam Davis in your book. You may or may not know that Sam did quite a few workshops in Canada particularly in the French-speaking community in the 80s. I had heard of
him when he was a guest conductor for Les Choralies internationales in Winnipeg, in '82 I believe. A longtime chorister of mine who was there said you could tell who was in his workshop - their eyes were always red from being so moved all the time. I then met him when he came to do a workshop on spirituals for the Quebec choral federation (Alliance des chorales du Québec) around '84. He was, as you say, a musician extraordinaire (the word we use in French, too). A few years later he was guest conducting for our big annual gathering of choristers here in Quebec, taking place in the town of Thetford Mines in the Eastern townships that year. I had the privilege of translating for him, doing soprano sectionals for him and doing the solo in his "A Miracle for You" at the closing concert. Working with him gave me - and many others - invaluable insight into African American music, and singing that solo was a great musical moment for me. I will never forget it or him. Perhaps people in his home town don't even know how many choristers and conductors he touched here in Quebec.

We had heard rumours of his death here in Montreal but could not confirm it. It wasn't until I read about him in your book that we knew for sure. I was very sad to learn of it, but so happy to read that section of your book that brought back great memories of a very special man.

I just wanted to share that with you. Again, congratulations on your book.

Best regards
Pat Abbott

Patricia Abbott
Executive Director * Directrice générale
Association of Canadian Choral Conductors Canada
L'Association des chefs de choeur canadiens

49, de Tracy
Blainville, QC, J7C 4B7
CanadaTel: (450) 430-5573
e-mail: accc@total.net
Fax: (450) 430-4999
web site: http://www.choralcanada.org

Dear Joan,

Your book was one of the most passionate and "level headed" apologies for singing I have ever read.

I currently conduct a chorus in a community of about 100,000 people that has had some good success in our 15 years of singing. I often have been discouraged by the frustration of those who do not feel "validated" in our ensemble because they are not soloists. Your book does so much to lift up the essential section singer and speaks so clearly to the value of such a singer that I have recommended it to everyone in our chorus.

Your experience as a singer also seems to correlate to a large part of my own experience. Between high school and college I had two feature solos. I have had bit parts in shows, small masses, orchestral works and opera but never anything substantial (the 2nd tenor in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, the page in Amahl & The Night Visitors, the tenor for Schubert's Mass In G, etc.) and occasionally been asked to mark solos in rehearsal until the real soloist came to town. I have even been asked to coach the "real singer" to do the things my head and heart can produce but my voice is unable to carry over a full symphony orchestra.

My musicianship and passion have created some really nice opportunities but the "minor league" size of my gift has kept me out of the mainstream of solo work.

I empathize with those folks in my choir who are the backbones of their sections, the first choice of their churches, and the number one choice of brides all over our community but whom I have deemed not up to "feature
solo ability" at this level. This has been my life as well (though they are rarely impressed when I share this with them). Your book has said many of the things I have tried to express in a way that sounds grand and noble from you but might sound a bit condescending from me.

God has given me a gift that I am both grateful and comfortable with. I have been fed by its use and have feed others by sharing it. Your book says why this is true better than anything I have ever read! Thank you so much for this wonderful apology! I will re-read it and refer back to it for years to come.

Warmest regards,
Jim

James A. Schatzman,
Conductor & Artistic Director
Choral Arts Society, Inc.
Racine, WI

In the past couple of years I've been making some strides in making music a more personal experience ... more expressive. As an instrumentalist originally, my efforts were largely directed at making it sound "pretty", but my guess is there may not have been much passion in it. Since I switched from (first) tenor to lead (melody) singing in barbershop, I've been concentrating more on the value of the words and the images they conjure up, and as recently as last Saturday, people have been commenting on the feeling I'm starting to generate. Your book was an affirmation of those feelings in me, feelings I'm also trying to put in my instrumental work more as well, even though there are no words. I found the descriptions of the processes you use to make music come alive enlightening. The segment about the audition with aria from Carmen was delightful. After all the years of trumpet lessons and some piano (not to mention a couple of years quite a while back on voice) with the exception of barbershop in the last couple years, no one ever spoke to me about making it that personal. Sometimes I feel like I've wasted a lot of time. <sigh> Maybe it's not as bad as all that, really, but the joy and freedom of making better music than I have ever made before is exhilarating.

Steve Hardy shardy440@email.com

Two years ago, we were a new women's vocal ensemble in search of a name; then a friend handed me a copy of "Harmonium and Tessitura" and one week later, we found our identity. Your unique interpretation of tessitura as a metaphor for "that sense of home" inspired us all. You have tapped into what so many contemporary women are looking for. Put simply, balance, and a nod from someone, anyone, allowing us the freedom to feel that we don't always have to be super achievers.

This may seem contradictory on the surface, as musical excellence is our unifying goal. But what I am describing is the feeling created at rehearsals - where there is permission to experiment, to try something new, and even to fail. The atmosphere is encouraging, supportive and highly conducive to the teamwork of choral music making. It is how we want to work together.

The concept of tessitura helped us to articulate who we were and to envision what we wanted to be. And we are making it! Next month, we perform with the National Symphony at Wolf Trap!

Allison Sarnoff Soffer and the members of Tessitura