PASS CHORALE CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION 2009

The Pass Chorale is a community chorus serving the San Gorgonio Pass area. Their annual Celebration of Christmas concert is scheduled for Sunday, December 13, 2009, 2:30pm at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 1320 W. Williams St. in Banning.

The concert features the Magnificat by Johann Sebastian Bach, with Christmas interpolations. This is a festive work for soloists, 5 part chorus, and orchestra. It is based on the biblical text, Mary’s song of praise. The Magnificat follows the biblical text in Latin. The interpolations, in German and Latin, were added by Bach especially for Christmas performances.

Soloists are Patricia Cordova , soprano (winner of the 2009 Pass Has Talent competition), Veronica Angel, soprano, Danielle Perrault, alto, Jonathan Arana, tenor, and Ulises Espinoza, Bass. Soloists Angel, Perrault, Arana and Espinoza are all students in the choral and voice program at California State University, San Bernardino. We are pleased to have them join us for this performance. Soloist Cordova is a regular member of the Pass Chorale. The soloists, chorus, and orchestra are directed by Ernest Siva.

The second part of the program is a sampling of Christmas anthems featuring the Chorale, accompanist, Joan Frost, and the orchestra. The concert ends with the traditional carol sing-along featuring the audience, the chorale and the orchestra. It is guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit!

Suggested donation is $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. All donations to the Pass Chorale are tax deductible.

Pass Chorale Director, Ernest Siva, grew up in Banning and has directed the Chorale for 14 years. He has Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music Education and Chorale Music from USC. He taught music in the public schools and American Indian Music ant UCLA. He is founder and President of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center in Banning, a cultural center aimed at saving and sharing the music, languages, traditional arts and cultures of southern California Indian communities.

Fifteenth and Sixteenth Rehearsals

We've spent most of our time in these rehearsals on "woodshedding," as the music folks call it. That means making sure we are all secure on our parts. Ernest particularly likes isolating two parts and having them sing together, e.g., second sopranos and tenors, altos and basses, first sopranos and altos. This way we see how the music fits together. We also get an appreciation for all the parts. Often in these sessions we practice singing each other's parts. This also gives us greater appreciation for the entire work. At the end we put all 5 parts together.

We were having particular trouble with the last movement where we all sing something different, only joining in the last few measures. It is a matter of careful counting and knowing your part cold! At the end of the rehearsal, we did it correctly. Now let's hope we can do it again, at our next rehearsal.

Ernest has been busy lining up instrumentalists and soloists. There will be some students joining us from the Cal State San Bernardino choral program.

December 13 will be here before we know it. It is getting to be crunch time as we prepare for the wonderful Christmas program.

Fourteenth Rehearsal

I didn't blog about our 13th rehearsal because it was like a step backwards. We were missing several members, so we limped through most of the Bach. But our 14th rehearsal was wonderful. We began with the announcement that Soprano Pat Cordova won the Pass Has Talent contest. We were all very excited. Pat wasn't there so we'll have more details next week. We know there were many contestants, the contest has gone on for several weeks. Our member Pat won the Grand Prize. Congratulations, Pat! We are proud of you.

We started with our anthems, and they are beginning to really sound nice. We're still having a bit of trouble with the Jester Hairston, Mary's Boy Child. The syncopation and going back and forth for multiple verses is still confusing. We're improving though.

We also got all the way through the Bach. We're doing much better on the Christmas interpolations. All in all, a great rehearsal. We love this music!

Twelfth Rehearsal

We accomplished another milestone at our 12th rehearsal. We sang through our entire program for the first time! We are learning this music. Now, more and more, we'll be focusing on the finer points - dynamics, tempi, pronounciation, tone. There is still lots of work ahead, but we all felt good when the rehearsal ended!

Eleventh Rehearsal

We returned to action after a week off. We started with our Christmas anthems. The first was the Norwegian carol, "I am so glad." We worked on some of the trickier sections, and alto Robin gave us the name of a woman who knows Norwegian. We may be able to sing in Norwegian yet! The carol, Still, Still, Still is beginning to sound very nice. It is a gorgeous arrangement and a flute will accompany the choir (as well as keyboard).

We worked on the rhythms of the calypso, Mary's Boy Child, arranged by Jester Hairston. I remember hearing this carol every year when we were students at USC. The annual Christmas concert always featured two carols, sung by the Chamber Singers, directed by Charles Hirt. One was Mary's Boy Child. The solo part was highly prized, and I remeber Ernest's roommate, tenor John Fleming, did it more than once. The other was a soprano solo with choir, "Who will buy my sweet blooming lavender?" There was high competition for that solo too. I don't know of an arrangement for the Lavender carol, maybe it was Charles Hirt's own. Those two carols meant it was really Christmas again.

We then started the Magnificat at the beginning and got about half way through before the rehearsal ended. We'll start at that point next week!

Tenth Rehearsal

Accompanist Joan was back with us and we focused on the Interpolations in the Magnificat. We made great progress on both the text and the notes. We then went back to the beginning. It felt good to hear the piece gradually coming together. It is so wonderful when you feel like you’re actually making music. There were some moments like that as we practiced the SSA trio, Sucepit Israel (He has helped his servant, Israel).

Tenor Charlie was back with us and reported that his slow-growing tumor will be monitored only, at this time. Evidently the risks of surgery are great and could affect the good ear too. At least we know he’s going to the best possible place for treatment. He said it feels strange to sing, but he’s game to do it. We are thankful.

We spent the last part of the rehearsal on a Norwegian carol, I am so Glad. We hope to sing the first verse in Norwegian, but we haven't attempted it yet.

We won't have rehearsal next week. Director Ernest is having a colonoscopy the next day. Believe me, he would rather be singing!

Ninth Rehearsal

Our ninth rehearsal seemed like our second or third as we started. Accompanist Joan couldn't be there so we had a wonderful substitute, Jolene. We started where we left off last rehearsal, with the last two movements. We worked hard on them last time and felt good when the rehearsal ended. This time, we were back at square one, as if it was all new again (difficult music is like that). We worked though it again, and we all broke into applause when we finally nailed it! Now, we'll see how we do next week...

We again worked on the German interpolations, we needed more work on those too.

Soprano Cherry passed around photos of her daughters (8 mos and 3). They were a smash hit. Ernest invited everyone to a showing of "Sing Birds," a Sean Owens film about the efforts of Cahuilla people to keep this music alive.

Tenor Charlie wasn't there, and we found out that he has a tumor (benign) in his left ear. He is on his way to the House Institute this week. That's the best place he could go. I've heard about them ever since I was a student at USC. I don't think there's a better place to treat him. We'll all be praying for him and cheering him on.

Singing in a chorus is about more than music, its about teamwork with fellow singers, almost like a team sport. We all have our distinct voices, but when they come together and actually make music (the director is rather like a coach), it feels like scoring a touchdown (football season soon)! We also come to care about our "teammates."