New Choir Institute Prepared For St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Summer Conference Paved The Way:
New Choir Institute Prepared For St. Luke's Episcopal Church
YPSILANTI—A Choir Institute set up specifically for members of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church choir will hold its first of five sessions from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Monday at the parish house.
Similar to the sixth annual Episcopal Music Conference held at the University of Minnesota in July attended by Mrs. Ivy Reed, choir director and organist at St. Luke’s, the plan has been pared down to meet the needs of the middle-size parish.
Millard Cates, newly appointed to the University of Michigan School of Music faculty, will teach the fundamentals of correct singing and give the necessary training for preparation for advance study.
Cates received his B.A. degree at Hastings, Neb., his M.A. at Columbia University, and has spent the past two years at the University of Michigan in intensive voice study with Prof. Harold A. Haugh. A tenor, Cates has taken a number of leading roles in opera and during the summer was called upon to fill an emergency for the on-campus production of Rigoletto in the role of the duke.
Institute training will accent the use of diaphragm, posture, breathing, and muscles; description of larynx and general functions of resonators for smooth entry into free spontaneous action blending the voice and mind.
“This sort of training,” Mrs. Reed points out, “is about the only way in which a mid-size parish choir may be improved since there are so few trained vocalists to recruit in this area.”
The institute is open to anyone with a speaking voice who is genuinely interested in taking part in St. Luke’s choir, Mrs. Reed says.
Each of the five institute meetings is divided into two sections: vocal problems under Prof. Cates’ instruction; and choral problems with Mrs. Reed as director. Each meeting will end with a coffee and questions period. Other staff members are the Rev. Sidney S. Rood, Miss Worley, choir manager, and Jerry Hakes, former choir director and organist.
The schedule is as follows:
Sept. 28—The singing instrument and its function; Independent part singing: aids and exercises.
Oct. 5—Speak your way into song; Good choral tone: its ingredients.
Oct. 12—Freedom and spontaneity in voice production; Response to direction: concentration plus experience.
Oct. 19—What to remember and what to forget; The choral phrase: its anatomy.
Oct. 26—Why we sing; Why we have a choir.
INSTITUTE PLANNERS: Mrs. Ivy Reed, organist and choir director of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, is shown here with Millard Cates, a new member of the University School of Music, as they discuss plans for a choir institute at the church.