Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A cappella update
First a non-acappella update: the end of the semester has arrived! I wrote my final exam last week, students are taking it this week, and since it's computer graded I'm able to catch up on other things at work. I was sick most of last week, and Pauline and the girls are sick this week.
Now, for the a cappella update. Lots of things going on:
1. The Utah Baroque Ensemble did a Christmas concert in the Orem Public Library. About half the songs were us singing a cappella or with piano, about half the songs were sing-along carols. We had about 500 people in attendance. It was pretty fun. I haven't yet posted any recordings from it to my choral recordings website, but I might at some point.
2. I continue to write reviews for RARB. You can see my list of published reviews here:
http://www.rarb.org/people/john-colton.html.
Looks like there are 13 reviews listed, and probably another 4 or 5 that I've written that haven't shown up yet. Some of the albums have been terrific, and would make excellent Christmas gifts for people you know:
Outspoken: O2, Sing Responsibly for one of my favorite a cappella albums of all time, a male collegiate album with lots of '80s songs.
Sympathetic Vibrations: Aftershock, a harder rock college a cappella album.
Eclipse: Grateful Praise, a religious album with modern a cappella arrangements of a number of hymns.
Chicago A Cappella: Christmas A Cappella, Songs from around the world, an excellent more classical-style album with a very eclectic collection of Christmas songs. (Review not yet published, but hopefully will be soon.)
One of the albums in particular, whose review does not yet show up was, "less than terrific", shall we say? It was literally painful to listen to. I had to give my first "1 out of 5". So, there is indeed a price to pay for all of these free albums that I get sent to review.
3. One of the guys who posts to the RARB forums was selling used a cappella CDs for a pretty good price... I ended up buying 19 CDs as a Christmas present to myself. I think at least half of the ones I got were by the Swingle Singers. Pauline continues to tolerate my obsession.
4. I took Leslie, Emily, and our friend Brigham Geurts went to the Vocal Point concert a couple of weeks ago. (Pauline was out of town, helping her mom/dad in Boise.) Their new album Nonstop would also make an excellent gift--I would have given a 5 if I were reviewing it. Emily, as usual, got singled out and got to ask/answer questions with one of the singers during the show. The sad part of the concert was when I realized that all the reviewing I've done with RARB has made me a bit jaded, and I was listening for flaws (and finding them) rather than just enjoying the concert.
4. I took Leslie and Emily to the BYU "A cappella jam" last week, a show put on by many (about 8) of the BYU a cappella groups. The most surprising part was the *Leslie* got to go up on stage. She had to act out "a frog slyly doing ironing", for the chance at Rockapella tickets. Sadly, she didn't win.
5. I volunteered/was selected to be a judge for the CARA Awards, annual awards for a cappella songs & albums in a number of categories. I'm actually a "nominator", not a judge (yet)--the nominators listen to all of the submitted albums in certain categories, then flag which tracks/albums are the best. The judges then just listen to the best ones, and make the final decisions. I was asked to evaluate submitted music for these categories:
6. One of the albums I listened to for CARA in the "Best Religious Album" and "Best Humor Album" categories, was Sharing Time, by InsideOut A Cappella. You can listen to clips from the album at the website--click on the "music" tab, then click on the leftmost album. It is amazing! Totally cracked me up--modern a cappella arrangements of LDS primary songs, complete with vocal beatboxing, etc. Listen to "Book of Mormon Stories" to see what I mean. Not all of the songs are done for humorous intent (for example, I nominated "Bolero" for a best classical song CARA award), but a number of them are. The singing on the whole album is top notch; would be an easy "5" if I were reviewing it for RARB. Highly, highly, recommended for any LDS family with a sense of humor and/or a like for a cappella music.
Now, for the a cappella update. Lots of things going on:
1. The Utah Baroque Ensemble did a Christmas concert in the Orem Public Library. About half the songs were us singing a cappella or with piano, about half the songs were sing-along carols. We had about 500 people in attendance. It was pretty fun. I haven't yet posted any recordings from it to my choral recordings website, but I might at some point.
2. I continue to write reviews for RARB. You can see my list of published reviews here:
http://www.rarb.org/people/john-colton.html.
Looks like there are 13 reviews listed, and probably another 4 or 5 that I've written that haven't shown up yet. Some of the albums have been terrific, and would make excellent Christmas gifts for people you know:
Outspoken: O2, Sing Responsibly for one of my favorite a cappella albums of all time, a male collegiate album with lots of '80s songs.
Sympathetic Vibrations: Aftershock, a harder rock college a cappella album.
Eclipse: Grateful Praise, a religious album with modern a cappella arrangements of a number of hymns.
Chicago A Cappella: Christmas A Cappella, Songs from around the world, an excellent more classical-style album with a very eclectic collection of Christmas songs. (Review not yet published, but hopefully will be soon.)
One of the albums in particular, whose review does not yet show up was, "less than terrific", shall we say? It was literally painful to listen to. I had to give my first "1 out of 5". So, there is indeed a price to pay for all of these free albums that I get sent to review.
3. One of the guys who posts to the RARB forums was selling used a cappella CDs for a pretty good price... I ended up buying 19 CDs as a Christmas present to myself. I think at least half of the ones I got were by the Swingle Singers. Pauline continues to tolerate my obsession.
4. I took Leslie, Emily, and our friend Brigham Geurts went to the Vocal Point concert a couple of weeks ago. (Pauline was out of town, helping her mom/dad in Boise.) Their new album Nonstop would also make an excellent gift--I would have given a 5 if I were reviewing it. Emily, as usual, got singled out and got to ask/answer questions with one of the singers during the show. The sad part of the concert was when I realized that all the reviewing I've done with RARB has made me a bit jaded, and I was listening for flaws (and finding them) rather than just enjoying the concert.
4. I took Leslie and Emily to the BYU "A cappella jam" last week, a show put on by many (about 8) of the BYU a cappella groups. The most surprising part was the *Leslie* got to go up on stage. She had to act out "a frog slyly doing ironing", for the chance at Rockapella tickets. Sadly, she didn't win.
5. I volunteered/was selected to be a judge for the CARA Awards, annual awards for a cappella songs & albums in a number of categories. I'm actually a "nominator", not a judge (yet)--the nominators listen to all of the submitted albums in certain categories, then flag which tracks/albums are the best. The judges then just listen to the best ones, and make the final decisions. I was asked to evaluate submitted music for these categories:
Best Classical Song
Best Classical Album
Best Female Collegiate Arrangement
Best Religious Album
Best Humor Song
Best Professional Original Song
Best Religious Song
Best Barbershop Album
Best Female Collegiate Album
Best Holiday Song
Best Female Collegiate Song
Best Female Collegiate Solo
Best Holiday Album
Best Scholastic Original Song
Best Barbershop Song
Best Humor Album
6. One of the albums I listened to for CARA in the "Best Religious Album" and "Best Humor Album" categories, was Sharing Time, by InsideOut A Cappella. You can listen to clips from the album at the website--click on the "music" tab, then click on the leftmost album. It is amazing! Totally cracked me up--modern a cappella arrangements of LDS primary songs, complete with vocal beatboxing, etc. Listen to "Book of Mormon Stories" to see what I mean. Not all of the songs are done for humorous intent (for example, I nominated "Bolero" for a best classical song CARA award), but a number of them are. The singing on the whole album is top notch; would be an easy "5" if I were reviewing it for RARB. Highly, highly, recommended for any LDS family with a sense of humor and/or a like for a cappella music.
# posted by John Colton @ 1:05 PM 
