MSC Singers Spring Fling

This Spring we will study and learn a combination of well-known folk arrangements plus a modern song from film. In addition to 8 classes, we will have a required June 9th rehearsal and will perform at MSC’s Annual Meeting and Luncheon on June 11. Please note, this is a group participatory experience--please commit to most or all of the classes before you sign up.We begin each class with vocal warm-up exercises to help train our ears and vocal agility. During half-time, I provide a short talk on the history of a piece we are singing, the background of a composer or even some theoretical or technical aspect of the piece. This term, we will learn four pieces with the theme of “Rivers, Water and Wind“: Down By the Riverside, arr. Mary MacDonald; Carly Simon’s Let the River Run, arr. Craig Johnson; Shenandoah, arr.Jeffry Funk; and Julia Lane’s Run Before the Wind, a new four–part arrangement with flute, arr. S. Gillespie.

Prerequisites: A good ear, a good musical memory, and a past choral singing experience. Reading music is an asset but not a requirement. For those who have previously sung with MSC Sinters, we welcome your return.  Music folders and sheet music will be provided.

Stu Gillespie retired in 2004 as Director of Choral Ensembles and Fine Arts Department Chair at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Connecticut. He began his choral directing career in 1965 as a baritone with the US Army Chorus in Europe. He is a published composer and has written numerous arrangements of well-known folk songs.