Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music ... - NewMusicBox

NewMusicBox May 2003
7. Spiritual Connections
LINDA HOESCHLER: Libby, I am curious, did you tend to incorporate Eastern elements in
your music or did you stick more to the Western idiom?
LIBBY LARSEN: I stuck to Western notation, and I used only a little glissando here and there,
because I love koto and so I thought I would try to honor the koto by putting tiny glissandos
here and there in the piece. Believe it or not, I used 6/8 as my meter and spent the entire piece
trying to negate the bar line, which is what I often do. If the world were mine as a composer, I
would have no bar lines, ever. If I could write my own, a workable score, it would be a bar
lineless score with a suggestion of a meter, and then I would hand out acetates to the choir to
overlay bar lines as needed, just to learn the piece, but then take them away. But of course, I
grew up singing Gregorian chant.
LINDA HOESCHLER: Moses, any comments when you hear about Libby? You both have very
spiritual roots in your music.
MOSES HOGAN: Very interesting what she has said, and I am glad to know that you might get
a little writer's block every now and then. People often ask, "Mr. Hogan, what is your
motivation?" And I acknowledge a God-given talent, and then I say, "But a deadline is right up
there!" It is interesting. One of the things that you said about the text…We had a little session
yesterday as I of course did have a chance to work with the kids. And so it is important—and I
said to them—to have really a group discussion about the text that you're singing. You know, my
singers sing because we have a commitment to preserve something that is uniquely important. I
feel a sense, a responsibility, to carry on the wonderful mission of the unknown bards who
created the spiritual, whom we are not privy to know their names. And I enjoy a success and
having my name published on various arrangements, but we are not privy to know the names of
the individuals who created the text for "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." And so, the singers whom I
surround myself with also feel the sense of responsibility and a sense of pride to keep their
message of hope alive. With young people it is important, I have found, that in singing a song in a
foreign language, or if you are doing one of these spirituals, to talk about what this text means to
you. We had a little session yesterday, and I said, "I want to hear from you what you feel, what
you have received from the text of this song. What do you feel is the message? There is no wrong
answer or right answer.” Many times, kids look to us to tell them the answer, and then they
respond, "Yes, that's what I feel," but that's not always the case. You have to have an open
session I believe, to find out what the song means to you. And so once that took place I was able
to find out what they actually felt about the text that I had written, and then on many, many,
many views. But once you do that, you open the door to have them deliver this song, and that's
the most important thing because I reminded them, that the singer sings the message. The public
speaker speaks the message. So we have a responsibility—if it is in a foreign language, you've got
to know what it is that you're singing about. I heard a choir sing a composition in a foreign
language and only learned it from the phonetic side. Not a clue about what they were singing
about. So there was no passion; there was no facial expression. Sadly, that's not music. And so,
Composers’ Dialogue #1, 08/06/2002