Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler My Latest Musical Passion

I am REALLY hestitant to post this. I am an old guy, and though my musical tastes cover a lot of ground, the music about which I am most passionate, probably would not be of much interest to the majority of the forum members who are considerably younger than I.

That being said, here is my latest obsession.

Suggestions:

If you can't stand vocal harmony/choral work/barbershop please skip this video. You will be disappointed.

You MUST play this through a sound system with a good bass response (the vocal bass line must be heard). Your laptop speakers are not gonna cut it and you won't "get it."

If you CAN play it through a good sound system, turn it up. There is considerable dynamic variation thoughout the piece (soft then loud) and you don't want to miss the soft parts.

I hope just one of you can be moved by this as much as I am. If so, enduring the "yucks" and "blechs" of those who don't like will be well worth it.

It Only Takes A Moment

Excellent, Jack! Thank you for sharing that.

On my laptop now, unfortunately, but I will replay that clip through my PS3 using my HT set up (I think I can get it to work that way).

Thanks for that audio link Jack. My younger son has a music degree in voice and through that experience I certainly understand the value of this type of performance.

Here's a duet with Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood that is also impressive. It's my father's favorite song which gives it more significance. I'm an entrenched 'metal' guy so for me this video must be exceptional. IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk

Very fine choral singing, Jack. I also enjoyed their performance of the beautiful Bogoroditse Djevo here from Rachmaninoff's Vespers. Reminded me of singing with our much smaller(four women, two men)choir.

I bought Westminster's It Only Takes a Moment CD . It contains Bogoroditse Djevo, and I was quite impressed with it.

I was so impressed by the vocal arrangement on It only takes a moment, that I tracked down the arranger (David Wright). I sent him a brief email telling him how much I enjoyed his creation. Unexpectedly, he sent back a very nice reply. A gracious thing for him to do.

Very nicely done. I particularly like Gill's tastful, simple, quite beautiful guitar solo. Thanks.

I loved it Jack!

The only problem with it is the significant amount of background noise on the recording. But that's not the chorus's fault.

Stunning.

My only quibble is that I've never seen the body language of barbershop used on such a large scale, and as such, it took me a bit off guard.

But the musicality was incredible.

I miss singing.

Join the choir, Ken. Although I used to play(clarinet)in school bands and orchestras, now singing in our choir is something that allows me an active musical life.

I'm with you on that. This is one of the cases where I think I would enjoy it more without the visual element.

I can understand folks being a bit dismayed by the level of performance involved in this video. However, I DO believe that if you perform the music, the performance shows up in the music. It's kinda like the difference between reading Shakespeare aloud, and acting it with the emotions the character would reasonably show.

I feel a significant portion of the beauty Westminster achieved musically was due to their performance. Their passion came through in the music. They looked like they were really enjoying themselves. I think they were.

The performance may have been (probably was) choreographed, but that doesn't mean the resulting emotion was/is phony. In fact, having experienced this myself, I'm pretty certain it was/is genuine. For me, it works.

Now, if you REALLY want to see over-the-top performance, just for fun, and to make Westminster look like wooden sticks, which hopefully will enable you to look more benevolently on their level of performance, check out this one. It may not be easy to do, but stay with it at least 3:15. You ain't gonna believe it and it should give you a chortle.

Though I am still a musician to the depth of my soul, I am rarely bothered by the fact that I can no longer make music. BUT, every now and then, I'll come across of piece of music which will make me ache with longing because I am unable to sing now. So it is with It Only Takes a Moment by the Westminster Chorus.

The song is from Hello Dolly, by the way.

Guys, may I say that I am so delighted to find some of you found some value in the music. Wonderfully rewarding.

Hey, just don't treat my opinion like it matters. That's all I ask. I know I'm being really shallow. Ha ha. Like everyone else, I'll acknowledge that the singing is very impressive.

Charles, although I wasn't intending to comment on the point, your reaction certainly is understandable; the facial and other bodily actions were somewhat distracting. I also don't care for this sort of thing in classical musicians and conductors.

They really are an excellent choir, but this is heard even more clearly in the Bogoroditse Djevo performance I linked if you listened to it. Working with even more demanding material, but illustrated only with nativity scenes, their quality shown even brighter.

John, I missed your link yesterday. Breathtaking.

Great stuff. Keep it coming.

My musical interests have expanded a lot since purchasing good speakers. It's been fun.

Big ditto.

Okay then, if you'd like to hear some astounding bass singing, try this .

That man makes me sound like a countertenor.

You sing choir John?
I can't picture it, but then again, i don't have a picture of you to picture singing.

Yeah, Chess; take my last link up about an octave and that'd be fairly typical. We just had practice a few hours ago with a visiting priest from Brampton who filled us in on the special liturgy that'll be celebrated for our 100th anniversary.

John you've been married for 100 years?
I learn more about you everyday.

I knew it.
JohnK is a vampire!!!!

It certainly explains his detailed knowledge of classical music from all periods.

And why he never has an avatar, as he cannot be photgraphed.