HOLIDAY CHOREOGRAPHY THOUGHTS Okay, so every year I teach a couple of holiday choreographies.... choreographies to holiday time music taught in one class. There are always problems with this.... I have to find songs that are secular.... preferably upbeat and strong... and with no obvious triggers in them.... wayyyyyyyy harder than you would think offhand. I always have an underground purpose in this... teach how to get variations in repetitions... teach phrasing... teach what is an appropriate number of repeats to music that is familiar enough to not distract from the nuts and bolts of structuring a routine or hearing how to listen to music... but clearly be something they cant just trot out at every recital from then on through the year. So last week I did a choreo to either Andy Williams Happy Holidays or a steel drum version of Deck The Halls (depending on which class it was). Both of them illustrated speed changes in the use of quarter, half, full and double time, and structuring with the musical repetitions. This week I want to work on the skills needed to hear subtle but distinctive variations in Egyptian music and with emotional interpretation, so Im going with slower music. So here I am, two hours away from class and still debating between a few songs on what to use..... it doesnt have to be a formal choreo to do what we are doing, so I have some flexibility. I wanted something I found emotionally powerful or full of dynamics (basically gets louder and softer and stops a lot).... I would love to do Josh Grobans Oh Holy Night ...... that held note.... OMG.... I tear up every time... but OBVIOUSLY THAT one is religious. Too bad as the version is just gorgeous. Casting Crowns I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (2008) would be good (the old standard Calkin 1872 version is just awful and wrecks the Longfellow poem completely) ..... there is a God mention and an angels singing reference but the biggest focus is really PEACE.... but I always start to cry when I hit the lines: And in despair I bowed my head There is no peace on earth I said For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, goodwill to men My third choice is the gorgeous Pentatonix Thats Christmas To Me ...and once again we have Christmas in the title. Acapella 5 part harmony.... ton of stops and dynamics...really beautiful but not as intense. BUT it has all these happy family references and that is a HUGE trigger for MANY people. So Im halfway to just putting all three on a disk and doing a quick exploratory psych interview before we start class. Or we could do some version of Let It Snow...
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:09:36 +0000
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