Advertise on ChoralNet
BetelehemuDate: November 23, 2009 by Ethan Nash  Views: 9388
Greetings Colleagues:
I am performing Betelehemu for the first time and have some general questions.
1) The pronunciation of the letter J. J as in "jam" or as in the German "ja." I note that most recordings on Youtube tend to do "Jesu" as in "ja," while baba odaju has j as in "jam." A website on how to pronunce Yoruba seems to indicate that it is as in "jam."
2) Regarding the tradition of calling out (animal noises, chants of the text, etc.) during the middle section with the soloist, can anyone speak to the significance of this and the cultural traditions behind it?
3) I note that the choregraphy is often very similar from one performance to the next. Is there a guide to this choreography somewhere? Are these motions specific to this song because it has become tradition through mutliple performances, or is there a greater significance to the specific claps and motions? (I recall a colleague mentioning once that in some languages (perhaps Yoruba?), there is not a separate word for "song" and "dance," rather there is one word that incorporates both... can anyone verify this?)
Thanks,
Ethan Nash
nashethan(a)yahoo.com Replies (17): Threaded | Chronological
Patricia Pates Eaton on November 23, 2009 3:59pm
Immediately contact the conductor of the Morehouse College Glee Club ( Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia)
Betelehemu was written for the Glee Club by and alumnus of the College.
They know all of the nuances and pronunciations.
on November 23, 2009 5:11pm
RE the choralography, I believe that Yvonne Farrow was the person who came up with that staging. As with any choralography you emulate, it's a good idea to find out whose artistry it is, so you can get permission to use it, give credit in the program, and/or work out any royalty issues.
Here is Yvonne's contact info:
YVONNE FARROW Choralgrapher/Director PO Box 8566 LA CA 90008 info(a)choralographer All my best, Tom
on November 29, 2009 7:57pm
Tom,
I did some searching and didn't t find any mention of Yvonne Farrow being involved in the Morehouse College versions of this song (although they could confirm or deny, if contacted directly), but it's very likely that she has worked with other choirs on it.
Her contact info needs a bit of correcting:
info(a)gotchoralagraphy.com -- www.gotchoralography.com and the post office would be happier with "Los Angeles" rather than "LA" :-)
Peace,
David T
on November 29, 2009 10:46pm
David,
Thanks for the clarification of the contact info.
As for Morehouse College's choreography of Betelehemu, I don't know the details BUT their choreography could very well have been Yvonne's without their knowing it. Ethan's noting that "the choregraphy is often very similar from one performance to the next" lends credence to this notion -- or at least to the notion that someone's work was being used by many groups.
In case you didn't know, Yvonne has been leading the charge for choreographer's rights, and her staging of Betelehemu was one of her works which was used most prolifically -- and without permission, attribution, or payment of any kind to her.
Here's some of Yvonne's letter to the editor of the Choral Journal about this general issue:
"...perhaps choral directors could embrace a few simple guidelines: 1) Have the choreographer set their own work on your choir - we are usually paid only once, at inception; 2) Always give the choreographer credit in your program as you would a composer or an arranger; 3) Get permission to use the work on your group - music and movement are not synonymous; 4) Pay for use of the choreography - even a small honorarium is better than nothing at all; and 5) Make sure the choreographer has given permission to have their work videotaped at performances and events (eventually a royalty structure should be put in place), and is properly credited on all media (however, this does not entitle consumers to adapt, modify or use choreography in whole or in part). "
All my best,
Tom
on November 30, 2009 5:25am
Tom,
I hadn't seen Yvonne's letter, but agree that choreographers need to be fairly compensated and that their original works are protected by copyright. However, in the case of the Morehouse version of Betelehemu, I think that all we presently have is speculation, so they'll need to be contacted for further details. The piece originated from a song given to Wendell Whalum by an african student back in the 1950's, and although the Whalum arrangement bears a copyright of 1992, I'm guessing it was probably performed there in manuscript before it was published. There's some interesting info collected by Frank Albinder here on ChoralNet:
Ms. Farrow's choral resumé doesn't mention Morehouse College, but it does contain the incorrect contact info you presented earlier--she needs to fix that.
on November 30, 2009 9:22am
David,
Thanks for Frank's post, and for your further clarification about Yvonne's contact info.
As to contacting Morehouse, I agree, and would be most curious to hear what they say. It seems that they're either going to say, "We hired person X to choreograph -- here's her contact info" or "We used the choreography that we had seen other groups do / My director friend sent me the choreography she used..."
Another route would be for Ethan to contact Yvonne directly, checking to see what her choreography is.
All my best,
Tom
on November 30, 2009 11:01am
Hi, Tom and others following this thread.
No question that choreography is a creative art, and no question that a choreographer deserves to be compensated and credited for his or her work. But what's less clear is whether a choreography is protected by copyright law, or for that matter by any other law? Under Grand Rights there's no question (even though every choreographer and every stage director either steals ideas from the "original" or deliberately changes it). But in general?
Under the 1909 law, anything qualified for copyright protection had to be expressed on paper. Under the 1976 law that provision was changed, and copyright was automatic in anything as soon as it existed "in fixed form." But what is the "fixed form" for a choreography? Does a videotape qualify? Or is choreography even mentioned in the copyright law? I don't think I've seen it there, but then I've always been mostly concerned with the way it applies to music. Clearly a live performance does NOT constitute "fixed form," or every jazz lick ever played would already belong to somebody!
The Dance Notation Bureau in NYC used to be heavily involved in trying to preserve existing choreogrphies, not just of ballet or modern dance but of Musical Theater shows as well. At first they worked with 18th-century Feuillet notation which was very complex, but which did take into account most body parts and their motions. Then they were switching to filming or videotaping choreographies while the dancers who knew them were still alive. I don't think any of their work was aimed specifically at copryight questions; they just wanted to preserve those choreographies as enduring works of art. But the very fact that they could notate or tape the dances suggests that the original choreogrphers did NOT have an ownership right in them.
Not arguing one way or another. Choreographing has always been a very different art from music, more akin to teaching major works entirely by ear and making them up on the spot than to having them available "in fixed form." But since the question has come up, I'm really quite curious as to the answers.
All the best,
John
on November 30, 2009 12:17pm
John,
Good question! Perhaps Yvonne will let us know what she has discovered. I'm glad, by the way, that you are on the side of the ethical, regardless of where the legal currently falls.
One other statement I would take issue with. You wrote, "...every choreographer and every stage director either steals ideas from the "original" or deliberately changes it." Of course you know that since you used the word "every" you may have torpedoed your own ship, but just in case you believe what you wrote, may I refute it?
As a stage director myself, I actually made it a point to come up with the best staging based on a whole set of criteria -- none of which had anything to do with any other production, "original" or not. In fact, many of the shows I directed were either premieres or shows I had never seen before.
Now, in the creative process of pre-staging, I did occasionally find myself deciding to block a moment in a similar fashion as I'd seen before -- but that was rare. And when it happened, it was more coincidental than referential, if you know what I mean (I wasn't thinking, "What did they do? OK, do I want to keep that or change it...?")
All it meant was that I agreed that a certain staging was the most effective. Again, however, that was very rare -- most of the time I enjoyed creating original staging with an original set -- all stemming from my own take on the play and its characters ... and having nothing to do with referencing other productions.
And I know many other directors who approach things in a similar fashion, always trying to look at the work from a fresh perspective, and stage it accordingly.
Cheers!
Tom
on December 1, 2009 8:14am
Tom,
Thanks for your well-deserved criticism. I should remember that no generalization is ever true (including this one!).
I was writing, of course, from my own experience, just as you did from yours, and when it comes to theater my experience is strictly limited to 18 years of annual Summer Musical producions mounted by a community organization, and not just a community organization but a 100% volunteer one, including the creative professional staff and the orchestra. I've worked, on the music side, with a whole slew of stage directors and choreographers, and of course evey one is different.
And one of the joys (and frustrtions) of theater, from my limited experience, is that it's a re-creative art (as is music, of course), and every new production HAS to be a new work of art, for better or for worse. And that's why we are in the education business, providing new generations of actors, singers and dancers; stage directors, music directors and choreographers; designers of all kinds; and musicians; as well as playwrights and composers.
And I've also found that perhaps the most pernicious influence on Musical Theater has been the movies made of particular shows, and the tendency of both stage directors and choreographers to want to imitate what both they and our audiences will have seen in those movies. And movies are a totally different art form from stage performance, much feer in some ways, but much more limited in others. Case in point: "King & I," for which I was Musical Director. I saw Yul Bryner on Broadway when I was young, and he dominated the stage with his personality in an indelible way. In the movie he was dwarfed by the lush settings and expansive mis-en-scene. And I felt something similar with the cinema version of "Sound of Music."
But of course you're right, and a creative director or choreographer will use the available forces and talent and stage set to best advantage. I guess I was thinking that the original blocking and choreography is somehow equivalent to the original script and score, and of course they really are not.
Another case in point: In "Annie" there are only 6 Orphans in the script. In the movie version, of course, they hired every young dancer in Hollywood for the big Orphan scenes and it was WONDERFUL, but totally unrealistic. (Like the marching band at the end of "Music Man," or the kick line at the end of "Chorus Line.") Our choreographer had a particular vision and asked us to cast 15 Orphans. We could, so we did, and the way she set them stopped the show every night in their two big scenes! (We also had each of the added Orphans make up their own name and their own biography so they wouldn't feel like also-rans, and that worked out beautifully as well.) Our littlest Orphan (who got thrown into the dirty linen basket in Act 1) has now grown up, and did an ENTIRELY too convincing job of vamping Joseph as Mrs. Potifar in last summer's production of "Dreamcoat"! And watching the kids grow up and grow into new roles is one of the joys of community theater.
And on New Year's Day I'll be watching football and sending out my first round of emails to recruit our orchestra for next summer's production of "Pajama Game."
All the best,
John
on November 30, 2009 12:18pm
Here's a legal paper (or it looks legal to me) on this topic. The US Copyright Office says:
Choreography and pantomimes are also copyrightable dramatic works...Each work, however, must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which the work can be performed....
on January 8, 2011 1:56am
Someone tried to add to this message thread today (!), but rather than post that message to a thread that's more than a year old, I asked David Morrow, conductor of the Morehouse College Glee Club, to provide some history about their association with the piece. This is David's message:
The Morehouse College Glee Club has been singing Betelehemu since c. 1965. Our director, Dr. Wendell P. Whalum and Michael Babtunde Olatunji were schoolmates at Morehouse College in the 1950s and remained friends. Dr. Whalum became acquainted with the Nigerian Carol sung in Yoruba via Mr. Olatunji. Dr. Whalum created the arrangement that has been sung over the years and developed the movements that are used. While there have been some few minor modifications in instrumentation over the years the vocal arrangement and movements have remained consistent. In 1983, Mr. Olatunji came back and we worked on pronunciation and drumming technique with this piece, but, again, no change in the arrangement or movements.
Ms. Yvonne Farrow is certainly one of the foremost authorities in choral movement and her work is stellar and complimented all over the world. However, to my knowledge The Morehouse College Glee Club has not yet had an opportunity to work with her, nor have we "unknowingly" used her choreography.
on January 8, 2011 10:18am
Are there any answers to the original questions about pronouncing the Yoruba "J" and the tradition of caling out words? (I looked and found none.)
on January 8, 2011 3:02pm
Don't know about the "J" but there is an interesting discussion of "gb" in a recent Language Log. Not sure if it is from the same language group, but I found it worth the read:
Jeff DeMarco
on January 8, 2011
Hello, choral colleagues,
I have taught Betelehemu on several occasions and benefited greatly from
a video of Barrington Brooks teaching the piece with the Duquesne University
singers in the 1990s. I believe that Barrington Brooks is the arranger of the SATB version.
Unfortunately, he has passed away.
Here are the instructions I give to my students for rehearsals. Yes, we use the Latin
pronunciation for Jesu - Barrington taught it this way.
The calling out section is intended to portray spreading of the good news of the birth of Jesus
throughout the land.
There are some mistakes in the score: first ending should be labeled 1, 3 and second ending should read 2, 4; in mm. 31 & 35, the bass text should read "ni bo la be;" and sop. alt. ten. in m. 32 should read "ni bo la bi." The sop. & alto parts in the first measure of the coda should be the same as in m. 36. The D.S. sign should be written at the beginning of m. 23 and the coda sign at the end of m. 39.
BETELEHEMU pronunciation
A = AH very close to Latin pronunciation O = OH g is silent (gbe, gbojule) U = OO I = EE Don't follow guidelines on the inside cover of score. E = EH Use the vowels sounds to the left.
Awa yio ri Baba gbojule. (g is silent) Awa yio ri Baba Fehinti. Ni bo la bi Jesu? Ni bo la gbe bii? (g is silent) Betelehemu ilu ara. Nibe la bi Baba, o daju. Iyin, iyin ni fun o. Adupe fun o.. jo oni. Baba olore o. Iyin fun o Baba. Baba to da wa si.
Good luck! Peggy Dettwiler Mansfield University pdettwil(a)ptd.net 570-662-4721
on May 29, 2011 12:56am
In regards to the original posts question on the pronunciation of "j", which in Yoruba is like "jam." It appears that many choirs choose to pronounce "Jesu" as it would be in American English or Latin, presumably to line up with our own expectations. One can make the argument that "Jesu" is a foreign name in Yoruba, and as such would be pronounced in the same manner as the European missionaries who brought Christianity to the region. My feeling is that one can make arguments for either pronunciation. And yes, in many African languages the term for "singing" and "dancing" is one and the same, but are also very different from our notion of performance of either song or dance for an audience. This is one idea that has stuck with me ever since I took African dance, music and drumming classes oh so long ago!
As far as choreography, I would never advocate the lifting of another's creative work. In this case, though, the issue is very very blurry. From my experience in African dance classes as well as videos I saw in Ethno classes, it appears that the choreography is based largely on movement idioms that are grounded in traditional African dance. I would believe that Morehouse used movement that stems from this tradition, altering it to fit with the Western notion of concert performance. If this is the case and if Ms. Farrow also used traditional movements, then it is entirely plausible that both versions are highly similar. What is one to do legally and ethically in this situation? I learned Betelehemu from conductors who worked directly with Wendell Whalum so I never questioned the "origins" of the movement, but it is also plausible that this movement that was transmitted to me was influenced by other choreographers, including Ms. Farrow. Am I now in copyright violation by transmitting the choreography that I learned, even though it is consistent with my own knowledge of singing and dancing practices of sub-Saharan Africa, and even if I never saw Ms. Farrow's original work?
Thomas Kim
American University of Beirut
on May 29, 2011 11:27am
Hi, Thomas. As always, I can only comment about U.S. copyright law since that is the only law I even partly understand.
Item: What would be the approximate time frame for the creation of the "choreography" in question? I ask because until the 1976 revision of the U.S. law went into effect in 1978, only music that could be represented on paper could be copyrighted, and I assume that that same applied to choreography. (I do not KNOW that to be true.) But I do know that well before that the Dance Notation Bureau in NYC was working hard to record classic choreographies using Labanotation and other written forms of notation while the ballet and Broadway dancers who remembered the choreographies were still able to describe them. And I assume (although again I do not KNOW) that neither earlier films or later videotapes of choreographies were sufficient to earn a copyright, even though it WAS recognized that choreographies could be copyrighted.
Item: In music, individual notes cannot be copyrighted, and I doubt that individual motives can either. Melodies can be. IF that is also true of dance, individual steps cannot be copyrighted. Only step combinations (choreographies) can be. So that is yet another question about HOW a choreography based on a common step vocabulary (just as music is based on a common pitch vocabulary) can be copyrighted.
It is, in other words, a very difficult thing to actually PROVE, unless my assumptions are really off the mark (which of course they might well be!).
All the best,
John
on May 30, 2011 7:23am
I would suggest taking a look at the book Christian Worship Worldwide: Expanding Horizons, Deepening Practices by Charles E. Farhadian, specifically the chapters that deal with Christian worship practice in Nigerian culture. It will give you some insights into the questions regarding dance and some excellent explanations of why "song" and "dance" are the same. There are also some good youtube viewings on Nigerian Christian worship. Please don't limit the exploration of this tradtiion to the way it was done by Morehouse, which is not to slight Morehouse's interpretation in the least but to let you know that there is a whole lot going on in the way this song is sung/danced/played of which we, as Westerners of any background, are not necessarily aware.
|
Help support ChoralNet by buying via these links
|
Subscribe to thread
New message
Reply
