It was an interesting day. First, settled a personnel question for our summer musical orchestra, one of many that come in a continuous series. Then off with my tuba to play with the community band for a Ruritan Club Fish Fry. (Hey, this is a big deal. Through their monthly fish-fries and other fundraising, they raised $100,000 last year for their community service activities!)

 

Then got home just in time to watch "High School Musical 3." And my reaction susprised even me. If I were still directing and producing my excellent show group, whould we be doing some of that music. YES, I have no doubt at all that we would be. Like it or not (and I'm sure many on this List will not), that IS the pop music, or at least the prevailing pop style of the early 21st century. And yes, it's based around soloists rather than chorus. And yes, it involves choreography--a LOT of choreography! But yes, it's the music of today. Say what you want, Disney--after an extended period wandering in the wilderness--is back to making very good decisions, and the kids in these three movies (not really "kids" any longer, of course) are the 21st century Mouseketeers!

 

And in the two seasons I worked for Disney, I was impressed by one thing more than anything else. Yes, there's just as much infighting and pushing of personal agendas as there is in any other company, but once a decision is made and confirmed, they do it right. They budget for and hire the best in the business--not necessarily names everybody knows, but first-rate professional songwriters, arrangers, musicians and recording facilities.

 

So yes, my college group would be doing that music, and doing it just as well as the cast in the movie, but doing the whole thing live, no prerecorded voices as they did in the movies, no prerecorded accomapniment tracks, and with all the same energy (although a few dozens of years less dance training than those kids have obviously had!). (And I'm not necessarily putting them down for prerecording the vocals. That's done for ALL movies, and has been for a very long time. After all, the goal is to create an illusion, and Disney has always been very good at that!)

 

So should your ensembles be doing some of this music as well, and perhaps more to the immediate point, should we really be putting down TV series like Glee or Choir or whatever for their non-traditional but very up-to-date approach? I'm not saying that any of us should be doing ONLY that kind of music, and I'm perfectly aware that many of us don't have the level of talent that it takes to do it (more because we don't audition for it than because it doesn't exist), but maybe exploring it a bit? Can that hurt so much? And then back to Brahms and Palestrina. They swing, too!!

 

All the best,

John