The Excellence Clinic: Anniversary Celebration Wednesday, August 29, 2018
On Saturday, August 25, Stanton’s Sheet Music hosted our 25th annual Excellence in Choral Literature Clinic. The Excellence Clinic was conceived and established by long-time Stanton’s Choral Music Specialist Judy Henry in 1994. Judy invited Jim Gallagher, then Professor of Music and conductor of the renowned Men’s Glee Club at The Ohio State University, to join her in this effort as clinician and presenter for the session. Mr. Gallagher’s background includes not only collegiate-level conducting, but also a long history of success in the public high school choral classroom – experience that is so valuable to our attendees!
We gathered in the James E. Strouse Workshop Hall with Jim and our wonderful accompanist, Joyce Stonebraker, and had a fantastic morning reading through a wide variety of high-quality music for choirs at all levels of difficulty. In honor of this anniversary year, we made a special effort to present not only newly-published repertoire, but also some classic literature with excellent teaching potential – John Ness Beck’s “Canticle of Praise,” “Choose Something Like a Star” by Randall Thompson, and “Sing Unto God” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, to name a few. Jim’s insight on these “old chestnuts” was valuable for all, especially the young teachers in attendance. We spent a little bit of time socializing and catching up with old friends, and A LOT of time discovering beautiful new music!
Did you miss out on this year’s Clinic? Never fear! Here are just a few of our favorite pieces that were featured:
For middle school choirs: Agnus Dei by Victor C. Johnson
For high school choirs: Lunar Lullaby by Jacob Narverud
For college choirs: Illumina by Patrick Hawes
For community choirs: Ecce Novum by Ola Gjeilo
For holiday concerts: Mary’s Child by Bob Chilcott
For women’s choirs: Das Grosse Halleluja by Franz Schubert/arr. Ben May
For men’s choirs: Fare Ye Well arr. Stacey V. Gibbs
You can still receive the full clinic packet for the registration fee of $20 (while supplies last). This year’s packet includes over 30 octavos, and contains an incredible amount of repertoire variety! Contact us if you are interested!