Show Pop
The history of show
choir
Mike Weaver
Chicago, Illinois
1/1/2001
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
I.
The 1930’s: Making the Waring sound 3
II. The 1940’s: Waring 4
III. The 1950’s: The Golden Age of
Television 5
IV. The
1960’s: Pop Culture and Changing Tastes 10
V. The 1970’s: Swing Choir
Festivals 22
VI. The
1980’s: Choreography and Staging 27
VII. The
1990’s: Pop Music and Show Choir 32
VIII. 2000:
Show Choir Matures 38
Chronology of Show Choir 45
Works Cited 47
Introduction
This is the history of show choir. From Fred Waring to current pop
music, the story of show choir and its origins won’t, perhaps, surprise the
reader. However, reading this compiled information will offer insight into the
sociological and cultural events that have created the phenomena that is today
the fastest growing musical ensemble in music education.
The 1930’s: Making the Waring sound
In 1933, The Old Gold Cigarette Company
sponsored a radio show featuring The Fred Waring Orchestra, which at that time
was an all-male ensemble with members alternating between playing instruments
and singing. It was later, for the radio show that Waring chose a group of men
and women to be strictly singers.
Waring’s choice of music was eclectic: popular songs of the
day, folk music, love songs, patriotic and holiday music, Broadway tunes, and
renditions of popular instrumental songs using non-sensical
syllables. Through the radio performances, Waring and his Pennsylvanians became
one America’s first choral ensembles known not for singing choral masterworks,
but essentially pop music.[1] Waring claimed to be an untrained musician, yet early
in life he played the violin, fife and banjo. Ex-Pennsylvanians remember that
in rehearsal he could sol feg anything on sight.
It was in 1937 that Fred met choral
conductor, Robert Shaw during the filming of Varsity Show. The next year,
Waring asked Shaw to join the Pennsylvanians specifically to work with the
sixteen voice Glee Club, a group of professional
studio singers. From then on, until he died in 1984, Waring had choral
directors: Robert Shaw 1939-44, Don Craig 1944-48, Lara Haggard 1948-55 and
Jack Best 1955-until Fred’s death in 1984.[2] Fred Waring did not rehearse the choral singing
himself, he reasoned, that was what his choral directors were for. It was Waring’s interpretation and phrasing of the text that would
go on to be known simply as The Waring Sound.
“He only conducted words,” said Louigi Zaninelli, who published
under the name Lou Hayward and served as one of Waring’s
choral arranger during the 1950’s and early 60’s. Zaninelli
added that Waring’s arrangers were constantly
frustrated because “he was always changing the written rhythms to how he
spoke.”[3] However, once the choral parts were in place, Waring
added, on top of everything, his own style and interpretive stamp. Waring
conducted emotions -- not just words. He was obsessed with HOW the words
were said, not just the lyrics sung over a melody. The Waring Sound was
not merely about choral blend and harmony, but the singing of popular American
songs in English language in a manner in which American listeners understood
and found meaningful.
The 1940’s: Waring Comes to Television
In 1948 General Electric sponsored The
Fred Waring Show, a weekly television program that aired on Sunday nights. Fred
Waring and his Pennsylvanians were now working in the country’s most
exciting technological medium. Waring found it to be a challenge to figure out
how to entertain home viewers on the early kinescope (small) TV screens. To
allow the performer to have more direct rapport with the camera, the music had
to be memorized. Visual elements and staging were revved up to include themed
theatrical sets, costumes and featured dancers. Innovative to television at the
time, The Waring Show used a motion picture-style boom-operated camera to add
more visual variety and effectively follow the performers.[4]
For nearly seven years Fred Waring
produced sixty minutes of live music each week. The program demonstrated all
the showmanship that Waring had become famous for: songs sung by skillful
singers in high quality arrangements, tight pacing and on top of everything,
his own style and interpretive stamp. Short lived as Waring’s
Show was, it was considered a success. Audiences tuned in each week and the
show get better each season as production values increased The
show folded in the Spring of 1955 because Waring grew wary of feeding the
ever-hungry medium of television.[5] Waring simply burnt out on producing over 3,000 hours
of music each year, especially at the high quality standards that he demanded.
Once the television show was finished, Waring took his Pennsylvanians back to
touring on the road. Touring a basic a stage show was much easier than
producing new material each week. Besides, Waring liked the excitement of live
performance.[6]
In 1949, during the first year of Waring’s show, American families owned 1 million television
sets.[7] The staging, sets, costumes and great singing that
Waring and his Pennsylvanians brought to American homes each week worked to
spread Waring’s soon-to-be noticed influence on music
education. It’s a safe bet that choral music educators were tuning in to the
Waring television show. In that first year of broadcasting live Waring’s influence turned up in rural community high
schools in the form of pop choral ensembles, dubbed swing choirs. The
word swing came over from the 1940’s big band era, and was the popular style at
the time. Surprisingly, two of the earliest high school pop ensembles did not appear
in metropolitan areas which were centers for swing and pop music, but in rural
Midwest communities where students were not as distracted by the draw of city
activities.
Of the swing choirs that appeared, two
were notable because they were the earliest and they simultaneously began
within the first year of Waring’s television show.
These ensembles were in Manhattan, Kansas, under the direction of Larry Boye and the other in LaCrosse,
Wisconsin, under the direction of Alvin Mikelson.
The 1949 LaCrosse
Central High School yearbook, The Booster, shows a photograph of robed
singers, entitled called Swing Choir. With no question as to
Waring’s influence, the picture caption reads,
“singing Waring’s arrangement of the ‘Song of
Christmas,’ the newly formed Swing Choir made its first appearance during our
Christmas assembly.”[8] The 1951 edition of The Booster shows the same
group with more contemporary costumes. Once again, the photograph caption is
mentions Waring’s arrangements:
“Once again the Swing
Choir had a very active year performing for other schools and many
organizations in the city...The Swingsters did
many of Fred Waring’s arrangements, and among the
more popular they sang “Old Rockin’ Chair,” “Give Me
Your Tired, Your Poor,” “Land of Degradation” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Their repertoire also contained a group of light rhythmic numbers including
“Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “The Happy Farmer,” and “Blow the Man Down.”[9]
Larry Boye,
Director of the early swing choir from Kansas, denies that he was influenced by
Fred Waring. When asked where he got his idea to form a singing/dancing group, Boye replied, “Not from Fred Waring. I had heard of Fred
Waring. We didn’t have television...I just did it.” He recalled, “I really just
needed something to do with my students that would keep their interest...so we
put together singing/dancing shows... and the kids responded to it.”[10] While Boye does admitted that he took his students to a Waring Summer Choral
Workshop in the early 1950’s, he was unimpressed with the staging and movement
ideas that were being offered. Boye said, “I wanted
to see more action, more visual excitement...the kids and audiences wanted to
have more going on than just moving from picture to picture.”
The 1950’s: The Golden Age of Television and Beginning
of Pop Music.
Plenty of musical changes swept America
during the 1950’s. Television became the new medium for entertainment. Unlike
radio, TV was free to offer audiences an increased visual interpretation of
musical performances. This visual information was communicated through the
language of camera shots, movement, and performer’s direct rapport with the
home viewers. Audiences also had the choice of many popular variety shows.
The beginnings of pop music had begun,
partly underlined by the visual nature of television. During the 1950’s a dual
pop music market developed along with television. First there was the music for
the mature generation: Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day. Then there was the music for the new generation:
Bill Haley and The Comets, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard. Fred Waring, played to the former of the two, keeping the
Pennsylvanians music and performance style rooted firmly in the material that
they were known for. In a changing musical world, Waring did not change. It was
only a matter of time before Waring would have to respond to the shifts
happening in pop music entertainment.
The commercial entertainment value of
television was quickly realized by producers, advertisers, and record
companies. Like dot com companies in the 1990’s, Television shows flooded the
screen during the 50’s, all with hopes of attracting large audiences.
Television producers of the 1950’s discovered that the more unusual the visual
elements in the program, the more viewers would tune in. This, of course,
served to attracted commercial sponsors. The only thing more interesting to a
television audience than seeing human face is seeing a human face do something
visually interesting, which usually means communicating an emotion or idea.
Dancing and body movement became a basic element of 50’s TV variety
programming. These programs became popular visual/musical productions:
Your Hit Parade
(1950-59) A
musical variety show featuring a house band and resident singers
performing Top Forty hits.
American Bandstand (1956-89) Longest
running television music variety show featuring teenagers
dancing to pop artists lip synching to current hit songs.
The Ed Sullivan Show (1955-71) Introduced
pop stars, Broadway’s stars, and various rock
groups. [Note -- Elvis Presley’s appearance on this program was considered “too
much”
and program directors filmed him from the waste up to avoid showing his provocative
hip movement.]
The Perry Como Show (1948-63) A musical variety show featuring the Peter Gennaro Dancers
and The Louis Da Pron
Dancers.
The Andy Williams Show (1958-71) A musical variety show featuring The Goodtime Singers
and The Nick Castle Dancers.
The Jackie Gleason Show (1952-70) A musical variety
show featuring The June Taylor Dancers
in Busby Berkeley style production number designed for the television camera.
The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-59) A musical variety show
featuring The Mouseketeers in weekly singing/dancing musical
production numbers.
The Arthur Murray Party (1950-60) A musical show
featuring Arthur and Katherine Murray
and The Arthur Murray Dancers.
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956-63) A musical variety
program featuring The Tony Charmoli Dancers and The Nick Castle Dancers.
The Lawrence Welk
Show (1955-71) A musical program featuring “champagne
music” and
dancing marketed for mature audiences and often sponsored by Geritol.
In 1955 television surpassed radio as an
income producing medium.[11] By 1959 the average American family watched
television for six hours each day on the nation’s 85 million television sets.[12] Ninety percent of the country had television access.
Teenage TV audiences were introduced, not only to pop music artists, but to
fashion and hair styles and new dances, as well. Whereas radio used to be the
way that new songs were introduced, television shows such as The Ed Sullivan
Show served to drive pop record sales to new heights. Television audiences came
to expect to see new artists perform their music. Hal Malcolm, an innovator and
leader in vocal jazz education wrote, “In the fifties, television would
introduce music to people which would be increasingly listened to by the eyes
and felt by the body.”[13] Audiences began to view entertainment and pop music
differently than they had during the Waring radio and early television days.
Between the 1930’s and 50’s Fred Waring
dominated his area of popular music through his dedication to interpretation.
The Fred Waring tone syllables became an important
contributions to American choral music. When he conducted the Pennsylvanians,
each performance was an original. Waring would call the song order based on the
response of the audience. Furthermore, he conducted the Pennsylvanians, too, as
he felt at the time. Each performance was different than the one before. Waring
interpreted each phrase of text for his listeners, drawing out lyrical
melodies, speeding up whimsical choruses, slowing down climactic cadences to
dramatize a key change. Waring was the showman at his best when standing in
front of his singers playing them, if you will, like an instrument.[14]
In contrast, the constant, unchanging
tempos and rhythms of the 50’s pop styles did not require an interpreter.
Audiences enjoyed listening to these songs, not so much for the lyrical
phrasing, but for the beat. It was the rhythm that created the emotional
satisfaction. This music was more energized than the ballads that dominated
popular music of the earlier generations. Rock and roll, for example, needed no
interpreter. In fact, an interpreter got in the way of the communication
between the performers and audience.
Television was quick to become the ideal
medium for pop music and the music catered itself to the medium. This
co-dependent relationship between pop music and television would come full
circle during the 1980’s with the coming of Music Television (MTV).
Television led to the audiences growing
appetite for more visual elements to their entertainment. And the new generation of music educators were part of that audience.
Robert “Bob” Hills, vocal clinician and former director of choral ensembles at
Eastern Illinois University recalls the growing attitude amongst young
directors in the late fifties. “It seemed boring to just stand there.” He
further explained, “Here we were doing music that was intended to inspire
movement....it seemed silly to just stand there in rows singing.”[15] His view was
the same as other young directors at the time.
Richard Jaeger, director of choral
activities at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana during the 1950’s
remembers putting simple staging, picture changes, step-touch foot patterns and
movement combination sequences in his concert for the Indiana Music Educators
Association (IMEA) in 1958. “We were going to do a medley from My Fair Lady
which included the song, “Ascot Cravat”.... I added staging for the IMEA
performance...when we were done I had directors coming up to me saying “What
made you do that?”.and I
said “I wanted to.” They were shocked. They really felt that I had cheapened
choral music.”
The idea of cheapening choral music was
becoming a hot-button amongst music educators, and those shocked directors was
a foreshadowing as to the chasm that take place over the next forty years
between directors of traditional music and directors who incorporate pop music
and movement in their concerts. Traditional choral people saw the changing
musical styles in the 50’s as a threat classical music. The traditionalist set
up camp and in 1959 the American Choral Directors Association was founded.
The 1960’s: Pop Culture and America’s
Changing Tastes
Much has been written about the turbulent
sixties. The coming of rock and roll, Pop music and long hair alone, resulted
in numerous books and studies on the “declining morality of 1960’s youth.” One
sixties social theorist wrote that “Rock and roll is the language of Marxist
politicians” and that pop music was “a form of lower-class confrontation with
the establishment.” Whether or not that theory is true, rock and roll does
promote change.[16]
The sixty’s theme was about change. The
new generation questioned long standing traditions held by former generations.
Human rights became important and a growing commitment for social change was
rising on behalf of the younger generation. Freshly graduated music educators,
too, were committed to the social reforms of the sixties. One of the first
things to change was the use of pop music in music education.
Pop music lyrics became increasingly
diverse. Emerging attitudes about everything from politics to sex to drugs was
discussed overtly or coded in sixties lyrics. Directors who were part of the
pro-swing choir movement became limited in what could be usable material. Most
of the published arrangements of sixties Pop were based upon vocal groups that
were considered “safe,” The Beach Boys and The Fifth Dimension,
for example. Broadway material was always usable since it inherently lent itself
towards movement interpretation. Considering the limitations, usable Pop music
did flourish throughout the decade.
As popular music became
more diverse, beat driven, lyrically aggressive, pop vocalists of the previous
generation struggled to make their classically trained voices fit with the
current trends. The fit was often
a stretch and well known singers whose popularity was slipping released cross
over albums featuring remakes of 1950’s rock tunes (imagine easy listening
style of Perry Como singing Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the
Clock”). To effectively perform the new styles, singers had to resort to
vocal techniques that were considered wrong by traditional standards.
When approaching pop and rock styles,
traditional vocal music teachers incorporated the vocal techniques that carried
over from their formal music training (breath support, diction, etc.) and
dismissed the rest (growls, breathy phrasing, gluttural
attacks, etc.) as simply bad singing. The practice of using traditional vocal
techniques to produce pop styles was not yet acceptable. In the 1990’s vocal
experts would come to realize that effective pop vocal styling can be taught by
applying proper and healthy vocal techniques to produce the desired sound;
controlling the amount of air used to produce timbres and use of straight tone
or vibrato to obtain specific vocal effects.[17] Some music educators, to add “pop-ish”
rhythms and energy to their concerts without resorting to actual pop music,
programmed spiritual songs, which were acceptable as “historical choral
literature.”[18]
Another important element to music
educators in the 60’s was instrumental accompaniment. Unless the song was a
slow tempo ballad, piano accompaniment alone did not achieve the driving beat that
was essential to performing pop and rock music styles. The new music called for
an electric bass and a trap-set if the choral rendition was to sound anything
like the original artist recording.
In the 1960’s it became clear to the
commercial music industry that there was no longer a general music audience.
Music had become diversified and reflective of a more segmented society. The
various styles of music emerged and became identified with social class (upper,
middle, and lower-middle classes), race, politics (conservative or liberal),
morality, and, of course, gender, age, and regional locales. Pop music of the
1960’s became social statements put to melodies.
Realizing the changing tastes and views of
music listeners, record companies diversified and marketed their products to
fit specific audience segments. The intended audience became an important
factor in selling music. Music was tied labeled as black or white, middle-class
or poor, northern or southern, urban or rural. Not only did record companies
find new ways of marketing music, music educators, too, were challenged to find
new ways to present the material if they were to continue to attract and
maintain students interests in high school choral programs.
In the choral education field, commitment
to 60’s social changes was mixed. Generally speaking, there was the older
generation of choral directors, rooted in the traditions of Fred Waring and
Robert Shaw, who did not particularly connect with the musical trends of the
1960’s. Then there was the younger generation of freshly graduated choral
teachers who wanted to apply their traditional training to what was happening
now. On one side were those committed to the tradition, knowledge and fine art
of choral singing, while on the other side were those who wanted to apply that
tradition, knowledge and art to meet society’s changing musical tastes. It was
Fine Artists vs. Commercial Artists. For art schools the subject was hardly a
new one.
Traditional choral people see choral music
as a way to teach students the beauty of choral art. By introducing students to
the works of Handel and Wagner and numerous other contemporary composers,
directors reasoned that students would be induced with the unspoken emotional
joy that is classical music. There is a disdain for what traditional directors
see as a pillaging of the art. Popular artist’s and Broadway composers borrow
from classical music to meet commercial success. Audiences are more willing to
listen to pop music than classical -- evident by the increase in pop, rock, and
alternative radio stations with a marked decline of classical music radio
stations.[19] Choral directors who refuse to consider the merits of
pop music are merely holding on to strongly held beliefs, while directors who
appreciate the value of pop music are simply doing the same. This debate
between art and popularity is an old one.
Film scholars have had similar standoffs
over art versus entertainment. One such debate happened as early as 1927 when
The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, arrived in
theaters. It was the first talking motion picture. Hollywood was briefly
divided into two camps; Those who thought the idea of
a talking picture was a fad and considered it to be vulgar, and those who
looked at the idea as futuristic and innovative. Some studios remained
committed to making silent films, staying true the art which had become cinema.
Scholars and film students, today, still find aesthetic beauty and artistry in
French Impressionist and German Expressionist films of the twenties and
thirties. The ticket-buying public, however prefers
synchronized voices when actors move their mouths. Those studios that were
making “talkies” managed to enjoy profitable box office receipts regardless of
the film’s artistic merits. Like most audiences, film audiences wanted to be
entertained...cinema is artistic, but movies entertain us. Other
art forms debate as well.
In dance world there is exist conflict in
opinions between classical ballet people and commercial jazz people. Martha
Graham came about in the 40’s and challenged long held traditions in classical
ballet by dancing barefoot and performing choreography what was earthy and
sensual. Traditional dance scholars were appalled saying that Graham’s style
lacked technique and was vulgar and cheapened the art of dance.[20] There grew a small army of Graham followers and
modern dance was born and was eventually accepted. However, it is the mix of
modern dance, Broadway’s production jazz and street dance that has become
commercial dance. This is the visually exciting dancing that is commonly seen
on television, at theme parks, on cruise ships, in Las Vegas and industrial
shows. Commercial dance is popular, entertaining, lucrative
and, of course, scorned by dance traditionalist.
The debate between art
versus commercial entertainment exists in art schools, as well. Fine artist
believe that the purpose of an artistic work is primarily educate that public.
The objective of fine art is to show people a new way to think about being
human, to perhaps express human feeling in a new way. Fine art is never about
making money. It is always about “the art” of making art. On the other hand,
commercial art is about survival. Commercial artist have long found natural
audiences for their artistic expressions. Their work can be seen primarily in
advertising. Everything from Nike ads to Pentium Processors make
use of commercial art techniques to sell their products. However, the line
between artist who create for the sake of public education and those who create
for pay is blurred at times. For example, Norman Rockwell, a commercial artist
whose work was seen by millions each month on covers of The Saturday Evening
Post (1916-1963) , is considered by many art scholars
to be a sellout and not an artist, but a commercial illustrator.
The dichotomy of commercial and fine art
exists in theater, as well, where traditional theater actors are suspect and
critical of their television and musical theater working peers.
Music educators clashed over merits of
jazz music. From early jazz in the 1920’s to modern jazz in the 1960’s, most
music educators ignored its existence. In 1928 The American Bandmasters
Association (ABA) organized to promote and preserve “quality musical
literature for concert bands” amidst the growing public interest in jazz music.
There grew a small number of educators in the forties and fifties who saw jazz
as a musical adventure worth exploring, but it was not until universities
“legitimized” the style in the early sixties that jazz education came about.
Classically trained musicians discovered that improvisation could be taught. It
came as no surprise that the ABA organization was not supportive of jazz music.
After all, the classical music organization was created as a build a barrier
against jazz music’s growing influence in American culture. In 1968 a group of
teachers created an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving the art
of jazz music, the National Association of Jazz Educators (NAJE), which
would later become the International Association of Jazz Educators
(IAJE).
The traditions of choral art can be
followed all the way from its Greek beginnings to Gregorian chants, from Medieval churches to the Renaissance period, and from the
Baroque period through Post-Romanticism. Early choral music was sacred and
written primarily for religious ceremonies and the like. This style of
traditional choral literature continued to be published all the way into the
1960’s.[21] Classical choral concert literature crosses over
easily with church literature because they are primarily one and the same.
Performance of traditional choral music today recalls some of the origins of
its historical past with ceremonial and formalized moods and robes.
From the beginning, composers wrote music
with specific intent for its use. Handel had a specific performance setting in
mind when he wrote “The Messiah.” The setting for which a Wagner masterwork is
intended to be performed is quite different from that of the setting for a Broadway
production number. Performance of pop, rock and show music
use a different expressive approach than classical music.
Traditionalists argued that choirs were not meant to move, that movement took
away from the purity of the musical and lyrical content, and they were right.
Movement was rarely, if ever, intended to be an expressive element of classical
choral literature. Swing choir pop literature, however, often dictates the need
for a visual interpretation. Movement in swing choir is an expressive element
used to achieve entertainment value. Swing choirs do not attempt further the
traditional concerns of choral art through pop music. Since swing choir was not
adding to choral art, traditionalist found no reason to support it. This was
one of the controversies that would continue to in choral music education for
the next forty years.
Early swing choirs follow the trends and
methods of pop culture. By 1969 there were 100 million television sets in homes
across the country.[22] Teenagers were tuning in to what was being viewed as
a fresh way of presenting music performance.
Music educators who incorporated pop and
show music styles in their concerts attracted students. Teenagers would get to
perform the very same songs that they were hearing (and seeing) on television.
Adding movement to the choral performances seemed natural and television was
providing the model. Pop music publishing, swing choir staging and later, show
choir production would continue to follow the entertainment trends of
television and film.
Many of the 1950’s television programs
were still on the air in the 1960’s. Movement, staging and dance became basic
to successful TV producing. Television’s popularity was high with some of the
new shows: The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78) featuring The Ernie Flatt Dancers and The Dean Martin Show (1964-74)
featuring The Gold Diggers. Music educators from the 60’s recall other
influences as well, Mitch Miller, The King Family, Hootin Nanny, The Mickey Mouse Club and The Lawrence Welk Show.
Fred Waring, meanwhile, was aware of the
effects of television on the country’s musical tastes. By the mid-sixties, Fred
Waring and the Pennsylvanians were still touring the country. During this
time, a new Waring group was created. The Young Pennsylvanians were a contemporary
ensemble made up of twenty-somethings which would
later be called Today’s Pennsylvanians. The group consisted of 8 to 10
singers who performed Top Forty hits, contemporary country and easy listening
music. One popular portion of their show featured a medley
television commercial jingles.[23] The Young Pennsylvanians were true to Waring’s focus on lyrics and singing. Staging was done, but
not emphasized. Meanwhile, competition for Waring’s
audience was making way in television.
In 1968, The Lawrence Welk
Show was a thriving success. Sandy Griffith, a singer for twelve years on the
show recalls, “Lawrence always programmed music that was upbeat, positive,
patriotic and conservative.” Furthermore, she said that he hired the best studio
musicians in LA and focused on simplicity above all else. Like Waring, Welk chose material that was popular, American standards,
Broadway hits, romantic ballads and folks songs. Sandy
remembers that “audiences absolutely loved him” and that he was “real down to
earth.”[24] To understand the success of Lawrence Welk one has only to compare him to Fred Waring.
While Fred Waring’s
television program lasted for only six and a half years, Lawrence Welk’s show ran from 1955 (the year Waring departed from
television) to 1971. The two band leaders had distinctly different philosophies
on presenting popular music.
Welk’s ensembles performed songs that were arranged to be
taught quickly for television tapings, with emphasis on unison, two-part and
sometimes three-part choral writing.[25] Waring’s groups performed
songs that were lushly orchestrated with emphasis on musical colors and
textures and often, four and six-part complex choral writing.
The Welk show
commonly used pre-recorded soundtracks to which performers (singers and
instrumentalists) might lip-synch or play to, thus allowing for quick
post-production editing and greater performer communication with the camera. In
contrast, Waring’s television show was performed live
with the music memorized, thus allowing him greater control over musical
phrasing and interpretation.[26]
The Welk Show
was videotaped using static camera shots; Close-ups, pans and group shots. The
Waring Show was filmed using dolly and (motion picture style production) crane
or boom shots to follow the movement of the show’s featured dancers and create
internal movement within the frame.
Welk hired top musicians and insisted that they “make it
simple.” Waring hired top musicians and insisted that they be challenged.[27]
Both men were both
successful, dedicated and very different from one another. Welk operated within the growing commercial music business
as related to television, while Waring found solace in the traditional style of
commercial music as related to choral art.
The success of The Lawrence Welk Show was based upon keeping the musical content
elementary. Welk’s streamlining resulted in his
producing a manageable show that would last for many years. Conversely, Waring’s refusal to simplify his music and high production
values resulted in his tiring of television. Interestingly, former
Pennsylvanians can often pin point the Waring inspired origins of Welk’s themes and musical programming choices.[28] Peter Keifer, coordinator
of Fred Waring’s America at Penn State recalls, “Welk was always using Waring’s songs, ... different orchestrations, but programmed in same
performance order.” Regardless from where Welk got
his ideas, it was Welk’s commercial and modified
use of Waring’s traditional methods that
appealed to television audiences and allowed him to bring his music to millions
of viewers for 16 years. The show still airs in syndication today.
Waring’s influence appeared in university settings as well.
The earliest was at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The Bells of
Indiana, an all-female ensemble directed by Eugene Bayless
was followed by The Singing Hoosiers which began in 1950 under the
direction of George Krueger. In the style of Waring, these were pop music
ensembles that performed in a semi-traditional manner:
no movement only picture changes. This was a one hundred member ensemble that
later broke into a 44 member touring group, and later a 12-14 member varsity
group that did movement in front of the touring group. Robert Stoll, professor
of Performance and Conducting at IU, became director of The Hoosiers in
1963. The group focused on choral singing, but took on more staging and use of
Broadway music under Stoll’s direction.
In 1962, The Young Americans were
founded in Los Angeles by Milton C. Anderson, a former music supervisor for
CBS-TV. This college aged group performed a variety of choreographed pop and
show music throughout Southern California, neighboring states and abroad.
Consequently, Southern California became a hub of high school swing choir
activity, especially in surrounding Los Angeles area, while The Singing
Hoosiers, spawned the growth of swing choir in the Midwest. Other
neighboring states, too, had college show groups: Illinois had the Western
Illinois University Collegians, Ohio had Scarlet and Gray. It was
another Indiana school however, that would become heavily involved in the
1960’s swing choir movement.
In the fall of 1964 Donald Neuen, today a well-known conductor and Professor of Chorus
and Orchestra at UCLA, joined the faculty of Ball State University in Muncie,
Indiana. In 1965 he
started The Ball State Singers, a group of 24 singers that featured
elements that were cutting edge to college groups at the time. Don Neuen used amplification and 5 microphones, a full
instrumental rhythm section, and like Waring, performers who doubled as
instrumentalists.[29] While the ensemble was not choreographed, the
performers moved with more freedom than previous college pop choral ensembles.
Donald Neuen and John Clark, his accompanist would
leave Ball State after two years to form another group in Wisconsin.
The Ball State Singers kept their style of performance throughout the 70’s,
but took a new direction under the direction of Larry Boye,
former Associate Professor of Music Emeritus in Music Performance in the early
80’s. The Ball State Singers became a fully choreographed show group. Boye, coming from a background of producing shows and
parades for Disney theme parks, brought his production techniques to Ball State.
Aware that the group’s primary role, at that time, was to act as a recruitment
tool for the university, Boye made the group
entertaining above all else.
By 1985, Boye’s
final year at Ball State, The Ball State Singers experienced controversy
as they eliminated choral singing from portions of the show. The Singers
became a commercial style production show featuring a large platform set,
costume changes, and pre-recorded vocal click-tracks. Only the solos, small
groups, and instruments performed live.[30] Traditional choral people were not impressed.
Students who performed with The Ball State Singers under Boye’s reign learned many aspects of professional show
business, but traditional choral art was not one them.
Meanwhile, Don Neuen
and John Clark helped to found The Wisconsin Singers at the University
of Wisconsin Madison in 1967. Neuen recalls, “I did
not conduct... I did not want to get between the performers and the
audience...I wanted more show!” He said, “my emphasis
was on great singing and great communication!” This combination of singing and
communication would become basic elements to excellence in show choirs over the
next 30 years
Wisconsin was home to another influential
show ensemble. The Kids From Wisconsin was
created in 1969, under the musical direction of Col. Mark Azzolina,
former conductor for Bob Hope. John Clark made another jump to act as the
group’s choral director. The Kids From Wisconsin
was sponsored by the Wisconsin State Fair rather than a university. From the
start, The Kids used Lawrence Welk
arrangements, a sound system and full instrumental ensemble.
Meanwhile, from the Pacific Northwest came
the Northwest Swing Choir Festival, the country’s first festival for
swing choirs.[31] Hal Malcolm, former Director of Choral Activities at
Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon, started the festival in 1968. “I wanted
to have a festival that showcased vocal jazz music,” Malcolm recalls. “But we
could not use the word jazz in any kind of educational curriculum or
event.” Malcolm remembers that the word competition was also forbidden
at the time. “So I called it the Northwest Swing Choir Festival...with the word
swing replacing jazz.”
The Northwest festival was a contest
event, to be sure. The contest adjudication sheet that Malcolm created was
inspired by the Nation Association of Jazz Educators (NAJE) criteria
used for instrumental performance.[32] Directors could choose to receive comments only or be
judged for ranking, in which case a winner was declared. Competing groups
typically performed three songs, two staged and one stand-and-sing number.
From the beginning, Hal Malcolm decided
not to include staging and movement categories on the judging sheets. He remembers,
“I wanted the [festival] to be dedicated strictly to good vocal jazz ensemble
singing...choirs moved, but there were no points for it.” The Northwest
Swing Choir Festival was created as a jazz music event. Pop and show music
was commonly performed however, because few directors knew enough about jazz
literature in 1968.[33] For example, at the first Northwest festival,
students from Fife High School in Tacoma, WA performed a program made up of
“Give A Little Whistle,” “People,” and “Side By Side,” all Broadway music. And
according to comments on the group’s adjudication sheet, “too much emphasis on
staging” helped them elude the winner slot. It was Malcolm’s involvement with
another festival, however, that would become the forerunner of today’s show
choir festivals.
Dr. John Carrico,
Head of Instrumental Music at the University of Nevada Reno had adjudicated Hal
Malcolm’s swing choir festival and asked Malcolm to help him start a similar
choral event in Reno, and in 1971 Carrico founded The
Reno Jazz Festival. The Reno festival was different than Malcolm’s Oregon
in one specific area -- the adjudication categories. In Reno, a group could
compete in either of two divisions: Show-Pop or Vocal Jazz. The
festival used two separate adjudication sheets, one for vocal jazz groups and
one for pop ensembles. Both adjudication forms were based upon the NAJE
criteria for instrumental music, but the Show-Pop sheet featured categories for
staging and choreography.[34]
Groups that added a visual element were a
hit with audiences. Malcolm recalls, “the first year in Reno, vocal jazz groups
and Show-Pop groups performed on the same stage back-to-back...audiences went
wild when the show-pop groups performed...talented vocal jazz groups would come
out and sing six-part arrangements and get just a polite applause.” The two
styles of performance ensembles contrasted not only in that they required
different adjudication sheets, but hat they attracted separate audiences, as
well.
The following year, Carrico
and Malcolm changed the festival format with Vocal Jazz groups performing at
one site and Show-Pop groups at another. Directors liked the separation and
sometimes brought separate groups or a single group that would perform at both
venues. In 1972 Malcolm and Carrico realized
something that the ACDA would not learn for another thirty years: show choirs
and vocal jazz ensembles are intrinsically different genres that require
different performance disciplines.
The 1970’s: Swing Choir Festivals
The 1970’s was significant to the growth
of swing choir in several ways; dancing was in vogue, swing choir became
show choir and competitions and festivals became the primary place
choral educators went to learn about show choir. Some of the important
influences that occurred in the seventies:
· In 1971, Walt Disney World Florida opens.
Visitors to the park can see colorful family entertainment in the form of theme
park shows. The Magic Kingdom features hourly singer/dancer performances
by The Kids of the Kingdom.
· A Chorus Line April, 1975. Director/Choreographer Michael Bennett
creates a concept musical about 18 singer/dancers who audition for a Broadway
show. With minimal sets and costumes, the musical goes on to make Broadway
history closing 15 years later after a record 6,137 performances. The show’s
closing number becomes the quintessential theatrical production show finale.
· In 1975 Hal Leonard Publishing Company published
colorfully packaged full arrangement packs specifically for Show Choir.
· JVC launched Video Home
System (VHS) machines and tapes,
1976. VHS allowed viewers to
record and playback televised programs at their leisure. VHS tapes would
eventually lead to the multi-million dollar home video market, which spawned
the re-release of numerous Hollywood musical productions for home rental.
Educators suddenly had access to filmed choreography examples that were
previously unavailable.
· John Travolta sets the country to dancing with
the 1977 Paramount Pictures release of Saturday Night Fever. The film
catches the public’s attention, becoming the top-grossing film of the year.[35] Learning disco dance steps become popular with many
age groups.
· Television introduces Pop
vocal groups The Jackson Five and The Osmonds, and
later, The Donnie and Marie Osmond Show which featured singing/dancing
performances that was essentially show choir choreography.
Broadway, television and pop music’s
influence on music education was inevitable. And with the coming of VHS
technology, students, choral directors and choreographers would soon be able to
experience over and over again, the musical productions of Broadway and
Hollywood choreographers: Gower Champion, Bob Fosse, Jack Cole, Michael Kidd
and Agnus DeMille -- all
masters at creating theatrical dance which is often designed for singing.
The foremost school of show choir
education however, appeared in Fort Wayne, Indiana under the direction a
catholic friar named Father Fred Link. The Bishop Luers High School Swing Choir
Contest was started by Father Fred, as his friends and students call him. “I saw what was available for marching
bands...I saw the excitement it created for students and audiences, alike...I
thought ‘there should be something like this for swing choirs.”[36] Father Link’s was vaguely familiar with the Northwest
Swing Choir Festival, but he had a different vision of what the
a show choir festival might be. The Oregon festival focused on vocal
jazz ensembles, the Reno Festival had Vocal Jazz and Show-Pop, but the Bishop
Luers contest was strictly about show choir, staging, choreography, costumes,
and production.
The Bishop Luers competition can be
credited with creating the format from which dozens of other competitions would
copy. Traditional and jazz choral events existed, but here was a new venue, a
showplace for choral groups to perform pop, rock, Broadway, country and jazz
music. Furthermore, dynamic staging was not only allowed, it was encouraged.
Aware that some audience members might not
know just what a swing choir is, Father Fred wrote an introduction for the 1975
contest program:
“WHAT IS A SWING
CHOIR? As you will discover tonight, it is many things. There are as many
varieties of swing choirs as there are directors. Perhaps the simplest
definition of a swing choir is that it is a “choir that swings.” This
description has two parts. The first is the most basic, and each group shares
this in common. The group is a choir. This means that the members sing
together, usually in harmony; and if it’s a good choir, the different voiced
are balanced, rhythmically together, expressive, etc. You can see what is
expected of a good choir by looking at the different categories on the judging sheet
contained in this program. The second element of the description is that the
choir “swings.” This is where the variety comes in. For most groups this
implies singing a “lighter” type of music, music conducive to movement and
special accompaniment. Along with the piano or organ, most swing choirs add
rhythm and bass guitar and some percussion to their accompaniment. Some
directors use extensive choreography, dance routines, special lighting effects
and other show stopping techniques. Other directors choose to have their groups
sing in a more formal way, concentrating on winning their audiences with good
vocal production and very simple movement. Each is valid if done well.”
The contest was an instant hit and word
spread fast. The news was quickened by television. By the second year (1976)
WBGU-TV from Bowling Green, Ohio televised an edited version of the contest
throughout the Midwest. By 1982, the
Luers competition was aired in all 50 states. And by 1985, the 10th Annual
Luers broadcasts won national recognition from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and was chosen to represent United
States public television abroad. The contest was aired in the Soviet Union and
met with wide acclaim from Russian television viewers.[37]
Bishop Luers winners set new standards for
swing choirs. The results, singing and dancing ability of groups became
increasingly better with each year. Staging went from simple step-touch
patterns to all out production jazz dance steps and tricks and lifts. To be
successful at Luers, groups demonstrate skill in five areas: singing, playing
(instrumental accompaniment), movement, showmanship and general effect
(transitions, pacing, and show design). Luers required a balanced theatrical
package made up several performance disciplines. Groups who were named Grand
Champion of Luers received a six foot tall trophy and enjoyed a certain
prestige in the show choir world. All in all, the ensembles who succeeded at
Bishop Luers taught the show choir world new ways to view choral performance.
Ron Hellems,
director of the Carmel Ambassadors, in an interview with WBGU-TV said “To win
at Bishop Luers is to win anywhere.”[38] Because the contest was televised, directors and
their groups became “stars” not only amongst their peers, but in their
communities and nationwide, as well. By the mid-eighties Bishop Luers was the
most prestigious event of its kind.
The number of show choir competitions
increased in popularity throughout the following decade. Competitions filled
several needs that were not being met by traditional music concerts. First,
show choir contests were learning grounds where ensembles could perform before
a critical panel of judges and be critiqued on the vocal and dance and
instrumental aspects of their shows. Secondly, show choir contests were
thrilling for audiences, so attendance was usually high. Through ticket and
program sales, concessions and souvenirs, contest hosting schools and parent
booster groups found that the events were excellent fund-raisers. And finally,
show choir competitions became akin to sports events with teams, fans,
uniforms, strategic and creative plays, fumbling and recovery, player entrances
and exits, risk, points, and even an annual season which ran from January to
April.
By the end of the next decade, show choir
directors would become full fledged show producers, hiring out most of the
show’s elements: choreographers, arrangers, costumers, travel companies, and
set building dads. By departmentalizing the major show elements, directors
could tend to any signs of ailing vocal production Thus, in the eighties, show choir becomes an expensive ensemble to
operate.
The 1980’s:Choreography
and Staging
Driven by Bishop Luers success, other
contests sprung up around the country with the majority being in Indiana,
Illinois and Wisconsin. Some high school choral directors saw show choir as a
way to attract students to their traditional choral programs, making membership
in concert choir the prerequisite for getting in the show group. Smaller choral
departments simply combined the groups so that the concert choir did
traditional literature as well as pop and movement. This bait tactic was vastly
successful. Students who might not have joined choir
otherwise, were drawn by the music they recognized.
However, controversy began when some
directors abandoned traditional music literature all-together and challenged
their students primarily with Pop and Broadway music. While some students and
communities were happy with the results, traditionalist were
quick to condemn show choir as the ruination of music education.[39] Many choral music educators were concerned that show
choir would turn choir into movement/performance discipline rather than a
singing discipline. Whereas show choirs were meant to attract students to
traditional music, there was fear that show choirs
were by-passing traditional choral art and simply becoming disciplines unto
themselves -- the tail wagging the dog.[40] Choral purists had a valid argument. Even though the
Luers contest showcased some outstanding groups, there were only a few
directors who actually understood how to achieve a professional balance between
the elements of vocal, instrumental and dance. The majority of show choirs
popping up around the country were struggling to figure it out.
Few directors knew anything about staging
or directing an instrumental ensemble. Colleges were not teaching these skills.
Universities trained vocal music educators only in classical voice and choral
conducting, leaving very few graduates prepared for the vocal challenges that
pop and show (commercial music) production required. Trial and error may have
lead some directors to figure out how to adjust their classical training to pop
diction, but directors’ lack of commercial music knowledge became obvious when
percussion, electronic instruments, microphones and choreography were added to
the mix.
Directors often simply guessed their way
through. They stumbled around and often got the balance of voice, instruments
and visual elements askew. Unstructured, illogical and/or obstructive staging
was common. Audiences could barely understand lyrics due to muddy and
incomprehensible (densely scored) instrumental accompaniments and poorly
written arrangements. And changing from traditional choral robes and tuxedos to
contemporary costuming resulted in all forms of fashion assault. With so many
new elements to manage, the quality of vocal production often times slid
towards mediocrity. Directors let the “tail wag the dog.” Regardless of the
strong performance traditions coming out of Bishop Luers, it was the growing
mass of stumbling directors that fueled the traditionalist view that show choir
was fad that was detrimental to choral music education.
Meanwhile, the 80’s brought with it
television programs that provided hope to the show choir movement. Educators
watched weekly television for ideas. Popular shows of the 80’s include,
· Solid Gold (1980-1988), a
Top 40 weekly show featuring the Solid Gold Dancers.
· The Tracy Ullman Show
(1987-1989) featuring weekly production numbers choreographed by Paula Abdul,
who would later become famous for her innovative movement style
· Black Entertainment Television (BET) (1980 to present)
a twenty-four hour music program featuring R & B style music videos which
included a variety of urban dance styles; Hip Hop, Funk/Groove and Street (a
dynamic dance club style defined as punchy, quirky, and “groovy”)
Mostly, however, it was Music Television
(MTV) (1980 to present), that would influence show choir choreography trends
for the next twenty years.
Between 1980 and 2000, MTV aired over
19,000 music videos.[41] Most of which featured
choreographed lip-synching artist with dancers and cinematic interpretations of
lyrics. Filmed dance and choreography was presented in new ways.
Mainstream movies such as Flashdance (1983) and
Staying Alive (1983) took on the style and look of MTV’s quick cut editing. Pop
star, Michael Jackson’s 14 minute video “Thriller” set new standards for
production and commercial choreography. Other milestones included Jackson’s
“Beat It” and Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation”. MTV and its sister Pop music
program VH1, today remain the primary sources for the latest trends in
commercial choreography.[42]
During the 1980’s, choral directors demand
for staging education grew. The old Fred Waring style of swaying and only
changing positions every now and then was not enough. Several staging experts
emerged to fill the need. John Jacobson, choreographer and author for Hal
Leonard Publications published numerous staging books, videos and written notes
on staging and choreography. Sally Albretch,
choreographer, author and composer for Alfred Publishing, also published
staging booklets and notes. Albretch and Jacobson
flew from choral conventions to reading sessions across the country to sharing
their knowledge of movement and staging. It was the competition circuit
however, that produced one of show choir’s most prolific choreographers.
Dwight Jordan began his career in 1978 as
a high school band director at in Mt. Zion, Illinois. He got involved in
choreography as more of a challenge than a vocation. Jordan’s annual schedule
is packed with a variety of show related activities including directing and
developing entertainment for Six Flags Parks and live show venues in Branson,
Missouri. He is best known in the choral world as co-founder of Showchoir Camps
of America, the country’s leading summer program for choral staging and show
choir techniques. Since the early eighties, Jordan’s work as a choreographer
has helped to define a presentational and dynamic style of ensemble dancing
that marries vocal production.