A MEDITATION ON CHORAL HARMONY

THE TABERNACLES 

Expressive harmonies 

Listening to a choir, and appreciating the music that emerges from the choir, especially when the choir has performed well, is a singular pleasure.

Therefore, listening to The Tabernacles 

perform at their annual concert on the 7^th of December, on the lawns of St. Francis College for Women, at Begumpet, Hyderabad to bring in the Christmas season, 

was a remarkably enjoyable pleasure. 

Fundamental aural concept of a choir

Choir music, or choral music is polyphonic. Polyphony is when two or more melodies, or musical lines are sung or played simultaneously. 

Choral music in a mixed choir is usually polyphonic - sung by many women and men who are often divided into four sections of singers according to their voice type, from high to low voices in descending order of vocal range - they are, sopranos, altos, tenors, and bass voices. 

And each section of singers is assigned to a different part, or melody, which is sung together as a single voice, harmoniously. The sopranos often sing the main melody, and the altos, tenors and basses provide the harmony underneath.

The conductor 
Conducting a choir is not easy, since the singers have varying levels of musical ability and aptitude, they learn their parts at different speeds. And, and on top of that, all members of the choir including the conductor/director have to juggle their personal schedules, earn their livelihoods, manage their careers; their family and household responsibilities, and still make it for choir practices, regularly.

Yet, the conductor, assumes responsibility of the choir and the setting the overall sound and texture of the choir, while training the choir singers. 

The conductor keeps the whole choir aware that pitch matters, and rhythm matters, that is, for choir members to reproduce notes accurately, and to keep time accurately. All this while coaching and suggesting how the choir controls their cadence, tone and breathing while they learn to sing their different parts in harmony.

Gloria - Celebrating 57 years of The Tabernacles

The Tabernacles, was founded in 1967 by a gifted musician, Kenneth Gibson, and eight of his friends. And this December, 2024, The Tabernacles celebrated their 57^th year of glorious existence, with this concert named ‘Gloria’.

Zubin Gibson, Kenneth Gibson’s son who now conducts and directs the choir, has done a magnificent job of moulding the choir, keeping it together, and taking care of the musicality of the choir. 

The Choir and Orchestra. Playing and singing from their hearts

Now a 57-voice choir (the number is coincidental) of 20 soprano’s, 14 alto’s, 14 tenors, and 9 basses, and for this concert, Zubin Gibson also conducted a 37-member orchestra which included the Genesis Chamber Orchestra from Chennai. The orchestra comprised orchestral instruments of 12 first violins, 12 second violins, 4 viola’s, 3 cello’s, (auto correct has corrected me, the plural for cellos is celli), and 1 double bass. Three pianists played, the main pianist being Samuel Raj David. There were also trumpet, guitar and electric bass.

To those of us in the audience on the evening of the 7^th of December 2024, it looked like the singers in The Tabernacles choir sang from their hearts - out pure love for singing, and for the wonderful experience it is to be part of a community of singers who sing their parts and create harmony with other singers who are singing different parts.

The evening’s performance started off with the Little Rocks Band, a children’s choir, who capably, and with confidence, performed a few songs and set a up a happy foretaste of the evening of music to come. 

The main section of the evening which came next, was started off by the ‘The Tabernacles Chamber Orchestra’ and the ‘Genesis Chamber Orchestra’ that together performed W. A. Mozart’s Symphony No 40 in G Minor, under the baton of Zubin Gibson, the performance was rather good, and one didn’t hear those irritating screeches and squeals from the violins. They were much more polished than was expected. So far so good, we thought.  

The choir and the orchestra jointly performed the rest of the evening’s programme which was divided into five sections, which were called packages. One of the packages was a few songs by the Men’s Ensemble. And in another one of the packages the orchestra performed under the baton of the founder and director of the Genesis Chamber Orchestra, Keerthan Robert, who brought out good expression from the orchestra while he conducted.

The orchestra and the young and talented pianist who stalwartly and sensitively accompanied the choir, complemented the choir so well that it seemed like a natural partnership. Moreover, the orchestra sounded very good throughout the evening performance.

Two stand-out moments of the evening. 
A soloist who was introduced as Mr Chang from Pune, and wore a white tie and tailcoat as opera singers sometimes do, sang Cantique de Noel (O Holy Night) at almost the end of the programme. Mr Chang from Pune, was an exemplar of how classical singers should sing, he was in complete control of his voice and expression, his secure bass-baritone had heft and command, it was full and resonant, and was so musical we really wanted to have heard more of his voice.

G.F. Handel’s Hallelujah canon. The other highlight was The Tabernacles rendition of G.F. Handel’s Hallelujah canon at the very end of the performance. The combined choir and orchestra along with trumpet player Joanna Alfred Michael, rose to the challenge of rendering this beautiful and difficult piece of music impeccably.  

A harmonious spread of interwoven voices 
As a member of the audience at The Tabernacles concert who has sung in choirs, I simply enjoy harmony whether it is created by multiple vocal parts in a choir or by multiple instruments in an ensemble. So, I appreciated the swells and ebbs in the choir. For those who have never sung in a choir before, these swells and ebbs are called dynamics, when the choir goes loud or soft to express the music. And so, while listening to The Tabernacles it was pleasing to hear the dynamics in the sound of their interwoven voices which spread harmoniously through the venue in good balance.

A soundscape to remember 

It appeared to us in the audience, that the choir, the singers, the conductor, and the instrumentalists in the orchestra, took pleasure of being part of an ensemble that is making harmony, and, that harmony was a pleasure for the audience to hear. 

All-in-all the choir and orchestra wowed the audience with an excellent performance