Choir, Seggelke featured at state music clinic
Posted by Judy Riley on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009
The University of Minnesota, Morris Concert Choir, under the direction of Ken Hodgson, has been selected to present a featured concert for the Minnesota Music Education Association (MMEA) Midwinter Clinic. The Clinic, held at the Minneapolis Convention Center February 12 through 14, annually hosts over 1,500 delegates from all areas of music education in Minnesota and surrounding states. The concert featuring the Morris campus Choir will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, in the Convention Center Ballroom. The evening performance is free and open to the public.
The Choir was selected by the MMEA Clinic Committee from recorded auditions that were submitted last spring. The Choir performed earlier this year for the American Choral Directors Association Fall Convention held on the campus of St. Olaf College. This was the choir’s fifth performance at this convention, held on the campus of Hodgson’s undergraduate alma mater. Groups selected to perform for that conference were also selected through competitive auditions via submitted recordings.
One of the requests for performing choirs is that they present music that a younger or more inexperienced choir can perform. With that in mind, Hodgson selected three pieces that are accessible to high school and even middle school choirs. The Welsh folk song, “The Ash Grove,” is included and was one of the works performed by the combined Morris Area High School Choirs and the UMM Choir during their annual Choir Festival in January. The second will be an African Welcome Song, “Bonsa Aba,” with a solo by an African born student member of the choir. The third is a very special piece, “Song of the Flute,” a traditional Chinese Folk song that will be sung in Chinese under the watchful eyes of Mitch Grussing, Morris, who spent a year studying in China, and two Chinese student members of the choir, Fangling Liu (Abigail) from Beijing, China, and Fuan Wei (Ivy), from Shanghai, China. The choir will provide copies of the music and phonetic pronunciation guides to members of the audience who may be interested in performing the work.
This year’s performance for MMEA will be the choir’s fourth appearance as the featured choir for an evening performance at the Midwinter Clinic. The Clinic will showcase 10 choirs during the Thursday through Saturday sessions, culminating in the performance by the All-State Choirs Saturday morning in Orchestra Hall.
In addition to the choir’s performance, Martin Seggelke, Morris campus director of wind ensembles, will present two sessions during the conference. The first, "Successful Rehearsals and Individual Practice,” will talk about the role intrinsic motivation plays in musicians' lives and their daily rehearsal and individual practice routines. The second, "Chosen Gems of the Middle and High School Wind Ensemble Repertoire," with John Rosner and other Minnesota conductors, will highlight and reintroduce forgotten gems of our repertoire.
Photo by Danter's Photography: The picture is of the choir this fall and the barn is at the Hodgson residence east of town on the Old Alberta Road (220th street). Ken has been building and directing the UMM Choir for 32 years. He also built the barn – probably the last Gamble Rough Barn built in the Upper Midwest.
