Hello. My name
is Tony Leach. I'm professor of music and music education at the Pennsylvania State
University. In my role in the School
the Music, I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education.
I also conduct two choirs: the University Choir, which is our
largest mixed choir, and Essence of Joy, which focuses
on sacred and secular music from African and African-American
choral traditions. Today I'm going to teach you
a piece that I would teach to Essence of Joy or
my church choir, or audiences across the United States
and beyond. It's a very simple praise song.
The text simply says: This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Rejoice, rejoice. This is the day.
The style is traditional gospel but it has
an interesting contemporary twist to it.
We are in Bb minor. I'm going to play through the
entire song, and then I'm going to model all the parts and
put them together for you just as I would do in a
rehearsal setting. *plays*
*sings* This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Rejoice!
Rejoice! This is the day.
This is the day!
That's the Soprano part, listen to that again.
*sings*
Then I would do each phrase and have the Sopranos
to echo me. "This is the day that the Lord has made."
*plays*
"I will rejoice and be glad in it."
*plays*
"This is the day that the Lord has made."
*plays*
"I will rejoice and be glad in it."
*plays*
"Rejoice." You sing.
*plays* We go up a half-step.
"Rejoice." You sing.
We do those two together.
"Rejoice. Rejoice."
Your turn.
*plays*
"This is the day. This is the day."
Do this for me.
*plays*
Put it all together, just the Soprano part. Here we go.
"This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice
and be glad in it. This is the day
that the Lord has made. I will rejoice
and be glad in it. Rejoice.
Rejoice.
This is the day. This is
the day." And then we go to the Altos.
Here it is all lined out for you.
*plays*
Take it up.
Take it up again.
What does it sound like?
"This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it. This
is the day that the Lord has made. I
will rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice.
Rejoice.
This is the day.
This is the day." And then I would use
the very same procedure that I used with the Sopranos. I sing a phrase, the Altos
sing a phrase after me. Then we link phrases, we link phrases,
and eventually they have the whole thing. The Tenor part starts on the Db.
Listen to it. *plays*
Oops, my fault. *plays*
There we go. Here's the Tenor part. *plays*
Up a half step.
Take it up.
Repeat that.
And then I sing it. Tenors sing it after me.
Then I add the Tenor and the Alto. Then I add the
Tenor, Alto, and Soprano. You get a three part chord.
Et cetera. The Bass part.
Listen. *plays*
Take it down.
They stay there.
Here's the four parts together. *plays*
Rejoice.
Then they breathe. Rejoice.
This is the day. This is
the day. And we put it all
together with the accompaniment. *plays*
Now that's the road map. There are extensions,
and the extensions come from this whole notion
of call-response. The soloist or the leader will do
something and then the choir, the audience, will respond.
So that's the basic roadmap. Now here are some possibilities
for extensions. Here's the intro.
*plays*
The choir comes in.
"This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord
has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Rejoice.
Rejoice. This is the
day. This is the
day." First extension, back to the beginning.
"This is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it." This is the day -
"This is the day-" I will rejoice-
Rejoice -
Stay there, rejoice.
We go up. Rejoice.
Do that again. Rejoice. Take it out.
This -
Here's number two.
This is the day - do that again.
This is the day - we wave them out. I will rejoice -
I will rejoice-
This is the day -
"This is the day that the Lord-" I will rejoice- "I will
rejoice-" Beginning. This is the day -
I will rejoice -
Taking it out now. Rejoice -
Rejoice -
This is the day -
That's the whole song, with
extensions. Notice I had to become not only a soloist, but
also a conductor. Since I am at the piano or I would be
at the organ, my movements are minimal. If I want someone
to repeat something, I do that. When we're done with it,
I do that because I can play and
get that left hand up there quickly. The choir knows what those cues
are. When I'm doing a workshop with teachers, I explain
all of my cues before they see them applied in
real time. Thanks so much for your attention.