Maryville College conducting students establish MC Recital Choir as new choral ensemble
May 17, 2022
A student assignment during the spring semester has led to the formation of a new choral ensemble at Maryville College, and its formation was a delightful surprise even to the faculty member who supervised it.
Stacey Wilner, director of choral activities at MC, pushed students in her “Advanced Conducting” class to create and present a work from beginning to end, with a group of volunteer singers coming together to perform them as the Maryville College Recital Choir.
“Each student was given a piece of music to learn, study, dissect and then put together, to go from the rehearsal process all the way to the performance,” Wilner said. “The students not only taught the music, they handled the management and the organization of the performance as well. As part of their requirement for their ‘Advanced Conducting’ class, they each directed a piece on our recent (Maryville College Concert Choir) spring tour, which was a great opportunity and good practice for learning the connection between conducting gestures and the choral sound. For the Recital Choir, the students had more creative and instructional control over their selections.”
The student conductors included Gabriel Bailey ’23, Connor Cowart ’23, Michael Place ’22 and Baylee Suit ’23, each of whom conducted selections ranging from the Renaissance to the modern period, including “God Is Our Refuge” by Mozart,” “Weep O Mine Eyes” by John Bennett and two selections from Mozart’s “Requiem” — “Ave Verum Corpus” and “Lacrimosa.” While the Maryville College Concert Choir includes plenty of singers to draw from, the ensemble needed for the assigned works needed to be smaller, Wilner said.
“A lot of the larger universities have what is called a lab choir for their young conductors, so we wanted to establish something similar,” she said. “In the past, students have worked with the Concert Choir, but we did not have the extra class time for these young conductors to experiment and try teaching techniques. This year, we decided to put together a volunteer Recital Choir. We are so fortunate that our Maryville College students are very loyal, dedicated to learning and willing to give of their time so their peers could have this opportunity.”
The MC Recital Choir made its debut during an afternoon performance on April 22 at the Clayton Center for the Arts, during which the four student conductors also led the MC Concert Choir through several selections as well, including “The Best of Rooms” by Randal Thompson, “Two Wings” by Harry Harter, “We are Not Alone” by Pepper Choplin and “The Lutkin Benediction” by Peter Lutkin. The success of its creation, as well as the enthusiasm of its participants, means that the Recital Choir will likely be a permanent addition to the roster of Maryville College ensembles, Wilner added.
“The students really enjoyed the process, and it turned out to be a valuable educational experience,” she said. “On top of that, the timing of it worked pretty well, as the performance was near the end of the semester and the concert was held during our normal choir rehearsal time. It was open to the public, and we had a nice little audience. It seemed to be a very positive experience for everyone.”
