November is associated with Remembrance Day, but also feelings of nostalgia and sentiment. A UVic choir, directed by Kinza Tyrrell, wants to use these Fall feelings to expand remembrance to cover more than just the holiday.
UVic’s Chamber Singers and Singing for the Stage students will be combining their numbers on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 7 P.M. for their annual concert in honour of Remembrance Day. This year, however, Tyrrell wanted to encompass the feelings of reflection beyond just veterans and broaden open the scope of reflection.
“I didn’t want to say ‘Remembrance Day’ in the show title, but instead just ‘remembrance’ because a lot of us think of that in November,” said Tyrrell. “I decided to be very generous with my definition of the word ‘remembrance.’ It can be about someone you’re thinking about that has passed on or even an old, retired teacher. It can mean anyone who’s passed on or not that we as a group are choosing to acknowledge and honour.”
The repertoire for this concert will consist of music that is haunting and mournful, as well as pieces written in honour of religious figures. With the pieces she’s selected, Tyrrell hopes that the seriousness of these songs and their subjects will touch people in a different way than most concerts.
“For people to feel something, that’s what I’m hoping to invoke with this music…that people can put the world aside for an hour, take their walls down, let the music speak to them, and allow themselves to be sentimental,” said Tyrell. “If they’ve felt that they’ve been putting up barriers, I hope that the music can help break them down.”
To further invoke these emotions with the music, Tyrrell wanted the music to be performed in a way that would honour what the composer of the song had in mind while writing the piece. Within each piece of music is written instructions on stylistic elements while performing, such as volume and speed changes. By paying attention to these details and fully executing them, the music has more personality and makes the listening experience more immersive.
Many of these pieces include written instructions for sudden volume changes, and that has been one focus Tyrrell has had when instructing her group. “You don’t get gradual changes, it’s always this sudden shift,” said Tyrrell. “If you embrace that and do them wholeheartedly, it’s way more moving than predicting what’s going to happen, like hinting at the end of a joke before it happens.”
The concert will be in the Phillip. T Young Recital Hall, and admission is by donation, accepted online here or at the door, and RSVP is required.