September 26, 2018

Dear All-State Vocal Jazz-er;

Congratulations on your selection to the 2018 Arizona All-State Vocal Jazz Clinic Choir. I am looking
forward to the opportunity to make some great music, teaching you new things about vocal jazz and
ensemble singing, and having fun with you in a few weeks!

In order to have the most positive musical experience, we have to put in a lot of work ahead of time
(especially with six songs in our set). Therefore, here are a few of my expectations for you:

1) That you come to rehearsal as prepared as you possibly can be.

2) That you have an open mind about trying new things, such as vocal jazz improvisation (scat
singing).

3) That you are physically and mentally ready to work hard when asked, and ready to have fun
when appropriate. J

Here is what you can expect from me:

1 ) To provide you the tools and information ahead of our first rehearsal in order to be
successful.

2) To be available via email if you have any questions regarding preparation of the music.

3) To run rehearsals quickly and efficiently over the course of the three days.

The first thing that I need you to do is to visit the dropbox link provided to you and/or you director.
This folder will have my notes and comments for each song, recordings, and other tools to help you
be successful in your music learning process.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via email. I can’t wait to work with all
of you!

Sincerely,

Ryan W. Holder, DMA

Associate Director of Choral Studies
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6040
Email: ryan.holder@nau.edu
 DIVISI INFORMATION – VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
DIVISI – The 4 part (SSAATTBB) divisi has already been assigned, however there are many spots
where there is a 3 part divisi (SSATTB). For example, look at measure 17 in “September”. Please
adhere to the following divisi parts:

S1 – Jonni, Eden, Haeley, Alyssa

S2 – Hadley, Maggie, Anne, Victoria
A – Rory, Joanna, Catherine, Maddy
T – Carlos G, Ben, Joseph, Matthew
B1 – Drai, Brigham, James, Andrew
B – Tyler, Carlos S., Brycen, Davon

***This means that some of you will be switching staves on occasion (like in Send in the Clowns,
where the S2 will sometimes be on the soprano line and sometimes on the Alto line)

The song “Words” is going to have a different split – see below.

MUSIC NOTES (get the pun?) J

Swingin’ Down at 10th and Main – arr. Dave Barduhn

Notes: A tribute to Gene Harris, one of the great jazz/blues pianists ever...check out a video
of him playing here. We will feature both piano and scat solos. This will be our opener for the
set.

m. 11 – 3 part split in women

Letter B – everybody will scat the form of the tune in rehearsal (not in concert)
m. 47 – 3 part split in women
m. 81 - 3 part split in women
m. 109 - 3 part split in women

***Changes: Sopranos put a big shake on m. 89 “man”, m. 90 “har”, m. 93 “man”, and

m. 94 “har”

Words – Anders Edenroth

For this song, I want to put a couple of altos on the tenor line, so here is the divisi for this song.

S – Eden, Haeley, Alyssa, Jonni, Hadley

A – Anne, Victoria, Catherine, Maggie
 *T1 – Joseph, Ben, Rory, Joanna, Maddy
*T2 – Carlos G, Matthew, James, Brycen, Andrew
B – Tyler, Brigham, Carlos S., Drai, Devon
*notice you are reading tenor clef, so everything sounds down an octave

If you are not comfortable with the range of your part, please let me and Mr. Neely know and
we can make a switch (or put you on one of the speaking parts).

Make sure we do that the quarter notes receive their full value, so for example in measure 9
the first note carries ALL the way to beat two, and it has a nice percussive release (Wor-DZ)

m. 27, 31, 33, etc. – no breath between the word “them” and the next word. This applies to the
entire song.

m. 59 on – the word “do” is really pronounced “doo”, not “doh”

Into the Fire – Rosana Eckert

This is a new piece for me, but I LOVE Rosana’s writing, especially with her latin pieces.

The recording is from the group that commissioned the piece, Vos Arsana, a Slovenian
vocal jazz group (very cool!). Check them out at http://www.voxarsana.si/?lang=en You may
notice some of their pronunciations are a little different – ignore them.

Letter A will be a solo

Really work the rhythm at letter B

Letter C will be all women

m. 42 – Altos and Basses only (might make it a duet)

m. 44 – Sopranos and Tenors only (might make it a duet)
m. 47 – all in
m. 75 – as written, basses tacet (do not sing) the 1st time.

Send in the Clowns – Darmon Meader

One of my most favorite songs ever, arranged by the great Darmon Meader of the New
York Voices (who are coming to NAU Jazz Mad this year!)

Here is where the divisi gets a little crazy…especially in the women. For example, in
measure 4 it is a 3 part split (SSA), but then in measure 6 it is a two part split (SA). If
you have any questions about it please email me.

The recording in your dropbox folder is very square (like a concert choir)…so don’t get
too used to their phrasing…
 Diction should be very colloquial (sing it like you normally speak it)

m. 6 – no breath
m. 16 – altos and tenors lift on the comma
m. 19 – we are going to slam on the brakes on “wanted was yours”

most of the time – look for the punctuation marks to take a breath.

September – arr. Kerry Marsh

A rockin song to ALMOST close our set. J

(I actually was going to close with this song, but I felt like we needed one more
uplifiting piece)

A demo recording (of Kerry Marsh and his wife Julia singing) is included in the dropbox, along
with part tracks for each voice part (with divisi)

Again, watch for divisi – especially 3 part

This will feature a solo (could be male and/or female)

***IN MEASURE 79 – I want Soprano 1 & Tenor 1 on the top line “Bah”, Soprano 2 & Altos on
the second line, and B1 & B2 on the bottom line.

Let Your Light Shine – arr. Jeremy Fox

There are a few reasons why I wanted to close with this piece. 1) Jeremy will be here, 2) I
want to end with an uplifting happy piece, and 3) it’s always good to get the audience clapping
(which we will do at m. 95)

This is going to be a male feature solo – please listen to the original recording to hear Keb’ Mo’
singing it and feel free to emulate and copy)

m. 54 – altos only

one of the most important things is too really overdo the crescendos throughout, and to have a
full throated, gospel sound (with vibrato)

m. 107 – 3 part split in the women

THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Dr. Holder