ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <title>Polish Singing School Report & WMSHC Fundraiser</title> <link href="../stylesheets/default.css" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" charset="utf-8" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></script> <script type="text/javascript">google.load("jquery", "1.3.2");</script> </head> <body id="polish"> <div id="box"> <a href="/"><span class="footer">Return to WMSHC homepage</span></a> <div class="boxed"> <blockquote> <div align="center"> <h1 align="center">Polish Singing School Report<br />& WMSHC Fundraiser</h1> <h2 class="byline">By Allison Schofield</h2> <div class="headerbox"> <img src="images/poland-print-large.jpg" alt="When We All Arrive At Home" width="500" height="500" class="imgvox"/> </div> </div> </blockquote> <div align="center"></div> <blockquote> <p>I recently traveled to Poland to teach an intensive 4-day singing school arranged by Blazej Matusiak a Dominican Monk who leads a Sacred Harp singing at the priory on Freta St in Warsaw. The singing school covered rudiments, leading, accent, and learning songs and attracted about 40 singers from all across Poland. I've been encouraged to write a report of the singing school which I have attempted to do and have posted it below.</p> <p>There was much talk amongst the Polish singers of coming to America to go to a convention and we have begun planning in earnest how to make this happen.  There also was much talk about the first All Day Singing in Poland which is a very excellent and exciting concept.  They will need a lot of help and support from us to continue to enfold them in the Sacred Harp family. But they eager to learn and filled with the spirit of the music and it has been my complete privilege to be able to sing with them and share in this fellowship. </p> <div id="order"> <h2>A call for donations</h2> <p>I have created a print called  When We All Arrive At Home featuring the last verse of 146 (a favorite song amongst the Polish singers) and a stylized hollow square with the hope of raising money to help a group of Polish singers come to the United States for the Western Mass Convention this March. The print is a limited edition giclee print and is 8x10" square. The print makes an excellent holiday gift for a fellow singer and would probably look great on your wall too! I am asking for a donation of at least $50 for the print, though you are welcome to donate any amount to support the travel of the Polish singers.</p> <p>To make a donation, please click the donate button below and be sure to include your name and address when making a donation of $50 or more so I can send you the print.</p> <form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick"> <input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="10553230"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!"> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1"> </form> <br clear="all" /> </div> <p><strong>Read on, for a full account of my singing school in Poland this October:</strong></p> <br /><br /> <h2>Poland Singing School - <span>October 22nd-25th 2009</span></h2> <p class="assets"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/sacredharpwarsaw">Videos</a> and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.pl/awakemysoul.sh/WarsztatySacredHarpNaFreta2009">Photos</a> of the Polish Singing School.</p> <p>I have recently traveled to Warsaw Poland to teach an intensive 4-day singing school arranged by Blazej Matusiak a Dominican Monk from the priory on Freta St in Warsaw. I have been encouraged to write a report of the singing school and post it to the fasola list, I do that now in the hopes that it will prove interesting to some of you.</p> <p>I will begin with a little bit of background as to how I came to travel to Poland. As with most things in my singing life, it s probably all Tim Eriksen s fault. Tim was performing and teaching singing schools at the Jaroslav music festival last year. Magda, Tim s wife was there, as well as Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg. Unfortunately there wasn t enough money for me to go as well, but my interest in the Polish Sacred Harp Singing Caper was piqued. By all accounts the singing school went very well. One of the attendees at the singing school was this same Dominican Blazej. He is a great enthusiast of a wide variety of sacred music and was so inspireed by the music that he learned at the singing school that he decided to start a regular singing in his monestary in Warsaw. There are two other singings in Poland in Rzeszow and Magdalena Zapadowska Eriksen had started a singing in Poznan on her own, even before the Jaroslaw singing school.</p> <p>This past March, Blazej and Maciej Kazinski came to the States to come to the Western Massachusetts singing where I met them both. Maciej has a contagious mischievous enthusiasm and Blazej is constantly quietly surprising. Blazej also was very impressive to many of us singers by coming up with a new song to lead nearly every time we sang with him. We struck up an instant friendship on this brief visit and have kept in touch ever since.</p> <p>Blazej cooked up a scheme to have me come and teach a series of singing schools in the hopes of supporting the existing Warsaw singing and helping it to grow. I had very little idea what I was getting into as I struck off alone to travel to a foreign country where I did not speak the language, knew only two people, and would be staying in a monastery. Everything about the trip far surpassed my wildest dreams. Here is a summary of what we did in the singing schools: </p> <h3>Thursday 7-9</h3> <p>We made photocopies to use at the singing school as there are not enough books yet in Poland to allow all the singers to have their own. I brought 9 in my luggage that I left there to add to the handful that singers already had. There were more than 40 people who attended the singing school, most attended every session. The first lesson was from: 7-9pm and began with some introductory remarks by Blazej. We started with the rudiments and the shapes and the gamut. Singing it together and then doing intervals together. That night we learned 33b, 155, 274t, 49t, 278t I should say also that I did not have a translator, nearly all of the students spoke excellent English. And what is great about singing is that it s usually better to show someone something than to spend a lot of time talking about it. But really, I was endlessly impressed by everyone s excellent English. Also, I should say, one of the most striking things about the Polish singers is the quality of their singing. Part of this is, I suppose, cultural. I am fairly ignorant about this, but I believe much of the traditional Polish music has a strong, full-voice quality to it. And so, this was the first singing school I have every taught where I did not have to cajole the singers to  sing out! They just did it. It was totally excellent. But they paired this vocal strength with an even greater measure of warmth and hospitality that made me feel instantly and wonderfully at home. </p> <h3>Friday 6-9</h3> <p>We learned about the Modes of Time and their characteristics and how they are led and went through them with a song from each. We sang 49T, 203, 274T, 47B, 278T, 146, 131B. I also talked about the history of Shape-Note music and how it spread around the country and grew into Sacred Harp Singing and how that was carried on to today. One of the things that I focused on throughout the singing school was to try to give a sense of the tradition, and the stories and heritage that makes up Sacred Harp Singing. While always keeping in mind that this history can serve to enrich one s experience of it and lead to many things. One thing it can do it to help explain the  why of what we do, and point to further pursuit of the  whys of all the things I couldn t hope to get to in the time of the singing school. The other important reason for talking about the history and greater Sacred Harp context was to hopefully impart a sense of being connected to something greater than an individual. To give these new singers a connection to singers past and distant whom they have never met. It was also important to me to emphasize that though this music has this rich history in America, it could equally be their music. Not that they were borrowing my music. That they needed to listen carefully and be open to learning and respecting that tradition but they need to find, together, their own way to make it authentically theirs. I believe that they are, and will continue to be successful in this. </p> <h3>Saturday 10-3</h3> <p>On Saturday, on our long session we learned a few new songs: 268 to learn a little anthem. I chose this song especially because the base section in Poland is particularly impish in their demeanor and emphatic in their singing. So it seemed the logical choice not for the gravity of the song, but for the classic Billings Bass-part sound. Another song choice seemed particularly appropriate for other reasons; during some of my sight-seeing around Warsaw I saw a statue of Nicholas Copernicus, who was a famous Pole, and so we HAD to learn 112. Also, the alto singers are numerous and very strong and passionate in their singing. Also we learned 168, 178, and 29. They actually insisted on learning 86 although I had not intended to, and insisted that it actually sounded more Polish somehow. The tenor section, captained by Blazej was very excellent, not only did they tackle learning new songs in a foreign language (as all the singers did) but I noticed them all leading in their seats and taking on the responsibility of helping the leaders even as they were learning to lead themselves. No small feat and all achieved with great humility and simplicity. And last, but definitely not least, the treble section was ever the solid rock of the class. They had great skill and always seemed on top of things.</p> <p>We spent the majority of the day learning to lead. We went around the class with each student choosing a song to lead. Because 47B, 146, 274T are many of their favorite songs we sang those a great number of times that day. (We had not yet introduced the  been used phrase.) Nearly every student led a song and I was quite proud of all of them. The last lesson of the day was about accent. After the class adjourned a number of the students stayed after to listen to recordings, talk more, and ask more questions. I should mention a few other wonderful things about the singing school. The space where the singing school was held is a small chapel in the Monastery, but it has a lovely feature of a foosball table at one end that was put to good use at nearly every break. There was also a small kitchen across the hall, and at every break 3 electric kettles would be put on for tea and someone would make coffee. This was also the final day to plan the first dinner-on-the-grounds of sorts for the following day. The Polish singers took the charge of hospitality, cooking, and sharing tons of food to be an integral part of Sacred Harp Singing that they did not want to neglect. The instructions and conversations about the food were the only ones that happened entirely in Polish, which, I suppose points to how seriously the food was being approached: no room for confusion.</p> <h3>Sunday 10-6 with a long break for dinner.</h3> <p>We focused again on having everyone lead a song on Sunday and answering questions. We learned a few new songs (448t and 503.) Then at noon we had our first Dinner on the grounds. It was a tremendous success. We all sat down around the single long table in the student s kitchen in the Monastery. It was a tight fit, but we all managed to sit down and hand the dishes around to each other. There was an amazing and delicious variety of food to choose from. In typical Polish fashion there was soup with dinner. At this particular dinner there were three different soups. Beet Borscht, the clear vegetable soup that Magda made, very polish, and  Fasola soup.  Fasola is the polish word for bean, so this was a thick bean stew with sausages. Someone told me that when we they heard about  fasola.org they thought it was quite amusing, like looking for singing information at  kidneybean.com I think fasola foods may be a staple of future Polish Sacred Harp potlucks. There was also krokeity, meet and cheese, and, of course, many sweets. It was also Jacek s birthday so we had cake with candles and everyone (but me) sang happy birthday in Polish. (Which, I must admit, is a much better song than ours.)</p> <p>We had some more singing after dinner. At 5 we were to have a demonstration singing for the friends and family of the singers, as well as other guests. And so we decided to run it like a proper singing in order to practice the formalities and structures. So we elected officers, in the normal, somewhat ridiculous and charming way. Blazej was elected chair, I was elected Vice Chair, Mikolai was elected Secretary after some comments to the effect of  we should be able to be progressive and have a male secretary which I heartily encouraged. Magda was appointed to the arranging committee, and Blazej was the Chaplain. Magda got a list together of everyone who wanted to lead and she figured out who should lead when, and to accommodate as many singers who could only lead a few songs earlier in the singing. She definitely had a much more challenging job than the rest of us and did it most expertly. Blazej led a song, shared some welcoming remarks and explained a bit about the music, the singing school, and encouraged people to come to the regular singing if they wished. Then he said an opening prayer and the singing proceeded through the officers and on to the other singers. The singing was very good, if a little tired. Everyone had a giddy contagious enthusiasm to share with their friends and family this singing that they loved, and to represent the music and the singing at its best. One woman, Renata, who had never been comfortable leading a song yet led 146 with Ania and she was so blissful and wonderful while she was leading that you d think she had led for her whole life. It was truly a moving and wonderful moment for me, I was so proud of her and honored to be there for that moment.</p> <p>I will include the minutes that Mikolai wrote up at the end of this report. Only after editing the English minutes Just that day we had been talking about the concept of not repeating songs within a singing. And a few of the singers were acquainted with the phrase  been used but somehow we managed to sing 335 twice during that singing. Apparently reaching the end of 4 days of singing, and having sung that song a good handful of times earlier that day muddled me a bit. No one seemed to notice, and we all enjoyed ourselves just as much the second time, especially me.</p> <h3>Heading Home</h3> <p>We had another singing on the following Thursday; a  farewell singing for me. It was incredibly bitter sweet, so wonderful and so sad. There were many generous gifts from the Polish singers for me. But the greatest gift of all was the singing and their contagious love for the singing. It was so immensely moving and rejuvenating for me and it was heartbreaking to leave. There was much talk amongst the singers of coming to America to go to a convention and we began planning in earnest how to make this happen. There also was much talk about the first All Day Singing in Poland. Which is a very excellent and exciting concept. They will need a lot of help and support from us to continue to enfold them in the Sacred Harp family. But they eager to learn and filled with the spirit of the music and it has been my complete privilege to be able to sing with them and share in this fellowship.</p> <p>Here is an incomplete list of the Singing School Participants:</p> <ul class="participants"> <li>AGNIESZKA ANDRZEJCZAK</li> <li>BARBARA BORKOWICZ</li> <li>Jacek BORKOWICZ</li> <li>KATARZYNA DUDEK</li> <li>ANNA FAAAT</li> <li>Marcin GliDski</li> <li>MAGDALENA GRYSZKO</li> <li>PaweB Hryczuk</li> <li>EL{BIETA IZDEBSKA</li> <li>DOMINIKA JDRZEJCZAK</li> <li>ANNA KAyMIERAK</li> <li>MAAGORZATA KOZEK</li> <li>ALMA KUCHARSKA</li> <li>Justyna Kufel</li> <li>PATRYCJA KURPICSKA</li> <li>KATARZYNA KWARECKA-ZAJC</li> <li>JAKUB LIPSKI</li> <li>MAAGORZATA MACIEJEWSKA</li> <li>BAA{EJ MATUSIAK</li> <li>MARZENA MIKOSZ</li> <li>TOMASZ MOCHOC</li> <li>ZBIGNIEW MO{EJKO</li> <li>JUSTYNA ORLIKOWSKA</li> <li>ANNA PAWLAK</li> <li>JOANNA PAWLIKOWSKA</li> <li>Marek PawBowski</li> <li>Jadwiga Perycz</li> <li>MAAGORZATA PERYCZ</li> <li>MIKOAAJ PIETRUCH</li> <li>MAGDALENA RYBAK</li> <li>Agnieszka Senatorska</li> <li>AMELIA SKULIMOWSKA</li> <li>Renata STACHURA</li> <li>HONORATA STAFIEJ</li> <li>PIOTR SZYMANIEC</li> <li>Paulina TraczyDska</li> <li>Jadwiga WALKIEWICZ</li> <li>MaBgorzata WaBaszek</li> <li>URSZULA WIELOGORSKA</li> <li>ALEKSANDRA WAODARCZYK</li> <li>Marta Wnukiewicz</li> <li>Anna {óBtek</li> <li>Aukasz {óBtek</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p align="left"><a href="/"><span class="footer">Return to WMSHC homepage</span></a></p> </div> <div align="center" class="footer">Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Community, Inc. (WMSHC), a 501(c) non-profit organization, promotes community-based singing from The Sacred Harp through Sacred Harp Singing Schools, an annual Singing Convention and other educational and outreach activities. The Convention has no institutional, religious or political affiliation, but fosters the fellowship Sacred Harp singing engenders, and all who wish to participate are invited to lift their voices in song, regardless of musical training or ability.</div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-12082384-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script> </body> </html>