All Eastern Honors Choir, 1989
Sunday, March 5, 1989
Boston Marriott Hotel, Boston Massachusetts
| Song Title | Arrangement by |
|---|---|
We Will Rejoice in Thy Salvation |
Handel |
Ave verum corpus |
Byrd |
Die Beredsamkeit (Eloquence) |
Hyadn |
O Schone Nact |
Lauridsen |
Io Piango |
Folke Rabe |
Keep Your lamps |
Andre Thomas |
A Red, Red, Rose |
Mulholland |
Iddem-Dem Mallida |
Makil-Gomez |
All Eastern Honors Choir
The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) was formerly known as the Music Educators National Conference (MENC). With more than 130,000 members, what was once known as MENC is now known as NAfME, and it remains the world's largest arts education association.
NAfMe (National Association for Music Education)
Six regional divisions across the US with Maryland belonging in the "Eastern Division"
1989 Specifically
Unlike all of the other honors choirs I was in, I actually have tons of data about this one, as I not only have a program but the program is packed with information. So let's see what we can find with some data and some Google.
Our Conductor
First up. We had an incredible conductor.
Rodney Eichenberger (1989)
From the program notes I have the following.
"Rodney Eichenberger is professor of Choral Music and conductor of the Chamber Singers at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the USC faculty in 1976, he was the chair of choral activities at the University of Washington in Seattle and musical director and conductor of the Seattle Symphony Chorus. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and the University of Denver with advanced studies at the University of Washington and the University of Iowa. Choirs under his direction have performed for division and national conventions of MENC and ACDA, at the International Choral Symposium in Vienna, Austria, the International Society of Music Education in Perth, Australia and the Inaugural Conference of the New Zealand Choral Federation in Wellington, New Zealand. He frequently guest conducts all-state and honor choirs, and lectures throughout the United States. Over the past 15 years he has held a number of appointments as artist in residence, visiting lecturer or guest conductor in Australia."
In 2020
I can't find much current for 2020. Except for this updated bio, which does not have a date or citation. I think it's from 2012 in reference to a DVD he was selling. His FB page is locked down tight, and there is no information on his linked in page. But, there is a single 2020 reference for a "Choral Conductors Workshop" with him as the instructor, so my hope is that he is still active and doing well. (A shame about losing the mustache. That was a truly Tom Selleck worthy mustache).
"Rodney Eichenberger, Florida State University Professor Emeritus, continues to maintain a busy professional schedule elsewhere. He has conducted 80 US All State Choirs and guest conducted or lectured at more than 85 US, Australian and New Zealand Universities. International appearances include guest conducting the Korean National Chorus in Seoul, the Pusan, Korea City Choir, International High School Honor Choirs in Tokyo and Berlin and leading conducting workshops in Argentina, Brazil, France, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, Austria, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. His instructional videos on Choral Conducting," What They See Is What You Get," published by Hinshaw Music and "Enhancing Musicality Through Movement," Santa Barbara Press, are widely used in collegiate conducting classes. A graduate of St. Olaf College with advanced study at the Universities of Denver, Washington and Iowa, he taught at the University of Washington and the University of Southern California prior to his appointment at Florida State University."
People
One of the things I have always wanted to do was to digitize the program notes and do some data analysis, but the thought of typing in all that data was too much. Fast forward 30 years and OCR to the rescue. Specifically, the software OneNote has excellent OCR (Image to Text) capabilities, so with some pictures of the program from a cell phone and some data cleaning, viola! We have data.
People in Red
In my copy of the program I have 10 People that I met and circled in RED.
Hum. How about a small experiment? I'll join one of the People Finders websites and see how many I can find.
So, we have the following 10 names.
- SOPRANO I Milanaik Ruth Lynn RIverhead H.S. RIverhead NY
- SOPRANO Il Hillman Lee C. Harley School Rochester NY
- ALTO Il Bohne Erika Lisa Shenendehowa H.S. CliftonPArk NY
- TENOR Il Beaule Richard Penns MAnor Area Jr.-Sr. H.S. Clymer PA
- TENOR Il Kumar Srinivas John Jay H.S. Hopewell Junction NY
- BASS I Bongiovi Thomas Williamsville South H.S. Williamsville NY
- BASS I Matulewicz Steven W. Marshfield H.S. Marshfield MA
- BASS I Schick William Bohemia Manor H.S., Chesapeake City, MD
- BASS Il Jamison Kyle Bristol H.S. Bristol RI
- BASS Il Johnston John Wayne IndianRIver Central H.S. Philadelphia NY
While we wait and see what happens with that, let's continue.
Update 5-30-2020. 6 of 10 People found from a combination of Linked In, Facebook, and emails.
Update 7-1-2020. One more person for 7/10.
A Huge Choir
This choir had 394 choir members (That is a very big choir)
Most likely the largest choir I have ever been a member of.
Ok for those of you not in choir, that is a REALLY large choir.
Have I mentioned that this is a HUGE choir yet?
Lee Hillman
(Sheesh, of course she gets her own section)
So I present to you my favorite picture of the trip.
The incomparable Lee Hillman
(I so wish I didn't look like a deer in the headlights, but that alas, is the standard look of an 17 year old male teenager)
Other Remembrances
- Srinivas had the first 100 digits of PI written on his tennis shoe and as a party trick would give you his shoe and then recite every number. I'm so interested to know what became of this.
- The choral director did not think we were feeling one of the pieces of music in Latin, so I remember walking around in a circle singing the song as we practiced at during the last hour of the evening so that we could really understand the music
- On the train and way back to MD I was sitting with my parents and talking about the concert. Then the car door between trains opened and down the aisle walked the conductor Rodney Eichenberger. I said to my Day "hey look there is my conductor" and Dad replied "you don't have a personal conductor, it's a train." Yep, hard to make this stuff up. But after the miscommunication, I said hi to Dr. Eichenberge and made some small talk. I was so impressed that he sat with us for a couple of minutes before moving on. He didn't need to as his job was done and I'm sure he was tired, but in doing so really showed the incredible man he is.
Song Titles
Finding Song Titles
How hard is it to find the title of a song?
It's really easy when you have a complete copy of the program.
History and Technical Specs
If you have read this far, why not take the red pill and go all the way?
March 2020