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Worthy of Note
Master Singers: making music masterfully: The lure of a cappella singing, if it is done well, may be its elegant simplicity. Another lure may be that each note is clearly heard, each given its moment to be appreciated and savored. When the 28 voices of the Loudoun-based Master Singers of Virginia come together, the audience is given a bouquet of notes, notes that are honed and refined to their purest state.
Choral music was first heard in the Medieval era with Gregorian chant among the most popular. The compositions were written for the churches and intended to be sung in the churches. A cappella, in fact, means, "in the chapel." Since church design is basically the same today, churches are still the best place to hear this music because of the acoustics.
Founder, artistic director
But new songs have been written for a cappella performances and among those writing the new songs is the founder and artistic director of the Master Singers of Virginia, Erik Reid Jones.
Reid Jones' 15 original compositions listed on MSVA's Web site include "Ave Maria," "Go Down, Death," "I'm Gonna Sing 'til the Spirit Moves Me in My Heart," "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger," and "Ukrainian Bell Carol." The site indicates Reid Jones writes primarily for a cappella choir, but that a number of his works also include piano and other instruments.
The focus, Reid Jones explains, is choral work of the 20th and 21st century.
"We have evolved into being a group that focuses on 20th and 21st century choral music, and we do some of the finest works of the 21st century," Reid Jones said.
He said he avoids the use of the phrase "contemporary music."
"I prefer to describe it as modern music by living composers if I have my choice of terminology. The term contemporary just has a lot of associations in the modern mind that I just don't necessarily want to go along with it. Contemporary pop, contemporary church music are very, very different. We concentrate on music of great artistic and spiritual beauty. While we do concerts almost exclusively in modern music, we never do music that's painful to listen to. While challenging, you will always get experiences that are new and varied and interesting. We feel very proud of that," Reid Jones said.
Reid Jones, who lives in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., founded the group 13 years ago.
"I founded it because there was a need for great small-ensemble a cappella choral music out here in the Northern Virginia area. The Loudoun Chorale had started out the previous year, and its focus is on being a community ensemble with instruments, and we wanted to focus on smaller a cappella work and so I founded the group," Reid Jones said.
There were about 16 singers in that first group that Reid Jones described as "a good, balanced ensemble."
"It's grown in size, obviously, but it's at a cap right now at 28 singers. We won't go any higher than that. It's certainly evolved into being the best choir in Northern Virginia. The Washington Post has referred to us as being the best choral ensemble in Northern Virginia and we are very proud of that. It's evolved to doing very difficult music," Reid Jones said.
He added that comments from critics and audiences have included "rapturous," "eminently listenable," and "challenging yet extremely rewarding."
Concert
The upcoming Christmas concert is titled "An Olde-English Christ-Mass," the spelling and punctuation evoking Dickensian holiday images.
DDE_LINK1" DDE_LINK1So what we're trying to evoke is the spirit and feeling of a turn-of-the-century English Christmas Eve concert and we've got some readers there who are going to read stories of Christmas, poetry, and we have a harpist," Reid Jones said.
The harpist is Beth Mailand who was principal harpist with the United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” in Washington, D.C., 1986 to 2006.
But the program includes more than quality music.
"We're going to also have some official English Christmas food. It's going to be fun. There's going to be some audience participation. They really have been the most popular, and this is one of the few times the singers will be performing works suitable for children," Reid Jones explained, pointing out that the type of music the Master Singers normally does is not designed for children. This concert is different.
"People are encouraged to bring children 5 and older," Reid Jones said.
Alto
Mary Ellen Bufalo is the president of the board of the Master Singers of Virginia. The Ashburn resident is in her fourth season.
"I was a fan for five years. I was in the Loudoun Chorale and would go to concerts for Master Singers and would be so impressed. I wanted to be a part of it," Bufalo said.
Bufalo said the group has shown consistent improvement ever since its beginning.
"The group has improved enormously even through the time I was a fan prior to being a member. The men's section has gotten much, much better. Now we have a fair number of people with degrees in music. This has sort of changed the group for the better," Bufalo said.
Bufalo also attributes the group's improvement to a change in the way it rehearses.
"Just a few years ago, we went a cappella even during rehearsals and it's really made us a lot stronger in our parts because you can't rely on the piano during rehearsal. You have to know your notes," Bufalo said.
Describing Reid Jones, Bufalo said, "As a director, he's very dynamic. He's very active and he hears everything and so when we're learning the music he can figure out if there's a problem and get the tone right and the balance right," Bufalo said.
This attention to detail has brought rewards to the Singers that have little to do with money.
"Last year we were singing at the Waterford Concert Series and the Alden Concert Series in McLean and then we've been working on getting a date for singing at the Kennedy Center for the a cappella music festival in spring," Bufalo said.
Bass
Ted Fredrick of Herndon is in his second year with the Master Singers.
"I found out about it through an acquaintance. I was in the Sterling Playmakers' production of "1776" and one of the my fellow cast members is in the group. He said they're looking for a bass and he asked me if I'd like to audition and I contacted the director and went and auditioned and got selected," Fredrick said.
Fredrick said he had also sung for years with the Naval Academy Glee Club in Annapolis and the Virginia Symphony Chorus based in Norfolk.
"I did 30 years in the Navy and retirement gave me time to do stuff like this," Fredrick said.
His experiences have also served as something of a measuring stick.
"The strong points of the Master Singers are the ensemble blend, the blend of the whole choir, all the voices. It's the best group I've ever sung with. I think that Dr. Jones has a lot to do with it, but I think that what you have is 28 people who like to sing and are essentially very talented. ... I would say that this is a hidden treasure," Fredrick said.
(In n addition to the Master Singers of Virginia (formerly the Loudoun County Master Singers), Reid Jones has been the artistic director of the Masterworks Chorale of Shepherd University,
Shepherdstown, W.Va.,
a 100-voice choir concentrating on choral/orchestral masterpieces; artistic director of the Chamber Singers of Shepherd University,
Shepherdstown, W.Va., concentrating on a cappella choral music of the Renaissance and 20th century; the artistic director of the Women's Camerata of Shepherd University
Shepherdstown, W.Va.; and the artistic director of the Harford Choral Society in
Harford County, Md., concentrating on Baroque and 20th-century choral/orchestral music. )
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com
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