There are several different ways to get involved in vocal ensembles on campus. There are several a capella groups on campus, as well as the opportunity to take voice lessons with the voice professors in the conservatory. However, the chorus that I have spent the most amount of time in so far is Cantala, the all women’s chorus.
While being in any choir is an amazing experience, being in a women’s ensemble creates a space unlike other mixed groups. Although we don’t have the same range that a mixed group might have, we can make our voices into something new.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Most women’s choirs and music are angelic and beautiful, and that’s all that is involved with them. But we do not try to follow that rule in Cantala. With our director, Phillip Swan, we continue to push the limit about what a women’s ensemble should sound like. Just last year, we performed “Moon Goddess” by Jocelyn Hagen. While the piece starts out very sweet and reverent with piano and drum accompaniment, it quickly evolves into a passionate, fast moving, and incredible piece of music. It praises the moon goddess, Inana, in a fervor of music. The song, complicated and intense, is exactly what Cantala is trying to showcase about how women’s ensembles can be. And we are continuing that tradition this year.
On February 27th, Cantala will be performing at the national ACDA conference in Kansas City, Missouri. This year, our program is titled “The Beautiful Misfits.” Many of the pieces are similar to “Moon Goddess” last year, exploring womanhood, separation, and being an outcast one way or another. One of the pieces we are performing in Kansas City is “Song of Perfect Propriety” by Carol Barnett. This piece is a perfect collection of all of the topics we are singing about, with the style continually switching back and forth between the sweet and beautiful sounds that women choirs are usually heard like, and a more gritty and down-to-earth sound. The sound explores the things that the singer, a female pirate sailing on the ocean, wishes to experience. The song is powerful and unapologetic, taking pride in the strength that women have. Many of our other songs also touch on the separation and alienation that many misfits often experience. Our program shows this through several different avenues: religion, culture, society, and the celebration of the individual. Each section illuminates this theme, whether singing about the Virgin Mary who gave birth under less than normal circumstances, singing a piece influenced by a culture that has continuously been persecuted, or a song about female pirates. Each song represents a different type of misfit in today’s world, just like a women’s ensemble can be a ‘misfit’ sometimes as well.
Going to Kansas City and performing at the national ACDA conference will be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. However, I know that we will be able to go there and represent Lawrence University in our best light.
