Council Bluffs Nonpareil: Omaha MasterSingers Group
Seeks Singers for Youth Choir
January 26th, 2017
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The Omaha MasterSingers chorus is recruiting young singers for its new youth choir, Diminuendo.
The group for children in third through eighth grades will join the adult choir for its next concert, on April 2. The program, Modern Troubadours, will feature the music of the greatest singer-songwriters of the modern era, including Simon & Garfunkel, Billy Joel, James Taylor and many others. .... Continue Reading |
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The MasterSingers Make the List of 31 Hidden Gems in Omaha according to B2 Interactive!
At B² Interactive, we know quite a bit about getting local Omaha businesses found online. But there’s one thing that even we continue to learn about local visibility—our city has a treasure trove of off-the-beaten path places to go! That’s why we’re shining a light on some of the best hidden gems in Omaha.
No, we’re not talking the really obvious choices you’ve seen on other “things to do in Omaha” lists, like The Durham Museum or Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium. Those Omaha hot spots get plenty of recognition, which is why we’re focusing on places that you may have heard about (or not) and haven’t yet visited. Why? Because we want you to get out there and experience these hidden treasures for yourself! .... Continue Reading
No, we’re not talking the really obvious choices you’ve seen on other “things to do in Omaha” lists, like The Durham Museum or Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium. Those Omaha hot spots get plenty of recognition, which is why we’re focusing on places that you may have heard about (or not) and haven’t yet visited. Why? Because we want you to get out there and experience these hidden treasures for yourself! .... Continue Reading
The MasterSingers Perform at the 2014 Omaha Holiday Lights Festival Tree Lighting Ceremony
Downtown Omaha aglow for Holiday Lights - Omaha World Herald 11/27/14
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Hundreds attended the Thanksgiving-evening lighting ceremony to watch dozens of dark trees light up and to celebrate the beginning of Omaha’s Holiday Lights Festival. Continue HERE
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When Choirs Sing, Many Hearts Beat As One - NPR 7/14/2013
by ANNA HAENSCH
July 10, 2013 1:43 PM
Members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir raise their voices in unison — and perhaps unify their heart rates, too.
George Frey/Getty Images
We open our hymnals to Hymn 379, and we begin to sing. "God is Love, let heav'n adore him / God is Love, let earth rejoice ..."
Lifting voices together in praise can be a transcendent experience, unifying a congregation in a way that is somehow both fervent and soothing. But is there actually a physical basis for those feelings?
To find this out, researchers of the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied the heart rates of high school choir members as they joined their voices. Their findings, published this week in Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirm that choir music has calming effects on the heart — especially when sung in unison.
A Swedish researcher explains how heart rates become synchronized when people sing together.
Credit: Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenberg
Using pulse monitors attached to the singers' ears, the researchers measured the changes in the choir members' heart rates as they navigated the intricate harmonies of a Swedish hymn. When the choir began to sing, their heart rates slowed down.
"When you sing the phrases, it is a form of guided breathing," says musicologist Bjorn Vickhoff of the Sahlgrenska Academy who led the project. "You exhale on the phrases and breathe in between the phrases. When you exhale, the heart slows down."
But what really struck him was that it took almost no time at all for the singers' heart rates to become synchronized. The readout from the pulse monitors starts as a jumble of jagged lines, but quickly becomes a series of uniform peaks. The heart rates fall into a shared rhythm guided by the song's tempo.
"The members of the choir are synchronizing externally with the melody and the rhythm, and now we see it has an internal counterpart," Vickhoff says.
This is just one little study, and these findings might not apply to other singers. But all religions and cultures have some ritual of song, and it's tempting to ask what this could mean about shared musical experience and communal spirituality.
"It's a beautiful way to feel. You are not alone but with others who feel the same way," Vickhoff says.
He plans to continue exploring the physical and neurological responses of our body to music on a long-term project he calls Body Score. As an instructor, he wonders how this knowledge might be used to create more cohesive group dynamic in a classroom setting or in the workplace.
"When I was young, every day started with a teacher sitting down at an old organ to sing a hymn," Vickhoff says. "Wasn't that a good idea — to get the class to think, 'We are one, and we are going to work together today.' "
Perhaps hymns aren't for everyone, but we want to know, what songs soothe your heart? For a bit of inspiration, we've included a clip of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose members know a lot about singing together.
by ANNA HAENSCH
July 10, 2013 1:43 PM
Members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir raise their voices in unison — and perhaps unify their heart rates, too.
George Frey/Getty Images
We open our hymnals to Hymn 379, and we begin to sing. "God is Love, let heav'n adore him / God is Love, let earth rejoice ..."
Lifting voices together in praise can be a transcendent experience, unifying a congregation in a way that is somehow both fervent and soothing. But is there actually a physical basis for those feelings?
To find this out, researchers of the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied the heart rates of high school choir members as they joined their voices. Their findings, published this week in Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirm that choir music has calming effects on the heart — especially when sung in unison.
A Swedish researcher explains how heart rates become synchronized when people sing together.
Credit: Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenberg
Using pulse monitors attached to the singers' ears, the researchers measured the changes in the choir members' heart rates as they navigated the intricate harmonies of a Swedish hymn. When the choir began to sing, their heart rates slowed down.
"When you sing the phrases, it is a form of guided breathing," says musicologist Bjorn Vickhoff of the Sahlgrenska Academy who led the project. "You exhale on the phrases and breathe in between the phrases. When you exhale, the heart slows down."
But what really struck him was that it took almost no time at all for the singers' heart rates to become synchronized. The readout from the pulse monitors starts as a jumble of jagged lines, but quickly becomes a series of uniform peaks. The heart rates fall into a shared rhythm guided by the song's tempo.
"The members of the choir are synchronizing externally with the melody and the rhythm, and now we see it has an internal counterpart," Vickhoff says.
This is just one little study, and these findings might not apply to other singers. But all religions and cultures have some ritual of song, and it's tempting to ask what this could mean about shared musical experience and communal spirituality.
"It's a beautiful way to feel. You are not alone but with others who feel the same way," Vickhoff says.
He plans to continue exploring the physical and neurological responses of our body to music on a long-term project he calls Body Score. As an instructor, he wonders how this knowledge might be used to create more cohesive group dynamic in a classroom setting or in the workplace.
"When I was young, every day started with a teacher sitting down at an old organ to sing a hymn," Vickhoff says. "Wasn't that a good idea — to get the class to think, 'We are one, and we are going to work together today.' "
Perhaps hymns aren't for everyone, but we want to know, what songs soothe your heart? For a bit of inspiration, we've included a clip of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose members know a lot about singing together.
Omaha World Herald Thursday, April 11, 2013
MasterSingers, children join voices for concert
By Bob Fischbach
World-Herald Staff Writer
« GoMore Sharing ServicesShareShare on twitterShare on email
The MasterSingers, a 35-voice chorus, will be joined by the voices of about 50 children when singing songs from the movies at its Sunday concert.
“Adults singing Disney music is nice,” director D. Laureen Pickle said. “But kids singing Disney is awesome. So we thought this would be a great concert to add kids.”
RELATED LINKS
» MasterSingers Omaha
A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
What: MasterSingers choral concert
Where: All Saints Episcopal Church, 9302 Blondo St.
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $15 adults, $13 senior citizens and students. Children under 12 free.
Information: 402-250-0785 or [email protected]
The 3 p.m. concert, titled “A Night at the Movies,” is at All Saints Episcopal Church, 9302 Blondo St.
Pickle, who teaches music at Phoenix Academy, 66th Street and Western Avenue, and at Wilson Focus School, 50th and F Streets, invited her students to join the concert with MasterSingers, whom she described as Omaha's premier a cappella jazz vocal group.
The students are excited for the chance to sing with caring professional adults in a concert atmosphere, Pickle said.
“And the MasterSingers are thrilled because they feel, like me, that if we don't instill this appreciation for the arts in younger people, it will disappear.”
The concert program will include “Nobody Does It Better” from “The Spy Who Loved Me”; the theme from “Amistad,” with African dance group Sankofa; “Colors of the Wind” from “Pocahontas”; “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio”; and the evening's closer, “You've Got a Friend in Me” from “Toy Story.”
The adults will sing “Falling Slowly” from “Once”; “Moon River” from “Breakfast at Tiffany's”; the title song from “The Way We Were”; and more. The men will sing “Mrs. Robinson” from “The Graduate.” The women will sing the Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” from “Lord of War.” The kids will sing “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King.”
Pickle said she recalls vividly times from her childhood when she got to perform with adults.
“If the kids never sing again, or perform in public again, I want them to remember this concert for the rest of their lives,” she said. “We don't expect them to become professional musicians, but we want them to be lifelong lovers of the arts.”
Contact the writer: 402-444-1269, [email protected]
By Bob Fischbach
World-Herald Staff Writer
« GoMore Sharing ServicesShareShare on twitterShare on email
The MasterSingers, a 35-voice chorus, will be joined by the voices of about 50 children when singing songs from the movies at its Sunday concert.
“Adults singing Disney music is nice,” director D. Laureen Pickle said. “But kids singing Disney is awesome. So we thought this would be a great concert to add kids.”
RELATED LINKS
» MasterSingers Omaha
A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
What: MasterSingers choral concert
Where: All Saints Episcopal Church, 9302 Blondo St.
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $15 adults, $13 senior citizens and students. Children under 12 free.
Information: 402-250-0785 or [email protected]
The 3 p.m. concert, titled “A Night at the Movies,” is at All Saints Episcopal Church, 9302 Blondo St.
Pickle, who teaches music at Phoenix Academy, 66th Street and Western Avenue, and at Wilson Focus School, 50th and F Streets, invited her students to join the concert with MasterSingers, whom she described as Omaha's premier a cappella jazz vocal group.
The students are excited for the chance to sing with caring professional adults in a concert atmosphere, Pickle said.
“And the MasterSingers are thrilled because they feel, like me, that if we don't instill this appreciation for the arts in younger people, it will disappear.”
The concert program will include “Nobody Does It Better” from “The Spy Who Loved Me”; the theme from “Amistad,” with African dance group Sankofa; “Colors of the Wind” from “Pocahontas”; “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio”; and the evening's closer, “You've Got a Friend in Me” from “Toy Story.”
The adults will sing “Falling Slowly” from “Once”; “Moon River” from “Breakfast at Tiffany's”; the title song from “The Way We Were”; and more. The men will sing “Mrs. Robinson” from “The Graduate.” The women will sing the Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” from “Lord of War.” The kids will sing “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King.”
Pickle said she recalls vividly times from her childhood when she got to perform with adults.
“If the kids never sing again, or perform in public again, I want them to remember this concert for the rest of their lives,” she said. “We don't expect them to become professional musicians, but we want them to be lifelong lovers of the arts.”
Contact the writer: 402-444-1269, [email protected]
