Singing to be strong

By WILLIAM DART

On the eve of the National Finale of the Big Sing 2002, I'm reminded of William Byrd's introduction to a 1588 edition of his Psalms, Sonets and Songs of Sadness and Pietie.

In a few lines, the English composer lists the various benefits of singing. These range from strengthening all parts of the body and opening the pipes to perfecting one's pronunciation and becoming a good orator. Byrd ends with a couplet that itself cries out for a musical setting:

Since singing is so good a thing

I wish all men would learn to sing.

Neil Denney is the education and development co-ordinator of the New Zealand Choral Federation which is the driving force behind the Big Sing. He takes Byrd's advice seriously, translating it into contemporary Kiwi. "Singing is such a liberating thing," he says. "It helps to make you feel like part of a team and, after a hard week of work, there's nothing better than getting up with a group of other people and singing your lungs out."

This is the second Big Sing for Denney, an enthusiastic singer, who grew up on the eisteddfod tradition over the Tasman ("a little like the Big Sing with an Australian accent"). Last year's was his first and he enthuses about a group from Marlborough Girls College who sang Josie Burdon's Atapo with "lyrics in Maori and English, and one girl singing a karanga through it which was hauntingly beautiful".

This is the 15th year that young singers have come together for this celebration and the numbers are impressive, culled from 118 schools, 180 choirs and 5000 secondary school students, to 20 finalists who will compete for the big prize at Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday.

The numbers shouldn't startle. "Our last census showed that 300,000 people take part in some sort of group singing and it's a wide range of music, not just church and community singing groups. Let's not forget the barbershop, a cappella and gospel groups."

Of the finalists, nine groups represent seven Auckland schools, with two apiece from St Cuthbert's and Rangitoto College.

St Cuthbert's music teacher Wendy Patston has a missionary zeal when it comes to singing and she points out she has a waiting list to get into her junior choirs. Patston is particular when it comes to the sound, preferring it to be "full, rounded and robust rather than thin and airy", and spurs her students to "get the buzz of going beyond the notes and owning the music, so the music becomes part of them and they can communicate it to an audience".

The Big Sing is not just vocalising. "More and more they're moving into choral choreography, influenced by Pacific Island and Maori groups for whom music is inevitably linked to movement.

"The great moment for me last year in Christchurch was when 600 students sang Christopher Marshall's Minoi Minoi with a Samoan clapping routine. It was conducted by Igelese Ete who bonded with the singers in a special way," Denney says.

And what is the ultimate goal? "Promoting a uniquely New Zealand sound. It's evolving now through our increasingly multicultural society, a mix of western, Maori and Pacific Island. Wonderful harmonies and marvellous rich vowels which show the influence of Te Reo."

Be warned. The sound of 680 full-voiced students under conductor Brian Law on Wednesday night, giving Handel's Zadok the Priest all they've got, might just lift the roof.

* The Big Sing national finale, Auckland Town Hall, Wednesday 7.30pm.