Alright everybody, as you may be aware, the 3rd anniversary of Mrs. Gunther's tragic passing is next weekend (Oct 17). I know there's more than a few people out there who miss her every bit as much as I do, and if you're one of those people, I think you'll probably agree that we might as well try to do what we can to commemorate her amazing life and the impact she had on all of us.
Since I'm living away from Calgary, I'm not going to be able to attend any memorial gatherings in town, which I'm very sad about. Nonetheless, I was throwing ideas around with one James Billingsley a little while ago, and we came up with what I thought was a pretty nifty tribute idea.
What we want to do is produce a recording of the tune "Siyahamba" that we always used to sing in choir, with as many ex-Gunther students as we can get singing on it. I've prepared a compressed folder download with the full 4-voice arrangement, as well as the 4 isolated vocal parts, played on piano. What we need YOU to do is this:
1. Download the recording template folder
2. Using Garageband or whatever audio recording method is convenient for you, record yourself singing your vocal part along with the template download (wear headphones so the keyboard track doesn't get picked up by your microphone!). Singing along with the template will allow us all to be in unison tempo and pitch, even though we're all doing this in different places. If you need a little bit of help, here's a few links:
"siyahamba" sung by an actual choir (in case you forget how the words go and stuff!)
"siyahamba" printed lyrics
3. send me the recording of JUST YOUR VOICE (by email, or zshare, mediafire, whatever) so that I can compile all the different voices and mix together a master recording of everyone singing together. Please email me at brendanmcguigan@shaw.ca
And that's it! What I would really like to do (pipe dream maybe?) is release the master recording next weekend as a charity download mp3, with all proceeds going towards starting a fund for an Audrey Gunther Memorial Scholarship Fund. HOWEVER, in order to do that we need to make the recording first! So, if you have the equipment and technical know-how to record yourself, or if you know someone else who does, please consider taking the time to add your voice to what I hope will be a lovely tribute to a very meaningful teacher who meant the world to a whole lot of us. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to email me at brendanmcguigan@shaw.ca
Oh, and please don't worry about trying to make a note-perfect, high-quality recording. I don't want anybody losing any sleep over this. It is not a big deal if your recording has a tiny difference in rhythm from the template, or if it's a little hissy, or quiet, or whatever. Just send me whatever you can throw together, and I'll handle the rest. I think the most important thing is to have as many different people on this recording as we can, so don't let trying to make a professional-sound recording stand in the way of you getting your track to me. That being said, if you can send the recording in .wav format, that would be ideal.
Thanks guys and gals, and hope to hear from you soon!
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving! Everyone chill with your families and take 'er easy now
-Brendan
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Hi Brendan,
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was in Arizona when I heard the news of Mrs. Gunther's passing. I was one of the fortunate one's who worked with Audrey when she first came to St. Mary's and helped her with transitioning the choir. We had the same voice teacher so quite frequently I had helped do sectional work with her. I am so blessed to hear that you are doing this work with Siyahamba.
I had originally planned on working on a side choir with the help of Mrs. Gunther, and purchased about thirty pieces that I thought would be fun pieces to work with, I still have those originals. Mrs. Gunther went through those choral works with me and actually had asked my permission to take five of the pieces to work with the school choir on, one of them being Siyahamba.
I never realized that after I graduated that Mrs. Gunther continually worked on the pieces that I gave her so long ago, and that you are working on this piece is so special to me that I get to celebrate that experience and her life with working on it again.
Audrey Gunther was such a support and inspiration I went on and did my Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre and Opera and I never got to share that with her, I always wanted to thank her, and in a way, you have provided me with that way to do it.
Thank you so very, very much.
Joanne Margaret Martens.
thefamousone@hotmail.com