A DAY AT THE RANCH (RECORDING SESSIONS 1 - 3)

Happy day one of recording! Our choir got to Skywalker Ranch by 10am, and proceeded to record on and off for the next 11 hours. Exhausting work to stand, hold a heavy binder, and sing for that long, but it was so wonderful to sit in the side room and hear them work their way through some truly complex pieces. Lots of Thai food was eaten, and during their downtime our singers were treated to a tour of the grounds - including the beautiful Lake Ewok, the rows and rows of wine grapes, and a variety of wild hares. Three songs were completed today, shown below!

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LAO RAHAL SOTI

If my voice departs, your voices will not...
I see tomorrow and my heart is with you...
If the singer goes (dies), the songs will remain...
​bringing together the broken and suffering heart...

Inspired by Syrian composer Samih Choukeir's protest song 'Lao Rahal Soti', this hauntingly simple melody hopes to open a space for all those who have felt marginalized due to sociopolitical situations. We sang this piece in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the comfort it provides has remained just as present in the years following. While arranger Shireen Abu-Khader is not a PSU alumnus, she has worked alongside Ethan on and off since graduate school, and her beautifully somber arrangement has a valuable place on our album. 

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Fall

Session 2 was "Fall", by Chloe x Halle (Chloe & Halle Bailey), arranged by Chamber Choir alumnus Nic Nipp. We brought this arrangement on tour with us to Italy last Summer, and we're excited to be including it on this album! Nic joined us on this tour to lend his voice to the bass section, as well as to provide insight into the recording of his arrangement.

 I had the chance to sit down with him after the recording session, and here's what he had to say:
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    “I’m at such a loss of words right now - something like this has been a dream for a very long time, and just being here is.. I’m almost, like, having some serious imposter syndrome right now. I’m just in disbelief.

    But that being said, being fresh out of studying my audio degree and all of that, being here is very fulfilling. And educational too, because in school there were a lot of moments where we didn’t go as in-depth into a subject as I would’ve wanted to. So just getting to sit back and watch these three pro recording engineers utilize each other’s skills in so many different ways is valuable. They have a very set-in-stone system that I haven’t really seen before, because I haven’t worked on projects of this scale. It feels like engineers piloting a ship in Star Trek or Star Wars, which is very fitting for Skywalker sound.

     And so it’s all super surreal; Not only as a big sci fi nerd, but also as a big music nerd, and sonic arts enthusiast. I hope to publish and promote my arrangement of Fall more widely. And having the highest quality possible recording under my belt will not only help the PSU choirs, but could potentially help change my life. I mean, it already has. Just getting to be here is an incredibly life-changing experience.”

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Chris & Gabe

Chris & Gabe premiered at PSU's "Gender Bender" concert in 2018 - the kickoff of the de-gendering of our Soprano/Alto & Tenor/Bass choirs, & a celebration of the amazing gender-nonconforming singers who participate in our program. Vox Femina became Thorn Choir, and Man Choir became Rose Choir.

The text, arranged for choir by Gerald Gurss, is a conversation between 8 year old Gabe Lopez and his mother Chris, recorded for StoryCorps. The two discuss his experiences coming out as transgender, as well as his concerns for the future. The piece ends with a rousing back and forth between the treble and bass choirs: "I love you, I love you more, I love you most." Gurss shares on his website that this phrase comes from when he was little, and his mom would always end phone conversations with “I love you." You can listen to the full StoryCorps interview here.

Here's a sneak peek into our recording process, and the work it takes!! In the studio, the choir does not sing the piece in its entirety and hope for the best. Instead, the recording team has split the piece into fragments, to be masterfully stitched together in post. Many hours of fine-tuning and pitch correction are needed to bring this album together, it's tough work!! But our singers are up to the challenge. I'll be back tomorrow to share another selection of songs with you, thank you for reading!