University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, November 8, 1988
5
Glimpse
Compelled to conduct
Conducting a practice in the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, Ralston uses as much arm span as possible.
Ralston uses all his concentration and strength to conduct the choir in the climax of a requiem.
ABOVE: Ralston looks proud in class the day after the concert as the choir begins rehearsing Christmas music. RIGHT: During a moment by himself, Ralston reviews his music while listening to the pipe organ, in the background.
A love for 'legitimate music'
James Ralston, who calls himself a lover of great music, doesn't spend his spare time watching MTV.
Ralston, the director of the University of Kansas Chamber Choir, is more attuned to Mozart, Brahms, Schubert and Durufle. He listens to what he calls "legitimate music" — classical music with 19th century roots, jazz and choral music.
Ralston he loved directing KU's most select choir.
"My job is to instill the desire to perform great music," Halston said. I try to help give young people the opportunity to grow young, with the monuments of our heritage.
Balston has been the director of choir activities since 1906. He received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in music education at the University of Kansas.
He has used his education to teach •
performance. On Sunday, he led the
chamber choir in a performance of
the Worship of God at the St.
Lawrence Catholic Center.
"It is a great opportunity for the choir to tackle the Requem," Alston said. "I feel very fortunate to even be able to wrestle those materials."
usy the end of this semester the choir will have given four performances. The choir has some lighter material that is not from the 19th century, but the bulk of its repertoire came from the 'great music'. Raston said.
Recently the choir has been singing
The 26 chair members receive class credit for their work. They rehearse about five hours a week. Auditions are held every semester to replace members who graduate or choose to not continue with the chair.
many selections in Latin. The choir has also performed works in German, French, Russian, Spanish, Hungarian and Romanian.
Although Raiston said that he some times left rehearsals frustrated and wondering whether a performance would work out, he is compelled to teach his students to recognize musical masterpieces.
"He expects and demands quality from us, and gets it," Brookman, an Overland Park senior, said. "That is the most satisfying part of being in the choir. The end result is the end of a career associated with it until it’s been completed."
"Good heavens!" he said. "Mozart is a genius. There is just so much of the human spirit in his Requiems." One of the chair members, Harriet Brockman, said that Ralston inspired and encouraged her in the choir.
Brockman, an alto, said that her favorite selection the choir had performed was Brahms "Love Songs," which the choir did last semester.
Ralston said he was concerned about too much reliance on the work of 19th-century composers such as Brahms.
"who will be the geniuses of the 20th century?" Ralston asked.
While singing a Mozart requiem, Brian McCalpin, St. Louis senior, and Sarah Young, Dodge City graduate student, work to attain perfect pitch.
Photos by Laura Husar Story by Deb Gruver