Harry Warren

The world's first gold record...

The most hits on Your Hit Parade ever...

Over 500 published songs, and his hits are household songs, even 60 years later.

1949 Director of ASCAP...

11 Academy award nominations and three awards for Movie's Best Song.....

And have you heard of Harry Warren?

Success, even in performing arts, is not equal to fame.

Is he a master composer? Yes, without doubt. Is that recognized? No.

Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" reviewed the 2001 revival:

"What better show to install in that theater than -- of course -- a newly opulent ''42nd Street,'' with its finger-snapping anthems to Broadway and Times Square?

Those anthems, by the immortal team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, remain among the most infectious songs ever written about Manhattan, as energetic, tough-hearted and self-romanticizing as the island itself. No sooner does the orchestra at the Ford Center strike up the overture (beginning with ''We're in the Money'') than you feel yourself grinning."

in 2009, American Songwriter Magazine editor Paul Zollo writes:

"the advent of rock and roll changed the game... He moved away from the short form of songs to write a masterwork - a Latin Mass - completed in 1962. Sadly, there was little interest in it, and it went unheard for a decade until Loyola Marymouth University staged a performance of it. To this day, though, it has never been recorded."

Somebody ought to remedy that.

Harmonic Vocabulary

Dear Hal,

You raised a fabulous question I've been chewing on: "dumbing down arrangements", especially on "Almost". Since I write in a lot of styles, it's a conscious choice for me, and I'll explain why:

it's a matter of using a vocabulary your audience understands.

If the audience was just you and me, for example, we could sing 12-tone rows and poly-chordal arrangements, and groove on those. I've written some of those. Contemporary acapella lovers can go pretty far afield with nameless chords, poly-rhythms and hair-pin changes of style - if that's your audience, you write for them. I suppose the far extreme might be cartoon character Hank (King of the) Hill saying "I like both kinds of music, country AND western." - for Hank's ilk, you don't even sing a 6th chord because they'd hear those chords as "errors"

Kinda like singing in Latin or French - right for the right crowd & wrong for the wrong crowd - depends on how well your audience knows the vocabulary by the time you are done.

Now consider what little we know of the judges of the Forest Grove Barbershop Ballad competition and the opinions of the coach we had who has judged that event. Recall in "Nose to Nose" that his ear objected to the no-fifth chord at the end and wanted a full chord. In "Wink", one sixteenth note of an open fifth chord ("old jalopy") needed a third to be fixed, and we did it and will do it. But this gives us a strong clues on what vocabulary his barbershop audience will understand - and it doesn't include 2 note chords. By extrapolation, most of the audiences we will have will understand BBS style, since our agent Tom's contacts are in that world.

"Almost" uses vocabulary the barbershop crowd will ALMOST but not quite understand: open fifth beginning, (to that ear, making our first sound to sound "wrong") major 7 9 6 chords in tag ("al-most like"), and the swipe ending the intro.

Generally, the mutually exclusive alternatives are:

• present and teach a new language entertainingly.
• let the audience dislike what you are doing.
• cater to the audience's familiarities
  

For this barbershop competition, the choices are

1. re-arrange the tune to the style (I don't like the idea - the arrangement we have has it's own quirky charm, and I personally LIKE those quirks, so we use it in less judgmental moments in performance)
2. accept the distrust the audience will give us by doing it the way we like, but hopefully redeeming ourselves by educating those ears to a new vocabulary (Don't like this risky plan, either) or
3. choose a different tune for that audience.

Simplest and most respectful answer: choose a different tune.

Yours, Gary

Rose City Timberliners

present our annual

Ice Cream Social

Saturday August 15--Noon to 2 p.m.

Peninsula Park Rose Garden

North Ainsworth & North Kerby Avenue,

Portland, Oregon

Join us for singing, ice cream sundaes, and fun!

Free!

My Resume

Somebody asked me to post it, so here it is, updated for September 2018

PERFORMANCE RESUME 
(Director credits in bold)

Assistant Choir Director, Soloist: Marylhurst Choral Union 2016-2018
Pirelli, "Sweeney Todd": Marylhurst University Opera 2018
Fairfax, "Yeomen of the Guard": Marylhurst University Opera 2017
Choir Master, Organist, Pianist: St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church 2007- present
Youth Sunday Music Director: All Saints Episcopal Church 2005-2007
Music Director, Soloist, Pianist: Unity Church of Portland 2005-2007
Recital Soloist, "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" etc: Community Music Center April 1 2006
Riff, “West Side Story” in concert: Central Oregon Music Festival 2000
Musical Director, Pianist: “Gershwin Revue” Jasmine Tree Productions 2000
Cantor, Chorus Section Leader: All Saints Episcopal, Portland OR 1999 – 2005
Music Director, Chorister: Portland Chorus, SPEBSQSA 1998 – present
Soloist, Chorister, Arranger, Section Leader: Portland Symphonic Choir 1997 – present
Soloist, Chorister: Choral Cross Ties 1995 – 2002
Magician, "Emperor's New Clothes": Broadway Rose Theater, Tigard OR 1996
Tolloler, “Iolanthe”: Jasmine Tree Productions 1995
Guest Director, Soloist, Chorister: Oregon Repertory Singers 1993–1996
Chorister, “Hello Dolly”: The Musical Company, Portland 1991
Interview Host, 13 episodes: Citizens Commission Human Rights, OR 1989
Musical Director, Arranger, Singer: Dickens Carolers, Portland OR 1985 – 1995
Pierrot, Composer “Pierrot & Pirouette”: Group at Hand & Portland Arts Council 1983
Music Director, Judas, “Jesus Christ, Superstar”: Group At Hand, Portland OR 1982
Staging Director, "Midsummer Night's Dream": Group At Hand, Portland OR 1981
Paul, “Silent Night, Lonely Night”: Group At Hand, Portland OR 1980
Buffalo Bill, “The Wild West Show”: American Touring Company 1979
Composer, Music Director, Amiens “As You Like It”: San Jose State University 1979
Composer, Music Director-Pianist, "Madwoman of Challiot": San Jose State U 1979
Gherardo, “Gianni Schicchi”: San Jose State University Opera 1978
Dancer, “Dance in America”: San Jose State University 1977
Chorister, “Carmen” & "My Fair Lady": San Jose State University 1977
Music Director, Archy “Archy & Mehitabel”: San Jose State University 1977
Chorister, Chamber Choir, Soloist: San Jose State University 1977 – 1979
Music Director, Judas “Jesus Christ, Superstar”: Group At Hand, Santa Cruz CA 1976
Quartet Tenor and Coach, "The Music Man":  Cabrillo College, CA 1976 
Scapino, Composer, “Compagnie Santi Ostinati”: Group At Hand, Santa Cruz CA 1976
Music Director, Jeffrey “Godspell”: Group At Hand, Santa Cruz CA 1975
Chorister: California Honors Choir 1975
Narrator, “Antigone”: Group At Hand, Santa Cruz CA 1974
Barnaby, Recorded Pianist “Sing Out Sweet Land”: Group At Hand, Santa Cruz CA 1974
Chorister, “Cosi Fan Tutti”: U.C. Santa Cruz 1974
George, “Of Mice and Men”: Santa Cruz High School 1975
Butler, “The Man Who Came To Dinner”: Santa Cruz High School 1974
Boy Chorister, "Bernstein's Mass":  San Francisco Opera 1973
Chorister, “Wizard of Oz”: Big Sur Community Theatre 1971
Little Boy, “Curious Savage”: Lompoc Community Theatre 1962

HONORS

1976 “Best Male Lead in A Musical,” California Association of Community Theatres
1974 & 1975 “Honorable Mentions for Male Lead,” CACT
1979 “Bachelor of Music with Great Distinction”, San Jose State University
1977 “Associate of Theater Arts with Highest Honors,” Cabrillo College, Aptos, California

SKILLS
 

Music: direction, composition, arranging; organ, piano, vocals, vocal coach; sound design & engineering; dance, choreography,percussion; Medical: physical therapy; accounting, billing, management; Computers: repair, maintenance, many website, office & networking applications. 

Gary Shannon

Lyric Tenor / Counter Tenor
5’10”, 195 lbs.
Coloration: Fair
Hair: Brown and disappearing

Bios: 2012 2018
Website:  Voice-mentor.com

All You Need is Love

The Harmonics are rehearsing an acapella arrangement I made of "All You Need is Love".

Here are videos of the original:



The sound is better here, but the video is unrelated:



My goal is acapella arranging is usually to import the original version that everybody knows into the vocal idiom. I remove or subtly alter what I can't make work for voices, and add touches that can work.

As for the arrangement, the increasingly exuberant back beat that drives the original is missing from my arrangement. I'll figure it out soon :)

Love, Gary

"All-Night Vigil"
Sergei Rachmaninov
Steven Zopfi conducts the Portland Symphonic Choir in three in High Church Slavonic by performances.

These will be my fourth performance of this towering masterpiece. It demands huge resources , huge control and huge commitment. The group has all of them. They got those qualities thru competent leadership and lofty goals.

The sum is greater than the whole of the parts. Untrue in physics. True in Art. Discuss.

Saturday, May 16 at 7:30 pm & Sunday, May 17 - 2:30 pm

St. Mary's Cathedral, NW 18th and Davi, Portland Oregon. Order tickets on-line

Sunday, May 31 at 4 pm.
St. Mary's Parish Church, 575 E. College St. Mt. Angel, Oregon -Tickets at the door only

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg & the Assad Brothers

In concert last night, what we saw is three very different ways of addressing the music and the instrument.

Nadja is an aggressive violinist, attacking each phrase from her entire body. She leans forward into every note, her tip toes firm on the floor, heels bouncing to the beat, as though she is ready to leap from the chair at any moment. She alone spoke for the trio, illuminating bits of the creative process with stories on how this piece came to being or that arrangement was created. Her speaking voice is rich, but a strong New York accent pops out, especially when acerbic, as when starting the second half while stragglers are still rushing to their seats, "like roaches caught in the light", she says. Her playing is, of course, passionate and volatile.

Odair Assad, the younger brother, dances with his guitar. Swaying gently to the music, or punctuating tight rhythms with his shoulders and posture, he sits with both feet flat on the floor, his right thigh and left hand alone supporting the guitar and neck, unlike most other guitarists, including his brother. He, like Nadia, is ready to leave his chair, (indeed, he was standing before the last notes of their Copland "Rodéo" encore ended) not to insist on his music, but to dance with his instrument. His playing is elegant and charming.

Sérgio, though, holds his guitar very close to his body, his left foot on a small riser, supporting the guitar with both thighs and left hand close to his chest, his face hovering just over the shoulder of the instrument, if not actually resting on it. He moves little, only head and hand. At first, this seems like a lover's embrace, but as the evening continues, you see that the guitar not another being or an extension of himself, but it is his very self that he strums for music. He is touching his own centered soul and music comes out. His playing rich and sonorous.

Singers and actors master all three styles and more to perform effectively. Rare are classical instrumentalists who are so physically engaging, even sitting still. Their motions were genuine and expressive, although no two of the players moved the same. No recording, even one of a concert, fully shows this. For seeing this yourself, go to concerts. For hearing it, there is an Instant Encore offering of this concert, but it is not the three players or even the instruments we heard. For that, there are recordings.