Jeremey McMillan wrote:

>I'm the accompanist for my high school choir.  After playing the piano for
>the choir for the past semester, I was well exposed to choral music from
>the 19th century and earlier.

Good foro you Jeremey, IMHO you can never get enough choral music!

>We worked on some interesting songs.  We did "He, Watching Over Isreal"
>(Mendhelssohn) in the District competition.  It was more relaxing for me
>to play the song than for the choir to sing it because of the continuous
>triplets throughout the piece.

One small thing, and I say this in my caring teacher mode, not my one-upman
mode (which I reserve only for those who know more than I do so I can feel
better about myself =): please do not refer to choral works as "songs."
Songs are solo works.  Choral works should be referred to as works, pieces,
motets, etc.  End of grammar lesson.

>We also did a piece called Kyrie Eleison (spelling?).  It was an
>arrangement by some dude named Levitt (I think) and it was arranged for
>SATB choir.  It was a beautiful arrangement.  There has been a lot of
>arrangements (I think) for this particular song since Medieval times.

Smile.  Arrangement, no. Setting, yes.  Kyrie eleison (and you did spell
it right) is the opening prayer of the ordinary of the Roman mass.  It is
a three part prayer for mercy:

   Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
   Christe eleison (Christ have mercy)
   Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)

The text has an interesting twist in that it is Greek and not Latin.  It is
a holdover from the days when the liturgy was in Greek, prior to the split
between the eastern and western church around the time of Constantine.

>Earlier in the year we worked on "The Last Words of David" for SATB choir.
>Next year we will work on "Festival Sanctus" and some other odd works.
>(Some pieces we do are a little on the odd side).  On the easier side, we
>will work on "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".  This work by Bach is relaxing
>for me to play also.(Great for weddings I might add)

Randall Thomson can be exceedingly trite and tedious, and it would behove
you to check out some of the other works by Bach.  (try the motet Jesu,
meine Freude on for size!)

>I also participate in the choir as a tenor though I accompany more than I
>sing.  My teacher will rather let me accompany since she knows I can handle
>it.  I also takes a load of so she can have both hands free to direct and
>teach.  (I also think she takes advantage of the fact that she doesn't have
>to pay anyone to accompany since I'm always on hand for free)

My teacher had a hard time with me in school in this respect as I was both
an able pianist and (in all modesty) the star tenor.  I went on to leave
the keyboard behind and pursue singing and conducting as a career.

>Anyway, I'm looking forward to singing (and possibly playing on the staff)
>in college.  I'm looking forward to working on harder works.  I also want
>to find a good soloist so I can do "Ave Maria".  What do you all think
>about the German Requiem by Brahms?

Good for you!  Who's Ave Maria are you wanting to perform (Schubert's I
assume).  As for the Brahms, it is one of the most sublime of masterpieces,
and often the most poorly rendered.  I have heard far more horrible
performances than good.  This is because of the trememdous demands put upon
the singers.  It is a real monster and is best served by professionally
trained singers.  (Although I would never presume to deny any amateur choir
the joy of singing this piece.) I cannont wait until there is a recording
of it featuring Thomas Quasthoff as the baritone soloist.  I heard him sing
it in Chicago last year.  It brought me to tears!

Good luck.

By the way, we don't discuss choral music nearly enough around here.
Surely I am not the only choral freak on this list? Am I? Anyone?
Helloooooooo.

Kevin