Messiah sing-alongs usher in holiday season Messiah sing-alongs usher in holiday season (December 12, 2003)

Singers and musicians gather for music-making, merriment, and the Hallelujah chorus

By Grace Rauh

Evergreen trees, eggnog, and Santa Claus ornaments are everywhere during the holiday season.

But for many, nothing says Christmas better than Handel's Messiah.

Musicians, singers, and music-lovers on the Peninsula have long been ringing in the holidays at Messiah sing-alongs. They gather in churches, auditoriums, and private homes to sing excerpts from the epic piece and welcome Christmas with open arms and voices.

On Friday, the Stanford Music Department will host its annual sing-along and play-along Messiah, and on Monday, Dec. 15, Schola Cantorum, a Mountain View-based chorus, will present Messiah Sing 2003 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

"I think it is a relaxing way to celebrate the holidays. There is not pressure to perform. You can get away from the hustle and bustle of shopping and cards and just enjoy the music," said Candy Pelissero, who has sung in Schola Cantorum since 1992.

Schola Cantorum's Messiah Sing began in 1966 and is the oldest on the Peninsula. Today "there are more and more of them springing up all the time," said Schola conductor Gregory Wait. "I have friends, individual musical couples, who host their own."

Stephen Sano attended both the Stanford and Schola sing-alongs as a child growing up in Palo Alto. Now he is director of choral studies at Stanford, and conducts the sing and play-along for the hundreds of singers and musicians who gather in Memorial Church each December. Stanford's Messiah performance stands apart from more traditional sing-alongs, like Schola's, because it is also a play-along.

"We never know who is going to show up," Sano said. "Some uncommon instruments usually come as well."

Someone brought a synthesizer one year and a group of Bay Area recorder players have joined the eclectic orchestra in the past. According to Sano, joining the orchestra doesn't preclude anyone from singing along too. Tom Lee, an electrical engineering professor at Stanford, sits in the front playing the violin and singing the solos each year, Sano said.

Singing is highly encouraged but not mandatory at these Messiah sing-alongs, and singers don't have to stick to one part.

"Everybody sings everything," Wait said. "I sort of joke with them and say if you want to sing this solo you have to sing it in the right octave."

Wait and Sano have the ambitious task of conducting the annual mishmash of singers and musicians. The events attract professional singers and talented amateurs, but there is no audition to land a seat and no seating arrangement to ensure that the sopranos are seated beside other sopranos and the altos by the altos, as a chorus would normally require.

The conductors greet their challenge with a sense of humor and employ similar conducting techniques, according to regular attendees. Before the performance begins, Wait and Sano address the crowds and explain that when they motion in one direction, that is to cue the sopranos, and in another direction, to cue the tenors.

"It's challenging because a lot of people have their heads stuck in the music," Pelissero said.

Somehow the system works. Pelissero doesn't remember anyone ever chiming in with an extra Hallelujah during the sudden break in the chorus.

"Or if they have, they've been very quiet about it," she said.

For Stanford professor John Felstiner, there is something about the music and camaraderie that draws him to the Stanford sing-along each year. "Listening to a performance over 50 years ago, I was awestruck when everyone suddenly stood up for the Hallelujah chorus -- right then, Handel's Messiah took over a deep and unique place in me."

Information

Singers are encouraged to bring their own score. Scores will be sold for approximately $8 outside Memorial Church prior to the Sing-along and Play-along Messiah at Stanford, and orchestral parts will be provided.

Sing- and Play-along Messiah Friday, Dec. 12, 8 p.m. Memorial Church, Stanford Campus For tickets or more information call 723-2720 or visit http://music.Stanford.edu/events/concerts.html Tickets are $10 general/$5 students.

Schola Cantorum Messiah Sing 2003 Monday, Dec. 15, 8 p.m. Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts 500 Castro Street, Mountain View Tickets are $16 general/$11 seniors and students, plus a $1.50 fee per ticket for use of the arts center. For tickets, call 903-6000 or visit the box office at the MVCPA. For more information, see www.scholacantorum.org.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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