Brett Watson the quintessential choirmaster . . .
This article is about the concert choir's 1982 tour. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.Citation for this article is: "Brett Watson the quintessential choirmaster . . . " Pieces of Eight, August 15, 1982.
Most touring musicians are extremely tense about travel conditions for their instruments. A flute or violin can be carried in one's arms; a tuba or harp can be padded, crated and carried with the freight. But when Brett Watson performed across the U.S. this past may, he had to make arrangements for housing and feeding his "instrument" -- the 30 singers in his Concert Choir.The Choir presented 17 performances in 13 states, primarily in large churches whose members provided meals and lodging. Other expenses, including the cost of the group's bus, totaled $20,000, and were paid from the singers' own contributions, sales of its recording (The East Carolina Choir Sings at Christmas) and profits from a weekend window-washing project earlier in the spring.
Was the tour worth it? "It was a great experience for me and for the kids," Watson said. "It's good for students to sing before an unknown audience; no one in the audience knows anybody in the choir, so if we get calls for encores, it really means something.Western Warmth
The peripatetic ensemble had a warm reception from its western audiences, and got standing ovations in St. Joseph, Missouri; Aspen Colorado and Eureka, California. En route from one performance to another, members reveled in the spectacular scenery -- the Indian settlement at Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, forests of giant redwoods in northern California, deep snowdrifts at the Continental Divide in the Colorado Rockies.
"Eastman Kodak stock must have risen several points," Watson said. "I never saw so many cameras in action."
At each concert, the Choir presented some of Watson's favorite works of Renaissance and Baroque sacred music and choral settings of folk sons from around the world. For the early church music, they were divided into double choirs, singing on opposite sides of the audience, a strikingly effective technique which helps to involve the audience in the sound.
Watson finds it exciting to be "in the middle" when a good audience responds to the chorus. This back-and-forth relationship creates a better performance than is usual whne the singers rehearse in an empty hall. "The singers have to respond to the audience as well as the conductor," he said.High Standard
Watson's choir -- one of six sponsored by the School of Music -- is ECU's chief touring choir. Members are carefully selected by audition. "There's nobody in it who doesn't contribute," he says. In previous years, the Choir has appeared several times at the Washington Cathedral and at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Plaza in New York, as well as at several churches and schools up the East Coast.
The Choir's recorded performances have been broadcast on local television and by radio stations in North Carolina and Virginia. Since he assumed conductorship of the Choir ten years ago, impeccable excellence has been Watson's standard, and his singers work hard to meet that challenge. Local music lovers have come to recognize the wide dynamic range, sensitive interpretations and beautiful tones Watson produces from his assembled voices. "In rehearsal, I say, 'Let's do this to make it better,' and we don't stop until we reach our goal. The students get tired, of course, but they want it to be right; they have enthusiasm too."Love for the Literature
Brett Watson's love for choral literature developed during his undergraduate days at East Carolina and matured during his graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California. He has since been twice selected to be one of 24 choral directors from North America, Europe and Asia to conduct at the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart, West Germany.
Besides conducting, he's also concentrating on arranging and composing choral music, with immediate plans of preparing choral music for junior high school voices for publication -- an area of great need.
As soon as it's organized for the 1982-83 academic year, his choir will begin work on its repertoire for this season, featuring the Bach St. John Passion. "Because funds are increasingly hard to come by, we won't tour as extensively next year," Watson said. However, the group will probably travel to the D.C. area for performances next spring.
