April 2009-Local Resource of the Month

April 15th is not the best day to introduce our local resource of the month. With tax deadlines looming, no one is in a festive mood. But facing the prospect of no longer seeing the Liberty Tax Service temps stomping and jumping in their Lady Liberty suits as we drive around town, it was necessary to take action.

And it is spring. With the trees getting ready to bloom, we are branching (okay!) out, including novel resources that are not usually considered ethics-centric. And in this case, highlighting artists who often resist being perceived as an ethics resource in the first place.  

The resource is music. As southeast Michigan is a cargo tanker full of music resources, it is hard not to want to pirate them all. As resources that is. But seeing that today's sea pirates are not really the "misunderstood but really good" Captain Bloods (Errol Flynn) and Black Swans (Tyrone Power) of movie pirate lore, we can't really continue with the pirate theme, so we will stop.

The local music resource we want to highlight for April is Ann Arbor's singing a cappellistas, the Vocal Arts Ensemble or VAE.  The nonprofit group started in 1992. According to its website, VAE wishes to keep alive and grow, "a tradition of professional excellence in the performance of fine choral music." 

Drawing from a core group of 24, the VAE selects its singers based on their musicianship skills and mastery. Current music director, composer and playwright Benjamin Cohen has conducted the VAE for the last eight years, during which time the group has gained a reputation for its accomplished interpretations of a wide range of composers. 

And as far as we can tell, and this is where the ethics comes in, all these songs are performed a cappella.  What does this have to do with ethics? 

Consider this discordant or polyphonic--take your pick--thought.

Whatever its origins, whenever people think of a cappella (if they are not thinking glee club, doo wop, Bobby McFerrin, barbershop etc.), they are expecting unaccompanied vocal music. The voice without technology. The voice without props. The voice not on performance enhancers. The voice alone.

So, is it fair to say that a voice unadorned is the purest voice? The best voice? It is not hard then to leap to the conclusion that such a voice is...the most ethical voice.

But, is it really better to leave the voice alone?  And to not sully it with notions of the ethical and unethical, the pure and impure? Wouldn't it be fairer for us all (and therefore more ethical) if we kept the voice singing the music ethically apart and detached? With no ethics strings attached?

There are lots of musicians who want us to just listen. They believe that music and ethics have nothing to do with each other. And that once we bring ethics into music, or even set music to ethics, that the music will suffer most, and be in danger of political exploitation. Which to most is unethical.

There are plenty of examples of this in recent history. The Nazi co-opting of Wagner's themes and music. Stalin's patronage of true socialist composers and his imprisoning of others for writing what he believed was decadent music. 

We understand this side of the musician's story. At the same time, we think there is another side to the story. On this site, we like to offer a range of views for you to consider. Further, you have a chance to make your own judgment in the next few weeks.

To see the Vocal Arts Ensemble live, here are some prime opportunities.

We suggest their spring concert on Saturday May 9th, appropriately named (at least for this resource) Local Treasures IV at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. For information on this event, which includes the world premiere of a work by the celebrated and Pulitzer-prize winning composer William Bolcom, please go to: www.vaeannarbor.org/Season.html.

To listen and to talk about ethics, we hope you will come to the special concert a few select singers from the Vocal Arts Ensemble under the direction of Ben Cohen are performing on Thursday, April 30th at the Blackbird Theater. This event will also highlight scenes from the life of the featured composer Renaissance madrigal genius, Carlo Gesualdo, written and performed by an ensemble directed by playwright Barton Bund, the a2ethics.org web community director and the artistic director of the Blackbird.

Afterwards, we will have a discussion about the music.  And not just the music alone.

For information on this event, please go back to our home page, www.a2ethics.org and scroll down to Upcoming a2ethics.org Events.