Christopher U. Light Lecturer in Music – Alice Parker – Music – Carleton College

Lecture – “Melodious Accord” – October 6, 2005
Concert – “The Music of Alice Parker” – October 8, 2005

Composer, conductor, and teacher Alice Parker says that she sang before she spoke. What an appropriate beginning for a career that has spanned almost six decades and has been devoted to the creation of works for the human voice.

She began composing at age five, and wrote her first orchestral score while still in high school. At Smith College and The Juilliard School she studied composition and conducting, beginning her long association with Robert Shaw. Their many settings of American folksongs, hymns and spirituals form an enduring repertoire for choruses all around the world. Through the years she has continued composing in all the choral forms from opera to cantata, from sacred anthems to songs on texts by distinguished poets. She has been commissioned by such well-known groups as Chanticleer, the Vancouver Chamber Singers and the Atlanta Symphony, as well as hundreds of community; school and church choruses. Her works are presented by numerous publishers including Carl Fischer, GIA Music and Jaymar.

In 1985 the singers and choral directors who had been fired by her talent and zeal for the remarkable sound of voices singing together, convinced her to start her own group. Melodious Accord, Inc. is focused on what is for her the heart of vocal music: the melody. The Musicians of Melodious Accord, a sixteen-voice professional chorus, present an annual concert series in New York City, and have recorded such albums as Take Me To The Water (“these thirteen Spirituals ring loud and clear!”), Transformations (American hymns and folk songs) and Sacred Symphonies (from Schutz to Parker). As an organization, Melodious Accord has presented symposia, encouraged new composers, offered post-doctoral seminars, and created a network of like-minded musicians through the Melodious Accord Newsletter.

Alice Parker travels in the United States and abroad, conducting workshops, concerts and SINGS in which all participants, children or adults, professional or amateur, learn to make music with remarkable joy and clarity. Her techniques have encouraged a generation of music teachers and choral conductors to think about the music and the act of conducting in new ways. No less an authority than Robert Shaw himself has said of her that “she possesses a rare and creative musical intelligence”.

Now a resident of western Massachusetts, Miss Parker has published books on melodic styles, choral improvisation and Good Singing in Church. Three videos have been released showing her work with hymnody. She is the recipient of four honorary doctorates and the Smith College Medal, as well as grants from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Music Center. Miss Parker also serves on the board of Chorus America.