A Brooklyn Choir Showcases Music From Local Songwriters

[MUSIC]

Tiffany Hansen: This is All Of It. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Alison Stewart. New York City has many choirs singing nearly every genre of music, classical, pop, gospel. And now a new choir project in Brooklyn is bringing what we might consider to be a more traditional style of choral music to the indie music scene. The Brooklyn Choir Project performs music written by local songwriters and arranged for a 26-person choir. The songwriters' musical styles range from alt-folk to Indian classical to West African alt-rock, and those songwriters are also in the choir.

The choir has its first performance coming up Thursday, November 14th at 7:00 PM at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn. But now Brooklyn-based musician, Jaren Feeley, who started the Brooklyn Choir Project joins us in studio with some members of the choir, not all 26 of them, to talk and sing. Welcome everybody.

Jaren Feeley: Welcome. Hello. Hi.

Choir Members: Hi.

Jaren Feeley: Thanks for having me, Tiffany.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, so Jaren, let's just talk a little bit before we hear some music about this project. What inspired you to do something like this?

Jaren Feeley: I knew I wanted to sing with some people in New York. I knew I wanted to do music in a big group, socially, musically, it's so satisfying. Anyone who sings in a choir just knows that feeling of voices rising up together, the spine-tingling joy when people hit harmonies. But all the choirs that I could find were all classical or they were in churches. The music that I go out and I listen to is at local venues like Elsewhere or Public Records or Baby's All right. I wanted a choir that responded to the music that my peers are making, that my friends are making, music that really felt of the moment by voices that are in New York today.

Tiffany Hansen: What does singing in a choir and hearing a choir do for us as human beings, it really just-- it's hearing the human voice together, coming together. I know what it does for me. How would you describe it?

Jaren Feeley: It's so powerful. Yeah. Every rehearsal we have, people are coming together, they're sharing stories, they're sharing numbers, they're getting to know each other. And musically, people singing different things, but that being in harmony I think is such a powerful metaphor for us doing different things, being ourselves, but at the same time coming together in something bigger. A lot of ways that we listen to music nowadays, it's on Spotify, we're a little bit disconnected, and so we go to shows and we get to stand and watch performers do their amazing work.

But it's another level of depth to be able to be next to the songwriter, to sing their song with peers, to polish it, to make it sound as good as it can be. And the songwriter to turn and be like, "Wow, you've really done justice to the song." It's a deeply powerful feeling.

Tiffany Hansen: You hope that's what they say they.

Jaren Feeley: Do most of the time. We're getting there. We're getting there, yeah.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, well, on that note, we should listen to something. This, I think, is called Strong Hands, so tell us about it.

Jaren Feeley: This is a piece by Taylor Ashton, who's right here. Hi, Taylor.

Taylor Ashton: Hi.

Jaren Feeley: You want to say any words before we start?

Taylor Ashton: Oh, yeah. This song, it's about the healing power of physical touch, strong hands, getting a great back massage and how transformative that can be. It feels really appropriate to be singing in a choir can have that sort of same thing where you feel like you've got all new cells after you sing with people. So it feels good to do it in this context.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, let's do it.

Taylor Ashton: All right.

[MUSIC - Taylor Ashton: Strong Hands]

Start at the small of my back

Between my shoulder blades

Up to the nape of my neck

I had a hard day, yeah

But I'm feeling it melt away

Just like that

Underneath your strong hands

Well, I didn't know what to say

But when he called me out today

I knew he was in the wrong

But I forgot not to hold my tongue

I didn't know what to do

And later I took it out on you

And you didn't bat an eye

You just read my mind

And started at the small of my back

Between my shoulder blades

Up to the nape of my neck

I had a hard day, yeah

But I'm feeling it melt away

Just like that

Underneath your strong hands

Well, when I close my eyes

And I disappear in the kneading

This dystopia blossoms into Eden

I'm loosening up on my tight grip

You're sending me off on the right trip

And it's such a sweet relief

Underneath your strong hands

Started at the small of my back

Between my shoulder blades

Up to the nape of my neck

I had a hard day, yeah

But I'm feeling it melt away

Just like that.

Started at the small of my back

Between my shoulder blades

Up to the nape of my neck

I had a hard day, yeah

But I'm feeling it melt away

Just like that.

Underneath your strong hands.

Tiffany Hansen: That is the Brooklyn Choir Project, that song titled Strong Hands by Taylor Ashton. Taylor, how did you-- if I could ask how you wrote that song originally for yourself with guitar, who was that written for originally?

Taylor Ashton: Well, I would usually actually write with an instrument. I'd be singing and playing. But in that particular instance, I was using like a little app on my phone that makes a loop and so it's just an-- that's the reason that the song is like-- the chords are the same the whole time. I would normally, I guess-- I might be insecure about that. Typically, I'd be like, "Oh, well, the chorus should have different chords or whatever," but I decided to lean into it with this one.

I always envisioned actually that chorus being sung by a lot of people. Partially inspired by, like some late night jams that I'd had with friends where we were like you sing all the songs that you think are cool, that people are going to be impressed, that you know and then you start singing like Disney songs. And so just that feeling when it's like everybody knows the song and everybody is feeling loose and it's just like, "Oh, I loved--" It's like, "Oh, I can't believe--" It's like if you pull out whatever that song is from Aladdin, A Whole New World. Everybody knows it and it's just such a great feeling when everybody sort of stops pretending they're cool and just kind of sings it together. That's kind of how I imagine the chorus of that. Yeah.

Tiffany Hansen: Jaren, this process of arranging works for choir that weren't originally written for choir, just mechanically, how does that work? Someone comes to you and says, "Hey, I have this song and here it is," and you work together on that arrangement? You rely solely on the songwriter? How does that all--?

Jaren Feeley: Yeah. Transitioning the song from the recorded version to a choir version can be tricky. We have one song that you're going to hear later, Exquisite Portraiture, that's originally from Modular Synthesis and it has kind of a North Indian classical style. Making a four-part choir harmony for that was really tricky because we're trying to take synthesizer lines and put it to voice.

The process of me generally selecting the songs in partnership with the artist and then working to arrange it myself or with other arrangers was sometimes fraught, as you'd share it with the artists and make sure that they like it. But that kind of participatory back and forth, I feel like, is something that you don't ever get when you're singing a Bach chorale or something like this. So it's really fun polishing them to be their freshest versions of themselves.

Tiffany Hansen: What's been the biggest challenge?

Jaren Feeley: In this project, I think how challenging new music is. It turns out that a lot of classical songs, it sounds rich and complex, but some of the pieces you're about to hear switch time signatures multiple times. The rhythms are really outlandish. New music that's being made today is really tricky. Our rehearsal process, we were going to rehearse one day a week, and it ended up being three days a week, thanks singers, as we pulled together some of these tricky pieces.

Tiffany Hansen: And just tricky musically?

Jaren Feeley: Musically, very challenging. Something that's fun is the songwriters are in the rehearsals, and so often we'll sing something. I'm like, "Wow, that was great," and the songwriter's like, "You know, the syllable here was off, the vowel was off." So, yeah, it's a happy thing that the songwriters are there, but they push us to make the songs good.

Tiffany Hansen: Then I mentioned you have this concert coming up. I suppose that's sort of on a microcosm, how you're thinking about each individual song. But then how are you thinking about an entire concert full of music in terms of the flow and what song is going into the next and what kind of vibe you're creating and--?

Jaren Feeley: Yeah. Brooklyn's music scene and New York's music scene has so many different genres, so many people making music at the very top of their craft. The songwriters for this project are incredible. And so the concert, we get to have, like, every genre represented practically. There's so many shifts in mood, and I think it's a strength. I think people love that and I think people are missing that. They're going to come and they're just going to see an all-star cast of songwriters presenting their pieces.

Tiffany Hansen: Do you do a sing-along?

Jaren Feeley: No sing-alongs yet, but it's a good idea. We're all about participation.

Tiffany Hansen: You're welcome.

Jaren Feeley: Yeah, we'll credit you for that one.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, well, let's hear some more music. This is In the Company of Fish. So tell us about this one, Jaren, before you guys start singing. I see you moving. Don't do that yet.

Jaren Feeley: Yeah, I'm starting to conduct.

Tiffany Hansen: I want to hear that.

Jaren Feeley: This one's originally the band Buke and Gase. We have Arone, who's a member of Buke and Gase here with us today. So this is Arone's contribution.

Tiffany Hansen: Hi, Arone.

Arone Dyer: Hi.

Tiffany Hansen: What do you want to tell us about this song?

Arone Dyer: This song is about having some folks over that you're not entirely sure about-

Tiffany Hansen: It happens.

Arone Dyer: -and you're really-- Yeah, yeah. And then the night is over and this is basically the conversation in the process of that.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, let's hear it. This is In the Company of Fish.

[MUSIC - Buke and Gase: In the Company of Fish]

Tell the guests good night

But I just can't bring myself to

Thank them for coming

Save the rest for next time, if there is one

Show them to the door

Thank God they're leaving

Don't forget your things

Boy, she sure was a talker

For this most momentous occasion

I contain my, I contain myself

For this momentous occasion

I contain my, I contain myself

Say hello to mom, sorry she couldn't make it

Hope to see you soon

Be sure to watch your step on the way out

Be safe on your way home

No, no, no, no, you'll be fine.

They really take their time

No, I'd never met her before tonight

You know you got the best of both the head and the tail

Tiffany Hansen: All right. That song was titled In the Company of Fish. Arone, I have a few questions for you. First of all, as an introvert, that song stresses me out because I just want them to leave. But talk about how you envisioned this song originally and then the process again of sort of arranging it for choir. And then maybe if you can just talk about what it feels like to hear it in a choir setting like this.

Arone Dyer: I am in a band called Buke and Gase, and it is just me and one other person, Aron Sanchez. We play all the instruments together and it's still a very full sounding result. I think, especially on the album that this song is from, I was writing for an orchestra. I was writing for a really big sound. Hearing it in the choir is incredible. I'm completely blown away by everybody in this choir. It's so much fun and everybody's doing an amazing job, let's see here, translating it from the two-person kind of rock thing that I think we do to this. I don't know. Jaren did most of it.

Jaren Feeley: But I got emails from Arone at 2:00 AM being like, "A little more on this part."

Arone Dyer: Yeah. I gave him some feedback. It was kind of a feedback thing.

Tiffany Hansen: So, Jaren, do you solicit songs from songwriters in the group and say, "Hey, is there something that you have that you think could work for this?" And then what is your high watermark there for thinking about potential collaborations?

Jaren Feeley: It's such a deep question of what makes a song good for choral music? What makes a song good for group singing? You're looking for melody, you're looking for some soaring lines on top that the sopranos can take, so I'd often start by asking the songwriters, "What do you think?" A lot of songwriters are just like, "You know, whatever you want to try out," so then we test something out. We have songs with crazy body percussion. We have songs with drones where we're all just doing weird mouth sounds.

Tiffany Hansen: Oh, wait for a minute. My brain went like, drones flying overhead and I was like, "That--"

Jaren Feeley: That's next season, next season.

Tiffany Hansen: See here, I'm giving you all sorts of ideas. Obviously, we've covered the fact that it's not genre-driven, but it's really you hear something in the original composition that you think, as Aarone points out, may sound orchestral, where it has lots of layers or could potentially have lots of layers.

Jaren Feeley: Absolutely. And again, a big part of this whole project is risk. If you want a classical canon of songs that are proven to be great for choral music, you can reach back to the 1600, 1700, 1800s. If you want to just try something out and see what comes of it, come to this choir. We edit things during rehearsals. We have songwriters giving feedback at the end of rehearsal. Some things we try do not work and it's so sexy and so fun that we get to have choral music that we're editing as we go along and sculpting together.

Tiffany Hansen: What doesn't work?

Jaren Feeley: Oh, every once in a while, we'll try some crazy dissonant line, or we'll have someone sing-

Tiffany Hansen: Oh, I see.

Jaren Feely: --an insanely high note, but also trying to make it so everyone gets an opportunity to really use their voice. We had some early versions of songs where the poor basses are just going, "Oooooh," the entire time. And so it's not only about what might sound good for a song, but it's like, we have at least four parts, bass, tenor, alto, soprano, how do we make sure everyone has a real voice and get some joy out of this?

Tiffany Hansen: We were talking earlier this hour about Quincy Jones, who really spent his life and made a career about bringing people together, musicians that you might not necessarily put together in ways that you might necessarily hear together. I'm wondering how, again, you feel about that sense of community that people feel, not just performing, but hearing this music and how you view yourself as some sort of collaborator in that way, in the Quincy Jones sense of bringing people together.

Jaren Feeley: We're not just listening to one person who has a song on Spotify. We're really listening to each other and we're really building those skills. Interpersonal things come up in choirs too. We're a bunch of humans. There's 26 of us. Every once in a while, toes accidentally get stepped on, and I think that's such a beautiful thing that we get to navigate that together and it's really needed. I live in a 10-person brownstone in Crown Heights and 10 people in one house, there's so much negotiation that goes down. With us hosting choir rehearsals there, there's a lot of negotiation about use of the space and things like this. We're using those same skills here.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, so let's hear another bit of music. This is Same Place.

Jaren Feeley: Thanks. Right here. All right.

Tiffany Hansen: Moving equipment.

Jaren Feeley: All right. Tune it. This song is by the band More Fatter.

Tiffany Hansen: Okay. Why don't you tell me while we're doing this? Tell me about this concert, and where people can get tickets, and remind us again the time.

Jaren Feeley: Oh, I'm so glad you brought this up, Tiffany. The concert is on Thursday, November 14th. And for WNYC listeners, we have a code so you can get some money off, $5 off the tickets. They were only 24. Now they're 19 with the code WNYC. You get to hear eight of New York's finest songwriters. They're going to be doing solo opening sets, then we're going to sing as a choir. You will not want to miss it.

Tiffany Hansen: All right. And they get these tickets by going to?

Jaren Feeley: Search online "Brooklyn Choir Project tickets". It's on dice.com. You can't miss it.

Tiffany Hansen: Okay, Brooklyn Choir Project tickets. The code is WNYC. The choir's first performance is next week, Thursday, November 14, 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn. We've been listening to the choir and the person behind that choir is Jaren. Thank you so much for your time today.

Jaren Feeley: Thank you, Tiffany.

[MUSIC - More Fatter: Same Place]