As of July 17, 2024
It’s All About The Music!
Here you’ll find Sheet Music and Reference Recordings, so you can be prepared when your boots hit the ground. Choir Rehearsals are Burn Tuesday – Saturday 10:30am to 12:30pm. They often run over ’cause there’s so much to learn. If you’re new to the Choir, don’t worry there will be plenty of veteran section leaders to help. Stay after to hang-out, or have a bite to eat, or rummage in our communal cooler (a great place to find a cold beer!).
As we prepare for 2024: Curiouser And Curiouser, keep an eye on this space frequently. Madi will often make revisions, so you’ll want the latest editions. There will also be printed copies of each score available on-playa should you forget yours, or you find yourself sitting-in. All are welcome!
I Feel Your Spirit
This will be our opener!
Click the link to learn more!
Be Yourself
You’ll love this vibe!
Is there anything more elemental that the playa teaches us? That age teaches us? Spirituality? Be, love accept and magnify yourselves/ourselves.
And are we not always learning how to love better?
If you’ve spent any time in education, you know that learners often learn better when the shame quotient doesn’t exist. In intimate relationships and work connections, we are always learning to work with each other, to accept others as they are.
I feel like the original version is intended in a more romantic manner AND I see the message in this song as how we relate with each other as part of a human family. We are always learning how to love unconditionally. which is super hard to do!
This selection requires 2 to 4 soloists, and of course, as usual our great mass choir that will notch this tune up to a more gospel vibe.
Enjoy! Love you all so much, can’t wait!!
2024: Playa Choir & Black Rock Philharmonic
O Fortuna
We are thrilled to announce that Playa Choir will once again be performing with the Black Rock Philharmonic at Burning Man 2024! We will be performing O Fortuna by Carl Orff. Last year (2023), the Playa Choir and the Black Rock Philharmonic collaborated for the first time and performed Finlandia by Jean Sibelius. Check out our recordings!
Carmina Burana (/ˈkɑːrmɪnə bʊˈrɑːnə/, Latin for “Songs from Benediktbeuern” [Buria in Latin]) is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent, and satirical. They were written principally in Medieval Latin, a few in Middle High German and old Arpitan. Some are macaronic, a mixture of Latin and German or French vernacular.
Twenty-four poems in Carmina Burana were set to music in 1936 by Carl Orff as Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis. His composition quickly became popular and a staple piece of the classical music repertoire. The opening and closing movement “O Fortuna” has been used in numerous films, becoming one of the most recognizable compositions in popular culture.
Carl Orff was both a mischling, and was also spared by the Nazi’s. They sure loved his music. For a sample of what we’re in for, check this out:
Dust In The Wind
I am thrilled that Dandelion has arranged a beautiful rendition of Dust In The Wind. I can’t really believe that we’ve never taken this tune on in our 20+ years together. Nothing could be more fitting…I’ll let him tell you more about it, but I’m very excited for this arrangement…Thank you, Danny…!
Dust in the Wind
Reflections from Danny
I was very humbled to be asked to arrange Dust In The Wind for the choir. I’m sure this is a song you’ve all heard at one point or another. And I’m sure you’ve come to your own conclusions about what exactly the song means. And no matter your interpretation, I think it’s the perfect representation of our little event in the desert. Even without the ‘dust’ metaphor, the song conjures bittersweet feelings about how ephemeral everything is- every moment, every life, the city we build every year..
The arrangement retains the spirit of the original, but it’s different enough so that listening to the original won’t be helpful (sorry not sorry)! There’s room on the front and back ends for a few solos and some thick, polyphonic textures in the middle to wrap our voices around. Get to it!
Here’s To Life
Some of you may know the most popular version of this song by Shirley Horn. This lyric is so special, thank you Phyllis Molinary for writing them!
This song goes back a long way for me, to the 90’s at Phil Mattson’s School for Music Vocations. Phil, my biggest musical mentor and teacher would smoke his pipe, drive his Harley and sing this song. He wrote a beautiful SAATTB arrangement that always brought us to tears. And when I got the phone call he died in January, 2018 while driving over Shasta pass, this song came on randomly, the snowy skies parted and a rainbow came across the sky. No fucking kidding. This song has some fierce power in its beautiful and timeless lyric.
This version is NOTHING like Shirley’s at all. It hit me as a disco house arrangement one day like a bolt of lightning and have spent the last 6 months working with a producer to get this track out into the world and on the dance floor where people can connect, hug, look each other in the eyes and be grateful for it all.
This will be our closer.