Index of University Press Releases

April 17, 2008

Meet the composer
New choir director brings more to stage
By MARI OLSON • The Daily Republic

Photo by Mari Olson/Republic Dan Barnard, composer in residence and choir director at DWU, will present three of his original works during Friday’s concert at the Sherman Center.

No matter where music is conceived, on earth or over water, it has found a way to tell a story.

Like folk music of the Appalachians and black spirituals of the South, South Dakota may also lay claim to its own oral history set to a tune.

One such song, “Dakota Sketches,” tells the story of the homesteader, sifting through the romantic myths and delving into the truth of actual hardships, said composer Daniel Barnard.

Barnard is the composer in residence and choir director for Dakota Wesleyan University and his original piece, “Dakota Sketches,” is one of three that will be performed at a free concert at 7 p.m. Friday at the Sherman Center on campus for the DWU music department’s last concert of the year.

The Wesleyan University and Community bands will perform as well, under the direction of Brad Berens, with four selections — one composed by Barnard.

This will be the first time “Dakota Sketches” will be performed, since Barnard only started it last November.

There are two movements set to lyrics by other authors, the first about the realities of farming and the second a poem about enduring a snowstorm in a Plains cabin.

“There’s the myth of Dakota, the Wild West … and there’s the reality, which is really one hardluck story after another,” said Barnard, who grew up in Texas, but who worked in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Pennsylvania before moving to Mitchell last year.

“I didn’t want to write about the myth without exploring the reality,” he said, adding stories about the Dirty ‘30s, Depression, and days of the settlers.

He and his wife and two young children moved to Mitchell last year and Barnard has accepted the director’s position for the 2008-09 school year, as well.

The second choir piece to be performed, also composed by Barnard, is a four-year labor of love in 10 movements, called “Requiem for a Sailor.”

When imagining the ships of yore sailing over open seas during sunny days or raging storms, the image is probably the traditional tall ships with high masts with open sails. Barnard became fascinated with stories of tall ships, and even spent three weeks as a volunteer crewman aboard a tall ship sailing through the Great Lakes region.

The romanticism of this life is translated through the tragedy of a ship wreck in “Requiem for a Sailor.”

“It started out as some research I did in maritime history of shipwrecks of tall ships,” he said. But, while reading accounts and diary entries from crewmen aboard those ships, he became inspired.

“I was really impressed with the poignancy of them. … It was so passionate,” he said.

“Requiem” is written in fourto eight-part harmony — something that would be impossible with DWU’s 21-member choir if not for the collaboration of the Hanson County Community Choir, directed by Liz Soladay.

The two choirs will join together for “Requiem for a Sailor,” telling the story of a shipwreck using accounts from eight different ships. The story of the wreck is told in conjunction with Latin used in a requiem, which is, traditionally, sung in Mass as a prayer for salvation.

He drew parallels from a traditional requiem to the themes of salvation, mercy and deliverance that the sailors prayed for, inspiring him to marry the two very different types of music of sea chanty and Latin score.

Composing music is Barnard’s first love, having begun his first works while an undergrad and then choosing composing as his specialty while attending the University of Colorado for his master’s.

One of the aspects he hopes to bring to DWU is to resurrect The Highlanders, the former honor choir, and refashion it into a small jazz ensemble. Jazz is nothing new to Barnard, having had a vocal jazz album nominated for a Grammy while he was in college.

He feels DWU can’t consider itself a liberal arts college without a music department, but still sees how each department must grow and prove its worth.

“We must build (the department),” he said. “We need to be able to justify our existence.”

The choir is currently near the border of having too few students, but Barnard says he hopes the scholarships they are offering for next year and the prospect of the new Highlanders group, as well as a music trip to Paris and London for the Highlanders, will encourage participation.