Director Rose brings new vision to choral

A cacophony of voices echo off of the paneled walls of the Braithwaite Recital Hall as students dressed in flip-flops, T-shirts and jeans gather around a grand piano.

The gold lettering of “Steinway & Sons” catches the light.

It is five minutes until the Patriot Singers, one of the University’s ensemble groups, begin rehearsal. Seated at the piano, assistant music professor Dr. Cameron Rose, the new choral director, reviews the sheet music in front of him, each page bearing a handwritten note.

He has a plan in mind, a goal for the rehearsal.

When he begins to play soft music on the piano, the laughter and chatter fade. Students look expectantly toward him.

“Can you name this tune?” Rose asks as he plays the song from memory.

They all stop to listen. After several guesses, they give up.

“It’s Holy Man,” Rose said.

He earned their attention.

Rose plays musical scales on the piano while leading students through vocal exercises. When he is satisfied, he leads them into practicing “Glory Train.”

The first time through Rose listens and plays as the students sing together. He knows what he wants to hear.

Each segment of the chorale is asked to sing alone as Rose carefully listens and offers advice on how to maximize their voices.

When they resume singing as a group, Rose gestures with a pencil in midair, as if literally mixing their voices into a perfect blend. When he pauses to make a notation on the paper, a student asks if she can sing a certain note a different way, making it easier to reach.

“Like this?” Rose asks before launching into falsetto.

The students break into laughter.

A little more than a month into his first semester at the University, Rose is settling comfortably into the job, a position formerly held by Dr. Thomas Allen who died suddenly in March 2006.

Rose brings with him experience as a performer, conductor, composer and arranger across a wide spectrum of music, from classical to sacred to American folk tunes.

He graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition, and he earned a Masters in Composition from the University of Minnesota.

“I went to the University of Minnesota on a little bit of faith. I knew that they had a program for composers. But I didn’t know completely how good it was until I got there,” he said. “It is kind of a secret for composers it turns out; its one of these niches. I’d like to build that kind of thing here at UT Tyler.”

Rose said he then completed a post-graduate program in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television at the University of Southern California.

“With scoring, you want to play to the strengths of the film, and you also want to know the weaknesses, then use music to fill that gap,” Rose said. “For example, you might be working on a scene and think, ‘Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t do so well there, we’ve got to do something to help him out heroically.’”

Rose later earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Utah, where he served as the assistant conductor, composer and accompanist for the University of Utah Singers and A Cappella Choir.

In 2001, Rose established Providence Music Publishing Company, producing a repertoire of new concert works and sacred music for worship services.

“Not all composers are performers or conductors, and so when they write their music they have to hand it over to someone else to direct and to perform. But I never lost my performing roots as a singer and as a player,” said Rose.

Rose said one of his most memorable performances occurred during the 1984 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles, California. Rose, a 15-year-old boy at the time, was the youngest of 84 pianists to make the cut.

Video: Rose performing at the 1984 Olympic Games

“We all played a good portion of ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’ I still have the baby blue tuxedo at home,” he said. “I’ll never use it again, but that was quite an experience, especially as a young person.”

Rose said he also worked with the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“There were some videos made that my music was used to go along with. I think they used it at an outdoor venue, where they played the clips on a big scoreboard and my music was in the background,” he said.

All of these experiences provide a wealth of resources for him, and ultimately his students, to draw from, Rose said.

“I do very much love writing, creating and then bringing it to performance, as well being involved with the actual presenting of it to the public. And it’s just a thrill to work with the musicians,” he said.

Rose said he is excited about opportunities to expand the program, hoping to reach not only the Tyler area, but also all of East Texas and beyond.

“East Texas is a wonderful place to be. We have the opportunity to really draw people,” Rose said. “From my point of view with the choirs, I think we can really make this a spot that people in our area, even outside our area, want to come to.”

With that in mind, Rose said he planned the first concert of this fall as an introductory concert, a way to say hello.

The first of three scheduled concerts is being held at 7 p.m. , Oct. 11, in the Braithwaite Recital Hall at the R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center.

“In terms of our repertoire, I really do a spectrum of things. I have a background in a lot of different things,” he said. “That’s what makes a program very successful. You can’t just stick to one thing.” As for the challenge of building the program, Rose said he is ready.

“We might not be the biggest name in Texas, but it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to be – as long as you have quality instruction and performance opportunities.”