McLean Madrigals: World Class Talent and a Feast

Dressed in royal attire and elaborate masks, the lords and ladies of McLean High School’s Madrigal Choir ushered in the 54th annual Boar’s Head Feast at Falls Church's Columbia Baptist Church this weekend.

The annual event, which attracts hundreds to dine and enjoy the music of the McLean singers, is a combination theater, music and dining experience. Over the evening, the singers, dressed as members of a king’s court, performed music and acted as lords and ladies as they guided the entertainment and eating.

The evening began as guests were ushered into Columbia Baptist’s Stephenson’s Hall by McLean students dressed in medieval costumes, many of the visitors in elaborate masks, decorated by hand and sold at a table outside the door. Inside, students, including a fortune teller and beggar circulated through the candlelit tables, urging the guests to get into the medieval spirit.

As the they found their seats, guests were welcomed a second time, this time by the court, who upon entering gave brief speeches and then broke into song, moving through the audience, until they found their way, in pairs, to the head banquet table. Then, over the next two hours, they alternated songs and skits while introducing each meal course in rhyming verse.

While most of the songs were period pieces, sung a cappella in harmony, there were forays into other styles. At one point the bard, played by senior tenor Jesse Rogers, gallivanted through the audience, wooing a surprised woman and serenading a married couple. Though he began with the typical bard fare of renaissance art songs, he eventually progressed to the less well-known medieval classic “Kiss the Girl,” from The Little Mermaid.

The overall group was likewise flexible, supplementing French and Latin with an enthusiastic and surprisingly good rendition of the song, “Men in Tights.” But the mirth and merriment did not overshadow the overall quality of the music.

While the evening has always attracted an audience since its inception, it has become a special treat with the growth of the Madrigals as one of the nation’s elite high school singing groups, under the guidance of director Linda Martin.

Over the past five years the group has participated in choral competitions throughout the Washington area and across the country, gaining a first place ranking in a competition among schools in the Eastern United States division, two top awards in national competitions and a first prize in the International Choral Competition held in Quebec City. The group is currently ranked 11th in the U.S. by the Society for Historical Performance.

For Martin, the choir has become a venue for her talents she never expected. She attended George Mason University as a music major and after graduation went on to study conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria the birthplace of Mozart.

When she returned from Austria, after completing her course of study, Martin took a job at McLean High School. She started in a January, the middle of the school year, and was expecting the position to be temporary. But after then end of the year she decided to sign on for the next year. This January marked her ninth at the school.

Martin talked with the News-Press about her first year teaching. Despite having the school's strong musical tradition, including the annual Boar’s Head Feast, there weren’t many students drawn to the music program. The entire choral program consisted of 48 students, few enough that she was also asked to teach a dance in addition to her music classes and chorus rehearsals.

But throughout the years the department has grown. More students joined and convinced others to join and the department now numbers around 120 students, enough for Martin to have four different groups: the Madrigals, a men’s group, a women’s group, and a mixed chorus.

To join the Madrigals, the top group, students have to have spent at least one year singing with the mixed choir in order to gain the musical knowledge to keep up with the other singers.

Martin said that she has often had students who feel that their voices are good enough to sing with the Madrigals their first year, but she said that having a good voice isn’t enough.

When she first came to the school, Martin said that, though the choir was quite good, it learned everything by rote, and had little experience with the technical requirements of music. Since then, Martin has made it an essential part of her teaching that all her students learn, not only to sing, but also to read, interpret and learn music on their own.

Understanding music is especially necessary when singing with the Madrigals. Unlike other types of choirs, Madrigal groups aren’t lead by a conductor. Instead, the leader of the group, one of the singers, will give the first pitch and signal the beginning of the song. Then through the entire piece the singers watch each other, and match their performances. It is crucial in this format that everyone understands the music.

While the style requires a great deal of concentration, Martin said that, contrary to commonly held belief, high school students are perfectly capable of the focus and intense study that is required.

“Teenagers can be very passionate when given the right direction,” she said. On a Tuesday morning, this passion and commitment is evident as Madrigal members make their way into the choir room at 6:30 a.m., an hour before the bell rings to start first period. The choir meets often to work on the technical parts of the music. With the early time, voices are a little harsher and the high notes don’t ring quite as bright, but the point isn’t how it sounds. The morning rehearsals are to make sure that everyone is together. The evening rehearsals later in the week are when the beauty comes.

For the singers, the mornings aren’t too much to ask. Patrick Barrett, a senior and president of the group, pointed out that the mornings aren’t that bad once one gets used to them. “It sounds a lot worse than it is,” he said.

Still, for many members of the group, the choir is just one role in a variety of activities that may also include sports and theater, not to mention class work. In addition, when the music is particularly challenging, Martin said it is not unusual for the students to meet and rehearse in sectionals by themselves.

For those in the group, it is all part of being a part of the team. Whether it is making sure that everyone gets to the early practices, either by arranging rides with parents, or carpooling with one of the older singers, or watching each other for musical cues during a song, the group requires focused teamwork.

“It’s great feeling everything together, for everyone to get the same meaning behind the song,” senior tenor Zach Roberts said.

This April the group will travel to Anaheim, California to compete in a nationwide competition with 30 other high schools, a competition that at least the students believe they can win.

“Last year we were 11th in the nation,” Rogers said. “The plan is to make it better.”