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Hello and welcome to the Insights and Sounds podcast, a podcast centered around classical music. Join Dr. John Sinclair, and explore composers past and present, their works, and an occasional classical music informational episode.
Jamey Ray 2025
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[00:00:00]
Dr. Sinclair: Hello, good people. Welcome to today's podcast for Insights and Sounds and I have a special guest with us, uh, not only a magnificent musician and fabulous composer arranger, but dear friend and colleague Jamie Ray from Voctave. So this is a special year for Octi Bach Festival presents them And I want Jamie to tell you why it's such a special year. First of all, welcome.
Jamey: Thank you. I'm glad to be here. , this is an exciting year for Vocative and it's funny to think back to why it's a special year, but, , 10 years ago this October, October 18th, actually the exact date was the first time. This group of people got together as vocative and recorded anything, and that was our Disney Love medley.
That ended up doing quite well. It came out a little bit later, but that [00:01:00] was the very first night that we recorded anything as vocative, even with a name, vocative. And so, um, because of that, that was in the fall of 2015. Here we are in 2025 and it's our 10 year anniversary, so we're. We're, uh, not only doing a 10 year anniversary tour for the whole fall and spring, but we are gonna do a celebratory 10th anniversary concert specifically, um, uh, in October, October 25th with, uh, Bach Festival presenting, which we're so thankful for and very excited about 'cause it's assignments and we love being at sign mets.
I think this is our fourth
Dr. Sinclair: Fourth time. Fourth
Jamey: twice with orchestra and then twice by ourself. This is, it's.
Dr. Sinclair: And it won't be your
Jamey: I, I hope not. I hope not. It's, uh, but yeah, 10 years, which is, it went by very, very quickly and
Dr. Sinclair: Now. Now I think I probably know the answer to this, but you put this group together and how did you select the singers you wanted in this?
Jamey: Um, [00:02:00] I mean, the good and bad about that is we live in a town that has a lot of great singers, um, and a lot of great singers in this style. I think that, uh, part of this process was, um, picking people that fit this specific sound very well, um, and not just doing well at it, but the best at it. Um, and, and I, I'm hesitant to say that 'cause I don't want people to think that I'm criticizing other singers in this town, but there is a specific sound that this group ended up having that is different from.
The origin groups of where this came from. Um,
and very unique.
Yes. And what I liked about it was getting to be able to write for their exact specific voices. Um, there's an element to it, of course, that these are people we want to work with as well. , we are, uh, a family for sure, and so we get along well.
We have times where we probably want to be other places than with each other when we're [00:03:00] on the road, but it's definitely. , a good group and a good energy that always exists with these people, and that, that was very important. The good singing actually kind of was secondary, , but it just worked out that I was very fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people and singers.
Dr. Sinclair: Yeah, there's no doubt about it. They're just, they're just fabulous. They're fabulous singers, but they're, everyone is a fabulous person. I mean, I mean it, it's just gotta be a joy. Now, I've always been curious, how do you choose the songs you wish to arrange for VTIs repertoire?
Jamey: well, it's funny because when we first started out, the process was a little bit different and I was just kind of grabbing songs and hoping for the best. But now we actually have a, a thread when we're doing a new album of people throwing out ideas for songs. And sometimes it's someone coming to me and saying, I want this solo.
Sometimes it's me going to someone saying, would you sing this solo? , and very, very, very often. Well, anytime I sit down to arrange something, I have to have the [00:04:00] idea of it in my head before I play the first note, before I write anything down, I've gotta have the structure of how this is gonna go. Is there an intro?
What key is this gonna be? So what is the top melody note? Is that gonna be in the soprano? Is there gonna be an a popup at the end? How, what key changes will exist? Are there step out solos? Is it a solo driven song? So I wanna know that before I sit
Dr. Sinclair: You have it all figured out
Jamey: Yeah, usually I would say 90% of the time, yes, that has been the case that I've been walking around planning around the idea of how the song will go, trying to avoid listening to any other versions as much as I can.
but so now sometimes someone will come to me and say, if we're doing a Disney and Broadway album, hey, I wanna do this song. And I will say, okay, great, let's do that. I mean, that happened on this last album. A couple people came and said, I, if we're doing this album, I want to try to do this song. And there have been many times where I've sat down and said, okay, I wanna do this one.
This is the song I wanna do. And I sit down and I start to write it and I go, Nope. This is not for us. This is not us. And it's either [00:05:00] I, I can't come up with a way to translate it into evocative language and have it be as successful as others. 'cause I mean, I could write. A version of the song with good singers, it's gonna sound good, but I need it to sound great and be right for the group.
And not every song is right for this group. And I've learned that, uh, over the years. There are a couple songs that I look back on our discography and maybe I wouldn't have done one or two of them actually. I can't really think of one. But, I don't, I don't keep writing if I don't like it. I've got, I literally have a number of finale files on my computer that are, just, have a title on them.
I thought we were gonna start it and then I said, no, no, no.
Dr. Sinclair: That's, that's, that's really cool. So you, you actually have a particular voice in mind before you start that, that was gonna be my next question.
Jamey: I mean, kind of there. 'cause there are songs that we've, , again, at the beginning when I was writing these arrangements, I was just writing them for the recording sake and fun things, and. Then as we started touring, I was like, I need an opener. I need a [00:06:00] novelty song. I need a closer. I need a poignant song.
I need all of these show moment songs that I can't just write. All big openers and closers on this album or all middle songs in this album, if I want to sell this album on the road, we need to sing these songs in our show. So sometimes I sit and think, okay, I need a song that functions this way, and that's what I intend for it.
And so this is not a group, this is not a solo song. This has to be group driven. So my Sopranos will be seeing the melody. It's gonna be this range and it, I have to think about that before I sit down to work on it. It show function is now. And sometimes I'll even tell the group, we'll go to record and I'll say, just so you all know, this is gonna be an album only song.
This is not intended for live at all. There's no function for it in the show. Or I wrote more notes than we have people, so enjoy recording. And that happens every now and then, but not as often.
Dr. Sinclair: I find it fascinating that, that this is probably historical. I know that Handel wrote for specific voices he [00:07:00] knew, so did Bach. All great composers have written for certain voices, so. You, when you prepare these, you actually prepare every vocal track for everyone, don't you?
Jamey: Yes, and I'll sing through everyone's parts, and I mean even down to the solos, whether they've come to me or not. I will always talk to them about Key. Now I do feel like I know all of their voices well, but I will reach out to Kate. And she's, she's one of the ones that I've reached out to the most to say, Hey, would you rather this key or that key?
And always, she has never, ever chosen the lower key.
Dr. Sinclair: Really always,
Jamey: the H key. Always the H key.
Dr. Sinclair: What do you, what is her top note?
Jamey: well, her top note is very high. The highest note we've recorded her on is a G six. Um, but she sings FS in just about every single show. Um, and in her solo at Christmastime, she has a high e in her solo, not a pop-up at the end of a song [00:08:00] in the middle of a song.
And it's just one of the most glorious things. She is a, a very, I call her an alien. I don't understand how she does what she does. It's very,
Dr. Sinclair: And it's beautiful up there. And dogs in the neighborhood
Jamey: know. They sure know. Yes, they, they're not.
Dr. Sinclair: I don't know. Or glass breaks.
Jamey: don't, it's, and that's funny. That's what everyone always asks her, what's your highest note? Have you ever broken a glass?
And she always just answers with very high and No, but I'm gonna keep trying. And so, but I mean, we've got the opposite end of that too. And, but even with ej, like I, we were ready, he had a solo on this last album and I was like, which key do you want? What note do you want your last note to be on? 'cause we're gonna hold it for a really long time.
And I gave him a few options and he settled on a high B. Which, whatever. Um, and he, he, it's one of the greatest moments in our show. Every and he, every single time It's so good. It's so good.
Dr. Sinclair: Yeah, these are artists.
Jamey: They are, they are. And it is fun to get to write for those specific voices, not just a good tenor or a good soprano.
I'm, [00:09:00] I know where Kate Scoop things will happen and I'll add, and I'll put them hopefully in the right spots for her, but I also get feedback from them. We'll start on arrangements. And Derek used to do this too. He'd bring in a piece and say, let's work it together and end up changing a whole bunch of it.
Because I'll say to the Sopranos, does that feel weird to sing? And at the beginning they were all very wanting to, please, no. Yes, it's fine. But now they'll just say, yeah, no. Can I change this vowel up here? Yes, absolutely. Whatever's gonna make you more successful. So I, I have not just good singers, but smart people that I want them to have a, a say, and they're the ones that have to sing it.
I don't ever have to sing your part, so let's make it be good. And it's absolutely.
Dr. Sinclair: And it, and it works.
So VTA for me has a very distinctive, a very rich sound. Um,
Jamey: Hmm.
Dr. Sinclair: what are the key elements you emphasize in rehearsal to get that sound?
Jamey: Um, I mean, without. Giving no information and just saying it's because it's [00:10:00] part of what they were trained with. I'm definitely benefiting from the legacy of what Derek created as far as, uh, it not just coming in and singing your notes. Um, everybody in the group, and it actually semi recently happened at a show.
When we get on the road and we'll sing for a while, we enjoy the songs. We enjoy each other. We're enjoying things sometimes. There's autopilot moments, there's, um, just, I don't wanna say just getting through, but there are moments of that for every professional that I, I said something in a soundcheck that I said to everybody.
I said, Hey, I need everybody in this next show to remember and be aware of your vocal function in every chord. Um, and everybody froze and looked at me and, and I said. You know what I'm talking about because you were taught what the second Soprano's job is. You're taught what the baritone job is, what the first tenor's job
Dr. Sinclair: What your role
Jamey: as opposed to just sing your notes.
And so that show that night was so good and everybody was like, oh [00:11:00] my gosh. I, I, you're right. We just need that reminder. And what's interesting about it is the group functions different differently as far as, uh, sound than most choral groups because we listen up, um, and not down. And, um, and, and also everybody, uh, when they're singing their line, it is, they have ownership over it.
It's not just, I sing these three notes. It's, I'm the only one that sings these three notes, so I'm gonna make it sound the way that my voice is gonna sound good on it. And that's how the, um, uh, the sound and the personality of the group developed was when the, the individual singers started to realize, this is my part.
This isn't someone's part. Um, this is my part
Dr. Sinclair: Complete ownership of
Jamey: and I'm gonna sing it this way and I still working with the people around me, and we're gonna figure this out together. And that is one fun thing. One of my, I, I love the recordings, but in the rehearsals, what's fun is to watch the music take shape. Our music director, Bradley, is very helpful with that to say, Hey, [00:12:00] try it like this.
Sopranos do this, tenors, let's try just you and what if you did this instead? And it, it takes shape that way as opposed to just being the black dots. And that's. That's
Dr. Sinclair: I've always loved, I I know you do too. I've always loved the, the time at the Potter's wheel. Yeah. I mean the performances, I guess I might be in the wrong business 'cause I like rehearsals more than performances, but, but I like the, I watch, I like seeing it come to life.
Jamey: Oh yeah, it's fun. I, I like hearing separated out parts. I mean, there's, one of my favorite things to do is sit there and have the girls just run the section and the, the guys just sit there and stare at them. It's like, that's, that sound is so good. We're part of it later, but right now it was you all and it's so good.
Dr. Sinclair: yeah, that's a, that's a luxury. You know, we talked earlier about Kate's voice and then you have phenomenal basis
Jamey: Oh yeah.
Dr. Sinclair: know, Carl on the bottom.
Jamey: is he? He's, he's also an alien.
Dr. Sinclair: I mean, it's, it's amazing. It's so. It's so beautiful and it's so in tune and it, and it's, it's [00:13:00] rock solid and I find it interesting. You're right. I know you tune from the top, you know, you know my work. I tune from the bottom up and um, so I always wonder every time I listen to Octi sing, the, the choral musician to me comes out and.
How in the heck do you blend and balance that when you have such a wide range, it's easier to tune, easier to balance when you're like in a TER and harmony all on the staff. It's harder when you start going below and above.
Jamey: Well, I mean, again, going back to, thank you Derek, for figuring this out. Um. There's a reason that our first soprano and our low base stand next to each other, and I would say that Kate and Carl end up standing next to each other for most of our shows. We have little, what we'll call choreography and we'll move around the stage, but when it's necessary.
And what I very much appreciate about our show director, Rob, the moment that he gives a staging, he is like, if something different needs to exist for music. Tell me and we'll move you to [00:14:00] where you need to be. So, Kate and Carl are most often next to each other, and they have a very fun relationship because they came into voices at the same time.
They learned it together. I actually met them at the same time in New York when they were auditioning for Voices. I, I don't remember Carl obviously, 'cause who cares about Basses? I was dying over Kate. But, uh, they came in at the same time. But they work together so beautifully. And what is nice about, especially Carl's crazy low notes, yes, they're wonderful and beautiful, but one thing that I will boast about Carl's voice is that every part of his range sounds beautiful.
There are so many bases, especially in this style, that the only focus on the absolute bottom of their range. And let me show you these cool low notes that I can sing and the throat singing, and isn't this great? But don't ask me to sing a middle C 'cause it's not gonna sound good. He's gonna sound good anywhere and everywhere.
The tone of his voice is just beautiful and I think that that is nice because he then blends into the baritone that blends up into the tenor that blends all the way up to soprano who he's standing next to. And that's where the balance and [00:15:00] everything kind of comes into play, which is nice. So there's not, what's nice is in a lot of choirs, there's a complete a wall that hits the bass.
This is as high as the bass can sing, and this is as low as the baritone can sing and they don't meet. But there's a lot of overlap within the voicings that I think is nice because honestly, at all five of our sopr, or all five of our women could be sopranos.
Dr. Sinclair: Yeah,
Jamey: They couldn't all be altos, but all five of them could be sopranos.
And I think that because of that, while all five of 'em sounds so different, there are a lot of moments in the show where they sing a unison and it is spectacular.
Dr. Sinclair: going to tell you. I get goosebumps often when you've got a beautiful cord and then it pops into a unison 'cause that's so hard to do beautifully. Oh yeah. I mean, they, they, they, they've gotta know exactly where they're gonna land with the exact sound they want and the exact valve they want.
I mean, it, it's like magic.
Jamey: and it's, it's funny because when I did start writing some unison, it was actually Debbie Johnson was one of the first people that said to me when she heard it, she goes, people forget the power of good [00:16:00] unison. Like, everybody just wants to write notes and chords and here's, listen to this. But she goes, it's hard to do a good unison.
And it's, it's a nice break for the ears, but it's also, as a listener, it can be very powerful when it really locks. And I mean, knock on wood, there's a, at the beginning of somewhere Over the rainbow, the girls sing the first line completely in unison with that octave jump. And it is perfect every single time.
Dr. Sinclair: Yeah. That's stunning. You know, I.
Jamey: really nice.
Dr. Sinclair: Like, like I said, the coral geek in me comes out when I
hear those. Yeah, those, those cords lock and then the unison pop in. It's just amazing. So tell me about some of your exciting tour. I know you made your first Asia
Jamey: we did. We just went to Japan. We had five shows in Japan. And it's, it's, I know that, um, there were some people, not within the group, well maybe in the group, but our agents and, and the people who brought us over to Japan, everyone's a little nervous because we hadn't been outta the country really before.
And while we were hoping that our social media analytics told them right, that people in Japan like us, they [00:17:00] weren't sure if anybody would be in the audience. And we ended up with quite a crowd at every single show. Almost sold out, especially the last one in Tokyo was completely sold out. And probably our biggest audience, ticketed audience that we've almost ever had was in Tokyo.
And so to be there and have that happen. Was incredible. And, , getting to just experience another culture was amazing. We, we landed and within 30 minutes I thought, okay, I'm gonna now work from home in Japan because this place is amazing. It's so beautiful. The people are so kind and respectful and wonderful.
And man, they, they loved the show. And it's funny because I wasn't sure if they were gonna like it 'cause I'm like, I'm speaking in English for the whole show. But, , I tried to slow down as much as I could. I tend to be a fast talker, but I slowed it down and I, I, and I saw a lot of them during our final songs, crying and enjoying the music.
And I was like, yes, we did it. This was, this worked. And it was,
Dr. Sinclair: Isn't there, isn't there culture [00:18:00] different as far as like, applause? Like, oh yeah. Like, like there's a, they applaud a lot if they like it.
Jamey: sure, and it's funny 'cause we go places and I mean, especially when we have, like, we love having students in the crowd, high schoolers, college students, that they're the one, especially music students, they're the ones that get it. They're like, I'm, I'm working for this. But you're the one that's figured it out and it's cool to hear it live and in person.
And so they will scream and cheer and do all these Oh yes. Especially after the big numbers. But in Japan. We would finish and they would applaud. And it was the same level of applause no matter what the song was. But the difference was if they liked it more, they would clap longer. And there were some songs, I was like, they're not gonna stop clapping The Princess Medley, the Heroes and Villains Medley.
They would just clap and clap and clap and clap and clap. And then our very last show, our final night at the end of the show, as I think our longest section, round of applause that we've ever had. And it was, it was great. They were so. So wonderful as an audience, and I was afraid they were just gonna be silent and not care, but they [00:19:00] couldn't have been more wonderful.
Dr. Sinclair: So I hope a trip back
Jamey: I, I hope we go back very soon. We're hoping to get back there as soon as possible and, um, at least in the places that we went because we loved all of them. And hopefully we'll end up adding more even next time.
Dr. Sinclair: Uh, that had to be exciting.
Jamey: It was great.
Dr. Sinclair: Uh, te tell me a little bit about the inspiration for the upcoming program. We know it's the 10th anniversary, so what is the inspiration
Jamey: I mean, what's interesting is each year when we put together our tour, we sit and we talk about what songs do we want to do? Do we wanna do songs that we've already been doing? Do we wanna introduce new songs? What are we gonna learn for this new one? And there are always some classic songs. I say classic, it's been 10 years, but songs for us towards the beginning.
We will still talk about and Oh, I wish that we still did this. Oh, I missed this one. This one was fun to sing. And, and so it was kind of a, um, you know what? I wanna celebrate all 10 years of our music and pick out some, basically our favorites for the last 10 years and take those [00:20:00] on the road. , so we have some brand new ones, even some that we've never sung live just on albums and we've got some from our very first album and everything in between it.
And we're gonna shift them around throughout the, the tour. It depends on what night you see us. We might do different songs, but. , we kind of tour with about two or three different shows and, , so if you come to multiple shows, you might hear different songs. But what's nice is, , we've got enough, we've got plenty of songs over the last 10 years to choose from, but it was, it was kind of a celebratory, , milestone to get to for the group that I, that especially thinking back to, we never planned to start a group and here we are 10 years later and we're still going and,
Dr. Sinclair: Not going, you're, you're, you're, you're on fire. I mean, you're excelling. I mean, this is, you're kind of the acapella group's premier group in the country now.
Jamey: Well, it's, it's nice because it is, it's fun to get to, , interact with others that came before us and, and to, like, when we did the thing with Swingle singers and even getting to talk to [00:21:00] different Manhattan transfer performers and, , people who have influenced us over the years and. , to even be remotely considered close to what it is that they've done is exciting.
And it, 'cause it was not a, Hey, let's do this and let's, let's try to beat out these other groups or something
Dr. Sinclair: No, it's been, I've watched it, uh, you know, I, I've watched from the beginning. It's been very organic and, and it, and it continues to have the same spirit. , the groups never sounded better. I, I just heard 'em recently in rehearsal and they've just never sounded
Jamey: It's, I feel like we get better every year and part, part of that is the, it's, I, I wanna hope that I'm getting better at arranging each album. I feel a little bit better 'cause I learned from things that went wrong in the last one. Or we get out on the road and I'm like, shoot. Okay. So this was cool on the album, but it is not good live.
Um, and then to know that for the next album, and also the singers are, this, is, it's real for them. It's not just a gig that I'm here as the soprano. [00:22:00] It's people in the audience know that her name is Tiffany and they want to hear her sing that part. And so she's gonna come out and she is, well, especially, she's gonna deliver.
Um, but I, I am excited for, it's also nice to see these people do other things outside of that. I mean, Sarah. Does jazz sets at Judsons often. EJ just had his first debut there. , I mean, drew is a barbershop world champion. It's cool to see them get accolades out there, but then to combine them all together in this, it's, it's like joining forces.
Very Captain Planet. That's what it is, I guess. But it's, , that, that is an exciting thing for sure.
Dr. Sinclair: It's, it's been a thrill to, to watch from the outside this group's progress and, and to see, to see your progress. I remember to go back too many years here and date myself, but I remember hearing your first arrangement and you were sitting right there
Jamey: remember bringing it in this
Dr. Sinclair: your first
Jamey: I remember bringing
Dr. Sinclair: and, and I remembered asking [00:23:00] who's singing all those parts, and you said, I am. I said, how are you doing that? And then I looked at you and I said, this is really good. My gosh, why haven't I heard this before? So did, did arranging, had you always been playing with arranging or did this come later
Jamey: No. You know what's funny is that , I mean it kind of goes back to that and even it goes to choir because when I first came here I really thought music technology, and it still is a very big part of my life and I'm very in the technology side. So my freshman year. In Holt dorm. , I had just bought brand new recording software, and what I would do is I would, and it's funny because I couldn't get the interface to work all that well, so there's little clicks throughout, which drive me crazy.
But I would take the choir pieces from rehearsal back to my dorm and I would sing all the parts. Now, I would mostly sing the soprano and alto down the octave, which those recordings are very interesting. But I have like versions of me singing the Daniel Servant of the Lord [00:24:00] and the . The, uh, um, uh, Christensen, the, uh, oh, Jesus I Save Song of the Night.
, and a number of those pieces that I took back. And what's funny is while I was singing through all of these parts, I'm discovering the chords of these composers. And I, I mean, I have countless John Rudder recordings of me singing What Sweeter Music and Candlelight Carol and, uh, Mary's Lullaby, all these things.
I didn't realize that while I thought I was practicing the technology, what I was doing is I was also studying the way that they wrote by singing all of their parts. And then I would go through to line things up. And so I'm discovering what chords it is. And then I started doing that with a lot of Derrick's music and I just, and I was like, oh, he's used this chord progression before.
Oh, I know that chord progression now. Oh, I know where this is going. And I started to kind of learn it that way, not thinking I'm thinking about it for an arranger, so that when the um, star spindle banner came up. My junior year as a student, I had that quartet with, which, by the way, Margo's coming in a couple months.
I'm
Dr. Sinclair: I just got an email
Jamey: she was the very [00:25:00] first soprano that sang anything I wrote because we had to go sing at some game for the, the Mayor of Orlando, and we were supposed to sing the national anthem. We couldn't find a just four part arrangement. So I sat down, I was like, lemme try to come up with one.
Well then she gradu, we sang that she graduated, and I just had that sitting there on my computer over the summer. And I went in and I saw Dan Crozier and I was like, help me with this part. And he sits down, he plays a few chords. I was like, oh, those are great. What did you just do? And he's showing me things.
I even went to Susan Lackman and I, when those things came in, she showed me, Hey, why don't you think of this? And I was like, this is great. And I'm taking it back and I'm adding more parts and I'm just singing more parts. And I finally was like, this isn't bad. Lemme play it for Doc. And then the next thing I know, there it is, it was in my senior recital, put it up on YouTube and published it with Alfred and that was the Be.
And everyone's like, oh, what else do you have? I was like, nothing. This basically the second piece that, well, not quite the second piece that I arranged, but one of the second pieces that I arranged was the, were you there for your,
Dr. Sinclair: I remember, yeah, I'll say you
Jamey: and I loved writing that.
Dr. Sinclair: you know the, I, [00:26:00] I learned something today. I, I now know why you, you approach all your writing as if you're gonna sing that
Jamey: Oh yeah.
Dr. Sinclair: And, and I can understand how you understand all that. I know you're a, a a a a, a theory freak. I know, I know how much you love theory, but I didn't realize it.
That's such a brilliant way to come to it because you're watching great writers on how they arrive there and their chord structures and their melodic structures.
Jamey: Well, and it's, I mean, what I basically tell students now when they're talking about this, I was like, you, you kind of. Develop your own sound. And part of that is taking a little piece from here and a little piece from here that you've learned and you develop, basically in your arsenal, you have your own chord progressions.
You have the way that you voice every, uh, chord. I have specific ways that I voice certain. If I know that this is gonna be the chord, I know how to voice it. , if I want it big, if I want it small. But I can also tell. Now, I don't wanna say this, this is not a blanket statement, but very often, especially in the publishing world that I'm now working in and people send music to me, [00:27:00] I can tell by looking at their music.
What instrument they play. If this is a pianist, if this is, uh, a wind or a string player or if they're a singer, I could tell it very, very quickly. And it's, , I mean, looking back at some of the, , older composers, I mean, I look at some of these masterworks even and I'm like, you're a killer instrumentalist because this vocal line is terrible.
How dare you write this for a singer? But it's one of the most famous lines, and we're gonna sing it a million times. , but there's, there's a lot of. Of figuring that out, that, because I, I wanna write stuff that singers are excited to sing, not scared of, or that this is the hardest thing. And it's, it's, and I, I want, I, I do like the idea of a challenge, but I want a rewarding challenge,
Dr. Sinclair: Well, you know, I always have this kind of, , and I think you know this about me. I have this kind of imaginary scale and I look at some pieces of music and I, one side of the scale is worth, the other side is work, and I don't mind the work being really hard if the worth is [00:28:00] really high. But if I have to work really hard and it's not all that much worth it, I just get disinterested in that piece of
Jamey: Well, and there's, we both have dealt with that. I mean, not to say names, but there was a early on in my teaching time here, there was a composer who came in and brought some music and wanted some singers, and I got some pro singers in town to come in to. Sing the acapella music. And it was so hard and it was not great.
And they even said to me right before we went out to perform it, is this the hardest stuff you guys have ever sung? And I was like, I mean, it's difficult, but no, we've sung harder things. It's just, and I wanted to follow up with, it's just upsetting that it is not rewarding when the correct notes are sung.
This was not well written. You, if you wrote it to be hard, you succeeded. And that is not necessarily the goal.
Dr. Sinclair: no, that's not the goal. You know, I can do the, the same in that there are certain composers that, you know, they know how to lead the voices [00:29:00] and there's others you look at and, and you're right. Oh, you were a great pianist.
Jamey: yeah, I, I can look at it and go, that would be great on a violin, that line would be great, but this is the singer. And that note to that note, nope, don't do that. And so it is, it's fun to, I mean, the editing part of me now gets to help and tell people, this is how you make this work. There is kind of a formula that's gonna make this work and.
What's kind of nice is in the choral world, it changes. I mean, the mu choral music that's coming out now sounds a lot different than it did 25
years ago.
Dr. Sinclair: absolutely. I was, I was going back and looking at, at some of Morton Lorenson's
Jamey: Oh yeah.
Dr. Sinclair: and I am convinced you would have probably more insight than I I do on this, but I looked at that and I thought. Oh my goodness. A whole generation of people that we are listening to right now got a lot from Lordon.
Jamey: Oh, absolutely.
Dr. Sinclair: I mean, I, I listened to him and then I, I hear some Whitaker in there. I hear some Arnon in
Jamey: Oh, yes.
Dr. Sinclair: uh, run. Said, I hear all those people in there.
Jamey: Oh yeah. I mean, and it's nice to [00:30:00] have some new and exciting names, like we've talked about Elaine Hagen Berg a million times. Gosh, she's so good. And Dan Forrest. I love the stuff that they're coming up with. Um, and, , Jake Narvar root, he, there's just a lot of, , composers right now that are, . , they have their own sound, but they're also kind of creating a new world of sound for choral music, which is, being on that side of things is kind of fun to watch and I'm doing what I can to try to keep up and add my
Dr. Sinclair: Oh, your, your, your, your arrangements are fabulous. I love doing your arrangements and I love doing your original stuff too. As you can see, I've got one of your pieces on my desk right now for, for choir this
Jamey: I'm excited to hear that live one day by a
Dr. Sinclair: well, you're gonna hear it
Jamey: Okay, good. Good.
Dr. Sinclair: This fall. Yeah. I'm excited to do it.
So tell me a little bit more about what we can expect on this concert
Jamey: Okay. So, we are hoping that this entire tour this year, and it might even bleed a little bit into next year, 'cause 20 15 16 was our year, and so we'll see how that goes. But, , this [00:31:00] night we are hoping to be different than not just the other shows on the tour, but anything we've done before. We've got some, hopefully some fun videos to play.
, we've got some fun stories to tell. We are, , playing with the idea if you're out there and you've wanted to hear a specific song from Vocative and have never heard it live, this might be your chance to come in and make a request. We're
Dr. Sinclair: Well, that's brave.
Jamey: a, I don't know, we're gonna see no promises, so, uh, we'll see how it goes, but we might have , a moment of request from the audience and figure out how.
Terrifying that will be. , but also we are excited to have some guest artists. We have, , live not really ever been able to do a lot of work with our guest artists. We had one opportunity in New York, uh, with Liz Callaway and she got COVID the day before the show, so she couldn't sing with us. , but we have almost never really gotten to sing with any of our, .
Guest artists live, but we are gonna get to sing. One of the very first guest [00:32:00] artists that we sang with was Jodi McBrayer on someone like You. And we are gonna sing that song live for the very first time with him in person.
Dr. Sinclair: On this concert.
Jamey: at this concert, he's coming in for this show, which someone like you from Jekyll and Hyde is one of my favorites.
It is one of the top viewed videos that we've got, one of our top stream songs. And I, I understand why, 'cause his voice is so good. But, One thing I'm also very excited about another artist that's coming in to sing with us and we're gonna finally, we did get to sing it live with her once many years ago, but not at one of our shows.
But this Sandy Patty is coming in to sing Beauty in the Beast
Dr. Sinclair: Oh my goodness.
Jamey: So Sandy, Patty and Jody McBrayer are gonna be at the show. We're gonna sing our original songs with them live, which we're a little terrified of because we've never sung them live. And also we're just excited to be on stage with these
Dr. Sinclair: Oh,
Jamey: just for them to be in the room with us is, is exciting.
Dr. Sinclair: Oh, that those are icons.
Jamey: I mean, these two kind of represent a large portion. They don't, either one of them like me saying this, but a large portion of my childhood. Um, [00:33:00] but what's funny is I, growing up, I can tell you really three Christmas albums that I loved listening to. One was Avalon with Jody McBrayer singing Don't Save It All for Christmas Day.
And I as a child said, one day I'll sound that good. I was very wrong about that. Um, another is Sandy Patty's Christmas album, everything on her Christmas album. Actually, she's got a couple, the early, early one is one of my favorites. She does a rejoice, uh, the Messiah, and it's so good. But she also, the second album with the London Symphony that has her, oh, holy Night.
I listened to, I could listen to that on repeat. But then the other album was a Truth album. There was a song on it, God is Still and Throne, and it was Tiffany Coburn singing the solo. And it's funny that those three Christmas albums, all three of 'em are gonna be in the same room at this show. And my childhood will be very satisfied for that.
But
Dr. Sinclair: Well, the audience is gonna be
Jamey: I hope so. But we're gonna have some, hopefully some fun moments that are not gonna be for the rest of the tour this night is gonna be. Very special for us and yes, and it's nice to get to do it here at home, which will [00:34:00] be, uh, a big deal for us. We're
Dr. Sinclair: Well, you know, Bach Festival, uh, considers you part of the family, you personally, but also Vti part of the family. You're, uh, we know that's the case.
Jamey: do more things with the Bach organization, which we're so thankful for. I mean, you, you debuted, uh, all of our symphony shows, which was very fun to get to do because I had very. Kind orchestra people that I knew that could come up to me and say, uh, no, no, don't do this. And I was like, okay, good.
Thank you for telling me that. Versus traveling for a year and having random orchestras just hate us. But, um, it was, it's good to get to work with, well, mostly colleagues and friends in that orchestra and get to do stuff with them. But um, to this day, one of my absolute favorite moments in this group was in the chapel with the orchestra and us singing the Impossible Dream.
And there's a video of it, and I'll never forget it. It was one of my favorite moments, and that was with Bach, and it was, it was [00:35:00] great for us. It
Dr. Sinclair: oh, I'm privileged. I'm privileged to be, as I said, any spoke in that wheel, makes me, makes me privileged, and, and, and, and so grateful. Uh, so. To finish up good people. If you have not come and heard VOC iv, I don't know where you've been, but, but if you, if you haven't, it's your chance to do so. Go online. You can hear what you will hear in person.
You wanna be at Stein Mets on October 25th. You want to hear this great concert. And with these icons coming to join them a 10th anniversary, um, I can't be more excited to present this. I mean, I've watched this group. From its inception and have just marveled at, at its growth, but I marvel at its sound. I, I have known you for how many years?
20 some years. Oh my goodness. And what you are have accomplished and what is happening musically is just astounding to [00:36:00] me. And I am. So grateful you're in my life and so proud of this sound and of view, and I can't wait for this community to hear this concert. It's gonna be a special one for me. I know it's gonna be special for you all.
Jamey: We're, we're excited, and I have to say the group, absolutely. , They've loved you before Octa exists. And it's funny because I, I truly do think that very much because of you, there's been a lot of success for this group, but you have been one of the biggest cheerleaders for this group. And it's funny because you walk into the door when we're rehearsing and everyone's like, doc, hey Doc, they're just so excited to see you.
And so having this connection that the Rollins world gets to, , coincide with this vocative world and Bach Festival has all been very, very good for
Dr. Sinclair: It's meant, it's meant to be. It's meant to
Jamey: been very symbiotic. I think it's been very nice. Been good.
Dr. Sinclair: thank you for coming to be a part of this and, uh, good people, you know, the power of music belongs to all of you. I [00:37:00] hope you've enjoyed this episode with my dear friend and colleague. Jamie Ray from voc, please come and hear the concert.
Wishing you all the best and best of listening.