Eleanor Kennard is not like you and me.
Kennard can pick up a piece of music and automatically hear all the parts and the accompaniment.She can attend a concert and, after two songs, give you a personality profile of the conductor.
She can tell if a song is going to be a winner after one or two bars.
Part of that talent is pure gift. But part has been pure hard work. As a female choir director in a town of nationally prominent male conductors, rousing choirs and first-rate singers, she's had to work twice as hard.
"It's a man's world," she says with classic understatement, "but we've built a pretty good name for ourselves."
Indeed, the Eleanor Kennard Chorale has found its niche. After more than a decade of singing, the group is currently at work on its third album. And at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10, in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, the chorale will present a spring concert. Admission is free.
"We try to sing a variety of music in our concerts," she says. "When I started the group I wanted to do something a little different. A lot of local choirs will do requiems and motets, but we wanted something for a more general audience. I look for music that sounds familiar, that has an uplifting feel."
Born in Utah and raised in Portland, Chicago and other points East and West, Kennard came of age in a "piano playing" family. Her mother was an accomplished musician. In California, however, Kennard was handed the reins to an LDS ward choir. She loved it.
She's never given the reins back.
"It has been a lot of work," she says. "I attended the university about 10 years ago and got a master's degree in choral conducting. I tend to think women conductors are less embarrassed to show open emotion. For me, music has to touch people's hearts."
Over the years the chorale's "touching music" has garnered it a loyal following. Familiar faces show up at all the concerts. The popularity of the early albums is what prompted the third.
One reason is Kennard's knack for selecting material. She has a friend at Day Murray Music, a former chorale member, who sets certain works aside for her. Listening to other groups, paying attention to the market and scanning racks of sheet music have paid off, too. The chorale's rendition of John Rutter's little-known "As the Bridegroom to His Chosen" is just one example of an obscure piece of music with an air of immortality being turned into a popular local favorite by Kennard's well-tuned ear and her choir's ability to blend voices.
"On our new CD we do a Moses Hogan spiritual - four religious pieces in all - then standards like `Embraceable You,' folk songs, you name it. There's something for everybody," she says. "I've found that the young people who show up like all of it. That surprised me."
As for the future, perhaps a tour will eventually be an option. Perhaps another album along the way. Many more concerts for sure. And, of course, through it all, listeners can count on the Kennard touch - that innate ability to hear notes before they're played, feel the emotions before they're sung, and pick music that stays in the mind.
Sometimes forever.