Andrew Goodwin was born in Sydney, Australia, and following the advice of his piano teacher, Mira Jevtich, travelled to Russia to study voice at the St Petersburg Conservatory with Lev Morozov. While there he was a regular soloist with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and after achieving great success in several singing competitions in the country, was invited to perform Lensky from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi theatre, Moscow. Along with several other roles, including Tamino in The Magic Flute, he would return to the Bolshoi Theatre as a guest soloist for eight years. Andrew also premiered works by Leonid Desyatnikov and Rodion Shchedrin as well as working with conductors Yury Temirkanov and Teodor Currentzis. Notably, he is still the only westerner to have performed the principal role of Lensky at the Bolshoi Theatre. Whilst studying in St Petersburg he met pianist Daniel De Borah who has become a long-time and regular collaborator and with whom he explored and developed his love of Lieder, Art Song and, having become a fluent Russian speaker, Russian Song. During this time Andrew also met his wife and they now live with their son in Sydney. Andrew and Daniel regularly give recitals at many of our major music festivals, recital halls and for Musica Viva and the ABC. Over the years they have become known for their intuitive and intensely musical interpretations not only of the major song cycles of Schubert and Schumann, but also of works by Tchaikovsky, Britten, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Tosti and Strauss. After completing his studies in St. Petersburg, Andrew moved to London to further his education at the Royal Academy of Music on full scholarship, where he studied with Dennis O’Neil and later Robert Dean. During this time he appeared in theatres around Europe and returned regularly to Australia to perform with Opera Australia and Pinchgut Opera. His career as an operatic tenor has since seen him embrace a wide range of roles from the barque through to contemporary works at some of the world’s greatest opera houses, including La Scala Milan, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid and the Sydney Opera House. He continues to appear regularly with Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera and the state opera companies in roles including Lysander (Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nadir (Bizet: The Pearlfishers) Tom Rakewell (Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress) Janacek’s The Diary of one who Disappeared and Britten’s The Rape of Andrew’s love of language and text has also drawn him to the concert platform where he is often heard in the works of Mozart, Handel and in particular, the Passions of J. S. Bach. He has now established himself as the country’s most sought after Evangelist for both the St. Matthew and the St. John Passions. Over the last 18 months, Andrew had so many engagements cancelled, but he continues to teach singing and has also turned his attention to composing, working on multiple projects both vocal and instrumental, across a variety of genres including film.

www.andrewgoodwintenor.com

I composed “Peace I Leave with you” during lockdown after finding the verse, my father’s favourite from the Bible, on the back of the order of service from his funeral many years ago. It was an incredibly moving experience for me as it enabled me to grieve for him after so many years. Having it performed by some of Australia’s finest voices is a wonderful privilege, but having it also filmed so beautifully is beyond anything I could have imagined and benefits the memory of my beautiful father, Frank Charles Goodwin. 

Make a word bank of what the word ‘Peace’ means to the class. Divide the class into groups of four and encourage them to choose their 3 favourite words that ‘Peace’ expresses to them. Bring the class together and do a tally of which words occur most often. Make a list of those words.

1. Using the list of favourite words, encourage the students to invent a sound for each of these words – they can be vocal, environmental (using found objects around you) or an instrument.

2. You could also use a visual of an Australian landscape – e.g. sunrise or sunset - to inspire or further the exploration of the sounds you find. The landscape could be traced and used as the basis for a graphic score. Example here.

3. Group these sounds into a sequence – some could be repeated, one might be chosen to continue through the whole piece as a kind of drone, some sounds could be performed at the same time or repeated.

4. Devise a class graphic score to help you remember how the sounds are arranged.

5. Students could record the found sounds (vocal, environmental or instrumental) on iPhones or similar. If students have access to an iPad or Mac device, sounds could then be imported into ‘Garage Band’ (or equivalent) and manipulated digitally in tracks creating musical layers.

6. Encourage the students to find a comfortable place in the classroom where they can listen to the piece without being disturbed by others.

7. Play the recording of the class piece and have the class listen with intent. Discuss the following questions with the class:

   1. How did this composition make you feel?

   2. What worked well?

   3. What would you do differently if given the opportunity to repeat the activity?

1. Listen to AVÉ sing Peace I leave with you written by the tenor of the group Andrew Goodwin.

2. Following the teacher’s model, students use hands or scarves/ribbons to make an arc shape for each new phrase as they listen.

3. Discuss how the piece creates a feeling of peacefulness:

   Is it fast or slow?

   Is there a feeling of line/direction?

   What is the effect of having the phrase ‘peace I leave with you’ repeated?

4. Listen again, and this time concentrate on the solo voice. How does it differ from the rest of the quartet?

5. Discuss with the students the text

   Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you

   Peace I leave with you. Not as the world giveth I unto you.

   How is an individual understanding of the word ‘peace’ different from the world’s understanding of the word ‘peace’? Which is stronger in your opinion

6. Discuss the last phrase – ‘let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’

   How is being troubled different from being afraid?

   What is the significance (and musical effect) of all four vocalists singing the same rhythm for ‘neither let it be afraid’?

   What is the name of this technique? (Rhythmic Unison)

7. Discuss the effect of:

   the dynamics of this section – pp getting gradually softer

   the instruction rit (ritardando) – gradually slowing down

   how the piece finishes on a D major chord (the tonic) with a pause over it.

8. Discuss the use of dynamics in the piece. It starts very softly (pp) and moves between pp and mf until the last time they sing ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’’ which is sung loudly (f). Then it gets softer, finishing very softly indeed. Why does the composer choose to use a very soft dynamic on the following words - ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’.

1. Watch the video of AVÉ singing and the dancers, Billy Keohavang and Allie Graham, dancing to Peace I leave with you.

2. How do the singers use their hands to compliment and increase the impact of the music and lyrics?

3. In the first part of the piece, the dancers dance solo – by themselves. Why do you think the choreographer has arranged it this way?

4. Provide some examples of how the dancers reflect:

   the text of the piece?

   the shape of the phrases of the music?

5. The dancers come together as a duet in the last section of the piece when the phrase ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’ is sung loudly. What effect does this have?

6. Discuss with the students how the movements of the dancers are often stationary – staying in one place, moving their arms or their torso. The movements are not locomotor. What effect does this have?

7. Ask the students to find a place in the classroom where they can move their arms/torso independently of others.

   Teacher models shapes with arms or torso (standing on the spot) using the shape of the musical phrases from Peace I leave with you as an inspiration.

   Students imitate.

   In groups of two, choose a leader.

   The leader models a shape with arms/hands/torso inspired by the music, which is then imitated by the partner.

   Swap leaders/roles.

1. Download the Score here.

2. Discuss with the group the importance of making the text the most important part of the performance – needing careful enunciation and attention to articulation and dynamic contrasts.

3. Discuss how the three lower, accompanying parts blend together when they are singing – sounding as one voice when they are in rhythmic unison.

4. Examine the music of the lower three parts one phrase at a time. Look for:

   When the parts are in rhythmic unison and when one part is different (eg Bar 23 the Alto and Tenor parts are different from the Bass part; at Bar 30 the Tenor part is more embellished for the second part of the phrase)

   What the dynamic markings are for each phrase.

5. Rehearse the different parts for each phrase separately and then put the parts together. Rehearse each phrase cumulatively so you gradually add the new phrases one by one and reinforce the old phrases.

6. Observe the hand movements the ensemble uses in the video to add extra emphasis to the phrases. Try to emulate the beautiful singing of the quartet and how they listen to each other and move together when changing pitch.

Using Peace I leave with you as a model. Take a short verse from the bible/book of sayings or a poem and try arranging it for four parts. A collection such as this may be helpful:

Lewis, Jone Johnson, "11 Memorable Poems About Peace." ThoughtCo, Aug. 31, 2021,

1. Examine the text – where are the words of more than one syllable?

2. Consider what rhythms would suit the text. Decide on a time signature.

3. Would a minor or a major tonality be more appropriate for the words of the text?

4. Choose a key that you can sing easily and try writing a melody to fit the rhythms you have selected.

   Think about how each phrase will start and finish and whether you want a rest at the end of some of the phrases before beginning the next.

   Consider whether you want the first note of the new phrase to start on the same note as the previous one or a different note.

   Examine how Andrew Goodwin has moved from one phrase to the next in the Soprano part. Use this as a model.

5. Using the tonality you have chosen, fill out the other three parts, keeping in mind they are the accompanying parts and should be simpler (though you may want to add embellishments to one part occasionally, as Andrew has done).

6. Record your parts and listen to how they interact and how they fit or ‘celebrate’ the text you have chosen. Make adjustments if you feel the text needs to have more impact in certain parts.

7. Add dynamics and tempo markings.

8. Teach your three accompanying parts to the class.

9. Either sing the solo part yourself or ask a fellow student/choir colleague to sing it.

10. Record it and send it to AVÉ. Click here to send.