Kiwanis Festival Notes

Hello wonderful choristers, 

A separate email for our Kiwanis music preparation, since there are so many musical details to figure out! 

Thank you to Mary Lou who has volunteered to introduce our 2 songs at the beginning of our class. 

Cantique de Jean Racine

General goals… (we wrote these in the score at. m.13!)

1. long phrases

2. dynamics

3. vowels/diction

– m. 13 TBs – breathe together, sing together! Be quietly confident 🙂 

– careful with syllabic stress to avoid punching out the final syllable – ex. m.23 “si-LEN-ce” not “si-len-CE” or m.29 “JET-te” not “jet-TE.” This happens throughout the piece.

– remember our amazing entry at m.40??? Completely together!! I think you were afraid to come in at the wrong place and decided to watch me. It worked!!! Do this all the time! 

– p.9 – m.41 is piano, m.42 is piano, m. 43 is still piano! 

– p.11-12 the first “qui la” entry is mf (medium loud), the next “qui la” entry is f (loud). 

– m.60 – TB much better job with the diction on “Christ sois!” 

– the word “re-tour-ne” ends with “neh”, not with “nay” – please mark your vowel. 

This song is really coming along. The dynamics are improving and becoming more effective – YES! And our diction has helped so much with tuning and confidence. Keep working!!! (and watching 🙂 

Skye Boat Song

– Forward motion, always! Each phrase is going somewhere. Sometimes, it’s even over the barline to the next measure. Keep the energy going! 

– We are telling a story here. Remember the message and the emotion that goes along with it. Are you singing about hope? Sadness? Fear? We need to send that out in our singing. HINT: clear diction can really help with this!

Happy practicing, everyone! 

Krista