I don’t know about you, but I left last night’s rehearsal feeling like we are making real progress on the new Mendelssohn piece. Perhaps you also had your line going through your head as you were trying to fall asleep? It has so much intensity for a piece with text that reminds us to be patient and calm. Keep working on this one, a few minutes everyday, and it will come together before too long.
Time to send out a few music reminders! Hopefully this will give you a good idea of where we stand with each piece, and what we need to work on. It would be awfully nice if we could throw in just a couple more songs… : )
Voila le Pere Noel
– m. 28-30 – place the [d] consonant of “d’vous” and “d’bonne” on the end of the previous word. It will sound like “tach-ehed vous” and “couch-ehed bonne”
– BASS – I’ve put a recording of your notes for m.27-40 in the shared drive (it’s also attached to this email)
He, Watching Over Israel
– Review phrasing/breath marks, placement of end consonants, and all of the tricks and markings for finding starting pitches. We don’t want to lose rehearsal time by repeating the same instructions each week.
– We’ve tackled up to m. 43 so far, and will continue to work on the different vocal lines in rehearsal.
– Review m.68 to the end. We need to know this part cold! That will allow us to focus on listening and tuning in this exposed and unaccompanied section. It’s going to be beautiful.
Miss Fogarty
– We have now marked the whole score to show where EnChor and/or kids sing, as well as when the sopranos jump to the alto line. Please review this at home so we don’t have to keep repeating instructions in rehearsal.
– We are going for precise word endings. It will be so much more effective for telling the story, and gives us a much higher standard of performance. Ex. m.27 (cherries), m.31 (berries), m.35 (abundance), etc… These are EVERYWHERE in this piece!
Seal Lullaby
– Focus on p.6 – end, please.
– It’s slow, lush, beautiful… but the beats still have to line up with very precise chord changes. For practice, sing your line on “tah tah tah” to help find these clean switches.
– When singing on the [u] sound, remember to use a balanced onset each time we rearticulate the sound (avoid hard glottals, or soft airy aspirates, please!)
Sunny Bank
– We’ve marked the whole score for when and where EnChor and/or kids sing. Please review so we don’t lose rehearsal time.
– The word “Christmas” – don’t close to the [s], please. We will hear the [s] no problem! Think “Chriiii-stmas” rather than “Chris-tmas.”
In the Bleak Midwinter
– We’re going with Gerry’s beautiful pronunciation of “iron.” Not EYE-run. Not quite EYE-urn, but almost. Just think the “r” and we will be all set!
– This is a very chorale-like, hymn-like song. We need to change notes/chords together. Clean and precise, with a very solid sense of beat and togetherness. And yet, musical and beautiful. We can DO it!
– I’ve attached the Alto line recording again, as I think I messed up the last email.
Lo, How a Rose
– We didn’t get to this one yesterday, so keep plugging away at home, please.
– I’ve attached the Alto line recording again, as I think I messed up the last email.
That’s a lot of reminders. Please don’t be overwhelmed. We have many days to review and practice and ask questions and learn! If you need musical help, ask a choir neighbour, send me an email, join Brenda’s beginner theory group, watch youtube videos, listen to recordings… we have so many wonderful people in our choir available to help! No need to suffer in musical silence : )
I’m off to do a few recordings of different lines and will send them as soon as I can. Happy singing!
Krista