Practice Resources
Your first resource for help practicing at home is Krista’s Google Drive. The resources are generally in sub-folders for each voice: Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass.
Below on this page is specific help for this term’s repertoire.
Note: One of our choristers who uses their phone to practice has discovered that the videos imbedded here will play much better if your phone is turned sideways into landscape mode.
2026 Winter Repertoire
The Snow
Auld Lang Syne
Brightest and Best
The Hands that first Held Mary’s Child
Farewell to Nova Scotia
Here’s to Song
Miss Fogarty’s Christmas Cake
When Christ Was Born
Signum
Suai’r Gwynt
Away in a Manger
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Put a Little Love / Peace Train
Schedryk
Hope Lingers On
The Snow
Auld Lang Syne
- Mark all of the “for” as “fihr.” It’s an “ih” sound, like the word “bit” or “fit” Embrace your inner Scot!
Brightest and Best
- m.25 and m.60 – practice slowly to centre every pitch and unify every vowel sound. It moves by so quickly in performance. We need to practice slowly so that we will get the best choral sound possible. Be picky about your work!
- m.75 – one example of counting while holding a note so that you know when to release. 4++4+4 beats, placing the [ d ] on beat 1 of measure 78.
- m.44 Verse 2 – we circled ALL of the spots where SA and TB are singing the same note an 8va apart. Listen to match the sound!
- mark your verses and choruses so you have a better idea of the roadmap
The Hands that first Held Mary’s Child
- m.69-end – sop 1 notice you have your own line, and split at m.80
- careful with tuning on descending lines. Remember, Dean doesn’t play your notes. He has his own notes to think about!
- m.46 – “Emmanuel”?? We will choose to sing EHH-mmanuel. The open vowel. As opposed to EEE or UHH.
- m.57-58 – small sop divisi
- Basses – your line is challenging! Give it extra attention please!
- m.26-42 – our TBs really showed us how to sing a legato phrase. Beautiful. Let’s all do that. Sing on the vowel (don’t allow your tongue or jaw to move to a consonant or new syllable too early)
- m.46-62 – independence of notes. Dean doesn’t play here.
Farewell to Nova Scotia
Here's to Song
Miss Fogarty’s Christmas Cake
- 6/8 time – 6 x 1/8-note counts OR 2 big beats. It all works. But we have to count and feel the beat!
- be sure that you are familiar with the melody of the verses. It will help you know how you fit into the harmony!
When Christ Was Born
- Mark in specific diction challenges ex. flipped [ɾ] in IPA (Christ) vs r-coloured vowel (born, bo˞n in IPA). This happens a lot!
- Listening and tuning. Important. Spend extra time with the descending lines ex. m.2. Centre every single note. If you are able, play on the piano and check your tuning on every single note. This is a lifelong challenge for all of us and completely worth the detailed work.
- Dean doesn’t play! As you’re practicing, constantly check in with a piano or tuning fork or app to see if you are still on pitch. Think light and free and listening! No tension!
Signum
Suai'r Gwynt
Isn’t learning new pronunciation fun!?!? I don’t think I’ve ever had a song in Welsh before. We’re going to feel great when we get it!! – Krista
There is a special folder for Suai’r Gwynt in the google drive. In it is a document with some pronunciation help typed out from listening to the spoken recording. Not International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Very basic, and not all that consistent throughout. But maybe it will also help you get the general idea of things.
Here is a track featuring a solo singer with very clear pronunciation. Her words are not exactly the same as ours, but close.
Small chunks. Embrace the challenge. Practice and then sleep on it and practice some more. Such a beautiful song and completely new to our choir and community.
I had a listen to some recordings to see how we should tackle m.3 “hei bio i’r” with the rhythm in the different lines.
ATB – as written. 3 eighth notes. hei – bio – i’r
Sops – this is different from what we did last evening!!! Hold “hei” on the quarter note. Squish “bio-i’r” into the single eighth note. The soloist in the youtube video does this beautifully. I’m going to imagine that 8th note as being divided into 2 x 16th notes. One for “bio” and the other for “i’r.” Sounds crazy complicated, but actually sounds quite lovely and simple 🙂
Away in a Manger
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Put a Little Love / Peace Train
Schedryk
- m.25-28 – S2 and TB are on [ lu ]
- m.29-33 – S2, A and TB are on [ lu ]
- m.34-36 – S1, S2, TB are on [ lu ]. TB is holding a G.
- last measure is ONLY S1 and S2. Everyone else has a rest
Hope Lingers On
We are working on this for Annapolis Royal on Oct 3 AND for our own use.
- mind the off-beats and syncopation.
- we did great with rests and beat in rehearsal! Keep that up!
Here is the choir that commissioned the Andrea Ramsey arrangement:
And here is the composer (on the right) and her group: