Hello All,
I loved that 40ish of us were able to come together to make music at our rehearsal, either in person or via Zoom. For that, I am grateful. We had many obstacles in front of us – most especially the rapidly spreading omicron variant and the threat of black ice. But even so, we persevered.
I am looking forward to our upcoming board meeting on Sunday where we will make decisions regarding our path forward (specifically our upcoming concert) during these uncertain times.
Rehearsal Focus:
Rise Up
– Worked on accents and long crescendos…big improvements with those two aspects. Always leave yourself with either room to grow or to diminish….otherwise we end up with a dynamic of mezzo boring! This piece has come a very long way since we first started working on it – yay us!
Nothing Short of Grace
– Reviewed this piece with attention to consonants…example: ‘fear in the face.’ I know our masks are a barrier to audible consonants but I did hear them when we paid special attention. I also know that it takes more breath to produce consonants clearly and with volume. Janet mentioned that she is practicing her music at home with her mask on and I think that is a great idea, especially since singing with masks seems to unfortunately be in our foreseeable future.
Storm Comin’
– Sang through with body percussion. If you plan to perform the body percussion it is definitely time to rehearse from memory so that you can fully commit to this performance aspect. Laura D. made the observation that the opening section (sung by the mezzos) needs more strength and I agree. This whole piece from all sections needs more volume and energy. Really, until the end when we decrescendo, this piece should be no softer than a mf. I think we need to remember to use our best singing/breathing technique even as the style of this piece is folksy.
– Because this piece calls for us to slide into and away from pitches, our intonation is suffering. When you practice, if you can, use a keyboard or a tuner to see if you actually get to the center of the target pitch. We will work on this together, too. We want to sound as though our spirits are singing on top of a mountain with outstretched arms during a raging storm. ‘Let your spirit soar!’ (not that we would do that physically – we are smarter than that!)
Sing My Child
– Wendy and Amy Glass will be our soloists – congratulations!
– Keep the vowel of ‘sing’ open without closing to the NG early.
– Sopranos – emphasis on the final consonant of each phrase will help to energize the piece.
– Ostinato singers (A1 and A2) keep it light and detached. Good job on tuning your repeated notes!
Richer for Her
|– We reminded ourselves of the two tricky spots where there are fermatas followed by Deb playing a chord while the chorus has a rest – mm. 32 and 76. Great job with that, everyone.
– On page 9, altos sing out! You carry this beautiful melody and this section should be forte from everyone but the sopranos will have to adjust their part accordingly so that the alto part is always a bit louder than the soprano part.
– Really nice job singing expressively on this piece – heartwarming.
She Who Makes Her Meaning Clear
– We worked on upper voices crescendoing on the long notes.
– Keep the ostinato parts very rhythmic and a bit detached – rhythmic accuracy and ensemble precision are keys to our success. it’s coming along!
– I avoided the opening section with all of the big chords because we mostly need to work on balance and that is challenging when we can’t hear all voices. Hopefully, we will get a chance to do that before too long.
O Sister
– Rachel and Trisha will be our soloists – congratulations! Looking forward to hearing you sing together.
– We will work on this piece next week.
What the Heart Cannot Forget
– Rachel will join Janet as our duet on this piece – congratulations!
– We will work on this piece next week.
How Can I Keep from Singing?
– Good work on the accents mm. 25-32!
– We will work on dynamic contrasts the next time we rehearse, especially on the ‘la la’ section.
Looking Ahead to 1/10/22
Be prepared to work on any and all of our music. It’s that time of our season where we need to work on polishing aspects of all of our repertoire.
We still have our alto sectional scheduled for next week. Any S1 or S2 singers who have questions or would like to have more time singing, you are welcome to join in, since the soprano sectional this past week was canceled.
I look forward to our next rehearsal. I wish for everyone good health (and humor) in the coming week.
Sending everyone a virtual hug,
Laura