Hello Everyone,
Happy first rehearsal of 2026!
Thank you for the lovely gift of fun musical items that was left on my music stand. I am not sure who to thank…perhaps La Befana! But whoever you are, thank you very, very much!
Thanks for all of your wonderful singing last night – I was very excited about our rehearsal. I know that I did not take time to affirm and compliment all the things that were going well since we were focused on our few remaining challenges. But please know, there were many high points!
These are the concert orders – please organize your folders:
1/12/26 – Carolina Meadows
What Happens When a Woman?
Wild Embers
The Girl With the Numbers
No Fairy Tale Here
The Radium Girl
Hands Upon the Plow
Rise Up
Malala
Be Like Jane
Richer for Her
Like a Mountain
Still I Rise
1/25/26 First Presbyterian Church
What Happens When a Woman?
Wild Embers
The Girl With the Numbers
No Fairy Tale Here
The Radium Girl
Hands Upon the Plow
Rise Up
Womankind (Sisters’ Voices)
Water Women (Chamber Choir)
Malala
Be Like Jane
Richer for Her
Like a Mountain
Still I Rise
When we put our folders down for What Happens When a Woman, Like a Mountain, and Still I Rise, I am hopeful that we will have enough room for each of you to put them in close proximity to where you are standing. Please be prepared for that logistical detail that we will work out when we arrive.
Please be on time (no later than 7pm – come a bit early if you can to help get us moving as quickly as possible!). Our priority will be to work out the logistics and have a short warm up before our performance begins at 7:30pm. Warm up before arriving if you are worried about not having enough warm up time. I am sure that people will be arriving to the space during our warm up period – that is just the way things will be! Normally, we would exit before the house opens but that won’t be possible for this performance.
Please review our three formations that Kinley sent and know where to go! We will not have our risers at Carolina Meadows so it will be up to you to find a window to have a sight line. We know this will be a challenge but also know that we can be flexible and work through it the best that we can.
Please make note of the places that Sisters’ Voices sings:
What Happens When a Woman? m. 1-18 (all altos enter on the ‘woah’ in m. 18 and everyone continues to sing from there on). Shipra will sing the solo on 1/12, Pasha on 1/25.
The Girl With the Numbers – Sisters’ Voices will sing all of the parts labeled ‘Small Group.’
Still I Rise – Sisters’ Voices will sing the unison parts mm. 52-65 with WVC singers joining in on the harmony parts m. 58-59, 66-67
What Happens When a Woman?
– Please practice m. 30. That was a big gap in memorization for many.
– We have pitch drift of about a half step flat by the end.
– We started a hair under (we will give the pitch for our soloists – sorry we did not do that last night, Shipra) but when the altos came in at m. 18 (with great gusto!), we were a good quarter tone flat and never recovered from there.
– I recommend that everyone uses the practice files, paying attention to intonation, please.
Wild Embers
– the intonation in WIld Embers was greatly improved last night. A million hoorays!
– Hopefully, the recordings I shared helped. We need to remain vigilant! If you did not already access the folder with the recordings, you can find them here:
– there were many nice phrases and expressive elements coming to life in this piece.
– it was a pleasure to sing with the S2 section. 🙂
The Girl With the Numbers
– the intonation in this piece is also improved – good work on all of your parts.
– as Leandra has instructed, we need to keep the subdivision active in our minds and bodies as we sing, most especially on all of the melodic, legato parts. That way those parts won’t drag!
– again, it was a pleasure to sing with the S2s.
No Fairy Tale Here
– 12 measures of ‘ts t t.’ I will give you a closed fist signal at m. 12 so you know to end if you have lost count.
– observe the rests at the beginning of mm. 13 and 14 (especially m. 14 – it’s easy to come in early here!).
– as much as you are able, sing those consonants!
The Radium Girl
– much improved soprano rhythm in the opening section!
– pay attention to where the S is placed…when in doubt, you can always leave it off.
– make sure you are taking a breath at the end of mm. 35, 41
Hands Upon the Plow
– no sax solo on 1/12. Mary Huntimer from Meredith College will join us on 1/22 at our tech rehearsal.
– nice job with the accents!
– we can do even more with the accents in mm. 69-70 ‘don’t let go.’
– let’s strive for a more unified entrance in mm. 126 and 128 – we are a bit tentative sounding
Rise Up
– very exciting!
– in m. 97, I am not hearing the staggered entrance on beats 3 and 4. S2s and A2s be sure to wait until beat 4 to sing Rise. In m. 101 everyone is together on beat 3 for Rise.
– mm. 105 and 108 the bell tones are covered up by the long sustained notes so try to be aware here!
Malala
– this piece really suffers from intonation challenges. We have pitch drift from m. 8 with the A2 entrance that worsens at m. 15 with the S2 and A1 entrances. I created ‘rough and ready’ recordings of Malala as I did for Wild Embers. Please practice with them and build in some good muscle memory of singing in tune. I think it is very helpful to sing with the various combinations of parts. This needs to be your practice priority this week, please!
– I know this piece lies in a challenging place for many altos (around middle C). Please use your head voice and keep your tone bright and energized.
– Be sure that you are taking an energized breath each time you breathe.
– I understand it is next to impossible to find pitches at m. 48 when we have drifted so far away from our tonal center. Hopefully, this challenge will be overcome with improved intonation.
– and I like to remember the saying “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” So we need to do something different in order to fix our intonation. It won’t happen just wishing it so (although I will go ahead and manifest it into the universe now!)
Be Like Jane
– we successfully sang this at the marked tempo of 146 beats per minute. Brava! We were cookin’!
– check parts in m. 128 as there were some false entrances here.
– S1 please learn your part at m. 146.
– please note at the end of m. 156 there is no breath – we crescendo in time and return to our original tempo at m. 157 and then it is soft!!!! at m. 157 before quickly building again.
– I will be more clear at the end. I know it felt like a big cut off for the S1s who do not breathe between ‘like’ and ‘Jane.’ I did not conduct that well last night – I will do it right, I promise!
– I did hear some random notes at the end…please check your part if you were having difficulty finding your note.
– guess what? we started and ended in the same key – YAY! So exciting!
Richer for Her
– this one sounded great the last time we sang it. 🙂
Like a Mountain
– good job with your memorization! You may need to check to see where you sing ‘nobody’ and where you sing ‘somebody’ to be sure.
– the tempo was right on the mark – good job!
– check to see whether the notes for ‘spirit’ go up or down. For instance, in. m. 19, the end of ‘spirit’ goes down but in m. 31, the end of ‘spirit’ goes up.
– A2s check your part mm. 42-39 (1st ending and the repeat). That did not come through very clearly.
– we will breathe at the end of m. 56.
– your faces and bodies need to communicate the spirit!
Still I Rise
– woohoo!
– add hand claps at m. 85
– Altos will get a prayer sign at m. 93 to remind you of your prayer lyrics
– Sopranos, you sing the prayer lyrics when we add the sway (start to the right) at m. 101
– at m. 107 I will give the closed fist hand sign for the last ‘by prayer and faith’ before continuing on to ‘Yes it’s all within my reach.’ KEEP CLAPPING AND SWAYING!
– stop clapping and swaying at m. 119 (hands down!!!) and give it all you have vocally for the final ‘Yes, still I rise!’
Looking Ahead to 1/12/26
The next time I see you it will be SHOW TIME! I’m so very excited to share our music with our Carolina Meadows audience.
Please be prepared to be flexible regarding all aspects of our performance, most especially our logistics.
Please remember that we are wearing our black outfits with our new (beautiful!) blue scarves (that will need some touch up ironing) and using our black folders.
After our performance, we will have a break. Please take time to interact with our CM audience. We will then regroup for our remaining time until 10pm.
Please review all our announcements from Janet.
Let’s be joyful, encourage and support one another, and have a great time!
Cheers!
Laura