Hello Everyone,
What an exciting evening, sight reading our music together! I really enjoyed hearing where we are now and imagining (joyfully!) where we will be in April. I am looking forward to us growing together through the musical (and poetic) challenges before us. Hooray to Deb who played a zillion notes last night. Hooray to our altos who are our beautiful and strong foundation (even when singing on top of the staff), hooray to our mezzos who are our gorgeous glue, and hooray to our sopranos who soar and sparkle in the stratosphere.
A few points of review from last night (and for those who were absent):
- Everyone received a sheet indicating the part divisi for each piece. Please double check to make sure that you are learning the correct part. If you were absent, I have attached it. If you are unsure of what part to sing in the divisi, please ask your section leader.
- Karla has posted practice files (and recordings!) on the WVC website for all music except the Chamber Choir pieces (recordings only). Especially helpful are the recordings of the pieces for which there are additional instruments – specifically Moon Goddess because no matter how wonderful Deb is, she cannot play all of the 4-hand piano accompaniment, much less the percussion parts.
- Chamber Choir auditions will be at 9:30 PM on 2/3/20. The audition PDF (please print it for auditions) is posted under our practice tracks and links to recordings of the three movements we are singing are also on the website. As I said last night, the audition will call for singers who can independently sing close harmonies with accuracy and minimal vibrato. Each of the three movements is unique and I encourage you to listen to all three, although we will only sing a section of the second movement for our audition. Please be prepared to sing in small ensembles, one voice to a part.
- I encourage you to read the poems when you practice each piece or to review them during rehearsal. This concert repertoire is unique in that all of the music is set to preexisting poems – none of the composers also wrote the lyrics. And although this concert celebrates music and poems composed by women, that is not our theme. Before I share my thoughts in regard to the theme, however, I want to give you the chance to discover and create your own thematic journey. We’ll dive more deeply into this at our retreat as well as do a ton of singing (and eating…and sisterhood).
- For the next few rehearsals we will begin at our regular time – 7:30 PM – working in sectionals before coming together in our regular space at the midpoint of our rehearsal to work on expressive details. Because we are challenged with five fewer rehearsals this spring, we need to work efficiently to accomplish our pitches and rhythms so that we can move forward with bringing our music to life with expressive details. We will meet in 3-part divisi this coming week – altos (LJ and Deb) in our regular space, mezzos (Kay) in the choir room across the street, and sopranos (Laura D) in the sanctuary across the street.
- I spoke last night about individual musical accountability, an essential aspect of our sisterhood. All singers need to sing accurate pitches and rhythms (after a reasonable amount of time to get it learned!) and also sing at a volume level that allows for dynamic contrasts and that blends with the chorus, allowing other singers to hear themselves and the rest of the chorus. If you need help, please ask! There are practice tracks and recordings on our website, and our section leaders, Deb, and I are all ready and eager to assist. I suggest that during rehearsal, if you experience a challenge, mark it in your music and make your section leader aware.
- I am hopeful that we will sing the majority of April’s concert in mixed formation – we will spend some time rehearsing in sections so that we can most efficiently accomplish pitches and rhythms.
Looking forward to 2/3/20
7:30-8:30 PM Sectionals 3/6-part divisi. Locations detailed above.
- I Started Out Singing mm. 1-61.
- In the Lavender Stillness of Dawn mm. 1-39.
- Some Glad Morning mm. 1-59.
- Moon Goddess mm. 1-75.
8:40-9:30 PM All rehearse together, seated in 3/6-part divisi sections. Choose where you want to sit within your section.
- Announcements.
- Sing through all sectional music, focusing on expressive elements.
- O Ignee Spiritus mm. 1-48.
- The Birds’ Lullaby mm. 1-54.
9:30-10 PM Chamber Choir Auditions Details above.