Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a wonderful rehearsal last night – I enjoyed every minute and hope that you did, too! I am very pleased with all the great work we are accomplishing together.
Kinley let me know that we will rehearse in the sanctuary next week – across the street from our usual space. Kinley is going to send an email with a map, so please be on the lookout for that.
Virginia and Sarah let me know that there were discrepancies with the Irish pronunciation when comparing the two recordings we have in our practice files – we will go with Annie’s recording. She let me know that different regions of Ireland have different pronunciations (like me and my southern accent!) so we might hear other pronunciations and we would just need to choose. Since we have recordings from Annie for all of our Irish pronunciations, and she is going to be at our retreat to work with us, we will go with Annie’s version. Thanks, Virginia and Sarah for being on top of this!
Rehearsal Reflection:
The White Rose mm. 1-34
– Great work on pitches and rhythms! The remainder of this piece has similarities and repetition of what we learned so we are in a great place with this piece.
– Breathe at the rests, stagger breathe as needed
I’m Beginning to See the Light mm. 1-27
– Great work on pitches and rhythms. We will need to be super attentive to all of the chromatisms but we are off to a solid start.
– Thank you for the vocal leadership of the singers who have already performed this with WVC – very helpful!
‘Tis the Gift to Be SImple mm. 20-39
– Pitches and rhythms accomplished – wonderful work.
– ‘whirl’ should begin with Hw, minimize the R
– Breathe on the rests
– Tall, round vowel for ’round,’ sustain the primary vowel which technically is not an AH in spoken English but we will shape it to an AH for tuning and resonance.
Mo Ghile Mear mm. 1-82
– This is a challenging piece and we are making great progress!
Stand By Me mm. mm. 1-47
– Most importantly we will need to hear the melody loudest, the A2 bass line next, and then supporting harmonies.
– Practicing with the Julie Gaulke video is very helpful!
You Do Not Walk Alone mm. 1-115
– Pitches and rhythms accomplished
– Nice work on dynamics which will really bring this piece to life.
– We will breathe on the rests, stagger breathing otherwise.
Looking Ahead to 3/1/24
In preparation for our work with Dr. Annie Barry at our retreat on 3/9/24, we will devote our rehearsal time on Monday to our Irish pieces as a priority.
– A Stór A Stór A Ghrá mm. 1-127 (we will work on this entire piece)
– Mo Ghile Mear mm. 1-123 (we will work on this entire piece)
-The White Rose mm. 1-74 (we will work on this entire piece)
If time allows:
– My Favorite Things mm. 1-90
Chamber Choir
– Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy mm. 49-72
– Down By the Salley Gardens mm. mm. 62-75 (as KImberly suggested, we may move some voices to adjacent parts on mm. 64 & 65 for balance – but we will see when we rehearse together. The same would hold true on mm. 56 &57, which are similar)
This is how I currently have CC part splits assigned – thank you for your flexibility!
Wendy Hua S1U-S
Julianne Vance S1U-S
Jennifer Canada S1L-S
Lauren Keller S1L-S
Trisha Socias S1L-S
Allison Mangin S2U-S
Shipra Patel S2U-S
Darcy Wold – S2U-M
Amy Glass S2L-M
Diane Wold S2L-M
Virginia Byers Kraus S2L-M
Rah Bickley A1U-M
Kinley Russell A1U-M
Christa Abedi A1L-M
Anne Menkens A1L-A
Marsha Ferguson A1L-A
Janet Huebner A2U-A
Kimberly Slentz-Kesler A2U-A
Debbie Russell A2L-A
Susan Brown A2L-A
Karla Byrnes A2L-A