Hello Everyone!
Thanks for working so hard on our three Irish pieces last night. I think that musically we are in a very good place to continue to learn from our retreat clinician, Dr. Annie Barry, on Saturday. Annie knows that we are very much looking forward to her expertise with the Irish language and all things musical.
Annie is going to create transliterations of the Irish text for each piece this week (hooray!) – we will share them with you on Saturday and then you can transfer the pronunciation notes to your music as is most helpful to you.
If at this point you are unsure of any pitches/rhythms on the Irish pieces that you cannot work out for yourself using the practice files, please let your section leader know so that we can also answer those questions at the retreat. By the time we finish with the retreat on Saturday, I am optimistic that we will be well on our way to performance ready Irish pieces!
Looking Ahead to 3/9/24
Schedule (we will take short breaks as needed):
9-9:30 AM We will have social time with coffee and snacks in the fellowship hall (which is where you will also bring your potluck dish for our lunch).
9:30-9:45 AM Making Connections (discovering sometimes unexpected commonalities that we share with one another)
9:45-10:15 AM Warm ups/vocal technique led by Annie (bring your tuning fork if you have one – I will have some that we can share)!
10:15-11:45 AM Annie will teach and lead us through the Irish text pronunciation for our three Irish pieces
11:45 AM-12:30 PM Lunch
12:30-2:15ish We will continue work on our Irish pieces – if we are ready to move on, we can certainly rehearse some of what I currently have planned for 3/11/24.
2:15-3 PM Irish Sing-A-Long pieces (led by Sarah, Carly, Rah, and me) – these are for everyone, regardless of whether you plan to attend our Irish music evening at the Glass Jug. Learning pieces ‘by ear’ is a wonderful musical exercise for us all as it strengthens our listening literacy.
3-3:30PM Tour meeting led by Jackie for those traveling to Ireland
Looking Ahead to 3/11/24
A Stór, A Stór, a Ghrá (sing through for review)
The White Rose (sing through for review)
Mo Ghile Mear (sing through for review)
Will the Circle Be Unbroken (review)
Swing Low: A spiritual Medley mm. 42-end
Now Let Me Fly mm. 60-end
My Favorite Things mm. 108-150
I’m Beginning to See the Light mm. 36-61
Chamber Choir
Down By the Salley Gardens mm. 62-end
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (review all as time allows)
Special thanks to Kinley and Marsha (and to everyone who helped set up/reset at the end of rehearsal) for the extra effort last night and to everyone who is doing extra work for the retreat on Saturday. I really appreciate how helpful the Chamber Choir members are in helping to reset the rehearsal space every week – y’all are awesome!
See you Saturday!
Laura