Hello Everyone,
I’m so proud of us for singing through our concert repertoire with many successes. We have a few ‘mud puddles’ to slosh through ahead of us, but we have so many aspects that we have a ‘check – we’re ready to perform’ mark beside them. I think that we have collectively experienced musical growth through this challenging repertoire and I am so excited to share it with our friends and families in a couple of weeks. Now, about those mud puddles…
Our last regular rehearsal is next Monday, 4-21-25. For this rehearsal, I have prioritized what most needs our attention. We won’t run through everything again until our first tech rehearsal on 4-28-25.
I have the recordings I made last night in a folder if there is anything you want to take a listen to:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/146x6BaBVukuj03D8zNRhoa0B2DtxgvLV?usp=share_link (please don’t share these files – these are only for our rehearsal use)
Rehearsal Reflection
My Name is Lamiya: Don’t Call Me Refugee
– please go through your score and note all of the dynamics.
m. 1 – p
m. 8 – mp
m. 20 – crescendo to f
m. 24 – mp
please continue to look through the score so that we don’t oversing the soft places in this piece
– our first run through mm. 90-97 was a disaster…but I am glad we were able to find our way home to F minor at m. 98. The second time through that section (not recorded) we improved considerably. We have some more rehearsing to do on this part.
– I know you all are counting to stay accurate, especially in mixed formation, this piece is quite a challenge. I will do my best to give a very clear beat pattern so that if you do feel that you have gotten off, you can hopefully find your way back in.
– I have prioritized this piece for rehearsal on 4-21.
The Harbor and the Sea
– we are mostly accurate now on pitches and rhythms…time to make this piece more musical with phrasing, dynamics, syllabic awareness, and tuning
– note all of the dynamics throughout
– the tempo is currently too slow…we need to be at quarter note = 66 at m. 10
– we need to clarify alto and mezzo pitches mm. 39-40
– Julianne, you came in 1 beat too early for your entrance m. 46 – I can help you there, your solo sounds wonderful! Everything is clear and expressive, just that one correction needed.
– pgs 8-9 – we need to tune these pitches
– no rit. page 12
– I have prioritized this piece for rehearsal on 4-21.
Mi Lugar
– I started us out at about 80 beats per minute instead of 72, so I will adjust the tempo to be a bit slower. I think this will actually help us overall…apologies!
– note the dynamic markings throughout.
– our phrase entrances are not always together…we need to breathe and phonate together…at a slower tempo this should be easier
– A1 and A2 parts need to be clearer at mm. 24-28, sopranos softer
– mm. 42-43 are still not as precise as we can achieve
– A1 and A2 parts need to be clearer mm. 43-50, sopranos softer (and more clarity though this section)
– mm. 59-63 we need to check pitches
– I have prioritized this piece for rehearsal on 4-21.
Mae-e
– lovely – the dynamic contrasts are especially beautiful!
– we have really come a long way on this piece and I love to hear you sing it.
Deep River
– mm. 1-2, everyone has a descending line – careful to keep resonance and not let the pitch sink (sing above your hand!)
– flat again in m. 4, again everyone has descending lines
– make sure to circle the breath mark at the end of m. 13, some wanted to jump in early there.
– we ended up singing everything past m. 2 about a quarter tone flat. If you have time this week, practice this one slowly with your tuner.
– the dynamic contrasts throughout are wonderful. This piece has a lot of heart…if we can tune it it will be stunning
Walk Together Children
– dynamics – please note all that are in the score. We will play around with adding some more for contrats, as well.
– mm. 15-28 lower 3 parts need cleaner entrances (the W sound is a challenge to make precise), and also softer! This section also dragged a bit, but if we clean up the rhythm, I think the tempo will remain steady.
– the A2 part is significantly flat at mm. 46-47…throughout I notice that middle C isn’t in tune (it’s So in F Major, so one of our ‘post notes’ for tuning), then when it descends to the A, it is also flat. Try ‘signing above the hand’ there
– breathe at the end of m. 76 before the final chord. I won’t take a big pause, but we all need to be together!
Entrance
– our tempo on the opening section is a bit wobbly. The intro needs to be a bit slower, when voices enter, tempo settles in at quarter note = 64 (yay!) but then we get slower m. 8-10 and there should be no rit.
– need to check pitches at m. 18 – those entrances are not clean
– at m. 20 we were a bit too fast for quarter = 62
– I take responsibility for the tempos being off – I will work on that this week and fix it!
– aleatoric section sounds great
– beautiful ending
Grace Before Sleep
– tuning is excellent with just a few exceptions- page 8
– we need to sing the softer sections much softer! (But then also keep the tuning accurate)
– overall lovely (if we can nail the soft sections!)
Crowded Table
– great solo work, Allison!
– clip your pages together so that you are not turning during Allison’s solo. Go ahead and have your music turned to page 5 at the start of the piece.
– I will write my lead sheet differently so that I can be more helpful with ‘head nods,’ especially on the ending section
– sounds great, (once I fix what I am doing! – which I will)
We Are Home
– our tempo is not as steady as it should be, we tend to speed up and slow down depending on the section we are singing…I will do my best to be as clear as possible (especially problematic on page 5)
– we need to pay attention to the dynamics in the score. For instance, page 4 is sub. p with the crescendo marked in m. 32 up to a mf at m. 35…but we are already at a forte by m. 32.
– we need to check parts on page 15-17 and be BOLD at m. 139. (That’s my favorite part!)
– I decided that we will NOT breathe at the end of m.157 (lots of staggered breathing!) so please carry through to the last chord
Over the Rainbow
– beautiful in so many ways!
– the beginning needs a softer, more wistful tone
– mm. 27-31 is too heavy…we should wait to sing with fuller voices at mm. 32 as we crescendo to m. 34…and then crescendo to fortissimo at m. 37 (that part is gorgeous). We don’t really crescendo mm. 35-36 leading to 37….we’re just loud! We need that dramatic crescendo to bring out the feelings!
– there are some wrong notes in mm. 40-41, check your part there, please, mezzos and altos
– breathe at the end of m. 43….then watch me for your entrance back in on m. 44 so that we are together
– check your dynamics m. 47-end (we’re too loud)
Across the Sea
– Beautiful! Solo sounds lovely, Jennifer
– we worked on the entrances after we recorded – so just remember those improvements
– remember to connect the Z of breeze to ‘on’ so that we don’t have stray zzzzzzz on the dotted quarter note (if you breathe there, don’t put on the Z)
Shenandoah
– the tuning is exceptional – brava!
– the only exceptions I hear are the descending intervals on page 5…then we corrected on the next section
– we need to tune the first chord in m. 42
– A1, check your entrance m. 44. you have the same middle C that the S2s have…maybe it’s timing rather than pitch, but we need to work on that some more
Looking Ahead to 4/21/25
I am going to send Janet an updated seating chart to include in Sunday’s announcements that will be our performance formation. As I listen to the chorus at rehearsal next week, I may yet need to move a few voices around, but it will be close and I will make those adjustments so that we are all set for our first tech rehearsal.
We will not sing everything on 4/21/25, but rather will prioritize rehearsing these pieces:
My Name is Lamiya: Don’t Call Me Refugee
The Harbor and the Sea
Mi Lugar
We Are Home
As time allows, we may touch on any of our other pieces. But, if we prioritize these four, I think we will be in excellent shape for our tech rehearsal on 4/28/25.
Please let your section leaders know this week if you are having difficulties that you are not able to sort out for yourself with the practice files.
Thank you for the compelling, interesting, amazing, beautiful music! It is such a joy to come to rehearsal each week to make music with you all.
Looking forward to Monday,
Laura