Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a lovely rehearsal last night – I enjoyed making music with you all! Welcome back to all of our returning members and welcome to our 5 new members! The beginning of the season is always such a special and exciting time. So much work to get everything ready but then we SING and it is glorious – makes all the work so worth it.
We had many different aspects of the chorus to discuss in addition to rehearsing our music – thanks, Janet for your leadership. I am always inspired by the numerous ways all of the members create such a wonderful chorus, giving so much behind the scenes. There is a way for everyone to contribute in addition to singing. :). I think that is one reason (a big one!) for the strength of our community. 🙂
Please look at your self assessment sheets this week and pick a few goals on which to focus this fall – thank you for the reminder, Kate. And take time to celebrate your strengths!!! I certainly do and deeply appreciate the musicianship each singer brings to the chorus.
Collectively, I would like for us to focus on expression (in addition to everything else!).
– increase our dynamic range, especially in singing a resonant pianissimo
– let the music inform our faces and bodies when we sing so that we are outwardly expressing the music (we have to know our music well enough to look up from our folders). Watch YouTube videos of WVC and other choruses – see what draws you in to a performance and what choruses do to sound and look expressive appropriate to the music
– contemplate the text and our personal connections to the poetry and lyrics
– connect to our inner selves, each other, and our audience through the repertoire
Next week we will have Chamber Choir auditions at 9:30pm following our regular rehearsal. For the audition:
– attached are the PDFs of Earth Song by Frank Tichelli and Sing My Child by Sarah Quartel
– be prepared to sing Earth Song mm. 26-end, and Sing My Child mm. 54-69
– you won’t sing your audition as a soloist, you will sing with the ensemble and I will walk around and listen
– I will listen for:
- accurate pitch/rhythm (these pieces are a cappella so accurate pitch is super important)
- blend with the ensemble (timbre, vowel shapes, and vibrato that blend within the section and ensemble)
- ability to sing the dynamic contrasts pp to ff, as well as the crescendos and decrescendos
-there is not a set number of singers – I will create a balanced ensemble based on those who audition – you may be asked to sing a different part (but not at the audition) – learn the part that you are assigned for WVC for the audition.
– For Earth Song, at the bottom of page 5, don’t sing the optional notes for the soprano part, but notice that mm. 32-33 is S1 upper and lower divisi, not an optional note.
– if you can’t be present for the audition next week, please email me a voice memo of you singing your part with the practice files – use the ones labeled ALL so that I can hear you singing your part with all of the other parts. Play the practice track at a level that I mostly hear your voice. Please send that to me no later than Monday, September 16th.
-Chamber Choir regularly rehearses from 9:30-10pm on Monday nights after the regular rehearsal.
Rehearsal Reflection:
Here in My Heart m. 1-54
-‘singing’ correct pronunciation does not have a hard g sound in the middle or at the end of the word
– we worked on specific consonants: F: ruffle, feathers, fill, fragrance H: heart, here K: lilac Of course, ALL the consonants should be clearly articulated but I think it is helpful to concentrate on a few and then add on. Impress and inspire your neighbors with your clearly articulated consonants!
I Love You/What a Wonderful World mm. 1-59
– pronunciation of ‘world’ – minimize the R and L, keep the tongue relaxed and create a mouth space for an open, relaxed vowel
– everyone is welcome to audition for the solo – that will happen in October
– focus on learning the chorus part – ignore the ensemble part for now.
Measure Me, Sky! mm. 1-34
– ‘sky’ sing an open AH and as the note is released, sound the vanishing vowel
– ensure that the rhythm is accurate in contrasting the triplet pattern with even eighth note pattern
– work on singing arpeggios with accurate pitch. The skips can be challenging, especially at the tempo of the piece. I recommend that you use the YouTube practice file (thanks, Karla!) and practice at a reduced tempo until you can sing the pitches accurately.
– so much of this piece is EPIC! We will need to attend to the dynamics and not over sing the entire piece.
– compare the opening musical phrases with the phrases on page 7. S1 and A1 begin their phrases on E instead of D (probably want to circle that!). Look for both the similarities and differences.
Nigra Sum mm. 1-22
– the shifting tonalities in this piece are so interesting. We begin in e-minor and then cadence at G-Major (the relative major) before returning to the minor tonality. This piece has several other tonal centers as it progresses that we will talk about as we get to them. Why is it important to understand the key? If you are singing what I refer to as the anchor tones – 1 and 5 (Do and Sol) – it is especially important that you realize the importance of singing in the center of the pitch, singing in tune, so that the whole piece stays better in tune. And I always think the most expressive singinging has its foundation in solid intonation.
– breathe in m. 2 after sum – change the tied note from a quarter note to an eighth note and then breathe on the eighth rest. In measure 14, change the first eighth note to an eighth rest and breathe
– we will definitely sing this with the metronome OFF. Watch closely so that we move together through the rubato.
Sky Dances mm. 1-34
– I love this piece and how it sounds so effortless and natural but when notated it is extremely rhythmically complex (thanks, Jennifer Stasack!). What a joy to have such a challenge! One way to approach understanding the rhythm is to know where the beat is in the measure through the relationship of the voice and the piano. The piano part has mostly quarter and half notes that are on the beat – you can clearly see the 4 beats in each measure. I have lightly drawn vertical lines in my score to see where the choral part is offset from the beat, either before or after or on. I enjoyed learning that the word ‘worms’ was on the beat. Don’t know why I enjoyed that discovery, but I did!
– the alto hums on page 2 should be sung with lips barely touching and an open, resonant space inside your mouth.
– in this piece, we breathe on the rests – otherwise, stagger breathing please.
– here is a lovely recording (this is the version on which Jennifer Stasack based her arrangement). Holly Near with emma’s revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWss-sB-tto Here is the live performance version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEA2MIqgR-4
If you are interested in knowing more about Holly Near (and so much more!), there is a wonderful documentary about her released in 2019 that I rented through Amazon Prime: Holly Near, Singing for Our Lives. Best $1.74 rental fee I think I ever spent!
Looking Ahead to 9/16/24
Some Glad Morning mm. 1-34 (since we did not get to it last night!)
Honour the Earth mm. 1-48
I Am mm. 1-29
Sing, Wearing the Sky mm. 1-39
Review (everything we covered last night):
Here in My Heart m. 1-54
I Love You/What a Wonderful World mm. 1-59
Measure Me, Sky! mm. 1-34
Nigra Sum mm. 1-22
Sky Dances mm. 1-34
Looking Ahead to 11/4/24 when we have our rehearsal/run out concert, we will share these pieces with our audience – wanted you to know this ahead of time so that we will be ready to share:
Here in My Heart
I Love You/What a Wonderful World mm. 1-59
Measure Me, Sky! mm. 1-34
Nigra Sum mm. 1-22
Sky Dances mm. 1-34
Some Glad Morning mm. 1-34
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday and especially welcoming Deb back from her vacation.
Best,
Laura