Hello Everyone!
I enjoyed being with you at our rehearsal – we are making progress! Thank you for our music making and also for our improved transitions – we moved with better efficiency tonight and that was very helpful.
Please work on your scales and interval exercises as you have time – individual accuracy will improve our ensemble intonation. If you are not already comfortable using sol-fa, hopefully as you become fluent you will begin to connect with how scale degrees (Do, Re Mi, etc.) function in a melody (Ti feels high and leads upward to Do, Re moves a whole step or a Major 2nd up from Do, etc.). Scale degrees have functions within harmonies, too. Do is always our home tone in a major key, La is our home tone in a minor key. There are other modes, of course, but that is for another day.
Please memorize the text for A Path to Each Other. The intonation using sol-fa was very sparkly tonight – brava!
Cheers to all – I am already looking forward to our next rehearsal!
Laura
Now Let Me Fly – arr. Stacey Gibbs
Pages 14-16.
We did not get to all of the detailed work included in our rehearsal plan for this week but we will in subsequent rehearsals.
- Pages 15-16 – Review your pitches and rhythms
- Page 14 is the refrain which we will work on again in our next rehearsal, as well as work on the refrain when it is found in other spots in this piece. There are many similarities.
I Sing That My Voice May Be Heard – Gwen McLeod Hall
All.
Nice read-through! We will continue to work on phrasing, dynamics, and articulation (especially articulating the consonants in mm. 18-27.
- Listen to your practice files, especially mm. 18-27. We will work on this section next week and make sure that everyone is confident with their notes.
- Chant the text in rhythm mm. 18-27. Mm. 18 and 22 are the same but are especially tricky.
- As Shelly pointed out, Gwen wrote major chords to fall on the cadences of mm. 24 and 26, amidst the cacophony of the dissonances.
The Imaginary Garden – Marie-Claire Saindon
Pages 4-10
We will continue to listen for the melody, duet and then melodic fragments in this section. it is important that they are not lost in the thick texture of all of the other parts. I have attached the recording so that you can hear where we are with this piece. We are currently working on the most challenging section and are in a good place with our progress so don’t be discouraged by the imperfections that you hear in our recording. It is a good indication of where we are and our path forward (we are in the weeds and jumping through some mud puddles right now but we will get it). Review your parts on pages 4-10 if you are having difficulties and especially work on transitioning at mm. 72-73. Nice crescendo mm. 87-90!
The Peace of Wild Things – Sean Ivory
Sean Ivory composed beautiful word painting in this piece – I am looking forward to us exploring how he brings the text to life with his melodies and harmonies. I have attached the recording of us sight singing the new sections and reviewing the sections that we have already started. It will be fun to hear our progress from our beginning stages to where we will be in January.
My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett
Pages 6-13.
Good work on singing minor 2nds, Major 2nds, and Augmented 2nds tonight. Here is a review if you are not sure about seconds:
In music, a second (2nd) is defined as a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions – neighboring notes. So, C-D and E-F are examples of seconds. We can further define seconds by how many half steps comprise the interval:
m2 (minor 2nd) – one half step. (An example is C-Db)
M2 (Major 2nd) – two half steps. (An example is C-D)
A2 (Augmented 2nd) – three half steps. (An example is C-D#)
The seconds in this piece are what gives it its very distinctive sound and will be important for us to recognize and sing accurately. I would like for us to mark all of the Augmented 2nds in our music as we work through it in rehearsal.
A Path to Each Other – Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy Takach
The tuning has improved so much in the past two weeks. Hooray! Please memorize the text for our 9/30/19 rehearsal. The final time that you sing the word “wall” is in m. 4. From m. 5 to the end we will build a “path.”
Looking Ahead:
Rehearsal Plans for WVC 9-30-19
A Pat to Each Other – Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy Takach
We will sing all with text from memory.
Now Let Me Fly – arr. Stacey Gibbs
We did not get to all of the detailed work included in our rehearsal plan for this week but we will in subsequent rehearsals…so keep those notes on the front burner.
- Pages 14-16 – Review pitches and rhythms
- Refrain – mm. 29-36
- Refrain – mm. 45-52
- Refrain – mm. 61-68
- Sightread through the verses and sing all.
You will discover many similarities when comparing/contrasting the first three times that we sing the refrain. The fourth time we sing the refrain (page 14) there are significant differences (that’s why we started on it first).
I Sing That My Voice May Be Heard – Gwen McLeod Hall
All
We will continue to work on phrasing, dynamics, and articulation (especially articulating the consonants in mm. 18-27. We will work with composer Gwen Hall on this piece at our fall retreat. She is really looking forward to being with us.
The Tree of Peace – Gwyneth Walker
Pages 11-15 mm. 56-76 and pages 16-17 mm. 77-91
- Sing a D major scale.
- 77-80 learn pitches and rhythms in all parts.
- shape each AH phrase with dynamics – in general, crescendo as pitches ascend and decrescendo as pitches descend.
- observe the in m. 80.
- 81-91 learn pitches and rhythms in all parts.
- 81 observe the tentuto on “love” and bring out the V. Emphasize the F of “fire.”
- 82 observe the accents on “anger,” minimize the R of “anger,” and observe the breath mark.
- 83 connect the final Z of “ashes” to the P of plant.
- 81 shape “of” as previously rehearsed.
- 85-91 round the vowel of “peace” and being with a clear P.
- 91 the final S of “peace” is on the eighth note, beat 1.
- 81-84 note the dynamic contrast f then p.
- 56-76 sing through noting the tempo changes.
1941 – Andrea Ramsey
Pages 5-9 mm. 27-51
- pitches and rhythms in all parts.
- note the phrase markings for breaths.
- note the tempo changes.
- note the accents.
- note the dynamic contrasts.
The Valley – Jane Sidberry, arr. Beth Hanson
Pages 2-4 mm. 1-36.
- Chant text in rhythm, breaking it down into smaller sections as needed.
- Sing an E major scale.
- Learn pitches in all parts.
Chamber Choir
We will sight read through all of Shule Agra and then rehearse specifically mm. 1-32.