Hello Everyone,
I had a wonderful time with you at our retreat. Thanks to all who were able to attend – but we certainly missed those who were not able to be with us.
What a beautiful setting for our music-making!
We began our retreat with Connections and learned some very unique things about one another…we are quite an interesting community!
We then worked through excerpts of our music as we applied Laban’s Eight Efforts, enhancing our ensemble’s expressiveness. If you would like to hear our progress, here are rehearsal snippets from the WVC Retreat.
punch , dab , flick , press , wring , slash , float , glide
I have a hard copy of the Laban information printed for everyone, but if you missed the retreat and want to have a look before Monday evening, I have attached the document.
We then worked with Gwen Hall, our clinician for our retreat. She shared her creative process when composing I Sing That My Voice May Be Heard. We rehearsed the piece with Gwen giving us very helpful feedback and guidance along the way. Her insights helped us to reach a new level of artistry with this piece. You can listen here: I Sing That My Voice May Be Heard. Although we made great progress in expressiveness, we will continue to work on intonation – the opening phrase is not in tune…and then we don’t quite sit in a tonal center throughout….but we will work on this together!
During lunch (which was DE-licious! – thanks to all who brought such yummy food!), we relaxed but also discussed the lyrics of The Valley. Representatives from each of the tables shared their thoughts with the chorus in our afternoon rehearsal. Of course, there are no right or wrong answers in regard to interpreting lyrics. Phrases will have different meanings to each of us and that is FINE! It is the personal connection that we have to our music that will shine through as we share it with others.
We had a very informative business meeting – your membership liaison can share those details with you if you were not present. I’m sure that others can answer questions, as well. Janet looked LOVELY in her WVC outfit – talk to her if you have questions about performance attire.
We also celebrated May, June, July, and August birthdays (and Happy Birthday to Meg who celebrated her 49th with us today!).
The remainder of our afternoon was productively spent drilling pitches and rhythms on The Valley and Let me Fly. Progress!
Thanks to Kay, Debbie, Meg, and to all who contributed to such a wonderful, music-filled day.
Cheers!
Laura
Looking Ahead to 10-21-19
The Tree of Peace – Gwyneth Walker
- Pages 17-19, mm. 93-104, learn pitches and rhythms.
- Divide each of the 8 parts into groups of 4 to accomplish the sustained Ahs.
- Pages 16-17, mm. 85-90 compared with Page 19, mm. 101-104
- Move to 8-part circles (S1U, S1L, S2U, S2L, A1U, A1L, A2U, A2L), sing through all.
My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett
- Pages 13-18, mm. 80-119, pitches and rhythms.
The Imaginary Garden – Marie-Claire Saindon
- Page 11, mm. 91-106 (correct the A2U pick up note – should be C4) pitches and rhythms.
- Page 1, mm. 1-9 pitches and rhythms.
- Move to 8-part circles (S1U, S1L, S2U, S2L, A1U, A1L, A2U, A2L), sing through all.
The Peace of Wild Things – Sean Ivory
- Pages 3-7, mm. 1-44, pitches and rhythms.
Faith is the Bird – Elizabeth Alexander
- Pages 2-3, mm. 19-32, pitches and rhythms.
- Review pages 1-2 (dab!)
Chamber Choir
We will make sure that we have all pitches and rhythms for both pieces. Time to work on expressive elements!