Hello Everyone,
It was so much fun hearing our music last night – thanks so much for your attention to detail and focus on expressiveness.
I meant to share with you what Jennifer Stasack emailed after the retreat:
I think I floated home! The demeanor of your group was so welcoming and enthusiastic, your artistry as their director truly beautiful…. I am honored to have a place in the community and camaraderie of Women’s Voices Chorus.
Rehearsal Reflection
Here in My Heart
– The syncopation is improved. The syncopated rhythm in mm. 17-18 (and every time that rhythm occurs) is where we need to be most attentive.
– If we slow down we will definitely lose the syncopation so do your best to keep a steady beat
– The consonants are improving. Make a goal for yourself to work on at least one consonant per phrase that you are going to sing with clarity. As that one becomes comfortable, add another.
– The alto part on pages 4-5 is not clear to my ears…as you have time, please review that section. Similar to the first half of the phrase on page 6.
Some Glad Morning
– a slight crescendo/energizing of the longer notes will help to give life to this piece. For example, in m. 10, give ‘one’ a slight crescendo leading into ‘day.’
– pg 12 m. 79 the rhythm is not accurate. ‘tions’ is syncopated and comes ahead of the beat.
Nigra Sum
– great job watching for the rubato in this piece!
– pg 8, m. 80 the altos and mezzos have ‘i’ on beat 1 and the sopranos have ‘i’ on beat 2. I will try to be more clear in conducting that measure.
– our intonation is not its best on this piece, especially page 4. We will work on this together – I think a mixed formation will help which we will use next time we rehearse this piece.
– I love hearing the p and pp singing!
Sky Dances
– you can really hear how much work we have put in on this piece – yay!
– Klouds (and all the other consonants) bring this poetry to life. Keep up the good work!
I Love You/What a Wonderful World
– lovely solo work from Kinley and small group singing from Brystanna, Shira, Jennifer, and Kate. Sounds wonderful!
– this piece has such thick texture it will be important for us to make sure we have all pitches sung accurately (we’ll spot check!) and we sometimes will need to hear one part louder than the others ex: Chorus Alto 1 pg 7. It sounds nice now but by January I predict will be ah-mazing!
Measure Me, Sky!
– more consonant clarity whenever possible!
– page 11, continue the epic crescendo through beat 3 of m. 55
– increasing our dynamic range by paying attention to where we can sing softer in this piece will enhance its ‘epic-ness!”
Our rehearsal sharing will be in this order:
Here in My Heart
Some Glad Morning
Nigra Sum
Sky Dances
I Love You/What a Wonderful World
Measure Me, Sky!
Rehearsal Schedule:
7:30 pm Arrive at the Efland Bahá’i Center, Efland NC. We will arrange ourselves as best as possible in a similar formation to how we have been seated at rehearsals. You may end up in a different place depending on the space available – please just go with the flow. Everyone will need to be super calm and flexible. If you can’t see/hear where you end up – please move yourself to a more comfortable spot. Our goal will be to have a fun time sharing our amazing music!
7:45 pm We will begin our sharing – please have your pieces in this order:
Here in My Heart
Some Glad Morning
Nigra Sum
Sky Dances
I Love You/What a Wonderful World
Measure Me, Sky!.
8:30ish Finish our run-through and take a break
8:45ish Resume Rehearsal
I Am – mm. 108-end
Sing, Wearing the Sky – mm. 87-end
Honour the Earth – review all
Looking Ahead to 11/11/24
I Am – review all
Sing, Wearing the Sky – review all
Honour the Earth – review all
Chamber Choir:
This is the Earth Song link I shared at rehearsal (I know it was super soft – sorry about that!)
We were really focused on phrasing but we need to check some pitches, too!
See you Monday – really looking forward to it!
Laura