Hello Everyone,
So much was accomplished tonight! Hooray! There were many moments of choral artistry in our rehearsal and I loved hearing us bring our music to life. Deb-a-lou and I have the best seats in the house because we get to hear you all!
Happy birthday to all of our December birthdays!
I will send out solo audition information in the coming days – stay tuned. Solos: Shule Agra (Chamber Singers), and Faith is the Bird as indicated in the scores.
My Thanksgiving reading was Rejuvenating Senior Voices: Enhancing the Sound and Confidence of Mature Choirs by Michael Kemp, forward by Helen Kemp (Michael’s mother – she conducted choruses well into her 90s – one of my heros!). Senior voices in this book are defined as those over 50 so many of us fall into this category. I will share with you what seems most helpful and relevant in the coming days.
Today, I also started another book, Pitch Perfect: A Theory and Practice of Choral Intonation by Donald Brinegar. It was just released this fall and I am very excited about digging in. I look forward to sharing what I learn with you. At first glance it looks VERY interesting!
I encourage everyone to practice your music at home in the coming weeks since we will only sing through the pieces we rehearsed tonight as time allows before we circle back to them all in the New Year on 1/6/19. We cannot let our music sit for that long without our continued review or we will not have enough time together in rehearsal to knock off the dust. (And I don’t know about you, but I hate to dust!).
Consider spending some individual practice time singing with and without vibrato, maintaining healthy singing habits regardless of the presence or absence of vibrato. Your breath is the key to success. Use a supported, energetic airflow, free of tension, at all times (DOWN, OUT, OPEN). To minimize vibrato, experiment using more breath on louder measures (be careful of singing sharp or blowing over the pitch) and less breath on softer measures (be careful of singing flat). Experiment! Use a tuner! Also, consider how weighty your voice feels. You will want to sing with a light, forward placement, free of tension, if you want to sing without a pronounced vibrato. You voice should feel as though it originates between your eyes as opposed to in your throat or chest. Everyone’s goal should be to sing into the ensemble, working toward a vibrant and free tone that complements the other voices in the section and the ensemble as a whole. It would be lovely if we could use vibrato as an expressive device and choose when and when not to use it according to the piece we are singing.
Thank you for memorizing Now Let Me Fly. See if you can add the details we worked on tonight into your memorization. The Valley should be memorized for 12/9/19.
Below are my rehearsal notes. If you missed rehearsal, you can go over these details on your own. For everyone else, these are for your review. I have added a few additional notes.
My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett
Pages 4-11, mm. 4-58
Pages 4-6, mm. 1-19
- Rehearse hums, oos, ahs, with crescendo and decrescendo. Altos return to a hum in mm. 17-19 and decrescendo.
Pages 7-8, mm. 23-39
- Augmented 2nds need to have a wider intervallic space.
Pages 9-11, mm. 42-58
- Final consonants on the rests that follow after earth and underneath.
- Amplify all consonants.
- Tune the last note of m. 45 – needs to be a unison G. All should match the S2s.
- Crescendo m. 42-58.
- Accent “not” m. 55
The Tree of Peace – Gwyneth Walker
Pages 2-3, mm. 12-18
- Breathe in the shape of O.
- Crescendo then decrescendo.
- Minimize the R in sister and brother.
- Emphasize the TH end of earth, F beginning of fold.
- Ensemble – moving 8th notes all together with precision.
Pages 4-5, mm. 19-29
- B-natural for sopranos m. 20, altos, m. 24 needs to be high.
- S2 m. 26 emphasize FT end of gift.
Pages 5-6 mm. 30-34
- Breathe in the shape of O.
- Crescendo then decrescendo.
- F of fold.
- Shadow vowel end of listen sounded on the rest.
- Rit. m. 36 into the 6/4 measure. Altos – especially A1s need to watch.
Pages 7-8, mm. 37-46
- Slower tempo – please watch (it was too slow tonight)
- Crescendo mm. 37-40, decrescendo into temple.
- Breath m. 39.
- Accents m. 40.
- Round OO in gratitude. Altos sing to the front of your lips with your sound round and focused.
- Crescendo mm. 45-46.
Pages 8-11, mm. 46-57
- Clearly articulated phrases.
- Accel to m. 54.
- Crescendo S1 and S2 ahs.
- Rit. in m. 55.
- Crescendo m. 56.
- Accents mm. 57.
- Shape toward AW for fall.
Pages 11-12, mm. 58-63
- Accents in 58, 59. Watch for the S of cease.
- Very strong consonants throughout.
- Lots of F on fire.
- Decrescendo m. 61.
- Always connect the ending S of ashes to plant.
- Crescendo m. 63.
- Shape vowel of peace to [I]
- M. 63 S2 above S1.
Pages 12-15 mm. 64-76
- Releases are on the rests.
- M. 70 S2L missing half rest on beats 3 and 4.
- Rit. and crescendo m. 74-76.
- Shape vowel of peace to [I].
Pages 16-17, mm. 77-91
- Rehearse Ahs sops then altos. Shape with crescendos ascending notes and decrescendos descending notes. Slight accel. on ascending notes, slight rit. on descending notes.
- Rit. m. 80.
- Accents mm. 81 and 82 – love and anger.
- New tempo m. 85.
Pages 17-18, mm. 93-100
- Review row 4 sustains ah mm. 95-99. Row 3 sustains ah mm. 97-99. Rows 1 and 2 continue to sing “listen to one another” text.
- Rit. m. 99
Page 19, mm. 101-104
- Observe the rit.
- Shape the vowel of peace to IH.
- Watch in mm. 102 and 103 so that everyone moves together.
- Decrescendo last measure and watch for the S of peace.
The Valley – arr. Beth Hanson
Page 7, mm. 77-85
- Rehearse each part, adding around A1.
- Ascending skips for A1s and A2s mm. 24 and 68 – float the upper note and blend into the sopranos.
- Sing all (review challenging rhythmic sections)
Now Let Me Fly – Stacey V. Gibbs
Pages 3-5, mm. 1-24
- Close to M of some.
- Not too slowly!
- Observe phrase/breath marks.
- Observe dynamic markings.
- Pair S1 and S2, A1 and A2. Sing separately then together.
Pages 5-6, mm. 25-36
- Every time we sing NOW, open vowel sustaining the primary vowel ah.
- Flick. Needs separation.
- Accent.
- Lots of F every time fly is sung.
- Add a quarter rest in m. 35 for S1.
Pages 7-8, mm. 37-42
- S1 and S2 chant text in rhythm with attention to phrasing.
- M. 41 stop the sound on the rest but don’t explode the T.
- A1 and A2 fp on all long notes.
- Accent Lord.
Pages 8-9, mm. mm. 45-52
- Same as mm. 25-36.
Pages 10-11, mm. 53-60
- A1 melody, then S1 and S2, then A2
- Review all parts then sing together.
Pages 11-12, mm. 60-68
- Unlike the other refrains, this one begins with a dotted quarter note. Emphasize the syncopated rhythm.
- Rit. in m. 68.
Pages 12-13, mm. 69-76
- Slower tempo.
- Soft mm. 73-74.
Page 14, mm. 77-84
- S1 and S2 fly m. 77.
- S1 divisi m. 81.
Page 15, mm 85-88
- Review changes.
- All A2s sing opening phrase. Then A2U sing their own part.
Page 16, mm. 89-94
- A2 modify m. 89 – sing C#4 instead of C#5.
- All altos drop out m. 90 – rejoin m. 91 and accent yes.
- Rit. m. 90
- Accents m. 91.
- Crescendo m. 92-94.
- Check balance on chords.
Looking Ahead to 12/9/19
My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett We will focus on pages 11-18, mm. 60-119. Please review mm. 1-59. We will sing through mm. 1-119 as time allows.
The Peace of Wild Things – Sean Ivory Please especially review your part mm. 13-25 before rehearsal. We will need to depend on the S2 and A1 parts to hold us in tune.
1941 – Andrea Ramsey Tempo changes!
Swing Low – Rosephanye Powell Sing expressively!
Faith is the Bird – Elizabeth Alexander Please review mm. 22-32 and sing with a tuner (up 1/2 step) if you are able. This section is a big intonation challenge.
Now Let Me Fly – Stacey V. Gibbs Review as you are able. We need to sing this with energy and up to tempo – that doesn’t always mean loud :).
The Valley – arr. Beth Hanson We will sing through from memory.
Looking Ahead to 12/16/19
My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett We will focus on pages 18-23, mm. 121-174. please review mm. 1-120. As time permits, we will sing through all.
A Path to Each Other – Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy Takach We will sing about creating paths, NOT walls. Please sing with a tuner if you are able! We still have intonation challenges.
I Sing That My Voice May be Heard – Gwen McLeod Hall We will work on phrasing.
Now Let Me Fly – Stacey V. Gibbs We will continue to polish.
The Valley – arr. Beth Hanson We will continue to polish.
We will polish and work through other challenges as time permits. Hopefully, we will be able to sing through a few others.
Looking Ahead to 1/6/19 – Happy New Year! We will sing through all of our music and continue to polish.
Cheers!
Laura