Hello Everyone,
Great job singing in mixed formation last night – the overall sound was lovely!
We ironed out a lot of details in our sectional rehearsal. Thank you, Janet, for all of your careful notes for the A2 section which guided our work with everyone else also working through their parts on the challenging sections.
We will tweak our mixed formation a bit for this coming week so when you come in, please look for your card. Karla gave great assistance in mapping out our performance space and we have a plan that we think will work well. We will use our risers for the performance (and tech rehearsals) so if there is currently someone tall in front of you, hopefully that will not be an issue. Until then, let’s work together to make sure that everyone can see. When we have our tech rehearsal we can tweak again, if needed. We aim to send the revised mixed formation on Sunday with Janet’s announcements, if not sooner.
How Can I Keep From Singing?
– Overall, a wonderful sound. If we sing with clearer consonants, it will really bring this piece to life – a great way to end our concert. The tempos were much improved.
Mah Dodech Midod
-The areas that we were struggling with pitch/rhythm now sound much more confident.
– We need to pay attention to who has the most important part and can it be heard above the others. As you are singing, please be aware – we will work on it together.
You’ve Got a Friend in Me
– This sounded so fun! Thank you, sopranos, for lightening up!
– As Kimberly noted, be careful to not sing through any of the rests which help give the piece rhythmic clarity and excitement.
– Nice solo work, Rah!
Gloria
– Really enjoyed hearing Rachel and Marsha sing their parts – nice job!
– Thanks to Sarah T for helping us with our pronunciation of text in mm. 112-113, 116-117
– We need to check some pitches to make sure that everyone is singing their part and not just a note that sounds right in the chord.
Spes
– This piece really came together in mixed formation – the intonation was much improved.
– Again, we need awareness of what parts should be the most prominent in the texture because there is a lot going on in this piece. We will work on that together.
Big Dogs, Music, and Wild, Wild Women
– The tempo changes on pages 13 and 15 are getting closer to where they need to be. I will try to be more clear with the slow/accel. mm. 109 and 110 so that we stay together. Be sure to watch there please!
Through the House Give Glimmering Light
– The intonation was much improved going from the F major sections to the A major chords.
– Now we need to keep the tempo moving and work together to achieve all of the fun dynamic contrasts.
Sparks of Divinity
– We only spent a few minutes on this but it was time well spent. We are getting closer to pulling this together. As you have time this week, try to go through the practice files a few times to solidify your part and get in the repetition you need.
Looking Ahead to 12/18/23
We will sing through as much of our music as possible before we have our winter social. We won’t take a break mid way through rehearsal, but if you need to step away for a bathroom break, of course, as always, please do so.
Love is Welcome Here
– Sing through with Hannah adding the spoken poetry.
I Started Out Singing
– Sing through, careful that the S is together on the rests. Otherwise, this piece is sounding great (love Deb’s performance – so musical!)
To Sit and Dream
– Sing through, working on rhythmic precision. Let’s tighten up the beginnings of phrases and find ourselves completely in sync with Deb. We need quick, energized, coordinated breaths!
Ave Maria
– Sing through to gain awareness of how this piece fits together. It’s like handing off a baton in a relay race (without dropping it!).
– We need to work on achieving confidence in pitches at the beginning of phrases and if there are unisons or octave unisons between parts, those are in tune.
Through the House Give Glimmering Light
– Flip all of the Rs
– Note the dynamic contrasts
– Taller, rounded vowels throughout
– Keep the tempo moving and sparkly
Sparks of Divinity
– Sparkettes (sopranos singing the sparks part) please review and be ready so that this piece will come together!
– Everyone review parts please – we will do our best to sing this start to finish!
The March of the Women
– We will probably skip over this if we are running short on time.
Tundra
– We will add Kinley and Wendy on the soprano solo part (looking forward to hearing it!)
– We will again pay attention to which part should emerge from the texture and which parts should support the melody or more interesting parts
Spes
– We will work on moving seamlessly from one section to the next
– Again, we need heightened awareness of which part should be prominent so that it is not covered up.
Mah Dodech Midod
– We are (hopefully!) ready to sing this straight through
– Let’s keep the tempo moving – ‘with joy and buoyancy!’
Gloria
– We will sing through
– Pay attention to dynamic contrasts
– Pay attention to phrase releases, especially after ‘paz.’
– Remember Deb’s note beginning at m. 48 to release the oo for the 16th rest so that you are ready to sing the 16th note. The tempo is slow here (quarter note is 44 beats per minute) so I don’t see any need to add time for the rest – just be sure to rest! I think sometimes it is harder to achieve rhythmic precision in slow sections and this would be one! Everyone needs to move together like a school of fish changing direction in the ocean. We need that synchronization in our phrasing!
We probably won’t have time to sing You’ve Got a Friend in Me, Big Dogs, or How Can I Keep From Singing because we will break early for our social.
We will get out our holiday music folders that we used last year in Hillsborough if anyone wants to sing some tunes. Feel free to bring an instrument if you would like to play along – but we will keep it casual so no rehearsal – just sing through fun. Of course, being WVC, I’m sure there will be delicious snacks to enjoy.
See you on Monday for our final rehearsal of 2023.
Best,
Laura