Hello Everyone,
I enjoyed seeing you at rehearsal last night! This past week as I edited your files, I also enjoyed hearing those of you who submitted recordings for My River Runs to Thee. One day, I will be able to both see and hear you at the same time – that will be wonderful. Until then, I am grateful for our continued pandemic-style music-making and appreciate the bond of friendship that sustains us through joys and sorrows.
I’m not sure what happened at the end of our rehearsal when we abruptly finished (I wasn’t the host at that point) but I assume that our host either lost connection or inadvertently ended the meeting for all. NO harm done, we will pick up where we left off last week. I opened the room back up and a few joined me to say goodnight. 🙂
Virtual project update:
O Ignee Spiritus recordings were due yesterday. If you still want to record, I can include you if you will please upload your file to the folder by Wednesday night – 3/17/21. I will start on O Ignee Spiritus tonight so I can still add yours in the mix no worries.
I Started Out Singing recordings are due 3/29/21.
During rehearsal, we concentrated on these three areas:
Vowel unification – definitely a challenge when we can’t hear each other. I suggest that we all sing with tall and rounded vowels. The most problematic in My River Runs to Thee was the AH vowel, especially in the word ‘my.’ When we sing diphthongs, we need to be mindful of sustaining the primary vowel with the best shape possible, and then lightly singing the vanishing vowel (in this case, IH) as we release the note.
Length of notes – many times we sing short notes a bit longer than they should be sung. Let’s be sure that we pay as close attention to the release of the note as we do the beginning of the note. To accomplish this, have your inner metronome ticking the subdivision of the beat. While you are practicing, I recommend that you lightly tap the subdivision. It really helps! At the end of the note, it also helps to inhale exactly on the rest – then it is impossible to sing through the rest.
Syllabic stress – is vital to expressive singing. Be careful to not oversing unimportant words and syllables. For example, in the eighth note pairs of Some Glad Morning, emphasize the first of the pair and lightly sing the second, especially when the second note is higher, For example: ‘leafy,’ happened,’ ‘coffee,’ ‘pitched.’ Also, in Some Glad Morning, lightly sing ‘the’ at the beginnings of phrases.
We began working on What the Heart Cannot Forget. For this piece, rhythmic integrity will be of vital importance. We will need to recognize and differentiate between the 16th notes, eighth notes, and eighth note triplets. This is a real challenge when the triplet is a quarter and eighth note combination. As you work with the practice tracks for this piece, please prioritize accurate rhythms early on.
Looking Ahead to 3/22/21
After warm ups we will go right to sectionals to work on mm. 1-57 of What the Heart Cannot Forget.
We will also rehearse:
I Started Out Singing
Some Glad Morning
The Bird’s Lullaby (as time permits)
Looking Ahead to 3/29/21
After warm ups we will again go right to sectionals to work on mm. 1-74 of What the Heart Cannot Forget.
We will also rehearse:
Some Glad Morning
The Bird’s Lullaby (I am not sure if we will record this for a virtual project – stay tuned)
Hugs,
Laura