Hello Everyone,
I thoroughly enjoyed rehearsal tonight (but I missed Deb playing the piano!). Thanks, everyone for your focus and wonderful work.
I think Jamie would be thrilled at all the takeaways from our retreat that we reviewed at rehearsal. So much to think about! I heard increased vibrancy in our ensemble sound – especially on Luminous Awakening in spite of a zillion Fs to sing in Mixolydian and Lydian – NOT EASY! Hooray! And I could definitely hear it in our rehearsal that we are reminding ourselves to prep the breath (tubes open – backs of necks tall), breathe with energy and intnetion (below the collar bones), create space for resonance, energy through the passagio F4 and F5 (for sopranos), put those low notes on a platter to maintain resonance and vibrancy, etc.
Thanks again to Marsha (and her husband, Howard) for all of the logistical work getting set up and cleaning up for the retreat. And THANK YOU to Wendy, our membership chair for organizing one of the highlights of our day – the delish food! Thanks to everyone for their contributions to our music-making and sisterhood – it was a wonderful day and I am grateful for everything we learned and the fun we had together.
At our retreat and rehearsal tonight we talked briefly about formants – acoustical energy at specific frequencies depending on what vowel we are singing and how we are singing it. Really interesting concept. Here are links to a few articles about vowels and formants (you can spend many hours down this rabbit hole!):
SingWise – Vowels, Vowel Formants and Vowel Modification (this is a VERY deep dive)
Formant (Wikipedia) (solid basic information)
This is the software that I have used – VoceVista. It’s expensive to purchase but if you want to play around with it to see where your vowel formants light up on a spectrogram there is a free 30-day trial. I was introduced to it several years ago at a NC ACDA conference by the clinician, Dr. Amanda Quist. Super interesting analysis of vowel production.
Here is a very fun listen – (intended audience is choral directors but interesting information for choral singers, too!)
Rehearsal Reflection
Caritas Abundat body percussion and reviewed all
– learned all of the clapping and stomping
– reviewed parts as needed
– sang all – YAY! This will be a wonderful way to open our concert…especially with the text “I am the great and fiery force!”
Luminous Awakening reviewed all
– Very impressive circle singing that really locked in the harmonies – gorgeous!!!! If Hildegard von Bingen were at our rehearsal I think she would approve – I know Elizabeth Alexander would have!
– We will finesse our dynamics and unify a few vowels next time we rehearse this
Gate Gate mm. 91-131 and reviewed mm. 1-121
– learned pitches and rhythms on this section
– this section is legato – sing smoothly like riding on a hydrofoil skimming over the swamp (don’t sink into the mud – keep gliding!) – everything should flow!
– reviewed the tricky entrance for the altos in m. 56
I Thank You God mm. 60-81
– learned pitched and rhythms on this section
– ending consonants on the rests or the tied eighth notes
– several tempo shifts in this section (and throughout this piece) which will be easier to keep together when Deb returns.
– mm. 60-63, 77-79 note the part crossings and the unisons
Tabula Rasa mm. 30-58
– we only had time to work through mm. 30-41 so will continue on with this piece next week.
– be sure to write the translation of the Spanish text in your score if you are not a fluent Spanish speaker.
Sukkat Shelomekha reviewed all
– sounded lovely in your mixed circle formation!
Looking Ahead to 3/13/23
Our focus will be to learn the pitches and rhythms of the sections of the pieces listed below and then return to reviewing and fine tuning when Deb returns on 3/20/23. Please be sure to spend some time with the practice files if there are sections that we have already addressed in rehearsal together on which you may need some individual reinforcement. 🙂
Gate Gate mm. 122-177
I Thank You God mm. 82-100
Tabula Rasa mm. 42-87
Gaudete Gaudete mm. 33-55
Where the Light Begins mm. 37-50
A Bell Awakened mm. 54-70
Sing, Wearing the Sky mm. 77-108
Chamber Choir
My Soul is Awakened mm. 106-122 (and review/learn mm. 96-105)
Decrau Eto we will attempt to sing through it all to get a feel for how all of the sections fit together. Listen to the gorgeous recording on our practice files for help with the Welsh pronunciation and to sing along with – it’s a stunning performance.
Already looking forward to our next rehearsal!
Laura