Hello Everyone,
Thanks so much for a fun and productive rehearsal last night! I hope that everyone who was traveling, injured, or sick are able to return next week – we missed you!
We only had 14 singers able to commit to the Durham Community Sing on May 31st. I will let Rodney know that WVC will not be able to be a performing chorus for the afternoon chorus. I will also let you know if I am able to register for you, or if you will need to register yourself. If that is the case, I will pass on the information. I’m glad that some of us can attend, even if we are a small group. It was lots of fun last year!
If you would like to listen to anything I recorded last night for reference, recordings of these pieces are in the folder (link below). These are not for sharing – just for your use if it would help you in your individual practice:
Across the Sea (Chamber Choir)
Shenandoah (Chamber Choir)
The Harbor and the Sea
Grace Before Sleep
Next week’s sectional is for anyone/everyone – all parts. Bring your questions.
Rehearsal Reflection:
We Are Home
– please check your part m. 18-19, 137-138, 145-151 (and then any other places in which you are not sure)
– please sing this piece through several times this week so we don’t forget what we covered last night.
– m. 151 we will breathe before m. 152.
– m. 152 we will breathe (as indicated) before m. 153
– m 157 we will carry over to m. 158, no breath between ‘are’ and ‘home’ (that will require a lot of staggered breathing but we can do it!
– we will use the same phrasing/dynamics as on the reference recording on our website – it is by Vox Femina, the commissioning chorus. Have a listen (or two) – I find it very helpful and hope you do, as well.
Grace Before Sleep
– good work on this piece! We have a bit more polishing to do to unify some vowels and capture the phrasing with a bit more elegance but we are close
– my concern in tuning is to tune some of the chords – in general we are staying in D and E successfully but have some tuning issues with specific parts.
– this is a good one to practice with a tuner to see where you are!
The Harbor and the Sea
– counting madness!
– Julianne, you added a beat m. 28-29…and to get even (just kidding) I deleted a beat at m. 73 (oops!). We will fix those errors.
– my advice is to concentrate your practice on m. 10-17, especially mezzos m. 14-15 and 35-42.
– we will work again together on this piece – not going to give up!
My Name is Lamiya
– we focused on mm. 75-`102 and things have improved – yay!
– please note when you have a rest after ‘call me’ and when you do not. If you don’t have a rest, connect: ‘call me refugee’ without a breath (eg. mm. 41-42, 59-60, 61-62, 63-64, 134-135) You should probably circle in your music when those occur.
Chamber Choir:
Across the Sea
– sounded really beautiful. We are almost at the correct tempo, just about 2 ticks faster than Wailin’ Jennys so we will slow down a teeny bit (not much!). We’ll see what Marsha thinks of the tempo (haha – funniest aside I have heard in a long time).
Shenandoah
– so beautiful in so many places! Check these spots:
– mm. 21-28 – we need to tune and balance
– mm. 32 an A1 entered early – A1 is after beat 2.
– mm. 43-45 we need to check those entrances, especially A1 🙂
Looking Ahead to 4/14/25
Please have your music in this order, ready to sing through:
My Name is Lamiya: Don’t Call Me Refugee
The Harbor and the Sea
Mi Lugar
Mae-e (Forward)
Deep River
Walk Together Children
Across the Sea (Chamber Choir)
Shenandoah (Chamber Choir)
Entrance
Grace Before Sleep
Crowded Table
We Are Home
Over the Rainbow
See you next week!
Laura