AD Music Notes
This is where you’ll find notes from Laura Sam about the pieces we’re singing each semester.
April 7, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for your dedicated work last night – we accomplished a great deal. I hope you feel accomplished!
Please inventory your music for your problem spots and get those worked out with the practice files this week, or if needed, bring your questions to the retreat. As we rehearse each piece we will have time to address concerns.
March 31, 2026, Music Notes
Hello,
Thanks for a wonderful rehearsal last night – much was accomplished!
Thanks to those who attended the soprano sectional – your extra effort is greatly appreciated.
March 24, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for your exceptionally focused work at rehearsal last night – great work! We accomplished so much, especially on “Your World” and “Now Let Me Fly.” Woot woot!
Next week we will make one more big push on Your World, tackling the remaining measures. This challenging piece is really coming together and already sounds gorgeous.
March 10, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for your work at rehearsal (and alto sectionals) – we accomplished a lot!
If you were out sick, we hope that you feel much better soon!
During our warm-ups we worked on singing vowels with consistent mouth space, moving only our tongues and lips to shape the vowels. Please don’t let your tongue fall backward when singing AH. Keep the tip resting gently against the inside of your bottom teeth.
Next week we will have soprano sectionals at 6:45pm – bring your questions!
March 3, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a very productive rehearsal last night! It was wonderful to hear so many positive remarks regarding our Rise Up! performance on Saturday. I don’t know if you noticed, but I had to bury my head in my music several times because I was moved to tears and if I had looked up at you I would have been a puddle. I found the experience to be very powerful and thought that we and SV sounded amazing. What an experience! I’m so grateful that so many of you could make the rescheduled date, but please know that we greatly missed those who couldn’t attend. Hopefully, there will be no postponement shenanigans in our future.
Special thanks to all who worked extra hard managing the details each time we rescheduled; there were so many tasks requiring our attention.
Special thanks to all who assisted with set up for our rehearsal in the sanctuary. There was a lot to carry back and forth and I appreciate all of the helping hands.
February 24, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Apologies again for the lack of a Zoom option at rehearsal last night. I took my laptop out of my bookbag yesterday morning and realized it while driving to rehearsal. Sorry about that! If you were absent and intended to Zoom, your absence will count as if you had attended on Zoom – please let your section liaison know.
We covered a lot of ground on both our spring music and reviewing for our winter concert – great work!
February 10, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a very fun, very productive rehearsal last night. We had many wonderful things to cover – next week will be all about singing!
Welcome to our new members: Phoebe, Sarah, Page, and Sandra! Welcome back to all of our returning members – it was so wonderful to see AND hear everyone after our wintry blast (hard to believe with the 70+ degrees today!). I am eagerly looking forward to sharing our Rise Up! repertoire on our twice rescheduled Winter Concert on 2/28.
February 3, 2026, Music Notes
Hello,
It was great to see you at rehearsal last night as we launched our flight repertoire (pun intended!).
Please bring your Rise Up! music to rehearsal if you are able to sing at our twice rescheduled concert on 2/28/26. As we have time, we can perhaps sing a few of the pieces at the end of our rehearsals after we work on our new repertoire. Also, please review on your own between now and then. We won’t sacrifice the work we need to do on our new music, but hopefully can also keep our Rise Up! repertoire in our musical brains. I plan on us singing through all of our Rise Up! music on 2/23/28 at the later part of our rehearsal – at least starting, stopping, and running the tricky sections if not singing everything all of the way through.
Marsha can let us know how she would like to collect Rise Up! music from those not able to sing on 2/28/26. Everyone singing can return their music as we usually do after the concert.
We will have Chamber Choir auditions at 9:30pm on 2/16/26 after our regularly scheduled rehearsal. Below are the measures I would like to hear. You will sing all together and I will walk around and listen (what a treat for me!). I will listen for pitch and rhythmic accuracy as well as the blend and balance of voices. It is sometimes necessary to shift voices up or down a part to balance the ensemble, so please be ready for a new assignment as needed. For the audition, sing the part you regularly sing in WVC.
Some things that fly there be mm. 1-19
Bumble Bee mm. 1-52 (this is a lot of measures but there is also a lot of repetition)
Looking forward to seeing and HEARING you on Monday.
Best,
Laura
January 18, 2026, Music Notes
Hello,
I hope everyone enjoyed the pretty snow this afternoon (if it snowed where you live!).
I thoroughly enjoyed our music-making at Carolina Meadows and hope that you did, too.
Our new scarves looked exceptionally pretty – thanks again to our scarf creators (Susan, Diane, and Darcy).
After our performance, we went through notes and questions regarding all of our music so I don’t have a lot of feedback beyond what was already given except to encourage everyone to sing through your music this week giving intonation and tempos your attention. The intonation overall was solid (yay!) and much improved over our rehearsal at the beginning of January (sing with optimal posture and energized breath!). Tempos on most pieces were acceptable, but we can improve ensemble cohesiveness with careful watching (practice looking up from your music!) and singing the vowel on the beat (consonants ahead of the beat).
January 6, 2026, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Happy first rehearsal of 2026!
Thank you for the lovely gift of fun musical items that was left on my music stand. I am not sure who to thank…perhaps La Befana! But whoever you are, thank you very, very much!
Thanks for all of your wonderful singing last night – I was very excited about our rehearsal. I know that I did not take time to affirm and compliment all the things that were going well since we were focused on our few remaining challenges. But please know, there were many high points!
These are the concert orders – please organize your folders:
1/12/26 – Carolina Meadows
What Happens When a Woman?
Wild Embers
The Girl With the Numbers
No Fairy Tale Here
The Radium Girl
Hands Upon the Plow
Rise Up
Malala
Be Like Jane
Richer for Her
Like a Mountain
Still I Rise
1/25/26 First Presbyterian Church
What Happens When a Woman?
Wild Embers
The Girl With the Numbers
No Fairy Tale Here
The Radium Girl
Hands Upon the Plow
Rise Up
Womankind (Sisters’ Voices)
Water Women (Chamber Choir)
Malala
Be Like Jane
Richer for Her
Like a Mountain
Still I Rise
When we put our folders down for What Happens When a Woman, Like a Mountain, and Still I Rise, I am hopeful that we will have enough room for each of you to put them in close proximity to where you are standing. Please be prepared for that logistical detail that we will work out when we arrive.
Please be on time (no later than 7pm – come a bit early if you can to help get us moving as quickly as possible!). Our priority will be to work out the logistics and have a short warm up before our performance begins at 7:30pm. Warm up before arriving if you are worried about not having enough warm up time. I am sure that people will be arriving to the space during our warm up period – that is just the way things will be! Normally, we would exit before the house opens but that won’t be possible for this performance.
Please review our three formations that Kinley sent and know where to go! We will not have our risers at Carolina Meadows so it will be up to you to find a window to have a sight line. We know this will be a challenge but also know that we can be flexible and work through it the best that we can.
Please make note of the places that Sisters’ Voices sings:
What Happens When a Woman? m. 1-18 (all altos enter on the ‘woah’ in m. 18 and everyone continues to sing from there on). Shipra will sing the solo on 1/12, Pasha on 1/25.
The Girl With the Numbers – Sisters’ Voices will sing all of the parts labeled ‘Small Group.’
Still I Rise – Sisters’ Voices will sing the unison parts mm. 52-65 with WVC singers joining in on the harmony parts m. 58-59, 66-67
What Happens When a Woman?
– Please practice m. 30. That was a big gap in memorization for many.
– We have pitch drift of about a half step flat by the end.
– We started a hair under (we will give the pitch for our soloists – sorry we did not do that last night, Shipra) but when the altos came in at m. 18 (with great gusto!), we were a good quarter tone flat and never recovered from there.
– I recommend that everyone uses the practice files, paying attention to intonation, please.
Wild Embers
– the intonation in WIld Embers was greatly improved last night. A million hoorays!
– Hopefully, the recordings I shared helped. We need to remain vigilant! If you did not already access the folder with the recordings, you can find them here:
– there were many nice phrases and expressive elements coming to life in this piece.
– it was a pleasure to sing with the S2 section. 🙂
The Girl With the Numbers
– the intonation in this piece is also improved – good work on all of your parts.
– as Leandra has instructed, we need to keep the subdivision active in our minds and bodies as we sing, most especially on all of the melodic, legato parts. That way those parts won’t drag!
– again, it was a pleasure to sing with the S2s.
No Fairy Tale Here
– 12 measures of ‘ts t t.’ I will give you a closed fist signal at m. 12 so you know to end if you have lost count.
– observe the rests at the beginning of mm. 13 and 14 (especially m. 14 – it’s easy to come in early here!).
– as much as you are able, sing those consonants!
The Radium Girl
– much improved soprano rhythm in the opening section!
– pay attention to where the S is placed…when in doubt, you can always leave it off.
– make sure you are taking a breath at the end of mm. 35, 41
Hands Upon the Plow
– no sax solo on 1/12. Mary Huntimer from Meredith College will join us on 1/22 at our tech rehearsal.
– nice job with the accents!
– we can do even more with the accents in mm. 69-70 ‘don’t let go.’
– let’s strive for a more unified entrance in mm. 126 and 128 – we are a bit tentative sounding
Rise Up
– very exciting!
– in m. 97, I am not hearing the staggered entrance on beats 3 and 4. S2s and A2s be sure to wait until beat 4 to sing Rise. In m. 101 everyone is together on beat 3 for Rise.
– mm. 105 and 108 the bell tones are covered up by the long sustained notes so try to be aware here!
Malala
– this piece really suffers from intonation challenges. We have pitch drift from m. 8 with the A2 entrance that worsens at m. 15 with the S2 and A1 entrances. I created ‘rough and ready’ recordings of Malala as I did for Wild Embers. Please practice with them and build in some good muscle memory of singing in tune. I think it is very helpful to sing with the various combinations of parts. This needs to be your practice priority this week, please!
– I know this piece lies in a challenging place for many altos (around middle C). Please use your head voice and keep your tone bright and energized.
– Be sure that you are taking an energized breath each time you breathe.
– I understand it is next to impossible to find pitches at m. 48 when we have drifted so far away from our tonal center. Hopefully, this challenge will be overcome with improved intonation.
– and I like to remember the saying “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” So we need to do something different in order to fix our intonation. It won’t happen just wishing it so (although I will go ahead and manifest it into the universe now!)
Be Like Jane
– we successfully sang this at the marked tempo of 146 beats per minute. Brava! We were cookin’!
– check parts in m. 128 as there were some false entrances here.
– S1 please learn your part at m. 146.
– please note at the end of m. 156 there is no breath – we crescendo in time and return to our original tempo at m. 157 and then it is soft!!!! at m. 157 before quickly building again.
– I will be more clear at the end. I know it felt like a big cut off for the S1s who do not breathe between ‘like’ and ‘Jane.’ I did not conduct that well last night – I will do it right, I promise!
– I did hear some random notes at the end…please check your part if you were having difficulty finding your note.
– guess what? we started and ended in the same key – YAY! So exciting!
Richer for Her
– this one sounded great the last time we sang it. 🙂
Like a Mountain
– good job with your memorization! You may need to check to see where you sing ‘nobody’ and where you sing ‘somebody’ to be sure.
– the tempo was right on the mark – good job!
– check to see whether the notes for ‘spirit’ go up or down. For instance, in. m. 19, the end of ‘spirit’ goes down but in m. 31, the end of ‘spirit’ goes up.
– A2s check your part mm. 42-39 (1st ending and the repeat). That did not come through very clearly.
– we will breathe at the end of m. 56.
– your faces and bodies need to communicate the spirit!
Still I Rise
– woohoo!
– add hand claps at m. 85
– Altos will get a prayer sign at m. 93 to remind you of your prayer lyrics
– Sopranos, you sing the prayer lyrics when we add the sway (start to the right) at m. 101
– at m. 107 I will give the closed fist hand sign for the last ‘by prayer and faith’ before continuing on to ‘Yes it’s all within my reach.’ KEEP CLAPPING AND SWAYING!
– stop clapping and swaying at m. 119 (hands down!!!) and give it all you have vocally for the final ‘Yes, still I rise!’
Looking Ahead to 1/12/26
The next time I see you it will be SHOW TIME! I’m so very excited to share our music with our Carolina Meadows audience.
Please be prepared to be flexible regarding all aspects of our performance, most especially our logistics.
Please remember that we are wearing our black outfits with our new (beautiful!) blue scarves (that will need some touch up ironing) and using our black folders.
After our performance, we will have a break. Please take time to interact with our CM audience. We will then regroup for our remaining time until 10pm.
Please review all our announcements from Janet.
Let’s be joyful, encourage and support one another, and have a great time!
Cheers!
Laura
December 16, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for your attentive work and good humor last night. We had a lot of ground to cover for our last rehearsal of 2025 and I deeply appreciate how diligently and enthusiastically everyone participated.
We had many lovely musical moments and also some challenges. I am going to give my ears a rest and re-listen to the recordings I made and then send some specific notes in the coming days. I am sure that many of you are especially busy during the holidays but I would encourage you to not be away from your music for too long so that we don’t lose the ground we have gained. Hopefully, you marked your music with individual challenges so that you can work on those places.
December 10, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks so much for a super fun and productive rehearsal last night. Please know that I respect everyone’s decision if they felt it best to stay home with the uncertain road conditions as the temperature dropped last evening after dark. Thanks for attending via Zoom if you needed to stay home for illness or road conditions (everyone who is sick – hope you feel much better soon!).
Thanks also for a productive sectional rehearsal. I think that we covered everything on our to-do list from our section leaders. If you have further questions, please let your section leader know. I am also happy to answer questions before rehearsal starts (and I know that Deb is, too!).
December 2, 2025 Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for your work last night with the special treat of Sisters’ Voices joining us. It takes extra effort from everyone to combine ensembles – special thanks to Leandra and the SV singers!
We will rehearse with SV again on 12/15 and will sing through all of our combined pieces during the first half of rehearsal:
What Happens When a Woman?
Wild Embers
Girl With the Numbers
Richer for Her
Like a Mountain
Still I Rise
November 18, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Much progress was made last night during both the soprano sectional and regular rehearsal. Thank you for your hard work and attention (and always good humor).
I had a great conversation with Jocelyn Hagen this morning and talked with her about Hands Upon the Plow. I will share when we rehearse it next. I am having such fun hearing us rehearse this piece.
I should explain my ‘love of ironing.’ I am not a fan of wrinkles (don’t usually wear linen because of it) and have been known to iron my sheets (which are linen – haha). I find the task satisfying. It requires no decision making once I set up the ironing board and set the iron temperature (per Susan’s instructions!). It feels deeply satisfying to see the wrinkles smooth out. It is a task that has a beginning and an end. And, it gives me the opportunity to binge watch something on Netflix while I am ironing and not feel like I ought to do something ‘productive’ instead. Now, I will let you know once I get the scarves finished if I still feel the same about ironing but for now, I am looking forward to it!
November 11, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a very productive rehearsal last night – we really ironed out some of our musical wrinkles. Thanks to all the altos who were able to make it to our sectional rehearsal. Sopranos, next week it is your turn – bring your questions!
If you were absent from rehearsal, I passed out the index cards that have your information on them (part and divisi, circle assignment, performance height). Please email any updates to your card and copy Kinley Russell on the email. You can include information such as, “I sing my part independently,” “I prefer to have a partner next to me or nearby,” “I prefer to not sing on the end of a row without a railing,” any information that will assist Kinley and me when we work on our performance formation. Thank you!
October 28, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Great rehearsal last night! I am so pleased and proud that we have 8 of our 12 pieces ready to share next week at the Efland Baha’i Center. We will still have plenty to work on in the coming weeks digging deeper into expression, fine tuning, and polishing but I am so happy that so much of our repertoire is in sharable shape…and it’s just the end of October. So BRAVA to all.
October 20, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Great job tonight- much progress was made, especially on What Happens When a Woman! Proud of us!
Below is the link to the 3 videos – I’m singing the part and doing the body percussion. I know the music is a bit blurry – couldn’t make it any clearer…I can read it so hope you can, too. The edits are a bit rough but hopefully this will help you practice your singing part and your body percussion. Remember, I am your mirror so when I step left, you step right. I recommend that you not playback directly from Google but download the video or else wait until it is linked to our website resources. And please don’t share this video beyond our chorus (I’m sure it could go viral for all the wrong reasons – haha)…but mostly it would be a breach of our copyright. It is at 75% playback speed.
October 14, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Another rehearsal of good fun and progress on our repertoire – thank you for your hard work, good humor, and attention to detail! We are moving forward!
Sisters Voices will join us on Saturday afternoon from 1-3pm. Since our focus will be on our collaboration with SV, we will not have a clinician at this retreat.
October 7, 2025, Music Notes
Hello,
Beautiful work at rehearsal last night – such a joy. We are making great progress on all of our music – right on schedule. Thank you for your focus and attention to detail.
We had 16 indicate YES for Durham Community Sings which is not enough for WVC to perform as an ensemble (we also didn’t have a good distribution of parts). But, I hope that if you are interested, you will plan to attend. We will register individually in the spring – I will forward information when I have it. I understand it is difficult to commit to this event so far in advance.
September 30, 2025, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Two people have reported receiving weird texts from me…but they are not from me. My legit phone number IS 336-263-7754 (the scammer is using my real number). When questioned, the scammers texted that I am not using that number anymore but rather using a new number. Definitely scammers. Please disregard and block.
Thanks for another wonderful rehearsal. We are making great progress (past the fold!) and are on track to have covered all of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of our repertoire on schedule.
Deb will be away on a fun adventure so won’t be at our rehearsal next week – hope she is not reading email but if so…Deb, please know we will miss you and look forward to your return!