AD Music Notes
This is where you’ll find notes from Laura Sam about the pieces we’re singing each semester.
February 20, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for your focused work tonight on our music. I apologize for not covering as much ground as I had intended – I definitely spent more time working on Will the Circle Be Unbroken than I had budgeted – BUT we did make wonderful progress, especially singing in tune! Hooray! It’s already so much fun to listen to.
Thank you for the beautiful birthday singing! Happy birthday to all of the February birthdays!
I am going to make this email short because it’s late and I need to be up at the crack of dawn to travel to KY for the Southern Division Regional American Choral Directors Association Conference….so I hope you will understand my abbreviated notes. read more…
February 13, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for a lovely rehearsal last night! I heard such gorgeous singing – it filled my heart to overflowing (as evidenced by all the hearts on my sweater!)
Again, welcome to all of our new members – it was very fun to meet you and we’re glad you have joined in our musical adventures.
It is also wonderful to see so many returning singers – your dedication and continued contributions are deeply appreciated!
February 6, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
What fun to read through all of our spring repertoire at rehearsal last night. I anticipate that we will have a great time working on it together. 🙂
Please remember to review your self-assessments and set personal goals for this semester. And of course, take time to celebrate all that you/we accomplished last semester!
January 30, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
What a fun listening party! Thanks for all of the kind words, laughs, and affirmations. If you missed it, (we missed you!) I have a music paper flower for you (if you would like one) and did not get one at the party. I will bring them to rehearsal on Monday. I so enjoyed listening to our performance and am looking forward to seeing the video. I will put it all together when I have the files and upload them to our YouTube channel so that we can share with family and friends. I will let you know that that is ready – probably in a week or two.
January 23, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for your hard work on our music last night at rehearsal. So many lovely moments! I had lots of fun and I hope that you did, too. I am super proud of our music and can’t wait to share it with our family, friends, and community.
We will have a few adjustments to make regarding logistical things that should be easy to accomplish so just be ready to be flexible, please.
If you have time between now and Thursday, please take note of these items below (short list) but I am sure it is a busy week for everyone and we will address these at rehearsal.
January 16, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for such a wonderful and fulfilling rehearsal. Our music is really coming together with not only technical accuracy but most importantly, expressiveness. Such lovely moments throughout!
January 9, 2024, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
It was wonderful to see you all (and hear you sing) after our break. I hope that our lizard friend is enjoying their new home in the succulents!
I am very excited about our remaining rehearsals and upcoming concert.
December 13, 2023, Music Notes
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.
December 5, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for your work last night at rehearsal – much appreciated! We are making progress on our music!
I know this is a super busy time of year for most (if not all) so thank you for being dedicated to WVC as we have our final rehearsals before our January concert.
We will have our last sectional rehearsal on 12/11 – bring your questions, please – happy to answer as many as we can. I plan to focus primarily on Spes, Mah Dodech Midod, Ave Maria, and Sparks of Divinity (if we have time).
November 28, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
What fun to run through our concert music last night. It was good to have a sense of where we currently are with our repertoire and be happy with all we have accomplished but also work toward strengthening our weaknesses.
I think that we are singing well on some of our pieces considering it is the end of November…but we have much room for improvement and plenty to work on during our remaining rehearsals. I’m looking forward to us working together to see how much we can grow musically before January 27th!
One thing we can all work on that does not involve notes and rhythms is quiet page turns!
November 21, 2023, Music Notes
November 8, 2023, Music Notes
Apologies for the second email from me this week – I neglected to include solo audition information in my Tuesday email.
- make a voice memo recording for each solo.
- use the WVC practice tracks to sing along with.
- make sure that I can hear your voice prominently in your recording with the practice track in the background.
- label your voice memo with the song title and your name.
- email recordings to me (Laura Sam) by midnight, 11/27/23.
You may audition for as many solos as you wish. Make a separate recording for each.
November 7, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a lovely rehearsal last night. I loved every minute of music-making with you – even the challenging parts!
Special thanks to Kinley and Marsha for setting up in a different space (hauling over all of the stuff from the regular space across the street to the sanctuary) much appreciated! Y’all are amazing.
October 24, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Many thanks to Kay and Deb for leading rehearsal on Monday night.
I hope everyone who is sick is feeling much better. And I hope that everyone who is traveling has a great time while they are away. And I hope that we are all back together again SOON!
October 17, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
I thoroughly enjoyed our rehearsal and also brought home some beautiful hand painted cards from our table sales that Virginia created. Bonus!
Rehearsal Reflection
October 10, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a lovely rehearsal last night. I was so uplifted by our music-making.
Marsha had a great suggestion of using the practice files at a slower tempo as needed as you are working through some of the trickier sections of your music. I know some of you already do that on a regular basis but maybe some folks didn’t realize that we have that capability so thanks for mentioning it, Marsha.
October 3, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
I sure did enjoy rehearsal last night – hope you did, as well. There were many Zooming…hope everyone who has been ill is feeling better SOON and wish those who were out of town – safe travels home.
We did not get to everything on our rehearsal agenda but made great progress on the pieces we spent time with.
September 27, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Happy Fall! I really enjoyed our rehearsal last night – hope you did, too!
Rehearsal Reflection
We covered all of the measures concentrating primarily on pitches and rhythms – great job everyone! I know there are a few ‘question notes’ and we will make those corrections next time we rehearse the piece(s).
September 19, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for a lovely rehearsal. We covered a lot of ground, and I thoroughly enjoyed making music with you all.
Rehearsal Reflection
September 12, 2023, Music Notes
Hello Everyone,
It was lovely to see and hear you all at rehearsal last night. It is so nice to be back to our music-making after our summer break.
It was very fun to learn a bit about our newest members. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we are glad that you are with us and we look forward to getting to know you better in the weeks ahead.
If you are interested, auditions for Chamber Choir are scheduled for 9/18/23 from 9:30-10pm (after our regular rehearsal). The PDF of the music is attached. Please be prepared to sing from the pick up to m. 25 through m. 56. The practice files and pronunciation guide are on our website. The Chamber Choir will also sing The Bird’s Lullaby but this will not be part of the audition. Both of these a cappella pieces will require solid intonation and voices that blend well together. The desired timbre for both pieces is light and lively. Rhythmic accuracy is super important, too. The strong preference is that you are present in person for auditions but If you already know that you will be absent next week, you may email a recording (due by 9/18/23). Sing along to the practice track with ALL parts softly in the background. It will be important to balance the ensemble so you may be assigned to sing a different part than the one you regularly sing with WVC – please be open to that – your flexibility is appreciated.