We are getting some good "grunt" work done on the music, but we have a long way yet to go artistically. I can't wait to hear us sing all this music with great confidence and expression. To that end, here are several things you can do before next Monday.
Psalm 1 - mark accented syllables as you speak each verse naturally out loud. Know how the chant fits with the words as "pointed," or marked.
Amaryllis - at least speak the words of each verse in rhythm. Mark beats in the measures where the rhythm is tricky. Use the half note = 1 beat to help you.
Greensleeves - go over your "la" part in the last section.
Sumer - read the text so that the strange syllables make sense to you when singing the music.
On the others as well as those above:
Take one piece each day (or carve out time to look at them all at once) and be sure you know where the phrases begin and end for your part (marked by breaths or rests). Also make sure where the "high point" is dynamically so you know how to shape each phrase. At least speak each phrase's text in rhythm. Know when to come in after a rest (know how to count the silences as well as the notes).
If everyone - yes everyone - would spent about 30 minutes this week doing all of the above, we will rock at our next rehearsal, which is already October 1. Not everything will make sense alone, so come prepared with your questions about those places in your music. Let's try to get to every piece next week to know where we stand.
You can sing this music - WE can sing this music together. And, I am looking forward to it!
Have a wonderful week!
Choral Guild 2008
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Shakespearean soliloquies
I wonder how many of you visited the www.musictheory.net website over the past week? Be honest, now... I know we're busy, but I was thinking during last night's rehearsal how much those exercises would benefit anyone who took even just 5 or 10 minutes to help train their eyes and ears. As we sing some quite complex parts in our repertoire for this concert, I can't stress enough how helpful it would be. In any case, we will again rehearse as many of our current pieces as possible on Monday, so come early and be ready for another solid rehearsal.
Coincidentally, I have, over the past week, heard two separate references to words from the great Shakespeare. So, I got to thinking, I bet that many of you have a favorite passage or two from the bard's great masterworks that have resonated with you throughout the years. I will never forget being forever changed by seeing in high school a dramatic interpretation of the "Out, damn spot!" scene in Macbeth where Lady Macbeth is driven to publicly reveal her horrid, secret crime because of her immense guilt. I think, though, that my favorite is still the classic sonnet:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Ah, iambic pentameter is quite romantic, no? So, what are your favorite Shakespearean lines? Let me know by blogging about it here or sending me your thoughts. Those lines may have a place in our concert on October 21.
Coincidentally, I have, over the past week, heard two separate references to words from the great Shakespeare. So, I got to thinking, I bet that many of you have a favorite passage or two from the bard's great masterworks that have resonated with you throughout the years. I will never forget being forever changed by seeing in high school a dramatic interpretation of the "Out, damn spot!" scene in Macbeth where Lady Macbeth is driven to publicly reveal her horrid, secret crime because of her immense guilt. I think, though, that my favorite is still the classic sonnet:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Ah, iambic pentameter is quite romantic, no? So, what are your favorite Shakespearean lines? Let me know by blogging about it here or sending me your thoughts. Those lines may have a place in our concert on October 21.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A snapshot of an era
Glad to be back on track with rehearsals. It was slow going last night in places after a week off, but we made it! A few reminders:
Take notes during rehearsal - mark up the music so you can remember expression, cues, and breaths from week to week.
Go to www.musictheory.net and click on "Exercises." Scroll down to "Interval Ear Training" and say "Yes" to customizing your exercise. UNcheck all the minor intervals and the tritone. Check the second box under "how should intervals be played" to hear them played in both up and down directions. Then, click "Start Exercise." WHEW! The result is a wonderful ear training exercise on all the intervals of the major scale. [Hint: If you need to hear the interval more than once, click on the sound icon at the top of the page.]
Come early to rehearsal. I will have the music in order on the board, so assemble your pages before the rehearsal begins. This will also give us a chance to catch up with each other without interrupting our singing.
Have fun! This is great music, and I hope you will enjoy singing it. Below is a brief paragraph from our upcoming newsletter. See you next week!
The Renaissance was a turbulent yet inventive period of European history. The printing press was invented allowing dissemination of information like never before. Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation highlighted the loosening of the Catholic Church's grip on society. A humanist spirit prevailed resulting in a groundswell of artistic creativity and production. Music was no exception to that rule, and a wealth of choral music from that time remains in our repertoire as one of the foundational building blocks of the modern choral ensemble. Composers began writing multiple voice parts and more independent musical lines called counterpoint. Music within the church continued to flourish as English mixed with Latin texts. Dance and folk music were the basis of many secular choral forms. It was a significant time where many guidelines of choral singing and composing were established forever permeating this fine art.
Take notes during rehearsal - mark up the music so you can remember expression, cues, and breaths from week to week.
Go to www.musictheory.net and click on "Exercises." Scroll down to "Interval Ear Training" and say "Yes" to customizing your exercise. UNcheck all the minor intervals and the tritone. Check the second box under "how should intervals be played" to hear them played in both up and down directions. Then, click "Start Exercise." WHEW! The result is a wonderful ear training exercise on all the intervals of the major scale. [Hint: If you need to hear the interval more than once, click on the sound icon at the top of the page.]
Come early to rehearsal. I will have the music in order on the board, so assemble your pages before the rehearsal begins. This will also give us a chance to catch up with each other without interrupting our singing.
Have fun! This is great music, and I hope you will enjoy singing it. Below is a brief paragraph from our upcoming newsletter. See you next week!
The Renaissance was a turbulent yet inventive period of European history. The printing press was invented allowing dissemination of information like never before. Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation highlighted the loosening of the Catholic Church's grip on society. A humanist spirit prevailed resulting in a groundswell of artistic creativity and production. Music was no exception to that rule, and a wealth of choral music from that time remains in our repertoire as one of the foundational building blocks of the modern choral ensemble. Composers began writing multiple voice parts and more independent musical lines called counterpoint. Music within the church continued to flourish as English mixed with Latin texts. Dance and folk music were the basis of many secular choral forms. It was a significant time where many guidelines of choral singing and composing were established forever permeating this fine art.
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