Kudos and Happy Holidays!

Well done everyone! Great audience, good music and lots of joy and excitement. It was a pleasure to present our Christmas concert this year, and I hope it was rewarding for you all as well. Whatever your holiday plans, I hope you have a blessed and peaceful holiday season and New Year. See you at the party on January 5 and our first rehearsal on January 6, 2014! Take care and enjoy!

Carols and such

Hi there -
A busy season means not so many postings to the blog apparently! Anyway, I am excited about our upcoming weekend of concerts. Here are the guidelines for the carols with the audience:

Angels from the Realms - Edward/Sheila
1. All unison (unison means on the melody)
2. Four parts (SATB)
3. Men unison
4. Women in parts
5. All unison
SATB on the refrain for all stanzas.
Piano on 1, 3, 4 and 5.

Song of the Crib - Jerry/Marie
1. Women
2. Men
3. Judy/Kate
4. Charlie/John
5. Danielle
6. Sally/Dale
7. Sheila
8. All
Unison throughout.
Piano throughout.

God Rest You Merry - Danielle/Jorge
1. All unison
2. SATB
3. Women unison
4. Men unison
5. SATB
6. Men unison
7. Women unison
8. All unison/SATB for refrain
Piano on 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8.

Let's leave it at that for Saturday as there will be plenty to put together with the other chorus. See you at St. John's promptly at 2:30 on Saturday!
Thank you for your singing :)

'Tis the Season....already!!

We had a long and busy weekend, but I really enjoyed the music! We really challenged ourselves to sing with presence and poise what we may have thought at first was too modern or prohibitively difficult for us. Thanks to you all, our soloists, and Wooyoung for bringing your best musicianship to the concert as well as some new audience members. :) Christmas will be fun with the familiar music and the middle school energy. See you all next week!

Time and Concord

We'd like more of both of those, please and thank you! Not much rehearsal time left for our concert. It's our first of the season, so let's put forth our very best effort to make it all come together over the next couple of weeks. Use rehearsal tracks and recordings ad libitum! Section leaders, if you think it at all possible to gather most of your section together for a rehearsal between now and the concert, please do so. Soloists, let's plan on a time to go over your solo prior to the dress rehearsal on Friday night. Wooyoung would like the opportunity on that Friday to rehearse with the soloists immediately before the dress rehearsal between 6:30 and 7:30. Let me know when you could make it. ENJOY this music, singing with each other, and being a part of this unique and festive celebration!

Good rehearsal! Really!!

I know. We sang a lot of music last night, some of which we had not sung in a little while, and some of which is among the most difficult on our program. You may be feeling a little lost in the shuffle of all that busyness, harmony and eclectic text. What we are beginning to do is move away from our comfort zone of the rehearsal setting into the reality of how the music will sound and how we will experience the music in performance. With that in mind, I think we accomplished a LOT during our rehearsal last night. One additional thing was also accomplished...that being a sense of what we still need to work on. Along that line, there are some simple things you can do between now and next Monday.
1. Read over the words at least a few times. At the very least, be familiar with the texts so that the English itself (our native language!) is not a stumbling block.
2. Speak those words in the rhythm of the music. Remind yourself of the timing of the words, feel the beat of the music and sense the rhythms in which you will need to sing the words in real time.
3. Sing the notes - with and/or without the words, with and/or without listening to the rehearsal tracks. Know how your part sounds and how it feels and sounds to sing your part on your own.
I can't emphasize enough the importance of spending at least SOME time with the music between now and next Monday. You and everyone else will enjoy the rehearsal so much more!
Thanks for your work and dedication in making these concerts a success. See you Monday!

Nothing in my pockets?? Coulda sworn I at least brought my car keys!

Briefly,
We have a lot of the difficult music rehearsed, but need to work on polishing all what we are singing for the concert from here on out. Let's get to as much of the music as is possible next week with minimal note learning. Reinforcing what we already know and singing musically. This is always the most challenging part, but never ceases to be the most rewarding!
Thanks for your time and talents in making it all possible. See you next Monday!

What rhymes with Satyr?

We rhymed till we were blue in the face last night! Thanks to Jerry for sharing his Satyr encounter as well. Not much to say this week that I didn't say last time (see below). Please send me a message or call if you cannot access the rehearsal files. Everyone practice! Next Monday, we will review the music we rehearsed last night as well as:
finish Lift Boy
sing the beginning section of Rejoice
rehearse the new sections of Jubilate
I hope we have time to review a couple others that we haven't sung in a couple of weeks as well.
Happy October, especially you government workers! See you next week.

Important stuff (as always)

Great to have us at - pretty much - full force in rehearsal last night. It will be a good group of singers this year. I will keep to the business at hand this week since there are so many important things to let you know about.
BLOG
You have found it! Before you leave this page, please scroll to the bottom and either click the blue button that says "join this site" if you have a Google account or type in your email address in the box under "follow by email" so you can get these messages directly and as soon as they are posted.
DROPBOX
Look in your email for a message from Jean Nash through the CGA Yahoo group either today or tomorrow. You should receive one if your email address appeared on the roster circulated last night. There, you will find included the link to my Dropbox files. (I won't post that link here on our public blog.) Once there, click: Choral Guild; Rehearsal Files; Britten. Feel free to COPY and PASTE the correct files for your voice part onto your computer. Please do not DRAG the files over as this action removes them from the Dropbox completely. Use pervasively!
AUDITIONS
Returning members can go to the following new sign up for auditions over the next few weeks held prior to Monday rehearsals.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0A4EAEA72E5-auditions2
REHEARSAL
Good progress last night. Next week, we will rehearse the following:
Rejoice in the Lamb - all choral sections
Part Songs - yet unrehearsed passages in both
Choral Dances - especially numbers 1 and 2
Jubilate - unrehearsed soft passages
See you next week!

Gaining momentum

I was excited by the new singers in our midst last night - Wendy Cook, Duhi Schneider, Danielle Maurer and Charlie Harner. Welcome!
Two new things are also on their way - CD copies of the recordings from last season and rehearsal tracks. Jean mentioned that she would send the Dropbox link once again in her message to you, so look for it there and please "bookmark" that link in your computer's browser so you can keep finding it all year.
For next week's rehearsal, let's plan on the following:
Jubilate - begin rehearsal on this piece through page 6
BOTH part songs - Lift Boy and I Lov'd a Lass
Choral Dances - numbers 1, 2, 3 and 6
Rejoice - beginning through page 13
I will alert you as new rehearsal tracks become available for consumption. See you Monday!
Clair

Back in the Saddle (or Possessed of a Cat)

GREAT to hear you all singing again last night. We were certainly not in full force, but we had a good rehearsal. Thanks to Sheila and John for getting things off the ground in my absence. Next week:
Old Joe - begin to put the round theme together as a round. Know that tune!
Fisherman - good rehearsal on this. Maybe we will rehearse some of the harmonies if there is time.
Dances - refresh #1; rehearse #2 and #3.
Lift Boy - more rehearsal on this one with and without piano.
Jubilate - begin this one through page 4 (first section).
Rejoice - iron out the first 10 pages; rehearse "Hallelujah" section (through page 13).
That's all for now. I'm gone fishing now that Joe has found that shoal!

Britten, summer and US!

Hope you are enjoying what's left of summer. Couldn't have imagined all this rain, but not super hot for the most part at least! I have to tell you I am as excited as ever about our new season lineup. As singers, I hope you are too. An anniversary celebration, Christmas carols, Russians and a concert operetta. You should notice we incorporated many of your comments from last year's survey on what you want to sing and what you think others would enjoy singing with you. I will look forward to catching up with you all shortly. Meanwhile, please keep these important items in mind:
1 - Plan to attend the summer sing on August 17 from 10 to Noon at St. Luke's and bring a friend. Seriously. If you're not there, people get the wrong first impression of our group. Unless you let me know otherwise, I will expect to see you!
2 - Decide in what growth area you can best help the Guild - publicity/communication, fundraising or recruitment. Everyone will participate in some way in at least one of these areas this year. I will ask you about it at your audition.
3 - Sign up for an audition. The schedule is at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0A4EAEA72E5-auditions1
4 - Put our first rehearsal on your calendars: August 26 at 7:30 pm.
5 - Tell me who you are going to ask to sing with you this year. I can't wait to hear from you!
See you all on the 17th for a great time together - Happy August!
Clair

Reflections

Well, another season has ended. Congratulations to you all on a successful season of singing, fund raising, audience recruiting, publicity, rehearsal, attendance and overall music making! It is always humbling for me to witness so much dedication and commitment to the group from volunteers such as yourselves. Your work and contributions do not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Thank you from your grateful conductor who remains motivated and inspired by each of you.
I have copied tracks from our most recent concert into the dropbox for your listening pleasure. It is always fun for me to relive these musical moments and make sure that you actually did sound how I remembered during the performance. There are some sound level issues with the "Curry" movement because of the foghorn, so I adjusted as much as was possible. Thanks to our sound man Barry Brennan for these invaluable records of our concerts.
Mark Ericson is working on our recorded tracks as we speak and will forward them to me soon. Each of you will receive a copy of the final product for your own personal and private use.
Much of what we will do next season will have a dual purpose: (1) to grow and increase the presence, membership and scope of the Guild, (2) to prepare for our 75th anniversary season the following year. We will need the help of everyone to accomplish our goals over these next two years.
I have been looking again at our 2013 membership survey for repertoire ideas for the anniversary season. In addition to many of those good suggestions, some particular people had very good ideas in areas we have identified as ones where we would like to focus our energies moving forward. If you feel a particular passion to help in the areas of either publicity/communication, fund raising, or recruitment, I would personally appreciate you letting me know sometime this summer so we can expand on the ideas in the survey as we move forward.
Remember the date of our Summer Sing, Saturday, August 17 from 10 am to Noon at St. Luke's. Invite friends and others that may enjoy a morning of singing especially if you know they could be potential members of the Guild. We will be singing Benjamin Britten and learning some fun facts about him and his music in honor of his 100th birthday!
Have a wonderful summer. Keep in touch. See you all soon!

  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6nv7a7hpoj917tj/Faf_Kf2FPi

Concert weekend

I will keep my blog short this weekend as we are in the home stretch both for our concert and our 73rd season. You all are singing so well, and this concert may just be the best of all. I know we will have fun with the Seasonings, and the others so are musically done. Thanks for all your hard work, musicianship and energy. Soloists and ensemble members should rehearse their parts a bit more to add the finishing touches on those passages and pieces. It will all come together as we offer our best efforts in concert! Take time to thank those who are singing for Relay for Life this Friday at 7:30 pm at Old Milton HS in Alpharetta. For all the rest, see you at St. John's at 2 pm on Saturday.
Cheers!

Final rehearsal

Wow - we have a lot going on to put this final concert together! Thank you to each of you, especially those who are learning additional parts for the ensemble and solo music. It's great to have so many talented and devoted singers in the group. Last night left me feeling fractured at the end of rehearsal, and I missed seeing many of you before you left. I hope you felt as I did, that our pieces for the full chorus are going very well and are quite musical and expressive. With that in mind, here is what I am proposing for our final rehearsal together.
7:00 - I will work with individuals on particular parts and ask those people personally to arrive early.
7:30 - We will rehearse the five-part madrigals, Ecco and Primavera. Those singers should come warmed up and ready to sing together.
7:50 - We will rehearse the Mikado and Curry quartet pieces.
8:00 - This will be the official start of the main rehearsal for all singers. We will first sing through the entire Seasonings piece. Then, we will rehearse all the remaining music.
It is my plan to rehearse the piece for Relay for Life at the end of rehearsal as we did last night. My hope is to not go too much past the 9:30 hour, but we may run over slightly as happened last night. This is an important outreach for us and the community, and I appreciate those singers who are volunteering their time to attend this event and put in the extra rehearsal time.
So, let's plan on the above for next week. Let me know if you have any questions about the schedule.
Finally, if you know of anyone involved in the Boston tragedy, know that our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. The quote by Leonard Bernstein, if you have not now already seen it, is poignant, I believe, at this time.
"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."
May it be so. See you on Monday.

Rehearsal plan

Hi singers -
Good to hear all the music last night. As Sheila mentioned, this will be a fun concert. Consider it a requirement to have at least ONE person in the audience for our final program of the season. Let's go out with a BANG!
That said, I think we should follow the same rehearsal plan for next Monday. We will rehearse together for the first hour or so and definitely include the Banquet Fugue as part of that rehearsal. Then, we will rehearse the small group/solo music. I think the 7:00 rehearsal time for quintets has been a bit problematic, so let's not plan on those groups rehearsing early. If anyone would like to have an extra rehearsal on their music with me at that hour, let me know. Everyone come prepared to put all these pieces together. If you are participating in the Relay for Life on April 26, let's plan on having a brief rehearsal immediately following our regular rehearsal on Monday. Bring your copy of In Remembrance if you have one.
Jean will be emailing the schedule for both our concert weekend including the Relay for Life event as well as a reminder about the extra rehearsals on Mondays following the concert for our upcoming recording session.
Thanks for all your extra effort as concert time nears. See you all next week!

Busy and Holy Week

Happy Easter and Passover to all those celebrating this week! I know it is a busy time, so I won't take up too much of your time here. Continue to spend time listening to the rehearsal tracks available at least once this week. Also, practice your French pronunciation on the Faure in the rhythm of the music to help eliminate that hurdle. We are doing well on the chorus music, but we still need work on much of the small ensemble and solo pieces. With that in mind, I propose that we rehearse as a group from 7:30 to 9:00 next Monday and reserve 9 to 9:30 to either rehearse with your respective quintets/quartets or sing your solo/duet with Wooyoung's accompaniment. We will know better where we stand if we spend a little more quality time on those pieces. I would be happy to find time to rehearse any solo/ensemble music with you that we can work out between us. Just let me know. Think about if you would like to fill one of our dramatic roles as sneezer, weeper, or belcher. Someone with the right sound and an aptitude for having a little fun is all that is required! Finally, I will be out of town next Monday, and Emily Floyd will be with us. I know you look forward to her coming, and she will lead us excellently as always. Thanks for all your efforts and sharing your gifts weekly. See you soon!

Listened and learned

Hi all -
I think we learned some valuable insights into our singing last night by hearing the recording. We learned to blend our voice with the voices of the rest of the group. We learned to make sure to keep the parts balanced, which sounded different on the recording than how it sounds when actively singing. We learned to be more in control of the pitch and more prepared for our entrances. We also learned about expression of the music with a more energized sound. I still think we could be more conscious of breath support, especially in our higher ranges, because unsupported tone will never blend, balance, tune or sound energized.
That said, we are in good shape with a lot of the music. You really MUST spend time on the notes using the tracks outside of rehearsal. Go back over parts that you feel insecure on. You can use the tracks to feel more confident in rehearsal on your part which will help us achieve ALL of the above musicality. Here again is the link:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6nv7a7hpoj917tj/Faf_Kf2FPi
Quintets and quartet - if at all possible, please be here at 7:00 pm next Monday. We will find individual rooms to rehearse your individual pieces. Let's at least have a couple of run throughs of these together. Again, use the tracks to know your part before Monday.
Soloists - let's find a time when we can rehearse your parts outside of rehearsal. It may be that we can only get together individually until closer to the concert, but that's OK. Contact me when you feel ready to sing your parts with me.
Thanks all. Hope St. Patrick's Day was good to you. See you next week!

Luck o' the Irish

That title has nothing to do with nothing - just felt like saying it! Anyway, as we discussed at rehearsal, please make use of the rehearsal files in my Dropbox folder at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6nv7a7hpoj917tj/Faf_Kf2FPi
Quintets - let's arrange a schedule for rehearsal hopefully at 7 pm most Mondays. If both groups would plan to be here by then, you can rehearse simultaneously at different locations in the church. I can assist each group as needed (although not at the same time! If I could do THAT.....never mind.). Try to get a sense of your own part on your own before rehearsing with the group. I will look over The Seasonings this week and begin to assign suggested solo parts. Please let me know if you have interest in doing any particular parts in the solo movements.
Thanks for a great rehearsal last night. Happy St. Patrick's Day! See you Monday.

More rehearsal tracks

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a great day so far. I have put rehearsal tracks in the Dropbox for everything now except The Seasonings. Please download and use freely to help us all learn notes before rehearsal. I want to see how much of a difference these make in our preparation and musicality, but my experiment will not work if you do not use the tracks. So, go for it!
Next week, we will rehearse the two remaining choruses from The Seasonings - By the Leeks and To Curry Favor. We will also rehearse the Italian madrigal, Diemer Madrigal No. 2 and more of the French and parts in the Faure. This will be an exciting concert!
Marie announced about the new group planning our 75th season which is also exciting. Any ideas you have for that group would be welcomed. I am also going to continue to review the surveys for your music suggestions and recruitment ideas. Let's build some momentum in our ensemble and our audience as we head toward our anniversary year.
Thanks for all you do - have a great week!

Au contraire but I DO have a blog!

Even though it's a little late, I do have a blog for this week!
First, thanks for a great concert. Our discussion on Monday was good, and the main thing is that we enjoyed our performance. As I said, there is more and more to enjoy each time, and we are making better and more lasting connections with our audience. Kudos!
Second, I have reorganized the Dropbox files into folders under Choral Guild. This way, you can find the forthcoming rehearsal files for this concert more easily. I may even take a stab at recording the French pronunciation for the Faure as well!
Think of ways we can get the word out about our concert knowing now what the program entails. Let me or Jean know of at least one other way (besides inviting everyone you know!) that you could help in the publicity for this event - our last of the season!
See you all on Monday...

Concert weekend!

I can't believe it's here, but this weekend is concert weekend. I just talked with Emily who gave me the update from Monday. She was very pleased with how it all sounded and your preparation for the concert. We will begin with the Hail, Gladdening Light piece on Saturday to have enough time to iron out those parts. Thanks for your musicianship and vitality in presenting this music. I hope you're enjoying it. Now comes the fun part! Let's make the most of the music this weekend. See you all Saturday!

After last night

Hi everyone -
Good work last night, although our sense of tuning surprised me after the rehearsal the week prior. We just need to listen at least as much, and sometimes more, than we sing, especially on the unaccompanied pieces. Sections where I think this is particularly true are (Yes! Sit down with your music and look over these sections if you would.):
Blue Bird - measures 9-14; measures 29 through 34; measures 39 through 42.
Aftonen - TB measures 7 and 8; all measures 9 through 12; AT page 5; SA top of page 6.
Silence of the Night - opening entrance; top of page 5
Nightingale - bottom of page 3; top of page 6
MLK - bottom of page 3 entrance; last 5 chords
Rutter - listen for balance especially when not singing words
Hail - sing your part confidently amongst the other parts
That being said, there are MANY places where you are singing with great diction, sensitivity to the dynamics, tuning well with the other parts, expressing the text, and creating a delicious musical experience. We are continuing to strive towards this happening more often than not, and we continue to improve. This will be a good concert - keep up the good work for another couple of weeks! Soloists - thanks for your exciting additions to the program and for your extra work on those.
Finally, I could not work out the timing to prohibit my absence from rehearsal next week, and I truly am saddened about that. Emily will more than carry on in my absence. See you for concert weekend!

Getting ready

Really nice balance and blend last night at rehearsal. I have been listening to past concert recordings this week in preparation for our grant applications, and we have been improving our musicality each program. If any of you would like CDs of our concerts, please let me know, and I can make a copy for you. The next concert is swiftly approaching, so as we prepare, let's keep a few things in mind. Stay healthy! We need each of you at our remaining rehearsals for this concert.
Spend time with the music. Listen to the music we are singing. Sing your part. Don't wait until the next rehearsal.
Express yourself. Put your energy and emotion into the pieces. Think about the texts. It's not half as good if we don't enjoy what we are singing in performance.
Be present. Bring all of yourself to rehearsal and put your best effort forward.
Next week, we will sing everything. Let's plan on getting past notes and into our sound and expression. This concert will be great fun, and the music is just wonderful. I'm looking forward to it!
SOLOISTS - I need to hear your piece prior to the concert. Please email me with suggestions of when we could get together. It probably can't all happen on Monday nights.
That's all for now. Have a great week everyone!

What's next

Got to rehearse everything last night and record some of the music as well. I will listen to the recordings this week to help me identify how best to improve our sound. In the meantime, look over the music yourself in especially the following areas:
MLK - ending
Aftonen - all three sections
Silence of the Night - the "freely" sections
Blue Bird
Hail, Gladdening Light - your choir's part
Thanks to all doing solo work as well. Those will be lots of fun! See you on Monday :)

Did you know?

Thanks everyone for a good rehearsal last night despite the holiday weekend for some of you. How fun to sing MLK on MLK day! I trust you received my message about the solos, etc. that will help fill in and provide variety to the program. We will figure out our double choir format next week, so be sure to attend. We will also assess where we stand on the music by singing as much of the program as possible. Don't forget to look through your music before next week and identify passages that are still difficult for you. You could even email those to me in advance so we could be better prepared to rehearse them. Keep up the good work! In the meantime, below is more background information, this time about "The Blue Bird," from the program notes. Enjoy, and see you Monday!



The quiet, a cappella part song, “The Blue Bird,” is the third in a set of eight published in 1910 by Charles Stanford with words by the nineteenth century poet Mary Coleridge, whose father was the founder of the London Bach Choir in 1875. It is a wonderful expression of the tranquility and beauty of the scene as described in the words. Stanford distances the sopranos in this piece, treating them as a solo line accompanied by the lower parts. The shape of the melody represents the flight of the bird, and the haunting repeated use of the word “blue” illustrates the timelessness of the moment and the blue suspended sky.

Some background info

Hi everyone -
It was a good rehearsal last night with a couple very divine moments of tuning complete with overtones. Thanks for working hard until the very end. After talking briefly about the Shakespeare text, I thought it would be helpful to include below an explanation that I have found in my looking around online. Also, here is what we will be working on next Monday:
Rutter - Blow Blow
Aftonen - especially last section, pages 6 and 7
Hail - especially last section, pages 6 thru 8
Silence - especially last section, pages 6 thru 8 (didn't I just say that??)
Blue Bird - tuning in the lower register
Nightingale - especially last section, pages 6 and 7
MLK
Since we have less music to sing on this program, let's try to ramp up our musicality as much as possible. Thank you as well for your comments in the survey. Keep those coming as they are very helpful.
See you Monday!
Clair
*********

The poem 'Blow! Blow! Thou Winter Wind' is an extract from the famous romantic comedy 'As You Like It' written by William Shakespeare.

Background:

When the Senior Duke is banished by his brother, Fredrick, who has usurped the kingdom, the Duke goes to the Forest of Arden with a few faithful followers. They start loving the simple life of the forest. However, when the winter sets in, the Duke feels the change from the palace life to that in the forest. It is then that Amiens, a faithful and loving follower of the Duke, sings this song to cheer the Duke up and point it out to him that the unkind and ungrateful friends cause more pain to a person than the terrible cold winds of the winter that blow in the Forest of Arden.

 

Central Idea:

In this poem, the poet shows a contrast between the thanklessness of people in the materialistic world and the harshness of the Nature. In other words, he shows a striking contrast between the physical pain and emotional agony that a human being suffers.

Through the words of Amiens, Shakespeare conveys that the world is full of fraudulence and trickery. Most friends are fake and thankless and the ingratitude of friends brings more trepidation and is harsher than the bite of the winter wind.

The poem strikes a pessimistic and cynical note in the beginning and mocks at the falseness of love and friendship. Human ingratitude is the theme of the song. It points out that friends often forget the favours extended to them. However, it ends on a hopeful note that despite all the treachery and hypocrisy of humans, life is worth living and one should be happy and gay. Happiness is the only way to forgive and forget the treachery of the friends.

 

New music

Hi everyone!
I am looking forward to getting caught up with you all at tonight's rehearsal and wishing you a happy 2013! In order to provide you with some resources for preparation for our next concert, I have put recordings of six pieces on the program in my dropbox folder. Here are the titles:
Aftonen
Hail, Gladdening Light
MLK
The Nightingale
Stanford: The Blue Bird
When Icicles Hang: Blow Thou Winter Wind
Also, here is the link for online MIDI rehearsal files for Hail Gladdening Light:
http://www.learnchoralmusic.co.uk/Wood/Hail%20gladdening%20light/hail-glad-light.html
We will discuss all this tonight. See you later!
Clair