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
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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