A Renaissance

Ren·ais·sance

[noun]

1.the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

2. ( lowercase ) a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival.

I think we experienced a little of our own "renaissance" last night returning to rehearsal. Our sound and musicality were quite good right out of the box. As you listen and think about our program of Renaissance music, think about the way in which the music is sung in addition to the notes and rhythms. We touched on most of our concert program last night, so spend at least some time with the music until we meet again on September 10. Here is my plan for next time:

Come Ye Sons of Art (will distribute at rehearsal)

Though Amaryllis Dance (new scores will be distributed)

Let Thy Merciful Ears

Look Down O Lord

Ave Verum Corpus

It Was a Lover

Call to Remembrance

The Silver Swan

Have a great Labor Day holiday. See you in a couple of weeks!

Back to blogging (and rehearsal)

Hi all - welcome to the new season of Choral Guild fun! I will be keeping you up to date each week with some fun or important info (or maybe even both!) right here on our blog. For starters, check your email for a link to access music files for listening and rehearsing pieces on our upcoming Early England concert. Also in that dropbox folder are the tracks from our recording session in May.

One of the pieces is a musical setting of Shakespeare's poem "It Was a Lover and His Lass." You won't want to miss the real meaning of that playful and famous text. See you at rehearsal tonight!

Building the excitement

I enjoyed hearing all the music for the concert last night. The tunes got stuck in my head, and I am still singing the pieces to myself even now! We are making some beautiful musical moments, and I look forward to next week when we can really polish our program and achieve that last 10% or so of the musicality and expression. There was also a lot of buzz and excitement in the room last night as well. Part of that was the cheesecakes, I know, but I think part of it was that we have a great program to present to our audience. I truly hope that you will share that excitement with as many others as you are able and invite them to be a part of the concert with us. Let's make it a memorable and enjoyable evening for all! Keep singing, and see you on Monday!

After cheescakes...

Nice rehearsal last night! We are learning notes while singing musically - I love it! I know you are all busy with long days and hectic schedules, so I hope our musical time together is a time for you to refresh and relax while we prepare for our concert. Speaking of preparation, here's what's on for next week:
Rabbit Skunk (always!)
Johnny O
A Carol for All Children
Through Their Eyes - No. 3
An Easy Decision
Calling My Children Home
See you then!

Back to September

It was good to see and hear you all after a two-week hiatus for Labor Day. Welcome one and all, returning and new singers. This is going to be a great year of music!
Also, thanks for sharing about what is happening in your busy lives with us as we enjoy social times during the breaks. We are a singing community, and it's great to be able to get to know you better while we sing together.
We should focus on the following for next week:
Rabbit Skunk - second half
Jenny Rebecca - second half
Through Their Eyes - numbers 2 and 3
Johnny O - work backwards
Carol for All Children

I heard a couple of people say afterwards last night, "Good rehearsal!" And it
was. We got a considerable amount of music rehearsed, and I felt a couple of
poignant moments when the music really seemed to "hit home" as you sang. If
that's already happening at rehearsal, we are going to have a great concert!
Thanks for being a part of this exciting music-making. Here's what we need to
work on at our next rehearsal on September 12: * Jenny Rebecca
* Prayer of the Children
* Through Their Eyes
* Rabbit Skunk
* Johnny O
* Easy Decision
We'll keep plugging away at the harder parts and on the sections less
rehearsed. Remember, you promised to not forget what we've already done! :)
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Tonight's rehearsal

Getting ready for our second rehearsal tonight at St. Luke's. Many more auditions are scheduled tonight than were last week, so I will look forward to talking with many of the singers one on one which is a treat! I hope we don't get too bogged down in our note-learning tonight, but it needs done on some of the harder pieces. Here's to more confidence in the music by knowing it better after tonight - see you there!