Welcome back, everyone, good to be back to singing after the Easter break. Reminder in case you read no further – NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE AT TOWER HOUSE SCHOOL, SHEEN LANE.
Last night we took a big bite at four of the trickiest movements in the Haydn, and you did a good job of munching through some heavy mouthfuls of notes.
But first, we took our first look at the lovely Laudate Dominum by Mozart. Nothing too tricky here in terms of harmonies, but some detailed filigree work in the rhythms and embellishments that need to be precise. Sops and altos especially.
For the Creation, the movements we worked on were:
Von deiner Gut (p116) – the longest movement in the whole oratorio, with lots of little bits that are each a different musical element. We went through from D to O, pages 122-131, which comprises 4 separate one-page bits.
Mit Staunen (p22) – we figured out from B to the end, then ran it through. This is pleasingly close to being good. Notes are pretty solid.
Stimmt an die Saiten (p38) – The action in this one is from C to the end, starting with the stretto entry at C (all four parts starting one beat apart) and leading up to the semiquaver runs bars 50-52. We spent some time on this section but there is more to do before it is ready.
Die Himmel erzahlen (p47) – Another bipolar movement, starts innocuously but from D on it’s every part for himself. We got through it and all finished at roughly the same time, but again, work to be done.
We took a few minutes at the end to remind ourselves of the very first movement (p7), which is musically very easy, but has to be spot on precise in terms of both singing exactly together and bang on the note.
If you want homework, or if you were not here this week and want to catch up, look at the bits of Von deiner Gut and Stimmt an for sure. And if you have time left, the second half of Die Himmel.
I had intended to finish by looking at Va Pensiero, our encore piece, but we couldn’t as we didn’t have enough people who had printed off the music. So please, please – make sure you have everything printed off and brought with you from now on. And if you were struggling with knowing which line of music to sing in places, take 15 minutes and a highlighter and mark your lines. It helps. (So long as you highlight the correct line, Sue.)
Finally, we have 8 rehearsals left – and a lot to work on – so can I encourage everyone to be at as many rehearsals as possible please, ready to start at 7.45? I know it’s a tradition for SGC to be scrambling to be ready for a concert, but it would be nice to feel comfortable and confident and not learning notes the week beforehand….
Have a good week, and see you all next Tuesday evening AT TOWER HOUSE.
Chris