Category: Choir Updates

All, please put June 27 in your diary for our annual nosh and booze-up, which takes place at the abode of our fine bass singer, Mr Christopher Hawkins.

So much preparation is going into the summer party that Chris is designing and building his new home to a tight deadline, especially for the choir’s end–of-season festivities. Foundations were laid this weekend.

Our caterers are busily preparing an array of dishes for me to sample, while Mr Douglas Brewster and myself are arranging a special reconnaissance of vineyards for the complex task of ensuring that the finest wines are provided.

Further details in due course.

Roger

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

Apologies if some are receiving this email twice.  I wanted to make sure that no-one is missed out.

Please find below details for your sectional rehearsals tomorrow, which will start promptly at 8pm.

Addresses

Basses @ Simon’s: 13 Stonehill Road East Sheen SW14 8RR

Sopranos @ Julia’s: Vine House, Vicarage Road, SW14 8RS

Tenors @ Sue’s: 34 Hertford Avenue, East Sheen, SL14 8EQ

Altos @ Agnes’: 2 East Sheen Avenue SW14 8AS

Material:

Your leaders will be aiming to cover the following.

Gloria

Bars 4-16; 45-55; 234-246

Bars 260-end

Credo

Bars 41-47; 57-65; 83-99

Bars 199-end

Notes

I realise that this information is coming to you a bit late in the day – apologies for that.  Please don’t panic if you are feeling like this means that you can’t arrive ‘prepared’ for rehearsals tomorrow.  The whole point of a sectional rehearsal is to gain confidence in difficult sections of the piece without the distraction of other parts to rehearse. Consider them as a chance for you to get some tailored input on your own part – no prior preparation required!

That said, it never hurts to have a listen, so if you get a chance tomorrow before rehearsals, please do!

Remember to bring a score and a pencil to make notes.

Have fun and see you next week!

Yours,

Chris Stokes

There is NO REHEARSAL TONIGHT as Chris is unwell.

Happy New Year!  Hope that you have all had a good break.  We start back tomorrow, with our first rehearsal on the wonderful Schubert Mass in E flat!  Many thanks for putting in your orders for music.  Lesley has told me that the scores that we have ordered are unlikely to come through in time for tomorrow as the suppliers have had to order in a special batch for us!  So, for tomorrow, I have uploaded a pdf score to the downloads page.  If you could print and bring the first 18 pages (Kyrie & Gloria) that would be great.  We will also have 3 new members joining us, so it would be good if 3 or 4 of us could please print off an extra copy for them.  If you would like to have the usual start-of-term social, please bring a bottle/nibbles along!

Chris

Hi everyone, hope you have all had a good week. For a bit of fun for our final rehearsal this evening, I’ve selected a few Christmas songs that we can mess about with.  Please print out the rehearsal pack on the downloads page and bring along!  Chris

Hi everyone!  Carol sheet-music packs are now available for download from the website.  Please download and print a full copy for this coming Tuesday’s rehearsal.  See you tomorrow!  Chris

Hi everyone!  Great rehearsal on Tuesday: this concert is shaping up into something pretty exciting, so thanks for all your hard work.  This is just a quick note to say that I have set up a new email address, which is cjstokes1984@gmail.com.  Messages sent to pianomann1984@hotmail.com are no longer being monitored.  Thanks!  Chris

Hi everyone,  all music and rehearsal files for the December 3rd Christmas concert have now been uploaded to the downloads page of the website.  Please download and print all files ready for rehearsals next week.  Thanks!  Chris

All,

Further to Lesley’s email at 16.00 today, please note that the Albert Hall Scratch concert will be using the Novello Prout score, NOT the score referred to in Lesley’s note which is the one we have previously used (the Novello Watkins Shore version).

The Prout score is widely available – I bought mine on Amazon Prime for £7.95 and it was delivered the next day! If you are searching for it online, it has a red cover and is smaller than the orange cover version we used in Salzburg.

It is absolutely essential to buy the Prout version, as there are some important differences in the versions and we will also need to use the Prout version for the rehearsal on 12 November.

Virtually all of you singing at the Albert Hall now have your ticket and singers’ notes (these are also available on the Scratch concert website).

Please take the time to go through the singers’ notes and mark up your scores in advance as there are some movements we will not be singing, etc, and there is no rehearsal in advance of the Albert Hall performance (except for ours on 12 Nov).

Some of you have inquired whether there are still tickets available for the Scratch concert.  There are not, but I am in touch with the organiser who tells me there are usually returns on the day, if you are prepared to come along on spec (you can always get an audience ticket!)

As Lesley confirmed today, Chris is kindly organising a special Messiah workshop at the church from 1.30-5.30 pm on 12 November.  Most of you attending the Albert Hall have confirmed already that you are attending this – on the day I will be collecting £5 per person to cover the extra cost of this practice.

Just a reminder that the Albert Hall Scratch concert starts at 7 pm and we have to be seated 10-15 minutes beforehand.  There are various bars and restaurants in the Albert Hall and I might suggest we meet in one of those for a drink before the concert starts (but we can discuss that nearer the time).

Dress code for the Albert Hall concert is explained on the website as follows:

Ladies normally wear dresses or skirts, and Sopranos should wear something including blue (aim for a ‘mid-tone’, please—not too pale or too dark or too green!) and Altos something with red. Gentlemen should wear dark suits and ties or dinner jackets with black bow-ties.

The main thing to remember for sopranos is the blue top, and for the altos the red top, as this is about all the audience will see!

Hope all is clear – see you all next week at choir practice.

Sue Eustace

sue.eustace@blueyonder.co.uk

 

 

 

Hi everyone, rehearsal files for the Finzi (I Praise the Tender Flower) are now available on the downloads section of the website.  Download and run the files on any media player software and you should be away!  Please try to do have a look at this by next week’s rehearsal as we will be cracking on with it along with some other more familiar repertoire for the concert on 3rd December.  More details soon about this later today.

Hope that you are all having a good half term.

Many thanks and best wishes,

Chris