Morning singers, I hope you enjoyed last night as much as I did. Sometimes the only way to go at a tricky piece is to run at it full tilt and see what happens.
You will be excited to know that we are now half way through our journey towards the summer concert. Things are coming together very well, and the movements or sections of movements that need attention are coming into clear focus. I hope that the hard work of note bashing is starting to pay off and you are becoming able to sing with a little less laser focus on the notes and words, and able to hear and enjoy the music. It is certainly starting to sound very good in many places.
Last night we bounced through a lot of music.
Zorongo – we reviewed the first page, and learned the second (faster) section. Good work picking that up. Basses, be strong and accurate with those off-beat rhythms. We will work with Marta in refining it from here and getting the tempos right.
Nun schwanden (12) – we have not sung this movement much since we looked at in detail at the start of the season. You remember it well, and it is now in tidying up mode. Those entries have to be punchy, strong and bang-on together on the beat. Walk around the house singing Ver – zweif – lung Wut und Schreck – en in metronomic time, to the tune of the first entry (A) and the second (bar 89)!
Geistliches Lied – We learned the middle section, part by part, and I think you have the notes and words solid. And, when we put it together, it really started to sound lovely and Brahmsy. Next week we will devote a block of time to this piece. I want to go into the Easter break feeling that we know the whole thing well enough to start singing it rather than reading it.
Den Herr ist gross (20) – we worked through the first half of the movement up to letter B. You did a nice job with it. The remainder of the piece is similar so we should be able to finish the note learning on this quite quickly. It is a tricky one to rehearse because it will be so different with the soloists on top. If you feel like some home practice, this is definitely a movement to sing along to a recording so you get used to how the choral parts sit underneath the three solo lines.
Vollendet ist (10) – this is one of the biggest and most intricate movements of the whole work. You did a fine job of driving through it, twice. Altos – kudos for refinding your place the first time. It is an important choral skill to be able to rejoin the music if, as can happen, you get a bit lost…. We will devote a chunk of time to solidifying this one in the coming weeks.
Habanera – this is clearly going to be a favourite. I’m not sure if Marta would agree, but to me it sounded beautifully Spanish. If you want to finesse it at home, maybe try getting the words perfect. We were ticked off by Gala for singing the word ‘llores’ with an L when the pronunciation is Yorress. And please, CoraTHon, no Zs. Oh, and it’s a silent H, Abanera, like Arry Kane or Arry Redknapp. We will be singing this with Spaniards all around us and we don’t want to offend.
Stimmt an die Saiten (20) – We worked part by part up to letter C. We have sung all the way to the end in the past, so we will look at the second half in a few weeks and should be able to sing it all through with accuracy.
Some logistics stuff:
Next week is the last rehearsal before the Easter break. We MAY be going to Tower House rather than Christ Church, so please stay in touch and read your emails.
Siobhan mentioned the planning meeting on Tuesday 28th. If you would like to be a part of that (all welcome but no obligation), drop Siobhan a note, and bring your ideas on what/when/where the choir should sing the next couple of concerts.
We have begun the process of sourcing soloists (thank you, Caroline Cuss for leading that) and once that is done the orchestra will be put together. David Corless is starting work on concert publicity.
We are off Tuesday March 28 – Tuesday April 11. The first rehearsal back after Easter is Tuesday April 18.
Have a good week
Chris