Rudsamblog

Here is the low down from last night for your perusal:

Peter did a very jolly warmup.

We presented Oli with an offensive weapon which might, in hindsight, have been a inappropriate gift and might well encourage despotic tendencies.

We then went through formation sheets and discovered, much to Susan's consternation, that she is actually called 'Natalie next to Kay'.

Normal formation for first two songs only (normal is used therefore in an ironic sense)
In parts formation for everything else.
Sovay has its own formation.
For Sleep Oli will stand in front of everyone with said offensive weapon one hopes.

Then had a copyright discussion but there seemed to be some disagreement. Suffice to say that official and thereby legal copies of Sleep are on their way. Anne requests that we only use pencil in these copies.

There is some moving about while in formations but I suggest that if someone grabs you by the shoulders then move as I lost track of who was moving when and where.

We are not singing Visur or Dle Dle and Optimists Song will be our final piece.
We discussed the pros and cons of singing an encore and unless the audience fall off their chairs with enthusiasm and a large man in a suit offers us a multimillion pound deal with Sony then we probably won't do one - though if we do then it will be Dle Dle.

Then we started singing:

AURORA - fine. I think the only difficulty was standing out of parts for the first time.

BONNY - Peter moves for flute playing. Oli is only going to give 1 bar so WATCH. Oli said 'lovely' which is encouraging.

SOVAY - It is very difficult to pretend that you have murderous tendencies when the gentlemen of our choir are staring at us. I for one cannot help giggling. Oli said 'it will be fine' which sounds ominous.
The difficulty is moving and singing at the same time. At the end we turn back to the audience on the second 'pulled the trigger'.

MIHI AUTEM - we should be quiet at the beginning and have a rounded tone. Basses (actually everyone) need to make a nice 'Ow' noise for 'Autem'. From 'hi' to 'au' don't change the shape of your mouth just open up.
Keep feeling the phrases and when sops come in on the 'f' at the start it can be a little louder so we don't sound too squeaky.
Remember rum should be like cat's bum...surely there is potential for a truly marvellous poem there. It rhymes and everything.

VARVINDAR - in the next few weeks we are going to spend time combining note and language together as this seems to be the main problem. Oli said the sops sounded nice- this is something to bask in and treasure.
Our problem is slipping into triplets though when we did it again it sounded better.

MIKS - We are hmming rather then ahhing at the start. We still have a few problems with tuning at the start so think 'Amazing Grace'.

SLEEP - Great. More alto on the word 'Moon'

The we practised Hide and Seek in parts. There was a suggestion that we should actually play the game while we sang. Indeed I am sure there are plenty of wonderful hiding places in John and Susan's house. There was even the suggestion that we should up the ante and play Sardines. But I once broke a wardrobe playing that so we might leave that for the time being.

HIDE AND SEEK- remember to come off all notes as the rests are important. In bars 59 and 60 think is quavers. Oli said it was really good and we even looked at the dynamics of the first page. Wow!

NOTICES:

We are going to have to say no to Biggar this year.

We are rehearsing at Priestfield on 18th April, the day before the concert.

For the concert we should be at the Portrait Gallery by 5.15 if at all possible or as soon as we can if not. We'll be upstairs if anyone arrives late and can't find us.

Susan requested that WE BRING CONCERT CLOTHES NEXT WEEK to rehearsal so she can look over them.

Anne mentioned Gift Aid forms.

The AGM is on the 2nd May.

And with that I sign off. Enjoy your day.
Cx

Sang Mother Ann's Song (aka Vum Vi Ve Vum) as part of the warmup. Check the last line - there's an unexpected Vum.

Vårvindar
If you haven't got the latest version of this make sure you get one. Pre-2007 is not good enough.

Good warm mp in Bar5.
Pauses in Bars8 & 12 - LOOK AT OLLIE.
forran=F*U*RR*E*N
friska - long i but still not an eee sound.
Remember it's a dotted rhythm and not triplets!
Bars 5,6,7 cresc thru bar and back down for next bar; bar 8 dim thru bar - like breezes!
Men in Bars 13&15 - strong emphasis on KLAP-pa
ATB Bar9 cresc Bar10 dim
Pay attention to the dynamics on pages 2 & 3, or we may have to do silly exaggerated ones in public...

Miks ei mulle... (feat. Amazing Grace)
GAELIC T!!!!!!!
We need to make the D and A at the beginning sound nice. So don't get lazy.
Joeda is one word, please don't breathe in the middle of it.
verse1: ppp except Susan
verse4: rastamunest then rastaSvihu. no S in middle of first word.
Try to roll the r in Parrrrrrrrdsimunest
Did I mention the Gaelic T?

Hide & Seek
Bar2 - not too fast with the staccato. it's brief but not a jolt.
rhythms to watch:
Crop circles...
Busy streets...

Mihi autem nimis
Tenors watch bar 36 onwards

Sleep
Quieter breaths please. We shouldn't need to be gasping so much now we know it better.

Errr... That seems to be about it!
Whithorn probably 22 September.
Biggar probably 28th October 7pm.

I think that few notes means we were just very good and didn't need much telling. And of course I try not to relate all of Ollie's exam stories etc...

WARM UP

Among other things, Thomas taught us a very lovely new Springtime round.

VARVINDAR

Peter gave the pronunciation.
Dynamics - as written
Breathing - AT&B end of bar 2, end of bar 4, end of bar 6, end of bar 8, end of bar 10.
- Sops - end of bar 8, end of bar 12
- Bars 13-14 one breath, 15-16 one breath, 17-20 one breath
Rhythm - make sure the dotted rhythm is crisp and not at all lazy (think of the semiquaver as belonging to the next note).
Beginning - this should be whispy at the very start, building a little in bars 3 and 4.
Melody - this was lovely and bouncy. Sing thoughtfully, using slight cresc. and dim.where appropriate to add interest to the phrase (e.g. bars 5 to 7, and 17 to 20).
Structure - We sing this all the way through, then page 2 again, and then page 1 again.

WHISTLE

Generally good, we just need to make sure the underneath part sounds secure

MIHI AUTEM NIMIS ("who feels the most scared?")
[see the comment - link below this posting]

Phrases - should be smooth
Principatus - whenever you have this motif , please bring it out.
Beginning - Basses could be a bit more gutsy at the start, but don't attack the beginning of the note.
Vowels - should be 'forward', unlike the more folky songs we sing.
R's - should be rolled.
Bar 23 - the music gets a bit darker here, try and make a quieter, more intimate sound.
Sway - to feel the beat through the music, BUT NOT DURING A PERFORMANCE.
Tactus - Ollie explained that, in the 16th C, the suspension and resolution in a piece indicated where the bar lines were.
Keeping in time - try singing other the other parts (in your head) to help you come in at the right place (e.g. in bar 22, sops could sing the alto part to themselves).

OPTIMISTS' SONG

Good (something about funerals and fancy dress)

AURORA

Phrases - smooth
Latin - should be 'English' latin
Plain chant - notes which are linked together by a phrase line will go a little quicker than others.
- on the last C of plain chant section, Ollie will beat three, and then we come in (at bar 1)

MIKS EI MULLE TULNUD

Bar 19 - Alto Claire will sing bottom part
Ailii - make a good "aye-eee" sound if you have this as a solo, duet or trio (congrats to sop Claire who won)
R's - roll them
Bar 37 - mf, then cresc in bar 39 through to end
Jo - pronounced 'Yor', not 'Yo'

NOTICES

Whithorn - looks like we will go one of the last two weekends in September (22nd or 29th).

Czech visit - they will be coming three nights, Wed - Sat. Anne and Wexlers kindly offered to host communal meals. Anne is willing to prepare food for one of these meals, at about £1 per head.
There will need to be a 'logistics' sub-committee to help organise bus timetables and tickets, ideas for daytime activities for guests etc - let Anne if you'd be interested in helping with this.

Treasurer's assistant - two people have nominated themselves - thank you - probably be decided at AGM

Gift Aid - it has been confirmed that we can gift aid our subscriptions. If you pay tax, please pick up, and complete, a form from Anne.

Solos - Ollie explained that some of the solos in the 'old' pieces have been swapped around - this is to try new things out and add variety. If you used to do a solo but don't anymore, Ollie emphasised that this is NOT AT ALL because you are 'poo' and said that if there are particular solos you are keen to keep hold of of, to let him know.

18th April - this rehearsal will be at Priestfield

May 6th - brill Estonian choir performing in Queen's Hall- Anne has details.

Ollie handed out CDs of Mihi Autem Nimis which Chris has prepared - it has the whole piece and then the various parts. If you wanted one but didn't get one, please see Ollie or Chris.

Started off with Miks ei mulle tulnud.
There will be one 4/4 bar of drone at the beginning, before Susan comes in.
Pronunciation - Ollie has heard actual Estonians singing this and they do a very quick vowel change on the 'ai' of 'ai-li', so the long note should be more on the 'i' part of the diphthong, rather than on the 'a' sound as we've tended to sing, if that makes sense. Attack the sound!
Generally there should be a hard, attacking sound throughout; hard consonants apart from Gaelic 't'; please roll all 'r' s, even in middles of words e.g. 'pardsi'.
Soloists sing out! Accompanying parts don't drown them out, especially in Susan's verse, and sops remember in verse 7 it's the altos who have the tune so sops should take it down a notch (their words not mine).

Aurora rutilat
Bar 8 - this should be forte, and remember the 6/8 rhythm. Descant shouldn't be too loud here.
It's very difficult to keep pitch when singing in unison so watch the pitch during the plainchant! It's ok to break between Columba and venerabilis at end of plainchant, but NOT in the middle of the word venerabilis.
Bar 30 - legato sound is 'beautiful' but don't forget the dynamics!
Should be up to mf in bar 36 and f by bar 37.
Timing - watch Ollie! It's faster than before. Don't wait too long to come in at bar 22.

New song - Hide and Seek.
Copies (in various sizes of print!) available next week. This is A Popular Song!! It's a bit scary (even Ollie admitted he was a bit scared of it) so we just looked a bit at some of the rhythms, which are syncopated and quite tricky, to get a general feel for how it might sound eventually. Chris has found a recording of the song - see his email for link.
Where parts split, do same split as in 'Sleep'.

Vårvindar friska (Swedish)
New to most people. Note to 'oldies' - if you have a copy, it may not be the definitive version so there will be new copies for all (is that right, Susan?). We had a brief whizz through the pronunciation but didn't do it properly as not everyone had a copy to write it on, so there'll be another chance. Failing this, just sing the Ikea catalogue as it sounds pretty much the same! Seriously, if you want to hear how it sounds there is a recording of it on Citrus & Honey I think.
Went through it a couple of times. If you think you know it, you may well be in for a shock, as it's a surprisingly long time since we last did it, and it was a lot more complicated than I remembered! Watch bar 32 where sops & altos cross over (in fact the altos sing the sop tune two bars after them, for this line only). Breezy sound; intro bars (underneath parts) whispery; start p, then all up to mf in bar 13. Each bar should have a little crescendo through it (< >). Full dynamics next time when we've all got copies.

Once Through section

Dle dle
Very good - even the bass entry!! There was a slight hiatus at one point where the women waited one bar too long to come in, but we'd probably have got away with it in a concert, eh Ollie?

Island Spinning Song
With surprise solos!
Altos split in bar 3.

Sleep
All I've written down here is 'Very good'!!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE RE CZECH VISIT
Due to some mix-up their end, the Czechs will now be coming for THREE nights - Wed, Thurs & Fri, NOT Fri & Sat as planned. This means another night of accommodating and feeding them, on a weeknight, and we're not sure yet of the implications for the concert or the party at John & Susan's, as it's tricky for them to host an event like that on a work night. If the extra night is going to be a problem for anyone, please could you let Anne know IMMEDIATELY. Anne - as an aside to this, it occurred to me that when we all told you how many Czechs we could accommodate, many of us added the proviso that we could only take twos if they didn't mind sharing double beds. I just wondered whether you had checked (pardon the pun!) with them that this is ok? Chris seemed to think their choir was comprised of a large number of couples, but it might just be worth warning them that they might have to get up close & personal with other choir members, especially as it's for 3 nights now!

WHITHORN SEPTEMBER WEEKENDS
Just noticed somewhere that someone was supposed to get everyone's availability for these, but I'm afraid it got forgotten in view of discussion about the above. So, please could you also let Anne know which weekends you are/are not available in September to go to Whithorn - would be away overnight Saturday. (I would probably need to avoid the first weekend in Sept but otherwise we have no plans).

Nothing else to report. It wasn't even anyone's birthday! See you all next week,

Mirren

Elaine did warm up with fancy operatic arpeggios. Apologies, Tom was not on warm up Chris was, but as he was ill and incapable he couldn't have done it anyway. He's doing next week and Mirren's on notes.

Make sure you pick up new song DEPAIRTE DEPAIRTE next week

TOP TIPS -

• if you've sung a song by memory and are looking at music to refresh, look at it with the intention you'll be doing it by heart again.
• when singing by memory, if you get stuck make a note of it and look at the music to check and relearn
• prepare to sing vowels during the rests
• stand properly it helps the tuning

Whistle Daughter (west country style!)
OOOOO not HMMMM on underneath chords
Give Anna-Lauren a nice chord to start on
Tenors watch the minor third (bar 30ish?)
Tenors stay on the A in bar 38
pp and build up to ff - /oh she'd rather - /melodramatic cresc.
Watch dynamics generally
Don't drown solos out but get the notes firm and right
Bar 21 and 60 - Chris is doing tenor line
Well done

Flow Flow my Tears
Give more structure and phrasing to what you're singing
Sing out when you have tune and softly in A and B sectons
Stand up nicely, it will help the tuning
Watch those intervals, especially when small steps down
Get up to that C in section B
Think of the note 'a' before you start singing.

Estrella
Rhythm. Isn't complicated at all.
1st time through -
Shaker 1 (Claire 1) gives a two bar introduction and plays the first bar
Shaker 2 ( Rachael) plays the second bar
Shaker 1 plays the third bar
(this is called alternate bars. Or playing alternately. Some people were pulling puzzled faces but the shakers knew what I meant)
Shakers 1&2 stop playing at bar 9
Drum (Sebastian) plays from bar 9 to bar 15 and stops
Shakers 1&2 play together (that's not alternately) from bar 15 to the end
2nd time through
Guiro (Anna-Lauren) hits the frog hard on the first beat of bar 1
She plays HIT SCRAPE SCRAPE HIT HIT SCRAPE SCRAPE HIT
she stops playing at the end of bar 21
Drum starts playing at bar 9 and stops playing at end of bar 21
Shakers 1 and 2 start playing together at bar 15
Shaker 2 STOPS at end of bar 21
Bar 22 Shaker 1 plays - I want a -(technically semiquaver, quaver, semiquaver)
All percussion off with the singers for that rest in bar 22
Bar 23 Shaker 1 - I want a mango (semi-q,q,semiq, q,q)
Shaker 2 ; Give me that now (3 quavers and a shake)
Guiro; Hit, scrape, Hit
Drum; roll building up to a huge final BANG

DEPAIRTE
Altos are singing an octave down form what is written
Watch the phrasing. Even when not singing words
Roll the 'r's
Round sound and get same vowel sounds as everyone else
Pronounciation is basically as written. Did verse 1 as follows:
day-pairte, day-pairte, alas, I must day-pairte,
from her.....indeed...remeed...pains (not pan's), deed, more and sore.
Sound as one voice with your part

IF YE LOVE ME
Prepare vowel sounds before you sing them
Think of same things as in Depairte and Ave Maris
Make a rich sound for EEE
Blend with each other
get same vowel sounds
Round 'A' like a Yorkshire 'a' rather than Lancashire 'a' (but then this turned into it depends which bit of Yorkshire you're from discussion)
Make 'O' sounds like a cat's bottom. (This gave Sebastian a chance to have a closer look at Rufus!!)
Dynamics
begin pp and warm through to p in bar 1. Stay p to bar 13
Tenors, use a head voice NOT falsetto for the F.
Make a nice tone whatever dynamic is needed.
Bar 13 is a gentle mf, not shouty
Bar 37 dimin. to end
Sing Sprit not Spirit
Well done, nice blended sound coming out

THE REASON FOR SINGING STUFF THROUGH JUST ONCE AT THE END OF A REHEARSAL is because we don't get a chance to sing it through three times in front of an audience, so it has to sound right first time. So we need to practise that.

Ave Maris
Basses make sure you get that Filius entry.
Generally the sound was nice though out of tune - to be looked at

Dle
Basses MUST come in with that Dle entry. It will scare Ollie because if you don't come in the rest of the choir pull silly faces at you, which doesn't look very good

AOB The Norwegian night is on Sunday the 27th May.