Friday, June 06, 2008
Claire 2's notes, 4th June
Small Group:
- Geograph - remember we'll have to do it in a one-er for recording. Ha-di-ha. Can't remember much more due to blind panic but watch yo-ko--ha....mas and don't forget the ma is staccato. Dynamics. A word I feel will make many an appearance in this missive.
- When I Fall in Love - Ahhh - it was lovely, Claire. And well done Sebastian, our new soloist. Dynamics. Get the doo-loos accurate. Listen and count (note to self. There may be lots of these, too).
Susan sang from behind the kitchen door as she had 'the lurgy'. There were some intermittent yowls from that direction. Was this a cat or....
Ollie had a rotten week last week. (That's what comes of missing choir practise so be warned...)
To make up for it he pinched Alison's warm-up spot. We shook a leg, played at mirror-ing and then did nursery-rhyme rounds. After that we sang ar-ay-ar-ee air. And then sang Ave Maris Stella (only connect) obeying Ollie's signals to stand on one leg. Very silly but illustrated how much attention should be paid to him while we're singing. This is especially required for the Hebrew Love Songs and En Une Seule Fleur but important at all times.
Visur
Keep breath supported throughout to avoid squeaks and dips at the beginning of phrases.
Prepare vowels: At the beginning and after rests at the end of phrases.
Altos: Bar 5/6 sustain sound through the long notes of Mitt, þitt.... ie no rests and all sound ts at the same time.
Tenors: Bar 8 keep your F# high. A brighter vowel on a (not ar) will help.
Underneath parts - soft fs on fogr etc. We don't want to hear them.
At the beginning, altos and tenors should be very quiet /- pp /rather than /p/.
Bar 17- /f/ at Þig eg.. (breakfast, anyone?) decrescendo slightly through mann-a mest and then crescendo through maedd af tara to /f/ again at bar 20 - flodi.
sest bar 22 - come off clearly and together.
KEEP BREATH SUPPORTED.
Stray Cat Strut
'A' given.
Men went off to work on bars 31-40. I hope you know what you did cos I don't.
This is fun to perform but remember, on the CD contrasts will be important. Check the dynamics.
Bar 27 - women keep /mp/. The oo should be much quieter than the men's words. Sha-la-la can be louder. Look up more. Ollie will hush us when necessary.
Men - be a little quieter on I don't bother chasing mice.... you are laid back, couldn't give a monkey's kind of cool cats.
(There's something here about ba-boom ta chah and 2nd wah but I don't know what....please help if you can).
Bar 46 - Strict rhythm. Wah comes on the beat - don't be early.
Ist Hebrew Love Song (Girlies - this is for us...)
Sopranos are - apparently - "allowed to duck out of an A".....Oliver Singleton June 4th 2008. May I suggest - unimportant and ignorant as I am - that you don't all do it at once? Perhaps you could arrange a lottery.
Be prepared to speed up after the first 2 quavers - WATCH OLLIE.
Altos - last bar, don't go to Bb, it's a B.
Watch dynamics. Note /mp/s.
Kala Kalla
Bar 50 - I shall tell you what I have written down. You tell me if you can make head or tail of it. I can't. I do apologise:
'Come in' (well, it does help) o hee lee la Ist la la after men. Speed difficult - 2 beats before LOOK UP during fermata will give speed for following bars 2/4 don't be put off.'
Hmmm. That's your lot.
La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire
Ollie was being experimental. Which resulted in quartets. So,
Verse 1: Kay, Jenny, Robin, John. Alison to sing Kay's part in Czech Republic.
Verse 2: Susan, Rachael, Chris, Sebastian.
No speed change for verses. Go like the blazes all the way through.
Don't slow down at all, ever. Learn words.
Keep very /p/ at the beginning. /ppp/ in fact. We are gossipping.
Let's go for it. (For an example of excellence at this - watch Arno. Brilliant. But I don't think you should tell him any of your secrets.)
So. Choruses, very quiet. Quartets, sing out. Contrast. "Much more interesting" says Mr Oliver Singleton.
Tormis
7, 8, 3, 10
'G' given.
no. 8 - There is always some hesitancy and confusion before the humming. Sort it.
Bar 6 - turn it into a dotted minim. Have a crotchet rest.
Anne says she got her bit wrong on the recording last time. Oooooh.
She promises not to do it again.
no. 3 - Sopranos started a bit slow. Watch Ollie. He will give you 2 beats for an-dab, an-dab.
The main thing about this one is that some sopranos don't know their words. This was evident on the last recording. Please look at them and learn them properly before the next.
Stray Cat Strut /reprise/
Jenny, you may meeow as loud as you like.
Within reason.
Czech song
A good effort at pronounciation. That's what my notes say. They also say 'aaaaagh'. I know which I think is more accurate. We worked hard on it, anyway. And it's getting easier.
Jenny tells me the men were very enthusiastic. I don't know about that. I wasn't watching.
En Une Seule Fleur
Cb given.
Beware of rits, a tempos and ralls. And rests ie bar 10. This is very important.
Start /p/ and breathy. (You don't get that chance often so make the most of it).
Silent breaths please. ( And in the Tormis).
Nobody was ready for the first rit. 'rit' means LOOK AT OLLIE.
Sopranos - bar 19; you can be much faster. Where it says 'exuberantly' you can race ahead.
Keep supported through mid-section (?!)
Keep runs sharp. (Clear-cut sharp not #-sharp, I would imagine).
Tenors - bar 18; stay on the same note.
Excellentverygood transition from middle section to end. Much applause. A very happy Ollie. HOWEVER - if you practise nothing else this week, practise this. It is hard.
Miscellaneous notage: Recording schedule handed out, plus list of songs for Czech Republic, plus list of all possible songs for recording.
Please have file in alphabetical order for recording and have all possible songs in there.
Recording day will be busy so no chat until breaks. Except for lunch the breaks are short so don't run off too far. Please wear/bring concert dress for photos at 10 o'clock. (The first break will be at 11 o'clock not 10 as written on schedule). Ollie wants the day to be as relaxed as possible but Helen wants us to get on and get things done really well and quickly. Both should be possible if there's no time-wasting and stress-building so let's all be good and quiet and focussed and get brilliant results for the CD.
Czech visit: Formations for concert to come. We will be performing the Hebrew Love Songs (yey!!) No introductions for us to do as they'll be done by them.
Committee meeting Monday 8 o'clock at Wexler's.
National Library of Scotland concert October 8th (Wednesday).
What a marathon. Sorry to go on so. Hope all is OK. Please send corrections or clarifications but no complaints.
Byeee
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Jenny's notes - 28th May
Sebastian warmed up with funny noises and some good technical hints how to breathe quietly
*Need someone for warm up and notes for next week, and the 11th please.
*
NAG 1. THERE ARE ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS BEFORE THE RECORDING. We need EVERYTHING to be polished cos there's a few retakes to be done due to noise and birds singing along. We don't want any faffing around on the Saturday. I'm afraid it means a concentrated effort. There will be breaks for tea, lunch, etc, but inbetween Ollie doesn't want to have to keep shushing folks up and waiting for faffers and whatnot. Someone suggested we take it in turns to be the shusher-up... anyway we all want the recording to be HOT. It might help if we think of it like a concert.
I think it's extra hard because there is no audience to sing to and it's not a rehearsal either, but we can't be faffing about at it.
NAG 2 Can folks let Anne know if they're free for that Carver concert in October, if you've not already done so. There shouldn't be much music to learn for this - assuming it's Scottishy stuff we've done before. It's good prestige for us
a) because it's another type of audience and
b) because it'll be a way of pushing Christmas concerts.
NAG 3 Accomodation in Sušice. Our hosts are finding it difficult to find single beds for people. Alot of their choir do not have spare rooms and are moving out of their own double beds to provide us with somewhere to sleep. Whilst some of you may regard this as an opportunity to shack up with someone in the choir you fancy!!! Others may have to be prepared to sleep on the floor.
NAG 4 On the Friday itinerary, we've a reception with the Mayor. We thought we'd take our Rudsambee t-shirts for this. If it's hot, we might not want to wear sweaty shirts for the concert, especially the men. We'll consult the wardrobe oracle on this matter when it returns from Spain...
NAG 5 Subs still being collected. Give them to you know who.
NAG 6 On the 14th of June, after the recording. CLAIRE II is doing the moon walk. Actually she's doing a half moon (walk). So please support her and give her some pennies before she decides to use the choir subs!!;)
HIDE AND SEEK - did a lot of work on this...
1) IMPORTANT - to LOOK UP and ENGAGE. The point being that the need to reflect the DRAMA, WORDS and MOOD in the piece is essential, not whether we're thinking about vaccing the carpet and washing up.
2) MP is under average loudness.
3) Page 2 - bar 17 - Tenors have the melody. If you can't hear them you are singing too loud. MARK in your music where the melody moves from part to part and if you've not got the melody, shush!
4) SPIN - close quickly onto 'n' and make it buzz (I think that meant give it some life, like it's spinning)
5) Bar 28 - 'With people to stop to hold' - WITH comes on upbeat. And this should be everyone together singing the same rhythm.
6) Page 5 - Bar 38 - Trains and Sewing machines - WORDS. The 'and' isn't important. Sewing is. (which reminds me to sew Josh's cub badges on later...)
7) Page 6 - Bar 56 - Count in quavers - & 1 2 3, 1 2, 1 2 3 - FEEL it.
8) Page 11 - F - Can't muck about with staccato. Don't hang round on 'Ransom'. Different mood. Rhythm more important than words. Consonants important. Want staccato to have a break but don't stab at it. Should still be chrisp even if it's PP
9) Page 11 - F - Sopranos don't squeak. Float on Ransom. It's PP but hard to do. Would rather you P and make a nice noise doing it!
10) Bar 11 - (I think) PP except ALTOS who can do PP +
11) Page 15 - bottom of - P and DIM. ANNA-LAUREN floats away on note when everyone else has stopped singing.
12) Bar 25 - Busy streets - Sopranos are B NOT C
13) Generally - watch dynamics. I suppose that means do them as well!
14) Quiet Breathing - There's plenty of time to breathe so use it to let the air in (as in warm up) rather than gasping in on the upbeat.
(Unfortunately when we tried that, we lost some of the rhythm because some parts were relying on other parts gaspings to know when to come in!! Just have to concentrate harder when breathing quietly!). Elaine suggested practising with a hot potato in one's mouth.
STRAY CAT
1) MEN - ain't - is on the beat
2) Last bar and last line - RHYTHM - Don't bring in Bahs before Wahs. Not syncopated.
3) WOMEN - La la la la - is TUTTI
4) Generally - know where you're going. Have a look at it because you might be getting lapsadaisical about thinking you know it.
LA LA LA J'NE LO
1) Well done says Ollie down the phone. However....
2) French could be better. Especially Verse 2 - Me's il est cocu du - like an 'e' with mouth closed. - TOUT is almost like boot.
Elaine says don't coc it up.
TORMIS No3
1) Altos are NOT coming in with a note in the chord. Nor should they be, but it has to be the right note not in chord!! Be aware!
2) Stagger breathing
3) Count on last page.
TORMIS No10
Good
NB - We'll be doing all the Tormis for the recording so put 'em all in folder
LAURIDSEN O MAGNUM
1) Well remembered.
2) Dropped a lot in pitch. SOPRANOS - go sharp rather than flat. At the breaks - top of 2nd page and page 4 - think higher. You have a breath no one else does. Use it to re-gear and think about getting back to the D. The notes inbetween aren't as important because the Altos have them. Think of phrase
ALL DID VERY WELL. (Thankyou Anne for taking rehearsal)
Jenny's notes, Wednesday 21st May
Started with Hawaiian love songs
IV
After Alison speaks it goes 3, 4, (violin in on 4), pause. Downbeat is 1.
We're competing with the violin and piano. OOOO is a quiet vowel to sing. So belt it out.
V
More crescendo bar 18
Sops a bit louder with entry
'A' at end. Hold it on until violin's faded
Small rit Bar 28 on Ha
I
Take more time over first two notes ladies. Then it speeds up more than expected.
II
During the Fermarta Ollie gives speed of La la la la la la bit.
Men need to be heard so sing a bit louder than mp
III
Put more force behind oo nev nu crescendo
Sops watch 'A' and 'E'. It's tricky. Also the 'A' after 'F#'
KALA
More expression from men
p a bit on li
Generally - Know the bits you're dodgy at and go over them.
OLLIE - REALLY PLEASED, WELL DONE
Ave Maris
BMV - beata maria virginae (or something, it was funny anyway)
Prepare vowel
Phrasing
Dynamits
Pauses
La la la
G given
Two minims given for start
First bit repeated, v. 1, first bit, V. 2, first bit, last page and first bit
Look up for bar 8 and look ahead
Words - LOOK AT 'EM
The Lamb
Tasty
Support long notes ahead
Accidentals well remembered but have a look at it and any bits you might have forgot
Beautiful.
No notices apart from Captain Claire's bogsport.com and SUBS due in to Claire the Conqueror.
