Rudsamblog

I certainly drew the short straw last night - well, here goes!
We started off with AnnaLauren's warm-up, complete with close-contact-Irish Blessing, which will no doubt be reported on in full detail in the blog so I'll concentrate on what came next, which was -

CLOUDBURST

Tonight Ollie took us through the clicky-clappy-slappy bits starting on page 10 and going as far as page 13.

first PERCUSSION:

BAR 69 : all raise arms slowly (fists clenched) to finish above head by end of bar

BAR 70: on downbeat, loud CLAP - then lower hands slowly, clicking fingers, through bars 70 and 71. Clicking should be slow to start with - think big drops of rain with slappy sounds - don't be afraid of silences between clicks - keep an eye on what others are doing.

BAR 72: S, A & T carry on clicking - crescendo a little.
Baritones (Basses) start to slap their thighs randomly.

BAR 73: S1, A1, T1 start slapping their thighs too - the rest are still clicking.

BAR 74: 8 people start clapping randomly (Anne, Kay, Arno, Angus, Chris, Claire2, Susan and Robin)
Everyone else continues with what they were doing. Clapping should be fairly quiet and not too fast.
It's important that clicking should be held back - don't speed up.

BAR 75: all crescendo through the fermata, increasing speed of clicking/slapping/clapping then...

BARS 76-78: make lots of NOISE!
Clicking should be faster and as loud as you like.
However, clapping and slapping should be faster rather than louder or you may drown the voices.

BAR 79: EVERYONE now clicking - no more slapping or clapping.

Now back to p10 for VOCAL instructions:

sing as written up to fermata end of BAR 70 when there's a slow transition to chanting

Ollie will NOT beat BAR 71 - he will give an upbeat before BAR 72.

BAR 72: Tenor melody - once in time through bar 72

• (S, A and B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
• long fermata then upbeat into

BAR 73: Alto melody - once in time through bar 73

• Tenors chant their melody at random
• (S and B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
• long fermata then upbeat into

BAR 74: Soprano melody - in time (Claire1 sing Sop2 on bar 74)

• Altos chant their melody at random
• Tenors continue chanting
• (B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
• final fermata at end of p11 then

BAR 75: notes as written - no chanting - cresc through bar to very loud in BAR 76

BAR 77 T&B use chest voice

PLEASE WRITE ALL YOUR INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR PART - I suggest you do it in pencil in case I've got any of it wrong!

DEBUSSY:
Have a look at this between now and next week.
Think tuning - precision.

KANARBIK:
Bar 9: from "koik" count in triplets to keep timing exact
Men: come in clearly at "ainult"

Sops and altos - well supported, quiet, don't scoop, mustn't be breathy
Be careful with pitch of C on "nur" in bar 10.

Men: ditto. You must come in together - feel the tempo

ON HILISUUVI (without music):
All come in together and on the right notes! Watch the balance.
Ja seda suve - women come down a bit
Very impressive cow impression from lower registers beginning of bar 16 but not quite what was intended.

NOTICES:
remember Sat 21 Feb is extra rehearsal day at Priestfield.
6th May : AGM
28th May : next committee meeting chez Wexler

Next big marketing push must be for Cloudburst. Suggestion is to have a collection rather than sell tickets and get someone to say a little bit about the Bosnia Project as a bottling speech. Please talk to Chris about marketing.

Jenny is organising a social evening in March. A Musical Evening has been suggested - if you've got other ideas let's have them! The usual sheet with dates etc will appear soon.

And last but not least we sang Happy 90th Birthday to Robin (30) and Elaine (60) and presented them with their Birthday Books.