Rudsamblog

Here is what you've all been eagerly waiting for [no, I'm not really that deludtherin/deluded or whatever they say in Dublin, according to the Star of the County Down!!]

First in case you don't bother to read all the notes, if that's really possible , are the NOTICES.

1. Next week we'll be at Priestfield, 7:45pm for all but small group.
There will be a small group practice at 7:15pm but only for those singing Miserere Nostri, not for those singing Star of the County Down, although we will sing that also in the main rehearsal. Those involved [who did it before] are:
S1 - Helen
S2 - Claire 1 and Susan
T1 - Ollie
T2 - Jenny
T3 - Chris
B1 - John
B2 - Sebastian

2. We will rehearse things for the Portrait Gallery next week but please have a particular look in advance at Crucifixus, O Morgenstern and Lulling [especially altos].

3. Ignore Jenny's earlier note about a rehearsal on March 30, there isn't one [it's a Monday]. So Douglas, you aren't doing the warm-up that day! There is a rehearsal at the Wexlers on 1 April, the day before the concert, and no, this isn't an April Fools' joke!

NOTES

1. Envoi
We practised the bits that were tricky. 2nd sops look over bars 27 to 31, there is no rit in those bars and don't stop for breath, just expire! It may help to think of the groups of three semiquavers as o-o-wa. Keep your semiquavers in time with the 1st sops, and Ollie will give a big downbeat at the beginning of bar 27.
Everyone watch dynamics throughout, and especially the last line, come down from f to pp for the last bar as marked.

2. Green Fir Forest
Bar 10, all count 4 beats and come in together on the last beat.
Sopranos, no more rehearsal time will be spent now on notes or words where you have the melody, so please take a look and learn it.
NEW DYNAMICS:
Page 2 start FF, and decrescendo that line so the 2nd line starts F and also decrescendo to MF by the end of line 2.
Line 3 is FF for 1st sops, F for the rest, all decresc. last 2 bars of that line.
Page 3, line 2, cresc.bar 3 on, and line 4, decresc,from bar 2 to the end of the line.

3. O Morgenstern
A quick sing to remind us of this. Some pronunciation tips from Sebastian.
Bar 2 and the last bar, "stern" in "Morgenstern" is not pronounced as the English word "stern" but "shtare-n" to rhyme roughly with "stare" but with a "sh" at the beginning
Bar 16 and 25 "und" is pronounced as "unt"
Bar 17 "erleuchte", the "leu" is more like "lor-ee", a long "lor" and a quick "ee"
Bar 23 "Finsternis", the last syllable is "niss" as in "miss" not "nees" as in your knobbly "knees"

By the end he did say we almost [OK, he was being kind] sounded German!!

4. Hide and Seek
By this point of the evening we all obviously looked exhausted, ready for bed or needing a cuppa, so Ollie woke us all up with some rhythmic moving of legs, claps, mmmms, grunts etc. Now why is it [says the wife of one] that quite a few men just can't work out that we were all moving onto the right foot to start, then right hand or whatever . Hilarious from the vantage point of the altos, it sure were!! Anyway re-energised as we all were then, Ollie wanted us to be a bit more rhythmic and guttural in Hide and Seek, especially with the mmmms and all the places marked as stressed.
Bar 11 and 12, accent on "cir..." and "in" in the phrase "crop circles in the carpet".
Back to those mms and oos from page 9, hit the note, no scooping [I think he said the ones on page 10 were a bit scooping in some parts?].
Page 11 "oo" is angry [apparently, well that's what I wrote?!] and that phrase bars 94 to 96 is F, with a sudden PP in bar 97.

5. Dieu! Qu'il la fait
I wrote down that he was pleased, it was good......Yes!! Actually I'm sure he said other songs were also good, I just didn't write it down!
The most important message for those who weren't there....get your pencils out... was that he wants the p--p to come out at the very end. We have noted.

The beginning was beautiful, remember to come down from an opening mf on Dieu to a p for the next note.
Bar 6, watch Ollie as he may speed up a bit there.
Bar 11 Sops, tenors and basses keep the minim going for the full 2 beats.
Bar 13/14, ladies come in quietly on Dieu and stay p that phrase
Bar 18 is buoyant but not loud, the dynamics exactly as written.
Bar 20 [and same pronunciation in bar 23], the word written "scay" is "c'est" in modern French, pronounced "se-" as in "se-molina"
Bar 21 no break between "..selle" and "qui" but you can take a very quick breath.
Bar 25 there is a fermata [pause] on "ser" before "Dieu". Last line watch Ollie's speed, it may slow down.
Bar 28 don't forget the pp......................!

6. Star of the County Down [small group rehearsal at 7:15pm]
Sebastian tried to get us to think of this in a more jazz style, more relaxed, lazy tone, NO well-articulated rolled "r" in words like "bride" or "brown". Stress the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar. But that doesn't mean it won't move quite a bit, it is still fast and lively. The "bai a d'n da va da va" .....etc should sound like instruments, don't make a meal of the words, so forget all those lessons on diction!

Men page 9, break after "No pipe I'll smoke" then one phrase with no breath for "no horse I'll yoke tho my plough with rust turn brown".

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OK folks, that's your lot, I'm going for a cuppa and to watch some TV.

Have a good week and see you next week at Priestfield and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!