Rudsamblog

Kay led us through a straightforward and effective warm-up. Then Ollie produced something new (well, only 96 years old) for us to sing:

The spring time of the year (Vaughan Williams)
This is just three pages, without too many hazards and surprises, so a single session of note-bashing was enough to make it singable. We then proceeded to phrasing and dynamics.

• in the springtime of the year - tenors' high F# on the last quaver of year - risks not being sharp enough.
• I overheard a sailor boy - relax from mf as the phrase descends, except for the basses, who should give a strong low A for boy, Like-.
• Likewise a lady fair - observe the written markings, i.e., fairly p apart from a swell and dim in the bass line.
• They sang a song - sudden mf. For sop and bass, this comes on the last beat of a bar, while alto and tenor are still singing, quietly, -dy fair. When alto and tenor go mf for They, on the second beat of the next bar, sop and bass should ease off a bit.
• Proclaimed the lovely spring - sing this as an unbroken phrase. If you need breath, get it between gay and Proclaimed.
• Coda (wordless bit after spring) - timing and keeping the beat seems to be the problem here. Work out which other parts you can use to get cues for your entries.

Jede sedlák
Kay gave the pronunciation. I have no notes about this, because I wasn't there. Since the basses have no actual words to sing, we went off with Anne to work on the final bars of Cloudburst instead. When we came back, though, everybody else was word perfect and sang the whole thing like Iva Bittová. They then allowed us to join in, but could not restrain themselves from singing over our solo. So,

• remember there are two bars silence, if you're not a bass, before you launch into each verse.

Cloudburst
We worked on the end of the piece, from bar 65. It's impossible to take notes while clicking fingers and slapping thighs, so all I can do is to describe how I am trying to remember what to do here.

• bar 58: AnnaLauren's solo al punto de partida.
• bar 59: a 5/4 bar; one beat rest, then we whisper la lluvia...
• bar 60: 4/4, and it's all 4/4 from here on; we fade out our ah while the cymbal and windchimes start up.
• bars 61-64: cymbal and windchimes keep going and the handbells start up.
• bars 65-67: we all start mmm on an A; those who have to hum up a scale begin on the second beat of bar 66, and stick whenever they reach their destination note.
• bar 68: we should all have reached our destination note at least one beat before this; this is the bar where we start to raise our arms and change from mmm through O to ah. Fists closed, arms rising in front.
• bar 69: all singing ah, arms arriving at the vertical, then open hands, palms facing inwards; watch for Ollie's beat because there's a fermata on this bar.
• bar 70: sing mah- simultaneously with a single clap; begin finger-clicking; change mah- into -O- and them -mm; watch Ollie's beat, because there's another fermata.

From here on, I can't deal with the clicking, clapping and slapping. You'll have to fill in your own!

• bars 71-74: random chanting of ojos de agua de sueño, followed by relampagos (tenors), voz alta (altos), hay que cantar (sop2). There are fermatas in bars 72, 73 and 74, so watch Ollie!
• bar 75: this is where the sop1s sing their voz alta and the basses (who are still randomly chanting ojos de agua de sueño) have to arrive on agua synchronously with the sop2's cantar. Another fermata before we move on to ...
  
• bar 76: maximum clapping, clicking, slapping; tenors and basses silent while altos and sopranos sing (ff) mah.
• bars 77, 78: tenors and basses join in with a ff mah; then everybody does another mah.., f this time.
• bar 79: ...ah-O-mm, fading down, and everybody moves onto clicking fingers instead of slapping or clapping.
• bars 80-84: this is the "storm fading away" coda. Not too many notes, and you'll have to do your own counting. There are fermatas in almost every bar, so watch Ollie, particularly for the up-beats.

Notices:

• Remember the AGM next Wednesday (6th May)
• Cloudburst concert: what else are we going to sing? Ollie will send us the programme soon. It's likely to include the Five Hebrew Love Songs.
• York concert: please send any outstanding travel receipts to Anne straight away. And Ollie will give us a programme for this concert too - soon.

I was making coffee, so I didn't hear the notices. If there's anything that needs to be added, Anne will no doubt e-mail it to us.