Rudsamblog

Ollie pointed out we've got a real problem with attendance. With significant numbers of different people being absent at different rehearsals it becomes difficult to build up something musically coherent, so we're shooting ourselves in the foot basically. Having said that I will be away at a summer school the next two rehearsals, for which I apologize. All I can say is I think it's difficult for people to avoid the occasional professional commitment that requires travel out of town.

Short notes this week, as we mostly notebashed some new things.

First, "Margot Labourez les Vignes", a folky early French piece. We learned this by ear due to a shortage of copies. The pronunciation is early French, which apparently means the 'r' is rolled more with the tongue than in the back of the mouth.
"Trois" sounds like "tres", and the 'e' in 'ren' sounds I think like, well, like you would expect it to sound in English.

The idea for this piece will be to sing it in quartets, which should be by heart. We want to start doing this next week, so please for next week, learn the tune and first verse lyrics to Margot Labourez ... by heart.

*Chris has put the sheet music up on the skydrive:
http://cid-2ddf56b8fdf7c0b5.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/Music/Autumn%2009
There is also an mp3 recording of it on the skydrive.

Secondly, Bettinis' "Dormi Jesu", which we sightsang all the way through. There's a recording of this on the skydrive as well.

If you have them, bring Dormi Jesu, Holy Thursday, This Marriage and the Komitas (the recent one, single page, lyrics in a script that looks like a cross between Cyrillic and Tamil marked as 'Grave, religioso').