Rudsamblog

John's notes, 20th January

Une puce
We now have the full version - three pages.
On the last page, the second system is a four-part alternative to the first system. We're singing the first - five parts - and not singing the second.
We began by singing the first page, first verse, from memory, at all speeds up to prestissimo.
Remember phrasing - legato in the first line, staccato in the second.
Ollie gave us the pronunciation for all verses - old(ish) style. Don't read the words off the page, because they've been edited into modern French spelling, and we don't want the matching pronunciation. We're doing something much more like the version that Chris has found (see his e-mail).

• No gutteral rs. Most rs are a single flip of the tongue. The first r of retire is rolled.
• nuit has a touch more u than our usual nwee, as if it were nuït
• mord is very short, almost mo, with o as in hot
• livrer ends with something like an English air, so it might be livrair rather than livré
• similarly donner=donnair, piquer=piquair
• quand is a bit more like cown or kaoun, depending on how you like to write these things
• vient - the ent is strongly nasal, but more like an English e than the modern French pronunciation which sounds a bit like a. vien(g) is the best that I can offer.
• similarly, bien is more like bien(g) than bian(g).
• mange - nasal, of course, but more like an a then an o. Sing mah-nge, rather than a modern French monge.
• point=pwen(g) using a nasalised English e
• moi=mwé
• voir=vwair
• vieille=vyé-l-ye with an audible l sound followed by y. Something like a Castilian Spanish ll.
• je t'en prie: en sounds more like a nasal a than a nasal o.
• cruauté=cru-o-té
• and finally: hélas=é-lass, not é-larse

Shogher jan
New this week. Since the basses don't sing in this, we did a bit of note-bashing on A boy and a girl. Consequently I have no notes about it. It sounded lovely when we came back to listen.

A boy and a girl
We concentrated on getting everybody to match vowel sounds.

We ended with a run-through of Une Puce, to reinforce our memory, and then of Cheenar Es.

Before the main rehearsal, the small group made a first attempt at My funny valentine
Mostly note-bashing.
Loos need a clear attack, exactly on the note.

Hi, folks, we did quite a lot for the first week.
Rachael has been promoted to Soprano (that's been a long time coming, she's not moaned once about scraping along with the bass-er women!)
BIG welcome back for alto Kay! And a big welcome and hello to our new bass Luke. (I'm not only looking forward to small Rachael and taller-than-Anne- Luke singing a duet together(!!) but also to seeing all the basses wearing their ties on Wednesday(!!)... Maybe if the tenors wore them they'd be able to sing even higher? ....
Anyway, impressed alto switched off and bossy alto switched on for the notes....

UNE PUCE (with guitar)
!!This will be by memory!! Ollie intends short-ish pieces to be performed without music.
PLEASE HAVE THE FIRST VERSE COMMITTED TO MEMORY BY WEDNESDAY!
Pronunciation -

• U - make a cat's bum shape with your mouth and sing 'ee'. Make quite a good glockal attack on it, especially in the first bar.
• R - NOT French rrrr. More of a soft, Scottish way.
• j'ai de-dans - dans needs a GOOD nasal sound.
• me fretill' et me mord - freteeleeay (run it together)
• devenir fou - fou is a normal oo

Dynamics and phrasing

• Start MF
• Look at the piano part in first stanza. Each bar is phrased. The small line under the minim means give it it's full length. The dot on the crotchet means come off it. Like a Waltz, maybe?
• The second stanza is very staccato.

Dramatics

• The first stanza is telling the audience you have a nit in your ear.
• The second stanza tells the audience it is annoying you.
• Sing the second stanza as if it is annoying you.
• Bring out the word mord. It means bites. Make it short. Like you've been bitten

CHEENAR ES - Armenian
!!This will be by memory!!
Helen and Anna-Lauren are singing the solos, and will look at them for Wednesday.Everyone else - At least Listen to it for Wednesday.

Pronunciation

• Ny - as in night. Hold on vowel sound of ni........(.ght )
• gu - as in hut (if you aren't from Yorkshire!)

Dynamics + Phrasing

• Tenors - Don't scoop especially bars 10 - end

A BOY AND A GIRL

C GIVEN
COUNT CROTCHETS
PRACTISE AN OCTAVE DOWN, IT'LL BE EASIER TO DO IT AT PITCH WHEN YOU'VE GOT IT WITHOUT STRAINING YOUR VOICES.

Pronunciation

• Stretched - Get the 'st' out of the way immediately. Go straight onto vowel sound as in 'air' for a nice vowel sound

Dynamics and phrasing

• 1st Stretched out - tail out on 'out'
• Bar 17 - sopranos listen to basses
• Bar 21 - sopranos, the E is the same as in bar 23 (should help you not be confused with F-sharp

Tenors - THINK about jumps and intervals.

(As we split to do the first couple of pages note bashing, I hope the men know what they're doing!)