Rudsamblog

Plenty of singing with the piano - we stayed in the dining-room with the piano.

1. Dance to thy daddy

Ollie will confirm whether we sing this in Geordie style or not. But he did say we should sing "thoo" for "thou" so on that basis we should sing "the" for "thy". "Have " is more "hev". Whether it's "boo-at" for "boat" we'll wait for confirmation. Listen to Alex Glasgow on the link Susan sent 2 weeks ago.

• Ollie gives an F
• exaggerate the dynamics, and note that repeats are often with a change of dynamics [e.g. at section B and J and K it's mf first time, pp second time.
• 3 bars before D, crescendo
• 1 bar before D, come off "can" and "not" quickly . Top 2 parts and Bass 2 hold "stand" for full length, other parts take a breath before next bar's "Dance"
• At D sopranos don't sing 1st 3 bars first time [tacet = shut up in Latin!!], but do sing "to thy mammy sing" twice.
• page 27, mp is quiet but should still have a good tone,not a breathy little girl sound! Tenor and bass parts sing this top line staccato
• At F those singing "la, la" sing it lightly. All except Jenny sing "hope" staccato and mf not f. Jenny's line and basses should sing "fuddling" [ = gibbering, confused, drunk according to both Google and the Northumbrian in the next room, and he should know!] and "fond of ale" as though they meant it!
• At G bass 1 and tenor 2 sing "dance" staccato and in bar 3 Ollie wants an exciting crescendo so there is a hairpin cresc and dim on the "la, la", then cresc in the last bar. NB tenor 2 don't sing a B but a G on the first note of the last bar on that page [28] - I heard you!!
• At H bar 4 is rall, and we come in slower on the "tranquillo" bit. Solo is me [probably cos I DO like a drop especially if I can get it sly]. The pause is where I sing "and" so be ready to sing "thou or thoo" with me.
• At J tenor 2 don't ssssing, come in cleanly on beat 3 of the 1st bar
• Page 31 [ignore it saying page 33, it's the next page with K ], sopranos sing an A where the print got folded.
• Page 32 last bar top line is 4 beats not 3 as in the rest of the piece so mark it and count. Also mark the interesting key change at L from F to Bb and work out how you're going to find it.
• Last 2 words, "comes in" are staccato and quiet.

2. A Boy and a Girl

• Ollie gives a C
• Beware diphthongs [ such as boy and the 1st syllable of si-lence] and always sing on the first "pure" vowel, match what you're singing with others. E.G. "Boy" you sing on "bor" then a quick "i"
• bar 16 top sops not too loud
• basses on this line, enjoy your rich fifths, e.g. on boy and girl
• 2nd sops have a listen before next week to your line from bar 21 to 24
• Bar 32 support "boy" and tenors watch your F# on "girl"
• Bar 35 on, tenors gibe shape to that phrase
• Bar 38 we worked hard on getting a good blend and tuning. Watch the 1st vowel on "si-lence", sing on "sah" with a quick "i"
• basses can overdo the rich 5ths in bar 39 and 41.

3. Shogher Jun, by Komitas - commonly known as "Sugar jam"

I didn't write down much, sing it lightly, watch the dynamics, = p on first page with some hairpins, mf and f on 2nd page with hairpins. We sang the words, just sing how written until our visiting Armenian comes to put us right!

4. Cheenar Es

• Accompanying parts p on 1st page
• Bar 14 dotted rhythm for sops and tenors needs to come through
• Bar 19, top 3 parts mark that you must wait for the basses to do their grace notes [= the twiddle before their long A] before coming in

That was it really. No notices other than Ollie would like a rehearsal in Priestfield soon so watch this spot and I'll email when we have a date.