Friday, March 29, 2019
Weds 27th March
We sang through all the 'new' pieces suggested to fill up the concert programme. Decided against I'll Tell Me Ma. Anyone who really wants to sing it should speak up now.
Dream Angus
Sang through this a couple of times. It is not difficult but some of the harmonies need to be looked at.
Homework!
The Optimist's Song
The rhythms are a bit tricky at first sight but pretty consistent through the piece. Worth having a look at to fit the words in. John pointed out that it is important to remember the piece is not in 9/8. The last beat of the bar is a crotchet and not dotted.
Cloths of Heaven
Last time we sang this we hummed through once before singing. It is very short indeed and needs something extra. Hum the first 8 bars and then open out to an 'ah' until the end. There was some discussion as to breathing and removing some of the breath marks as we did before but Derrick will probably have his own ideas about this so...
Diction is very important. The words are lovely, don't lose them.
Sopranos, watch your last note; it has a tendency to go flat.
Daniel Servant of the Lord
Sang through twice. Do have a look at this at home as it is worth doing if we can. The solo tenor and bass parts will need to be strong.
On the Underground
We sang through Dreams but it was rather ghastly. Need to decide whether we are going to work on it or not.
Piranhas went better. It fell apart at bar 65 the first time around but was better on the second sing.
Dynamics need work as does diction. Enjoy the words. Spit them out, particularly things like 'piranha fish' bars 11-12, 'agitated' bar 28 and 'shoogling' bar 30.
Watch for changes in time signature eg bar 4 and 20. There are quite a few and it would be worth circling them.
Abendfeier
Need to look at the notes. Altos, thé B natural in bar 11 is tricky and the jump up to the A, first note of bar 36 caused some problems.
The first notes of bar 34 form an A major chord. Listen.
Have a look at bar 43/44. It wasn't right!
A bit of work improved things over all but keep working on it at home.
Gondoliera
We sang it through but then concentrated on page 3 as it is slightly easier (!) and we thought we might at least get that right. Not sure we succeeded so needs work.
Generally, everything would benefit from individual efforts before the next rehearsal. Nothing was a complete disaster but...!
For next week:
Piranhas
The 2 Schumann pieces
Se del tuo corpo
Daniel
We will go over the words for Oro for those who haven't sung it.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Notes from 20.3.19
We had a productive evening, focusing on:
Ave Regina Coelorum
We worked on entries, ensemble, and individual parts. In general, keep it light and count. It may help to write in the half-bars. Note that some entries are on the downbeat and others are not. Specific points: alto and tenor in the first bar, aim for the second beat ('ave'). Soprano bar 8, note that the rhythm is different than that of the other parts. Soprano and alto, p. 2 end of first system, don't lose time here - keep going in tempo.
Non nobis Domine
Again, we worked on overall ensemble and individual parts where necessary. Main points: tenors and basses, keep the rhythm firm and steady throughout - this is the foundation and it needs to be secure. Specific points: dynamics! (piano from bottom of p. 4 and most of p. 5). Also, note pronunciation of 'nomini'.
Gondoliera (new piece by Clara Schumann)
We listened to this, and sang it through. We should go away and look at this individually (see link sent out previously). Page 2 in particular needs attention, because of all the key changes.
Se del tuo corpo etc
This was more secure than last week, and we tried it faster, in minims. Eventually it should be one in a bar. We worked especially on pp. 5-7. Watch out for syncopated entries.
Abendfeier in Venedig (Clara Schumann)
We listened, and sung this through. Spent time on looking at tricky individual parts, especially on pp. 2-3 (see previous link for recording).
Oró 's é do bheatha 'bhaile
We sung this through once.
Susan passed out music for us to look at (this is the plan for next week's rehearsal):
On the underground
Dream Angus
Daniel, servant of the Lord
Optimists' song
I'll tell me ma
Cloths of Heaven
My Guardian Angel
Minnie O'Shirva
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday 13 March 2019
We had an almost full turn-out! However, Derrick couldn't be with us,
which made us think seriously about how we are going to manage through
the next few months. We had a brief discussion before we started
singing, and decided -
* We'll get the rehearsal notes system going again. For each rehearsal,
we'll need a volunteer to take notes and circulate them. Technical
details at the end of this e-mail.
* We need to choose some more repertoire to fill out our scheduled
concerts. Susan has already sent an e-mail about this.
Then we got down to singing.
1. Non nobis, Domine (Rosephanye Powell, pronounced ro-SEH-fuh-nee
according to Wikipedia). This is new to us. If you weren't there, you
can get a copy from Susan at our next rehearsal. We spent a while on
this, sight-reading and notebashing, and we got reasonably familiar with
it. Challenges: speed; rhythm; repeats; key changes; dynamics.
* It needs to go pretty fast, with a forceful pulse. In those few places
where we get a held note or a rest, there's a risk of dragging (while
the other parts crack on) or losing count and missing the next entry.
* It's all written in 3/4, but the tenors and basses spend most of their
time singing what are effectively alternate 6/8 and 3/4 bars. At full
speed, this can simplify itself into something that sounds very snappy,
and may for all I know be more stylish than what's actually written. The
important thing is to keep the pace steady for the sake of the Sops and
Altos.
* Repeats: bars 17-24; 25-56; 101-108. We need to be ready for these!
* Keys: G min, G maj at bar 59, A maj at 71, A min at 85. These are the
places where you need some way to find your note!
* Dynamics: what can I say?
2. Se del tuo corpo hoggi la stampa horrenda. We spent some time making
false starts, failing to agree on speed or even whether we were counting
2 or 4 in the bar. However, once we got it going, we managed to run it
from beginning to end. If we lost our place now and then, we managed to
recover it quite quickly. This needs a lot more work, but it isn't going
to present big problems.
3. Envoi. This was a run-through, to keep it in recent memory. It held
together pretty well, but too often one part or another will slow down
or speed up and lose contact with the rest of us. It's encouraging that
we can get back together, but this isn't fit for performance yet!
4. Im Wald. A run-through. It's beginning to sound good, and it'll sound
better in a bigger space.
5. Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen. A run-through, because we haven't
visited this for a while. In particular, we sang the words of the second
verse, which felt like a new experience.
6. Through the house give glimmering light. Sops and Altos only. All I
can say is that it sounds good.
Then we celebrated Claire's birthday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
How the rehearsal notes work:
Each week, somebody volunteers to take and distribute notes.
After the rehearsal, they type up the notes as an e-mail. All plain
text. No fancy formatting. No MS Word documents, PDF, attachments, HTML
or other tricky stuff.
They send the e-mail to rehearsalnotes@rudsambee.org.uk
We all (including Derrick) get the e-mail.
It's also copied into Rudsambee's private blog at
https://rudsamblog.blogspot.com/
If you follow that link, you can see all the rehearsal notes back to,
well, a LONG time ago. If you miss a rehearsal and you want to catch up,
that's the place to look.
which made us think seriously about how we are going to manage through
the next few months. We had a brief discussion before we started
singing, and decided -
* We'll get the rehearsal notes system going again. For each rehearsal,
we'll need a volunteer to take notes and circulate them. Technical
details at the end of this e-mail.
* We need to choose some more repertoire to fill out our scheduled
concerts. Susan has already sent an e-mail about this.
Then we got down to singing.
1. Non nobis, Domine (Rosephanye Powell, pronounced ro-SEH-fuh-nee
according to Wikipedia). This is new to us. If you weren't there, you
can get a copy from Susan at our next rehearsal. We spent a while on
this, sight-reading and notebashing, and we got reasonably familiar with
it. Challenges: speed; rhythm; repeats; key changes; dynamics.
* It needs to go pretty fast, with a forceful pulse. In those few places
where we get a held note or a rest, there's a risk of dragging (while
the other parts crack on) or losing count and missing the next entry.
* It's all written in 3/4, but the tenors and basses spend most of their
time singing what are effectively alternate 6/8 and 3/4 bars. At full
speed, this can simplify itself into something that sounds very snappy,
and may for all I know be more stylish than what's actually written. The
important thing is to keep the pace steady for the sake of the Sops and
Altos.
* Repeats: bars 17-24; 25-56; 101-108. We need to be ready for these!
* Keys: G min, G maj at bar 59, A maj at 71, A min at 85. These are the
places where you need some way to find your note!
* Dynamics: what can I say?
2. Se del tuo corpo hoggi la stampa horrenda. We spent some time making
false starts, failing to agree on speed or even whether we were counting
2 or 4 in the bar. However, once we got it going, we managed to run it
from beginning to end. If we lost our place now and then, we managed to
recover it quite quickly. This needs a lot more work, but it isn't going
to present big problems.
3. Envoi. This was a run-through, to keep it in recent memory. It held
together pretty well, but too often one part or another will slow down
or speed up and lose contact with the rest of us. It's encouraging that
we can get back together, but this isn't fit for performance yet!
4. Im Wald. A run-through. It's beginning to sound good, and it'll sound
better in a bigger space.
5. Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen. A run-through, because we haven't
visited this for a while. In particular, we sang the words of the second
verse, which felt like a new experience.
6. Through the house give glimmering light. Sops and Altos only. All I
can say is that it sounds good.
Then we celebrated Claire's birthday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
How the rehearsal notes work:
Each week, somebody volunteers to take and distribute notes.
After the rehearsal, they type up the notes as an e-mail. All plain
text. No fancy formatting. No MS Word documents, PDF, attachments, HTML
or other tricky stuff.
They send the e-mail to rehearsalnotes@rudsambee.org.uk
We all (including Derrick) get the e-mail.
It's also copied into Rudsambee's private blog at
https://rudsamblog.blogspot.com/
If you follow that link, you can see all the rehearsal notes back to,
well, a LONG time ago. If you miss a rehearsal and you want to catch up,
that's the place to look.
Repertoire 2019
Following the discussion last night about repertoire for 2019, here's
where we are at the moment:
CURRENTLY WORKING ON (and we should all have copies of):
Ave Regina Caelorum – Isabella Leonarda
Envoi – Abbie Betinis
Im Wald – Fanny Hensel
Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen – Fanny Hensel
Non nobis Domine – Rosephanye Powell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zK8Yw3rE-Q
Se del tuo corpo hoggi la stampa horrenda – Vittoria Aleotti
Songs of Sorrow – Sheena Phillips
Through the house give glimmering light – Amy Beach (women only)
IN THE PIPELINE
I'm still trying to get hold of Lumen – Abbie Betinis (women only)
Derrick said he had found a couple of pieces by Clara Schumann –
I'm emailing him separately about these.
FROM PREVIOUS REPERTOIRE:
Óró, 's é do bheatha 'bhaile – Deirdre Moynihan
Subway Piranhas – Thea Musgrave (and the rest of the On the
Underground set?)
My Guardian Angel – Judith Weir
Something by Frances Cockburn – e.g. Minnie O'Shirva, Cloths of Heaven
Dream Angus - Sheena Phillips
NEW SUGGESTIONS:
Daniel, Daniel, servant of the Lord – Undine S Moore.
This is the one that we tried once at an audition for MD. It's in 8
parts – are we strong enough at the moment?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEZOTKkkRQ
Looking for a couple of more upbeat pieces, I've found
The Optimist's Song (Dum spiro spero) – Sheena Phillips
I'll tell me ma - Frances Cockburn (a straightforward but
cheerful one!)
Next week, please bring copies of the pieces from previous repertoire if
you have them and let me know if not. I have a full set of On the
Underground to hand out.
Have I left anything out?
Susan
where we are at the moment:
CURRENTLY WORKING ON (and we should all have copies of):
Ave Regina Caelorum – Isabella Leonarda
Envoi – Abbie Betinis
Im Wald – Fanny Hensel
Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen – Fanny Hensel
Non nobis Domine – Rosephanye Powell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zK8Yw3rE-Q
Se del tuo corpo hoggi la stampa horrenda – Vittoria Aleotti
Songs of Sorrow – Sheena Phillips
Through the house give glimmering light – Amy Beach (women only)
IN THE PIPELINE
I'm still trying to get hold of Lumen – Abbie Betinis (women only)
Derrick said he had found a couple of pieces by Clara Schumann –
I'm emailing him separately about these.
FROM PREVIOUS REPERTOIRE:
Óró, 's é do bheatha 'bhaile – Deirdre Moynihan
Subway Piranhas – Thea Musgrave (and the rest of the On the
Underground set?)
My Guardian Angel – Judith Weir
Something by Frances Cockburn – e.g. Minnie O'Shirva, Cloths of Heaven
Dream Angus - Sheena Phillips
NEW SUGGESTIONS:
Daniel, Daniel, servant of the Lord – Undine S Moore.
This is the one that we tried once at an audition for MD. It's in 8
parts – are we strong enough at the moment?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEZOTKkkRQ
Looking for a couple of more upbeat pieces, I've found
The Optimist's Song (Dum spiro spero) – Sheena Phillips
I'll tell me ma - Frances Cockburn (a straightforward but
cheerful one!)
Next week, please bring copies of the pieces from previous repertoire if
you have them and let me know if not. I have a full set of On the
Underground to hand out.
Have I left anything out?
Susan
