Thursday, October 03, 2019
notes from yesterday's rehearsal
Notes from
rehearsal held on Wednesday 2 October 2019
If
ye love me (Tallis) (in The Oxford Book of Tudor
Anthems, p. 122)
- All - Phrasing e.g. In the phrase 'If ye love me', ye is not important; love is. Or for father or ever, stress is on first syllable and on pitching
- All - Pitching; interval of 4th from 'will' to 'pray in And I will pray needs to be brighter. Tenors: A is too flat on 'And I will' - pitch up. Basses - D on 'love' is flat'
- All - clean ending on 'commandments (Sops Bar 4; others Bar 5) and we are all going flat
- This music is all about imitation; words sometimes fall in unusual places in the bar
- Basses (Bar 14) - don't wait for tenors. 'That he' - shape 'he' and don't be too loud. Round vowel on 'that'. Also (Bar 20), F is too sharp, sing 'sprit' not spirit and watch timing of the word 'of' across the notes (in Bar 22).
- Tenors - E'en the sprit of truth - keep in rhythm and do not hold 'of' so long. Move off 'e'en' as well. After 'truth' the sprit of truth (2nd phrase), pay attention to 5ths and 4ths and the difference between them (Bars 23. 24).. Also ensure you all come in on the same note when singing 'That he' (Bars 13-14)
- All - pronounce 't' on 'that' and basses, enunciate 'th' when singing 'that'
- All - careful of rhythm in Bar 19
Dormi
Jesu (Abbie Betinis)
- Sops - going flat - support notes more, esp on Mater (Bar 7)
- All - Words - sounds like Ma Ter Ri Det - join up words and phrases. Nice 'z' on 'su' of Je-su.. Pronunciation of 'Blandule' All should sing bla as in 'ah' and no breath between plo and rat! Aiming for a thicker texture.
- Basses - not all words should be sung with the same strength. Think of phrasing the words and what you're singing. All - Don't break between Ma and ter. Stress on first syllables of 2 syllable words e.g. mater and plorat
- Basses - don't go too low on E natural of 'Dormi Je-su' on 'Je'.
- All - Tuning is improving; however semitones are too wide apart. We must think more about intervals and how we relate to everyone else's part e.g. Tenors have to think to tune their D in Bar 12 against the Basses E natural and vice versa. Basses - don't creep up and down on the E! Basses are also going flat in Bar 12. Basses and Sops (Bar 26) Sops are slightly flat - pitch up. Basses are slightly sharp.
- Tenors - (Bar 34 onwards) go higher on Bnat and Enat. Don't accentuate the C#, nor scoop up to notes. Place them. Bar 42 - pay attention to the 4th interval
- Sops (Bar 34 onwards) - tendency to go flat esp E and D# (Bar 42)
- All - do cresc in first 3 bars from Bar 34, dim Bar 39, cresc Bar 41
- Altos -(Bar 38) - sing rat like raht. The A# is a little flat. Don't make intervals too wide.
- Sops - (Bar 39) - pitch D# higher; Tenors - take care to pitch notes in this whole section
- Basses - no diphthongs in 'Je-su' (Bars 44-45)
- All - note key signature change (Bar 42) from 4/4 to 5/4, returning to 4/4 in the next Bar (Bar 43)
- Sops - Sing a little stronger on Bar 46, and all to pronounce bla and v of Blan-de, Ve-ni.
- Altos (Bar 49) - D# needs to be higher
- Tenor - (Bar 57) - pitch A# on Dormi Je-su (fifth interval mi to Je) - pitch it high. Only strong note is 'Je' - do not slide.
- Altos, Sops (Bar 50) - sing gently on 'le - more lah/le and not 'lay'
- We practised the last 3 bars. They are pp, with quiet consonants and slower. All to come in together on Bar 54. Watch Derrick.
WE WERE ADVISED
THAT DORMI JESU NEEDS PRACTISING AT HOME!
O
Magnum Mysterium (Poulenc)
- Tuning was bad the first time round on the first 2 pages but improved greatly on our second attempt.
- Tenors - 'et ad' is a major 3rd. Think of Cb as a tone higher than the previous note
- Basses - et admirabile - all minor thirds.
- Sops at 3, page 3: mysterium - pitch C on ri, plus make Db brighter.
- All - 'sacramentum' - pronounce 'men' more like 'mah'
We spent the
last 30 minutes looking at older material we will sing at the October concert.
New members are very welcome to listen.
We will do the following:
We will do the following:
- My Guardian Angel
- Im Wald (possibly)
- Abendfeier
- The Optimist Song
- Dream Angus
- Non Nobis Domine
- Daniel
Daniel
Sops - don't
take a breath after 'Oh'
Basses - don't rush into 'that Hebrew Daniel, and don't take a breath on Servant of the Lord - don't rush tempo
Basses and Altos - Servant of the Lord - don't come off 'of' too quickly and basses, do not go flat at the end of Servant of the Lord on Lord.
All - Watch Derrick at 'Oh the King cried ' - speed up! (according to his tempo)
Tenors - E# and not E nat (Bar 60) and pitch up 'that' on 'that servant of the Lord'
Basses - don't rush into 'that Hebrew Daniel, and don't take a breath on Servant of the Lord - don't rush tempo
Basses and Altos - Servant of the Lord - don't come off 'of' too quickly and basses, do not go flat at the end of Servant of the Lord on Lord.
All - Watch Derrick at 'Oh the King cried ' - speed up! (according to his tempo)
Tenors - E# and not E nat (Bar 60) and pitch up 'that' on 'that servant of the Lord'
Dream
Angus
- Sops - Can ye no hush - bruight maj 3rd on hush
- Tenors - Bars 18,19, 20, 21 - more tenor and nice minor 3rd
- All - more 'sall' instead of harsh e on 'sell'
- Tenors, Altos - Bar 18 onwards: sing more of an open mn than mm; tenors requested to change to 'nn'
- Basses (Bar 18) should come in lighter
- Alto - 2nd alto to leave G longer at the end - don't rush
- More of Jeremy on the Cb of ba-a-by.
- All - Dream Angus - open 'u' on 'gus'
Throughout this
piece we should all remember to always support and not to switch off,
particularly when doing the accompaniment. Think of it as supporting everyone,
not as playing 2nd fiddle - will help.
Abendfeier
- All - no breath between Tuermen and 'halt'
- Sops (Bar 25) - F natural is much higher. Also Eb, E nat is much closer than you think - the descending intervals are too wide.
- Altos (Bar 34) - 'Thron' - note needs to be brighter.
WE WILL SING THE
OTHER SONGS ON THE LIST NEXT WEEK.
Kirsty Butts
3 October 2019.
3 October 2019.
# posted by rudsambass @ 9:51 pm 
