Friday, February 14, 2020
Rudsambee rehearsal notes 12.2.20
Rudsambee rehearsal notes 12.2.20
Present - Derrick, Niki, Klara, Magen, David, Jeremy,
Ewan, Gordon, Charlie, Denise
Blue
Bird
‘Below the hill’, pulses. Pronounce it ‘buh
low thah hill’, emphasis on ‘low’
Basses, bar 7, the F is not as low as you think
Basses, bar 13, option to miss out the F flat on ‘cold’ if you can’t reach
it, come in an octave up on ‘and’
Basses
and sops, beware allowing your neck to tighten
in low notes for Basses, high notes for Sops. Sing it as if its in your
midrange, relaxed neck
All, bar 14, ‘still’ is 2 beats, then a rest
All, bar 15, ‘flew’ is short consonants, esp the ‘fl’
All, bar 19, shorten the ‘blue’ try to get the ‘bl’ out quickly. The
‘oo’ of ‘blue’ is more like the French ‘bleu’
All,
bar 18, ‘palest blue’ is a diminuendo in 3
stages
Basses
and Tenors, bar 27, ‘blue in blue’ the notes
are like the start of ‘3 blind mice’
Sops, with low notes, try to strengthen them – they sound weak
Basses, bar 30, the F is bright and smiley. Don’t over-anticipate the F
flat in bar 32.
All, bar 43, don’t bother with the ‘ll’ in ‘hill’, just do ‘heh’ and let
it drift off
Weelkes
Sops- at the beginning imagine you’re a wave at the beach, make your
entry with ‘when’ less staccato, slower
Basses, your entry is emphatic.
All, imagine you’re in a conversation, a dialogue, talking with others
about what’s happened
All, bar 4, ‘heard’ is a diminuendo, let it tail off
Sops, ‘that Absalon was slain’ – variableemphasis – ebbing, flowing
Sops, bar 15, less emphasis on the ‘ch’ of ‘chamber’
All, bar 24, ’and thus he said’ – a long phrase, blend it together
Basses, bar 25, emphasise ‘said’
Basses, bars 33 and 36, ‘my son’ is grief stricken, not punchy
Tenors bar 32/33 ‘my son’ same as per basses, above
All, at end of ‘Absalon’, drop the ‘n’
At the end, Derrick may do a sniff of a
rit.
Last note a diminuendo, let it dribble off.
Pats on the back all round. Derrick reports
good progress, coming together nicely
GL 14.2.20
Friday, February 07, 2020
notes from 5.2.19
Rudsambee Rehearsal Notes, 5.2.20
When David heard
Know your entry, enter with confidence
Slow music, quick consonants
keep tempo up, don’t falter
‘was’ and ‘slain’ shorten both
Absalom the ‘a’ is ‘ah’, not a sharp ‘a’ as in ‘fat’
‘that’ emphatic, crisp
tenors - bar 21 crisp entry
all - bar 28 the ‘o’ is anguished
basses - bar 31, don’t let the low F go flat
tenors - bar 38 curtail it to ensure entry in bar 39 is on the beat
all - ‘would God’ is the important phrase – ensure entry on the beat, crisp, not
prolonged or will slow it up. imagine you’re a trumpet!
basses - when on sustained notes, beware slowing the tempo
all - same comments in bar 38 pertain in bar 45
basses - bar 48 shorten the ‘God’ so you’re on the beat with ‘I had’
sop 1s - bar 48, the A natural, beware allowing the note to drift downwards due
to the discordant chord
all - bar 50 the ‘0’ pronounced ‘aw’ as in Scots ‘braw’, not as in ‘boat’
Blue Bird
Magen doing the sop solo beautifully
‘The lake lay’ pronounced ‘’thah lay klay’
enjoy - the second phrase from bar 5 – mysterious
basses - bars 20-22 emphasise the step up to C
sops - bar 30 note the B flat
Other plans
Work on rhythms
basses from E, ‘thom tha ka thom tha’ imagine the phrase has a silent ‘ah’ before
the ‘ka’, ie ‘thom tha (ah) ka thom tha’
Whitaker
basses - in Kala kalla, make it melodic, not mournful
GL, 7.2.20
