Rudsamblog

Susan's notes, 25 Jan 2012

2012-01-27T21:13:00.000Z

*NOTES 25 Jan 2012*

*Warm-up : *Jenny.

*Entrée de Ballet 2:*
"No, no, no" should be sung as 3 CROTCHETS, not dotted as written.
Crotchets must be separated and chording accurate, "o" as in not, not note.

*Entrée de Ballet 3:*
Remember dynamics - check Kay's notes from last week.

*Abendlied:*
This was mostly about note-bashing and German pronunciation. This is how
I understood Sebastian's comments – your interpretation may differ!

*Bleib bei uns :* blipe by uns – make sure you separate the "p" of blipe
from the "b" of by
*denn es will : *denn as in Ben, will - vill as in Bill. Make sure denn
is separated from es.
*Abend werden: *Abent vaird'n - the vair sound is actually more of a
dipthong – vayer - but subtler. The "e" in den gets swallowed.
*und der Tag : *unt dair targk
*hat sich: *I'm not going to try and describe the subtleties of the ch
sound (please see Sebastian!) but the "i" is as in fish
*geneiget: *gen-eye-get - gen as in hen with g as in get

We then split up – the men to practise Zikr and the women to do battle
with the – er - challenging Bulgarian rhythms of Dilmano Dilbero.

*Dilmano Dilbero *
Us women have finally got to grips with the 8/16, 11/16 and 5/16 time
signatures – the trick seems to be to count in semi-quavers 12 123 123
etc. We had a first go at the tricky second page – then it dawned on us
that the first page ends with bar 12 and the second page starts with bar
61 …. we have quite a bit more work to do once we've found the missing
pages! We need to use quite a brash sound.

*Zikr* (notes from John)
The note-bashing was not too demanding, but the rapid sections need work
on the words and the irregular timing.

Syllables written as a consonant followed by an apostrophe, like b' or
q': sing the consonant followed by an indefinite vowel (schwa), the sort
of noise that you get in the last syllable of button or paddock. And see
the pronunciation guide on the back page, particularly about the sound
of the single letter a.

The glissandi in bars 20, 28, etc., look as if they descend to a G flat,
but they do not have to end on any specific note. They just have to fall
away like a sigh.

Bars 37-40: we have re-allocated the parts so that the tenors sing the
upper Eflat/Bflat and the basses sing the lower fifth. At least, I think
that's how it works. I just groan away on the bottom note and let the
rest of you get on with it.

From bar 83, there are lots of Hu Allaahs which are notated to be
spoken in rhythm rather than sung. We think the lozenge-shaped noteheads
for Hu mean that the sound is to be held for the full length of the
note. Contrast with the Jalle jalaalahu bars, which are more percussive.

The "Twice as fast" marking is at bar 122, so the pace speeds up for the
last two bars of the tenor solo (not when the basses start their Hu
Allaahs at bar 124), and stays that fast until the end of the piece.

(We had a performance afterwards and it's coming on amazingly well –
going to be a show-stopper! Ed.)

Kay's notes, 18 Jan 2012

2012-01-20T22:50:00.001Z

Learned lots of new pieces so a bit of note bashing.

1) Two dances from Le Bourgeois de Ballet (Lully)
Both will involve guitar and cello accompaniment and a male solo.

2nd Entree de Ballet
Light and bouncy
Choir comes on page 2 half way down. "No, no, no" should be staccato
The other lines are pushy legato if you get what that means,

3rd Entree de Ballet
Main thing to note are the dynamics on page 3 (p64)
Piglar schiaboloa - first time Forte second Piano. Carry on forte,
piano like that til p4 (p65) second bar is forte and all bars forte
from that point onwards. Last bar a bit shouty.

2) Dilmano Dilbero
Women only, Bulgarian
Tricky syncopated rhythmn. We recognised this as must have done the
first few bars for fun once with Ollie.

3) Abendlied-
German piece suggested by Sebastien. Very beautiful piece, lots of
high sop notes (tricky, i found!)
We did the German pronunciation -
b at end of word is p
w is v
d at end of word is t
sich - can't describe it; bit like "sh" but not really; we struggled
with it for a while

Jenny's rehearsal notes, 11 Jan 2012

2012-01-15T18:27:00.000Z

Thank you to Claire for warming us up. Rachael is doing it next week
and Kay offered to do notes.

UNE PUCE

Sing the first line thinking of a whinge about a flea, to getting really
annoyed with it being in your ear

Rrrrrrrroll the RRRRRRs. Those who can roll rrrrrs do it for those who
can't.

sing - m-way
sing - n-oo-it
sing - me frrrrret-eel-yay-me mor'
sing - foo, as in foot without the t
sing - donn- air
sing - je t-ah ne pris (and sing the t-ah, nasally)
sing - coeur with an 'r' on the end.

Tenors - don't sing oh-ho-ho-ho
- suggestion - practise it la la la, then o, o, o,
copying the la la la effect, and staccato)

LINDEN LEE - New - Looked at

BONJOUR MA MIE - New - Looked at

BRODMAN AREA 47 - New - By Nikos!!!

Wonderful example of how science can be mixed with music.
Something to do with frontal lobe of brain - ask Nikos!

No words to learn! Just sounds.

Greek 'th's - hard, as in 'that' NOT as in 'think' - effect should be
hum sound NOT with 'z' or 'buzz' escaping from the 'th' - sing it MF to
avoid this 'buzz' -

Start very very loud with a crescendo.

First Ah.......sound ends in a soft 'ch' as in 'loch' COUNT
1,2,3,4,'ch' It should be a flat 'ch' not like a cat hiss, more like
the swish of a blade.

Bar 9 - is like blowing into your cold hands

SOPRANOS - A A A is NOT joined. Sing A A A separate A's.

(Nikos, if you want to add or alter, please do! Well done!)

SCENE IV - Lully - Looked at.

Re-awakening

2012-01-10T20:07:00.000Z

This is just to check that rudsamblog is still working after a
year-and-a-half of disuse.

Jenny's rehearsal notes, 28th April

2010-06-03T12:26:00.003+01:00

MONATENG

Don't be passive just 'cos you've sung it before!!

Sound as if you're enjoying it, rather than blended. BUT think of being very together especially at the beginning

Verse is quieter until *Altos* lead in with something to do with someone laying in Kenya (that's what it sounds like)

*Basses -* really resonate with your big chests! Especially those bottom 'c's.
Split the jump to the B flat. Don't scoop it.
*
*
*Tenors - *Good HEY! voice sound rather than sung sound.

*Tutti - *Head for the last RE in RESORET

AVE MARIS STELLA

Sing words in Latin not Finish

DELETE MP and INSERT PPPP at beginning

Be *very *supported. It's deceptively difficult piece. Lots of consonants

VOWELS - Mah-ree (forward 'ee') Ste- lah, is correct. (We are NOT marrying Stella!)
Rah-dee (forward 'ee') Sah-ngck-tee (forward 'ee')
tah-tee (forward 'ee') - No one is sinking any tatties!

Look up and move at the same time, with control. A steady direction will be given

It's plain chant in 5ths. oooo, loverly - should be!

radis sancti tatis - MF until eternae. Oh, crikey, I don't understand my dynamic indication here.
It's one of those crescendo, decrescendo, crescendo signs - like a musical Mexican wave. But which words did it refer to? Sorry, maybe it goes with the instruction - Pull back for Claritatis,

GAOL MA CHRIDH

Chris singing solo

Think of how we sing 'Dance to thy Daddy' and aim for the same effect - bouncy, staccato, clipped.

No scooping on held chords

Dotted crotchet, minim, 2 dotted crotchets, minim - pattern throughout.

's tha mi dolga posadh (with a thing over the 'o', not an umlaut something else I haven't got on my computer!) - Come down in dynamic.
Be very clipped and staccato. Be supported.

*Altos* - EVERY VERSE!!! on repeats go down to a 'G'. It's a different note to first time through!!

*Tutti - * Some of us seem to remember Peter was MOST ADAMANT that a good 'gh' is pronounced at the end of Pawsugh,

IF YE LOVE ME - /which of course you all do, but keep me supplied with chocolates doesn't scan:-/ )/

Start IF as in DIEU, qu'il la fait etc

EEEEE (forward 'ee') F - cresc through first note and stay supported
/
/
Some copies are written a 3rd up from what we're singing, so make sure you know what's going on!

Think vowel sounds as for Ah-ve Mah-ree

Put a nice forward 'oooo' on Truth. And roll 'r' (or it will sound like 'tooth')

*SP'RIT *- (NOT spi-rit) rolled 'r' (or it will sound like SPIT of TOOTH)

*Basses *- Be melodic. Aim for good phrasing and length of them. Very legato.

*Tutti* - Phrases are individual, to each part, so take responsibility for them in your parts. Feel them. Sing through them legato. feel the beat going through them.

*Sops* - Aim for pure sound in high notes. No waving or vibrato.

AGM is on the 19th

There's an envelope containing donations and possibly requiring more (I know I've not put any in yet!) for Jean and Dougal's wedding.

Please let Anne know IF you are planning to go to Biggar ON YOUR OWN.

We need to be in Biggar for 1.15pm.

Natalie's notes, 21st April

2010-06-03T12:24:00.002+01:00

1. Song order for Douglas and Jean's wedding -

- Pre-service: Bog off, Mona Teng (African), Take my Hand
- During service: Brumarsj (Norwegian), If Ye Love Me, Ave Maris Stella
- Signing register: This Marriage (Whittaker)
- End of service: An Irish Blessing
- Social bit in evening: Gaelic set (Ah ben a khum..), Mairi's wedding, Son ar Chistr, Tourdion, Preab San Ol, Only You

Please email Chris if you need any of these pieces so that he can make copies for us for next Wednesday's (28th) rehearsal.

2. This Marriage (Whittaker)

The rehearsal was spent practicing 'This Marriage' (Whittaker) only. Detailed instructions of how to sing it -

General -
- Stand straight and supported to sing the piece
- Sing the piece 'legato', joining the notes together.
- Sops and Basses stand out with Altos and Tenors just filling in the harmony.
- Make vowel sounds very round and nice. 'e's need to be forward, 'a's need to be round. Think "round", "beautiful", "sophisticated" vowels.
- Make the high notes sharp as opposed to flat. Think "sharp"

Page 1 -
- puts lots of voice into 1st page. Make it strong.
- Make the word 'sweet' sharp.

Page 2 -
- (mp) on 'May this marriage be full', then crescendo
- Watch Ollie for shape on the words 'offer' and 'shade'

Page 3 -
- cresendo on 'our every day', then make 'a day in paradise' quieter

Page 4 -
- Diminuendo and rit after 'a seal of happiness here'
- Make 'May this marriage have a' loud (mf), then on the word 'fair' come down suddenly, but leave space for further diminuendo through to the end of the line.
- Basses sing the word 'gord' instead of 'good'
- Altos and Sops stand tall to get the top notes

Page 5 -
- Need a big breath to sing the top line. Sing 'in a clear blue sky' in one breath and clearly with strong consonants.
- Sing 'skar' instead of 'sky'
- Annunciate all the words in 'I am out of words to describe how spirit mingles in this marriage'. It is a nice phrase and needs to be sung clearly.

Will go through all the other pieces next week so please bring them.

3. Finally, dates for your diaries -

1st May - Cranshaws
15th May - Douglas and Jean's wedding
26 June - ALL DAY FROM 10am - RECORDING FOLLOWED BY CONCERT. PLEASE NOTE THE 28 AUG AS A SEPARATE RECORDING DAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
29 Aug - St. Giles at 6. Singing Cloudburst here.
25 Sept - Wigtown/Whithorn concert in Dumfries and Galloway.

Douglas' notes, 7th April

2010-06-03T12:21:00.001+01:00

BOY AND A GIRL

Pages 3 and 4 Think ahead , make the rests special and maintain the same sound.
Page 5 OUT ON THE BEACH, sopranos need a bit more volume.
Page 6 Lots of support and Counting needed.
Bar 32 BOY..we need a rounded mouth for the OY. Work on the vowel shapes for a good blend.
Bar 35 NEVER a crescendo here and shape the 3 bar phrase.
Bar 38 Very Legato here. On the word SILENCE try to balance the chord and blend.
Bar 39 Get off quickly, phrase it nicely and make a small crescendo
Bar 43 The chord should be forte and not PP.
Page 8 Keep the phrasing
STRETCHED OUT Keep the STR short and MF with a stronger tone (more voice).
Sopranos should photocopy pages 7/8 to avoid a page turn

THIS MARRIAGE
We went over this for the first time. The last system gets quicker and
there is a rall to the end.

KOMITAS

SHOGHER Try to remember the words and make it exciting and bouncy.The mens second section should be sung louder and made more rhythmically exciting.
Shout the word SHOGHER . Look excited and SMILE.
CHEENAR ES The basses start quiet and very supported. It should be upbeat and balanced with the soloists.. Basses especially to bring out the melodic bits. Soloists to sing out.
On Page 4 Ollie will bring us in.
IM CHINARI Make the IMs short. The chorus should be quiet and bouncy……Pause before GOVAN and make a small clap on Last Syllable for the smart ending.

Anne's notes, 24th March

2010-03-25T11:14:00.002Z

I agreed to take notes last night, tell Jenny if you could help out another week, as the list seems to have gone AWOL!

All the men here [well except Angus, hope to see you soon!] but 3 sops away, Helen came then departed quickly [hope it wasn't anything we said?! No, we know you have a lot on!] and poor Kay's throat was suffering, so Elaine and AnnaLauren had to hold the fort! Anyway we had a good rehearsal and got to grips with some of those tricky moments!

1. Dance to th' daddy

And remember it's th' for the and thoo not thou for pronunciation.

We focused on the last 2 pages.

Stay crisp, light and staccato especially 1st line of page 32.
Make sure we're together on entries [we practised that with Ollie during the warm-up].
Follow the dynamics. ie ff, p and crescendo in 1st line, cresc and getting faster 2nd line.
Last word on 1st line page 32 is si-ngngng, ie a long ng not a long vowel!
Tenors page 33, count carefully the rest in 2nd line 1st bar , ie "in" , 2 , "have it"
Everyone: very last bar is p, crisp, staccato [don't hang on to "comes" but keep it short] and supported, not a breathy p.

2. Lullaby to Lucy

Again, quiet bits not breathy but well-supported and good tone. From "Rowan and lamb" it should be legato, well-phrased. Men listen to the women's line and women breathe after "lamb" then straight through "salt and sweet", keeping the final "t" tidy and together on salt and sweet.
All breathe before "Entreat", and there should be more tone and cresc from here as marked. All breathe again before "A pledge and a promise".
In "Lonely they were" no breath after were, and cresc to the word "long", then dim.
"Rackwick" is crisp but only a gentle staccato, ie we should hear the 2 "ks" but no break between the 2 syllables.
Sops watch your tuning on the top E in "pledge", page 3, and "light"on page 4, you were a bit under.

3. By Falshood

Our favourite! We bashed this out with the piano and Ollie was very encouraged! He said we should all be really chuffed. [But did he notice the very well-suppressed near hysteria from some people??!!] No, we counted carefully and focused mainly from bar 13.

Lower 3 parts need to make sure you keep with the sops, as it should flow they may not sing it absolutely in perfect rhythm [I don't mean because they get it wrong!] so we need to make sure our entries match where they are.
Count quavers to start and remember that a triplet = 3 notes sung in the space of 2 quavers so "triplets are a bit faster than quavers", as he said! So bar 16, sops, is 8 quavers long with 2 triplets. Write 1,2,1,2 if that helps or whatever, but LOOK at it this week, especially if you weren't at the rehearsal.
From bar 21 think in crotchets or it gets too disjointed.
Bar 25, think of the first word "Not" as being 2 notes in a 3-note triplet, so mentally think of 3 beats = "rest, no-ot". And bar 26 starts really with a triplet, just a break between the end of "sham-ed" and "with".. the light. With the light is a cresc, especially for basses.
Everyone try to play your notes from bar 25 to the end as there are some real crunches, bass and tenor had a few problems. Sops and bass sing the same notes in bar 27 so mark that then one of you might be right!

4. Komitas Set

We ran through the set to keep it well-rehearsed.

Stay bouncy, look at the words.
Ollie will beat at least 123 after Shogher Jan and Cheenar Es, so men watch Ollie at that point.
In Im Chinari Yare, poor Kay's voice nearly gave out but being a real trouper she kept going.
We agreed that the final chorus [C] needed to be loud, so again watch Ollie.

*************************

Ollie will email a list of music for the 15 April concert soon. We have to know the Komitas set and Une Puce FROM MEMORY so start learning now.

Tell all your friends/family about the concert, John has forwarded the email to you that's gone out to our mailing-list.

I'll try and have a look at the Gallery tonight on my way in to the Queens Hall concert so I know roughly where we'll be singing. Helen Monaghan from the Gallery suggested the 3rd Bay/Room on the Left.

We'll use the North Meeting Room for rehearsal from 5pm. Concert starts at 6 and lasts about 30 minutes.

Natalie's notes - 17th March

2010-03-24T12:07:00.003Z

Not much in the way of notes last week. What I have follows:

Began with a practice of "Dil mano dil bero", inserting a clap on the 'be's and leaning another 4 bars: kazi mi kak se sadi pipero [Кажн ми как се сади пиперо?]

Ollie told us some of the programme for up and coming concerts. To include:

Armenian set
French stuff (une puce, la la la, de quil a fait)
Folk songs (dance to the daddy, she moved through the fair)
Modern Classical stuff (Whitaker)

Got into 'une puce' groups and brainstormed ideas for performance of 'la la la' based on the words. Some notes on this:

La la la no longer arranged in quartets - all to sing
Important words to articulate in V1 - 'homme' 'famme' 'ja lou' 'son cause' 'cocu du tout'

Then did the same for 'une puce'

Lullaby for Lucy - sang through

Im Chinari Yare - sang through

That was about it.

Natalie

Arno's notes, 24th February

2010-03-05T16:01:00.002Z

By Falshood
We did quite a bit of work on this.

First of all the whole singing softly but not breathy thing came up again, i.e. maintaining clarity and intensity in your voice at mp - pp levels. C.f. the openings of Lauridsen's Magnum Mysterium, Whitacre's Lux, etc. etc.

Second, we're still getting to grips with timing, so in places we're still dragging tempowise, probably because we're waiting for everyone else to 'make the first move'. Though this results in dragging, Ollie says it's good for cohesion that we're listening to each other in that way and that we'll simply speed things up later as we get more confident. As was said before there's no point (for now, perhaps for ever) being mathematical about the counting, as we'll aim to develop into something that flows without being metronomic.

We worked on dynamics, as follows:

Page 1:
Bars 0-1: start mp, then crescendo peaking on "Fals-", followed by a decrescendo for the rest of bar 1.

Bar 2: Altos & Tenors sing out a bit more with your "to express". You'll have to wait for the basses to synchronise perfectly (!) and bring everyone into bar 3 on "truth". Then, in one breath, "very cunning of lyne" (bars 4 & 5). Note there should be *no break* between "cunning" and "of lyne".

Bar 6: everyone come in clearly, at the same time, and somewhat strongly (piu f) on "Ower", i.e. that first note should have an emphasis. The next note on "eye" has a little swell ( <> ) on it, especially (only?) for the basses as they clash very nicely with the tenors. Key here is enunciation, including a nice hard 'k' sound on "cunning" in bar 7.

An important bit on page 1 is bars 10-11. We start bar 10 not too loudly (whatever we were on end of bar 9 I think). But during bar 10 (which is short) we do a rather speedy crescendo to f, peaking with a noticeable climactic/dramatic emphasis on the first note of bar 11 ("rulle"), followed by a sudden dim. to p (p sub.).
One thing Ollie wanted is for us to sing bar 10 ("without") more snappily, we tend to drag considerably here, possibly because people are uncertain of the duration of the bar (see note above).

After the double bar line on page 1:
At the beginning of bar 14 everyone else should wait for the sopranos to snatch a breath where they've got a breath mark, before singing their first note of the bar.

Page 2:
Bars 15-17 (a.k.a. the sopranos' headache): despite all talk of not counting, it seems the simplest thing is to do just that in order to get it into the head. Confusion and trip-ups of the kind bemoaned by Kay(2) stems from non-triplet quavers that are tied in to the beginning or out of the end of a triplet of quavers (two occurrences of the former in bar 16 and one of the latter in the transition between bar 15 and 16). Maybe try clapping this out at home? Should help to keep the tied notes clearly in mind as separate entities despite singing 'through' them. What'll probably happen is that once the soprano part for these bars becomes familiar enough to forego explicit counting, overall time will be kept by the underneath parts, which the sops can then use as a reference point to do their fancy antics.

That's mostly it. We notebashed through to the end a few times, and people will have some private notes for this. The bottom of page 2 ("for beautie...") is a change of character compared to the bar before, and sounds like, well "[...] beautie and good favor [and] cleare truth". There's a nice dramatic clash in bar 27, followed by a great strong chord first note of bar 28.

Une Puce:

We revived the flea.

Some points:

Forte != shouty (!= means does not equal)
What we want is light & bouncy
Again, this should not be breathy.
Don't swoop/scoop/poop
The expression changes quite quickly, and we want to convey what the text describes so we need to be switched on.
The second half of each verse (i.e. second system page 1) is staccato.
The first half of the refrain ("Nul remede n'y puis donner ...") is legato, and speeds up a bit with excitement on "Je cours de ca".
The "la" in "je cours de la" should be a bit nasal.
The end of the first half of the refrain (i.e. end of page 2) segues a tempo into the second half ("Oooooh toute belle secour mweh"), i.e. no hanging around/slowing down.

The lingua franca:
"moi" = "mweh",
"Qui" and "cours" should have a nice crisp 'k' sound,
"je t'en" = "je t'ahn" (kind of nasal), rolled 'r' preferable

On the whole, a slightly nasalised sound (see also the early french gossipping song - "La la la je ne l'ose dire" [and examples linked from an e-mail from Arno]) seems to help with pronunciation, to maintain intensity/clarity and avoid breathiness, and (I think) produces a nice effect similar to what I've heard early music ensembles do with this type of music.

I think we also ran through a bit of 'Dance to da daddy', but to be honest I can't remember! Anyway no new dynamics because I've got nothing written down for it.

Rehearsal at Priestfield March 10th

Rachael's notes, 17th Feb

2010-02-21T22:52:00.001Z

Kahvatu

We tried this 'easy peasy' Tormis number for the first time.

Make sure we are all singing same vowel for the first note 'kah', like 'car'.
Note the dynamics in first two bars
There will be a small break between bars 2 and 3 - watch Ollie.
Make sure to phrase bars 3,4 & 5 well, so that there is a natural build towards 'maas'.
Note dynamics in bars 6,7, & 8
When singing quietly, do this by controlling the breath, rather than sounding 'breathy'. The sound should still be precise.
Watch Ollie for the break between bar 10 and 11.
Underneath parts make note of the rest in bar 11.

By Falshood

This piece has a number of time signature changes. Ollie suggested not worrying too much about them, it is more important to make sure we are listening to one another. The rhythms in the piece imitate speech, so think about how you might say the words, rather than concentrating on getting the beats in exactly the right place within the bar.

Note the dynamics in bars 10 &11.
Try and make sure we all move together. This is especially important where, for example, basses have a long note to hold and then move at the end of a bar. They should try and listen to where the other parts are moving and move accordingly
In bar 16, sopranos should listen to the other parts to make sure they come in together.

Dance to Thy Daddy

Remember the rest before 'L'
Really do apply all dynamics!

The rehearsal on March 10th will be at PRIESTFIELD, normal time.

Anne's notes, 10th Feb

2010-02-13T21:18:00.002Z

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.

2010-01-21T18:58:00.009Z

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.

Jenny's notes, 13th January

2010-01-20T15:26:00.003Z

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!)

Rachael's notes, 18th November

2009-11-21T13:40:00.001Z

Claire warmed us up on our backs. Never seen the basses from such an angle.

Bogoff
Mainly sung to warm our voices up, but we did some work on following Ollie's direction as there is a danger of being too familiar with this piece, and not remembering all the things we have worked on.

O Magnum
Make sure the beginning chords have a full, rounded sound with a slight push on the front of the note to ensure they sound definite.
Crisp 'c's on, for example, saCramentum and Cujus.
When altos have a moving, melodic line, they should make sure the vowel sounds are blended and nice - 'oo' (as in 'who')
Tenors should try and maintain strong tone when thy have a moving line, especially in sections of high range
Page 6 must be louder and more powerful, especially leading up to bar 46. Altos should cresc in bar 44 so their moving part can be heard.
If you move part on page 6, Ollie is happy for you to make your own sensible decision as to when to return to your own part.

Trees of the Field
This is going well.
The women are nicely soft during their accompaniment of 'Christmas' and 'Christian' but men who have the faster melody, should be louder and more definite.
Bars such as 11 and 20 will become bars of 6/8, rather than 9/8. We have already been singing in this way, but be sure to watch Ollie.
When returning to a bar of 6/8, as in bar 6, be sure to watch Ollie.
Before your part's solo section, do think about the note you are going to sing to avoid hesitation.
In bars 16 and 27, basses be sure to sing an f sharp, not natural.

Wassail (VW)
The tone throughout must be well-supported.
Tenors, sing out melody when you have it.
Altos, be sure to count and be in time with each other.
We'll probably take this slowly and do a bit of note-bashing on this next week to make sure we all know what we're doing.

Coventry
We'll be singing this a tone lower than written.
Jenny will sing tenor.
Don't breathe in bars 7 or 8, nor in bar 19, except for vs 3.
Do take a breath in bar 33.
Bar 24 - make the most of this clash.
Trio 1 (beautiful) sing vs1 &3: KAY, JENNY, JOHN
Trio 2 (loud) sing vs 2: ANNE, CHRIS, SEBASTIAN

O Quam
We need to count!

Deck the Hall
Only one HALL.
Page 4 is difficult, but Sops should follow tenors and altos should try and preempt downbeat.

Dormi Jesu
Beautiful
Remember to ding the 'd' of 'Dormi' at the start

Extra rehearsal:
Ollie will be available on Monday 30th Nov and Tues 1st Dec, at the Wexler's for extra rehearsals. More people can go to the Monday session so if you are trying to decide which to go to, you will probably find this one most useful.
On WED 2nd DEC there will be a rehearsal at PRIESTFIELD - many thanks to Anne who will lead this rehearsal.

Tickets:
Sell, sell, sell. Remember to put up posters.

Jenny's notes, 11th November

2009-11-17T12:31:00.003Z

Arno warmed us up with something. Forgot the name of it, but basically it's like star wars music and good for practising changing from minor to major in the same chord and remaining tunefull.

DECK THE HALL - this is written tongue in cheek, so dynamics and instructions are supposed to be exaggerated to the point of sounding silly. If we sound too silly we can pull back. It's a fun piece so have fun with it.

One hall
good 'ck' on deck
women - middle stanza- p.4 - DON'T count it. Listen to men and come in.
Fa la la - top p.5 - make it sound ridiculous and bouncy.
Men - sound coarse on la-ha-ha-ha-ffing
Cut out cadenza and jump to last 3 bars
BUT... leave a long gap before the last three bars
Hee-hee-hee and ha-ha-ha - make sure you put an 'h' on every hee and ha
WATCH EVERY accent, staccato, decresc. and cresc. and when it says....legato dolce - it means smooth and sweet
Feel the swing.

TREES OF THE FIELD

...to something (can't read writing) elm the morning hails - LOOK UP! to watch when to move.
ELM - crescendo through it
Alto - bar 22 - c natural
Dynamics
TIP - keep notes what you've been singing in your head so's you know where to go for next note

SUSSE DIE GLOCKEN

Ollie promises kisses for anyone who doesn't scoop
SOPS - be definite on upbeat into bar 5.
Z - alles (alvays pronounced 'ts')
ENTRIES - make sure ENT LANGS are definite and supported
MEN - DON'T breathe between Entlang and verses.
TENOR - F natural is same as basses somewhere in the last bars
(Sebs says our Deutsche sounds a bit German and Claire says as Sebs Englische sounds a bit English)

SHEPHERD'S CALL

What can I say? You're all being very nice about it and singing it beeeeeooootifully.
As always, make sure solos can be heard, and words of verses if you're accompanying
Hint - I gived the basses some nice rich notes.

For kiddies nativities I think it's fair enough portraying a lovely cosy story. And if the men would like to dress up in tea-towels and sheets like they used to at school nativity plays, then I won't object. But sometimes I wonder about the reality of what it was like.
Obviously the shepherds would have been pretty ugly, tough, fearless rogues. They were used to living rough in the fields and guarding flocks of sheep from wolves, bandits and trespassers (hmm, maybe not the latter!!) They might have been fat, because of the abundant supply of sheep, but you get the general picture. They wouldn't have been easily scared and would have probably, initially, tried to fight a heavenly host before bowing and trembling before it. Obviously I couldn't put a fight scene in the music - and I can hear our blog-ist responding "what larks" - But feel free to be a bit like real shepherds who are defensive and not too pleased about being bombarded with angels... rather than nimby pimby Handel's Messiah type shepherds!

Next week, rehearsal in priestfield.
Sell LOTS of tickets for Augustine's concert
Put up LOTS of flyers. Stick them on folks backs if you're walking behind a crowd
Next week - Claire II is warming up and Rachael is taking notes.

Claire 1's notes, 4th November

2009-11-06T23:30:00.002Z

In Dulce

You should know whether you are singing in choir 1 or 2. Sebastian you are in choir 2. Jen is singing tenor in choir 1, Anne is in choir 2 and Natalie is in choir 1. Others fend for yourself!
Do check this as it might be different from last year
In the octet Sebastian is doing the bass line and Douglas is doing the second from bottom.
No loud breaths!
Watch tuning esp the A for tenors in bar 15
In the 2nd verse there is no gap between 'beseech thee' and 'O'
After the trio and octet make sure you come in

Run T Run

Remember repeats!
The only place you scoop is the final chord
basses watch the split at the end --> Seb sings bottom at bar 53 and then up to second bottom until the end. Angus on top, Arno top or second from top depending on where he is. Does that make any sense at all?
Keep it very supported
We need to hear the boys a bit more - make yourself heard even when you are 'hmming'

Deck the Halls

top of p4 is where it all goes wrong so watch timing
altos come in at the top of p4 - it might be good to count 1,2,3,4.
stop before the cadenza - what larks!

Shepherd's Call

we just note bashed this piece by Jen (woohoo) so there isn't much to say except...woohoo

Veni

very p at the beginning
at bar 20 come in very quietly - we all come in on the same note
bar 77 no scooping

O Magnum

very supported even when we sing p
start quietly and move through the bar by opening mouth a little more
you should know which part you are singing so check if you don't

A-L had a sign up sheet for flyers and posters

Anne's notes, 28th October

2009-10-29T17:34:00.002Z

Well if you didn't come you probably avoided germs from me, Helen and Douglas! Then again you probably had your own so didn't need any more! Anyway here's what we did or rather they did as I had no voice

1. Apple Tree Wassail

They tried it from memory, pretty well-remembered! Remember it begins with the men [and, when Jenny and Claire 2 -second altos - protested - also "manly women"!]

S and A1 have a different end to each verse, i.e. bars 15/16, 31/32 and 53/54, although the word "apples" is ALWAYS two As despite all attempts to sing the phrase as though it's up a scale. Claire 2 was the honest one with "I've never sung THAT in all my life!" after Ollie played bars 53/54.
S and A1 also look at bar 49, wassail is not what you expect.
The men, having listened to the lovely women's parts then joined us but promptly completely forgot their notes!

MORAL of the evening -look at your part and bash it out on the keyboard if you can before next week.

2. Trees of the Field

I'm sure this WILL be beautiful, when we know it [we always say that, don't we!] So a good note-bash.

Bar 5 = F# altos
Bar 22 = C natural, altos
Last bar, Arno and Robin sing the middle men's notes, the rest sing what you would normally [if you were singing the correct part, that is....!!]
All need to look at bars 32 to the end, especially altos bar 34 F# and men from bar 36 on.

3. O Magnum Mysterium, Lauridsen

Jenny will sing Tenor 1 with Douglas for this and Rachael will join Claire 2 on A2.
We sang it through after which Ollie ominously asked "Has anyone not sung this before?" No-one admitted this, but he did ask us all to look at it before next week!.

** Page 6, bar 46, sung from the bottom note as follows - I hope!--:

John and Seb on bottom D,
Arno and Angus on A,
Chris on F#,
Douglas [and Jenny?] on Tenor 2 D,
Claire 2 and Rachael on Tenor 1 E [with Rachael singing A2 from bar 45 to help the join],
me and Natalie on alto line,
sops split as normal.

Don't ask me what happens in bar 51, when we have 9 parts for one bar!!
Ollie was particularly impressed with John's lovely bottom............

Bar 40, more bass on "viscera"

All --breathe where marked [with small commas above your stave, which all parts need to mark as they are sometimes different for each part]

4. Runnnnn, toboggan, runnnn

Yes, lots of nnn on "run" but PLEASE no scooping up to "run" with rrrrun. Men should be quite heavy on their 3-part chords

"Normal people sing tops" [or was it bottom or middle? anyway Chris is normal apparently].
Seriously, men sing as follows:
Bottom = John, Seb and Angus
Middle = Robin and Arno
Top =Chris and Douglas

All -- remember the bright tone of Margot, support the sound well, and put energy into the notes not just noise, I'm sure you know what he means.
Sops, watch you sing the right words in bars 31/32, you have a different layout to the lower 3 parts for "jubilation" and "daring".
Altos watch tuning on the chromatic bits, bar 16 to 22 and same in other verses. Bar 19 seemed to be where you forgot to go up from C to C# on "So"

Again, no scoops or vague approximations to the notes! It needs drilling, or sing like Swingle singers or a synthesiser and sing the correct notes. Sounds like another bit of homework on the keyboard.

**************

Notices

Rachael's sent a separate note re Saturday's party.
Watch emails in case we're at Priestfield next Wednesday, I'm waiting to hear from the boss.
Tickets available now for Augustine Church Sat 12 Dec.
Flyers next week, ***AnnaLauren will come with note of where to take flyers/posters.
Susan won't do a mailing, just email advert.
We agreed to do tea/coffee and mince pies in the interval of 12 Dec concert, so we need lots of helpers, washing-up etc.

****************************

See some of you on Saturday, with food, drink, wood, scary costume if you want.....

John's notes, October 21st.

2009-10-22T11:25:00.002+01:00

This was a note-bashing rehearsal. What we worked on is all in the printed music. Consequently there's very little to write down in these notes. We worked on

Huron Carol
The trees of the field
Veni veni emmanuel
She moved through the fair (small group)

We will also be doing the Apple tree wassail, so get that into your folders.

Warm-up: One shake, one LA.

Huron Carol

the melody has a tricky note: the last note of bar 12 is F natural, not F#.

For the altos, there's a hazard in bar 50: an A where the corresponding note in bars 14 and 32 was a B

on page 2,

Jenny will join the tenors for verse 2
we will sing "knelt" instead of "kneel", to get a rhyme with "pelt".
end of bar 30 - no fermata - whereas we will linger over the same notes in bar 48

bars 30 and 48, where only tenors and basses are singing and there's a 6-way split: tenors will take the upper three notes, and basses will take the lower 3:

Angus sings the G and F, Arno sings the C, Sebastian & John sing the low F.

The pace will slow at bar 49.

We will take a breath in the middle of bar 54 before the second in excelsis.

We will observe the dynamics and end ppp.

The trees of the field

We note-bashed this, and got no further than bar 11. I had enough of a struggle without trying to write notes as well. Private practice recommended.

Veni veni emmanuel

We sang through this several times, polishing up -

notes (there are only a few tricky bits)
pronunciation (see Claire's notes from last week)
dynamics (as written)
balance (e.g., to let Robin be heard)

After the fermata in bar 37, we will not take bar 38 as a full three beats of silence before the upbeat to bar 39. Watch Ollie.

Announcements

I didn't hear these, since I was making tea/coffee. With Anne being away, I thought there wouldn't be any. However, Jenny did do some organising of food for Rachael's Halloween party. I presume she'll post a separate e-mail about that.

P.S. Small group worked on She moved through the fair, paying particular attention to

the note clusters BCDF#/CDEG in verses 1 and 2 at the start of the second and third lines of the words.
Balance - to let the solo lines through.
Dynamics - giving some swell and fade shape to the nah nah nah phrases
Support - to maintain good tone in generally quiet singing
and, for once, we can let a little air into the sound in the opening bars.

Claire 2's notes, October 14th

2009-10-19T14:06:00.002+01:00

Arno warmed us up with an order to relax and then a song about an unpronouncable white-footed sheep.

Two new Christmas songs:

Veni, Veni Emmanuel
Don't sing too loudly at the beginning - we are all singing together in unison and it will come across as louder than it is - if you see what I mean.
Jenny will sing with tenors in high bits.
Tenors you have a tricky last bar on the first page - try to remember the F# from the bars before where you sing it a lot. And watch out for the D in this bar too. Then on the second page the first note of the 2nd stanza is the same as the last note of the bar before (bar 28). Does that make sense?
Bar 32 - less weight on the top notes here (Sop 1s!!!!) and come off the 'gaude's in quite a clipped fashion. Watch Ollie.
All - bar 51 - again, come off the 'Gaude's quite quickly - watch Ollie.
Page four, bar 44 soprano 2 will sing alto part, altos will sing Tenor 1 line (an octave down from what is written), tenors will sing
Tenor II. Claire 1 will sing Soprano 1.
Bar 47 - 'Dirasque' change the vowel sound of the 'dee' by bringing it forward and having a wide mouth. It should be mf.
Bar 59 Altos stop singing....this line is now a tenor solo (Robin) (lovely). I think this is where Jenny joins the girls again - she is not 'manny' enough apparently - which I daresay is a relief.
Bar 71 (page 6) sopranos only on top line. Altos don't sing again until up-beat into bar 78 then sing tenor 1 line again to end. This gets very low at the end - don't worry if you can't manage it, the tenors are singing the same notes here.
Top basses, watch out for your 'Dirasque' at the bottom of page 4 - it is tricky. I have no note of a solution for you. Sorry.
Tenors have the melody here so everyone else keep an ear out for balance - we need to be able to hear them.
Bars 49, 50, 51 (page 5) - try not to breathe between 'tenebras' and 'Gaude'. We need to build up to a good f here and keep the crescendo smooth.
Bar 55, altos and tenors - do not put the 's' on the end of the 'Is' and decrescendo on this last note so it fades away gently.
Page 7 - no scooping on the 'Gaude's. Keep well supported - it is supposed to be p but we don't want 'fluffy' singing.
Pronunciation - Eemaanooel, please, not Imanyooel and Is_rah_el (which sounds more like Isrye-el) not Isray-el. This is important as it is very obvious if the vowel sounds are different (and ugly). Not everyone gets it right so I think we should all really listen to ourselves - even if we think we are perfect - just to make sure.

Coventry Carol
Hardly anything to say here - we got along with it quite well.
I think the tenors have to watch out for F naturals and make sure they are very accurate - but which ones where, I can't say. Take note of them all, chaps.
The verses of this will probably be performed as trios with everyone singing the first and third pages.

Elaine said thank you for the Falkland concert which was very well received - and we said thank you to her for arranging it.
Anyone with travel expenses from the trip, please see Anne for reimbursement.
Concert promotion needs to be got underway. Chris is to produce flyers for early November and Douglas, tickets for the same time. The rest of us need to set about begging and bribing friends and relations to come listen!!!

Susan's notes from Priestfield rehearsal, October 7th

2009-10-08T16:50:00.003+01:00

First of all, this is the order for the concert on Saturday:

Bogoroditse Djevo (N.B. this is an addition - wasn't on either the original list or Ollie's email this morning)
Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder
Dormi Jesu
Margot labourez les vignes (changes to how we're singing this described below)
Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu
Lulling
If Ye Love Me
Lullaby Carol
Dindirin (old Spanish words)
Sfogava Con Le Stelle
Uśnijże mi, uśnij
Thuma Mina/Akanamandla
Jede Sedlák Do Mlejna
Green Fir Forest
En Une Seule Fleur
*Encore*: La la la, je ne l'ose dire

Introductions - not yet assigned but if you've done a particular one before my guess is you'll be doing it again (so I get Dieu).

Now for this evening's notes. The small group had a good bash at "She moved through the fair" - sounding a lot better but we need more confidence.
Ollie then gave us a quick warm-up, inspired by Claire1's tale of the terrors of having to give a lecture to 55 postgraduates. (You had to be there. I am not going to write down what we sang in case this falls into the hands of one of the afore-mentioned PGs). We also sang an African round which we sort of remembered from a long time ago.

We then sang as much of Saturday's programme as we could manage.

Bogof
Fine - but Ollie wants more welly when the basses join in

Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder
Remember there's no breath after the first Dieu.
Bars 12-13 - the triplets should be little ornamentations so keep them light and hold back the volume a bit.

Dormi, Jesu
We need a bit more energy when Ollie says so, so watch him. The beginning was beautifully quiet but we need to warm up in bar 3. In general sing through the phrases and give them more shape. E.g. basses cresc from bar 22 - make sure you're going somewhere because you have to come back down by end of bar 29.

Margot
Oh dear. No amount of earworm installation on Margot's part seems to get this into our thick skulls.
*N.B. NEW INSTRUCTIONS for Saturday.*
Verse 1: Quartet 1 (Alison, Natalie, Robin and John) were good so they will continue to sing verse 1 as a quartet as rehearsed. Non-quartet people - remember you sing the repeat of line 1 (marked Tutti) and the last line of the verse - "Margot, labourez les vignes bientot".
The rest of us were rubbish so there won't be any further quartets. We will ALL sing the Soli sections according to our parts, as well as the Tutti bits.
This applies to all the remaining verses which we are singing, i.e. 3, 5, 7 and 8. We end with a final chorus.
Verse 7 is being sung very slowly and legato. We will start to slow down during the previous chorus so watch Ollie! The last note of the chorus (where there's a fermata marked) should be held on this time so that
there isn't a break before verse 7 starts. Otherwise the audience is going to think we've reached the end and might even clap. (Yes, it's possible ...)

If Ye Love Me
Not at all bad considering we haven't sung it for ages. The "a" in commandments should be "ah". "Sprit", not "Spirit".

Lullaby Carol
Start a big crescendo from bar 52 - we need to be mf by bar 55 so that the ff isn't too sudden.

African Set
No pauses or Rits. Every line is sung twice only.
We start Thuma Mina very softly but by the time we get get to Roma nna we should be very loud. Don't hang on to final note of Morena too long so that we can hear Claire1 coming in with the first Akanamandla. Sops - remember we all join in with the first Haleluya.

Green Fir Forest
Opening chords - entries must be clear and firm, even though they are mp. Apart from that we did OK.

Dindirin
This would originally have been sung with fewer voices - probably one to a part - so we need to keep it bouncy when there are a lot of us so that it doesn't get mushy.
Note that in the line that actually reads "Facteme aquesta embaxata" the important words are Facteme and embaxata and each syllable is to be pronounced. You have to leave the "a"s off aquesta (which is not so important) in order to fit the music. So the line effectively reads "Facteme quest embaxata".

No notices, but we gave Douglas his 60th birthday card a day early!
See you all at 6pm at Falkland Parish Church on Saturday.

Douglas' notes, 30th September

2009-10-02T15:05:00.006+01:00

O QUAM

Oliie wants a catsbum sound - rounded , full and supported. We go flat quickly so stand up straight and give a supported, not lazy sound.

Sing Quocumque instead of Quocunque (and Quam as Kwam) [thanks, Anne], and vowels should be very open. [For the record, quocumque is classical Latin, but quocunque is common in later Latin, as in Quocunque Jeceris Stabit, the motto of the Isle of Man].

SFOGAVA

Not done this since St Giles but it sounded really good with lots of drama and contrast. Keep the notes staccato with no slurs - we sang an Icelandic round with and without slurring to illustrate this.

DORMI, JESU

Entries should be more definite as we sometimes forget the beginning of phrases.

At the beginning of page 4 the basses should try to keep the B natural in their head.

This piece is very nice if we all look up and can enjoy the quiet bits.

LULLABY CAROL

This has 3 tricky bits which you should pay attention to.

Bar 42, Bars 52-59 (chromatic bits), and Bar 60 for the sopranos (B).

This is sounding good. As someone seeing this score for the first time it is ALL tricky!

MARGOT

Practice your quartets/Duos for next week.

Here they are

1 Alison / Natalie / Robin / John
3 Claire1 / Anne / Chris / Arno
5 Elaine / Anne / Robin / Angus
7 Helen (+Susan??) / Claire2 / Douglas / Sebastian (slow verse)
8 AnnaLauren / Jenny / Chris / Arno

The verse starts with

3 1/2 bars of lower [solo] parts, then
3 bars ALL CHOIR, then
3 bars of quartet upper parts only, then
2 1/2 bars of top 3 quartet parts,
then ALL CHOIR [except basses, who don't get to sing until the refrain comes round again].

So the Quartet never sing with all 4 parts together....

PENGUIN!! (23rd september, Jenny)

2009-09-25T10:23:00.002+01:00

Ollie shouted Penguin when he wanted us to pay particular attention to something.

I forgot to mention I've no one down to take notes next week, if anyone would like to do them that'd be great. Also, correction to Blog, ANNE should take credit for knowing we have no rolled 'r's in Latin (which gives the impression Romans had slender bottoms!)

Practise Alison's fab warm up at home! Count aloud as you sing up the scale. 1,2,3,4,.... Try doing it clapping on the 3 and stamping on the 5.

There's a list for Falkland, (if half the choir don't turn up for this concert, don't be surprised. They'll have gone to Falkirk which place name heads the song list!)
It will be a RELAXED concert. It's something to aim for between now and xmas. And we'll sing a couple of xmas things like Dormi to 'ground' them.

O QUUM something - forgot to take my copy! Is a NEW piece of posh renaissance counter point
[O quam gloriosum - ed.]

bar 3 through 4 Warm tone
RUNS are stepped NOT slid.
Watch out for repeated patterns - ie you might be singing a similar pattern, or the same notes, as another part has just sung.

PENGUIN!!! Quocum - YES, this SHOULD BE - Q u o c u M NOT Q u o c u n -
PLEASE alter ALL Quocuns to QuocuM
Have a good QW noise and ennunciate other consonants
DON'T sing Qwoah, try singing QWOH
Have a resonant tone - try to sing as one voice and keep the tone bright
Have the same 'O' sounds throughout the piece
Produce a nice tone even if you feel you're singing the wrong notes
EEEs should be a forward mouth sound and should be well supported don't sag!
NO SCOOPING
/moving swiftly from rolled 'r's to tight arse....!/
Bar 1 - Have a cat's bum shape to your mouth for O
IMAGINE the vowel at beginning is preceded by B
Bar 2 - change vowel sound O to AW but KEEP the shape of bum hole

Bottom (/again!) /of 2nd page
TENORS - watch the C sharps and C naturals. Especially the C sharp after the C natural. D's to C sharps are small and tend to go flat.
SOPS - same goes for you for C sharp on last note of page 3

Last Page
3rd bar in middle system - SOPS stagger (breathing, that is!) It has to be continuous phrase
ALTOS - tone down the manliness! /See Claire's Bog! Then Ollie gave us permission to look at the men. I think it was just cos they were singing and we girls got a rest, but a few of us took the permission literally.... ;-) You're all very pretty!)

DET HEV

Think BAH -lellelujah for anticipating the beginning vowel sound
Words
Phrases
Tuning
Balance
DON'T cut notes short
Start with a BIG sound from the BASSES - BUT.....DON'T SHOUT
HOLD BACK for the BIG FF somewhere in middle of piece
TENORS are SPLITTING not basses so we get a good weight on the G

DORMI - B given

Words
Vowels
Balance
ALTOS - slight Ping for Dormi at beginning
SOPS - SWEEP!!!!! for Mater /(that's for the word Mater NOT formata as in make the most of sweeping just cos you're allowed to this once!!!)
/SOPS - Keep a LIGHT sound at the top when you've swooped it

MARGOT

En Passant - staccato
from La Lorraine- legato
SHAPE
Vigne - slight accent on V - make it exciting
BRIGHT tone - as used in Sfogava
Tone needs to be bang on, and bright cos the piece is fast and we've no time to correct a wrong tone
LOOK AT quartets for next week cos we'll be working on them individually - IF ollie sends who's doing what round
We'll be singing Vs 1,3,5,7 and 8

DATES
31st Oct - Party - from 5pm - Children welcome - bonfire on beach and bring food to Rachael's. Fancy dress - it's halloween! - Thanks, Rach, for 'g'hosting the party, especially as Jake's away!
6th Dec - St Giles
9th Dec - Priestfield
12th Dec - St Augustine's PENGUIN! can EVERYONE start pushing this concert NOW! We want a good audience!
16th Dec - xmas party
19th Dec - Crankshaws

15th Apr - Gallery - TBC
15th May - Wedding in Lanarkshire
29th Aug - St Giles

Sebastian's notes 16th September

2009-09-20T11:12:00.002+01:00

This marriage:

Have a look at the "jumpyaroundy" bits (Ollie says that's a musical term)
page 7 mp
Note the big pause at the end of the first line on page 7
Dynamics!
Phrasing!
Expressive!
Enunciate the words!
Sing it like a hymn
The rhythm looks tricky, but it's meant as speech ryhthm. We should just do it together as we did the Monteverdi, not trying the exact written ryhthm.
Last line: Smoothly separate the "o-o"s on the same notes

Lullaby Carol:

Legato, in tune
Confident entries in the beginning!
Slight Crescendo all first page and then a big one in bar 5

Dormi Jesu (will sound easier when sung in church)

Claire 2's notes, 9th September

2009-09-15T13:34:00.002+01:00

Hello, One and All.
I don't know if anyone noticed my magnificent fingernails last night - at the moment they are quite the longest and strongest they've ever been but, oh my word! they make typing difficult; this could take me hours!!
First things first....NB: re absences - ONLY DOUGLAS HAS FILLED IN THE DIARY FOR NEXT WEEK SO EVERYONE ELSE IS EXPECTED AT REHEARSAL UNLESS SUDDEN SERIOUS ILLNESS OR SIMILAR DISASTER PREVENTS IT. If you know you will be unable to make it - and you'd better have a good excuse - let Ollie know NOW.

Jenny led the warm-up and had us exercising our brains as well as our bodies/voices. The threat of Alzheimer's hangs ever lower and darker over Rudsambee....

Dormi Jesu: We mixed up to sing this which put the fear of god into me but proved less difficult than expected. Those who had not sung it before managed very well indeed and it sounded pretty OK for a first
attempt.
2nd time through we thought about dynamics (or were supposed to) and vowel sounds - which should be kept open and blended - and marked difficulties for later, more focussed attention.
Later - in the piano room....
Page 2: Sops wanted to look at bars 9, 10 and 11 - the real problem being the C in bar 10. Keep it sharp - there is a key change underneath so once you have your note hang onto it for dear life and don 't be distracted by other parts. Be aware of the phrase ending on a B, which feels logical and may help.
Bar 20 - basses, think of the the Eflat as a D# if it helps.
Page 5: - 'blandule' - no harsh 'a' sounds, 'blahnduleh'.
Bar 26 - Sops, come in with confidence. Bars 27 and 28 should then be p.
There will be quite a gap after bar 30. Watch and wait for the basses - everyone else comes in on the second beat of the bar.
I don't have many notes for this as mostly we sang it to get the feel of it so if you weren't there have a good look at this section - bars 20-29.
Page 6: Bar 41 - 'cantans' - nasty, terrifying, screechy sound apparently! Bad 'a's again. We want nice vowel sounds here, please... 'cahntahns'
Bar 43 - tenors have a tricky B. Think down to it during the fermata - you will get used to hearing it. You will!
That's it for that one except you must pay attention to the pps when they come. Take note of and think about the dynamics at all times while practising.

Margot: We split into 2 groups to practise this as we will be doing it in quartets eventually. Our challenge was to make it musical. Hmmmm....
In the piano room we found it made a huge difference when we sung the chorus off-by-heart. A much lighter and happier sound. This was proved by the sheer bouncy brilliance of the other group's performance later when they had the first verse and chorus well in their heads and sang it beautifully. Grrr. The best that can be said for us is that Anne and Angus acted indignation quite magnificently when we got to verse 4.
Aside from Angus's disturbing display of camp, I feel that a bit of ham acting would improve this quirky but rather repetitive number beyond belief.
General pronunciation notes: Rachel gave us these last week. This is an olde French song so the usual rules do not apply. 'r's should be rolled, not gutteral. Words with 'ois' in them eg roi, trois are said more like 'rouey' (think debauched old man) and 'trey' - with 'r' nicely rolling, of course. Normal pronunciation for 'fils' (ie 'son') with the 's' on the end but no 'l' - like 'feast' without the 't'.

Lullaby Carol: A bit of sight-reading. (Some people will have sung this before as it was a small group song a few years ago. Please look to see if you have a copy already).
Things to remember:
This is a lullaby!
Tuning is very important.
Counting is very important - the bars are irregular.
It should be legato - watch your breathing.
Think about expression straight away when sight-reading/looking at new pieces. Read the dynamics as well as the notes.
Page 2: Bar 5, tenors and sopranos have 'mm', basses and altos 'oo'. We need to hear both so be aware of the balance. Bar 6 we start singing words - the same words so the same vowels ie 'loolay'. Bar 10 we are all singing words together for the first time - 'mother' should be 'mahther'. Listen and blend.
Bar 9 - tenors, we need to hear you.
Page 3: Get the 'd' on 'child' all together - watch.There will be a long rest after this then think about balancing the melody. The Sop 2s have it first, then the Sop 1s then we are all together bar 19. Anyone singing the chords underneath must listen to the melody.

Rudsambee: Balancers and Blenders Extraordinaire.

Concert - 10th October. Bit fuzzy on the details but I'm sure most people know what's what. 7.30pm, I think - about 1 hour's duration, Falkland Parish church??? Anne knows. Elaine knows. Even Christopher knows, I believe. Ask one of them!!

Rachael's notes - 2nd September

2009-09-15T13:32:00.002+01:00

Lovely warm-up from Douglas - we worked our shoulders, swam a bit and sang a river song about quenching Aussie deserts (nothing could be further from my current view - Portobello beach on its most soggiest of soggy days).

During the rehearsal we concentrated on the two pieces from the previous week MARGOT and DORMI JESU. These pieces are basically now learnt so if you weren't at rehearsal on Wednesday, or the previous week, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE FAMILIAR with the pieces before Wednesday. There are pdf copies of the music, and mp3 recordings at:

http://cid-2ddf56b8fdf7c0b5.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/Music/Autumn%2009

MARGOT

Being in Old French, the pronunciation is slightly different from what you would expect of modern French.

R's - Make sure to roll all 'r's

'Oi' - If you see these letters together, pronounce two syllables eg
Mois is more mu-way than mwar

Appele - Do not pronounce the middle 'e' of this word

Fleurit - Ollie will check the pronunciation of this word

Verses - be careful of tuning, try and create a bright tone, slightly staccato. Lively and bouncy - make sure you are well-supported so that you hit the note directly and accurately

We will be singing this piece in quartets, and will begin to rehearse in quartets asap. If you are doing a verse (and Ollie will send a list round soon), make sure you are familiar with the words (and notes).

DORMI JESU

Dynamics - please take care to observe all dynamics as this will make the piece beautiful.

Bar 2 - Altos crescendo through note

End of bar 5 - it might be helpful to write in your next note - i.e., the first one of the next page

Bar 28 - Bass tune G sharp carefully

Bar 30 - make this cresc gradual until the page turn

Bar 31 - forward vowel sound on 'mis'. Try and get a rich vibration in your nose, as though humming

Bar 39
- this is a tricky jump for the Sops but try and think up a 4th
- bass, watch the timing here, make sure you give minims full value

Bar 46 and 47 - Sops, try and remember your previous F sharp

Jesu - this should be sung 'Yezu' rather than 'Yesue' and more 'Yairzu' than 'Yayzu'

Dul cem - pronounced 'dul chem'

Blan(dule) - the 'a' vowel sound should be rounded (blaa)

Bar 48 - Veni - same vowel sound as in Jesu (so 'vair-ni' like 'yair-zu')

NOTICES:
CONCERT..........10th Oct - SEE ANNE'S EMAIL
SUBS....ARE NOW LATE! NAMIN' & SHAMIN' POLICY WILL COMMENCE NEXT WEEK

IF YOU HAVE MISSED A REHEARSAL........PLEASE CATCH UP ON THE WORK DONE ON MARGOT AND DORMI JESU.

Arno's notes, 26th August

2009-08-30T22:16:00.004+01:00

Ollie pointed out we've got a real problem with attendance. With significant numbers of different people being absent at different rehearsals it becomes difficult to build up something musically coherent, so we're shooting ourselves in the foot basically. Having said that I will be away at a summer school the next two rehearsals, for which I apologize. All I can say is I think it's difficult for people to avoid the occasional professional commitment that requires travel out of town.

Short notes this week, as we mostly notebashed some new things.

First, "Margot Labourez les Vignes", a folky early French piece. We learned this by ear due to a shortage of copies. The pronunciation is early French, which apparently means the 'r' is rolled more with the tongue than in the back of the mouth.
"Trois" sounds like "tres", and the 'e' in 'ren' sounds I think like, well, like you would expect it to sound in English.

The idea for this piece will be to sing it in quartets, which should be by heart. We want to start doing this next week, so please for next week, learn the tune and first verse lyrics to Margot Labourez ... by heart.

*Chris has put the sheet music up on the skydrive:
http://cid-2ddf56b8fdf7c0b5.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/Music/Autumn%2009
There is also an mp3 recording of it on the skydrive.

Secondly, Bettinis' "Dormi Jesu", which we sightsang all the way through. There's a recording of this on the skydrive as well.

If you have them, bring Dormi Jesu, Holy Thursday, This Marriage and the Komitas (the recent one, single page, lyrics in a script that looks like a cross between Cyrillic and Tamil marked as 'Grave, religioso').

Natalie's notes, 12th August

2009-08-15T14:42:00.002+01:00

1. MENS' SONG has been taken out of St.Giles programme

2. THUMA MINA/AKANAMANDLA
Ollie will give us an 'F' to start.
Men can improvise rythmically from the 2nd verse onwards in Thuma Mina (not women!).
The first piece runs straight into Akanamandla, sopranos leading us in on that. Listen carefully to sopranos for the beat.

3. GREEN FIR FOREST
pg.3 - Sops wait for Ollie to bring you in. Everyone look up at Ollie, watch to be brought in. Sops sing an 'oeu' sound where 'e' is written.
pg.2 - middle system, last note, 2nd verse - move on to the 'n' of 'shen' quickly - 'shennnnnn...'
pg.3 - bar 3 - dim on 'qin' (V1) but not on 'shen' (V2). Crescendo on 'shen' (V2).
Big breath for last system on the last page when singing 'mm...'

4. SFOGAVA CON LE STELLE
Look up for speed changes on pg2 esp around bar 25 (it gets quicker here) and bar 35.
Take a big breath bar 69 onwards.
Very bright at the beginning of pg2.
Bar 48 - ATBs carry on singing under sops
Will be standing in a mixed-up formation for the performance of this at St. Giles.

5. Small group sang STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN

6. LADIES TORMIS
Be on the ball.
Otherwise fine.

7. LUX
Make the 'ca' of 'calida' on pg1 sound like 'car'
Will sing this at St. Giles

8. THE SPRINGTIME OF THE YEAR
Hold the dynamics back until pg2
Watch Ollie, especially in the last few bars.

Notices - 4pm start at St. Giles on Sunday. Normal performance dress.

Claire 1's notes, 5th August

2009-08-06T11:00:00.001+01:00

WARM-UP - Row row row you boat with the lovely C2. Only confirmed for me that boys are rubbish.

TAKE MY HAND - watch for the crescendos etc. Look up at Ol as the timing is a bit funny and we want to add dynamics. It starts very quietly.

AFRICAN STUFF - we are singing it in F (I think)
Thuma- accompanying parts need to be quiet so we can hear the beauty of the sopranos ;-) Keep it bouncy though and aim for the down beat. We sing each verse twice
Akanamandla- one song runs straights into the next with C1 and Kay leading us in. They are setting the pace and will go quick! Also twice through each verse.
Both of these pieces need to be done with guts and we need to hear the basses very loudly.

DINDIRIN - sang it in Spanish and it didn't sound too dreadful! Keep a clear tone like in Sfogava. We discussed the language so ask Anne and John who had a Sonny and Cher moment if you don't know what you are doing.

TIMID GIRL (ladies only) - ARRRRGGGGHHHH! Watch Ol and don't just try and read the music as you will sound like a numpty. Sop 2s should keep in swingy. Sop 1 top p 28 prepare notes. DON'T PANIC.

BOY's SONG (no one has given me the title for this yet) - sounded lovely. Sing it cabaret stylee like Seb as it sounds very funny and brill.

SFOGAVA - It is inferMo - change it in your copies. Keep looking up for this too and especially watch Ol's mouth during the free style lines.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR SATURDAY - Bring all your music to the church. Helen and Anne are getting there early and then we start at 11.30 so be earlier than that. There is a room to get changed and eat your sarnies in - in has floor to ceiling mirrors - Nice!

[ Anne adds:

IF YOU'RE COMING ON THE M8 TO JUNCTION 6, THEN A73.

If you're coming on the A71 into Newmains then you get to the roundabout by Asda and take the A73. You see the church quite soon on the left and the turn-off to the church car park is then AFTER the church [first road to the left then left again, marked to St Brigid's church and centre].

And yes, I have checked this is correct, I'm quite paranoid now after my faux-pas with the postcode, despite Elaine's best efforts to tell me the week before. How are the mighty fallen..... ]

The turn off for the church is before you get to the building and there is plenty of parking.

Re lifts - hopefully we all know where we are going? [Natalie - we need to ring Alison on Friday night to organise pick up (652 1553)]

And the Mild Wyrtles and Sebastian are both playing tonight if you fancy a couple of t'rific shows.

Jenny's notes, 29th July

2009-08-01T12:31:00.003+01:00

Claire II led us all with a lot of breathing and cheesy watsits. Next week Claire II is warming up and no one is doing notes which doesn't mean to say we don't need them!! Can someone's arm be twisted:) Thanks.

Ollie has an order of service now, so pick one up from him and scrap any other order of service you might have acquired.

We are singing for the congregational hymns:-

COLOUR OF DAY - in unison (poo) It's dead easy. Pick one up next week.

LORD OF ALL HOPEFULNESS - In harmony. Have the line you're singing in your head so you can switch verses easily and look up for them.

OTHER WEDDING SONGS:

You had a list of them in an email a week ago. At the bride's arrival (but not to her going down the aisle) we sing

TAKE MY HAND

1st page is repeated 3 times
2nd page is repeated 2 times
descant is verse 4 and 5 - Claire II and Kay
Last two bars PP come right at the end of the song

Bar 17 - verse 4 - omit the half measure so it's - east wind bites (rest) and cold grey... NOT ....bites (rest rest) and....
Bar 17 - verse 5 - there is NO -and- before -melting-

HOLD ON TO tied notes and watch for Ollie bringing us off them. It's essential because some are held for full value and some not and I couldn't keep up with what was what.

Feel the triplets - don't drag - think 'envoi'

Pay attention to upbeats.

Dynamics:-
Verse 1 - light and warm - pp
Verse 2 - light - p - slight crescendo through -ripe fruits of passion taste heady and sweet-
Verse 3 - hard - mp - crisp words
Verse 4 - Strong - mf - strong especially on -hard rocky shoreline-
Verse 5 - first line - mp - slight crescendo through -smouldering- and
bringing it down again in -core- Happy ending - mf
Very last -take my hand- pp

Put some effort into it. Don't sing it in a floppy 'gay' way as Ollie demonstrated. Sing it from somewhere good like your diaphragm and support it

Sops keep the G sharp - this piece tends to go flat during the first two bars.

NO SWEEPING from anybody!

LOOK UP - for reasons mentioned above and ESPECIALLY if you've sung the piece before as it's being done slightly differently. You'll be caught out if you don't!

DIEU Qui'l la fait
Connect the dieu to qu'il - no break or breath in between words
PRACTISE at home the scaley bits staccato, it will help them not get slurry.
Songe is nasal sound. NOT as in awful but as in if you are a goose and going honk honk honk
Tenors don't dot -la loue

SPRINGTIME
pp is sustained for at least two pages so the f has an effect.
DON'T COUNT but WATCH
LOOK UP for STOP and GO signs and definite directions from Ol
ENTRANCES important - be supportive. No bum notes/breathy effects./ice cream servers/
PREPARE the notes and tones a BEAT EARLY
Circle any place you are coming in out of nowhere
Men think BAA at AAA

MONTEVERDI
Faster than you think
Bright and keep tone when diminuendoing
Rolll rrrrrrrrs especially Amo rrrrrrr e
Mentally prepare before entries especially at beginning and keep it up!
watch Bar 34. It's very slow.
watch Bar 36. It's sped up again
Keep sharp sops
Practise at home Bars 38 - 45 Staccato
Bar 45 still think in tone.
Effect should be RICH BLOCK CRISP and STOPPING and STARTING together

KOMITAS
pick one up we'll be practising it soon. after St Giles

The wedding is at New Mains, Wishaw near Motherwell. A71 M8 junction 6/A73 ML2 9DA . Either M8 and then A73 or A71 to the A73 junction. It's on the A73 near the junction. There are two new mains don't go to the wrong one!!
Be there, with your lunch, for 11.30. Should finish about 2pm

Check with Anne as to who's driving you. Arrange pick ups etc between yourselves and driver. It takes about 1 hour.

PLEASE get your subs in so Anne can do the gift aid thing.

Anne's notes, July 22nd

2009-07-23T11:42:00.002+01:00

Ollie will be at the Wexlers next Monday and Tuesday [27 and 28 July] for extra practice. Let him know if you'll make it. And PLEASE come to all rehearsals even if you aren't singing at the next concert as, apart from the wedding or a specific event, much of the repertoire we are learning will be sung at other concerts. Holidays now over [unless you're about to go!] so please make every effort to be at the next 2/3 rehearsals for the wedding and St Giles. And DON'T ring/text Ollie 5 minutes before the rehearsal to say you can't make it , unless you are suddenly ill or car emergency etc. It p......es him off, understandably! There is a calendar for known absences. OK, nag over.

Thanks to Jenny for a fun animal and tongue-waggling warm-up!! Do we have a volunteer for notes next week?

1. Wedding -Sat 8 August, St Brigid's Church, Newmains, Wishaw. G42 OJN.

I have Rachael and AnnaLauren as NOT singing. Is this correct?

The hymns are now as on the attached sheet, ie Lord of all hopefulness, Colours of day dawn and I watch the sunrise. Ollie will get copies of the first 2 of these -you have I watch the sunrise. So destroy the copies you took 2 weeks ago, = Abide with me, and Take our bread, we aren't singing them. The responsorial psalm is Love is his word [we are checking as this doesn't seem like a psalm to us traditionalists!]

We are singing in the gallery. We will sing a variety of music from 12:50 for 10 minutes before the wedding, all from the August St Giles repertoire [see Ollie's recent email] so bring it all in case the bride is 20 minutes late. The most likely and first to be sung will be the Gorecki lullaby [Usnijze mi, usnij], Dieu! qu'il la fait, En une seule fleur and The Spring time of the year. When Douglas and his daughter arrive we will sing Take my Hand [Wedding song -Sheena and Peter].

During the signing of the register Helen will sing Ave Maria with me on piano [Ollie is checking whether there is one in the church] or organ or keyboard [or possibly all 3 at once!].
HELEN: Google Ave maria gratia plena lyrics and you will find a Latin version with Andrea Bocelli singing it. Latin score also found, see separate email to you and Ollie].

Then we all sing the Irish Blessing.

Those travelling with me or Helen will need to be at the church for 11am so we can practise the Ave Maria. Others should arrive by 11:30am. Allow about an hour to get there from central Edinburgh, more if you're picking up all over the place. Google maps say it's about 38 miles and 47 minutes from Morningside on the M8 then A73, or 33 miles and 56 minutes if you use the A71. We'll try to take full cars and Douglas has given me money for petrol so keep a note of your mileage.

There will be a short break to eat a sandwich before we sing at 12:50 [or make a drink if you're there early] so bring your own food, drink etc. There is a kitchen where there is a kettle but bring your own supplies.

We will sort out lifts next week. NB the Wexlers may not make it so we'll organise lifts accordingly.

2. Rehearsal

Yes, we did do quite a bit of singing after sorting out all the above! We ran though the psalm and hymn - I watch the sunrise. Ollie to confirm whether it's unison or harmony [for the altos, on the version we have].

Ollie then took the men to rehearse the MONTEVERDI [Sfogava] and the women all tried to sing AVE MARIA from my one copy. All quickly agreed that it would be much better sung as a solo by Helen! So that gets us off the hook, much to Helen's delight [??]

I then took the men aside to play with their parts [some of us get all the best jobs].....in NACHT UBER MOSKAU.
The main issues were the German. Remember "v" is always "f" [eg von is fon], "d" at the end of a word is often "t" [eg "wird"], "z" is always "ts" eg "Zauber", "s" sounds like "z" in many words, eg Sonne, Einsam, so....Geh'n is not as in the English diphthong "gay" but a cleaner sound more like a French é.

Sebastian says we should sing it a bit OTT , full Russian sound but with tongue in cheek!

Meanwhile the women were with Ollie on their TORMIS swings. As I missed most of this, just make sure you know your parts!

John's notes, July 8th

2009-07-09T13:05:00.002+01:00

We warmed up with Thuma mina

Twice through each verse.
Straight on - no fermata - from the end of the line back to the beginning every time until the very last.
As suggested on the printed music, tenors and basses can do "rhythmic improvisations" instead of singing their lines as written.
During the last minim of the second time through each verse, Sebastian will give us a lead with the first word of the next verse.

We then had an extended notebashing session.

Akanamandla

We are going to move from Thuma mina straight into Akanamandla, and to simplify things we will probably sing Akanamandla in F (same as Thuma mina) rather than A.
Twice through each verse.
At the end of each repetition except the very last, no fermata, and definitely no use of the coda bar marked with the segno. Observe the repeat marking back to the beginning every time. The coda bar is for the very end of the whole piece.
Stick to the rhythm as written, with all its syncopations. Resist the temptation to sing the syllables of "Haleluya" on the beat.

Sfogava con le stelle

We notebashed as far as bar 35. There's not much more to say, except that Ollie is taking full advantage of the freedom granted by the parlante markings to sing those bars with natural speech rhythms.

Sopranos and altos then worked on another Tormis piece, Kiigel kartlik
I have nothing to report, except that it sounded great when they came back and sang it to us.

In the mean time, tenors and basses did some more work on Sfogava, and then sang a few times through their lines of Holy Thursday.

We also had a hand-out of music for Douglas' daughter's wedding: three hymns, for which I think we are required to sing the melody line in unison

I watch the sunrise
Abide with me
Take our bread

and what is described as a responsorial psalm

Love is his word

Anne's notes, 24th June

2009-06-25T09:46:00.001+01:00

OK folks, this will be kept short to save you time in your busy lives. Notices first.

YORK
1. Most of us are on the 8am train from Waverley on Saturday, if you aren't or miss the train , either make your own way from York station or meet us at 10:29 at the station and we can go together to the venue, walk =30 mins, or bus or taxi.

2. The concert is at 7pm in York Cemetery Chapel, Cemetery Road. YO10 5AJ will give you a map on Multimap or Google maps. I don't know if it's sold out, they are limited to 80. The phone number was on the poster I forwarded a while ago , 01901 122193.

3. If you want to meet friends/family after the rehearsal, Ollie thinks we should be free by about 3:30pm. The shared picnic [for Soon Amore choir and us, not our hangers-on!] is at 5pm in the grounds and SA are providing this. If you want more time with friends then skip the picnic - let us know - and be back at the Chapel by 6:30pm latest to warm-up etc. Don't plan on going back to your host's house to change, we can change at the venue and things/bags can be locked up there.

4. Bring your own lunch and a present for your hosts if relevant [people were asking what to take - wine, chocs etc, something consumable is usually a good idea].

5. Normal concert dress, and don't forget your BLACK shoes.

6. If you have a proper copy of Sleep, Visur , etc then bring it in case Performing Rights Society do a spot visit.

OTHER
1. Ollie will email a list of music for Douglas's daughter's wedding [8 Aug. 1pm, Newmains, Wishaw.]
We're singing 3 hymns,[ melody ], psalm and for 10 mins before the service and when they sign the register.
Irish Blessing, Schubert Ave Maria and Take my hand are all included plus others.
Expect to rehearse from 11:30am latest on the day, and we will share cars, leaving about 10:30am I expect.

2. There may be more new music for the St Giles concert, but Ollie is aware that people will be on holiday. If necessary there may be 1 or 2 songs that you might sit out for.

3. Most important, Douglas has asked us to sing at HIS WEDDING TO JEAN on 15 May 2010!! Congratulations to both of you.

NOTES -BRIEF!

TOURDION is sung as we always sing it. If you don't know what that is I hope this is correct!

Page 1 is A, page 2 is B
1. T and B sing AABA
2. AT and B sing AABA
3. SATB sing AABB
4. SATB sing but S and T swop parts [octave lower/higher etc] and sing BBAA
5. SATB sing AA

TORMIS : we sing Lulling as a separate item, then the other 4 Tormis as a set, so check you know where your next note comes from [whether you choose your own method or Ollie's!!]
Pussy-cat: we get a G and 2 bars from Ollie
To sing you a little song: follow me, folks!
Heavenly suitors: the first bar is a slow beat
What are they doing: women sing your line legato, well-toned and not too loud. Bar 5 sops = staccato on "min"

POLISH LULLABY: no prob
VISUR: smile page 2, watch Ollie for last line fermata etc
SOORB: sang through
SLEEP: pretty good!
BROWN EYES: words fail me, well they did, but AnnaLauren's whistle will make up for it. SEBASTIAN AND CLAIRE 1 Ollie would really like us to jazz this song up with a bit of free improvisation, in fact I think he said a couple of extra verse would be good........or was that last night's dream.....??

Chris' notes, 17th June

2009-06-18T11:15:00.003+01:00

In the absence of our glorious leader, not to mention Anne and a few others, it was a relatively gentle rehearsal – other than the hysteria. Here are some small notes on what we did and other stuff too...

We ran through Don't it make my brown eyes blue a couple of times, paying some attention to the middle section where the chords are a little bit slippery.

A bit of Tormis for old times sake: The Heavenly Suitors and What are they doing? seemed okay; some issues with starting THS but WATD worked quite well after letting the women go over the words slowly a few times. The chords on Pussy Cat are working, and it didn't seem worth going through the whole piece – or TSYALS – in the absence of the soloists. We will need to remember how to progress from one song to the next.

Tourdion, after a slow start, picked up speed and enthusiasm as in days of yore. Remember the pattern and we should be fine. Underparts remember to quieten down as the melody comes in.

Uśnijże mi, uśnij, sung slowly as it is a lullaby, sounded fine. Already!

The Dark-eyed sailor has all the same glitches it used to have. We tried it slowly and then very fast while trying to be quiet. Try to be quiet, folks - we'll never manage it but the song might sound less DAH DAH DAH if we aren't belting it out all the way. Also, men remember to be awake for the tricky entry halfway through.

Sleep worked. Who'd have thought it? Even though half of the parts were effectively solos, even though we've not sung it properly for 18months, it sounded like Sleep (even without Douglas's snoring at the end). Do go over it if there are any bits you fluffed or that you know you have problems with. Ollie will assuredly mould the song with his directoririiness and this will help with entries but be aware of phrasing, dynamics and your entries. Listen to it if you need to (it's at
http://cid-2ddf56b8fdf7c0b5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Music/Summer%2009/Whitacre%20-%20Sleep.mp3).

FURTHER INFORMATION

At York we will be lacking Arno and Angus. This is why the song list is so different to that at the last concert. As a result, Sebastian will sing Bass1 on Jede sedlák and John will sing Bass1 on Bogoróditsye Djévo. And so we had a try of those, which worked swell (other than more mania from AnnaLauren who was tonight's Naught Distracting Person). Sleep will be ok because we are singing that with Soon Amore who, presumably, have their own Bass1s.

The concert will be 45minutes each half, with us going first finishing with a joint Sleep led by Ollie. Soon Amore will then do their set – after an interval I'm guessing – which will finish with a joint Don't it make... led by Toby. There may not be a big joint encore as there's nothing suitable left, but don't rely on it as everything is still subject to change.

Kay2/3 is not at York with us or in fact with us at all. She was only brought in to cover Natalie's sabbatical and when Natalie returned we held on to her as long as we could but 6 altos is CRAZY, hear? Apparently not everyone knew this...

Small group: We will not be doing Autumn Leaves at York, but we WILL be doing Star of the County Down so anyone who is in that group please arrive early next Wednesday.

Oliver2 – It's possibly a good idea to stand aside for things you don't know as it's not really worth you cramming just for one concert...

For anyone who missed it, the current list of songs we are working from is below. We will not do all of them, but most should feature. You will hopefully have a final list of songs, in order, by Sunday. And if there's anything else important you'll find out later. IN SUMMARY, look at your music and listen to recordings if you need to before next Wednesday.

Dieu! Qu'il la fait bon regarder
Jede sedlák do mlejna
En Une Seule Fleur
Star of the County Down
Bogoróditsye Djévo (Rejoice, Mother of God)
Tha bean agam (I have a wife);
Chuala mi e (I heard it three times);
Còta fad' air Dòmhnull Lòm (A long coat on skinny Donald);
'S ann an Ile (On Islay).
Äiutus/ (Lulling)/
Kiisu Miisu (Pussy Cat)
Laulda Teile Lauluke (To Sing You A Little Song)
Taevased Kosilased (The Heavenly Suitors)
Mis Teil Tehakse? (What are they doing?)
Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu (Quatrains by Rose from Vatnsendi)
Dark-eyed sailor
La, La, La, Je Ne L'Ose Dire
Uśnijże mi, uśnij
Soorb (Sanctus)
Tourdion
Don't it make my brown eyes blue
Sleep

Jenny's notes, 10th June

2009-06-12T00:14:00.001+01:00

Hi all, here's a few nots and musts!

Claire 1 warmed us up with rounded vowels sung quietly. GOOD TIPS here:
When singing FF to PP on vowel sounds EEEE or AHAHAHAHAH (that's ah, not ha ha ha!) there shouldn't be a difference in the vowel sound. ie - the tip of the tongue should be placed at the back of the front teeth and the cavity at the back of the mouth, and the mouth shape, should be the same so we get a nice rounded sound in any dynamic. I think this was the gist of it!

Another pointer - on the recent concert recording some of the entries were a bit not so good as they might have been. In rehearsals we're now going to have a minutes respectful silence whilst we think in our heads
about what note we're going to come in on, the vowel sound, taking a breath and coming in all together on the down beat. not slightly before or slightly after it!

Have got a list for York not in that order though. If you want me to email you a list, let me know and I'll get round to it at some point.

GORECKIS the lullaby piece we got two weeks ago

D given at start. Ollie beating two bars of 2 to bring us in. This will give us time to think of the note, place it in our heads, breath, and sing the D as one voice. BECAUSE All the notes at beginning after the D should sound as if they're coming out of the D rather than seperate notes.

Did the pronounciation, it's not difficult. If anyone wants my version I'll email it, just don't ask for it the night before rehearsal!
JUST a reminder that all 'o's are as in 'hot' NO 'oh' sounds!
No 'j' pronounced on the end of 'shnig' it's just 'shni'
Vowels 'y' and 'i' are to be taken with a pinch of salt. They sound pretty much the same when sung even if the spoken one's are different.
LOOK at each other (scary, I know) when singing consonants to take ends of words off properly

THOSE OF US AT REHEARSAL CAN NOW DO THE MUSIC BY MEMORY! It isn't difficult. There are only three systems in which the first three bars of each system are repeated. In other words there are only about 9 notes (except basses) we have to learn. Learn the notes and the SHAPE of the lines and the DYNAMICS.

Bar 9 & 12- Altos can bring out those quavers, we're the only ones moving there
Bar 9 & 12 - are three bar phrases.

BROWN EYES - singing this with other choir. It's easy peesy cheesy sleezy

NOTE the top line of page whatever it is, is missing, so make allowances - ie what may look like an E is actually a C!!
This is not swung as yet (Anne! and Sebastian!!) because we don't know what other choir's doing.
For the same reason, (unfortunately because those long boring notes are just asking to be hammed up), there will be no scooby-doo stuff. Nope, not even Sebastian's impressions of an excited steam engine -
pshh-u-p-tch-shu-wah..etc. ONLY Anna-Lauren is allowed to whistle - not for a cow, sheep or man, though - if she can do it at the same time as laughing.

Bar 12 - Altos and Basses LISTEN to each other
Bar 34 - Altos and Tenors watch the quaver
Last Bar - (As Kay pointed out) The last note should be ON the beat. It isn't syncopated.

Make sure you get notes which should be on the beat, on the beat.

Turning his music over as if looking for something, Angus asked in a tone of regret - Where are verses 3 and 4? Are we not doing them? He took us all in, and made Ollie's face look like a cat what had been sat on suddenly. Classic, well done!

WELL DONE to OLI 2 who got a FIRST!!

CLAIRE 2 is mooning again!! Please sponsor her bottom walking.
Rephrased, please sponsor Claire who will be doing the MOON WALK. She deserves every penny - I mean the charity does!!

Think that's all, thanks, Jenny

Arno's notes, June 4th

2009-06-05T23:44:00.006+01:00

Overall take home messages:

Just before a piece starts:

THINK: switch my brain on and concentrate,
THINK: dynamics, what kind of attack, any emphasis, legato, bouncy, or otherwise
IMAGINE: what note am I going to sing, hear it in your mind,
ADJUST (optional): actually, better pre-auralize it as slightly sharper than what I just thought because otherwise it'll come out flat as soon as I start singing,
BREATHE: silently (using Sebastian's frog and tongue down in the mouth), give yourself plenty of air just before the first note. Start outward air flow just before you need to produce the note rather than doing so right on the entry beat. This helps you control your entry timing more exactly and I think also helps eliminate pitch wobbles that are due to initial variations in air flow physically affecting sound production.

I think we've become better at entering in tune compared to when I first joined, i.e. I think Ollie's insistence on imagining the note in your mind is really helping.

Initial pitch wobbles can also be due to your brain trying too hard to adapt to other people's tuning (also known as UCDM, Ultrarapid Choral Discordancy Minimization). I think our experiences with mixing positions, i.e. not standing next to other people of the same part, is that if you learn to trust your own mental image of the note to come and take responsibility for it rather than coming to a gradual consensus with all your neighbours, then this actually leads to a better tuning for the choir as a whole. So we just have to remember this when we are surrounded by the same part!

Jede Sedlak:

Dynamics:
When BASSES start the piece, the repeated "jede jede jede jede" should be light and bouncy, not loud. It shouldn't sound forced and scare people!

The 2nd verse will be faster than the 1st verse, and the 3rd verse faster still. When we come in on verses 2 and 3 he will not have the chance to beat a bar or anything to indicate tempo, so look at our human metronome (Ollie) and synchronize your tempo ASAP.

The last "pum" in "vydr um pum pum" in the women's verses should be short, don't linger. This is especially true in bar 18.

Note for the women: all 3 choruses are the same, namely "Jede sedlak do mlejna" - there was some confusion over this.

Hebrew Love Songs

I.
ALTOS in bar 18, careful with tuning the semitones C natural, B, C natural on "no-fel". This was sounding pretty good by the end of the bashing!

II.
Bar 55, BASSES, the "U" in "Uve kalut" should sound deep, rich, and sonorous. And, oh yes, in tune :-)
Bar 57, EVERYONE, watch Ollie to put the "t" at the end of the fermata.

III. (Larov)
Bar 6, EVERYONE, the "U" entries should be confident and in time, and should be an open and rich sound (BASSES, use the same sound as described for the "U" in II. above.). The "U" should grow in intensity, i.e. crescendo through the note.

Nice 'swell' ( <> in terms of dynamics) on "chad" in bar 9, but not too sharp - then it feels as if you're swerving in a car at high speed around a hairpin bend, it's kind of scary.

IV. (Eyze sheleg)
Make sure you're bonging, not monging: monging is minging.

Bar 8, BASSES, use similar sound as "U" as for II. above. Not too soft. Watch tuning. Whatever you do just don't mess up the lingering aural memory of AL's beautiful solo....

V. (Rakut)
Bars 28 - 31, EVERYONE, Ollie asked for an open sound for the "ha - chi". Balance: slight emphasis on the lower voices.

Une Seule Fleur
See take home messages. The entries and tuning were quite sloppy to begin with again. We just have to focus for this one.
START /p/!! NOT LOUD! Don't make Ollie cringe.

Middle section:
Not too loud, it's only /mf/.
Bar 45, EVERYONE, hold that note for its full length, even if we do decrescendo.

Green Fir Forest
Middle system p. 2, SOPRANO melody should be legato. Last page, deep breath and hold for long!
BASSES look up (yes, but I still need my squiggled phonetic writing out of the chinese! :-(

Morgenstern
Top parts /p/, emphasis on BASSES brain on, tuning (see take home message)

Spring Time
Dynamics!:
Start pp
Hold back substantially until the f, bottom of page 2.

Lulling
BASSES & TENORS, louder at first before the other voices come in, after which we're in the background.
ALTOS, your melody when you first come in should be a bit louder, and not sound airy / breathy. The latter timbre should be reserved for "Su su tas" (last bar, third system, first page). This later bar and the following few should be phrased, difficult as they are kind of wandering, but try.
"Bah" should sound like the "a" in an English chocolate "bar".

Anouncements

Rehearsal saturday before the concert, 2pm-4:30pm. Had said until 4pm earlier but would be good if we can stay longer because the handbellers may not arrive until 3pm or just after.
There will be NO INTERVAL in the concert
Someone from the Bosnia project will talk at some point during the concert (not while we're singing, I assume)
Also during the concert, right after we finish singing the second to last song (Une Seule Fleur) and before Cloudburst, Claire Two will mention the retiring collection to take place the end, and the gift aid vouchers. Then, while we bring the music stands into position and get the percussionists, handbellers and pianist onstage, Claire One, Oliver Two, AnnaLauren and I will distribute 'gift aid' vouchers (stapled to envelopes, apparently) to anyone in the audience who is willing to fill one in. The retiring collection at the end will be done by those same people holding buckets, as I understand.
We will be using music stands for Cloudburst, not for anything else, so bring all your music (no sharing until Cloudburst). We should have enough stands, but if you have extra music stands and it's not inconvenient, bring them just in case we need for percussionists / handbellers. Best if Douglas brings his black one that is in line with the Reid Hall ones, and I will bring two differently shaped but still black ones. If Ollie thinks we need more than three extra stands, other people please bring.
We need an audience! Get mass-mailing! (prod) Flyering! (prod) Poster-sticking! (prod) Tell your friends! (prod prod prod prod prod prod prod prod prod). See Chris for flyers / posters.

Douglas' notes, 20th May

2009-05-25T21:56:00.004+01:00

Czech Song

Kay went through the Pronunciation again including verse 2, so check with someone else if you are unsure of the correct Czech. Remember the start of each line "kdish do" and "Na myle na"

Cloudburst

Bar 46 onwards - make the words Bell like and very Legato.

Bar 53 Loud start and very Buoyant. Make sure the Triplets are well supported and clearly defined. "Sangre" - Roll the "r".

Decrescendo when the soprano starts at Bar 57. Ollie will tell you when to finish the chord. We will be doing Cloudburst slowly than we have been rehearsing it.

On Hillisuvi

Ollie will give a G. Starts very PP then crescendo with the words at bar 7. Ending was not so good

Go straight to Kannarbik for which a C will be given. This was well done.

Spring Time of the Year

What a smooth song this is is! On Page 3 we need to hear the melody as it goes from tenor to soprano etc. The beginning is P and we need to follow the dynamics more closely.

Debussy

The tenor entries at bar 22 and27 need to be more rhythmic and in general the rhythms need to be more accurate But it was really Nice.

Not much in the notes I'm afraid but we were checking and polishing well known pieces by this stage.

OTHER NOTES

Chris to email Concert flyers to all. All please take posters and flyers to distribute. Chris will be producing more posters , and Subs are Due.

Priestfield rehearsal next Weds ( small group to start at 7.15)

6th June 2-4pm rehearsal at Reid Hall. Be there also at 6.30 ready to sing at 7.30.

Also Saturday rehearsal 30 May 1-3pm

Jenny's notes, 13th May

2009-05-25T21:56:00.003+01:00

Douglas warmed us up with some piggies and doggies, sung very fast to hornpipe music.

This is the list for Cloudburst concert. Not in order yet, and probably not all of it.

Cloudburst - as someone said, we'd better sing that.
Hebrew Love songs
Kanarbic
Hilli
Lulling
Green Fir
Bogoro
O Morgenstern
Envoi
In Springtime of the Year - the newish V.Williams
En une seule fleur
Hide and Seek
Dieu qu'il la fait
Je de Sedlak

NEW YORK PIECES
Henryk Gorecki - (usnije mi usnij - ANNE, I think you've probably sung it when Suzannah was with us)
Misererere Nostri and County Down - small group pieces
3rd verse of Czech piece - Je de

IT IS IMPORTANT for WEDNESDAY -
Get the Czech words in your heads
Know what you're doing with Springtime
Know what you're doing with Cloudburst - especially especially bars 79 onwards

JE DE SEDLAK - For CLOUDBURST CONCERT - singing V.1 and V.2 and V.1 again. THIS MIGHT CHANGE for YORK

PRONOUNCIATION v.2 -
G deesh do mlayna pro j (as in french j sound) yeh lee
vee de rom pom pom (tiddly-i-tie)
Nah mlayna je (as in french je) sept ah li
vee de rom pom pom ('ave a banana)

CLOUDBURST/STARBURST/OUTBURST/FIT TO BURST - something explosive anyway....

Bar 79 onwards - doing it on the 30th so GET TO GRIPS WITH IT
PLEASE begs AL - NOT NOT NOT llllllllluvia, it's YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYou via. (I also heard some aGuas and it should be aWa)
Bar 57 - HOLD the note on that pause UNTIL Anna-Lauren has penetrated it with her solo

(WAIT FOR BASSES TO JEDA GIRLS! - Apologies, Ollie decided to make us sing je da in the middle of rehearsing Cloudbursts)

TENORS - Bar 43, Cloudburst piece, sing sharply
2nd BASSES - middle system 2nd bar make sure you're not always slightly late with A#

EVERYONE - Keep on top of P.7 - that doesn't mean sit on it til Wednesday, but look at it and listen to it!!

SPRINGTIME

? ? ? ? ? was anything said about this?

NOTICES
Small group starts next week. Can BOTH groups what sang Star of County Down AND the miseries (!) ALL ATTEND please
Please don't anyone DARE to miss the next rehearsals cos they're the last ones pre concert rehearsal with hand bells and pre concert full stop!!
SUBS to CLAIRE please.

John's notes, April 29th

2009-04-30T11:13:00.008+01:00

Kay led us through a straightforward and effective warm-up. Then Ollie produced something new (well, only 96 years old) for us to sing:

The spring time of the year (Vaughan Williams)
This is just three pages, without too many hazards and surprises, so a single session of note-bashing was enough to make it singable. We then proceeded to phrasing and dynamics.

in the springtime of the year - tenors' high F# on the last quaver of year - risks not being sharp enough.
I overheard a sailor boy - relax from mf as the phrase descends, except for the basses, who should give a strong low A for boy, Like-.
Likewise a lady fair - observe the written markings, i.e., fairly p apart from a swell and dim in the bass line.
They sang a song - sudden mf. For sop and bass, this comes on the last beat of a bar, while alto and tenor are still singing, quietly, -dy fair. When alto and tenor go mf for They, on the second beat of the next bar, sop and bass should ease off a bit.
Proclaimed the lovely spring - sing this as an unbroken phrase. If you need breath, get it between gay and Proclaimed.
Coda (wordless bit after spring) - timing and keeping the beat seems to be the problem here. Work out which other parts you can use to get cues for your entries.

Jede sedlák
Kay gave the pronunciation. I have no notes about this, because I wasn't there. Since the basses have no actual words to sing, we went off with Anne to work on the final bars of Cloudburst instead. When we came back, though, everybody else was word perfect and sang the whole thing like Iva Bittová. They then allowed us to join in, but could not restrain themselves from singing over our solo. So,

remember there are two bars silence, if you're not a bass, before you launch into each verse.

Cloudburst
We worked on the end of the piece, from bar 65. It's impossible to take notes while clicking fingers and slapping thighs, so all I can do is to describe how I am trying to remember what to do here.

bar 58: AnnaLauren's solo al punto de partida.
bar 59: a 5/4 bar; one beat rest, then we whisper la lluvia...
bar 60: 4/4, and it's all 4/4 from here on; we fade out our ah while the cymbal and windchimes start up.
bars 61-64: cymbal and windchimes keep going and the handbells start up.
bars 65-67: we all start mmm on an A; those who have to hum up a scale begin on the second beat of bar 66, and stick whenever they reach their destination note.
bar 68: we should all have reached our destination note at least one beat before this; this is the bar where we start to raise our arms and change from mmm through O to ah. Fists closed, arms rising in front.
bar 69: all singing ah, arms arriving at the vertical, then open hands, palms facing inwards; watch for Ollie's beat because there's a fermata on this bar.
bar 70: sing mah- simultaneously with a single clap; begin finger-clicking; change mah- into -O- and them -mm; watch Ollie's beat, because there's another fermata.

From here on, I can't deal with the clicking, clapping and slapping. You'll have to fill in your own!

bars 71-74: random chanting of ojos de agua de sueño, followed by relampagos (tenors), voz alta (altos), hay que cantar (sop2). There are fermatas in bars 72, 73 and 74, so watch Ollie!
bar 75: this is where the sop1s sing their voz alta and the basses (who are still randomly chanting ojos de agua de sueño) have to arrive on agua synchronously with the sop2's cantar. Another fermata before we move on to ...
bar 76: maximum clapping, clicking, slapping; tenors and basses silent while altos and sopranos sing (ff) mah.
bars 77, 78: tenors and basses join in with a ff mah; then everybody does another mah.., f this time.
bar 79: ...ah-O-mm, fading down, and everybody moves onto clicking fingers instead of slapping or clapping.
bars 80-84: this is the "storm fading away" coda. Not too many notes, and you'll have to do your own counting. There are fermatas in almost every bar, so watch Ollie, particularly for the up-beats.

Notices:

Remember the AGM next Wednesday (6th May)
Cloudburst concert: what else are we going to sing? Ollie will send us the programme soon. It's likely to include the Five Hebrew Love Songs.
York concert: please send any outstanding travel receipts to Anne straight away. And Ollie will give us a programme for this concert too - soon.

I was making coffee, so I didn't hear the notices. If there's anything that needs to be added, Anne will no doubt e-mail it to us.

Arno's notes, 22nd April

2009-04-27T10:39:00.004+01:00

Czech song:
We learnt the 2nd part of the Czech song (la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la), but this was primarily a Cloudburst rehearsal (see below)

Cloudbu(r)st:
We tried to get back on track with Cloudburst.
The first of two focus sections of the rehearsal concerned pages 7 and 8, starting with the 'rai, rai, ces ces .....' chords (bar 43).
These should really be p to begin with. Keep in mind though that although dynamics are p, each entry should have a clear little emphasis in the attack. As Whitacre puts it:

"Bars 43-46 should be soft bell tones, gradually expanding and growing in intensity"

I imagine these like the sound of bells, briefly loud when first hit and softly ringing thereafter, as if hit with a felt-capped mallet to soften the timbre of the sound and take away any harshness, but with some residual crispness (aided by what should be a crisp rolling 'r' for 'rai ... ', 'tro ...' and 'ra ...' - c.f. AnnaLauren's pronunciation.) Ok, ok, so I'm over the top in how I describe things (see frequency geekiness below).

--- aside ---
A nice thing to notice is the words that this music carries. The relevant lines are:
"We must sing till the song puts forth
roots [raíces]
trunk [tronco]
branches [ramas]
birds [pajaros]
stars [astros]
[...]"

It struck me as really nice how the imagery here going from the foundation of the tree reaching up towards the sky is reflected in the buildup of each chord individually (namely from the bottom up: the basses always start and e.g. in bar 45 the lower voices supply the branches after which the Altos I and the Sops deposit the birds), as well as in the fact that each successive chord reaches further harmonically speaking ('up' in the case of the first interval amongst the basses) and correspondingly higher up along and eventually above the tree.
--- aside ---

Everybody watch the tuning on these chords. Maybe listen to the recording, and pause it just before your note to check you've got it right, or if you have a piano / keyboard play the preceding notes on there. Idea is to get it nice and spot, be certain based on the note before you so we can get clear and well timed attacks.

The duration of the fermatas at the end of each bar (bars 43-45) have been left somewhat undefined while we focus on the tuning to begin with, hence some uncertainty in timings for starting each next bar remain for now. We'll sort this out later.

Dynamics: a nice crescendo starting from p in bar 43 and coming to mf in bar 47.

Prepare the page turn going from page 7 to page 8. Make sure you know without having to turn the page exactly what note is your next (write it in!).

You'll see the very last thing on page 7 is a breath mark. What follows on page 8 is phrased as follows:
Bar 53 and 3/4 of bar 54 ("sangre, la marea") is one phrase, followed by
Final 1/4 of bar 54, bar 55 and 3/4 of bar 56 ("la tierra y el cuerpo") is another phrase.

Bar 53: lower parts f, nice and strong, upper parts be aware of this (beware?)

Bar 57: in case there was any doubt, it's "volver", not "volvar".

Pronunciation (generally): some friendly recommendations from our chica northern-Mejicana :-)

* ROLL ('FLIP'?) YOUR 'R's !
This includes, but is not limited to:
"raí" which should never sound like the english "wry"
"tronco"
"ramas"
"astros"
"desenterrar"
"perdida"
"reco*rdar"
"tierra"
"relampagos"

All it requires is a momentary vibration of the tip of the tongue, without even much breath behind it (more like a flash of cat purring than like a machine gun).

* v should sound like a mix of 40% English v, 60% English b
"volver" ~> "bolber", "lluvia" ~> "yubia"

* d is soft, like a Gaelic d

* ñ (as in "soñar") sounds like, how to put it, ny in the Russian nyet

* Vowel sounds: the a generally sounds much brighter and 'open' than the posh English 'ah' sound

That's the best I can describe, best just to listen to AnnaLauren.

The second focus section of the Cloudburst rehearsal was the Cloudburst itself + its run up, i.e. bars 65 - 79, on pages 10 - 13.

By the end we were going through all of this by heart, though still somewhat hesitantly.

Bars 65 - 79 should be BY HEART. Aim to know what you need to do during these bars by heart asap.

Bar 65: enter really softly pp - let's put a smile on Ollie's face.

Remember: we start raising our arms as soon as everyone's finished singing their ascending scale - just listen and keep track of when the Soprano I's finish their ascending scale, it's simply the end of a bar.

MEMORIZE: start raising arms (fists clenched) on the first beat of bar 68.

Obviously the thunderclap on the first beat of bar 70 must be synchronised or else it'll be Cloudbust (what we need is a Cloudboom). I am unsure of whether fermata or not at the end of bar 69, will ask Ollie next rehearsal.

Also, firm attack with emphasis on 'mah', the first beat of bar 70. This means being sure of your tuning, so you can concentrate on the attack.

Bars 70 - 79 Finger snapping, thigh slapping and clapping:
This starts hesitantly right after the thunderclap, and increases over the next few bars, building up to a fury by the end of bar 75 that is sustained through bar 77, with everyone reverting to snapping that quickly loses intensity in bar 78 and disappears entirely by the end of bar 79.

--- Question for Ollie ---
as just described we've been reverting to snapping in bar 78 and letting it die out completely by the end of bar 79, while Whitacre's instructions are to only revert to snapping at the beginning of bar 79 (marked by ( 5 ) ), and then to "gradually fade until the end [of the piece, surely?]." Especially since he also says: "In the last bar [of the piece] the choir should hold [their hummed note] and then die out, leaving only the rain (soft snaps only) and the thunder as the rain cloud disappears into the distance".
--- Question for Ollie ---

In any case, what we want is dynamics in the snapping / slapping / clapping - crescendo through bars 70 - 75, and decrescendo later. We're taking a crescendo not to mean that the individual snaps / slaps / claps get much louder but, as I was trying to understand in geekily precise terms during the rehearsal, that the average frequency (and thereby temporal density - ha, suffer!) of sound events increases. Or as Kay so succinctly put it: just snap / slap / clap /faster!

In other words, the first hesitant snaps right after 'mah' first beat of bar 70 can actually be reasonably loud (John got the impression from the performance he attended that soft snaps won't be heard at all, though this depends on acoustics), but they should be intermittent - the first few drops of rain are not smaller than those that come later, there're just less of them.

--- me trying to get the last word ---
You see, technically I still prefer the term higher frequency because 'faster' is ambiguous - it could be taken to mean that individual snaps / slaps / claps should be done faster (i.e. move your fingers / hands at greater speed, leading to greater impact velocity and hence louder sound) rather than any change to the timings of the actions.
--- me trying to get the last word ---

Bar 81: TENORS II, ALTOS II, SOPRANOS II: you don't have a fermata, the numbers I do. So don't wait for them, just sing on. There is a fermata before the breath at the end of the bar, but that's for everyone and is in Ollie's hands so look at him.
Same in bars 82 (BASSES too this time only), 83, 84.

Some final words scribbled down at various points during the rehearsal:

Don't look at copies
Be uncomfortable (now, so you'll be comfortable later)
Just remember what matters for you (entries, snaps, crackles and pops)

NOTICES
From before, I have written down Extra Rehearsal scheduled for May 30th, 13:00-15:00 by some kind of consensus.

Reservations for concert (June 6th): the Reid hall is plenty big so there shouldn't be any problem for people to get tickets at the door. However, to protect against the eventuality of unexpected mass popularity, we can tell people that if they want to be sure to get a seat, they can reserve by emailing Anne (I assume at contact@rudsambee.org.uk rather than her personal address anne@ravelrig01.demon.co.uk; - correct me if I'm wrong please Anne).

Something about travel reimbursements. Just bring a receipt / ticket with price to show Anne on Wednesday so she can reimburse you if she hasn't already.

Jenny's notes, 25th March

2009-04-01T12:58:00.002+01:00

Did some pliés with Clare. Helen didn't do them. She was laughing at someone else's attempts. If she'd have uncrossed her legs and joined in, the new furbishings would have been spoiled with wee. Anyway, did some of our own pee pee pee ing and other cons(t)onants.

TROIS CHANSONS
Enunciate
Alto staccato
Support trills. Even if you just get the first two notes of trill sung with clarity would be good
DIEU - put tongue on alveolar and behind your teeth to get a good D
DON'T BREATHE between Dieu and Qui
SONGE - is an important word. It means dream.

HIDE AND SEEKED
Lots of looking up!
Basses - ba boom louder - think it's an A you boom on
AMAZING - well done!

KANARBIK - remember - no folders
Basses - don't be tentative with words. Put 'k's in more strong (sounded 10xs better when you did)
Bars 12-15 - will speed up
Bar 9,10 - Triplets will be beaten
Bar 13 - rhythm and first time someone sings ainult nen de pel poleb.
Remember the warm up. Get good consonants on those words

ON HILLI - no folders
Hummers - need to think mp/mf

GENERAL NOTE - we'll be holding folders under our arms rather than putting them on floor. You can stick a sticky thing on your folder so you can glance down to see what note you're starting on, how Ollie's beating us, the first word, and any other information you need so you don't have to open the folder between songs and are confident as to where you're moving.

CRUCIFIXUS
1st page - listen to last note of previous bar and don't let the notes sag. EVERYONE'S 3rd note should be sharp and supported. WRITE THIS ON YOUR COPY
2nd page- Enunciate - it'll help with the rhythm. Roll rrrrrrrr's, it's a good way to get the tone out. Pout like ducks on words such as 'est'.
On long 'u' vowels, change the 'u' to 'aw' as in raw on the moving crotchet. Make sure moving crotchet is supported and in tune.
3rd page - Sops descending 2 beat thing - don't be afraid. SING OUT
TUS and ET should be connected. STAGGER breathing. Don't break at end Bar 37
Be confident
Look up LOTS and throw energy of piece to the audience.

GREEN FURRY FOREST
Tenors - Don't be shy of minor 3rds
Entries - as in cloudburst with bell sounds
Read ahead for words
Look up lots. People don't need to look at copies if singing chords.
Ollie will direct when we take breathes and change notes etc. and you can sort of hear from the melody when to change notes or how long to hold onto chords.
It's not just a case of looking up. Try and convey what the piece is about to the audience, and fool them into thinking we know what we're singing about! Watch how AnnaLauren, Kay 1 and Kay 2 do it!!

BOGOFF - no folders
AWESOME! especially men's bit in middle
Bring out the - ARNO PENTI (????) [Arno suggests: "ARNO PENTI" = Arvo Pärty :-)] chord. I think it's a posh name for notes squished together. Can't see why it's named after our bass though - oh yes I can, think of Arno and the clashing of his fencing swords!
Phrase the middle bit with a slight decrescendo and crescendo in the middle of the middle bit.

That's all, apart from asking Claire 2 to let us know what to bring on Saturday - want me to do a food list? Connor tried to sleep in the tent last night but decided pretty quickly that the rain and wind was a bit scary. Jenny

Anne's notes, 18th March

2009-03-24T20:27:00.002Z

Here is what you've all been eagerly waiting for [no, I'm not really that deludtherin/deluded or whatever they say in Dublin, according to the Star of the County Down!!]

First in case you don't bother to read all the notes, if that's really possible , are the NOTICES.

1. Next week we'll be at Priestfield, 7:45pm for all but small group.
There will be a small group practice at 7:15pm but only for those singing Miserere Nostri, not for those singing Star of the County Down, although we will sing that also in the main rehearsal. Those involved [who did it before] are:
S1 - Helen
S2 - Claire 1 and Susan
T1 - Ollie
T2 - Jenny
T3 - Chris
B1 - John
B2 - Sebastian

2. We will rehearse things for the Portrait Gallery next week but please have a particular look in advance at Crucifixus, O Morgenstern and Lulling [especially altos].

3. Ignore Jenny's earlier note about a rehearsal on March 30, there isn't one [it's a Monday]. So Douglas, you aren't doing the warm-up that day! There is a rehearsal at the Wexlers on 1 April, the day before the concert, and no, this isn't an April Fools' joke!

NOTES

1. Envoi
We practised the bits that were tricky. 2nd sops look over bars 27 to 31, there is no rit in those bars and don't stop for breath, just expire! It may help to think of the groups of three semiquavers as o-o-wa. Keep your semiquavers in time with the 1st sops, and Ollie will give a big downbeat at the beginning of bar 27.
Everyone watch dynamics throughout, and especially the last line, come down from f to pp for the last bar as marked.

2. Green Fir Forest
Bar 10, all count 4 beats and come in together on the last beat.
Sopranos, no more rehearsal time will be spent now on notes or words where you have the melody, so please take a look and learn it.
NEW DYNAMICS:
Page 2 start FF, and decrescendo that line so the 2nd line starts F and also decrescendo to MF by the end of line 2.
Line 3 is FF for 1st sops, F for the rest, all decresc. last 2 bars of that line.
Page 3, line 2, cresc.bar 3 on, and line 4, decresc,from bar 2 to the end of the line.

3. O Morgenstern
A quick sing to remind us of this. Some pronunciation tips from Sebastian.
Bar 2 and the last bar, "stern" in "Morgenstern" is not pronounced as the English word "stern" but "shtare-n" to rhyme roughly with "stare" but with a "sh" at the beginning
Bar 16 and 25 "und" is pronounced as "unt"
Bar 17 "erleuchte", the "leu" is more like "lor-ee", a long "lor" and a quick "ee"
Bar 23 "Finsternis", the last syllable is "niss" as in "miss" not "nees" as in your knobbly "knees"

By the end he did say we almost [OK, he was being kind] sounded German!!

4. Hide and Seek
By this point of the evening we all obviously looked exhausted, ready for bed or needing a cuppa, so Ollie woke us all up with some rhythmic moving of legs, claps, mmmms, grunts etc. Now why is it [says the wife of one] that quite a few men just can't work out that we were all moving onto the right foot to start, then right hand or whatever . Hilarious from the vantage point of the altos, it sure were!! Anyway re-energised as we all were then, Ollie wanted us to be a bit more rhythmic and guttural in Hide and Seek, especially with the mmmms and all the places marked as stressed.
Bar 11 and 12, accent on "cir..." and "in" in the phrase "crop circles in the carpet".
Back to those mms and oos from page 9, hit the note, no scooping [I think he said the ones on page 10 were a bit scooping in some parts?].
Page 11 "oo" is angry [apparently, well that's what I wrote?!] and that phrase bars 94 to 96 is F, with a sudden PP in bar 97.

5. Dieu! Qu'il la fait
I wrote down that he was pleased, it was good......Yes!! Actually I'm sure he said other songs were also good, I just didn't write it down!
The most important message for those who weren't there....get your pencils out... was that he wants the p--p to come out at the very end. We have noted.

The beginning was beautiful, remember to come down from an opening mf on Dieu to a p for the next note.
Bar 6, watch Ollie as he may speed up a bit there.
Bar 11 Sops, tenors and basses keep the minim going for the full 2 beats.
Bar 13/14, ladies come in quietly on Dieu and stay p that phrase
Bar 18 is buoyant but not loud, the dynamics exactly as written.
Bar 20 [and same pronunciation in bar 23], the word written "scay" is "c'est" in modern French, pronounced "se-" as in "se-molina"
Bar 21 no break between "..selle" and "qui" but you can take a very quick breath.
Bar 25 there is a fermata [pause] on "ser" before "Dieu". Last line watch Ollie's speed, it may slow down.
Bar 28 don't forget the pp......................!

6. Star of the County Down [small group rehearsal at 7:15pm]
Sebastian tried to get us to think of this in a more jazz style, more relaxed, lazy tone, NO well-articulated rolled "r" in words like "bride" or "brown". Stress the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar. But that doesn't mean it won't move quite a bit, it is still fast and lively. The "bai a d'n da va da va" .....etc should sound like instruments, don't make a meal of the words, so forget all those lessons on diction!

Men page 9, break after "No pipe I'll smoke" then one phrase with no breath for "no horse I'll yoke tho my plough with rust turn brown".

*********************************************************
OK folks, that's your lot, I'm going for a cuppa and to watch some TV.

Have a good week and see you next week at Priestfield and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Claire 2's notes, 11th March

2009-03-12T23:28:00.001Z

Hello luvvies....either I got off very lightly last night or I wasn't paying attention but whichever it was, I don't seem to have much to impart.

"Small group" - we're improving - yeh! Keep an eye (ear) on the dynamics and give Ollie 2 a chance to be heard when he's got the tune.
Altos, when you've got an interesting twiddly bit in the accompaniment eg bar 11 or 14 bring the volume up a little then take it back down immediately.
No splurging. (Can't quite remember what that means but don't do it , anyway).
Make sure the 'da' s are short and sharp.
Page 10/11 Sops and Altos accents on the first notes of bars 80, 81, 85 and 86.
More dynamics next week.

Portrait Gallery concert Thurs April 2nd. Arrive 5pm for rehearsal in room upstairs. Concert 6-6.30 (or a little later if Ollie's list is anything to go by).

Ollie's list (probably in the right order!):

Kanarbik
On Hillisuvi
Star of the County Down (big small group)
Miserere Nostri (small group as before ie one or two per part)
Lulling
Green Fir Forest
Bog Off
Oh Morgenstern
Envoi
Gaelic set
Hide and Seek
Ae fond Kiss
Dieu! qu'il la fait....
Crucifixus

Phew! More than 30 mins worth there, I think.

So.

Men and altos went with Anne to practise Crucifixus.
Tenors - all your first notes are there in the bars before you come in.
Bar 21 Tenor 1 note (D) is the same as the alto 2s have just sung. Bar 26 Tenor 1 comes in on last beat of bar.
Tenors watch last few bars - you have to go very low (and Douglas doesn't like it).
Work towards a richer sound.

Sopranos, meanwhile, had a go at Green Fir Forest. Then we joined in.
Altos and Basses come in all at the same time and with the same dynamic. All lower parts should be p rather than mp at the beginning. (And we are singing 'oo').
Bar 10 there will be a pause between the Sops 1 and 2 with the lower parts establishing the 'oo' before the 1s come in.
Page 3 COUNT.
Second system down lower parts change to 'oo' from 'mm'.
NB 'a' = 'ah' and 'e'=eu
Middle system (2nd) crescendo from the end of the 2nd bar to the end of the line.
3rd system decrescendo from second bar to the end.
Tenors - watch (somewhere) you have a Bb not a B natural.
Altogether much better.

Crucifixus
Make sure the 's's on the ends of words come together.
Page 4 2nd bar the chords all move at the same time - listen.
Also page 4 we need to try and get through the long phrases without taking breaths so take in huge lungfuls of air and do your best (my eyes will be popping out and my face bright red so keep an eye on me in case of emergency, please xx).
We mixed up to sing it and, as Susan so neatly put it, took responsibility for our own parts and it was good (except for me having a choking fit - and that was before we got to the long phrases, God help me!)
The key is to listen to each other.
Ollie has suggested we try to get a rehearsal in a space with a good acoustic so we can hear ourselves singing this properly before the concert.

Envoi
Watch the beginning, Sops 2s and Altos - it should be pp.
Sops did a lot of work on bars 27-30. It has to be said it was needed (wasn't it, Claire?) but now it's sounding very good indeed.
Sop 1 bar 28 give us a big crescendo through to bar 30.

Other things worth mentioning: John has no objection to whips being wielded (is there something you need to talk about, Susan? There are many ears ready and willing, I'm sure).
Ollie 2 has a choir sock. Just the one but a very fine one adorned with treble clefs.

Doned and didded. See you next week xx

Jenny's notes for March 4th

2009-03-07T22:57:00.002Z

Arno warmed us up with a boogie woogie ape song and some huffing and puffing.

GREEN FIR TREE

The words are holding us back, so please try and get to grips with them and where they fit into the music
On first and last page - DON'T seperate the UH from the UN. They should run into each other smoothly
Last page - Chin(g) tsue-y shun(g) uh
Last page - 2nd system. Phrase goes over the bar
Last page - Sop 1 top line the whole page. Sop IIs jump down to alto line and sing the top notes there. Then ATB as usual. In other words, the altos aren't splitting
Top system is UH bottom system is M
A - is AH sound or AR as in Car
WRITE IN your vowel sounds in your part as it's only written in the middle at the moment
Sops - have too many notes somewhere, make sure you're all singing the same words on the same notes. It's somewhere at the beginning
Hard T's - (would you ever believe someone would actually tell you NO Gaelic T's!!)
3rd bar, 3rd page - be ready to turn. Tenors and Sops have to jump 5ths.
Make sure you know where you're going
WATCH for SPEED CHANGES - mainly top of page 2 and 3rd bar top of page 3
Sop IIs have an awkward rhythm somewhere. Pay attention to what you're doing instead of panicking about it!

DEBUSSY

Not going into detail about the pronounciation, but agree with Claire II that we shouldn't sound sloppy or like Yorkshire people when singing regardez - ri-gah-daaay, lad -no no no!
Be DEFINITE with the words, especially the altos
Sing Dee-uh NOT djzi-ew - is French not Polish - sing it with pursed lips (but no kissing)
NO GAP between Dieu and qui
Crescendo through SE MADAMOISELLE
NO GAP between selle and qui. And same value given to the notes connected with these words (Page 3)_
TENORS - sing through Regardez and mind that c sharp which appears somewhere in your music - try to find and circle it for next week, maybe;p
Watch the dippythongs
NASAL tones on words like Songe and grande bien
Look up more for dynamics.

Think that's all, but I was told to concentrate more on singing it, so I might have missed something. Am I the only person who, when taking notes, gets paper everywhere, loses music (and yes, it is in alphabetical order, but it still gets muddled up), is always on the wrong page we're supposed to be singing, can't listen to the next thing if concentrating on the last one, runs out of paper at the bottom but hasn't time to turn over so ends up with instructions squished at the bottom, has arrows everywhere because the next note will refer to something said half an hour ago, sometimes has to mouth 'what?' or 'eh?' at thy neighbour, and the longer s/he leaves it to write them up the less decipherable the scribble. I could write it in my music but that it's already full of instructions from last week, month or 5 years ago. Not to mention it being interspersed with snide remarks I've added myself! However, somehow they always end up in a proper format for all to read!

P.S. Those of you who weren't at the Buster Keaton film missed a rare treat, especially the music - well done Sebastian and 4tet.

Jenny's notes, 25th February

2009-03-06T16:24:00.003Z

Hope those who were off ill and what not are better. Unfortunately you missed some pronounciation. WE WON'T BE GOING OVER IT AGAIN cos we've got to move on. And EVERYONE - EVEN those who were there - needs to look at FIR TREE and LULLING for next week IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE. Thanks. (If you're struggling with my notes and getting a hang of where they go in the music, then I suggest you come a bit early and someone will go over it with you, or muddle through and ask questions after rehearsal)

GREEN FIR TREE

(Under chords oooo)
Shan lin(g) tschin tschin shan lin(g) tschin tschin - The lin is like ling only without a 'ng' sound. The tschin is inbetween a 'ch' and 'sh' sound
Shan lin(g) chew shoe
Don(g) tsya dee sin(g) uh - The don is like dong only without a 'ng' sound, and is quite nasally. Uh is like the 'e' in the.
Shung tsya shan lin(g)
Chan(g) tsya shan lin(g) - The chan is like chang without a 'ng' sound.
knee too lee tcha sya
wan tiao g'n uh wan tiao g'n uh - tiao as in a cat's miaow

1ST REPEAT
Tsya woe-men shuh shan lin(g) dee ar - woe as in woe to thee. ar as in car
new woe-men shuh da dee dee tsuh s'n
woe-men huh tsoo gwo guh w-eye tschin guh w-eye tschin guh w-eye tschin - 'o' in 'gwo' as in 'hot'
yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh (JUST NOTICED THERE'S AN EXTRA 'A' IN SOPRANOS BETWEEN THE YE. you are allowed to ask about this in rehearsal!)
woe-men huh tsoo gwo guh w-eye tschin guh w-eye tschin guh w-eye tschin

lin(g) t-ow shun(g) shun(g)- t-ow as in ouch. Shun as shung without the 'ng'
lin(g) t-ow chew shoe
don(g) tsya yin uh
hu hwan (lan tian) - (you're allowed to ask about these two words in rehearsal! )
huh hwan b-eye yun
shung yin(g) dzjon(g) g'n don(g) wan - dzjon(g) as in the French for jean-paul
dzjon(g) chin(g) uh shung yin(g) dzjon(g) g'n don(g) wan dzjon(g) chin(g) uh

2ND REPEAT
woe-men shuh chan chi dee pin(g) - Pin as in ping without the 'ng'
dzjon(g) woe-men shuh loo - A short 'oo' sound on 'loo'
suh dee chon(g) chun(g) - like chong and chung without 'ng' sound
woe-men huh tsoo gwo chin(g) tsu-ey - chin as in ching without the 'ng' sound and the 'chi' is like a cymbal or train sound. Tsuey as in chop suey
shen chin(g) tsu-ey shen chin(g) tsu-ey shen
yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yehlin(g) t-ow (as in ouch) shun(g) shun(g)
woe-men huh tsoo gwo chin(g) tsu-ey shen chin(g) tsuey shen chin(g) tsu-ey shen
TURN OVER PAGE!!
chin(g) tsu-ey shen
uh (or whatever vowel we're singing this long note on. Holding it on Uh I feel would make us sound like der-brains)

OTHER NOTES FOR THIS PIECE
for long 'n' notes as in bars25, 29, 32, 48 (and any others you can find) go straight onto the n sound. Don't hold on the vowel sound.
Sopranos are splitting somewhere but I couldn't follow it, sorry, it seemed to switch backwards and forwards everywhere on the last page.

LULLING

bah-you bah-you tan-yen cod (yes, this is about lambs and fish)
bah-you bah-you meel-yen cod
mam, kana ro-bo-tush-ki
napee ko vair ro-bo-tush-ki
shoo shoo tash ke ayah dah dah - ke has a hard 'e'. Ayah as in eye-ya
mee day tan yan bah you jzen
coy voo jzoo dah cor ye jzoo,
a lye pay zju dah re goo doo - (note the difference between jzen and zju)
mee de tan ya vag high n-yeh
vash isht va gasht mai dah kush isht koo yosht mai
bah you bah you tan yen cod bah you bah you meel yen cod.

Altos watch phrasing - ask someone if you've not marked it in - basically two bar phrases EXCEPT brs13 - 15
Sops - C Sharp must be sharp. Hold B through. Be exactly on the beat. NO SCOOPING NEVER EVER. Add extra p on for balance
Basses - Start was nice volume but go quieter for next bit.
Tenors - don't be flat
Aim for quality NO SCOOPING especially in bar 1

CRUCIFIXUS

Cru - good rolled 'r' (or it'll sound like coochifixus)
Ci - always chi. And make it a hard 'ch' sound
Fi - Fee - project out. Avoid wide mouthed frogs

t's - are 'ts' as in pon-ts-ius
poo - round mouths. poo is a quiet bowel sound - sorry, vowel sound - so on moving poo crotchets change the 'oo' to 'aw' (as in gnaw). This is done by keeping the mouth shape and just dropping the tongue down

Page 3 - Sop IIs don't go flat in bar 23.
Watch the chord tone at end of bar 17

Well done you've read all the way through the notes! No notices apart from Ollie has a show on Saturday and Sunday at 7pm. It's part of his music in the community course and I'm sure he'll let us know where it is. Tickets on the door. I'm going on Sunday. Jenny

Anne's notes from Saturday's session, 21 Feb

2009-02-21T19:07:00.001Z

Before I collapse in an armchair and into a sleepy stupor [can't do that as we're going out!] and seeing I madly said I'd do notes for today as well as last week, then promptly forgot with running between piano and altos. I thought I'd better make up something while it might be somewhere in the memory?!

Anyway we had a great day, thanks Ollie and all the rest. We missed you, Claire 1 and Angus, so for you especially, here is what we did, and what I can remember we need to know. Not in the order we did them but alphabetically.

CLOUDBURST
We sang every note and clapped/slapped/clicked every where too! We also had handbells, piano, thunder sheet , not really, just me fooling around on the piano pretending to be the full orchestra!
We did a lot of work from page 7, bar 43. Make sure you know how many crotchet [quarter-note, AnnaLauren and anyone else who prefers US notation!] beats there are in all these bars and write in what beats you come in.
Pronunciation of first word in bar 43 is "raee-ses" and get quickly on to the "ee". Sops, tenors and anyone else who split like this, watch for tails up for first sops, tenors or down for seconds.
Gradual crescendo to climax and full tone on page 8.
Bar 57, it should be pronounced vair, not var.
Bar 69 and not before, start to raise arms on prominent downbeat and Ollie gesticulating , Ollie beats 4, no pause at end of bar 69 [the pause will be at the beginning of the bar], big crescendo Bar 70 watch for downbeat, then big clap all together and start bringing your hands down by clicking slowly, hold back individually then in next couple of bars the clicks, slaps and claps get quicker.
Bar 72 onwards, tenors, then altos then 2nd sops - bring your bar out
Bar 75 is a big crescendo and claps get faster, just follow Ollie's facial expressions and you'll know what he wants!
Bar 76 - the climax, the storm is a hurricane so clap really quickly.
CHANGE FROM LAST WEDNESDAY = bar 78, those who are clapping revert to clicking there, ie a bar earlier than you've written it down. Everyone clicking by bar 79.
Bars 79 to end, count and watch Ollie for for the fermatas.

CRUCIFIXUS - LOTTI
New music, collect it next week. We learnt the notes, and may sing it for the Portrait Gallery concert.

DIEU! QU'IL LA FAIT -DEBUSSY
Once or twice through

ENVOI
Did this a couple of times to remind ourselves how it goes.

HIDE AND SEEK
We did this a few times and ended up doing it from memory, so have a look if you weren't there.
Basically he wants it sung with feeling and watch the dynamics.
Circle where the melody is in EVERY part, [not just your own], these will be louder until a new part gets the melody [or until it's obviously over] and the rest of us keep quiet, =[and apologies in advance if I've missed anyone's bit]
Bar 1 tenors
Bar 8 sops
Bar 17 tenors
Bar 24 sops
Bar 49 altos
Bar 56 sops
Bar 81 tenors
Bar 86 sops
Bar 89 tenors
Bar 94 sops
Bar 97 altos [but it is pp!!]

Bar 60 onwards, let the basses do ff so the rest balance.
E and after, make a nicer phrase and don't rush the "well of course you did" and "of course it is"
Make something of the accented "mm" throughout.

SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR -DARRYL RUNSWICK [think that's the spelling]
New piece, so pick up a copy next week. We sang it through a few times.
Watch the different rhythms of semiquavers [16th-note, AnnaL, Sechzehntel-Note, Seb] eg bar 32 ,and demisemiquavers [32nd-note or Zweiunddreissigstel-Note] - lots! 2 demisemiquavers = one semiquaver.
{And for your next pub quiz did you know that half of a demisemiquaver is a hemidemisemiquaver or 64th note or Vierundsechzigstel! I'm with the Americans and Germans on these!!]

THIS MARRIAGE - ERIC WHITACRE [ this one and the previous one might be for the August wedding of Douglas's daughter, I think Ollie said]
New piece but we didn't sing it.

Small Group also did Star of the County Down. Let those with the melody have the floor so the rest of should pipe down, especially ladies! We learnt the slower bit from bars 61 to 77 also.

Anne's notes for February 19

2009-02-19T16:59:00.001Z

Thought I'd try to get these to you today as we're meeting again on Saturday:
10 for 10:30 until 4/4:30pm, Priestfield Church Hall - upstairs room. The church for those who haven't been before is down Dalkeith Road, first left after the Commonwealth Pool into Marchhall Crescent, the church is on the corner, and you enter via the first door on the right in Marchhall Crescent - if locked ring bell.

Bring your own lunch, snacks, water, pencil and tennis ball[s] if you have them - for a game, says Claire 2!
There will be tea and coffee available, 20p per cup as usual.

* Claire 2 gave us a good warm-up/workout physically, breathing, humming etc, hyperventilating with the heat!!
* We welcomed Elena here to help us with our francais and espagnol.
* Ollie will email us all today or tomorrow with a list of what music to bring on Saturday and what we are singing at the Portrait Gallery on 2 April, so look out for emails.

On Hilissuvi

This will be from memory. Remember balance [= listen to others] and tuning.
Basses, bar 19 - remember it's pp, and if you can't get the bottom D don't try too hard!!

Cloudburst

We went over pages 10 to 13, reminding ourselves of the notes, then when/where to clap, slap, click. Have a look before Saturday if you have time.
Bar 75: the clapping should be fast [not too loud] by the pause [fermata], and crescendo singing from the beginning of that bar. At the end of bar 78 all stop clapping and back to clicking.
When Elena said she only understood 3 words, we were all mortified, but later realised she meant 3 words of our English chatter beforehand!
Elena had no difficulty understanding our Spanish, phew!

Hide and Seek

Rachael will do Natalie's bar [75].
Don't get lazy with entrances and endings, just because it's a jazzy, relaxed rhythm! Be focused and look up for entries. Bar 17 =spinnnn, i.e. quickly on to the "n".
Bar 30 cresc. then dim. at the end of the bar so you can cresc. in bar 31 and dim. immediately on the down beat of bar 32.
Bar 40 to bar 48 = pp.
Bars 58 to 61 in one breath, no break after "insensitivity".

Bogoroditse Djevo

A quick run through

Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder

Clear beginning, no scooping, sopranos [actually he didn't say sops, maybe he meant tenors...?...or basses....? surely not altoids?]
Remember to dim to "p" at beginning of bar 2.
Elena was very kind about our French, no real problems. When pushed she said "Ca va" , roughly translated = OK I suppose! She confirmed that the pronunciation of loüer is the same as louer, and she did pronounce the "t" in "soit" bar 21/22.

Kanarbik

Bar 9 onwards, watch the tuning and support the notes, then you won't go flat. No vibrato in that phrase too. And as for the last high C....!!! Wow!
This one is also from memory.

NOTICES
Jenny put round a list of dates for us to tick availability for the social/music evening/Wii music game/ Karaoke [NO! NO! it's not Karaoke, Claire 1 promises!!]. It won't be music all night, and no-one should feel embarrassed at not wanting to play, but do bring instruments/music if you like [ no-one will be allowed to hog the limelight all night, and that includes me, promise!!] and we'll all bring some food and drink.

Jenny has confirmed that the best day for everyone who ticked her list is SATURDAY 4 APRIL so that's the date, time to be confirmed. Sorry if anyone can't make it. It's also her birthday, so that gives us lots of scope for mischief.....!!! And gives her an excuse to play as many piano solos or duets as she wants [well, within reason!]

Venue = Claire 2's house, thanks a lot, Claire.

Susan's notes, February 11th

2009-02-13T11:25:00.003Z

I certainly drew the short straw last night - well, here goes!
We started off with AnnaLauren's warm-up, complete with close-contact-Irish Blessing, which will no doubt be reported on in full detail in the blog so I'll concentrate on what came next, which was -

CLOUDBURST

Tonight Ollie took us through the clicky-clappy-slappy bits starting on page 10 and going as far as page 13.

first PERCUSSION:

BAR 69 : all raise arms slowly (fists clenched) to finish above head by end of bar

BAR 70: on downbeat, loud CLAP - then lower hands slowly, clicking fingers, through bars 70 and 71. Clicking should be slow to start with - think big drops of rain with slappy sounds - don't be afraid of silences between clicks - keep an eye on what others are doing.

BAR 72: S, A & T carry on clicking - crescendo a little.
Baritones (Basses) start to slap their thighs randomly.

BAR 73: S1, A1, T1 start slapping their thighs too - the rest are still clicking.

BAR 74: 8 people start clapping randomly (Anne, Kay, Arno, Angus, Chris, Claire2, Susan and Robin)
Everyone else continues with what they were doing. Clapping should be fairly quiet and not too fast.
It's important that clicking should be held back - don't speed up.

BAR 75: all crescendo through the fermata, increasing speed of clicking/slapping/clapping then...

BARS 76-78: make lots of NOISE!
Clicking should be faster and as loud as you like.
However, clapping and slapping should be faster rather than louder or you may drown the voices.

BAR 79: EVERYONE now clicking - no more slapping or clapping.

Now back to p10 for VOCAL instructions:

sing as written up to fermata end of BAR 70 when there's a slow transition to chanting

Ollie will NOT beat BAR 71 - he will give an upbeat before BAR 72.

BAR 72: Tenor melody - once in time through bar 72

(S, A and B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
long fermata then upbeat into

BAR 73: Alto melody - once in time through bar 73

Tenors chant their melody at random
(S and B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
long fermata then upbeat into

BAR 74: Soprano melody - in time (Claire1 sing Sop2 on bar 74)

Altos chant their melody at random
Tenors continue chanting
(B continue your chanting as in bar 71)
final fermata at end of p11 then

BAR 75: notes as written - no chanting - cresc through bar to very loud in BAR 76

BAR 77 T&B use chest voice

PLEASE WRITE ALL YOUR INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR PART - I suggest you do it in pencil in case I've got any of it wrong!

DEBUSSY:
Have a look at this between now and next week.
Think tuning - precision.

KANARBIK:
Bar 9: from "koik" count in triplets to keep timing exact
Men: come in clearly at "ainult"

Sops and altos - well supported, quiet, don't scoop, mustn't be breathy
Be careful with pitch of C on "nur" in bar 10.

Men: ditto. You must come in together - feel the tempo

ON HILISUUVI (without music):
All come in together and on the right notes! Watch the balance.
Ja seda suve - women come down a bit
Very impressive cow impression from lower registers beginning of bar 16 but not quite what was intended.

NOTICES:
remember Sat 21 Feb is extra rehearsal day at Priestfield.
6th May : AGM
28th May : next committee meeting chez Wexler

Next big marketing push must be for Cloudburst. Suggestion is to have a collection rather than sell tickets and get someone to say a little bit about the Bosnia Project as a bottling speech. Please talk to Chris about marketing.

Jenny is organising a social evening in March. A Musical Evening has been suggested - if you've got other ideas let's have them! The usual sheet with dates etc will appear soon.

And last but not least we sang Happy 90th Birthday to Robin (30) and Elaine (60) and presented them with their Birthday Books.

Arno's notes, 4th February

2009-02-05T11:39:00.003Z

On Hilissuvi:
We tried using our brains and pay attention to what we were singing, and apparently it worked because Ollie said it sounded nice. There was also a tone of hopefulness that we would continue to do so. So the thing to remember for this piece is: Switch On.

We mainly worked starting from bar 14 (the heavy 'Ja seda suve' entry).
Things to note:
Dynamics:
Achieve f in bar 14 by creating a rich, full, heavy, sound, rather than just shouting. Ollie likes to refer to this as the vocal 'Ogre' sound.
Do the dim. in bar 15, but don't become weak or breathy.

Blend:
Top BASSES need to be stronger in bar 14.

SOPRANOS: Keep the F# sharp
BASSES: tune the 5ths well, 1st basses don't let the G go flat.
TENORS: not too breathy (bars 15 & 16).

Misc.: bar 9: TENORS and SOPRANOS: try not to scoop the F.

Debussy: Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder
Nice piece! We notebashed the rest of the piece and went over pronunciation.
Not much to say, except:

Ollie will give us a F# at the beginning. He'll beat a 3/4 bar before the bar where we come in, so it's 1, 2, 3, 1 and then we're in on 2.

Green fir forest (the chinese piece)
Had a go at this.

Page 1
middle system:
SOPRANOS 2 sing Soprano solo
SOPRANOS 1 sing the top choral soprano line

then switch around for

bottom system:
SOPRANOS 1 sing Soprano solo
SOPRANOS 2 sing the top choral soprano line

P. 2 SOPRANOS make sure you go right up to the D in the first couple of bars.

Cloudburst:
2nd page, after Sebastian's solo (once he remembers to sing it :-),
TENORS (and BASSES) follow Ollie who leads us into our bar where we start with 'Picos ...'.

From bar 28 TUTTI make sure everything's connected for the next few bars

During the end of John's speaking bits on page 5 and page 6 Ollie beats 1, 2, 3, 4, and our 'Hay que ...' entry is on the 4.

Bar 37 until the end of that page: sing LEGATO, shape the lines.

Next week we will skip ahead to page 10. HAVE A LOOK IN ADVANCE.

On page 11, the small notes mean repeat the phrase (we'll go over this).
In bar 12 a (15-note!) chord starts to build up, for which Ollie, like a football coach choosing players' positions, picked voices as follows:

So, in bar 75, taking the format Note: Singer and going from high to low, we have

SOPRANOS 1:
B: Helen
G#: Anna-Lauren
F#: Kay1

SOPRANOS 2:
E: Claire
D: Susan
C: Alison
B: Elaine

ALTOS:
A: Rachael and Kay2
G#: Anne

TENORS:
D: Chris
C: Douglas & Oliver2
B: Robin

BASSES:
usual split 1st and 2nds.

---------------------------------------
Anouncements:

Saturday rehearsal Feb. 21st at Priestfield. The pianist who's playing Cloudburst with us will be there, so we want to have reached a certain level by then. That's why we're skipping ahead to page 10 for next week.
Arrive 10 o'clock for coffee if you want it. Rehearsal starts 10.30 on the dot. We will have a 1/2 to 3/4 hour break for lunch. Please bring your own food. Aim to finish about 4.30pm.

Committee meeting taking place today.

Everyone's happy for our main christmas concert (Dec. 12) to take place at Augustine United church, on George IV bridge. Anne will finalise the booking and take care of all the Performing Rights Society stuff. Thanks Anne!

There is a clip of pages 7 and 8 of Cloudburst on Chris' webspace, which can be accessed via: http://tinyurl.com/aphlbx
He told me he'll soon put up another clip with an extract of where we will start singing from next week.

Next week, we have Anna-Lauren on warmup and Susan on notes.

Claire 1's notes for January 28th

2009-02-03T10:22:00.002Z

Dear All and sundry,
Here is the lowdown on last night or your perusal. Sorry the notes are quite brief - I think I was too busy concentrating on my Mexican chanting.

Cloudburst: we went through the pronunciation with A-L. Here are a couple of examples:
d=th
t=Gaelic t
hay=aye
agua=awa (watch this one as we were a bit 'bish at it last night)
roll r where you can

Come in straight away at the start - don't swoop.
look up - Ol will show you when to come in esp in the speaking at bar 5.
Come in accented so we can hear the tune.
P4 Be confident gentlemen! Crescendo through and decrescendo at the end.
Look up and listen to those around you.
top p5 make a big difference from mf to mp. Tenors need to match the ladies' sound.
p4 have written sth about slurs that I don't understand myself!
bar 29-30 has no break so don't breathe
bar 32 hold the fermata while sops sing and John says sth!
Ol will start beating when John is coming to the end. Come in altogether on 4. Pay attention on this bit- it is much faster than you want it to be.
don't make bar 25 staccato

Trois Chansons : we just did some note bashing. Watch rhythms even at this stage.

Well that's the important stuff, if you want the non-important and frivolous you know where to go in about 20 min!

Enjoy the week ladies and gents

Claire 2's notes, 21st January

2009-01-23T16:45:00.001Z

Less said about warm-up the better, don't you think. What a fuss about a few little numbers!!!!!! Oh-eh. (Work it out).

1. Lulling
Basses: when you go down to the low B watch the pitching; we need to hear the 5th.
Tenors: I think you have an F# G# F# somewhere - again, watch pitching, don't drop.
Sops: good, apparently. Well done girlies.
Altos: 5ths should be open and resonant - listen to each other. We'll do the pronounciation later and eventually sing this off-by-heart.
STBs: keep sound down so that altos' melody can be heard.
All: Baju = bah-you. Keep 2nd syllable soft. Don't turn it into an 'or'.

2. Cloudburst
We began with an explanation of what is supposed to happen at Bar 32.
Here it is, I hope:
Everybody except the Sops sticks on the chord from Bar 31, humming. The hum is held through the fermata which will be very long as the speaker will be doing his bit at this point (Hay que dormir......con las manos).
Sops have a melody through this, each singing at random speed with staggered entrances. Sing very quietly and don't go too fast - you are singing about being sleepy! Keep it steady and without much rhythm.
Once speaker has finished ATBs on to their 'hay que dormir con los ojos abiertos' (Bar 32) - hold the 'o' of abiertos through the next spoken lines. Sops as before. Watch Ollie for 's' on end of 'abiertos' after this 2nd long fermata.
ATBs take breaths where necessary during both fermatas but /dim /before a breath and /cresc/ back in so it sounds smooth.
Second speaky bit John wait a bit longer before speaking. Sops /dim/ then J come in when you feel like it! Watch Ollie for quavers to give you tempo.
Both times Ollie will give us a 4/4 bar once the speaking bit is finished. Watch. It will be 1,2,3 hay que....
John is the Speaker. He must practise his accent - but then, only Anna-Lauren is excused from this:
- the 'd' of dormir is soft, more of a 'th/d'
- the 'b' in abiertos vibrates slightly b/v (bumbly!)
- 'r's are rolled
So sort of: eye keh th/dormirr con loss ochos ab/vierrtos, eye keh sonyarr con loss manoss
en voss alta, keh cantarr hasta keh el cantoh etchay
Sort of! And I presume a 't's are softish too?
Particulars:
Bar 16 - there will be a fermata on '-das'
Bar 28 make sure you sing out the 4th beat if you have it
Sop2 Alt2 Ten2 no 'la' ie 4th beat, sing la lluvia lluvia 28-29
Basses sing out on your low A
Bar 32 Watch, Ollie will be beating crotchets
Sops Bar 38 watch out for G#
Tenors Bar 35 get your E from the Sops' D
All: Bar 40-41 no break between 'que' and 'el canto' keep it going if it kills you or it won't make sense.

If you are looking over the next bit before next week, Sops watch out for page 13 where from having been on two lines you go back to being on one.
Altos page 12 you will be on third stave down not second.

Bog off
Twas good. Well remembered.

Jenny's notes, 14th January 2009

2009-01-16T12:09:00.004Z

Hi, here they are an evening late... ;p

IN REVERSE ORDER cos this is the most important thing we did

CLOUDBURST

Generally -

We would be better singing this off by heart. It isn't crucial because there are music stands and Ollie doesn't mind us using them. But IF YOU START LEARNING IT NOW you might find you know it well enough by June. It would be good if we could (and we should)...
Listen to it lots. Keep up to date with what we've learnt that week so we DON'T HAVE TO GO OVER AND OVER THE SAME THINGS the following week
Pronounciation - AnnaLauren will be doing this properly but for now it's AH - GUA not A-GUA and EYE not HAY or HIGH. And POSO not hard Z.
Take a breath where there are breath marks.
Counting - It isn't babyish to have to write counting beats in the music. So if it helps, write down 1,2,3,4, above lengths of notes. (I do cos I'm a baby and can't count!)
Dynamics
Write things down in your copies.

Preceding entry - D is given. 3 beats are given (during which we can take a breath to save gasping on 3rd beat!) and we come in on 4th beat.
CONCENTRATE on entry.
Preceding Bar 1 - is pp
Bar 2- Watch Ollie's mouth, it will tell you when to go from a to o to m. Think of it as a bar of 4 beats and a bar of 3 beats. It's in 7/4. (You can even draw your own bar line in.)
Bars 3 -5 - Sing words at random. WATCH Ollie for coming in and then ignore him a bit. But not too much because we all need to WATCH for his ENORMOUS down beat at the 5/4 bar. MEN concentrate on counting.
Once the accent is sung on your entry note, drop down a dynamic so we can hear other entries.
Bar 6 - We should have all seen Ollie's big downbeat and be AH-GUA ing together. Breath mark.
Bar 8 - BASSES - give us a strong F natural
MEN - dim (cos you are!!!not!) slightly, to keep the energy going and enable you to keep up volume at bar 9
NO BREAKING OR BREATHING BETWEEN BAR 8 and 9
Bar 10 - dim on NO of SUENO
Bar 11 - SEBASTIAN is solo voice
Bar 16 - mf
Bar 22 - SOPS - are pp. Everyone else is mp
ALT IIs - Come in on same note as Sops. Make sure it's the same A
Bar 23 - ALTOS be careful of the E and D

KANARBIC - this will be sung OFF BY HEART for definite
Look at it for next week
TENORS - practise singing C A C D
If possible listen to the words for next week

ON HILLISUVI - this will be sung OFF BY HEART for definite
Think about coming in. How to come in and placing of note.
4 beats will be given - write it in copy
G note will be given - write it in copy
SOPRANOS - legato and PP at beginning. Come straight off on KAS
Bar 3 - cresc into the chord containing B flat and F natural
ALTO 1 - have a bit of a melody.
Ollie will bring us off on long note
ALTOS - Chesty top of page 2. (Easier for some than others!) Resonate and blend.
Bar 6 - Come off on 4 at the same time
Bar 11 - mp. ALTOS watch coming in on phrase and be together. Legato.
SOPS II, BASSES, TENORS are dim
Bar 13 - mf
BASSES - give us a strong A
TENORS - give us a sharper A
WRITE THIS IN YOUR COPIES, PLEASE
Put an ! above the very first chord
TENORS - put an arrow pointing upwards on the A I've just mentioned
SOPRANOS - circle the pp
Put a cresc marking in bar 3
Put a DEcresc marking in bar 5
SOPS and ALTOS mark your p at end of bar 6
MEN put a circle round dim at bar 10

NOTICES
1) DATE for CLOUDBURST concert is on SATURDAY the 6TH of JUNE - 7.30 at the REID HALL
2) We'll need a rehearsal the Saturday before this concert which is SATURDAY the 30TH of MAY
3) SATURDAY the 21ST of FEBRUARY is our EXTRA REHEARSAL with a bit of workshop stuff DAY. only Claire 1 can't come (boo!)
4) York is booked and accomodation is being sorted
5) Canongate and St Augustines have been provisionally booked for the 12TH of DECEMBER
Anne is still making enquiries/going to visit with Ollie a couple of places
Other suggestions were out of our price range or unavailable.
The WILD MONKEYS sorry MYRTLES have nicked our space at St Giles, which means we'll be doing our concert on the 6TH of DECEMBER.
There is a possibility we can do Priestfield the Wednesday before, but a concert on the 2ND might be a bit early. Let's just say this sort of stuff is still being looked into. THANKS, ANNE
6) WHITHORN is full for 2009 but will accommodate us sometime in 2010

Have a good weekend one and all, Jenny

Jenny's notes, 26th November

2008-11-30T15:16:00.002Z

Sorry these are late. I forgot I'd done 'em til I looked in my file!

We shook a leg for warm up....literally one leg.

ECCE - we are NOT doing Deck the Hall (boo!) We are doing Ecce Novum

Verse 2 - Claire I; Claire II; Chris and Arno
Verse 3 - Alison; Anne; Douglas and John

JUL

Basses try to look up. Everyone read ahead and look at Ollie. There are things called dynamics which we need to watch him for.

An a with two dots on its head is an e
An u is an oo
An o with two dots on its head is an ur as in blur or fur (I'm sure you can think of more!)

Concentrate on the vowels - darker sounding than tallis, especially the oo sound

IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER - A given

Think snowy feelings
When it splits into three parts, the SOPS split, not altos
All altos are on bottom line
LOOK UP for phrasing. You're only singing Ah in verse 1 so Ollie will be giving lots of directions regarding unimportant things like dynamics.
Prepare the ah so it doesn't scoop
WAIT for the break at end of bar 16
The equivalent bar at end of piece is a different break
V.2 - needs to be scary, but not heavy, snow
ALTO & TENORS - emphasise SNOW has FALLen
Page 2 is PP until there's an F
Remember - Our God (BREAK) heaven cannot hold him

TALLIS

Learn it fast as it's tuneful that way and easy, really
Watch vowel sounds - NO WIDE MOUTHED FROGS but at front of mouth tadpole-wise

3 KINGS - with BRASS players

The Brass players will give us an intro from Westward leading... - So
CROSS OUT CROSS OUT CROSS OUT first four bars. NOONE is humming anything.

Verse 1 - Tutti and Brass
Verse 2 - Robin (I think) and Brass
Verse 3 - er...sorry...I was asked to inform Ollie II he'd be singing a verse but which one I've forgot....
Verse 4 - er...sorry...Chris is singing the other verse what Ollie II's not... (that, by the way, is an apology to the choir that Chris is singing at all;-p)
Verse 5 - Tutti with Brass
EVERYONE sings the REFRAIN

ANGELUS AD VIRGINEM - should be on your list.

Kay is doing the first verse. Susan is doing the second verse. (I should say singing not doing)
Men - AVE just before ..... (I've written spit, but maybe it should be split. Have a look and try to work it out!!)
- I've also written SANET - diddledidoo. (Maybe I was losing it by this time)
Verse 3 - Women - S I; S II; Alto
Verse 4 - Men - T I; T II; Bass

SASS (German Klang-y thing)

Feel the beat. Don't go fast and do the dotted crotchets properly.
Watch the D Sharps in bars 7,8,9
Bar 5 - Altos be on the beat. Have to hear the i sound, not the sss
Bar 10 - Tenors it's Sooder not Zoo
LOOK AT IT FOR WEDNESDAY 3RD (especially tenors bar 8)

IMMANUEL

Men whip it over quick!

O NATA LUX

$ beats given - 1 2 3 4 / 1 OH (green grow the rushes oh..)
LEGATO - LOOK UP every three bars or so. There are RITS which means if we don't look up some of us will finish the piece earlier than others.

MONDAY - EXTRA REHEARSAL for as many who can make it as possible. From 7pm. If you can't come, or don't want to, make sure you do your H/WK

Lists from Ollie forthcoming followed by Introduction allocation.

NEXT WEEK - that's the 3ird December - REHEARSAL is in PRIESTFIELED CHURCH at 7 for small group or 7.45 PROMPTLY ON THE DOT. for the rest of you. I'm collecting £5 from each person (or £3) for the usual gifts of acknowledgement and appreciation.

Thanks, Jenny

Sebastian's notes, 19th November

2008-11-21T09:31:00.003Z

Heeyho,

here notes from 19/11/2008:

Warmup: Ollie with rubber chicken, step snap moo snap step and african round

- Taladh Chriosda:
- repeat verse 1 from beginning at the end in pp
- don't forget soft gaelic t
- Alleee-luu--iii--a (not alleyluia)
- mifhein should sound like meeheyn
- lionmhor should sound like leee-uuun-vor in two separate crotchets on lee-uun
- each u is actually a "shwa" loud, like a
- Sanctus:
- in the second system have the feeling of opening up sssuuurb
- soprano/tenor: orhnootyoon with an open o sounding like all new tune
- Bogoroditse:
- tyi v zhenakh - akh like loch not like nutch
- radussja has no t in it [it's actually радуйся, more like ra-doo-eess-ya - Ed.]
- 2nd page more legato
- No slow down on last page until last phrase jaku
- O nata lux:
- "D" given
- beware of dynamics
- develop long notes musically, not just hold
- basses hold bar 16
- Run Toboggan:
- bar 53: careful with split of voices in tenor/bass
- bar 32: all tenors and basses sing the bracketed lyrics Run Toboggan Run
- Süßer die Glocken:
- German is funny says Jenny...: Vater (father) sounds like farter
- correct typo: replace and in bar 11 3rd verse with und
- I will prepare more help with lyrics, but:
- think all z replaced by tss, all of them!
- think all w replaced by v
- think all v replaced by f
- ch can have two sounds in German depending on the vowel before:
- sich, lieblich (soft sound)
- Weihnacht, like loch

- Chris has or can prepare more CDs with song recordings and MIDIs

- Sell tickets and spread flyers, tell all your friends about Canongate!
- Some people will go flyering on 6 Dec. Saturday morning - contact Chris if you want to join

- There will be no singing at wedding in Dec. and no brain battle on TV (although we would have won...)

- Check the Sweden choir email and think about it - but it is just an option
- Don't forget end of June 2009 in York

Cheers,
-Sebastian

Susan's notes, 12th November

2008-11-13T10:11:00.002Z

Before the main rehearsal, those of us who are doing the Merchants' Hall gig tomorrow night sang through most of the stuff rather quickly.
Remember to engage the audience, look as if we're enjoying ourselves etc and it will be fine.
This is the running order:

Ae fond Kiss
Gaelic Set
Visur Vatnsenda Rosu
Cauld Blaws The Wind
Amazing Grace
La la la Je ne l'ose dire
Dindirin Dindirin
Fhir a Bhata (only in an emergency)
Auld lang syne

Sebastian - you left your music behind! We'll bring it with us.
I'll copy Anne's instructions at the end of the notes in case anyone's lost her email.

Now for the notes proper:
And we start with the quote of the night from Douglas - "So many notes!"
He did the warm-up including the 1, 121, 12321 one which I can ONLY do with my eyes shut.

There aren't many notes because we spent most of the time note-bashing what Ollie promises are the last two new pieces he will present us with before Christmas. I have witnesses.

O Nata Lux - very Morton Lauridsen. There are one or two dodgy bits which need a bit of homework. We need to observe dynamics and watch Ollie for rits etc.

Süßer die Glocken nie klingen - lots of bells involved. We sang it to la - German next week.
There are some tricky bits, particularly at the end, and check that you know what bars you're singing at the ends of the 3 verses.

Bogoroditse - Ollie recommends 5 minute chanting sessions.
Change to pronunciation - it's Ty v-zhe-nakh (not nahtch) in both 2nd bar of p2 and 3rd bar of 2nd system on p3.

Apple Tree Wassail - the sops know which bits they need to check!

O Nata Lux once more - without piano. Dodgy bits made themselves known again but pretty impressive for the first rehearsal I reckon.

Ollie is going to send round a complete list of Christmas music in the next couple of days. This will include several traditional carols which we're going to sing with a brass ensemble!

Chris is going to put O Nata Lux and the German piece on the web - he has, and also Bleak Midwinter.

Notices from Anne:
There are leaflets about Scottish Music Group workshops on the table.
Please forward the email Susan copied to you with all the Christmas concert details to all your friends. We must sell lots of tickets for Canongate.
Posters will be ready next week - be prepared to do some distribution.
CD is well on its way to being ready for pressing. John still wants suggestions for the strap-line which appears on the back of the CD - at the moment he has "27 songs, 10 languages, 500 years" but can you do better? It needs to be short and snappy - no more than one line.
There will be the usual deal for choir members - one free each then £5 for subsequent copies. Everyone else pays £9.
Kay is looking for someone to play carols for her playgroup's Christmas fair - no payment as it's a fundraising exercise. Fair is Sat 6th (same day as Canongate) from 12.30 to 3.30. If you know anyone who might like to do this please let Kay know. The person who did it last year played the violin but any instrument welcome. She's not sure if there's a piano available. (Anne has nobly volunteered if no-one else is forthcoming).

And finally, here's Anne's email with arrangements for Merchants' Hall:
"Ollie and I had a look at the venue today, a lovely building, 22 Hanover St, on the left if you come from Princes St, only a few buildings up. The event is part of a 3-day conference for the European Association of Tissue Bank specialists, ie doctors, mostly Europeans, some Americans and Australians too.
Details as follows:
6:30 warm-up and trying out location for where we will stand [so arrive before 6:30]. Room downstairs [archive room] to leave coats and bags, will be locked, and there will be fresh water there.
7:00 event begins, guests arrive in coaches [about 150 people] and go into main room for whisky tasting
7:10ish when all have a glass in hand, the President of the association introduces us and we walk in. Approx 20 - 30 minutes' singing, Scottish and other songs, Ollie to let us know songs and order. We will do brief introductions
[CHRIS: PLEASE NOTE].
7:30/7:40 we finish and are free to go.
The event goes on till 8:30pm or whenever people drift off to get dinner. If we're lucky we might be invited to have a wee dram, but don't bank on it!
Normal concert dress. No CD sales!"

Fingers crossed for the whisky!

Susan

Anne's rehearsal notes, 5th November

2008-11-06T13:19:00.004Z

Here's your homework for the week, boys and girls. Gold stars [and detentions] next week depending on whether you read it! All in all a very good rehearsal.

1. Claire 1 got us in the mood and warmed-up with combat lunges, deep breathing, and arms in interesting positions with our eyes closed [oh, the poor knees!]. We then focused on nice clear consonants [for use in Run toboggan run words] in that famous little ditty sung as a round, "Cheesy whatsits are all I eat" [well if that's true no wonder we can't remember our Russian words]. This was followed by baby boo and poos, sorry you really had to be there to understand. Anyway well warmed-up, thanks Claire.

2. AMUWORO
We did this with no folders , Ollie gives us 12,12 before we come in. Pretty good and well-remembered he thought, some entries are a bit awkward so men in particular, [and altos we have to admit!], check you know your solo bits or it will all crumble. Dynamics too, it isn't all forte, remember the quiet bits which Ollie indicates very clearly, so watch him. Keep the beat going in your head and then remember that it's often an off-beat entry. We finished with one sing-through at break-neck speed, and when you've been swaying in time to the music it was pretty break-knees too!

3. IN DULCI JUBILO - the octet went into the other room with Ollie to practise this, so basically practise it, I suppose! I have no notes from this. Meanwhile I was asked as a BIG FAVOUR to go over the new Tallis [Audivi...] with the duodectet left in the room [yes, I know that word probably doesn't exist but it sounded a good word for a 12-some if that's what we were]. A lot of note-bashing, and no basses as they were both octetting.

4.IN DULCI JUBILO
All back together we sang this. Remember it's not a dipthong "Ohoo" but a crisp one syllable "O".. that we were there.., and he wants a nice rich tone. Look up A LOT MORE he said, as it started to drag and also so you can see Ollie showing us the dynamics, including all the crescendos/diminuendos. It's pronounced "Princheps" not "ceps" as in the fungi. Sopranos in choir 2, verse 2, bar 47, "My" in "my prayer let it reach thee" is an A, someone was trying to sing a B flat as though it was a scale up from F, it isn't! The trio and octet were beautiful [well I thought so!]

5. AUDIVI VOCEM DE CAELO -TALLIS
We then all went through this and it was a lot easier with all 4 parts together. The main thing is to try to do some note-bashing at home, and write in the beats, remember it's 4 minims to the bar, and watch Ollie, sometimes he beats 2 to the bar. The penultimate note in the plainchant bits is a bit slower, watch him. Page 4, sopranos, altos and tenors put a circle round the B natural, by the end we had all got this. Like Amuworo the strong beats come on beat 1 and 3, so he said DO SOMETHING PHYSICAL [ no, Chris, Jenny] on those beats to remind yourself. This was more practice for those knees, all good stuff.

6. BOGORODITSE [commonly known as B...off, purely to remind you of the consonant order, I am not trying to copy a certain Mr Ross and Brand].
We did this from memory and we've nearly got it.

7. APPLE TREE WASSAIL
Similarly, a run-through without copies. A second reminder that we start stamping with our LEFT FEET.

NOTICES
1. Next Thursday, 13 November, Merchants' Hall, 22 Hanover Street, it's on the left about the 3rd building you come to from Princes Street, a nice old-looking building, about opposite Lothian bus shop. As per my email last week, be there ready to try out the room and warm up at 6:30.
We start singing at 7 for about 20/30 mins. Ollie will email a list of music to bring. Practice for all doing this event next Wednesday will be EARLY, ie 7PM or as near to that as you can once babies are fed and watered.

I have the following people down as coming:
Sops: Kay, Susan, Helen. [Alison and Claire 1 as standby in case of illness].
Altos: Anne, Claire 2, Jenny [Natalie only if needed]
Tenors: Douglas, Chris, Ollie [Robin only if required]
Basses: John, Sebastian.

The following cannot make it even as standbys: AnnaLauren, Arno, Elaine.
Obviously I'll let the standbys know if they are needed so please check emails daily in case, or I'll give you a call. If anyone gets ill and can't make it, please let me as well as Ollie know ASAP.

2. CANONGATE AND CHRISTMAS CONCERTS

Susan will soon be ready to send out a mailing, and will do an email publicity thing. Chris has posters and flyers in hand for next week, tickets are now available for Canongate. So please start to warm up your potential audience, we need a good turnout particularly for Canongate or we'll look very lonely in that big church! I will contact Rosslyn to tell them to pass on info re our concerts to anyone who asks expecting us to be at Rosslyn Chapel as usual. The new CD will be on sale there.

3. SEBASTIAN'S TO SEE TOUR VIDEO, SATURDAY, 6PM

Time changed to 6pm, easier for some than the original 5pm. Bring food, savoury, salads etc. and a very good sense of humour [actually make sure you are not sober if possible when you watch it!]

Jenny's notes, 29th October

2008-11-02T12:43:00.001Z

Claire's hilarious warm up ... involved stretching, hokey cokey-ing (well done to our foreign members who gave it a good bash. Less can be said of resident troll who looked completely terrified and stood like a statue trying to metamorphose into the Wexler's furniture!)

A good exercise for Run Tobbogan. Try it at home. Sing to an arpeggio (tonic, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, Tonic) Zippers, clips and snaps. Sing it to the same arpeggio getting faster and faster. Do the same for all those tricksy words.

WASSAIL (the Apple one)

Find a space on your copy to write a heading - Aid to Memory
Write in:-
V.2 - women only, oh master.
end of V2 - Men, all year twice, STAMP. LEFT foot first
V.3 - RHYTHM - haaad anold. Not hadan ooooold
SOPS - when clapping starts think weird it's a slightly different tune.
Hear it - clap

IN DULCI

sing een for in. Come onto note straight away with a clear ee
Don't slow down
More attack on - oh - at same pitch and roundness. Don't over attack though. We're all in after solo/8tet bit so it needs to be clear, altogether, and come in blendingly
WRITE IT ON COPIES so Oliver doesn't have to say it again.
Tenors - bars 12-15 - Keep sharp! The A especially
Octet - John's doing Tom's bit and Ollie II is now Peter I

LUX

Start ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp and edge up so it shimmers a bit.
Nice quiet breath in for control
Tune notes well.
CONCENTRATE
Sops - come in from behind rather than on top. I think this means try to blend your entry so it isn't prominent
Watch out for the - x - at ends of loooooooX
Calid-ah NOT Cali-da
Bar 29 - exact pitch, dynamic and vowel. Tenors don't scooooop. V. pp.
Straight onto AH. CONTROL is the essence here.

Recapped APPLE TREE. For those who weren't there please make sure you know as much of it as possible for Wednesday

DECK THE HALL SINGULAR - well remembered but please work on it at home (that's the song, not decorating your house!)

BOGORO - Without music! Tricky but not difficult except for the words, as someone so eloquently put it!

RUN TOBOGGAN - Look at it for Wednesday. Listen to it as Christopher sent it round.
Memorise the melody. It will help with the words.
SPLIT on last page goes:-
John and Sebastian - bottom
Arno - middle
Top - Tenors
Women split as normal for Sop I/II Alt I/II

WATCH OUT - Tenor I is lower than tenor II in bar 55

No notices. Remember Sebastian's dvd night on the 8th! Jenny

Claire's notes for 22nd October

2008-10-23T12:42:00.002+01:00

Morning all, it is raining outside so here are some notes to cheer you on your way.

We began with a jolly African round from Ol

Bog off

sounded pretty good actually. Remember the fermata (Sp?) over the rest at the end of page two and the 'big end' rit. I think it is a matter of watching Ol which will be easier when we have the Russian words in our heads.

Deck the Hall (that's hall singular btw - a carol for these credit crunch days)

we basically just note bashed this so there isn't much to write in the notes. Ensure that runs are accurate. It was very loud/verging on scary :-)

Audivi the new one by Tallis.

Again just note bashed really so not a lot to say. It is written AATB so Sops sing the top line. It isn't really very low so don't panic. You just need to keep counting and it is fine.

That's about it really. Note bashing means that there weren't many notes to make...if you see what I mean.

Anyways, I hope those who are sick are feeling better.
Enjoy the wet day
Claire

Jenny's rehearsal notes, 15th October

2008-10-17T16:55:00.002+01:00

HOMEWORK - if you do nothing else this week say the words on page two of Bogoro ditse over and over.

Run Tobbogan

Bit of note bashing and whatnot.
Begin excited and quiet
Watch the accidentals
Bar 19 - men - G sharp is same as A flat
Well done basses, that's very hard, especially bar 19
That A's nice, Altos
Middle section where key changes - Make the words snappy especially CLIPS; SNAPS; FLAPS; HATS
The words in this song need to be really clear and it's quite difficult.
there's a bit needs to be legato with clear words but I missed it
Swell on FLEECES and PIECES
Hold PIE.......CES
Remember to go back to bar 23 to sing verse 3

Bogoro Ditsje

Ollie counts 4 for altos to start Bogor-ing
Pay attention to stopping/slowing down and page turns
Sops .... wait for altos to finish something before you come in
TENORS Lots of tone on high notes
Everyone get the hard 'k' on at the end of words at same time
JA blend the vowel
First system p.2 - MEN legato and P
Make the first 2 bars (p.2?) different from next two
Last bar p.2 give it a full 4 beats
LOOK UP at end of p.2. Or Ollie will beat you strongly...oh, I mean look up for a strong beat from Ollie
Do your homework as above

NB Next concert is on the 13th November. Merchants Hall on corner of Rose St/George St/Hanover st. Between 7/8.30 probably in two 15 minute halves. We'll sing jolly (?!) Scottish stuff we know already. As many people as possible. BASSES have no option.

Cranshaws on 20th December has been confirmed, but will be in a DIFFERENT church in a village further on. [Longformacus, actually on a different road. Ed.]

Comittee meeting at Rachael's for 8pm. Thursday 23rd

We seemed to come to some sort of agreement about the CD. First the majority agreed with the title - What are they doing. Second, the majority agreed with a blank cover, black, with title and Rudsambee on. Arno has offered to do something with this idea for Thursday. Third the majority agreed that the photo of us in the gallery which includes Alison, will be on the back cover of the CD. [No - it's on on the back of the booklet. Ed.] (I think there are other informal photos to be put in the booklet but I might have misinterpreted that)

PLEASE DON'T click REPLY ALL when replying to emails UNLESS it's urgent - like if you can't make a rehearsal or concert. Catting on emails detracts from urgent messages as people can't be bothered reading inane gossip and won't bother with, thus missing out on, urgent information. It also clogs up work emails and whatnot. You can chat on the blog if you can manage to work out how to do it... Thanks, Jenny

Jenny's notes - 1st October

2008-10-03T13:44:00.001+01:00

I didn't catch the notes at the end. I think there was something about a concert on Wednesday and we've to be at the National Library on George IV Bridge for 7pm.

No warm up but we sang a few pages of Bone - "Is that only quarter of it!" Exclaims Kay. " *^@!"

MO GHILLE

Get a copy of Ollie's version. Study it and sing it exactly how he's writ it. In spite of what everyone thinks Peter has told them, this is what we're singing so we're all doing the same thing! TEAR up your old pronounciation sheets.
[
Susan: If I tear up my old pronunciation sheet for Mo Ghille I am going to be in some difficulty as Ollie's version for the women has v3 and nowt else!! Well, the version I was given only had v3 - did I miss something?
Jenny: As you can see I've been a bit over enthusiastic about the tearing up of your copies! You'd better not tear anything up.
]
Remind yourselves of it. Play it through. IT'S NOT DIFFICULT.
WRITE on your copy. Your NEW copy:-

Women - V.1 + REFRAIN
Men - V.2 + REFRAIN
Women - V.3 (Now this is why we tear up old copies because V.3 is what USED to be V.4) + REFRAIN
Men - V.4 (what USED to be V.5 - get tearing!!)
refrain - TUTTI

MEN'S verse
It's TOOROCH wherever that comes in
and it's MUR rather than Moo or whatever other weird vowel you were doing

AIR U GEELYA

We are singing Verses 1, 3, and 5.
WOMEN start by singing the REFRAIN. Smooth P girls!
MEN while women are singing refrain LOOOK UP
EVERYONE LOOK UP after first refrain to get the SPEED for the FIRST VERSE. It will be faster and bouncier.
It's NAN YEELYAN not Geelyan. After an 'n' the 'g' becomes a 'y'. Think this only happens once in this piece.
ENNUNCIATE the word BEEOWN it means HILL. The word nam means the. Not ours to reason why the arranger put such an unimportant word on a daft beat..

FHIR A BHATA

SOPS only sing V.2 - I mean they sing the other verses as well, but V.2 is theirs, and theirs alone!
Remember to PAUSE in the LAST refrain.
Refrain AFTER V.2 is P
ENGAGE with the audience and pull out some energy (Ollie is sure we'll do this when we get an audience)

AULD LANG

S- yne NOT Z-yne (Mr Zingleton!)
Get a copy which is the same as everyone elses!
NO QUARTETS for this concert
Sing P for V. 3 & 4
DESCANT - V. 5 and last TWO refrains
NO SCOTTISH SNAP rhythm in verses!
Don't make the scottish snap too snappy. NOT d'duuur. TRY du-duuur

AE FOND SNOG

DON'T remember the dynamics. Just LOOK UP!!!
Well done
Aaaah people make sure it's blending and VERY legato
Sing to same phrasing as Helen
V.5 - After the break - Ae fond kiss (break) - do the next phrase in one breath and very legato so it emphasises the kiss being severed. It's called being dramatic.

CAULD BLAWS

Very good. Remember where you're P-ing. And Sopranos be forceful on the first time through F of last refrain.

NEXT rehearsal 22nd I'm doing warm up and Natalie's on notes. Thanks, Jenny

Claire 2's notes from 24th September

2008-09-30T14:47:00.003+01:00

Hello Y'all. There was too much Gaelic pronunciation malarkey for one of such remarkably little brain to cope with so forgive me if I've missed any of it. I hope you were all concentrating. And if you weren't there then I'm very sorry for you because it wasn't easy and I'm not going to make it any better.

Small group Boney people: Ollie has e-mailed us now so I don't need to remind you about extra rehearsals but do let him know that you would like to meet on TUESDAY. Thank you!!

We welcomed a visit from Peter who was home from China having left Mirren behind. I hope she didn't mind. He had to listen to:

The Gaelic pieces.

First we read through Air a' Ghille and were given some corrections as to pronunciation - more of that later.

We did the same with Mo Ghille Dubh and then sang it so here's the details:

Women will sing verses 1 and 4. Men will take verses 2 and 5. There will be no verse 3. Everyone will sing the refrain.
For the men's verses the basses will sing the bottom line, Robin and Douglas the top and Chris the middle. In the refrain Chris will join the other tenors.
The sopranos are split much as usual, I think, Kay, AnnaLauren and Helen on top and others middle but I may be wrong. According to my notes Kay is singing the top line all by herself. I think weariness and confusion had set in by then - never to leave.

So, the words - oh! those words.

Verse 1, I think we are to give 'thruaigh' (hrooahy) a clear two syllables with the stress on the second using a snap of the Scottish variety ie break the crotchet into a semi-quaver followed by a dotted quaver. If this is wrong please would someone who knows better pass on appropriate correction. Thanks.
Last word line 4: should be pronounced leeohnurch, not 'nuch'.
(note the added 'r').

Verse 2, first line last word make the ch of chay-luh very Germanic.
Line two second word which now reads choo-ruch should sound more like to-or-ruch but don't forget your Gaelic 't's.
Line four second word is pronounced airkish not akish.

Verse 4, was a bugger to get right, frankly. Not so hard once sorted (she says and proceeds to get the following completely wrong...). Line one 'grar' is the most important word therefore we need to play with the rhythm to give it it's correct emphasis. So 'huck me' is sung on the first beat of the bar dotted quaver, semi-quaver, 'grar' on the following dotted quaver and 'nach' on the semi-quaver. The word coeurchull (note change in pronunciation) has the stress on the first syllable so 'coeur..' takes a crotchet value, '..chull' is sung on the dotted quaver and the first word of line two on the semi-q. The next job in line two is to make 'ulch' more important than 'un' so swap the note values around semi-q, dotted q.
Line three make sure that the 'jee..' of 'jeean' is sounded.
Line four 'nee-onin' should be more like 'nyonin' - it is a short word.
The important word here is 'surl' so sing it more like 'surwell' on the second dotted q/semi-q of the penultimate bar. And be sure to get the 'ch' good and strong on the word 'chorsa'.
Aaaagh!! Did any of that make sense?

Verse 5 - this being a boys' verse I have no notes to speak of except that line three 'share gun' should read 'share sgun'.

The Refrain - no, not finished yet -
Bottom lines note that the 'har-ee' end of line two is not dotted.
Come in quickly and clearly with the first word of line three, 'shay' - dinnae hing aboot.
The word 'cuinyuhuch'.... hmmmm. Well, it's pretty near impossible.
The first syllable is sort of tight and then the 2 ch sounds need to be strong. Yes, there is another 'ch' in there and an 'r'- it should read: 'cuinyuchurch'. So go on - give it a try.

Air a' Ghille...
Verses 1,3 and 5 only. That is no verse 2 and no verse 4 whether that makes a nonsense of the song or not. Ollie doesn't care. And neither, quite frankly, do I.
We will start with a refrain sung by the women only. The women will sing this quietly and legato. Verse 1 will be louder and faster. Watch Ollie.

Some pronunciation corrections (of course):
Verse 1 second line, because there is an 'n' in front of it the 'g' of 'geelyan' is hardly there. Sing it more as if there is a 'y', we want no hard 'g's.
In the last line 'un orshlu' should sound more like 'unoo'orshla'.
Verse 5 'beown' means mountains and is the important word, not 'nam' - which I think means 'the'.
Line three 'Chaneecheen' should be 'Chraneecheen'.

Refrain: The first word of the third line is pronounced 'v(r)on', with a 'v'. Apparently there were some strange sounds going on.
Last line 'mo rooroch' should sound 'mo chrooroch'.

For all Gaelic songs remember Gaelic 't's and that a 'ch' on the end of a word should be heard - more phlegm says Ollie. I'm sure we can oblige. (Does anyone have a spittoon they could lend?)

Lastly - really - we sang Fhir a' Bhata. Verse 2 will be soprano melody only as usual - I thought it was all a little unfamiliar as I piped along.
Don't forget that we changed the 'le' bar 6 into a crotchet and that it should be sung lightly - it is not very important and shouldn't be allowed to get above itself.
Verse 1 second line, first word 'yeeurch'. Not sure what was wrong with it but that's how it should be.
Verse 2, sopranos, the last word 'hoorsich' make sure it's good and Germanic on the 'ch'.
That's all folks except that the small group as was that sang Cauld Blaws the Wind last year will do so again so please, if you are not singing the Carver in which case you will already be there, turn up for a rehearsal next week at 7.20. Thank you.

Susan's notes from Sept 17th

2008-09-21T16:40:00.003+01:00

Ollie warmed us up - we sang Congratulatory Phrases up the scale in honour of Thomas who has handed in his thesis. Well done Thomas - you must be brainy!

We had another go at Bogoroditse Djevo (Pärt), practising getting our tongues round the words to start with. The page turn is tricky so make sure you know what's coming - at the moment we're pausing to gather the troops before we set off on p2. Remember there is a properly scheduled rest at the top of the last page. It's in 3/4 and Ollie will be beating 3 to the bar at this point.

Do big crescendos where marked.

Last few bars - piu lento = look up! Ollie will be beating quavers so watch him.

We'll have to learn this by heart - it will be much easier if we do, and there's plenty of time if we start now!

We then notebashed a new piece by Abbie Betinis, "Run toboggan run". It has some tricky intervals in the lower parts - worth having a look at those before next week.

Here is a copy of the music list that Ollie handed out:
Music for October 8th Concert at the National Library:

Carver: O Bone Jesu (smaller group)
Cockburn, Frances: Ae fond kiss
Phillips, Sheena: Cauld blaws the wind
Moddie: Mo Ghille Dubh
Merrylees: Air a' Ghille tha mo Run
Phillips, Sheena: Fhir a Bhata
Phillips, Sheena: Auld Lang Syne

Other Music:

Cloudburst
Bogoroditse Djevo - Pärt
Run Toboggan Run - Betinis
Dormi Jesu - Betinis
Songs from Behind the Caravan - Betinis (WOMEN ONLY)

Make sure you bring all this with you from now on. If you don't have a copy let me know.

Chris reminded us that he has put up MP3s of most of the pieces we're doing at:
http://cid-2ddf56b8fdf7c0b5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Music

For reference - dates Anne gave us for Christmas concerts last week:

Sat Dec 6th - Canongate 7.30pm
Wed Dec 10th - Priestfield
Sun 14th Dec - St Giles at 6
Sat 20th Dec - Cranshaws

Natalie's notes from Wednesday 10th

2008-09-15T11:48:00.002+01:00

Bogoroditse Djevo (a Christmas piece) - the pronounciation is already written out similarly to how it sounds. Please ask Ollie if there are any problems. Altos and Sops: Beware of the dynamics (mp at the start) and of the accents. Make a lot of the ffs. Susan urges everyone to learn it off-by-heart.

Mo Ghille Dubh - was handed the pronounciation from Ollie. Recited it after Ollie. The men will sing some verses, the women will sing others.

That was all folks - really!

Claire's notes, 27th August

2008-08-28T11:44:00.002+01:00

Well we started with a warmup that included seals, gorillas and JS Bach. Bet you weren't expecting that on a Wed night! Cheers Arno.

Cloudburst...we spent a good long time on this last night. We did the first few pages.

watch whether you are singing llu via or just a - that's you vee-are not loo vee-are btw. Apparently there aren't any lls. Try it in Welsh..that makes it jolly.
keep an eye on pitch in these opening bars
take a big breath at the start and don't let it escape...well do let it escape otherwise combustion might be a problem but only let it escape in a note.
you can take a breath on this first page (phew!) but listen to what other people in your group are doing.
bar 4 we are singing sentences (Ooo) at random...which shouldn't make any real difference to normal conversation in Rudsambee.
look up from where the tenors come in so you know when to sing gua
big f at the end of bar 7
from bar 8 to 9 there shouldn't be any breath as you are crescendo-ing
the men only bit on page four should be flowing.
it is not hay but hi [ eye is more like it - Ed. ] which makes a big difference to the meaning of course
drive forward on the triplets

LOOK UP FOR PHRASING AND TAKE BREATH MARKS

From Behind a Caravan
Now from what I remember from family holidays what my father said when stuck behind a caravan on a boiling hot day on a country road in Wales should probably not be repeated much less sung about. However this wee piece from Betinis (just for the ladies don't you know) was great fun.
There are lots of parts so for any who weren't with us it would probably be best to ask Ol. On the opening lines the huh is attached to the previous word rather than standing alone which sounds a bit weird...or like the gorilla warmup.

O Bone Jesu
I was concentrating so hard on not messing this up (a fruitless endeavour I might add) that I didn't write many notes. I think probably the sentence 'practice at home on your own' might help. There is a rehearsal on Monday night for anyone who wants to do some extra practice. Just let Ollie know if you want to come.

We discussed the visit from the Finnish choirs and have decided that a musical extravaganza is beyond all of us except Jenny so although we will support them by attending the concert we won't be singing along...unless we know the words and then hell nor high water will stop us singing along from the stalls.

I hope everyone has a very happy day especially Rach who we hope to see next week :-) . Hugs lovely lady.

Anne's notes, 20th August

2008-08-26T15:38:00.002+01:00

Well I reckon I got off lightly by offering to do this week instead of next! 8 people were not there, all for good reasons, so we had an intense session with the piano of the first 5 pages or so of O Bone Jesu for the National Library concert. Ollie is hoping to have some extra rehearsals so we can learn this well, and not just struggle through the notes, so watch this spot.

No notes really other than to ask everyone to look at the music for half an hour or more this week and go over your part. It's important to count all the time, mark your copy with the beats if that helps, and don't get put off by the frequent changes from 2/4 to 3/4 etc, just count crotchets [or whatever they are for non-UK people!] If anyone wants me to come early and play their line on the keyboard then let me know.

The women also looked at some more Tormis songs, sounded a bit Japanese actually! Get your "real" copy from Susan.
*****************************
Notices:

1. The Library concert will at popular request, start at 8pm on Wed 8 October, with a warm-up/rehearsal at 7pm.

2. Ollie will confirm whether we are doing the Cloudburst concert before Christmas, it may be postponed until spring 2009 but we might start rehearsing it this autumn.

3. Weekend of 27 June 2009 confirmed for the concert in York with Soon Amore.

4. If we weren't doing the Cloudburst concert in October, John asked if anyone was interested in going to a concert and/or workshop in Glasgow with Northern/Village Harmony, mid-October on their email to John, and a possible shapenote workshop, all details as John forwarded previously [24 July]. I see from their website [www.northernharmony.pair.com] that they are planning to come to Edinburgh 15 - 16 October for a workshop and concert sponsored by Voicehouse. So maybe Glasgow is off, but this was updated in April so is probably not accurate. Please note that the 15 October is a Wednesday so Ollie may not be too pleased if we all desert him that day! No idea what the cost of the workshops or concert might be. I suggest you contact John if you are interested. They may also be looking for accommodation.

Arno's notes, August 13th

2008-08-26T15:33:00.003+01:00

These are from last Wednesday. I think there are some note(!)worthy things in here to keep in mind for Sunday's performance:

La la la.....
Keep the speed up, remember quiet and bouncy

5 Hebrew Love Songs (Whitacre):

II Kala:
ALTOS watch the phrase in bar 56, make sure you're sure (seemed fine when we went over it)

In the transition between movements II and III, i.e. going into Larov, Ollie will beat 1, 2, 3 and the SOPS come in on the 3, i.e. he's beating quavers.

III Larov:
More f in bars 6,7. In particular, ALL VOICES should attack their U in U-vey-ney in bar 6 by means of a bouncy emphasis.
Some pronunciation:
_ch_ = dry & throaty, a favorite in dutch and arabic
ch = hard
the e in she and bey is like the e in red

V Rakut
Right at the end, Ollie will bring the SOPS off their final note.

Kanarbik (Tormis):
BASSES watch Ollie (*!!!*), he will give us our cues for starting and coming off the two phrases Kurb lila..... and Pai ke se....
EVERYBODY ELSE remember that at the end of page 1 Ollie first brings the basses off their Pai ke se....., then everyone else off their long held notes.
Page 2: *COUNT* *TRIPLETS*! Don't drag!

On Hillus suvi / Autumn Landscape (Tormis):
Slightly louder */mf/* in bar 9 than we have been doing, so that there's something to decrescendo into in the next bar.
More f on the Ja seda suve entry bar 14, i.e. a more weighty poco pesante.
Remember dynamics in bars 15 - 18, which are:
Ja seda suve - f
ei tule enam - dim. (softer)
ei tule enam - growing again, though not back to f
sede suve - dim. to p

ALTOS - nice melody bars 10-13 - give it the love it deserves

Morgenstern (Pärt):
Good. Remember what you look like, standing there singing in front of people.
HENCE
Look up, especially right at the beginning.
Ollie will give us all our notes for the opening chord I believe

Envoi (Bettinis):
Remember the all important Crescendo start of page 2, bar 11. If it doesn't happen, it's not so much like the soufflé not rising as it is as if we forgot to turn the oven on in the first place.
Staying synchronised is everything in this piece.
HENCE
LOOK AT OLLIE

En une seule fleur (Lauridsen)_:
Attack the En in Enchantée whenever you sing it, in a timely fashion (i.e. on the first beat of the bar). The whole idea is that this clear articulation and timing will mean things don't fall part so much, especially on page 2 when the ALTOS are offset by one beat.
Remember there are quite a few speed changes throughout this piece, so keep your eyes on the traffic warden or he'll write you a ticket.

The choice of potential encore was briefly discussed but I think Ollie settled on the Crow and the Frog, wanting to get it out of the way so we have it under our belt.

Claire's notes, 6th August

2008-08-26T15:32:00.002+01:00

Hebrew Love Songs--> keep pitch (this will probably be easier with a piano)

Air a Ghille-> Ol gave us a Gaelic words sheet (yey for him) to make it easier for us. Keep your vowel sounds nice and don't swoop. We are going to speed up and slow down on this one to keep everyone awake!

Tormis-> sopranos just need to calm down a little and remember to sing quietly. Remember dynamics and don't slow down when you are singing quietly. A long vowel on hili-soo-vi. Turn your pages early.

Frog and the Crow-> practice notes. We are going to pretend we are doing this for St Giles so try and learn it over the next few days.

O Morganstern-> nice but stop making stoopid faces. Yes, it is weird but we need to sing it as if we are rattling off a nursery rhyme!

That's about it. Seems like there isn't much to say. Sorry about that - we must just have been brilliant!

Jenny's notes, July 30th

2008-08-26T15:24:00.002+01:00

Well, having realised I've not been swimming for a while due to Claire's warm up, I took the boys. Aren't changing rooms minging? And the cubicles at our pool don't have curtains. Which means it's quite interesting for me but perhaps not for everyone else...hmmm. Anyway...

KANARBIC No7, Tormis

SSSSHHH!! and think of the p as pp
Men get exactly in tune
Women have the same movement as the men going on.
Sopranos - aim high
Sops, Alts, Tens - pp when Basses come in
Hold on FERMATA much longer than the basses
NOT need - n-air-d with an English accent.
Men DON'T scoop the mui of muidui koi kon
Basses - keep the d, flat but not too flat.
Men DON'T drag; count 1.2.3 and come in straight on the ainult Bar 12
Stay legato, flowing
Come off exactly together on bars 2 and 8
LOOK UP LOTS. There will be speed changes
Bar 16 - allargando means lengthening out

ON HILLISUVI

Hold the beginning chord on and support it.
Count 4 somewhere but it's wise to count anyway!
Soo-ve. NOT Soo-vay
Men watch dynamics - mf to p
NOT f at bar 14. Try mf!
Bar 15/16 - etulle enam - legato and softer
Bar 16/17 - a bit more energy
Bar 17/18 - quieter than other bars.
(In other words make a difference between how you sing each small bit between Bar 15-18)

O MORGEN

pp and basically we sang it like its supposed to be believe it or not!
Tenors it might help to think of a fanfare only pp It's the E to B third (?) system down

(Shepherds pie is burning. Hang on a mo)

AIR A GHILLE

Pronounciation. I'm not going to try and write it all here. There are a lot of different opinions as to what the tape was saying cos it was muffled. I'm sure we'll be going over it again

FROG AND CROW

Watch and think about the key changes
NB - we're holding on the rests between each section so WATCH OUT! and don't come in before you're meant to
At bar 16 make a difference between the chords we've just sung and the doo doo doo flowing legato bit
Come on shore - a bit quieter.

HEBREW LOVE SONGS - we will be singing in St Giles with another violinist cos bi-doo-ron ron ron - is away

KALA - Listen to speed of violin and piano and WATCH Ollie
EYZE - Helen was naughty singing bonk not bong

Claire 2's notes from Wednesday 23 July

2008-07-28T17:18:00.002+01:00

Small group sang Kullervo and suffice it to say that I still need to learn to count and sing and breathe all at the same time. Probably we should all look at it a lot and get the feel of it and the dynamics. What fun it is - and what an unpleasant chap Kullervo appears to be.

Jenny amused us with her gargling warm-up though I think the keyboard was a little too close to me for comfort - it was making some very odd noises later in the rehearsal and I felt somewhat responsible. We did some King's Singers doo-doos and then some breathing exercises - which I am sure worked but find it hard to judge as I forgot to breathe in the first time....

On Hilissuvi

Start pp. A slight crescendo going into bar 4.
Sopranos - more legato at beginning and the same goes for the altos in bars 7-13.
Bar 6 - wait to come off. Hold that note for its full value.
Tenors and basses - don't come in too soon with your 'very low sounds' (wherever they are).
Bar 9 - sops and tenors a bit louder so you can decrescendo later.
Bar 14 - poco pesante - this was really beautiful, apparently. A good heavy sound which is exactly what is required. Well done, us.

Heather

Basses - at the beginning Ollie will give the downbeat for each of the phrases. Don't be afraid to move quite quickly through them.
Tenors and basses were slightly off key at the beginning. Watch tuning.
Sopranos - make sure the F is high - it helps to make a brighter sound.
Make the most of the dynamics.
Bar 2 - not as loud on first f. Leave some scope for the ff which follows.
Bar 3 - alto 2s, the 2nd basses have an F (though we've got that sorted now, eh, Rachael? We don't need' em).
Bar 9 - pronunciation: Moy doo koik on kohweeka.
Bar 10 - Need is pronounced need. How hard can it be?
Men and Jen - make sure you move quickly enough in bar 13 ainult nen de pel...
Alto 2's (were we that bad?) watch E to A bar 18.
Everyone watch the triplets - try to stay together on them.

Frog and Crow (unfortunately not a public house). (And also Claire 1 wants to know why we always kill the frogs - where, she asks, are the kissing princesses? Where indeed). (Oh, yes, and the key-changes are Claire's fault). (And Ollie didn't write it). (I think that's all the nonsense out of the way).

So, watch those key-changes.
At the beginning the sound should be very rich à la 'Dark Eyed Sailor'. And mf.
Hold rests for their full value.
Ollie wants more phrasing at the beginning but it can be quite choppy with more enticement and menace in the Come on shore.. bit.
From bar 20 a big difference - much more legato, especially the altos.
Bar 40 - the men have the melody, we need to hear it, so softly with the sho shos ladies.
Very well remembered though.
(And, by the way, Helen doesn't like the end).

O Bone Jesus

I have very little written for this which is surprising as it is so difficult. I can only think I was concentrating rather harder than usual. Of course, I have nothing at all useful for the men-and-jen as they were elsewhere during the hard-work bit.

Susan and Kay are being Mean. Kay seemed surprisingly keen on taking this part.
General note - COUNT. And do it in crotchets a lot of the time. Bar 19 in 3/2, think of it as 1 2, 1 2 3 4. And the value of the rest in this bar is a crotchet.
Altos - don't forget you have a G#, bar 6, not G natural.
I also have written what looks like: 'First 2 notes bar 7 in right place for newdo'. As before, please feel free to interpret this as you will or to explain to me what I mean if you have any idea. (Can't help feeling I'm not very good at this job).
That's all for that one, believe it or not.

O Morgenstern

Put in some dynamics eg a tiny crescendo on Morgen.. at the beginning but fade out on ..stern. And fade again on ...Lichtes bar 7.
NB Lots of control for pp beginning and for the ppp bar 32. Really prepare the oh (bar 32) and make it an or-y sort of an oh.
The tuning must be exact. Think technically of the distance between the notes.
(But it's going to be lovely. And Anna-Lauren thinks - and I agree - that we should learn it off-by-heart. So let's).

That's everything, which is just as well as I'm so late sending them.
Happy Sunday. (And Monday and Tuesday). See you Wednesday xxxx

Claire 2's notes, 4th June

2008-06-06T23:45:00.004+01:00

OK so I've never done this before. Any problems or complaints, please KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF.

Small Group:
- Geograph - remember we'll have to do it in a one-er for recording. Ha-di-ha. Can't remember much more due to blind panic but watch yo-ko--ha....mas and don't forget the ma is staccato. Dynamics. A word I feel will make many an appearance in this missive.

- When I Fall in Love - Ahhh - it was lovely, Claire. And well done Sebastian, our new soloist. Dynamics. Get the doo-loos accurate. Listen and count (note to self. There may be lots of these, too).

Susan sang from behind the kitchen door as she had 'the lurgy'. There were some intermittent yowls from that direction. Was this a cat or....

Ollie had a rotten week last week. (That's what comes of missing choir practise so be warned...)
To make up for it he pinched Alison's warm-up spot. We shook a leg, played at mirror-ing and then did nursery-rhyme rounds. After that we sang ar-ay-ar-ee air. And then sang Ave Maris Stella (only connect) obeying Ollie's signals to stand on one leg. Very silly but illustrated how much attention should be paid to him while we're singing. This is especially required for the Hebrew Love Songs and En Une Seule Fleur but important at all times.

Visur
Keep breath supported throughout to avoid squeaks and dips at the beginning of phrases.
Prepare vowels: At the beginning and after rests at the end of phrases.
Altos: Bar 5/6 sustain sound through the long notes of Mitt, þitt.... ie no rests and all sound ts at the same time.
Tenors: Bar 8 keep your F# high. A brighter vowel on a (not ar) will help.
Underneath parts - soft fs on fogr etc. We don't want to hear them.
At the beginning, altos and tenors should be very quiet /- pp /rather than /p/.
Bar 17- /f/ at Þig eg.. (breakfast, anyone?) decrescendo slightly through mann-a mest and then crescendo through maedd af tara to /f/ again at bar 20 - flodi.
sest bar 22 - come off clearly and together.
KEEP BREATH SUPPORTED.

Stray Cat Strut
'A' given.
Men went off to work on bars 31-40. I hope you know what you did cos I don't.
This is fun to perform but remember, on the CD contrasts will be important. Check the dynamics.
Bar 27 - women keep /mp/. The oo should be much quieter than the men's words. Sha-la-la can be louder. Look up more. Ollie will hush us when necessary.
Men - be a little quieter on I don't bother chasing mice.... you are laid back, couldn't give a monkey's kind of cool cats.
(There's something here about ba-boom ta chah and 2nd wah but I don't know what....please help if you can).
Bar 46 - Strict rhythm. Wah comes on the beat - don't be early.

Ist Hebrew Love Song (Girlies - this is for us...)
Sopranos are - apparently - "allowed to duck out of an A".....Oliver Singleton June 4th 2008. May I suggest - unimportant and ignorant as I am - that you don't all do it at once? Perhaps you could arrange a lottery.
Be prepared to speed up after the first 2 quavers - WATCH OLLIE.
Altos - last bar, don't go to Bb, it's a B.
Watch dynamics. Note /mp/s.

Kala Kalla
Bar 50 - I shall tell you what I have written down. You tell me if you can make head or tail of it. I can't. I do apologise:
'Come in' (well, it does help) o hee lee la Ist la la after men. Speed difficult - 2 beats before LOOK UP during fermata will give speed for following bars 2/4 don't be put off.'
Hmmm. That's your lot.

La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire
Ollie was being experimental. Which resulted in quartets. So,
Verse 1: Kay, Jenny, Robin, John. Alison to sing Kay's part in Czech Republic.
Verse 2: Susan, Rachael, Chris, Sebastian.
No speed change for verses. Go like the blazes all the way through.
Don't slow down at all, ever. Learn words.
Keep very /p/ at the beginning. /ppp/ in fact. We are gossipping.
Let's go for it. (For an example of excellence at this - watch Arno. Brilliant. But I don't think you should tell him any of your secrets.)
So. Choruses, very quiet. Quartets, sing out. Contrast. "Much more interesting" says Mr Oliver Singleton.

Tormis
7, 8, 3, 10
'G' given.
no. 8 - There is always some hesitancy and confusion before the humming. Sort it.
Bar 6 - turn it into a dotted minim. Have a crotchet rest.
Anne says she got her bit wrong on the recording last time. Oooooh.
She promises not to do it again.
no. 3 - Sopranos started a bit slow. Watch Ollie. He will give you 2 beats for an-dab, an-dab.
The main thing about this one is that some sopranos don't know their words. This was evident on the last recording. Please look at them and learn them properly before the next.

Stray Cat Strut /reprise/
Jenny, you may meeow as loud as you like.
Within reason.

Czech song
A good effort at pronounciation. That's what my notes say. They also say 'aaaaagh'. I know which I think is more accurate. We worked hard on it, anyway. And it's getting easier.
Jenny tells me the men were very enthusiastic. I don't know about that. I wasn't watching.

En Une Seule Fleur
Cb given.
Beware of rits, a tempos and ralls. And rests ie bar 10. This is very important.
Start /p/ and breathy. (You don't get that chance often so make the most of it).
Silent breaths please. ( And in the Tormis).
Nobody was ready for the first rit. 'rit' means LOOK AT OLLIE.
Sopranos - bar 19; you can be much faster. Where it says 'exuberantly' you can race ahead.
Keep supported through mid-section (?!)
Keep runs sharp. (Clear-cut sharp not #-sharp, I would imagine).
Tenors - bar 18; stay on the same note.
Excellentverygood transition from middle section to end. Much applause. A very happy Ollie. HOWEVER - if you practise nothing else this week, practise this. It is hard.

Miscellaneous notage: Recording schedule handed out, plus list of songs for Czech Republic, plus list of all possible songs for recording.
Please have file in alphabetical order for recording and have all possible songs in there.
Recording day will be busy so no chat until breaks. Except for lunch the breaks are short so don't run off too far. Please wear/bring concert dress for photos at 10 o'clock. (The first break will be at 11 o'clock not 10 as written on schedule). Ollie wants the day to be as relaxed as possible but Helen wants us to get on and get things done really well and quickly. Both should be possible if there's no time-wasting and stress-building so let's all be good and quiet and focussed and get brilliant results for the CD.
Czech visit: Formations for concert to come. We will be performing the Hebrew Love Songs (yey!!) No introductions for us to do as they'll be done by them.
Committee meeting Monday 8 o'clock at Wexler's.
National Library of Scotland concert October 8th (Wednesday).

What a marathon. Sorry to go on so. Hope all is OK. Please send corrections or clarifications but no complaints.
Byeee

Jenny's notes - 28th May

2008-06-01T17:25:00.002+01:00

Bear with me these notes are important especially if you missed the rehearsal, Thanks

Sebastian warmed up with funny noises and some good technical hints how to breathe quietly

*Need someone for warm up and notes for next week, and the 11th please.
*
NAG 1. THERE ARE ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS BEFORE THE RECORDING. We need EVERYTHING to be polished cos there's a few retakes to be done due to noise and birds singing along. We don't want any faffing around on the Saturday. I'm afraid it means a concentrated effort. There will be breaks for tea, lunch, etc, but inbetween Ollie doesn't want to have to keep shushing folks up and waiting for faffers and whatnot. Someone suggested we take it in turns to be the shusher-up... anyway we all want the recording to be HOT. It might help if we think of it like a concert.

I think it's extra hard because there is no audience to sing to and it's not a rehearsal either, but we can't be faffing about at it.

NAG 2 Can folks let Anne know if they're free for that Carver concert in October, if you've not already done so. There shouldn't be much music to learn for this - assuming it's Scottishy stuff we've done before. It's good prestige for us
a) because it's another type of audience and
b) because it'll be a way of pushing Christmas concerts.

NAG 3 Accomodation in Sušice. Our hosts are finding it difficult to find single beds for people. Alot of their choir do not have spare rooms and are moving out of their own double beds to provide us with somewhere to sleep. Whilst some of you may regard this as an opportunity to shack up with someone in the choir you fancy!!! Others may have to be prepared to sleep on the floor.

NAG 4 On the Friday itinerary, we've a reception with the Mayor. We thought we'd take our Rudsambee t-shirts for this. If it's hot, we might not want to wear sweaty shirts for the concert, especially the men. We'll consult the wardrobe oracle on this matter when it returns from Spain...

NAG 5 Subs still being collected. Give them to you know who.

NAG 6 On the 14th of June, after the recording. CLAIRE II is doing the moon walk. Actually she's doing a half moon (walk). So please support her and give her some pennies before she decides to use the choir subs!!;)

HIDE AND SEEK - did a lot of work on this...
1) IMPORTANT - to LOOK UP and ENGAGE. The point being that the need to reflect the DRAMA, WORDS and MOOD in the piece is essential, not whether we're thinking about vaccing the carpet and washing up.
2) MP is under average loudness.
3) Page 2 - bar 17 - Tenors have the melody. If you can't hear them you are singing too loud. MARK in your music where the melody moves from part to part and if you've not got the melody, shush!
4) SPIN - close quickly onto 'n' and make it buzz (I think that meant give it some life, like it's spinning)
5) Bar 28 - 'With people to stop to hold' - WITH comes on upbeat. And this should be everyone together singing the same rhythm.
6) Page 5 - Bar 38 - Trains and Sewing machines - WORDS. The 'and' isn't important. Sewing is. (which reminds me to sew Josh's cub badges on later...)
7) Page 6 - Bar 56 - Count in quavers - & 1 2 3, 1 2, 1 2 3 - FEEL it.
8) Page 11 - F - Can't muck about with staccato. Don't hang round on 'Ransom'. Different mood. Rhythm more important than words. Consonants important. Want staccato to have a break but don't stab at it. Should still be chrisp even if it's PP
9) Page 11 - F - Sopranos don't squeak. Float on Ransom. It's PP but hard to do. Would rather you P and make a nice noise doing it!
10) Bar 11 - (I think) PP except ALTOS who can do PP +
11) Page 15 - bottom of - P and DIM. ANNA-LAUREN floats away on note when everyone else has stopped singing.
12) Bar 25 - Busy streets - Sopranos are B NOT C
13) Generally - watch dynamics. I suppose that means do them as well!
14) Quiet Breathing - There's plenty of time to breathe so use it to let the air in (as in warm up) rather than gasping in on the upbeat.
(Unfortunately when we tried that, we lost some of the rhythm because some parts were relying on other parts gaspings to know when to come in!! Just have to concentrate harder when breathing quietly!). Elaine suggested practising with a hot potato in one's mouth.

STRAY CAT
1) MEN - ain't - is on the beat
2) Last bar and last line - RHYTHM - Don't bring in Bahs before Wahs. Not syncopated.
3) WOMEN - La la la la - is TUTTI
4) Generally - know where you're going. Have a look at it because you might be getting lapsadaisical about thinking you know it.

LA LA LA J'NE LO
1) Well done says Ollie down the phone. However....
2) French could be better. Especially Verse 2 - Me's il est cocu du - like an 'e' with mouth closed. - TOUT is almost like boot.
Elaine says don't coc it up.

TORMIS No3
1) Altos are NOT coming in with a note in the chord. Nor should they be, but it has to be the right note not in chord!! Be aware!
2) Stagger breathing
3) Count on last page.
TORMIS No10
Good
NB - We'll be doing all the Tormis for the recording so put 'em all in folder

LAURIDSEN O MAGNUM
1) Well remembered.
2) Dropped a lot in pitch. SOPRANOS - go sharp rather than flat. At the breaks - top of 2nd page and page 4 - think higher. You have a breath no one else does. Use it to re-gear and think about getting back to the D. The notes inbetween aren't as important because the Altos have them. Think of phrase

ALL DID VERY WELL. (Thankyou Anne for taking rehearsal)

Jenny's notes, Wednesday 21st May

2008-06-01T17:20:00.002+01:00

Hello to Robert (new bass for the recording). And thanks to bi-doo-Ron Ron Ron-bi-doo-what loverly violin playing, Ron Ron...:)

Started with Hawaiian love songs
IV
After Alison speaks it goes 3, 4, (violin in on 4), pause. Downbeat is 1.
We're competing with the violin and piano. OOOO is a quiet vowel to sing. So belt it out.
V
More crescendo bar 18
Sops a bit louder with entry
'A' at end. Hold it on until violin's faded
Small rit Bar 28 on Ha
I
Take more time over first two notes ladies. Then it speeds up more than expected.
II
During the Fermarta Ollie gives speed of La la la la la la bit.
Men need to be heard so sing a bit louder than mp
III
Put more force behind oo nev nu crescendo
Sops watch 'A' and 'E'. It's tricky. Also the 'A' after 'F#'
KALA
More expression from men
p a bit on li

Generally - Know the bits you're dodgy at and go over them.
OLLIE - REALLY PLEASED, WELL DONE

Ave Maris
BMV - beata maria virginae (or something, it was funny anyway)
Prepare vowel
Phrasing
Dynamits
Pauses

La la la
G given
Two minims given for start
First bit repeated, v. 1, first bit, V. 2, first bit, last page and first bit
Look up for bar 8 and look ahead
Words - LOOK AT 'EM

The Lamb
Tasty
Support long notes ahead
Accidentals well remembered but have a look at it and any bits you might have forgot
Beautiful.

No notices apart from Captain Claire's bogsport.com and SUBS due in to Claire the Conqueror.

Arno's notes, 30thApril

2008-05-08T15:38:00.001+01:00

I was on notes last week, but it was a short rehearsal and Anne's pretty much said it all in her email. We were working on some of the transitions between the Hebrew love songs, as well as trying to get the aleatoric snowing working. There was a brief discussion about the speed of bongs, with the suggestion that although it's a good idea for people within a given voice to choose different average bonging rates, perhaps we really don't need very fast bongs. The density of bonging across the different voices, even at slow bong rates, may be sufficient. Fast bonging would turn it into a manic snow flurry rather than gentle snow.

We await The Word of Ollie on this matter.

Anne's notes, 30th April

2008-05-01T15:42:00.002+01:00

As you'll have guessed from Chris's email [that is, if you were one of the many not there last night!] we spent quite a lot of time doing the Hebrew songs, with piano [as we will be singing it with piano and violin hopefully]. The best thing to do if you weren't there is to listen to the Youtube version Chris forwarded and try to sing your part along with the recording. It will be important to know how you intend to find your note from one movement to the next as you don't always get a note from the instruments first.

Then the few who were there started to dwindle with tales of compulsory attendance at Beltane celebrations. We picked up copies of the Czech song we will be singing [with Svatobor hopefully!] and a pronunciation guide. Everyone who is coming to Sušice please write in the pronunciation on your copy, we won't have a lot of time for rehearsal. We sang it a few times to la, not difficult in the main.

It was a bit like "there were ten green bottles" after that as tiredness overcame a few so when we were down to not many more than one per part we stopped and had a cuppa!

No real notices, but remember it's the Annual General Meeting on 14 May and let Alison [who will chair] or me have items for the agenda by next Wednesday at the latest.

Folders - from Ollie, 29th April

2008-04-29T12:49:00.002+01:00

Please re-arrange your folders.

You will need:
O Magnum Mysterium - Victoria
O Magnum Mysterium - Lauridsen
Visur Vatnsenda Rosu
Ave Maris Stella
Stray Cat Strut
She Tells Her Love
Hebrew Love Songs
Tormis - Heavenly Suitors
- What Are They Doing
La La La Je Ne L'Ose Dire
The Lamb
Hide and Seek

For the Small Group:
Geographical Fugue
When I Fall In Love
Misere Nostri
By Falsehood

Alison's notes from 23rd April

2008-04-25T22:48:00.004+01:00

Firstly a big welcome back to Claire! Then a warm up with Kay.

We started to learn a new piece La....je ne l'ose dire. We did it to la then started to fit in the words. The song is about villagers gossiping, we have to get the sense of this over. Things Ollie asked us to remember are;
a) we are aiming for a pure tone, no vibrato, think counter-tenor;
b) create forward vowel sounds

Five Hebrew Love songs - we did this mostly in men and women groups. I don't have many specific notes, sorry.

no.IV) the aim is to invoke the idea of a magical snowstorm. We worked out how to sing the bongs at the beginning. Alison will do the spoken lines. Anna Lauren will sing the sop solo.

Sops go from ooh to mmmm during bar 17, then repeat the process in the later bars.

Words are written phonetically throughout all the songs, as they have been transliterated from Hebrew script into Roman script, so treat pronunciation literally.
Ollie will send round midis with the pronunciation.

Notes
Alison to make copies of the Czech song that we will sing on the trip. The Sušice concert is on the Friday night.

Possible gig at the National Library , to celebrate the music of Carver - pencil in 30 Sept or 1 Oct as possible dates.

AGM is on 14 May, send agenda items to Anne if you have any.

Jenny's notes from the recording, 16th April

2008-04-25T22:46:00.002+01:00

Arno had us ha ha ha-ing up and down scales. Good breathing exercise to practise at home - deep breathe and say 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 2 and two and three and four and 3 and 2 and three and four and 4 and 2 and three and four and...
Do likewise with 6, 8, 10 ...see how far you can get.

Gaelic Set

Sown an ilye At the ends of the verses FIRST time through do a slight crescendo into verse 2nd time through.

Lux

Vair NOT ver lut. and rich sound
Bar 24 - join et canuntetcanuntet NOT et canunt et canunt
DON'T break or breathe or sneeze between et and canunt
Bar 25 Match the 'p' so we're all singing same p (think this is a dynamic not a consonant)
Basses come in in time
Sops at G SHARP come off all together (last page) and Anne heard an F Sharp
Everyone respond on the last page

Otherwise we did a good recording. And if there were any more notes sorry but my music was in a muddle by this time and my notes were in there somewhere and I was plagued by a troll several times.

Sebastian's notes, 9th April

2008-04-14T00:35:00.002+01:00

Next Tuesday, 15th April, 5.30pm, Farewell for International Students,

in the Playfair Library in Old College,
enter from South Bridge, Chamber Street, Warmup 5ish,

Normal concert dress
Order of songs not yet clear, but probably not Auld lang syne, not Fhir a bhata

Wednesday, 16th April, 6.30pm!!!

CD recording in St Peter's Episcopal Church, Lutton Place
Bring all music we did in Portrait Gallery
plus Amuworo

Thomas did a warming warm-up with Mammamia, Pappapia and Gloria.

In general:

look up
look engaged
Read ahead then look up
Smile (imagine Jenny standing next to Ollie!)

Aurora rutilat

Think of pitch, consonants, dynamics
p in beginning
look at crescendo and decrescendo from p to f and back to p
no pause between bars 32 and 33
sing legato

Sang

Ollie gives 6 beats upfront
bar 9 warmly, not loud
Ollie checks whether we should record this

Mary's wedding

Nice solo from Chris
Note: lyrics differ between 1st and 3rd line
4 bar phrases

Mary's song

As done before: Each verse twice, 1st no soprano, 2nd with soprano,
Beginning solo quartet (1st time 1st verse), then tutti
no fermate nor rit. in each first time of the verse

Island spinning song

Big melodramatic crescendo
Note (as done before): repeat chorus 1st and last time only

Amazing grace

Start pp, but full voice
no pause after lost and sound
Don't smile in the first verse - look awe-struck!
Then smile (imagine Jenny standing next to Ollie!)

Ae fond kiss

Hold end notes!

Preab san ol

3 beats upfront

Gaelic Set

Crisp words
Articulation

Thomas' notes - 2nd April

2008-04-05T15:36:00.002+01:00

Since there wasn't much to be improved the night before the concert, the notes don't contain much music this time:

Warmup
Claire made us running through the church and doing other crazy stuff ... as usual.

Oh magnum Mysterium
round vowels, prepare oh-s

Envoi
Small decrescendo around bar 51

Hide & Seek
a very legato, non-hectic where are we and similar bits
at [E] (page 9) speed changes
sing spinnnnn me round rather than spiiiiiiiiiin me round

Tormises
ok

Chanson des roses
ok

Lux
If in doubt sing vählut rather then way-lut

Sanctus
ok

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Next week bring along the things for the University gig. For those who haven't got the program: Aurora Rutilat, Ae Fond Kiss, Depairte Depairte, Gaelic Set, Sang (Hairst the Licht o' the Mune), Amazing Graze, Island Spinning Song, Fhir a Bhata, Preab san Ol, Auld Lang Syne, Mary's Song, Mhairis Wedding.

P.S. My friends who were at the concert confirmed the overall impression everyone had: we did really well. People were impressed by the niveau of our music and how much we advanced and improved since last year. The words came over very clear, my friend said. They enjoyed both the variety and the quality of the music, and of course the wonderful acoustics.

Susan's notes, Wednesday March 26th

2008-04-01T15:25:00.001+01:00

Small Group:

Geographical Fugue – still haven't really nailed this but it's improving. Remember to look ahead to prepare for what's coming.
If I fall in love … need to be absolutely precise in middle section.

Main Rehearsal:

Douglas did the warming up tonight. I think he was right - Hey Mr Miller was good fun but not EVERY week!

Hide and Seek:
Page 12: quartet is Kay, Susan, Natasha and Chris.
Jenny and Natalie should both learn the alto solo.
AnnaLauren and Claire1 are the sop soloists. They know who does which bit – I don't!

Ollie will give us ONE bar in.
(Very) Odd notes I took at the time:
Bring out the melody – "melody" is written in tiny letters above the part who has it.
Make the vowel sound in "where" rounder, not as in "lair".
Sing through the phrases. Not too "poppy".
Again, try to look ahead, legato where it should be, don't be put off by syncopation.

Tormis pieces:
We're singing them in this order –
7. Kiisu-miisu (Pussy-cat)
8. Laulda teile lauluke (To sing you a little song)
3. Taevased kosilased (The Heavenly Suitors)
9. Mis teil tehakse? (What are they doing?)

We practised gluing them together;
7 and 8 no problem (leave it to Anne!)
8 and 3: practised the join without the fermatas – wasn't as tricky as…..
3 and 10: where 2nd Sops need to make their C very clear as this is the note Tenors and Basses need. Sops and Altos need to pick their notes up from the T and B's Cs – sounds easier than it was.
Sops : I have made a version of no.3 on just two pages which means you don't have to turn over at all. I'll bring them along on Wednesday if anyone's interested.

O Magnum Mysterium - Victoria
It's the counting that gives us the most trouble.
Remember the dynamics – not too loud at the beginning.
Always prepare your Os in advance.
Alleluia is Ahlehluia, not Allayluia.
My notes just say "rah". I think this must be the "rah" in admirahbile and sacrahmentum (not ra as in rat).
Remember to aim for "ster" in mysterium.
Bar 53 (first 3/2 bar): cut "stum" a bit short and LOOK UP to get the new brisker speed from Ollie which starts at the beginning of that bar.

Envoi
("Well done, you're doing fine". Well, that's what he said).

Sops – look up at bar 37 so that it doesn't drag.
Bar 45 – f then decrescendo until it's p at bar 49.
It is starting to sound "amazing" – Robin wants to release clouds of butterflies.

En une seule fleur
"good …. not bad"
Homework – keep on working at the words so that we can sing them up to speed.
Bar 19 – "exuberantly" is what it says – needs to be legato but keep the speed up – this section should be faster but it tends to drag.

Dowland Psalm 38:
Ollie will give us D and 2 bars in.
V3 quartet: Susan, Anne, Chris and John
V8 quartet: AnnaLauren, Natalie, Ollie and Sebastian.
We sang the words to all the verses this week and it became very obvious that we must all learn the tune so that we don't have to read the notes as well as the words!
My notes say "round vowels" and then it's illegible.

Dowland Psalm 100 version 2:
2 bars in.
Tenors have the tune.
V3 quartet is Claire1, Anne, Robin and Thomas.

Notices:
Ollie will be at no.16 from 7pm on Monday for anyone who wants an extra sing.

Wednesday 2nd April: Anne has now confirmed we'll be at St Peter's Lutton Place – small group at 7, everyone else ready to sing at 7.45.
There won't be any break for refreshments - bring your own water and whatever else you want.

Thursday 3rd April: Portrait Gallery concert

Wednesday 9th April: this will be (mostly) a rehearsal of the Scottish pieces for the University gig.

Czech Visit:
Anne now has a note of all accommodation preferences so that's it! Travel to Susice on Thursday: the 4pm and 4.40pm buses go straight through with no changes so it would be better to wait for one of those and use the opportunity for a quick look at the sights of Prague if you're not going to get a chance on the way back. Otherwise it's the train and we don't need to book tickets. (Hope I've got that right Anne!)

Anne's notes, Wednesday 19th March

2008-03-20T13:13:00.001Z

Hi folks. I'll try to recall the key info from last night though we did split into parts for some of the time so sopranos will need to find out what happened then!

1. The CD recording last week was very successful, nearly everything is usable, little/no traffic noise, and really good. Some editing is needed and a few may need re-recording [including Lux]. We will use St Peters for the next 2 sessions [16 April 6:30 and Sat 14 June about 9:30/10 until 5ish] so you can delete the possible Canongate session on 9 April.

2. Ollie handed out a list of the songs for the Portrait Gallery, Thursday 3 April, 6pm kick-off = 5:15pm warm-up. He will email round the order but here are the songs for those who weren't there last night so we can ALL get the songs in our folders!

Envoi,
Lux,
En une seule fleur,
Psalm 38 and 100 by Dowland [NB try to get a copy before next week if you missed these new pieces],
Dark-eyed sailor,
Geographical Fugue - small group,
When I fall in love - ditto,
O magnum mysterium by Victoria,
the 4 Tormis pieces in this order for the concert - 7, 8, 3, 10,
Dindirin,
Hide and Seek.

3. Dowland Psalm 38

Watch the tuning, tenors watch F# in second line [but make sure you sing F natural in bar 1], and altos/basses Eb in bar 5. Pronunciation for wrath = ROTH not RATH. Quartets for verse 3 [probably Susan, Anne, Chris, John] and verse 8 [AnnaLauren, Natalie, Ollie and Sebastian]. Sing forward blended vowels.

4. En une seule fleur - from bar 19 to end.

This is where we split rehearsal and the sopranos went off to learn their parts/words for Tormis no 3 [don't know what they did but it sounded very good when they returned!] Then we sang this one together later when they returned.
Keep it legato for the main phrase, tu étais assez riche etc, but bouncy and lighter when it goes to the original theme- mais tu n'a pas pensé ailleurs in bar 31 etc. Be prepared for the repeat, think and look ahead and mark it . Watch Ollie for the timing [it is fast] and watch the following French words:

ailleurs = eye-er not ay-er
tu etais assez = no s pronounced
riche = pronounce the che clearly, if necessary a fraction before a breath or you'll be late with the next phrase
aime = one syllable [not em-e ]

By the end it was much better, well done. Listen to the MP3 to get your tongue round the words and fast speed.

5. O magnum mysterium [sopranos were still doing the Tormis]

Basses keep the tuning up especially from bar 40. Tenors -your G naturals need careful tuning on the last page especially from bar53, you want to sing G# but don't! Everyone -remember legato, expressive phrasing and runs.

6. Tormis

no 3
Alto/tenor/bass - sing oo not a French u [or German ü]. Remember [for the oldies like me who couldn't count] that there are 4 verses before we continue to verse 5 !

no 10
Don't sing too loud. I don't have anything else written for this one, [see above for the sopranos] but it sounded much better and more confident, we seem to be gradually getting our tongues round this one!

7. Envoi
Baritones - count for entry in bar 7 = 12345shana/shanasho.....
Sopranos watch going into bar 27 when the semiquavers are half the timing of the quaver fly, fly of the previous bar and their accents are off the beat. The important thing for everyone is to keep the 2 in a bar beat for 6/8 timing [ and mark it so you know where your beats come compared to the other parts] so if you get lost you can come back in more easily.

But he was IMPRESSED! Ollie will send round an MP3 for this, or you can hear it on Abbe Betinis's website.

8. Hide and Seek

This wasn't too bad seeing we hadn't done it for a while and didn't have all the soloists. Try to look at it if possible.

NOTICES

So a busy but very productive rehearsal. Ollie reiterated that it is ESSENTIAL that everyone really tries to come to every rehearsal in the next month or two. Some have work/holiday commitments but please try not to make any more commitments with the Portrait gallery and CD recording.

We discussed Susice, last chance to tell me if you have allergies, diet preferences or preferences for who you share with. I'll email round a list for you to check before I send it to Anezka.

We also discussed train or bus from the airport . Nearly everyone seemed to prefer the train, so perhaps we should all take the train? It has the advantage that we don't need to book, [snip] horror stories about people having to stand on buses and them being slow and uncomfortable [and possibly smoking?]. If jet2.com change the flight times again then the train would have the advantage of being more flexible. But I'll ask Anezka first about the buses ...

NB ... what you said last night about the flight changes in the email, ... the email ... says the change is on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I've just looked at the website and the Sunday flight is still up at 20:40 departure from Prague. The Monday flight is 17:30.

Have a good Easter, see some of you at Chris's party, and practise hard!!

Jenny's notes from 12th March recording session

2008-03-14T12:13:00.000Z

Yes, there are some. Even if it was just for the recording we may need
to remember incase we've to do any of the pieces again. And we might do
the pieces in a concert another time, but there aren't many cos I
couldn't cope with holding my file, writing notes and singing odd parts
at the same time.
A BIG thankyou to Helen B for stepping in at the last minute, to Helen
for recording, Anne for running round organising teas and coffees and
John and Susan for bringing it. If I've messed anyone off, I'll be
patronising and say we'd have missed you had you not been there doing
your bit!!!
LEAVING PARTY for TOM will be, if it's still okay with Susan and John,
on SATURDAY the 19th JULY. We can sort out time and details on
Wednesday. But for now, please put it in your diaries. Only two people
unfortunately can't come, as opposed to 8 who couldn't make the other
possible date.

NOTES, please read these as well!

Homework - Please to learn the words of EN SEULE fast so they fit in.

Tormis No 8 - Laulda
The breath marked as a pause is for RECORDING ONLY
Altos be ready to come in with kaik immediately and even though there's
nothing to sing, enjoy the rest and what others are doing.

Tormis No 9 - Kiisu
Good

Dark Eyed Sqailor
Forward mouths for a rich 'i' on 'it was a ....' . Think of 'sh' before
the 'i'.
Good entry from men - more p perhaps.
'For my...' anyone with this entry, make a feature of it
p.4 top system. Watch for the Rall.
'Oh, welcome, William' - animated - slightly faster
Another RALL at 'dark eyed sailor'

Lux
Softer 'C' on Calida
Cali - dah NOT cali-der
Altos - give it some on Gravis
No breathing somewhere, forgot where, but best for noone to breathe
anywhere!
bars 21 onwards, keep the sound going. Smooth. Probably no breathing
here either (What does he think we are? Bagpipes?)

Dindirin
Forward mouths as at start of Dark eyed sailor
Wasn't such a din, good.

Sancuts
Good

Amu
Did it just so we'd got through everything listed. Probably singing it
again.

Tuning was generally not bad.
________________________________________________________________________

WELL DONE to Ollie whose first composition (for strings) to be entered
in a competition, and played in public, was judged runner up. Some
orchestra or other is taking it on tour with them. It's brilliant.

Natalie's notes for March 5th

2008-03-06T11:40:00.003Z

Began with saying vowels (in a D major chord):
Ah
Ee – push sound forward
Oo
to demonstrate how blend is important.
Moving from Ahr to Aaa - aim for the rich vowel sound: Ahr rather than Aaa.

Dindirin
It is quick. Think about the rich vowel sounds and dynamics.
Think about the vowel sound in bar 12.
Contrast the staccato first line and the legato second line.
Be careful not to go flat in the second line.

Dark Eyed Sailor
Prepare the vowel mentally at the top of page 4. Remember to do the proceeding rall.

Lux Aurumque (migrating to hallway)
Ollie pulled the tempo around a bit – look up to Ollie for the tempo.
Think about the timing a lot.
In calida bits – aim for/emphasise the li as opposed to the da
Think up when coming in.
Basses don't leave gaps in pu-ra
Women, in bar 24 do the same – don't leave gaps in pu-ra. Then be quiet in ve-lut. Take care of the vowel sound in ve-lut. Sing veh as opposed to vey.
Watch the timing from bar 24 and sing confidently.
It is really really really really good.

Tormis
No8: Tenor pay attention to pitching the note.
Make the humming more legato (don't hit the note) and make the whole thing quieter.
No10: the pronunciation is tyey in bar 4. Use Gaelic ts throughout.

En une seule fleur
Will be recorded April 16th and performed April 3rd at the Portrait Gallery.
Go for a nice light (p) bouncy sound from the beginning. Learn the last page for homework.
Pronunciation – du-venir as opposed to de-venir.

Five Hebrew Love Songs

Temuna
Kala Kalla

Sebastian's notes for February 27

2008-03-04T21:32:00.002Z

Warm-up:

funny hand and arm throwing with Claire2,
then diaphragm exercises from Olli (blow your nose in small portions).

Recording program for March 12th (6.30pm to 10.30. St. Peter's in Newington):

Lux aurumque (if enough tenors available)
Sanctus
Dindirin
Dark-eyed sailor
2 Tormis pieces: 7 and 8
Amuworo

Portrait gallery (3rd April):

Envoi
En une seule fleur
...

Rehearsal:
Dindirin:

4 bars conducting
Remember ends of lines yondaa, lovaa - no rrrrr
Get the correct lyrics on the recording - don't try to sing by heart on recording if not 100% perfect

Sanctus:

Use the diaphragm exercises on the last note - it's loooong
Before last but one bar: small gap, all except basses

Amuworo:

e flat, 1 bar conducting
hold (ending) notes until end as written
second-last bar mezzo-piano mp
Give all start vowels a bit of attack
Keep the tempo - we tend to drag

Lux aurumque:

more piano p in the beginning
bars 21-22-23 very legato
canuntetcanunt - bind canuntet, only one t, soprano 2 and altos
keep pitch - be there right on the note, no scooping into notes

Dark-eyed sailor:

1.666 bars conducting: 1 2 3 1 2 It was...
Shhhh it was... ---- only think sh

Ollie hopefully feels better now - we kept it short last week...