3rd Dec Feedback

The Christmas Way - 3rd December Recital - Feedback

WELL DONE to you all for a really lovely performance of our new Advent recital, "The Christmas Way". You all did such a good job! Tim has done a good quality recording, for which we are all grateful. I also did a "quick" recording with my digital recorder as I thought it would be quite a good idea to give you some immediate feedback to help you to improve you performance of each song even more. We want our second performance to be even better than the first, right? Here we go - there's not much, of course!

This started off the recital really well - well done! There are only a few TINY bits I would like to hear as improved on Sunday.

1. Sopranos - "womb" - this needs to be louder, and you need to hold it until you sing "Jesus". Do not sing it quietly whilst the other parts come in - sing it loud and proud!

2. Basses - be confident coming in!

3. The first "Gloria" was a little more nervous than I wanted - don't forget the "most highly favoured lady" bit is quieter - but I want to build each Gloria in turn. Be more confident with the first and then the last will be great!

What a great start to this piece! Overall, I thought this was very successful!

1. I think we could start it a little quieter so we build better into the first chorus but this is a minor thing.

2. At the end of the chorus, could we have the Soprano "name" a little longer, so it finishes when the Altos finish? Don't forget to keep it bright! Thank you!

3. Altos please be ready for verse 3 - it starts quicker than you think it does! Get thast page turn done early! Well done, Donna, for being ready and rescuing everyone!

4. The few bars before the last chorus need to be a little more dynamic. Could you make sure you get as LOUD as you CAN at this point? Then, when we start the last chorus quietly it'll sound really good!

This was a lovely. The girls did great at the start! Overall, it worked really well.

1. If we could start the first chorus a TOUCH quieter that would be ideal.

2. The key change was much better - just be more confident in dropping the volume! It worked well, though, just be more confident!

3. At the very end, please make sure that the last chord change (the last two notes you sing) are confidently sung! We need to sound "in control" before the two girls finish the piece.

This was a good performance - what I've said above is just to fine tune it. Thank you for singing this so well!

This is probably second most successful pieces of the recital. Just a few things:

1. Verse 1 - MUCH QUIETER please - all of you are singing the same line, so lets sing it real quiet. BUT keep it bright.... (see point #2)

2. You took a little time to warm up - the first few bars were flat, Sopranos/Altos! Please remember to sing the lower notes (Sopranos) as brightly as you can. Thank you. The long note on "Hay" wobbled alot in terms of tuning - just keep it bright and the "same" notes.

3. Harmonies worked very well. Well done! And the Sops were much better in tune. Sopranos please remember to keep it quieter near the end of each verse but use more breath to keep it all in tune...

4. "to live with thee there" - much quieter please and keep a track of the beat.

I am being PICKY but, as a performance, you did really well!

This is our strongest piece - well done! Verses were very succcesful, generally. Altos, just make sure your first word is clear please. Otherwise - very good! If I were being really picky please watch me throughout the last chorus (you don't need the words) so we come off REALLY SMARTLY before the last "Gaudete". It sounds good at the moment but it could absolutely great!!

1. Please don't forget to come in!! :)

2. My goodness, Sopranos, you were really obviously out of tune throughout the first page. I am putting this down to the fact you missed your first entry and so did not have your "brains in gear"... please remember to keep the top notes of the "Silent Night" and "Holy Night" BRIGHT. When the Altos came in with "All is Calm" that was also a little flat but you DID settle into the right tuning when you got to "Round Thy Virgin". However "child" and "mild" were out of tune... remember the "uh" mouth-shape and keep your breath working well to keep the notes in tune.

3. Verse 2 was MUCH BETTER!! If you can do verse 1 like Verse 2 then I'll be very happy!

4. Verse 3- Sopranos - BRIGHT "SIlent Night" & "Holy NIght" and "loves pure LIGHT" needs to be brighter, too. The rest of the verse went well.

5. The second "Jesus, Lord at Thy Birth" needs to MUCH quieter, Sopranos. AND Sopranos, please HOLD ON your last-but-one "Silent Night".

6. Who sang the extra (wrong) last note at the end?? Please don't do it on Sunday :)

This was wobbly because of the first verse. We'll do some remedial work on it on Sunday afternoon, before the recital.

Lovely start Susan. The intro will be a little slower. Barbara, be confident - you did great. Verse 1 very successful.

1. Chorus - this needs to be a little quieter and the tuning needs to better. "Envy" needs to be brighter, Sops. Otherwise very nice!

2. Verse 2 - Sopranos those doing the "Interlude" bits need to more sure and quieter, to balance with Susan. Donna - please check that B that you're singing as a C#... Mike could you play the B on the piano to help her? From "incense and myrrh" was good.

3. Each chorus needs the Soprano to really work hard at keeping the tuning bright.
Could we PLEASE make the Soprano "heart" bright - this is really important.

4. Good descant, Susan, and the extra "hallelujah" people were great. The rest of you were also good on this verse! The last "aah" on this verse needs to much quieter, so we can hear Susan.

5. The second-to-last chorus - make Envy bright!! Get quieter at the end of this chorus.

6. The last chorus is a little slower. Watch me for the beat and stick to it please :)
Susan, you were rushing your first part of the descant, the "new king" bit. I think we'll have to look at it. The important thing is to get the "awe" on the first beat of the next bar. Susan, I suggest you turn the the first "triplet" in to a crotchet rest and two quavers. This will be easier, timing-wise.

7. the final "peace" that the SATB sing must be much quieter.... so we can hear Susan and Audrey over the top. Mike, could you take the "outro" a little steadier? Choir you can hum a little louder...

THIS IS A GOOD PIECE - the points above are just to fine tune.