Rehearsal: 24th November
These recordings taken from the second half of our rehearsal (with the exception of "In The Bleak Midwinter")
Please read the Musical Director's comments carefully and take them on board - especially if you cannot make our rehearsal on 1st December. Thank you!
Please read the Musical Director's comments carefully and take them on board - especially if you cannot make our rehearsal on 1st December. Thank you!
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Vs 1
Lovely bright start, with good enunciation! Well done! Good tuning! Make sure you take the breaths, following the commas, for the "holly, holly". Vs 2 When the harmony comes in, the Altos could be a little louder. Sopranos make sure you don't drop the tuning - be brighter when singing "holly" as it dropped. Vs 3 We need to look at this again - the aahs were less than convincing. And the men forgot to sing their tune! Vs 4. Needs to be a bit brighter, I feel, just zippier in the delivery. And I think you all need to look at me for the slow down at the end. Stay still (FREEZE) until the piano is finished This is in a bright key - you must sing the opening bars together as a whole choir AND in TUNE! Sopranos remember to not sing as loud as normal because there are more of you than there are altos.
I'll ask for the organ to be down a notch, just to make the voices in the chorus more clear. Jeremy's verse - Ashley will need to play the tune to help him pitch. Delivered fairly well though. Michael's verse - needs a little more learning but will be fine. Dad's verse - confident start, needs a little learning in the middle but will be fine. Belt out V5 - very good drop to the quiet Alleluia, though you must still attack the word! Descant worked well on the last chorus! Well done. More of a "D" on "distant" - and could we have a clearly pronounced "star"?
Lovely tone in the first verse - captures the essence of the piece I think. Remember to swell on the "Starlight, shine bright" bit...! NOW - remember - ALL the sopranos MUST sing the tune. The lower harmony notes are to be sung by Susan and Alison ONLY. Basses - bring out your parts a little more throughout - you will be better balanced and not too loud. Well found notes after the piano instrumental. Basses - you need to find your notes in that last section. Overall, this is really quite good! A little more confidence in certain places would be great. Good second soprano parts coming through at the start - well done!
"City" needs a "t" in it - in this acoustic. 1st sopranos - don't go flat at the end of "on every street corner you HEAR" - keep it bright. WATCH AT THE END!! and please get quieter without going flat :) keep the eyebrows up and mouths open on day (mouthshape "de"). Lovely start - could be even more excited! Keep all those ts and ds and words as clear as you can. Particularly important in the bass part.
Great first verse. Bass- rumpapum - more enunciation. Remember we want to hear the tune "green is the mistletoe" - sopranos you must all belt that out. I will be introducing some dynamics to this which should make the ending really effective. A little bit of tweaking and this will be great. First verse suffered from a little flat tuning. I think Sops and Altos are "trying" too hard - be more relaxed - it will come out better in tune.
Second verse - Basses - just come in on "Gold". Don't worry about the Hums.... Please remember that "keep" "sleep" are shaped as in "kip" and "slip". This got better as we went through the piece! "Blue" must be sung more like "blooo" Piano must be quieter (ppp) on the solos. Last word must have a soft "k" and must not be forced. In general this piece comes across as being "overthought" - people are trying too hard. Relax more and the natural flow will be easier to maintain. A good effort! This will be good - it is the last piece in the concert so make sure you save a little in your voice before you sing it. Piano intro - free feeling! quavers need to be faster, then hold longer on the minim (ish) chord. Remember the chord is B, Eb, B. Didn't sound quite right on the recording.
V1 Make sure you feel the beat. I'll try to conduct both the crotchets and the minim beat. Do your best to get onto the vowel of every word quickly to avoid those pop slides :) V2 Needs to be a bit more forceful when you start this verse, stark contrast to V1 With the exception of a little more care with words this was good. Second sopranos could be louder. V3 Don't breathe before the first worship! No pop slides please. Good breath control - but don't rush into the ass and the camel... V4 Creep into this verse please. 2nd Sops be sure of your notes. If you can make sure you know the words really well so you can look up at me as much as you can in this verse. Sopranos you must make sure you are keeping everyone bright - especially at the end! The choir was really quite flat when the piano came back in! Basses when you come in on "if I were a shepherd" keep it bright, too. This has the potential to be a lovely rendition. Relax into it and it'll work - I kinda feel that there is a lot of work going into each choir verse and its slightly overpowering. Chill - especially in the last verse. The last verse is about enjoying every phrase and putting across the emotion of the words. Opening - S2 A - could ooh more louder under the tune when you're doing it.
It's a short piece so we need to ensure dynamics are effective. Try to be significantly louder on the verse when all parts are singing the words. When the S2 & A are oohing then the volume is automatically lower. Try to implement dynamic swells within each verse - particularly on the melismas. |
Vs 1
Hisses on "Christmas" on the first word! Please sing on the "i" and put the "s" as close to the "tmas" as possible. 1st Sopranos your high F "snow" was VERY FLAT at the end of the first verse. Perhaps the piano needs to be up higher for you to hear the tuning better but you need to open your mouths (fully!) and support your notes with good breathing technique. The tuning improved throughout and was nice and bright at the end. Vs 2 Canon worked OK at start, just bring every entry with a little more attack. Vs 3 This needs work - the men weren't sure and so this verse went a little odd... good confident ending and the key change was good and confident (Sops 1 be more relaxed about the top note - sing "pi" rather than "peeee" at the start of "peace")! Well done! Vs 4 - confident and controlled - could be more joyful... A confident start, could be a little more clear in the enunciation of the words.
I think the first verse is a little too loud; the second verse should be louder and the third quiet again. 1st Sopranos - could you be a little less loud? The tune is overpowering the harmony more than it should. Remember your high notes are enhanced in the acoustic of Holy Cross. Also the third verse needs to be a little frantic :) Watch at the end for the slowdown - make sure you get all the words pronounced at the end together. No crescendo on the last note please. Lovely start, ladies, you crept into the piece very well. Just be careful not to lose the clarity of the words. Well balanced when the altos came in.
Make sure the word "sweet" is ended TOGETHER. Keep "holy" bright -it was a little flat. Keep "breast" bright - you flopped on the note. Beautiful ending - but remember NO MOVING UNTIL I TELL YOU TO! You came in very well at the start!
Do watch out for when to come off on "divine" though - some of you weren't watching. V1 Harmony parts - bring out your notes when you divert off the main tune. Ch. Fantastic opening! On the last "divine" of the chorus - get quieter as the piano takes the instrumental. V2 Lovely!! Ch2 Again, fabulous start. Really love the drop in dynamic in the middle of the chorus. Be careful not to speed up! V3 This verse was very well sung but it was far too loud at the start. Ch3 FABULOUS start - amazing sound. Love it. 2nd Sopranos - would love to hear you more at the start of this verse. Don't forget we need to climax on the "love divine" before the piece gets quieter. FINALLY - your "love came down at Christmas" was not secure because you weren't looking up at me as a choir! We need the ending to be as good, if not better than, the CHORUS. It needs to be reflective and sung with purpose. THIS IS GOING TO BE A FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE if you all keep your wits about you! Please watch me from the beginning! You must be ready at the start. Don't be looking your books! Learn the first words of by heart please.
Altos - make sure you keep yourself in tune. "December 24th" - needs to be brighter than it currently is... Main tune - generally very good. Can we have a bright "I'm" (don't slide into it!). Generally very good enunciation throughout, though. Christmasses - "chris-tma-sez" -- keep the mouth open at the end. "and" has a "D" on the end of it! Please make sure you pronounce it! WATCH AT THE END - the words "And May" MUST BE TOGETHER as a WHOLE CHOIR - or it is messy. Think we need to go over the harmony parts on the last few notes... Pretty good, overall, enjoyable to listen to! The start is really important. Sopranos you must get it first time.
In general all the homophonic words must be together. Sopranos "will not freeze" was not heard - you must bring this out. "Let me take" - not tidy. "Leave" - the G#s must be brought out more as it is the most important colour note. "Come with me" MUST BE SLOWER.. and in tune, Sopranos. The entries from all the other parts was dodgy! This will be need to be worked upon. "Trembling stars" was unintelligible from the Sopranos. The soprano penultimate note was a D# rather than the D natural. The D natural must be sung as it harks back to the cold of winter, clashing against the piano's D#. This piece could be amazing. I will try to take it slower to give more time for breathing and counting - I feel we rushed it a little on Sunday. But the Middle section MUST be sorted out and the Soprano entries in the final verse needs to be far more confident and assured. Thank you for working so hard on this - it will go very well if we just settle on the beat and relax about it. Good start - though all voices were pushing the tempo - the piano was behind us. Try to "sit" on the beat rather being ahead of it.
Endearing!! is NOT endaring! EN-DEE-RING... This needs to be a little slower, its just on the quick side. BUT if we do end up going this speed make sure your words are really clear.. "Even though reduced to" was not very clear. The tune needs to be brought out. "clear as his great might" was not clear at all! Tender mystery - altos - needs to be brighter. "Lamb" (sopranos) needs to be brighter. Watch me for the entry on "mystery" - I'll bring you in. "Infant" needs to be clearer - the N and the T must be better. No "pop sliding" on "Divine" please. Top notes on the Sopranos - go for it - open mouths fully and go for it! Ending lovely - but think of "stable" as "stay-bul" so the "l" is well enunciated. This is not bad at all - it just needs tidying up and going a little slower. The tempos of this piece is quite challenging - slightly too fast and it feels frantic, slightly too slow and it drags. We'll get it, I'm sure. |
Rehearsal: 10th November
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Lovely first verse.... Verse 2 - what happened to the entries?
ENDS OF WORDS!! "LoveD" - your enunciation needs to be more precise. Slower verse - could the Altos and Sops2 be a little louder please? Basses - be sure of "the way to joy" entry and the rest of you need to really build dynamically through that phrase. Aside from the small bits above, the ONLY thing to make it much more effective is the DYNAMICS. Eyes up out of the copies a little more and watch me for shaping. This is a great sound (listen from 8m 45s)! Funnily enough, the tune was sometimes being lost underneath the confident harmony parts. Now I want to work on the shaping through each verse, so we have more light and shade.
Well done! Verse 2: First note needs to be BOLD and DECISIVE. Not weak...
Notes are fine, ladies and gents, and you know where you're going with this one. Well done! BUT - I'll say it again - needs more dynamics which means more eyes up and less towards the music. Verse 4: This is a challenge as it is a cappella! Basically at the moment this is the first piece in which your parts are not confident. Its not really about the notes but it is coming across as if you don't know what is coming next. I think it's a confidence thing. I'm sure you've been working hard on this aspect but we'll try and get confidence up in the next couple of weeks. This is definitely one to work on! The first "love" wasn't convincing. .... the intro seems to be not to comfortable for everyone. Might need to work on that to get more confident and crisp.
WORDS!! Christmas has an "s" on the end... "All of heaven sings" Basses, I really want that rhythm correct. Ends of notes in chorus aren't always coming off at the right time BUT the overall impression is that is working well. 2nd verse worked very well. 3rd verse should be a bit slower than verse 2 - please watch me, 1st Sopranos - and 1sts (as demonstrated) get the tune right :) The underneath parts as we get to "All men" need to be MUCH louder to balance the crescendo in the top part. Last Chorus - nice top line, 1sts; 2nds - please sing louder on the second "Halleujah". But this starts well and has excellent moments as we go toward the end. Overall, this piece could the pinnacle of the show. However it needs work on the INTRO and it needs work on the LAST CHORUS. On top of these two places I really want to work more on the light and shade (this is a theme with all the songs!). Possibly one my favourite pieces in the concert - has such a lovely harmonies.
Lovely start ladies! I think I said in the rehearsal to tell the story more to the audience, imagine singing to the actual Christmas Star. Basses - you weren't sure on the first note in the "chorus" the first time but were fine the second time. Sopranos who are harmonising - sing much more quietly - you have strong voices. I want the slight "fragility" of your fellow sopranos to come through to effect the "awe and wonder" emotion. The final verse is HARD - especially for the basses. We'll work a little more on that in the next couple of weeks. Most of it is confidence and having your eyes up to watch me for word endings... Be more sure on your first entry, altos please.
Clearer words please, more ts etc. Sopranos - you weren't in tune for the "orange" bit. Generally, the first two verses were "under" the note, Altos and Sopranos. Third verse - Sopranos don't forget to be QUIET when the MEN are singing. "mild" needs to be sung properly. I need to sort out the "soloist" section. The ending MUST be in TUNE :) I know it was the end of a long rehearsal but you must try to keep the words bright and joyful. We'll work on this piece more as a priority over the next couple of rehearsals. |
Lovely bright start from the Sopranos and Altos, but just make sure you keep it on the "sharp" side of the note (especially the first few phrases). Don't forget to breathe after the "holly" as we've discussed before.
Bass verse - no problem. When the harmony comes, the balance is a little top heavy. Sops - a little quieter, Altos - a little louder; Ahs - the 2nd Sops were OK, though needs more confidence. Basses, don't forget to come in with the tune! TO IMPROVE - more dynamics! The notes and flow are now there. Well done! A little too loud to start - make sure you "creep" in a little - AND keep it nice and bright!
ENDS of WORDS (breasT, sweeT, chilD, milD) not good enough - make them crisp, even if you singing legato (which is much better these days!) This is going to be lovely - needs a little more dynamic shaping - so please look up a little more. And it probably needs to be a little quieter..... I know, tricky....! A bolder start, please! "WE Three Kings"
EVERYONE iN EVERY CHORUS ----- WORD ENDINGS!!! NighT, BrighT, LighT. (and even I didn't do that when demonstrating the loud chorus at the end of the recordings - it is hard to remember to end the words well but just exaggerate your mouth movements and your tongue to finish each one precisely). Soloists - I know I landed these on you but please do learn the verses :) Susan, Alison & E.Rui - please learn the descant... I'll go through it with you asap. A good performance - but needs more volume in the Choruses. I'd love the first phrase to be as bright as the Silver Bells!
Sopranos - remember there are a lot of you - needs to be quieter to allow the Alto line to come out more balanced (in general). Pmmm Pmmms ..... hmmmm.... maybe we need to look at those again! Some lovely moments in here! Well done! Definitely needs more light and shade.... First word needs more excitement behind it ..... but generally a good "feel".
The quality of the performance got better with each verse BUT WORD ENDINGS!!!!! :) The Fa-la-la-la bit... the Alto main tune and words are being lost under the Soprano fa-la-la's. SO this is what happen is this: I will allocate some of the Sopranos to sing the tune with the altos and then the top sopranos will sing the FaLaLas. This will balance the choir properly so the audience can hear the tune. Men - be nice and bold on your solo verse! Ladies - make your "Ding, Dongs" a little more like bells. Sopranos - you need to really go for the top notes on your Alleluia bits when everyone is singing them on the last page. BUT when the men have the tune on the penultimate page - the people who sang the tune with the altos will sing the tune with the Basses to ensure the audience can hear the tune properly. We need to make the ending MUCH bolder - and I need the piece to have more light and shade.... start at 1m 07s.....
MUCH better start the second time! This recording shows a few little mistakes creeping in.... they must be eradicated! WHITE has a T in it! I want to hear it ALWAYS. BRIGHT has a T at its end! I want to hear it ALWAYS! Sopranos, don't let the tuning go flat when you go into the lower part of your range. QUIET ENDING! We'll work on the last chord... it was interesting :) |
Rehearsal: 3rd November
Rehearsal: 27th October
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Pre-Rehearsal Sectional: Sopranos
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Post-Rehearsal Sectional: Semichorus & Trio
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Rehearsal: 13th October
Rehearsal: 29th September
FIRST HALF |
SECOND HALF |
Rehearsal: 15th September
FIRST HALFO Christmas Tree
Love Came Down At Christmas (Verses 1, 2 & 3)
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SECOND HALFSans Day Carol
Away In A Manger
Maria Wiegenlied
In The Bleak Midwinter (Verse 4)
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Rehearsal: 1st September
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