Practice

Afternoon one and all

We missed Ann on Wednesday - hope the funeral went ok, Ann. 

I am afraid that means that you are stuck with my haphazard attempt at digging through the weeds of my memory and shoving the resulting detritus under your noses and hoping that you can make better sense of it than can I! Go and grab a cuppa, your music, a pencil and a rubber so that you can make notes as best as you can as you go through.

As always, this missive comes with apologies and the disclaimer that my memory, and therefore my notes, cannot be relied upon. You have been warned.

• Laudate Dominum

  • We need to know this by heart and remember how many times to sing each section.

  • At some point (and I honestly cannot remember when this is meant to be) the solo verses will be sung over the top. At that point, the volume needs to come down enough that the solo can be heard.

  • After the solo versus, we go back to that start and do the whole thing to a gentle hum.

• Morning Hymn & Alleluia

  • The Morning Hymn needs to stay quiet, gentle and smooth.

  • Bars 1-4 should be done as one phrase. Likewise bars 5-8. If we are singing like the sweet young angels that we undeniably are, we should be able to manage this without expiring, although 2nd sopranos and 1st altos can legitimately take a quick gasp in bar 7.

  • Watch Ian in the last couple of bars as there is a poco rall which means ’slow down a tad’. However, we also need to be ready to go on to the Alleluia  - watch Ian and he will guide us through that potentially sticky patch.

  • The Alleluia should start with more oomph that Morning hymn and is marked allegro giubiloso which, according to Google AI roughly translates as 'fast and jubilant’ (NB: don't ever trust AI).

  • The sticky bars for 2nd sopranos and 1st altos are the first two in the bottom system, first page. We are counting a brisk 3 crotchets in a bar and there is a tendency to hang onto the C for three rather than just two beats and that then puts us behind a beat for the rest of that system. If we get that first bar counted correctly then it is easier to manage that super-quick run of quavers in the last bar of the first page (page number 7). The last page of the piece is pretty straightforward but we need to remember that, having blasted through from f to ff, the last line is marked as p so a quite dramatic drop in volume. 

  • As always, we should all have eyes on Ian for the ‘Amen’ as he will give us the tempo and also make sure we all come off cleanly together. Hoorah!

• Flying Free

  • Did we practice this? I haven’t got a Scooby but let’s pretend that we did AND that I was paying attention! I’m guessing that Ian would have said something like this …

  • Make sure you know the words by heart and, even if you don’t, sing with confidence. I don’t know about everyone else but there are a couple of places where, no matter how often I think I have learnt the lyrics, I swap key words around (dream & wish, wait & dream, love & joy). No idea if there is a cure for this but I haven’t found one yet so it’s back to the trusty method of crossing my fingers and smiling hopefully.

  • Watch Ian, watch Ian, watch Ian.

• Ave Maria

  • The start of this needs to be really confident even though it is quiet (pp). The audience needs to feel relaxed and that can only happen if the choir sounds like they know what they’re doing (even if we don’t). The C that the 1st sopranos have as their first note is there in the piano chord even though it is tucked under the top G, so we can listen out for that to make sure we start with confidence.

  • Every now and then, throughout the whole piece, the different parts have moments when they are singing alone and are exposed. These moments need come through confidently in spite of them being quiet.

  • Bottom of page 4, second bar, the words ’Sancta Maria’ are marked to go from p down to pp but we have an urge to crescendo instead. Resist that urge!

  • The climax of the piece is top of page 5 - ’Nunc et in hora’. The build to the forte is only over two bars and then immediately starts to diminuendo again right back down to a p so we can’t allow ourselves too much indulgence. If I get carried away and excited banging out that top G, Yvonne has permission to kick me!

  • Last note of page 6 … we are now back in 3/2 so have to count either 3 minims or 6 crotchets before moving onto the first note of page 7.

  • Watch out for the poco rit (slow down a tad) in the final Amen and watch Ian so that we all land together on the ‘…men’. 

  • Feel free to stagger the breathing for those final 12 beats. For my part I shall be breathing through my ears!

• Carnival!

  • We did bits of this but not all of it and I am going to try and remember which bits we did, so buckle up and hang in there with me …

  • Hens and Cockerels

    • I know for sure that we did ‘Hens and Cockerels’ because it gave me such a sense of outrage. On behalf of us all: Ian, the direction says ‘ugly’! It is quite obvious that we are all utterly gorgeous and incapable of being ‘ugly' and so should be exempt from singing this section. I couldn’t get past that and was totally unable to concentrate. I therefore have zero recollection of anything that was said and so you will all have to fend for yourselves on that one!

  • Tortoises

    • Only a couple of issues with this one. Firstly we need to remember to breathe ONLY at the marked points and to make them nice noisy breaths.

    • The clashes in bar 12 (last bar, 1st system, page 13) and bar 16 (1st note, 3rd system) which both occur on the word ‘sing’ need to be sung confidently so the audience know that it is supposed to sound like that.

    • We need to watch Ian (of course) for the final very long note. We should breathe whenever we need to and do so noisily. Then Ian will bring us off just shy of that final crotchet, at which point we should gasp together before singing the ‘…th’.

  • Kangaroos

    • Each phrase should accelerate in tempo in the middle and then slow down again. Doing that together should prove interesting. Watch this space …

  • Aquarium

    • I think we did this section but it could have been a cheese dream. I do know that, in Vivace Voices life at any rate, if we see an ‘Ooh’ we should always sing an ‘Aah’ and so it is with this section.

    • 2nd sopranos have little chromatic runs here and there - be precise with the pitching to make the most of them and to keep them ‘clean’.

    • The final phrase, ‘Dolphins watching you …’ has a dinky little crescendo followed by an equally dinky little diminuendo: there hardly seems enough time to do that but we can give it our best shot.

  • The Swan

    • We tried this with a gentle ‘Aah’ under Hazel’s lovely solo, and also with a gentle hum. I believe that Ian has voted in favour of a hum going forwards.

    • Each note is looooong and so we will simply have to carefully stagger our breathing nice and gently so as not to disturb the solo line.

    • We all have to really check out the accidentals in this piece to make sure we are moving just the right amount with each note.

    • Top of page 38 where the score is marked ‘BOTH’, we all come in and then finish the section together.

• Rogers & Hammerstein On Broadway

• The challenge with this piece is that we think we are singing something that we know and so our concentration slips whereas, in truth, there are lots of little changes from the original and so we need to concentrate more!

• Quavers and crotchets! The whole first section is littered with quavers when we expect a crotchet and vice versa and, if we don’t get these right then it sounds a bit messy (looking at you bars 51, 53, 55, 56, 81, 97, 101, 102, 103, 104 105, 107) Phew! I have circled each little sod with my pencil so they won’t catch me out.

• In the ‘Doe, Ray, Me’ part we are supposed to put a small but distinct break after each ‘Sol-fa' word and these are marked with a comma in the text, So we need to sing ‘Doe // a deer’, ‘Ray // a drop of golden sun’ and so forth. If some of us do this and some of us don’t then it sounds messy.

• The final part, “You’ll never walk alone’ has a different vibe and tempo from the original and it can take a couple of bars to get into that and I am not sure if the various triplets help or hinder the process. Whatever, we need to get into the rhythm as fast as possible so that we can then nail those part triplets such as in bars 354 and 361. 

• The triplets are out to haunt us again from bar 377 to the end and they need to be kept crisp. Sadly the YouTube video is not much help as the young children also fall foul of the rhythm in places but they have the advantage of almost certainly not knowing the original songs and so they still get more right than us at times!

That’s all folks. As always, apologies for not being able to remember bits and pieces - age or general incompetence? Who knows. Probably a bit of both but, with luck and a fair wind, Ann will be back in the driving seat next Wednesday and normal service will be resumed.

Ta ra for now

Rach xx

Ian’s most constant message today was for us to go over the words. There’s a great deal of humour in the words but there’s no point if the audience can’t understand them so clear diction is critical. Sometimes it’s important to look at the other parts so that your part makes sense in the context and it’s important to say the words at speed because much of it is very fast.

• Flying Free

  • Please go over these words so that we can finish the concert with lots of smiling faces looking out at the audience. We will be going over this every week between now and the concert.

• Morning Hymn

  • Ian declared this to be “not as bad as he expected”. We think that was a heavily disguised compliment. He later said that it was a good stage to be at.

  • Watch Ian for the phrase endings. At the end of the second system all four parts must finish together before the final crotchet and then take a breath together before 'To', so watch Ian and listen to each other.

• Alleluia

  • This is marked fast and jubilant.  Alleluia means 'Praise the Lord' so make it sound as if you are doing so – you are nuns after all. 

  • There is one beat in a bar and the piece must sound really happy. 

  • At the end of the second system on page 2, please put tramlines (//) next to the comma. We will pause slightly there and come in together for the final 'Alleluia'. Watch Ian. 

  • Please memorise the last four bars and lift your heads away from the music.

  • There’s a difference between soft and tentative. Practice singing softly with confidence.

• Carnival!

  • Introduction

    • 1st sopranos and 1st altos sing the top line and 2ns soprranos and 2nd altos sing the lower line.

    • We need to get our heads round the notes here because the accompaniment is no use at all as a clue to the pitch.  

    • Make lots of cacophony in the final bar. Practise your chosen sound and stick with it. At the very end, we will all stop, except for one last cuckoo (Roberta), at which point we all need to turn to look at her and glare at her.

  • Royal March of the Lion

    • Be strict with the timing. The last notes of the end of the phrases on page 6 are 'Ark', 'Park' – both one crotchet long and keep short, whereas 'vore' and 'roar' are three beats long. 

    • The instructions at the top say that lions are posh so sound as if you’re at Royal Ascot.

    • Practice your roar starting quietly and with a huge crescendo in the middle, then down again, but then be ready to go on with the tune – don’t be so caught up with your roar that you forget to go on – there’s only a quaver rest in between.

    • If you can’t pitch your note in the chords, it may help that the right hand piano always has the bottom note of the chord, the same as the alto note and then the other notes form the notes of the major chord – doh, me, soh.

    • The spoken part at the bottom of page 8, will be spoken by Merry.

• Tortoises

  • Slow. 

  • Take deep, noisy breaths at the ticks marking the places to breathe – even if you don’t need to breathe there.

  • In the final two bars, mark tramlines (//) before the '...TH'. Watch Ian and take a huge exaggerated breath and gasp '...TH'.

• Elephants

  • Slower and pompous. 

  • Altos, you’re very important in this as you have the tune for some crucial sections. 

  • Put a breath tick at the beginning of bar 47 and breathe there so that you don’t run out of breath before the end.

• Aquarium

  • Keep this smooth and gentle. 

  • Practise the timing for the 'oohs' (that are now 'aahs'.)

  • The semiquavers on the final system need to sound quite threatening.

• Creatures With Long Ears

  • 1st sopranos only have the note 'E' but it’s the timing that’s critical. 

  • The words don’t make much sense until you fit them in with the second sopranos and altos so you need to practise them in context.

• The Cuckoo In The Wood 

  • Roberto is the solo cuckoo.

  • Phrase the words so that the ends of the phrases are softer so we don’t drown out the cuckoo.

• Fossils

  • Don’t have a nervous breakdown if you listen to an orchestral version of this. We will be fast, but not that fast. You really need to go through the words of this one at speed.

  • 2nd sopranos at bar 29 join in and choose whether you will sing the top line or the lower one until the repeat bar.

  • All the end of bar 33, go back to the 2nd bar and sing up to the 'hot cross bun' sign at the end of bar 16, then jump to the coda on page 33. Put markers in so that you can jump backwards and forward at speed.

• Finale

  • Another fast one so go through the words.

  • Unlike the introduction which starts softly, this one begins ff and gets quieter. 

  • At the end, 2nds can go up to the top G if they wish.  Anyone who can’t reach the G please sing the lower octave.

Sorry that I won’t be with you next week - funeral  in Kent😕  But have a lovely week practising, 

See you on the 17th. We have another five rehearsals to get things ready.

Ann

We got lots done today, helped by delicious chocolates from Ian.

• Rodgers and Hammerstein

  • All sopranos come in at bar 12 with 'My heart wants to sing...'

  • The 'oo' at bar 19 is replaced with 'ah'.

  • 'Edelweiss' needs to be sung with clear diction (as sung by Julie Andrews)

  • Merry will speak the words at the top of page 5.

  • 'The Surrey With The Fringe On The Top' needs relaxed diction as in 'Chicks and ducks and geese bedder scurry' etc.

  • 2nd sopranos join the altos at bar 52 and go back to the soprano line at 'In case there’s a change in the weather'.

  • 'Swap' in the middle stave on page 9 is short and snappy.

  • Mark the rests in the 2nd bar of the final stave on page 9 and don't sing over them.

  • Watch the timing in the final stave on page 10.

  • At the top of page 11, it’s Sandie, tutti, Sandie, tutti.

  • On page 12, watch the different 'it’s' and make them different. Sometimes it’s a quaver, sometimes a crotchet.

  • At the bottom of page 13, turn very quickly for the second time bar over the page or learn 'All the morning glories on the fence', or even write it in over the first time bar so it doesn’t catch you out.

  • In the middle stave of bar 14, it’s 'June, rest June, rest June'. 

  • Make the semibreve in the final bar of ''June' into a dotted minim and take a breath before 'O- kla-homa'.

  • Watch the rhythm in the penultimate bar of page 14 – it’s faster than you’re expecting.

  • When we get to the whistling section at bar 167, all please whistle and if you can’t whistle, please mime.

  • In bar 176, 1st sopranos sing 'Let’s start at the very beginning' and then the seconds respond with 'a very good place to start'.

  • At the top of page 20, all sopranos sing but stop at 'a,b,c' and 'do, re, me'. The altos sing those two bars in their best small child voices.

  • Bar 187 is a solo (Yvonne) and all sops join in at 'that will bring us back to do' at the bottom of page 21.

  • Remember that we’re not including the final bar of page 21 or the first bar of page 22 so cross them out for now.

  • On page 22 and 23, put tramlines (//) after 'do', 're', 'me' etc to indicate a slight pause after them.

  • Watch the rhythm in the last bar of 'do re mi'. The rests are set to catch you!! It’s 'do, rest, so rest, rest, do!'.

  • There’s a speed change at the bottom of page 23.

  • The final two bars on that page are repeated so watch Ian. The last two notes on page 23 are 'I’m as' so best to learn them and then turn early. There’s a different ambience to the music at this point so watch Ian.

  • Bar 236 on page 24, 2nd sopranos sing both parts and then continue with the top stave. Altos – I’m sure you’ve already marked this in, but just in case - the rhythm in the third bar of page 25 should be the same as in the soprano line i.e. dotted crotchet followed by two semi-quavers.

  • In the second bar on page 26, there should be a line above the 'D' to the 'B' with a 3 above it to indicate a triplet.

  • In bar 279 the second sopranos sing with the altos up to bar 308, and then go back to the top stave.

  • Bar 353 – 'You’ll never walk alone' - all parts sing. 

  • Altos go back to the lower stave when it goes into two parts.

  • Start a build up of volume on the bottom system of page 37 and come down to p at the end of the top line on page 38.

  • Then a slight increase in volume at bar 379 until the end of the piece. Watch Ian. He will indicate when we need to get louder until the ff at the end.

• Morning Hymn and Alleluia

  • Ian has asked us to go through it at home so that we’re very confident with it.

• Laudate Dominum

  • We went through this in the following order. It may or may not be the final version!

    • 4 part version – all hum

    • 4 part version - sing the words

    • 3 part version - all sing

    • 4 part version – all sing.

  • Keep the volume down so we don’t drown the soloists!

• Flying Free

  • Please keep going over this so we can all sing the encore with confidence without copies.

• Gloria (page 9 in Little Jazz Mass)

  • This goes at a lick so be ready. 

  • Please go over this so you can get the words out easily.

• Ave Maria (Michael Head)

  • We sang through this. Ian asked us to go over it at home and make sure we’re good with it. 

The above pieces are ones that Ian hopes he won’t need to go over in any depth after the half term break. He wants to concentrate on Carnival! after we come back so please try your best to get them as perfect as possible. Any practice would be good but at least try to find time to read through the words. 

• Carnival!

  • Introduction

    • It’s quite fast. When you get to bar 11, choose an animal from the list at the end of your line and say it loudly. It looks as if it’s a long bar but it’s over very quickly so make sure you get your animal in in good time.

  • March Of The Lion

    • Practise the roars. They need to get louder and softer. 

    • The individual RAHs on page 8 could be done by rolling the rrrr

  • Tortoises

    • Take a deep and noisy breath at each of the breath marks. 

    • At the end of the piece, try to keep going with 'brea.......' for the four semibreve bars – even if you’re going red in the face and really gasping – go on – ham it up a bit!! Then wait for the piano to stop and then take a huge breath and say/sing 'TH' so it goes 'BREA…hold it…' piano, deep noisy breath and then huge 'TH'.

  • The Elephant

    • All take a breath at the end of bar46 so you can fit the last six bars into one breath (think of the good you’re doing your lungs – they probably haven’t had a work out like this in ages!)

Have a good break and see you all on the 3rd June all ready to get these animals sorted!

Ann

Another fast moving rehearsal with lovely cake from Yvonne for her 'cake day', her birthday having disappeared into the early weeks of the year. A lovely bonus today was having Mary for the second half of the rehearsal - don’t worry Ian, I’m sure they didn’t really mean it when they said “Oh look, we’ve got a real pianist here today.” 😊

• Laudate Dominum

  • We need to have this from memory and be able to move from the first section smoothly to the second and then back to the first again.

  • Second sopranos: remember that you’re the upper part of the lower stave with the altos on the lower part.

  • 'Omnes' and 'gentes' have the emphasis on the first syllable and a relaxed second syllable.

  • Hazel and Rachel will sing the verses on the second page, marked 'Cantor'.

• Morning Hymn and Alleluia

  • There was a lot of fussing to get the copies out ready for us to sing this. Ian suggested we put them into a folder or make them into a booklet so they’re easy to pick up.

  • Morning hymn is smooth and gentle. Ian reminded us of some pronunciations. The syllable 'lis' at the end of a word should sound 'lees' and 'dolce' sounds 'dolchay'.

  • Use a rolled 'rrrr' for the first word.

  • Everybody must breathe before the final note of the second system (before 'To'). Mark it with a ✔️ which is the usual indication of a breath.

  • The word segue after the Morning Hymn means a smooth move to the bell chimes. After the bell chimes, the music is marked 'attacca' which means move on immediately to the 'Alleluia' so be ready.

  • The 'Alleluia' is a different feel to the 'Morning Hymn'. It’s much brighter and lighter and has a slight emphasis on the first beat of the bar. Think of it as having one in a bar like a Viennese waltz. 

  • Seconds: we have a major 6th going down from C sharp to E at the beginning of the bottom system of the first page. I use the song 'Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair' as my mnemonic to find the E if that helps.

  • Everybody needs to take a breath before the final 'Alleluia'. Mark it in with a ✔️ or tramlines //

  • Read through both parts so you have the rhythms firmly in your heads. There are some tricky moments.

• Gloria (The Jazz Mass)

  • Please look at this in the week and become confident with it. Ian doesn’t want to take much time with this as we’ve done it before and he wants to focus on other things so it needs to be worked on at home.

• The Aquarium (Carnival!)

  • We spent some time on this to sort out the notes, particularly for the seconds who sing in thirds with the firsts for much of the piece.

  • Look at the timing from bars 9 to 12, and bars 21 to 24. 

  • Bar 35 also has some tricky timing and segues into the semiquavers of bar 37 which feel much faster than the rest of the piece. 

  • The words need to be very clear if the audience is to appreciate the humour in it.

• Rogers and Hammerstein

  • Fiona, Roberta and Ann sing the first solo. The rest of the sops come in at 'My heart' on page 4.

  • Mary, our reader at the concert, will read the section at the top of page 5 whilst the piano vamps.

  • Bar 52, the second sopranos  join the altos until bar 60, then revert to the top line.

  • Don’t forget the rests in 'on rest the rest top'. Karen and Sue S. do the solo at the bottom of page 9, Gay and Kate join them at the end of bar 76 ('add more women') and all altos join in at bar 78. ('add more women').

  • Sandie does the solos on page 11 with everyone joining in for the 'Tuttis'.

  • At the bottom of page 12 watch the notes of 'it’s June'. Sometimes it’s a crotchet and sometimes it’s a quaver. 

  • Turn over quickly at the bottom of page 13 to the second time bar or learn the first 2 bars on page 14. 

  • Watch the 'June rest June rest' bar on the middle system of page 14.

  • All take a breath at the end of the middle system page 14 – change the semibreve into a dotted minim.

  • The 'K' of 'Oklahoma' is sounded on the quaver rest before '-lahoma'.

  • Sort the rhythm of 'sweepin down' and 'honey lamb'. It’s not quite what you’re expecting.

  • The shouted 'Yeeow!' at the top of page 16 – don’t sit on it. Get to the next notes on time.

  • I’m not sure about 'whistle a happy tune'. My notes say it’s first sopranos only to start and seconds only on the lower stave from bar 159. I presume altos come in at 'For when I fool etc'. If you can’t whistle for the whistley bit, pretend!  

  • At the beginning of 'do, rey me', 1st soprranos only sing and 2nd sopranos respond with 'a very good place to start'. Then all sing but leave 'ABC' and 'do re mi' to the altos who sing as if small children.

  • At 87 Yvonne has the solo, then we all come in at the bottom of page 21 'That will bring etc'

  • The two bars marked 'optional vamp' are now crossed out.

  • The final bar of 'do re mi' needs to be counted carefully – 'do rest so rest rest do'.

PS. Don’t forget to keep reminding yourselves of the words of Flying Free.

Next week we will focus on the Rogers and Hammerstein and the Ave Maria by Michael Head. Ian has asked that by the end of half term we will be confident in all the other pieces so that after half term we can concentrate on Carnival!, so that’s our challenge for the next two weeks.

Have a lovely week of practice and see you all next week.

Ann