Practice

That was a lot of fun, in our first rehearsal back after Christmas. Several people were missing because of illness of one sort or another. We wish them a speedy recovery and hope to see them back soon, even if it’s a quick pop in during tea break. It was good to see Barbara back to her usual bubbly self.

We ran through a great deal of music. Some that we thought  we knew by heart but now seem to be a bit rusty – Ian’s comment was that he can cope with us forgetting things now but not so much as the concert approaches! It’s probably worth running through the pieces now to make sure that we know it inside out so we don’t risk his ire before the concert😊

We started with the three rounds on our single printed sheet:

• Coffee Round

  • This is in ¾ but think of it as 1 beat to the bar. The first note in the bar is strong then less and less again on the next two notes – as in a waltz.

  • The final bar should read 'coffee up' not 'coffeeyup'.

  • We almost had this from memory but still some 'security' copies out.

• The New Day 

  • This is also in ¾ but sung as if one in a bar. 

  • Some long phrases in this. Don’t snatch a big breath at the end of the phrase or it slows the music down and makes the note before the breath short and hurried. Make it a controlled top up breath instead.

  • The missing text after number 3 should read 'Hey tu-li tu-li tu-li- tu-la'.

• Alleluia 

  • We remembered this well and everyone had the words from memory 😊

  • Change the semibreve in the final bar to a minim so you have time to breathe before going back to the next line.

Then we moved onto the rest of the music:

• Three Hungarian Folk Songs

  • Circle the dynamic markings. The change from loud to soft is really important in this piece.  It begins loudly and then moderates to mf ('Leggiero' means 'lightly'). 

  • Note the slower tempo when we get to 'Handsome John Brown'.

  • On page 4 when we get 'On his coat a crimson flower' can you pronounce the 'flower' as closer to 'flour', rather than 'flo-wer'.

  • On page 5 'Piu Pesante' means 'slower and heavier'. Note the emphasis marks above most notes. 

  • Turn the page and suddenly it’s 'presto' - 'fast'. It comes as a shock so it’s probably best to learn that line from memory so you don’t get caught out.

  • In the last stave, watch Ian at the pause and again at the 'rit'.

  • Remember that the last note is only one crotchet long – don’t drift over the rest. 

• Dry Bones 

  • It will be critical to watch Ian throughout this piece because of the number of tempo changes there are, so make sure you have your music where you can see both Ian and the bottom line of the page without moving your head.

• Chiquitita

  • We ran through this as a reminder but failed miserably at bar 59 when we had to turn back to page 34 😊 

  • Make a note somewhere to remind you to keep your fingers in page 34 when you sing it the first time so you can flip back easily. 

  • Then from the end of bar 57, jump to the coda on page 43.

• Fly Me To The Moon (page 39 in Jazz Classics)

  • Only first sopranos to sing the first phrase.

  • Second sopranos were asked to sing the alto line at the bottom of page 41 but don’t sing it at the moment.

  • Watch the rhythms, especially where they’re syncopated – most of the rhythms are the same in all parts so anyone doing their own thing will be noticed.

• River Song

  • We ran through this as a reminder.

And then we went home after a very good rehearsal and next week, Valerie has offered to bring something she’s cooked for tea break so that's something else to which we can look forward.

Have a lovely time practising,

Ann