Practice

Pearls of Wisdom from the MD, 8th October, 2025

A good rehearsal, made even better with loads of cake from Dorothy.  😊

We have two more rehearsals before the concert so Ian will be running through the whole of the programme on each of the next two practices.

We began with the two rounds:

• Coffee Cannon and Alleluia.

  • These are coming along well. 

  • Keep listening to each other so we keep in time. 

  • Watch Ian as he will be conducting in his usual clear way.

• Flying Free

  • Coming along well but not everyone is fully confident with the words – there are occasional dips in the clarity of the words. Keep going over it. 

  • It’s much more effective when we’re looking out at the audience.

• Riversong

  • Practise the rolled 'rrr's. They give much better clarity to the words. 

  • The sound is good. 

  • Trust your instinct on the last note. We need to come in quietly but confidently.

• I Bought Me A Cat

  • Look at two syllable words like 'Griffey' and 'Honey'. Emphasise the first syllable and make the second syllable much weaker.

•  Rodgers and Hammerstein On Broadway

  • Just a reminder to mark up your copies re. the solos:

    • Page 3 (up to last note of bar 12) Ann, Fiona and Roberta

    • Page 9 (last bar up to bar 78) Karen and Sue S

    • Page 11 Sandie (84 and 86)

    • Page 20 + 21 Yvonne

    • Page 25-(bars 244-252) Meg

    • Page 28 (bar 270) Hilary; bar 272 Sue H; bar 274-Carolyn; bar 276-Margaret

  • Watch the rhythm in bar 124 – it isn’t what you’re used to singing.

  • At the top of page 17, the top sopranos sing. 

  • At bar 159, the second sopranos sing.

  • Altos have a rest through this (but please join in with the whistling).

  • In 'Doh ray me' could the altos do 'A B C' as if they were young children. 

  • Yvonne has the solo from bar 187 and we all come in on the bottom stave of page 21.

  • The first two bars in the last stave of page 23 have tricky rhythms. Practice…. do clap so clap clap do.

  • Remember that the last two bars of page 23 are repeated. Turn over but count four bars before coming in over the page.

  • Bar 236, second sopranos sing both parts.

  • In the last two bars of page 27, ('It might as well be spring') the front two rows of the second sopranos sing the top line, the back row sings the bottom line.

  • The bar before 289, second sopranos sing with the altos and continue with the altos until 'Shall we dance'.

  • All sing at the top of page 36.

  • In bar 359, the D is the same note as the D in the previous bar. Don’t go down to the C until the right time.

  • On the final note the first sopranos go up to the F.

• Can You Feel The Love Tonight

  • We all sing on page 2 and 3 but only the altos and soloist continue from the end of bar 1.

  • No-one else sings until where it’s marked 'end solo'. Then we all come in.

  • Altos, don’t sing the 'Do' in the first bar on page 10 and sing 'ah' instead of 'do, do ,do, do, do' in the second bar. Sing 'be' at the end of the second bar instead of 'do, do, do'.

• Chiquitita

• Geography - keep your finger in page 34 so that you can flip back to the sign (squiggly S thing in bar 24) from bar 59 on Page 42. 

• Second sopranos sing the final bar of page 42 before going back to the second verse. 

• On the repeat, jump from the hot cross bun sign at the end of Bar 57 to the coda which is from bar 60 on page 43

• In the first bar of page 38, the front 2 rows of the second sopranos take the upper line and the back row takes the lower.

Have a great time practising. See you on Wednesday.      

Ann

Another good rehearsal.

We began with the two rounds:

• Coffee Cannon and Alleluia.

  • These are coming along well. Most of the words are now memorised and are clear as we sing them. 

  • For the Alleluia, keep it light and smile. It’s a song of praise so make it sound as if it is.

• Flying Free

  • Go over the words. They’re not quite there yet.

In some places they become ragged.

• Riversong

  • We need the rolled 'R's to help with the clarity of the words but they need to be quite subtle.

  • In bar 64, put a slight stress on 'dark' and less on 'ness'.

  • In bar 68 put a slight stress on 'shad' and less on 'ows'. Circle the crotchet rest to remind you not to keep the note short.

  • The final G needs to be soft but not tentative. Trust your instinct. It’s just as if we were going into another verse.

• I Bought Me A Cat

  • Remember that 'My cat says fiddle eye fee' is always quiet (pp) until the final one in the last three bars, which is ff.

  • If in doubt about placing the last phrase, write 1, 2, 3 over the bar with the rests.

  • Emphasise the 'Griff' in 'griffey' and the 'Hon' in 'honey'.

•  Rodgers and Hammerstein On Broadway

  • Lots of solo parts in this one. Make a note of them and don’t sing.

  • Bar 187 is a solo for Yvonne. Join in again at 'That will bring us back to Do' in bar 100.

  • In There is nothing like a dame', on page 28, solo 1 is Hilary, solo 2 is Sue H, solo 3 is Carolyn, solo 4 is Margaret.

  • Meg is the soloist at bar 244.

  • Ignore the two repeated bars at the top of page 5. 

  • In bar 19, change the 'oo' to 'ah'.

  • Circle round the crotchet rests in the bottom stave of page 9.

  • At the last count, the stave at the top of page 11 was 2nd sopranos on the first bar, all on the second bar, 2nd sopranos on the third bar and all after that. It may change next week.

  • In the first two bars on the bottom stave of page 12, the altos have a quaver upbeat and the sopranos have a crotchet. They need to sound different – one short.

  • Bar 106: all sopranos sing the upper line and altos sing the lower line.

  • At the bottom of page 13, turn quickly to the second time bar.

  • In bar 123, the 'K' of 'Oak' needs to be very clear and on the quaver rest.

  • Watch the rhythm in bar 134.

  • The last bar of page 16 ('O - K') is spoken. Use a high pitch.

  • In bar 179, altos join in with the sopranos.

  • The last bars of page 23 – remember that those two bars are repeated in a slow 4 -  memorise the last two notes and turn early.

  • Bar 235/236, second sopranos sing with the altos but revert to the top line for 'Oh, why should I have spring fever...' in bar 239/240.

  • At the bottom of page 27 from 'It might as well…', half the 2nd sopranos sing the top line and the other half sing the lower line.

  • Bar 279, the 2nd sopranos join the altos until 'Shall we dance...' at the bottom of page 31.

  • Bar 353: all sing until bar 365 when we split into altos and sopranos.

  • Second bar of page 38 - mark the crotchet rest, keeping the note before it short.

  • Listen to the tuning in the last bar of page 38. It’s a unison note approached by each part from a different direction so it is easy to be slightly flat or sharp. Listen to it carefully. 

  • Last note – Top sopranos go up to the F natural.

Phew. A lot to mark up and sort – but it was the piece we focused on mostly this week.

Have a lovely weekend and see you on Wednesday

Ann

This is the list of pieces which will be included in the concert on 24th October:-

Coffee Cannon (from memory)

Alleluia (from memory)

Flying Free (from memory)

Riversong

I Only Have Eyes For You/ The More I See You

Windsor Forest (N0, 2  Falstaff And The Fairies)

Chikitita

Can You Feel The Love Tonight

We began with:

• Coffee Round

  • Apparently, anyone who has to use their music to sing this will be strung from the rooftop!! You have been warned 😊.

• Alleluia

  • Keep the vowels clear. 

  • Lighten up the sound, and separate the crotchets especially in the second part.

• Flying Free

  • Revise the words.

  • Use the consonants to help keep the words clear.

• Riversong

  • Roll the 'r's but subtly. We don’t want to sound like a motorbike revving up!

  • The first note of bar 22 is the same as the previous two notes in bar 21. Please mark it to remind yourself.

  • Bar 31 isn’t as long as you think. It goes on very quickly to bar 32.

  • This is coming along well.

• I Only Have Eyes For You

  • Note the crotchets which are followed by a rest: they are short, but let them fade  away -  they mustn’t sound as if they’re being poked.

  • This was well remembered.

• In Windsor Forest No 2 - Falstaff And The Fairies

  • In the second bar of the final stave on page 11, remember to go up to the C natural. It’s not the same as the first time it’s sung. 

  • After rehearsal mark C, turn quickly. Second sopranos sing with the altos.

  • At the top of page 15, second sopranos sing with firsts.

  • On page 21, watch Ian so we all keep together - especially for the glissando at the end. Probably best to memorise this.

• Chiquitita (Abba book)

  • 2nd sopranos in bar 38 - when we split, the front two rows take the top line, the back row takes the lower line.

  • 2nd sopranos in bar 41 – the final note is repeated at the beginning of bar 42.

  • Geography: there’s a 'DS al Coda' at the end of bar 59 on page 42. You need to turn quickly back to the sign in bar 24 on page 34. Keep a finger in page 34 so that you can turn back quickly. Then sing the lower words up to the coda sign at bar 58 and then miss out the next two bars, go straight to the Coda at bar 60 and sing to the end.

• Can You Feel The Love Tonight

  • Sing as written on pages 2 and 3 but only the altos and Hazel sing on pages 4 and 5.

  • 1st and 2nd sopranos come in again where the solo ends at the end of bar 20 on page 6.

We had no time for I Bought Me A Cat and the Rogers And Hammerstein On Broadway compilation so Ian will focus on those next week.

Good evening ladies and Ian,

We had a good rehearsal today, helped by cakes from Elizabeth 😊

• We began with a breathing exercise which Ian suggested we do every day. Deliberately keep your shoulders down and imagine you’re breathing in through your navel so that you fill the bottom of your lungs first. Breathe in through your mouth for a slow count of 4. Then push four short breaths out using your stomach muscles to the sound of 'tzzz'. Then one long breath out to a slow count of 4. Then let the rest of the air out. Rest and repeat.

• Coffee Cannon

  • Remember that this is in ¾ so the stress needs to be on the first beat of each bar with less emphasis on the 2nd and 3rd beats, not three even beats. 

  • Make sure you get down to the bottom C in the final bar. Ian would like this to be memorised.

• Alleluia Cannon

  • This also needs to be memorised. If you’re struggling to memorise the words, write them out and pin them somewhere obvious so that you can practise them whenever you walk past. 😊

  • At the beginning of the second stave, the beats need to be separated to make them clearer.

  • Change the final bar to a minim and a minim rest so you have time to breathe before the repeat.

  • On the last note the altos go down to the B flat, 2nd sopranos stay on the D and 1st sopranos go to the F.

• Riversong

  • Don’t forget to do a gentle rolled 'r' whenever it arises.

  • In bar 22, sopranos - make a note to remind you that the first note is a C. It’s different from the previous alto tune which went down to a B. 

  • Altos – note the clash in bar 27 with your D against a soprano E. Give slight emphasis to the D on the word 'sea' and less emphasis to the following quaver C. 

  • 2nd sopranos – similarly in bar 30 with 'shore'. Emphasise the G and relax on the F. It happens again in bar 58 and 78.

  • Altos – Don’t breathe between 'side' and 'river' in bars 10 & 11.

  • Sopranos – ditto between 'bed' and 'river' - bars18 & 19 put a large 'V' sign at the beginning of the phrase to remind you to take a deep breath.

  • Bar 33 – everyone should decrescendo for two bars.

  • Bar 68- Circle the crotchet rest and don’t drift into the space.

  • Please memorise the final word and watch Ian. He will bring us off.

• In Windsor Forest No 2 - Falstaff And The Fairies

  • 2nd sopranos sing the top line of the lower stave at the top of page 10, reverting to the middle line on the second stave.

  • Altos – sound very aggressive for 'vile worm' on page 17.

  • Spit out the words on the last page from the presto at 'F'. It may be an idea to learn it from memory because there isn’t really time to read it. 

  • Watch Ian for the timing of the glissando at the end.

• Rodgers and Hammerstein on Broadway.

  • Bar 72 ensure to remember the rests: 'On' rest; 'the' rest; 'top'. Circle the rests.

  • I’m gonna wash that man etc – Ian suggested the altos should sing this with the sopranos. 

  • Bars 84 and 86 are second soprano solos.

  • Page 12 – where the notes split, ('send him on his way') sopranos take the top notes and altos the lower.

  • In the bottom stave of page 12, note the different notes for 'It’s' . Sometimes it’s a short quaver and sometimes a longer crotchet. Make them different.

  • On the bottom stave of page 13, there’s a first time bar: memorise this so that you can turn early because the second time bar is immediately over the page. 

  • Page 14: Oklahoma - the 'k' in bar 123 should be on the rest. Watch the rhythm in bar 124. The semiquavers are quicker than you’re probably used to.

  • In the last bar of page 16 and into the first bar of 17, 'O. K.' is spoken but at a high pitch.

  • Bar 176 (Sound of Music) altos sing with sopranos.

  • In the second bar of page 26, the three quavers (that I have) should have a 3 above them to mark them as a triplet.

  • We ran through the rest of the medley without stopping as we ran out of time.

Have a lovely week of practising and see you all next Wednesday.

Ann