Practice

Lots of positive comments from Ian this week. We’re now at the stage of tweaking things to make them perfect rather than dealing with any major problems. One more rehearsal to go so let’s make the concert the best we can and give the audience a really great start to Christmas.

• The Holly And The Ivy

  • Be sure you’re word perfect with this and can look at the audience and smile. 

  • If you’re asked to go into the audience to encourage them in the chorus, you can choose whether or not to have your 15 minutes of fame by singing your verse or just join in with the chorus.

  • Keep the last note of the chorus going so that all parts end at the same time.

• Jingle Bells (from A Christmas Special)

  • If you bring bells to jingle, please keep them rhythmic as if a horse is stepping out – they’re musical instruments, not baby rattles!

  • The hardest part is keeping them silent when they’re not playing. I wrap mine in a tea towel to deaden any sound until they’re needed.

  • Sopranos - in bar 29, emphasise the first consonant - 'Klip, Klop'.

  • All  - give jingle a 'ch' at the beginning – 'chingle'.

  • All – in bar 32 be ready for the whip after 'crack.' It’s quite loud if you’re not expecting it.

  • Bells come in at the end with 'Jing, jing, jing ,jing' in bar 42 and can be shaken (like baby rattles) over the final three notes.

• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (from A Christmas Special)

  • 2nd sopranos – go to the alto line in bar 22 and back to the soprano line at the end of bar 23.

  • All – watch Ian in bar 39. Draw a pair of specs to remind you. There will be a slowing down known only to Ian on the day so don’t be the one voice that goes charging ahead.

  • All - slide from the last note of bar 41 to the final note.

• El Noi De La Mare

  • Find time to sing along with the recording on the web site for the pronunciation. 

  • The dynamics are important in this song so circle them to remind you that they’re there. It’s so easy to ignore them after you’ve seen them a few times especially when you’re focusing on these Catalan words.

• A Maiden Most Gentle

  • 1st verse – 1st and 2nd sopranos only.

  • 2nd verse  - 2nd sopranos sing top line of the alto part. Altos sing the lower line.

  • 3rd verse – 1st sopranos sing until the 'full' mark, when we all come in.

  • 4th verse – 1st sopranos sing the verse and 2nd sopranos sing the top line of the alto part.

  • Altos sing the lower line.

  • 5th verse – All sing until the descant starts when the back row of sopranos sing the descant and the front two rows of second and first sopranos sing the top line on the lower stave; altos sing the lower line. 

  • The flute will begin a different descant at the end of the 3rd bar of the second system – don’t be put off!

• Star Candles

  • On the last page, don’t breathe between 'see' and 'A' in the first bar but have a top-up breath after 'cross'.

  • In the final stave, take a breath after 'candles'.

  • The final word is 'skyah ……… y'. Don’t sing the 'y' until Ian brings us off.

• The Angel Gabriel

  • This will have a flute accompaniment. There will be 36 of us singing against it so don’t drown it out. Listen to it and modulate your sound to fit with it.

  • 2nd soprano solo beginning in bar 16:  we’re the smallest section so come in confidently and make sure you know these two staves like the back of your hand!

  • In verse 3, 1st sopranos sing the tune and the altos and 2nd sopranos sing 'Ah' on the lower stave. 2nd sopranos take top notes and altos the lower notes.

  • 2nd sopranos return to the top stave in bar 41 and continue on that stave until the 'divisi' in bar 51 when they sing the lower part.

• Let It Snow

  • 2nd sopranos: have a look at the last bar on page 10, leading to the first bar on page 11 - it’s a tricky moment.

  • There’s a lot of leaping about helping each other out but I think we’ve pretty well sorted that. 

• Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

  • It sounded good from where I was but I’m afraid that I was in the Auditory Faraday Cage that is the kitchen so I couldn’t hear what Ian said, so I hope you were all concentrating. 😊

• Ian was generally pleased with the way things went today. He thought that the main ones that could do with some extra practice this week were:

  • El Noi De La Mare

  • The Angel Gabriel

  • Star Candles

  • A Maiden Most Gentle 

  • Tomorrow Will Be My Dancing Day

I can’t be there next week so I’m looking forward to hearing how brilliant you are on the 16th December. Have a lovely week of practising and see you all on the 16th.

Ann

Another good rehearsal.

• Noel, Noel

  • Remember to keep the last crotchet in 'Noel' short, and don’t drift into the rest.

  • Smile.

• The Holly and the Ivy

  • Make sure you’re super sure of the words – you might be standing in the middle of the audience helping them out with the words.

• El Noi De Mare

  • Whatever happens look as if you know what you’re singing. 

  • Keep looking at the words and listening to the song on the website.  'Simples!' 😊

• Star Candles 

  • On page 3 in the first bar of the second system, the notes are marked staccato but don’t shorten them too much – just separate them slightly.

  • 2nd sopranos sing the top line until the music splits into three parts on the last page. 

  • Be aware of the dynamic marks - they are essential to the nuances of this piece. The print is very cluttered, so circle the dynamics if need be, to make them easier to spot.

• A Maiden Most Gentle

  • Use the short 'e' in 'Ave' ('aveh'). No Estuary English 'Avays' please.

  • It’s very important that we watch Ian and keep to strict timing in this because of the quavers in flute line.

  • Second sopranos sing the top alto line at the bottom of the first page.

  • All sopranos sing in verse 3.

  • 2nd sopranos sing the top alto line at the top of page 4.

  • Back row of sopranos sing the descant from the top of page 5 to the end.

• Star Carol (Carols For Choirs No. 39, page 158)

  • Be ready to go back from the top of page 160 to 158 for the second verse. 

  • All sopranos do verse 3 - no altos in this verse.

There’s less to say this week, which hopefully means that Ian is pleased with the way things are going. Keep looking at the pieces we don’t practice every week while Ian is working on the trickier ones.

There are only two more full practices before the concert so pull out the stops!!

Have a lovely time practising and see you on Wednesday.

Ann

• Noel, Noel

  • Ian was pleased with this. He was pleased that we remembered to keep the "l" at the end of Noel short and didn’t run over into the rests.

• The Holly And The Ivy

  • This will be from memory.

  • Just a reminder – We all sing the first verse and the first two choruses. After that we split into two or three or however many parts Ian decides. 

  • Remember the gap between parts is short i.e 'The ri', 'The ri', 'The rising ...' etc. Be ready for it.

  • The altos sing the 2nd verse.

  • The second sopranos sing the 3rd verse.

  • The first sopranos sing the 4th verse.

  • The altos sing the fifth verse

  • We all sing the final verse.

• Star Carol (Carols For Choirs No. 39, page 158)

  • Altos sing the lower part in verses 1, 2 and 4 but no altos sing in verse 3.

  • Try to do 'See His star shining bright in the sky this Christmas night' in one breath. Take a deep breath and do the rest of the chorus in one breath so that the chorus flows.

•  Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (Carols For Choirs No 47, page 188)

  • Ist sopranos only at the beginning. 

  • We all come in at rehearsal mark 'A' on page 189.

  • From the top of page 195, second sopranos sing the top line on the lower stave and altos sing the bottom line.

  • Second sopranos sing the top line at the Largamente and take the lower notes at the divisi. 2nd sopranos go for the top A if you can. Anyone who can’t do top A, please drop down the octave.

  • Take a huge breath before it.

• Away In A Manger (Carols For Choirs No. 4, page 14)

  • Sung as written with 2nd sopranos on the middle line descant.

  • In verse 3 the 1st sopranos sing the verse and words; everyone else hums their part.

  • Remember it’s pp.

• O Holy Night

  • If you haven’t done so, please sort your music out so we have a minimum rustling of paper – it does rather spoil the ambience we’re trying to set up!

  • Second sopranos sing with the altos but go back to the soprano line at bar 7.

  • Seconds go to alto line in bar 28 and return to the soprano line at bar 33. 

  • Don’t let the dissonance in bars 43 and 51 put you off.

  • The last note is very long. Take a huge breath before it.

  • In the last two bars, the two front rows of seconds sing the higher notes and the back row of 2nd sopranos sing the lower.

• El Noi De La Mare

  • Thanks to Carolyn’s guidance, we sang this in Catalan and it sounded as if we made quite a good attempt. 

  • We need to be quite confident of the tune by the concert as the whole thing is in unison and mistakes show up very clearly.

  • Mark the rall and pause mark (fermata) in bar 51.

  • The version linked here is close to ours and has just one singer, so it’s easy to pick out the words. Keep listening to it to get the pronunciation.

• A Maiden Most Gentle

• At the bottom of page 1, second sopranos sing with the altos and then sing the top line at the divisi. The same in verse 4.

• In verse 5, the back row of sopranos sing the descant and the front two rows of sopranos sing with the altos, and then sing the top line at the divisi.

Have a lovely week and when you're sitting down with your gin and tonic, keep listening to the Catalan.

See you next week.

Ann

We began with 

• Noel Noel

  • Ian asked us to be aware of the rests in the first line. The Noel should stop after the 'el'. Don’t make the 'el' short (as in staccato) - there should be a full crotchet followed by a rest. Could you also think of the four Noels as a phrase in one breath. The same applies to each of the next two staves.

  • In the final bar, the 1st sopranos sing CCCCCDEF

  • The 2nd sopranos sing CCCCCCBA

  • The altos sing as written.

  • This is a happy song. Don’t forget to smile.

• Holly And The Ivy

  • This is an audience participation song. We sing the verses and the audience joins in with the chorus.

  • The whole choir sings the first verse; altos sing the second; 2nd sopranos sing the third; 1st sopranos sing the fourth; altos sing the fifth; and all sing the sixth.

  • Please don't sing choi-yer as in a Welsh Rugby crowd! 

• O Holy Night

  • Ian sent round a score of this so if you haven’t already done so, please make sure that you’ve printed a copy for next week.

  • 2nd sopranos join the altos for the tune at the beginning and then go to top line at bar 7 and also sing tune at bar 28, then go to top line at bar 33.

  • 2nd sopranos go to middle line at bar 42.

  • There’s a dissonance in bar 45. Stick to your guns and don’t get put off by it. It resolves after the dotted minim.

  • Don’t get caught out by the duplet at the end of bar 51. 

  • There’s another dissonance in bar 51. 

  • In the final two bars, the front two rows of 2nd sopranos sing the upper note and the back row sing the lower.

• Star Candles

  • This needs to flow. There are some complicated rhythms but the focus is on the melody. There are several versions on You Tube.

  • At the end, the altos are on the bottom line marked 'Optional'.

  • The second sopranos will be on the middle line, all singing the large notes.

• El Noi De La Mare

  • We’re hoping to sing this in Catalan. A pronunciation guide will shortly be sent round. In the meantime, look through the piece to get the rhythms sorted.

• Let It Snow

• After 'and since we’ve no place to go' 2nd sopranos sing with the altos for 'Let it snow, Let it snow', and then revert to their own line. The same applies in the third system at the bottom of page 4

• A Maiden Most Gentle

• All sopranos sing the third verse.

• 4th verse - 2nd sopranos sing the top line of the alto divisi and altos sing the lower notes. 

• 5th verse – as in the 4th.

• Remember to keep to pure Italian vowels for the 'Ave' – long a (ah) and short e (as in egg).

• Jingle Bells  (from A Christmas Special)

  • If you have any small bells, bring them along. You’ll be told when to play and when to keep them quiet.

• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (from A Christmas Special)

  • Sing what is written on the page. The rhythms may not be quite as you remember them. 

  • 2nd sopranos go to alto line at bar 22 and return to their own line at bar 30.

  • On the last stave Ian has given us permission to slide from the crotchet to the semibreve. 

• The Angel Gabriel Came

  • The first sopranos sing the solo at the beginning and everyone joins in where it says all.

  • 2nd sopranos sing the solo on page 16 and go to the lower notes when the sopranos divide.

  • All sopranos sing the top line on page 3.

  • There was a point at which Ian asked just the back row of sopranos to sing but I'm afraid I didn't make a note of it and I can't remember where it was. Perhaps someone could remind me??

Have a lovely week with lots of practice. Remember we have to get this programme ready in 6 weeks so lots of practice now will help us to be secure on the day.

Ann