Yup. We can snap. Like Elvis.
We grooved.
(Heads-up: there's a theory/ reading music lesson coming toward the end of this post about rests and holding notes)
1.For our warm-up, we warmed up our bodies by standing up and sitting down on command :)
We discovered that most of the people who have done solos and/or participated in small groups feel nervous when they perform. It doesn't stop us; it helps us. Adrenalin. Good nervous. I'm sure Elvis got nervous.
We warmed up our voices with exercises that included snapping and triplets (ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba,...).
2. Our first song was One Small Step. It was great! We're going to have soloists at the beginning and the end. The end will be so special! We got to hear Teija's beautiful voice on its own. Gerry and Todd tried the second one together and managed quite well, despite not knowing the song :)
3. Get Happy was next and it was crazy! We did it super-fast and managed, but the entries by the sopranos were almost impossible. Then we looked at those entries and slowed it down. It was much better, but still needs some work. You've to to think: 1-2-3and4and1and. The words on 'and4and1and' are forget your troubles/the sun is shining.
4.Hallelujah ate into our break time, but we didn't mind because we love it. Gerry sang the first solo and it was awesome. We might just keep him on it. And, Tracey did a great job on the second one. Again, it was a treat to hear some new voices. We reviewed those tricky parts but still have trouble with them. When Sapphire and I do the recording next month, we'll record those for you :).
5. After break was when we got our white shoes on and snapped with Blue Skies. It was fun and looks and sounds really groovy!
6. Before we started I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, we looked at rests and holding notes in Blue Skies, and then at Teach the World, because they both have that back-and-forth between the sections thing. Most of the time, when the other section is singing, you're not done, but have to hold your note. How long do you hold it? You can count the beats in the note you're holding, or you can look at the rests before the next note you sing. If there are no rests, then you hold it right up to the next word. Look at the top of page 5 of Teach the World. When the Altos and Basses (part ll) are singing 'hand' they have to hold it all the way to 'for'. You can say they have to hold it for 7 beats, but it's probably easier to just look and think 'no rest'. On the next line, they have a bunch of rests before 'That's the song I sing' Don't worry about adding them up. Just look up and see that you're silent while the other section sings and then you do just what they did.
You can review your rests, so that you know how long you wait, but just looking at them will give you a good idea. The bars are all the same size and the beats are lined up the same in the top and bottom. So you can compare your rest to what the others are singing (or to the piano accompaniment below if everyone is singing the same thing). The longer rests are blocks and the shorter ones are squiggles, The little one that's light and looks like a fancy 7 is only half a beat, so just time for a quick breath. There are lots of these in Teach the World.
Review my post on counting, and you'll see the chart with rests.
Next week:
- Blue Skies
- Flying Free
- Teach the World
- One Voice
- Wild Mountain Thyme
- You'll Never Walk alone
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