September 15th Review and Preview- links to recordings

Here's what we did on Mon. Sep. 15, 2013:

1. Warm-ups included a focus on the core and breathing.

2. On Eagle's Wings is now perfect :) We went over the ending and any other tricky bits with great success.

3. We read through Welcome, Welcome Winter to get a feel for it. It was hard because it was fast. But, there are no repeats and no solos, nothing tricky. Here's a link to the song on the publisher site. Click on the mp3 recording as if you were purchasing it and listen.

4. We read through Come, Emmanuel. It will be a fine complement to Welcome, Welcome Winter. They both have a similar mysteriousness. Here's a link to a YouTube recording of a group doing it a bit too fast and without accompaniment, but it will give you an idea.

5. We read through Somewhere a Child is Sleeping. It has a repeat that goes back to the very beginning, so it's easy to find and Sapphire has a big introduction before we sing. Because it's repetitive, it will be a good song to have a soloist for the first verse. Mary Ellen has agreed to sing it (yay!) and Kristen will be her back-up. It's a pretty song written by Canadian Frank Mills-he's related to us through Daphne and Steve and Mayfair Music ;)
One important thing to note about this piece is that there's an error in its presentation. It's written to look like SATB, but it's SAB. The soprano line is repeated, so altos have to read a line down, and tenors and basses are together on the bottom. Just mark clearly with pencil where you sing, circle it, or cross out the other lines, or whatever helps you (as long as it's in pencil).

6. We learned the first verse of Hava Nagila and it's beautiful! The harmonies are really strong and not hard! We're going to have to work on your pronunciation of Hebrew.
Each section repeats and has 2 endings. But, it's obvious and the song is so well known that you won't have any difficulty in figuring out where to go. We're thinking of adding guitar, drums, and tambourines to this fun celebratory song. Here's a link to a fun YouTube video. Not at all the style we have, but pretty. This link will give you a better idea of the words. Harry Belafonte's clear strong voice is easier to follow. If he can do it, you can too!

Sapphire and I are working on making recordings of our music to post on the website. Stay tuned.


 Next week:

We're going to look at The Banks of Newfoundland. Todd has agreed to sing the solo part (yay!)
We'll also look at Song For Canada. We're going to sing in French!
We'll start learning Welcome, Welcome Winter.
We'll start learning Somewhere a Child is Sleeping
We'll continue learning Hava Nagila.