March 17 and 24: rehearsal review and preview

March 17
(St. Patrick's Day: we didn't have green beer, but several people wore green clothes)

Northwest Passage met at 6:30 and Sapphire and Renate finished recording!

We sang You'll Never Walk Alone. And, remembered how incredibly difficult it was at first, and enjoyed the fact that we conquered it and are able to ace it every time!

We reviewed the ahs at the end of Song for Canada and sang it twice, once with Heather and Melinda singing the solo and once with just Heather. Renate takes full credit for offering you Melinda's beautiful strong voice.

I also take pride in offering you Mary-Ellen's lovely voice in the solo in Nella Fantasia. We learned pages 9 and 10 and reviewed the ahs and solo at the beginning. Remember, the Sopranos come in at the top of page 7.

We finished Jamaica Farewell, learning from the beginning and adding that to what we learned last time. Sopranos should hold back throughout so that we can hear the tenor/bass section. Tenor/Bass should review page 5 where you do not have the melody. That F# that you start on is a 'ding-dong' below the melody, which you want to sing. When the altos sing Ja-mai-ca, your note is an octave below the 'mai'. Also, Tenor/Bass: on page 7 when you have sung "Kingston town", turn the page right away so that you're ready to come in on beat 1 with "At the market". And, at the bottom of page 8, come in on 1 with "Ackey rice", resisting the pull to beat 2.

We didn't sing Banks of Newfoundland as planned, but Todd was away sick anyway. Let's try to do it next week.

March 24

6:20 Edelweiss
6:50 This Land is Your Land

1. Banks of Newfoundland review
2. Hallelujah review (Altos, please listen to the "tricky bits" recording)
3. All the Little Rivers review
4. Hockey Song review
5. In My Life review
6. We Rise Again* starting at page 9, bar 43 (Section F)

* please do a "walk-through" before Monday night if possible. Read my post with music in hand so you can make notes in pencil on your sheet music. (My blog post about We Rise Again is right below this one) There are messy bits for each part which will be easier if you look ahead. A very positive note: Altos, Tenors and Basses have lots of melody!