YRCC 2024 Rehearsal Review Tues. April 16

We're almost there! This was our second-last rehearsal in our room. 

Rainbow Connection small group met 6:30. I was late and things were a bit messy, so Donna has offered to record parts and meet with us early next week. Write the instructions into your sheet music. And, here are the la-las. Write these in too, please. Big harmony on the last note. Choose a Bb, F, or D. 

Warm-ups included light stretching and breathing with light cursing. Breathe in a cleansing breath and let it out with fudge, then cleanse and let out fudgity-fudge, then a big fudging Mc Fudgity fudge. Just now, I tried it and then did it backwards to calm down even more, like a crescendo-decrescendo. If you're having an especially stressful day, don't use the euphemisms; enjoy the power of the four-letter word.  

1. All I Have to do is Dream: sweet and soft for a vocal warm-up. We spent a little time on the timing of the bass clef Oh in the pick-up to E on page 6. Make sure you're only holding the last note of dream for two beats, so you can breathe for half a beat on beat 3 and come in on the and. "and4.1and.." After that bass clef section solo, the passion of the song is higher, so I want to hear a big "Gee whiz", and "need", "die", "love" and "so" should all be accented. We spent a little time on the last page, the oos and watching, as always at the end (and I'll try to remember to to give the sopranos their 1.and2.). 

2. City of Stars: smooth and cool. We remembered that all bass clef singers can sing the optional solo section, just be soft and tightly together. The whole beginning is soft and cool, getting a little stronger at 21, and a little more at 29. We need to empasize "It's love" and the word love in the last line there. At 35 we're quite strong, where everyone is together and it swings so nicely. That section builds up to the "rat-tat-tat on my heart" and then is suddenly soft again with the bass clef voices soft and together, watching for each beat in bar 49. The altos and sopranos are perfect on the ending!

3. Power of the Dream: we're still learning this, but it's gotten very good. We're doing a big Renate-ending where everyone sings the last line: to realize the power of the - dream! Ignore the sheet music there. Bass clef voices can sing the melody or a harmony, even all on one note, if you like. Altos can do that too. Make up a big harmony for the ending. And if we have 6-8 parts on the last note, dream, I will be so happy! This song is at the end of the first half, before we break for the bake sale. If there's a good strong ending, we'll be forgiven if we have some weak spots, and the weak spots might seem like a bit of drama. One more rehearsal for this, so if you're feeling lost still, can you spend a half-hour or so on your part with the recording on the website? Download it so it's on your device. Sing along a few times. Sing the words and adjust for our new inclusive wording. There's a part where a couple sopranos still want to sing the notes as written, adding an extra note. It's at the top of page 3. "And since time began" it's simpler now, a1.2.and3. (not a1.a2.and3). And, sopranos and altos, on page 6, please remember to come in on beat one. There's no pick-up before "Every one of you" (same number of syllables as the original). The rhythm at the top of page 4 is still giving us trouble. I've marked beats 1.2.3.4 on my music to help me with this,  and I circled the words to lean on. Here's a screen shot:

4. Rewrite The Stars: wow! I love this song, and now we've figured out the solos! Lorraine on the first and Tab on the second sounds perfect. The bass clef pick-ups on beat 3 are so good now! (what if we, say you were, no one can, how can you, say that the,...). Remember after Tab's solo, we get more passionate, and it's negative. I'm not the one, it's not up to you, it's not up to me. Stress those negative words, and you'll be sure to fit them in. 

5. Joseph Medley: By request. So much fun and so satisfying! So worth going overtime! 

We talked about signing up for the band concert and the seniors' visits. Numbers are limited, so please sign up on the Events page on the website. Dates, times, and locations are listed there, and they're also entered on the YRCC Calendar. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 23rd- last rehearsal in our room

6:00 Rainbow Connection

6:30 Anthem, Night of Stars, Wishin' and Hopin'

We're going to talk about the bake sale, uniforms, the band concert, and the seniors' tour.

• Power of the Dream
• Nella Fantasia
• Any bits of anything you want: come with requests

Week after next, Tuesday, April 30th- Run-through Rehearsal

We'll be at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora

You will have your binders in concert order. (see website)

We will start at 7:00

We will sing parts of all of the songs, so we can hear how the concert flows.

We will find out how best to stand, sit, and move, how to enter and exit.

We will have a chance to see how the soloists and small groups will use the microphones. 

Everyone must attend.***

***If you can't be there, be sure to let your neighbour in your section know so that they can leave a space for you and guide you at the concert.