The small groups made excellent progress but we ended up starting a little late. We did a very quick physical warm-up, seated, did a couple rollercoasters for a vocal warm-up and started on our work. We did a lot of work!
1. We Wish You a Merry Madrigal: we hadn't sung this in ages, but it was very good! We sang it with accompaniment and then without. We did it! I'd like us to perform this a cappella, to provide the audience with a very different sound. It's a cool little piece. We seem to have lost the parts recordings, so I've inserted by link a recording of a concert performance of ours. Remember to watch at the end, as usual. I conduct in two throuout (cut time, 
), except for the 3/4 section which is one beat per bar, but the last bar is in four (common time 
).
2. Peace on This Silent Night: Beautiful and pretty easy. It's in 2 parts. l is ST, ll is AB most of the time. At the beginning, Tenors start alone, then Sopranos are alone at 11. Everyone comes in at bar 23 with a crescendo to bar 27. At the quiet section at 67, S is alone on part l and everyone else sings part ll, Silent Night, softly. We'll ask the audience to sing along at 91, so Tenors have to join Sopranos on part l. I'll cut the audience off for our ending.
3. Song for a Winter's Night: Lauren wasn't able to sing her solo, but luckily we have a back-up and Robyn did a great job. Bill was absent again, so I asked Philip to try the second solo, and I'm so glad I did. It was excellent. It's so good when someone with a voice I like is willing to sing a solo! Philip will be that soloist, with Bill as back-up. We worked on page 9 again, reviewed the Alto part again. Altos, you can look at your part with the recording on the website for homework. At the top of page 10, the oohs that we turned into words should be very soft and fade away. The Alto melody can be strong. I changed my mind about the last line. All Sopranos can sing that, softly, instead of having the soloists come back for that line. The last note is now an ooh instead of a mmm, and louder. We can try a sfz?
4. I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing: Easy-peasy Part l is Sopranos and Tenors, Part ll is Altos and Basses. We don't have parts recorded, but it's not difficult and many of you know it well. It will be our encore song. There's one part where Sopranos and Tenors divide, at bar 81, the echos part. Tenors have a 3 beat rest in bar 82, then come in with an echo. The Altos and Basses do that last echo. Watch out for dynamics, when to sing louder or softer.
5. Santa's Wish: Every time I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing comes up in this song, sing melody. Disregard the notes with harmonies. Simple is good. All you need to do is pay attention to when you sing and when you don't sing. The Storyteller will be Melinda with Jane as back-up. Jane did an excellent job singing that solo! The Santa role will go to Colby with Winston as back-up. Winston did a fine job as Santa, very convincing.
6. Grownup Christmas List: This is going to be Robyn's solo. Cathy is the back-up. Just remember that the solo goes all the way to the first chorus, and that first chorus is very soft. Then at the repeat, the Sopranos and Altos take that note "As" (as children we believe, second verse) and the Tenors and Basses come in on beat one with oohs. The second chorus can be louder, and every subsequent chorus is louder still. We reviewed the bottom of page 7, bars 40 and 41 (tricky) to the end. We have recordings of all parts on the website.
7. Why We Sing: Cathy will be the soloist. Kim is back-up. Solo goes from the beginning up to the pick-up to 26 where everyone comes in quietly. This will be very dramatic. Just before this we sing When You Believe, with its big drama and big ending. Then we start this soft and clear so that they listen to the words, and we do a straight-up powerful version, with no descant, but a good loud ending that should give us a standing ovation.
8. When You Believe: Sang it right through to the end but didn't have time to review any parts. It's going to be fantastic!
Wow, did we ever get a lot of work done!
Next week, Tuesday, November 19th
6:30: Tenors and Basses sectional help 7:15 Christmas Lullaby
Next week is our last learning week. So, we'll get any last messy bits cleared up. Think about what you'd like to review. We will be meeting in the basement of Trinity Anglican in Aurora, where we have the concert, and where we were rehearsing while our room was being renovated. Take a look at the YRCC Calendar, it's been updated. Buy your tickets and pay for your poinsettias. Remember to get your friends and family booked, hook them in with a dinner invitation. They'll be full from the bake sale so it'll be a light dinner.
- All That Holiday Stuff: Soloist is Melody, back-up is Kit (we need to give her a chance to rehearse it).
- Your Song
- Santa's Wish
- Twelve Groovy Days
- Christmas Auld Lang Syne?
- Star Canon??
- When You Believe?
- Song for a Winter's Night?
The week after next is our run-through rehearsal, where we sing the whole concert, small groups and soloists and everything, making sure we can enter and exit with grace and we know where to stand and sit. I'll make sure you have the concert order before then. Beware: it has happened that when we go through the order, something doesn't work and I have to change the order. Don't panic. For the concert, you'll need to have your binders in concert order. And you will have the final order by the end of the run-through rehearsal. No scrambling to find the music on stage! Small groups and soloists come early to work with the stage and microphones.
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