We're ready! What an exciting rehearsal we had! I'm so happy with how you sound!
Mary did you Breathe is finally feeling solid. And, African Noel was so much fun! I love the percussion, and maybe someone will play my guiro (gourd).
We did a short seated physical warm-up, and did a couple of traditional vocal warm-ups, scales on do-re-mi and on mee-may-my-mo-moo.
1. In Our Town in December: sweet! Remember to enunciate carefully to tell the story (like wiith Shine Hanukkah, timing and clear pronunciation are key with a storytelling song). We worked on dynamics. Watch me for when to get louder and softer. Peace on Earth is our theme so those words will carry extra weight here too. It's the top of a crescendo. When we continue loud at 42, add some hometown pride. "When you walk through our town, " invites people to see Newmarket and Aurora through our eyes, with love and pride. I love, love, love the ending of this. We made it up and we make it up anew every time we sing it. You harmonize with heart and it's adorable and very effective.
2.Somewhere in My Memory: charming! This is our opening number. The piano introduction is light and enchanting. Come in soft and sweet. We reviewed the ooh-la-la section at 30. It's so fancy and cool! The audience will be impressed. Remember to listen for the chords at the key changes to get your notes.
3.12 Songs of Christmas: strong! We reveiewed the Hallelujah chorus ending, and talked about the transitions where you have to watch me to know when to come in and what the tempo will be. Every section had issues with this, so I was able to pick on everyone. Whenever you see these tempo notes rit.=slow down and accel.=speed up, you need to watch for how much I'm going to get faster or slower. I try to be consistent, but I'm not the best with tempo. I often get excited and speed up, like when I'm driving and listening to a song with a good strong beat, for example. My accompanists will all for sure agree with me on this. You are all very good at watching for big endings, and you've got to think of all of the transitions between songs on a medly (this one and fa-la-la) as watching moments, endings and beginnings in one, so double trouble. With the Hallelujah chorus, you want to make note of all the rests on page 18, and be sure to observe them. Get off your note so that you can get in strong on the next one, or so that the other section can come in on their note (bar 179 especially).
4. Do You Hear What I Hear: perfect finale! It's so dramatic and has such a big, wonderful ending! You were awesome! Remember to come in soft and clear (storytelling mode), and quiet but strong if you're on melody, lighter when you don't have melody (sopranos and altos, careful), and building in power at each verse. The King verse was spectacular! Love!
5. For Unto Us: OMG! We did great, got it. But, Soraya and I had a laugh in the car on the way home. I had asked how many people liked this piece and got only a couple hands up. Then I asked if you'd like it better if you didn't have to sing it, and got tons of hands. I understood this to mean that singing it was a pain, but the song was good, just better when other people had to sing it. Well, Soraya said she thought it sounded like I was asking if you wished you didn't have to sing it at all. No, friends, we're singing this. We worked so hard, and our audience will appreciate it. If you're feeling stressed, practise. I posted new YouTube videos for you to sing along with. Helene found them useful and you might too. You can even have them playing in the background while you do something else.
6. O Holy Night: Gorgeous! We reviewed my most important moment, where we sing "and his gospel is PEACE" We need to come in strongly and all together at bar 90 on page 9. It's the most powerful verse, where we're all singing together in harmony and the key word is peace. The soloists were fantastic, and you'll hear them better when they sing into microphones next week.
What we talked about:
We bought tickets and paid for pointsettias, and Donna expressed her appreciation for your attendance at her concert on Sunday. It's really such a wonderful thing to have friends in the audience when you perform. It makes the show better, for everyone. When we see them, we perform better, we smile, and they smile, and we feel it, and the whole experience is elevated. Invite your family and friends to our concert. Why not offer to host a pizza party after, inviting everyone to your place after the concert- just order some pizza and have some beverages to celebrate with? They won't be hungry because the bake sale is very satisfying. Peace, Joy, Choir!
Next week: Tuesday, December 2nd at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora
Run-through Rehearsal! It's like a dress rehearsal, but we don't have to wear our performance clothes. Come ready to work.
Put your binders in concert order. There is a page on the website called "Concert Order". It's posted there and there is a link to a printable order too if you need that. But I recommend that you just put your binder in order, and you'll get a program on concert day too as a souvenir.
At 6:00, small groups and soloists will meet to work with staging and microphones.
At 7:00, everyone should be on stage and ready to start.
We will run through the concert, not singing every note, but to get a feel for how it flows, and to rehearse where we're standing, how we're walking and sitting, and where microphones and instruments and props will go, all the logistics.
Important: If you have a family member or friend who can help with this, who is willing to be our Stage Manager to help with these logistics, please have them come next Tuesday. Kindly let Lauren know. High School students can get volunteer hours for the rehearsal and for the show.
