We worked hard again, learning ahs, which are not our favourite. And, we had some beautiful moments of harmony, friendship, and esprit de corps.
We started a bit late, so our warm-up was brief. It started with the singing of Happy Birthday to me! Thank you! I will share that with Lauren whose birthday was last Friday. (mine is tomorrow, Feb.5) After that, we relaxed our tense bits, and then sang the Auld Lang Syne that WWI soldiers sang: We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here. I played recordings of the two new songs we got, It's a Grand Night for Singing and Here's to Song. When you look at the words of Auld Lang Syne, it reminds me of Here's to Song. Make sure you get those 2 new pieces next time if you weren't there.
We heard about the passing of our choir friend Lyn Gadd. She was our music librarian for a while, housing all of our stuff and preparing binders for us every season. She was a lovely person, gentle and kind, small in stature but with enormous genrosity. She is remembered with fondness and esteem.
The tenors and basses met early at 6:30 for a sectional rehearsal. It was so good, and we were all impressed at how well they did during rehearsal. Thank you, Lauren for leading these special rehearsals!
1. Thank You For the Music: We reviewed the first section from the beginning through the chorus, and the second verse. The chorus is big, and we sing it 3 times, so having got that under our belts, we're in great shape. We kind of had an "ah" theme today, but we left these ahs (under the third verse) for another time.
2. Song for Canada: We sang the whole thing, and it was really very good already, even though many of us got a little lost and faked parts ;-) Then, we learned the ahs. Ah! It was so good! Now, we're not getting lost. And, the French Chorus (la chorale française) sang the second chorus for us beautifully. We do have recordings of the ahs on the website, if you're still feeling a little lost, or if you missed this rehearsal.
3. Hymn to Freedom: We sang the whole thing, and it was really very good already, really! We could only get through by faking the ahs, however. But, now that we learned them, wooo-hoo, it's sooo gooood! It took several repetitions of each phrase, for each section, but we did it. Again, if you're still feeling like you're faking it, or if you missed this rehearsal, please use the recordings on the website to practise those jazzy ahs.
4. One Voice: Colby was not surprised that it ended up being excellent, and I know that there are others who know this song really well, but I am really impressed by the new folks! This song sounded beautiful, wonderful, amazing. We had excellent soloists, Melodie, Stanley, and Lauren stand in front so we could hear that beginning part. They made it look easy, but it's really quite challenging. We spent time on the transition from page 5 to 6 again, and from there to the end. The ba-bas were golden.
5. Here's to Song: We had just heard a bit of a folksy version of this song (from my YouTube playlist) before we started, and just put the sheet music in our binders, but we sang through the whole song! Donna was awe-inspiring. We stumbled through, with a focus on the melody, just kind of looking at what lies before us to learn this song. There are big sections of harmonies and choral fanciness, and solos, one with ahs under (we'll see if we do those or not...). This song inspired our theme, and the concert will be called Here's to Song.
Next week, Tuesday, February 10th Trinity United Church, 461 Park Avenue
6:30 Soprano Sectional (all your tricky bits)
We were bumped from our room and couldn't get our usual back-up space, so we're rehearsing at my church, Trinity United in Newmarket. It's at the corner of Main St. and Park Ave, opposite the Newmarket Public Library. We will enter from the Park Ave. side, and there's a small elevator there. We'll be up one level, one short flight of stairs up. Let me know if you think you'd like to use the elevator. We'll need a key and someone with permission to run it (me). We're not upstairs in the sanctuary like last time. This time, we have a room with chairs, carpet, and washrooms right across the hall.
- Here's to Song
- Canon of Joy
- Hymn to Freedom
- Thank You for the Music
- Grand Night for Singing
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| Happy birthday to me and Lauren! |