Voice Types and Vocal Ranges in the YRCC

We sing a lot of SAB, and a fair bit of SATB music in the York Region Community Choir.

Our singers are divided into Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, and Basses. Sometimes we have to divide the Sopranos into first and second Sopranos, so they sit separately, and occasionally we also have to divide Altos into first and second Altos.

In our choir, Sopranos sing the top part of all the music, the top line of the treble clef, the highest notes. But, that doesn't mean they all can sing the highest notes. The soprano part always has the most melody, so the reason for being in that section might be to be able to sing melody. Another thing that makes it attractive is that the top notes are easiest to find and follow. We divide into first and second sopranos for some pieces. The first sopranos are on top, and it's usually the melody, but sometimes it's a descant part. Even though the first sopranos should be able to sing the highest, that's not always the case in our choir, but don't worry. There are enough first sopranos who can sing very high that the team always sounds good.

Our Alto section has some of our best musicians, and they often can sing higher than many of the Sopranos. Their part is more difficult to read and more difficult to sing, but in a more comfortable range for most women. It's the second line of the treble clef.

Our Sopranos and Altos are all women, but our Tenors and Basses are not all men. Tenors sing the top line and Basses sing the bottom line of the bass clef. We have some women in the Tenor section. And, our music doesn't always have Tenor and Bass, but only Baritone. Like all community choirs, and church choirs that I know, we don't have enough men. But, the ones we have are wonderful. And, the addition of the women in the section means we have more power in the section than you can see. The effect is very good. Also, women are more likely to speak up if there's a question or a problem (Like most men, male choristers don't usually ask for directions.). It works out really well.

So, the ranges in our choir are varied and not quite what you'll see defined elsewhere. It works for us.

Here's what Wikipedia says are the ranges:

• Soprano: C4(middle C) – C6
• Mezzo-soprano: A3 – A5
• Contralto: F3 – F5
• Tenor: C3 – C5
• Baritone: F2 – F4
• Bass: E2 – E4

I also found this YouTube video of the ranges. Cool, because it plays the notes for you so you can sing along.

In our choir, you sit where you think you feel comfortable. And, you'll get a good feel for it soon. If you'd like to try another part, then you move. It's that easy. There are some choristers who sing different parts in small groups because they can. So, we'll have an alto singing tenor or soprano, and a soprano singing alto for  fun. There's more about how our choir works in this blog post. 

Monday, January 28

Monday, January 28, 2013

Sapphire was unable to come, so we had to rehearse with recordings, and Heather did a great job playing parts for us. We were unable to start the new songs, but made good progress anyway.

1. Warm-ups included massages which we needed, considering the challenging day we had with snow, freezing rain, cancellations and other stresses.
2. We sang Blue Skies with the sopranos holding their Blue Skies and Blue Days. It sounded great. The snaps are looking and sounding good too.
3. We learned the tricky "echo" parts at 81, 73, and 57 of I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.
4. We sang Song for the Unsung Hero. What a powerful song!
5. One Voice was a treat as always.
6. I Will Always Be With You was beautiful. We paid closer attention to dynamics.
7. Monday, Monday was also better because we got the ba-das quieter and lighter.

Next week, we'll do:

Flying Free
Greatest Love
Imagine
Wild Mountain Thyme
You'll Never Walk Alone

Happy Birthday, Mozart! Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik - Serenade in Gmajor, K-525, 2nd Movement ...

ThePianoGuys' Favourite Audience

Hey, we know how this feels!

Job opening: Choir police

I saw this on tumblr and had to share! Who's going to enforce this? Heather, do you know anyone?

January 21st: We can snap! And, look at rests to know how long to hold the notes.

Yup. We can snap. Like Elvis.

We grooved. 

(Heads-up: there's a theory/ reading music lesson coming toward the end of this post about rests and holding notes)

1.For our warm-up, we warmed up our bodies by standing up and sitting down on command :)

We discovered that most of the people who have done solos and/or participated in small groups feel nervous    when they perform. It doesn't stop us; it helps us. Adrenalin. Good nervous. I'm sure Elvis got nervous.

We warmed up our voices with exercises that included snapping and triplets (ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba,...).

2. Our first song was One Small Step. It was great! We're going to have soloists at the beginning and the end. The end will be so special! We got to hear Teija's beautiful voice on its own. Gerry and Todd tried the second one together and managed quite well, despite not knowing the song :)

3. Get Happy was next and it was crazy! We did it super-fast and managed, but the entries by the sopranos were almost impossible. Then we looked at those entries and slowed it down. It was much better, but still needs some work. You've to to think: 1-2-3and4and1and. The words on 'and4and1and' are forget your troubles/the sun is shining.

4.Hallelujah ate into our break time, but we didn't mind because we love it. Gerry sang the first solo and it was awesome. We might just keep him on it. And, Tracey did a great job on the second one. Again, it was a treat to hear some new voices. We reviewed those tricky parts but still have trouble with them. When Sapphire and I do the recording next month, we'll record those for you :).

5. After break was when we got our white shoes on and snapped with Blue Skies. It was fun and looks and sounds really groovy!

6. Before we started I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, we looked at rests and holding notes in Blue Skies, and then at Teach the World, because they both have that back-and-forth between the sections thing. Most of the time, when the other section is singing, you're not done, but have to hold your note. How long do you hold it? You can count the beats in the note you're holding, or you can look at the rests before the next note you sing.  If there are no rests, then you hold it right up to the next word. Look at the top of page 5 of Teach the World. When the Altos and Basses (part ll) are singing 'hand' they have to  hold it all the way to 'for'. You can say they have to hold it for 7 beats, but it's probably easier to just look and think 'no rest'. On the next line, they have a bunch of rests before 'That's the song I sing' Don't worry about adding them up. Just look up and see that you're silent while the other section sings and then you do just what they did. 

You can review your rests, so that you know how long you wait, but just looking at them will give you a good idea. The bars are all the same size and the beats are lined up the same in the top and bottom. So you can compare your rest to what the others are singing (or to the piano accompaniment below if everyone is singing the same thing). The longer rests are blocks and the shorter ones are squiggles, The little one that's light and looks like a fancy 7 is only half a beat, so just time for a quick breath. There are lots of these in Teach the World. 

Review my post on counting, and you'll see the chart with rests. 

Next week: 

• Blue Skies
• Flying Free
• Teach the World
• One  Voice
• Wild Mountain Thyme
• You'll Never Walk alone

January 14th review and looking ahead

If you missed choir today, here's what you missed:

1. Our warm-ups included making funny faces and strange sounds.
2. We sang I Will Always Be With You. It's beautiful. We had to review pages 6 and 7.
3. Monday, Monday was great!
4. Hallelujah: we reviewed "the baffled king composing Hallelujah", "the holy or the broken Hallelujah" and "with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah". The first one is different for everyone. The second and third are the same but in a different key, so just a bit higher. I'm considering changing soloists. Let me know if you're interested in singing one.
5. We sang I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing. It was really good! We're going to start with solos first a soprano or alto and then a tenor or bass. Everyone starts at 25. Soprano and Tenor are on Part l and Alto and Bass are Part ll.
6. Wonderful World was beautiful.

Looking ahead to Next week:
Blue Skies
Get Happy
Hallelujah
I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
One Small Step

If you like to work on stuff at home, here's the harder stuff you'll want to look at:
From a Distance
You'll Never Walk Alone
On Eagle's Wings

Solos and small groups for Spring 2013

As soon as you get your music, have a look at the solos we need this season. I've listed them all here. Find them in the music and see if you like the range and the song.  If you would like to be considered for a solo in the choir music, let me know. The deadline will likely be end of the month. 

Also think about solo pieces. We can have 3 or 4 solos and duets. Last season we had 3 solos and a duet. I've already heard from a few duets but no soloists yet. We'll have to limit it to 4 total. Please come forward and let me know if you are considering a solo song or a duet. Your deadline will likely be later in February or March. Remember our theme is Friendship and Community. 

Small groups: Sign up will be soon. We have a men's a cappella small group piece, Sam Hall, and a mixed group song called Friendship. There is room for another piece with piano accompaniment, and we're hoping for 2 Janet and the Kevins small group pieces again. We have a few suggestions for music, pieces we have in our files, but if you have a song you'd like to do as a small group, please let me know. Remember that small groups do most of their preparation on their own. We count on members of small groups to learn their music at home and to organize rehearsal time independently. You need to book your time with Heather and Anne Marie or Janet and the Kevins and be available to meet before choir and possibly on other days. 

Spring Music Solos

Blue Skies (or keep Trix and Janet?)

Soprano at 37

Alto,Tenor or Bass at 45

From a Distance

Alto: at 6 and 26

Soprano: joins the alto for a duet at pick-up to 10 and 30

Hallelujah (new soloists)

Tenor: beginning

Soprano/Alto: at 16

I’d like to Teach the World to Sing

Soprano/Alto: at 9

Tenor/Bass: at 17

Imagine

Soprano/Alto: at 5

One Small Step

Soprano/Alto: at 5 and 75

Tenor/Bass: at 10

One Voice

Keeping soloists from last season (Heather, Stanley, Janet/Teija)

Wild Mountain Thyme

Soprano/Alto: at 5, first verse

Tenor/Bass: at 5, second verse

Old men singing at Tim Horton's cool not-flashy flash mob

Shut-up-and-do-as-you're-told politics here and now

Don't like conflict. Avoid it.
So, politics are obviously not my thing.
But, sometimes I see something that demands my attention.

Tomorrow's events both have the same kind of aura of unfairness to them and I think it's because they both revolve around groups of former second-class citizens and their right to participate in the processes that govern them.

York Region Elementary Teachers, among others, will have a day of protest tomorrow, Friday, January 11th, 2013.

Teachers have lost their rights and there is no uproar from the other unions. Do they feel immune? Do they believe that the teachers are different, don't deserve the same rights?

I'm surprised and disappointed in the public, especially members of all unions, for their lack of support for teachers. It isn't fair.

The Prime Minister is going to meet with some First Nations leaders that have been neglected tomorrow. There will be a prayer vigil at our church, Trinity United Newmarket.

The First Nations want to be heard. I don't agree with much of what they are saying. I don't like the word Sovereignty. I don't like that their solution is to separate themselves from Canada and Canadians. But, they believe they are not included, so they are separate already. If we believe that they should be included then they need to be at the table. We need to be considering their issues. What do we know about this and how much do we care? Excluding First Nations is the problem, not the solution. This is a much more complex issue that we have to become more aware of. Check out the Official Idle No More website. I had no idea.

I'm surprised and disappointed in the continued lack of attention the First Nations get.

If I do nothing else, at least I can reflect on these issues and express my hope for peace in these situations, for the individuals involved and for all of us who are and will be affected.

Spring Season starts Monday

I'm excited to get going with our new season!

Our theme for this Spring Season is Friendship and Community. 

It flows well from our Together for the Holidays theme of gathering with friends, family and community.

We will continue to sing several of our winter season songs and will bring back a bunch of things from last spring as well. There will be a few pieces that I've reached back in our archives for which only a few people will remember. One of them is a beautiful anthem-like song called You'll Never Walk Alone. It's a really cool and jazzy arrangement of a powerful piece of music that I'm sure everyone will enjoy.

As promised, everyone will have the chance to sing I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing.

I'm really looking forward to moving in to our new, bigger space across the hall! 

We were packed in like sardines before, but now we'll have a bit of room to stretch. Look out for more interesting warm-ups ;)

Please note that even though we'll have more space, our numbers are still capped. The room capacity is only 60, and we have decided not to grow any more anyway. The waiting list is still in effect.

Hand in your Binder now

Dear YRCC Choristers,

Don't forget that you are responsible for handing in your binder to Trix, our Music Librarian, at the end of each season.

If you want  to have your binder full of music to start the spring season in January, you must hand it in to Trix by next week. Trix has the big job of preparing the binders for our spring season and filing away all the winter season music.

Tomorrow night, after singing, we can all give our binders to Lauren, as Trix will be absent.

If you are not going to be there tomorrow night, you have to drop off your binder at Trix's house in the bin on her front porch.

Please, everyone, help to make this big job a bit easier by ensuring that your binder is handed in as soon as possible.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Renate

Last Seniors' Christmas visit---Newmarket Health Centre, Monday 17

Yesterday at the York Region Forest Jingle Walk was really special. It was great singing outdoors surrounded by trees. The crowd of families that came to walk was energetic and seemed to enjoy our performance and singing carols with us. 

Tomorrow is our last "gig" of the season :(

Here's the tentative order for tomorrow's performance at Newmarket Health Centre.

Remember to always be ready for changes when we go out to sing. We'll see who is there and what we can do, so be ready with all of your music. 

Go to the calendar to get a map and other details. 

Newmarket Health Centre                   Monday December 17, at 7:30pm

1              In Our Town in December

2              Let There Be Peace On Earth

3              Carol of the Bells

4              I Will Always Be With You

5              Happy Holiday/White Christmas (group)

6              Do You Hear What I Hear

               Sing-alongs

7              Thankful (Todd's solo)

8              You Raise Me Up

9              We Wish You a Merry Madrigal

Humming is good for you

Classical 96.3 is my radio station for driving. I also like to listen to it while I'm working, so I use my laptop to listen to the live stream. Today, as I logged on, I noticed a teaser for an article on the website:
"Humming and sinus problems"
It seems that humming helps to keep your sinuses working properly. Interesting.
Here's a link to that short article. It's from Libby Znaimer's Zoomer Report.

http://www.classical963fm.com/shows/zoomer-report/health/humming-and-sinus-problems/

YRCC sings "In Our Town In December" (December 2012)

Thank you, Gerry, for posting your family's recordings of our concert on YouTube!

Together For the Holidays

 An afternoon of spectacular music & seasonal songs

that remind us of the joy of being with friends and family!

                                              

                                               

 2 pm, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012

 Trinity Anglican Church

76 Victoria St., Aurora

Singing in the snow!

We're going to be singing outdoors on December 15th!

The York Region Forest Jingle Bell Walk
is a community event that starts at 1:00 with a guided walk on an accessible trail and ends with hot chocolate and singing!

Here's a link  to the Hollidge Tract Trail page on the York Region Website,  so you can find it.

November 23 -tomorrow's performance order

Here's the order for tomorrow. We start at 12 noon and sing until 1:00 pm.

Arrive by 11:45. We might be able to meet in our room. 

Casual performance attire: any white top and black bottom with scarf or tie.

1. You Raise Me Up
2. Hymn to Freedom
3. Michael's solo
4. Heather's solo
5. In Our Town In December
6. Do You Hear
7. Carols with Kevin for 10 minutes or so
8. Let There Be Peace on Earth
9. I Will Always Be With You
10. We Wish You A Merry Madrigal
11. Carols with Kevin for 10 minutes or so
12. New Year's Blessing
13. Go Now in Peace

Really Big Show!

What an experience that was!

The In Harmony With The Community concert, the 20th annual fundraiser of the York Regional Police Male Chorus was thrilling, again. Stupendous, fantastic, just amazing, the concert was a huge success!

I'm so proud of our choir, the York Region Community Choir, for our excellent contribution to the evening. The OPP choir down from Barrie was also excellent and the kids from Roselawn Public School in Richmond Hill were a super treat again!

Thank you so much, YRPMC, our wonderful neighbours on Monday nights for inviting us again. You are a class act and it is an honour and a joy working with you.

Pat yourselves on the back, YRCC!

It's going to be great! Have fun!

If you want to review some pointers on performing, here's the link to a former post of mine.

Wow! Excellent rehearsal on November 12th!

Tonight was thrilling! Our YRCC pieces were really fabulous tonight:
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
Mamma Mia Medley
One Voice

And singing with the York Regional Police Male Chorus was an awesome experience again! What a great sound we have together! It's huge and rich and beautiful.

We sang
I Will Always Be With You
Song for the Unsung Hero
Hymn to Freedom

We didn't sing
Go Now In Peace

Don't forget: We're also going to sing O Canada. Remember to sing the melody only. Do not create a harmony or sing a harmony that you know. The YRPMC have a version that they sing, and we're singing along with the melody.

If you're still not sure what to do and where to go on Saturday, go to the calendar, it's all there.

Why Travel Makes Us Happy

Why Travel Makes Us Happy is a great blog post by a woman who writes a blog on happiness. She says she's an advocate for Travel.

Click on that link and you'll read her 6 reasons why travel makes us happy. I love the last one!

I work for a special travel agency, CWT Victor Travel, where people are passionate and knowledgeable about Travel and help to make people happy every day. I often tell Jack that he's a hero and he just shrugs humbly. He makes magic whenever there's a disaster like Hurricane Sandy, or a personal disaster, getting people home safely. Jack and Judy and Lucy and all the folks that I work with have the happy job of helping people to go out and see the world and then come back again to tell their stories. Every day there are hundreds of happy stories.

I'm lucky to have the job of writing about the services and the products of the Travel Agency and Victours, the Tour Operator. So, I'm a travel advocate too.

I guess I'm in the happiness business too, like Britt. This blog about my choir gives me the opportunity to write about the happiness that comes from singing and making music together, and my job helps me to spread the happiness of travel.

Halloween Humour (from an email from Enid)

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night............. 

Bob Hill and his new wife Betty were vacationing in Europe....as it happens, near Transylvania. They were driving in a rental car along a rather deserted highway. It was late and raining very hard. Bob could barely see the road in front of the car. Suddenly, the car skids out of control! Bob attempts to control the car, but to no avail! The car swerves and smashes into a tree.

Moments later, Bob shakes his head to clear the fog. Dazed, he looks over at the passenger seat and sees his wife unconscious, with her head bleeding! Despite the rain and unfamiliar countryside, Bob knows he has to get her medical assistance.

Bob carefully picks his wife up and begins trudging down the road. After a short while, he sees a light. He heads towards the light, which is coming from a large, old house. He approaches the door and knocks.

A minute passes. A small, hunched man opens the door. Bob immediately blurts,

"Hello, my name is Bob Hill, and this is my wife Betty. We've been in a terrible accident, and my wife has been seriously hurt. Can I please use your phone?"

"I'm sorry," replied the hunchback, "but we don't have a phone. My master is a doctor; come in, and I will get him!"

Bob brings his wife in.

An older man comes down the stairs. "I'm afraid my assistant may have misled you. I am not a medical doctor; I am a scientist.. However, it is many miles to the nearest clinic, and I have had a basic medical training. I will see what I can do. Igor, bring them down to the laboratory."

With that, Igor picks up Betty and carries her downstairs, with Bob following closely.. Igor places Betty on a table in the lab. Bob collapses from exhaustion and his own injuries, so Igor places Bob on an adjoining table.

After a brief examination, Igor's master looks worried. "Things are serious, Igor. Prepare a transfusion." Igor and his master work feverishly, but to no avail. Bob and Betty Hill are no more.

The Hills' deaths upset Igor's master greatly. Wearily, he climbs the steps to his conservatory, which houses his grand piano. For it is here that he has always found solace. He begins to play, and a stirring, almost haunting melody fills the house.

Meanwhile, Igor is still in the lab tidying up. His eyes catch movement, and he notices the fingers on Betty's hand twitch, keeping time to the haunting piano music. Stunned, he watches as Bob's arm begins to rise, marking the beat! He is further amazed as Betty and Bob both sit up straight!

Unable to contain himself, he dashes up the stairs to the conservatory.

He bursts in and shouts to his master:

"Master, Master!.....The Hills are alive with the sound of music!"

Thank you for sending this to me, Enid!  I don't know where you found this, but it's perfect. 

November 5th

Here's what we did on November 5th:

• Warm ups included massages.
•  Hymn to Freedom page 11, the ending
• We learned all of In Our Town in December. (because of the solos, really only pages 4, 6, and 7)
• Song for the Unsung Hero: bar 63- the end
• After break we joined the Police Chorus in their room to rehearse, in show-order,

1. I Will Always Be With You
2. Song for the Unsung Hero
3. Hymn to Freedom
4. Go Now In Peace

We will meet with them again at 9:00 next Monday. 

Please review for next week:

• the endings of everything so you can watch (it's good to know that I'm not the only director who changes endings)
• I Will Always Be With You: sopranos and altos bar 50 (remember it's different)
• Song for the Unsung Hero: bar 63, ending starting at 80 and dynamics throughout, it really was just loud and louder. Start soft, and we're only medium on page 5. I'll try to conduct better to let you know when to get quieter and louder. 

Next week we'll be doing our stuff for the first half, Mamma Mia, One Voice and Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, and then we have coffee and treats before we head over to the police room.

For the following 2 Mondays, we will start early at 7:00, and we'll focus on our Christmas music. 

Early Rehearsals after Police Concert

Hello YRCC Choir Members!

I'd like to have some more time to rehearse for our Holiday Concert, so I'm asking you to come early at 7:00 for the 2 rehearsals before Dec. 2nd:

7:00 Monday, November 19th and 
7:00 Monday, November 26th.

I know there will be some people who absolutely cannot be there before 7:30, and that's alright.

This will affect the small groups. I'm hoping you'll be able to manage a couple of rehearsals on additional days, if you need more time. I hear that the MK extra rehearsal last night was very good. I will come to the small group rehearsals on Monday, November 12th to see how things are coming along.

Yours in harmony,
Renate 

Storm Cancels Choir! Bah!

This was just sent out in an email to all choir members. We're also phoning everybody.

Due to the fast approaching weather system, and out of concern for members on their drive home later on, we feel that it would be in the best interest of the safety of all that we cancel this evening's rehearsal.

Please take some time to review music provided on the website over the next week. 

And as a reminder to those participating in the performance at St. Andrews on Saturday, rehearsal will be at 10 a.m.

Be safe all!

We want to sing! Storm update.

Hurricane Sandy, AKA Frankenstorm, is coming up to Newmarket tomorrow night, Monday, October 29th.

Right now, they're saying the high winds and heavy rain will be the worst from Monday overnight to Tuesday. But, I've also heard that they're starting Monday afternoon.

We're going to be optimistic and say that we will have our choir rehearsal tomorrow night as planned. 

But, we'll be careful and review the situation at 4:00 pm. If it looks like we will have a scary drive there or back at 9:30, then Heather or Lauren or I will cancel choir. We have a phone tree in place, so everyone will get a phone call if choir is cancelled. I will also post here, and on Facebook, and on our website.

If we don't cancel choir, and you are worried about driving and would rather stay home, spend some time going over your music with the recordings.

Solo Assignments Updated

The 3 solo songs at the Holiday concert will be sung by Trix, Michael, and Todd. 

The solos in our choir songs will be as follows:

Carol of the Bells
Soprano: 9-12 +13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (solo and lead) (MARY ELLEN, Kristen)
Soprano: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (DOLORES, Trix)
Alto: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (DEBBIE, Janet)
Alto:13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (CAROL, Lauren)
Tenor: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (TODD, Michael)
Bass: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (important ending, very low) (BILL, Kevin)

In Our Town in December
 5-12 (intro solo) (BILL, Kevin)
24-31 ( Hanukkah solo) (SOPHIE V., Trix)
32-39 (Christmas duet) (TRACEY and JANE, Heather, Lauren)

Let There Be Peace On Earth
Duet 2 first Sopranos, very strong 9-34 ( Kristen and Mary Ellen Lasota, Anne Marie)

One Voice
Soprano: 6-15+9-22 (HEATHER, Kristen )
Alto: 18-22 (TEIJA, JANET)
Tenor: 15-22 (STANLEY, Michael)

Mamma Mia
Soprano: 23-47 (LOUISA, Heather)
Soprano: 94-106+199-122 (KIT, Sophie)
Alto: 124-132 (DAPHNE, Trix)
Soprano: 200-208 (CATHY, Kristen)

Being a chorister: Some basic choir rules

With all the new folk and with a smallish space for such a large group, we have to be especially conscious of the people around us, and review the rules so that we continue to work well as a team and sing together in harmony.

There is a document on our website in the Members Only section called
A CHORISTER'S GUIDE TO KEEPING YOUR DIRECTOR HAPPY

Here are some highlights which I think we need to review.

• Be punctual. Respect the time of the director and other choir members.
• Attend and participate in warm up.
• Support and be respectful of other choristers. We are a family, a community, we want rehearsals and performances to be positive experiences for everyone. 
• When rehearsal begins focus immediately on the conductor and your music. Maximize the use of rehearsal time.
• Be silent and attentive when the conductor is speaking. 
• Limit conversation during rehearsal. Talking wastes time and interferes with the conductor.
• Listen carefully to the questions of others. They may be your questions as well.
• Watch your music and listen to others practice their parts. Doing so will make you a better musician. Time spent listening may be as valuable as time spent singing.

There's more, and it's all common sense, like this, but people are not always acting sensibly. Sometimes we have so much fun, that we get carried away and it's easy to forget that we're all working together to learn our music so that we can perform it and be proud.

Please be aware of and kind to the people around you, and remember that you are a member of a big team. 

Articulation: little marks above notes

This is a theory post for the YRCC about articulation.
Articulation is, like, pronouncing things clearly, right?

In speech, articulation refers the act of giving voice to your thoughts, or to clear enunciation.

In music, it's about giving a note a special effect and those special effects are marked with articulation marks which are often called accents.

My favourite one is the fermata. I call it the mark of power. It looks a bit like an eye. When you see a fermata, think "watch Renate". It kind of rhymes.
The Fermata indicates that the note can be held indefinitely, and I get to decide how long. It's the last one in the example below.

Now let's look at the rest, starting with the first one.
1. The dot is a Staccato mark. The note is shortened to detach it from the next note.
2. The line is a Tenuto mark. The note has its full value.
3. The sideways arrow is an Accent mark. The note is louder and attacked, or accented. Bah!
4. The arrow that points up is the Mercato. The note much louder and very strongly attacked so that it ends up staccato too. Bam!

There are a few more, including the Breath mark ' that we talked about last time, which really shouldn't affect the note much at all, and the Caesura which is called a cut-off to describe what it does or railroad tracks to describe how it looks. The Caesura doesn't go above a note, but after it. Like the fermata, it indicates something that the conductor has power over. When you see the railroad tracks //, stop and watch. I get to decide when we start again.

Examples:

Look at Carol of the Bells.
Above bar 9, where Mary Ellen starts to sing, it says pp (pianissimo), so it's supposed to be very quiet and detached throughout.

Above the first note there's the tenuto mark and above the next 3, you see staccato marks. We have to pay attention to the fact that the whole thing is detached but make the first note longer than the other 3 notes.

The pattern continues, and then at bar 13 it says pp sempre cres. which means keep getting louder.

Then at bar 14 it says simile. That means they're not going to mark everything, just keep going the same way (long, short, short, short and louder and louder). So, the whole song has that long-short-short-short feel, but we just have to remember it.

Look at all the fermatas at the end! I practically control every note! Wow! That's power. But, with power comes responsibility. I have to figure out not only how I want that to sound, but I also have to figure out how to let everyone know when to sing and play all those notes that come after the fermatas (yup, even Sapphire's piano part is marked with fermatas).

For examples of accents and mercatos, look at Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Tons.

For examples of breath marks, look at Let There Be Peace on Earth. Tons.

For an example of a caesura, look at the bottom of page 30 of Mamma Mia. We don't actually observe that cut-off, because we have experienced the audience clapping there, so we make sure they understand we're not done by going straight to bar 228. The combination of fermata and cut-off there makes it clear to me that I can do whatever I want, whatever I think is best.