We mostly sang other things, but we did start Christmas. While our winter concert is not a Christmas concert per se, there is so much good music to sing and an expectation that we will be singing some Christmas music, so we do. And, I love Christmas.
The first small group started: The 12 Pains of Christmas. So much fun! There’s still room in this group so you can join next week. Please register on the Events page on our website. (The next small group is already there, so you can sign up for that too. Christmas Lullaby needs people from all sections SATB)
Everyone was happy to see Donna back. "so happy together" We talked a little about how the choir supports people who are going through stuff. Michele very graciously sends cards and flowers when appropriate and Donna was very happy to receive her bouquet and words of support and encouragement when she was recovering from her surgery. You know how to contact your choir friends? You can find their email addresses in the members listing on the website. You'll need to sign in, of course. A brief email message is sometimes the perfect balm. If the person sitting next to you has been missing, you could send a message to ask if they're okay. Let us know if they're not.
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| Donna's bouquet |
1. All That Holiday Stuff: We will have lots of fun with this. It's pretty easy and charming too. It's the opposite of the 12 Pains of Christmas, where there's a lot of complaining. Here, we're all loving the holiday traditions: candy canes, carollers, Hallmark movies, and even ugly sweaters, all that stuff. We learned up to page 6. It helps that a whole bunch of people sang this just last Christmas, however, this arrangement is slightly different. The parts are distributed differently in SAB from the 2-part version. And, here we have 3-part harmony in spots.
2. When You Believe: I decided to attack this one like Your Song, and start at the end. We learned the ending, right after the Hebrew section, at bar 66. But, we started with the big ending "Ah-ah ah!" It's my kind of ending, full of drama and a big piano tremolo. We need to add a high soprano note to get good and loud. (wait till we get to the ending of Holiday Stuff-big and loud and the piano part-wooo!) I love the tenor and bass line in this big "broad and majestic" ending section. If you have some time for homework, please listen to your part. There are videos of parts linked on the website. Look ahead to the Hebrew part if you have time, listening to a recording while reading the words is best. Remember that the ch is like a sh but in the position of an H. Maybe try hissing like a cat, then kind of sneezing: aah chhhh. Then aah chhhh ahh. Then the syllable cha, then meecha, mocha, then meecha-mocha. Start there and we'll work on more next week.
3. Your Song: You're going to be so tired of my "it's a little bit funny" comments. I hope you don't mind (wink). But, it is a little bit funny, the way the timing is different from the Elton John version of this song. You're doing great, though. We learned the section from 62 to the DS al Coda. So, we were able to sing the Segno (page5/6) through to the DS al Coda on page 10, then go back to the Segno and continue to the Coda, the end! It was excellent! I love the Coda! You need to watch on page 11, because the timing is special. At the top of the page, there's a fermata in bar 101. I'll give you a big beat 4 (arm moves up and you sing when it's up in beat 4 position). The piano accompaniment will come in after the sopranos and altos sing beat 4 "how" on beat one "wonderful" of bar 102. Then, bar104 is marked "rit. e dim." which means slow down and get softer. It will be quite slow on "you-ou're in" and then we'll observe that rest like a cut // and the quarter note "the" will come in like a beat 4, like the beat 4 of 101. Watch for the timing of world and the oohs; watch me. It will sound like "wer-er-erl doo-ooh-ooh" and then I think I want a sfz on the final ooh, not p/soft. Sforzando piano (or fp?) then crescendo. We'll do it next week.
4. Song for a Winter's Night: We sang it with soloists: Lauren and Robyn on the first and Blair and Bill on the second. It's going to be so nice! We reviewed page 9, and sang to the end. I found parts videos! You can find them on my YouTube playlist or on the webite. Remember, we're not singing the first page oohs, and we're not singing the oohs under the solos. Everyone starts at page 9, so you can skip over to that on the videos. Also, at the top of page 10, use your notes to sing the words, and on the word "drift-ing", go down to resolve that phrase like an ending. Please spend a few minutes reviewing your part with a video.
5. We Wish You a Merry Madrigal: Fun! Donna made up accompaniments for us and used a special setting on the keyboard. Love that! I'm hoping to sing that a cappella, without accompaniment, at the concert. Don't worry, we can do it. Many of us have sung this one before, so it will be easy and excellent. At the end, there's a "rit." ritardando, a slow-down, which I will conduct with 4 beats and slow down so that the different timing betweeen the bass clef and treble clef parts will be more effective. Watch me, as usual, at the ending. Observe the dynamics (f/p).
Next week: Tuesday, October 1st
Twelve Pains of Christmas 6:30
- All That Holiday Stuff
- For Unto Us a Child is Born (!!!)
- When You Believe
- Your Song
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