I'm sorry I had to leave, but I knew you'd be in good hands. I didn't want to share my germs. If you are sick on choir night, don't hesitate to stay at home, or wear a mask and sit away from others.
I'm spending another day at home, resting. But, I'm doing a little bit of choir work and a little bit of church work. I try to write my review as soon as I can so that I remember what we talked about, the things that were difficult, and the things that went well. This is late but I hope it's okay.
This Tuesday, we spent a little too long moving ourselves into sections and talking about my cold, so we didn't do a warm-up. I guess the moving into clearer sections, getting closer to your fellow sopranos, tenors and basses, altos, is a way of doing a bit of physical work that takes us away from our "everyday" and into "choir night", becoming choristers. So, it's not too bad.
1. The Hockey Song: We started right away with a sing-through, and then moved into a review of each part during the verses. We'd done the chorus and it sounded great. You’re following my cut-offs and volume prompts really well (or you’re following those who remember from before). We talked a little about keeping some words short, mentioning words like staccato and tenuto. We looked at the vamp on page 4 under the little referee guy. The tenors and basses need to watch me for the up-beat, "where" on beat 4 before E and then for the down-beat on beat 1 "play-ers". Donna will vamp until I hold my hand up for that beat 4. Imagine a fermata over "where". At the top of page 7, we skipped the rest of the page and went directly to the last choruses. But, this time, we're singing page 7. I love it. Drama and the organ from the hockey arena. So, the music feels like it's going to go into the chorus, but instead we suddenly go soft "subito piano" instead. Almost whisper "Do you know the name..." And, we get slowly louder until we're really ready for that last page, and it's really big, starting with "Sid-ney-Cros-by!". Fun!!!
2. Little Tree: Probably my favourite YRCC song for fall/winter. Such a big contrast to Hockey Song! Sweet and pretty, and so interesting, unusual and unexpected (unless you've heard us sing it in the past). I interpret it as a story of love, and maybe a passion that is almost an obsession. The singer seems to have adopted this stray tree, like a pet, and fallen in love. The harmonies are charming and the echoing of melodies is effective. One important thing that you seem to have figured out already is that there are powerful moments where the two parts come together, and holding notes to the same moment and taking our breaths there is cool. You watch me, and I do make a fuss for those. The first one of these is in bar 22. We're all together, stopping our layering after "I'll comfort you," and then crescendoing together over "little tree" before the big climax coming up. I love page 5! We talked about how the second "I'll give them all to you." is soft and slower and the notes and decrescendo combine to provide to much emotion there. This is an expression of love, and maybe the writer/creator has just grasped the depth of their love. The next section, at 39, is adorable, and it reminds me of the little songs we sing to our puppies or children, maybe giving them a boop on the nose. Philip noticed that the piano introduction sounds like "Close to You". And, I'm reminded of the words of that song "... so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and star light in your eyes of blue."
3. Edelweiss: I left Lauren the job of teaching the middle part where the altos get the melody and everyone else sings ahs. I was in no shape to do ahhs, with an achy head and chest. But, I had no idea that the ahs were different in the new version we got. I’m sorry! Lauren is going to make sure we all have the same version next week. We do have recordings of parts if you want to hear what it's supposed to sound like. Check out this performance video. It was a small group. Isn't Robyn amazing? Look at where Melinda and Lauren are singing.
4. So Long, Farewell: Lauren tells me it’s good, you got through the whole thing. There are parts that will need cleaning and polishing but we have time. We sang this in 2013. You can find it on my YouTube playlist. I just watched it. I conducted it, and yet have no memory of it. Funny. OMG. We waved good-bye at the end. I guess we should do that again. It was effective. The audience seemed to like it. I wonder if there will be people in our audience that remember it.
Sign-ups: I see that some of you have started signing up for the performance at the market in November, for our craft night and pub night this month, and for the small groups. Thank you! Please sign up and book those dates on your calendars.
The website: If you haven't yet, please go to the website and log in. Make sure you are able to, and if not, we can help you. Log in and look at the Music Library, poke around and see all the stuff that is there is for you. Update your profile with your binder number, contact info, and maybe a picture of yourself.
Next Week, Tuesday, October 6th
6:30 Let it Go and 7:00 There's Still My Joy
- Edelweiss
- Song for a Winter's Night
- Welcome Christmas
- You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch
