Good morning everyone, I hope you've all had a lovely half term break! Mine was mainly filled with wedding planning, and with 2 months to go today it's beginning to feel close! Normal updates below, plus dates for the Autumn Term, so please have a careful read.
What we did on Tuesday 23rd May
We started with Blue Moon, getting a real swing to the opening 'instrumental' introduction, and finding the changes in colour, such as the tenors in bar 5. We tightened up all the accompanimental sections to support the melody nicely, and refined small moments such as the last bar of page 36 with the passing-over of the parts in the Tenors and Basses. Sopranos, please do take the first note of bar 38 (page 39) off for a breath there. We also made sure the modulation was secure by disecting the chords.
After this we worked on Summer time, getting the opening chords nicely tuned and the articulations precise. We confirmed notes in the SSA trio section on pages 137-139. Next we'll finish the piece in detail.
After the break we looked at the Agnus Dei, working on a few note-checks in the melody and the blend in the harmony parts in bar 211 onwards. We also made sure the chord first bar of page 36 was accurate and confident, before checking the modulation on page 37 was right, slowing the chords down to analyse each one individually.
We then worked on In the Mood, checking the opening rhythms, the chords in bar 9, and then the chords on page 173, stopping at the start of every 2 bars to see the chord changes. We need to work on the 'raunchy' section from bar 65 onwards next.
We finished with a small amount of work on the opening of My true love hath my heart, creating a lovely warm backing for the melody, and letting the movement flow.
What we'll do on Tuesday 6th June
We'll begin with a run of the Chilcott Little Jazz Mass - we've done a lot of work on this before the half term, so I want to see where we stand after the break. After this we'll work on In the Mood, Ain't Misbehavin' and When daisies pied from the Birthday Madrigals.
Please make sure these movements/pieces are marked up by the rehearsal!
I know you've all been practicing hard at home, looking over all the pieces and focusing on the bits you personally need the most work on, so thank you for that; please try to come as prepared as possible, with 4 weeks left.
Spotify Playlist:
The Spotify Link only includes the Chilcott and the Rutter.
Recordings from 'The Pink Book' have been shared via email as a private link, so hopefully everyone has this now.
Marked Scores:
It is now the second half of the term, so these should all be in your scores!
Solos:
I've not heard from anyone about these solos, so please let me know if you'd like to do one! Auditions will be held on the 6th, and possibly 13th of June.
Summer time - Soprano or Tenor
In the Mood - Soprano or Alto
Dates for Autumn Term
We're now able to confirm our Autumn term dates - sorry for the confusion with the concert date, but it's now definitely on Saturday 11th November at St Mary and St John's Church, Cowley Road.
The concert is Remembrance themed (given the date), and the piece that is forming the backbone of the concert is Duruflé's Requiem.
Full rehearsal schedule is below.
September:
Tuesday 5th – Rehearsal 1
Tuesday 12th – Rehearsal 2
Tuesday 19th – Rehearsal 3
Tuesday 26th – Rehearsal 4
October:
Tuesday 3rd – Rehearsal 5
Tuesday 10th – Rehearsal 6
Tuesday 17th – Rehearsal 7
Tuesday 24th – Rehearsal 8
Tuesday 31st – Rehearsal 9
November:
Tuesday 7th – Rehearsal 10
Saturday 11th – Concert Day
Rehearsal: 14:00 – 17:00
Concert: 19:30
*please note we'll not have a half-term break as we need to fit all of the rehearsals in.
Posters
We've now got our own poster, so share it far and wide, and also support our friends at the Cherwell Singers for their forthcoming concert.
Suggested Listening
As we've got a lot of 'singing like instruments' in our concert, I thought I'd share with you what I think is the perfect example of 'instrumental' singing; The King's Singers performing Duke Ellington's Creole Love Call. Listen HERE.
See you on Tuesday 6th!
- Ben
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