Thursday Thoughts

I once had an organ teacher who I greatly respected ask me what I was doing during my daily sessions at the instrument. I looked at him as if he had two heads and replied, "practicing!"  He looked at me shaking his head, and offered these words of wisdom "no you're learning, you can't practice anything until you learn it."

Interesting philisophy and likely applies to most things. Right now we're at that tough (but exciting) stage of preparing for a concert. The time between learning the score and now practicing performances - albiet of various levels of success. With four rehearsals left we should be ok, but I would like to take some in each rehearsal and work the SNSC repertoire of the second half of the program. My rehearsal plaaning reflects this but on Tuesday the plan went out the window with the extra work we had to do on the Whitacre.

So for next Tuesday the list is as follows:

i thank You God - Whitacre (everyone needs to review carefully)

Lay A Garden - Pearsall (if you have not sung this please learn it throughly as most of the choir have recorded the piece.)

Then Shall I Leap Into Love - Enman

Totus Tuus - Togni (performance run through only - the piece is learned)

Nunc Dimittis - Part (the notes are learned.  However I want to "practice" balancing the chord functions in the divisi sections - m. 43-105; shape the opening up to m. 39; and see if we can be a little more consistent in that exquisite SA blend at the end.

Rosa Mystica - Balfour (the style needs a vibrato-less sound reminicent of the Middle Ages, even in the forte sections. Be certain of the rhythm - the combinations of the quarter/eighth note are always changing in the individual parts. I would like this to be as close to memorized as possible as you will be recessing and singing as you go down the asile to close the first half. Let's begin next week)

Agneau de Dieu - Lang (I may not get to this as the piece is nearly complete, however there are some issues re text. Hopefully we will get a mp3 of the text up on the website. The quartet will be: Christina, Laura, Chris and Lynn)

Agnus Dei - Barber (depending on what happens on Saturday, I may spend time on this)

Stuff to remember:
Due to the AGM next Tuesday from 9-9:30 pm at FBC, we will begin the rehearsal at 6:45pm. Please arrive on time. (Tristan - please limit the warm up to 5 minutes)

SNSC rehearsal for all HCS this Saturday from 10 am-12:30 pm  at Bethany United.  

Finally, no excuses but apologies for not doing my best work the last two rehearsals. I think it has to do with my health. My concentration, energy level and hearning have all been affected as up to last night, I was sleeping for a maximum of 4 hours. Re the hearning, my left ear has been buzzing in the forte sections - much like a speaker with a tear in it, or an ear full of water after a shower. It comes and goes but is improving. I had a minor set back all day yesterday with a nasty stomach flu, but am feeling much better now. For those of you who are struggling with this cold/flu you have my sympathies and thank you for contributing what you can.

Easter is over! Spring is here! On to a better week! See you Saturday.

Thursday Thoughts

Thanks for a good rehearsal on Tuesday.  We are still working out the listening issues at First Baptist and I will continue to experiment with seating arrangements until we can finalize an arrangement whereby you are comfortable and can hear the other sections in the choir.

For those who missed rehearsal take note that the choir has finished learning a number of pieces on the program, so make sure you are up to speed by next Tuesday. 

Next Tuesday the rep list will be as follows:

i thank You God - Whitacre (performance ready - basses/baritones, this needs a little more work - baritones your part is integral in the 4 part men's texture and it begins with really secure pitches. Begin at m. 8)

Kyrie -  Palestrina (learn the final Kyrie - remember it is in 2; I will rehearse from the Christe on)

Then Shall I Leap Into Love - Enman (we have finished learning this and we'll stitch it together)

Nunc Dimittis - Part (the only part left to teach is m. 1-40 so I'll begin there, also review m. 107-end)

Agneau de Dieu - Lang (mark in your scores where it goes from 2 to 3 as this is not clearly already marked in the score. don't underestimate this relatively easy piece - the changes in tempi - both marked and inferred, dynamics and integration with the quartet need careful attention in order to get it off the page.

Rosa Mystica - Balfour (work on dynamics, perform through)

Totus Tuus - Togni (Tristan will perform through)

Agnus Dei - Barber (I need to work this so please know the score, Note the following divisi changes: P. 8 m. 2 - S2 the phrase and sing top part of the alto stave until P. 9 m. 2 where you join the top stave singing your regular S2 part.  Tutti Camerata altos sing up to P. 8, m. 2 beat 2, then tacit until m. 3,  beat 3 where you sing the A2 line until P. 9 m2. 2 where you sing the unision alto line. Please S2s and Altos mark your scores accordingly. )

Please note the following announcements:

- watch your email for an announcement from Marsha Curry re a special AGM on Tuesday, May 3 from 9-9:30 pm. Rehearsal on Tuesday May 3 begins at 6:45pm.

- final auditions for solos next Tuesday or at a time you have confirmed with me.

- SNSC rehearsals: I would like you to come on Saturdays April 30 and May 21. The understanding was that HCS would attend at least 3 SNSC rehearsals to prepare for the second half of the concert. Some of you have not attended any.  As I mentioned on Tuesday, do not arrive at the rehearsal the Saturday before the concert (May 21) and sight read your way through this rep.

Finally, thank you all for some really lovely moments last Tuesday.  Women, the blend of both sopranos and altos in the Palestrina and the duet in the Part was gorgeous. The sound in the mixed formation of the Palestrina was also exciting - this is what I'm trying to achieve. I also want to welcome new S2, Claire Legere,  and hope you feel welcome in this wonderful collection of musicians.   For those of you who don't know Claire, she is also on the Camerata board, is an artistic partner with Xara and is finishing her Masters thesis (UBC) here in NS.

Have a wonderful Easter holiday with your family and friends.  Stay healthy!

Thursday Thoughts

Good rehearsal on Tuesday everyone.  a lot of music coming off the page and we achieved much in getting specific parts of each piece learned.  Continuing on for next week:

Christe (from Missa Papae Marcelli) - Palestrina (men - make sure you check notes)
i thank you god - Whitacre  (finish)
Thank Shall I Leap Into Love - Enman (finish)
Nunc Dimittis - Part (p. 7 m. 107 - end)
Rosa Mystica - Balfour (review last week's work)
Totus Tuus - Togni (finish)
Agneau De Dieu - Lang  (w quartet - Christina, Lisa, Chris B., Lynn)
Lay A Garland - Pearsall (review - those who have not sung this piece, please learn)

There have been people who have asked re solo auditions and I want to get these parts confirmed. In addition to the solos for the Part, Agneau de Dieu, & Whitacre, I need a solo for the Agnus Dei of Barber and the Gloria (Missa Brevis) of Raminsh.

If you don't let me know you are interested, I will ask whose voice I think will work for the particular solo. Please contact me with pieces you are prepared to sing. I want especially to nail down the Part and Whitacre solos soon to integrate them into the rehearsal prep.  As well, there may be others who are interested in the solo quartet for Agneau de Dieu.  Again, let me know.

Thanks again for great work on Tuesday.  See you next week.

Thursday Thoughts

Hello all,

Well Tuesday night night was a typical rehearsal in a new venue with new rep and changing personnel!  Apologies for those who were kept waiting outside the church at 6:30 pm. Things are now sorted out and the doors will be open by 6:30 pm.  First Baptist will take some time getting used to as a rehearsal venue but so did the MCPA. In the long run, First Baptist will offer us more in allowing us to rehearse in the same venue where we will ultimately perform. As well, please remember to welcome to Lisa Jarvis to the Alto 1 section and take time to introduce yourselves.

I spoke about learning philisophies on Tuesday night and how this impacts solo performers vs ensemble performers (think of professional orchestras or choirs)  As solo performers, vocal and instrumental, we prepare for performances in different ways. Some are last minute preparers and can be successful.  Some need more time for the process to evolve. Even though you may be confident in your own ability to ultimately arrive at the concert with everything at concert standard, this does not work for ensembles where everyone ultimately needs to trust each other.  The only way music making begins in ensembles, is for everyone to arrive with the score so throughly learned that the group can immediately delve into the subtle nuance of the scores. I thank all of you who already subscribe to this practice. If you have not, by changing your individual learning process there will be more exciting music making moments along the way and greater confidence in performances.  I truly believe that will make the biggest difference right now in the progress of Camerata.

For those who missed Tuesday night, we broke the back of the notes of the following pieces:

i thank you God - Whitacre
Nunc Dimittis - Part
Agneau de Dieu - Lang
Then Shall I Leap Into Love  - Enman
Lay A Garland - Pearsall

For next week, please add to the above list, the Totus Tuus (Togni) and Rosa Mystica (Balfour).

Solos are needed for the following pieces: 

i thank You God - Whitacre (soprano)
Nunc Dimittis - Part (soprano)
Gloria - (Missa Brevis w SNSC) - Raminsh (soprano)
Agnus Dei - Barber (soprano)
Agneau de Dieu - Lang (solo SATB quartet)

I will audition for all solos and would encourage you to look at the above list and let me know asap if you are interested. Sopranos, it looks as if you are going to be the stars and I'd like to give as many people who are interested the opportunity to sing a solo. So sing them through and see which one best suits your voice as they require quite different singing styles - some are accompanied by the choir, some stand alone, some need a specific vocal colour and so on. I'd like to complete the process in the next couple of weeks so take a look at these pieces and see if you feel a particular connection to a certain piece.

RE the SNSC Saturday rehearsals: members of Camerata are required to be at 3 of the 6 rehearsals to prepare the second part of the program with SNSC.  Last Saturday (April 2) was the first. If you missed last Saturday please make up the rehearsal. The other mandatory rehearsal is Saturday May 21- the Saturday before concert week. As I am giving everyone Easter Saturday off, I cannot afford another rehearsal off even though it is the Saturday of Victoria Day weekend. After that,  find another rehearsal when you can come and work this rep with the rest of the singers. If you are available additional weeks, I'd love to have you in the rehearsal.

The blog calendar has been updated. Please check it for rehearsals off, concert times, etc.

That about covers it all. Thanks to you all for your continued high standards of choral excellence and again, congratulations on our last concert together.

Thursday Thoughts

First of all, my sincerest congratulations for two great concerts this past weekend. There were many musical moments, which thrilled our listeners not to mention ourselves throughout the two concerts. As you have no doubt read, the review was very complimentary. You can read about it here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1235639.html.  You are all good enough musicians to realize that by now, you take a review with a grain of salt - the truth lies somewhere in the middle. However it is thrilling to realize that in print, our work is being validated in spades. Again, ccongratulations to you all!

So on to the next project - Musica Mystica will include our guests,  the SNS Chorus. The chorus will be a little smaller than some concerts in the past and we will have about 60 singers total on stage for the second half. The repertore is influenced by composers who have captured the essence of texts of mystic writers and music which had embodies the same. Musica Mystica will sound sensational in St Patrick's!

Please hear this: the number of rehearsals HCS has for their rep alone is 8 Tuesdays including concert week - that is if you don't miss any Tuesdays. I am expecting that every single one of you prepare your rehearsal assignments each week and come with the scores learned. If this doesn't happen we will not get this program learned and I, for one, don't want to be reading our next review. In addition to our rep, there are also the pieces with SNSC - not difficult but have to be learned. We will begin the SNSC rep with both choirs together and I will decide how many of these Saturday rehearsals we need with both choirs to make sure everything is coming together.

We begin this Saturday at Bethany from 10 am -12:30 pm on the SNSC repertoire. I will try to get through everything so you will have phrasings, articulations, dynamics, etc in your scores. You have the SNSC scores in the envelopes of music I gave you last Friday night.

Beginning next Tuesday, April 5 we begin an exciting partnership with First Baptist Church, Halifax whereby we will begin to rehearse Tuesday nights at First Baptist Church, Oxford St., Halifax (opposite Sheriff Hall). Next season, we will sing all of our concerts at First Baptist and finally, it will be wonderful to rehearse in the venue where we will sing our concerts. This partnership has fabulous possibilities and I am excited to be able to make music in this beautiful space. Please allow yourself enough time to get to the new venue, find a parking place (on Oxford St. opposite the church) and get your scores in order. The main church doors will be open at 6:30 pm on Tuesday nights.

Next Tuesday please prepare the following:

Agneau de Dieu - Lang
i thank you God....- Whitacre
Nunc Dimittis - Part
Then Shall I Leap Into Love - Enman
Rosa Mystica - Balfour

Please use the following reference recordings to help in your prep work:
Camerata rep:

Agneau de Dieu – Lang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8BZ_YwppXY  (musica intima)

i thank You God – Whitacre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u94zGAy0YMM (Polyphony)

Nunc dimittis – Part   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5NO07gmQWo

Lay A Garland – Pearsall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U9Ap2A_2BY&feature=fvwrel

SNSC rep:

Kyrie – Palestrina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcrgNtyX0U (Tallis Scholars)

Agnus Dei – Barber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbCskHojyM (New College Oxford – excerpt))

Agnus Dei (from the Gospel Mass) – Robert Ray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMDxSyp2lfM&feature=related

Dona Nobis Pacem (fr the Mass in b minor) – J. S. Bach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkvZAVO1nPY (John Nelson)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrHhYSGzd4  (Robert Shaw)

Good luck everyone, as this will be a fast ride until the concert.  However I am supremely confident that we have the ability to learn this rep in the next 8 weeks.

See you Saturday!

Thursday Thoughts but on Wednesday!

I has a little time today so I thought I'd get these thoughts to you a little earlier in the week when everything was fresh in my head. 

Great work folks - you are making some really wonderful music. Most of the program is in order and really flying now.  You have taken this music so far and most of it is glorious. What has to happen between now and next week (trans: concert week!) is fairly simple: get out of the scores and watch more. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, most things which went wrong last night can be attributed to your not watching: things like not beginning together, tempi slowing down, singing rhythmically together, dynamics, etc.  Please take individual responsibility to know all the scores better - not just the pieces you have grown to love. Dynamics need to be part of your overall understanding of the piece. Some of you still are looking down for the first 4 measures of the piece. We all need to connect all of the time. With musicians of this level, it is not an unreasonable request and this is where the improvements need to be made for next week.

Next week we're at St. Patrick's. Geoff will have the doors open at 6:30 pm and please allow time to park, etc. Dress in layers in case it is cooler in the church.  We will not use risers for Tuesday night (to see if it will work ok) as you will be in a single line.  I want the downbeat to be at 7pm sharp and I will allow 3 full hours for the rehearsal. Friday night will be a 2.5 hour call, but I want to allow the extra time on Tuesday to play with the acoustics.  So next Tuesday will be from 7-10 pm. (I would go earlier but some find it difficult to get here at 6:30 pm.) and the dress on Friday will be from 7-9:30 pm.

We will run all pieces next Tuesday so prepare accordingly.

There will be rehearsal on Tuesday March 29 - I wish I could give you the night off but we have another concert in relatively short order - May 28.  You will receive repertoire for the next concert then.  Please do not take scores from the SNSC box at the MCPA as I will have the librarian put your SNSC scores in with the Camerata rep you will receive on March 29.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes in making this concert happen. Thanks as well to Sheena and Joe last night for terrific solos.

Please continue to talk up this concert, email your friends, your fellow church choir singers, colleagues at work, etc. Invite people to come personally. Our success will be word of mouth and you are our best advertising.  You might be surprised at who would like to hear this repertoire.

Have a great weekend. See you next Tuesday at St. Patrick's.

Thursday Thoughts

This is going to be brief, as I have way too many irons in the fire today to be even somewhat creative! Some good work on Tuesday so please keep your individual standards up there. There still needs to be significant work done on a number of pieces, specifically the Raminsh Slavic Folksongs.  As well please take careful note of the rep list for Tuesday as I will bring back some pieces which have not been rehearsed for a while, and if you fall into the trap of "oh, I know that" I will waste time I don't have on Tuesday reviewing and reminding.

For Tuesday:

Ave Verum - Raminsh
     Women be able to sing the opening 13 bars with shape and feeling -      listening to the other parts as much as your own.  This has been problematic as some of you are still unsure how to shape the long notes.  Know your functions in the chord and tune  accordingly.

O Crux - Nysted (performing run through)

Great Wide World - Raminsh (Some sopranos had trouble with these pieces again on Tuesday so please spend extra time going over your parts. PLEASE check the tempi especially of the last piece: if you don't have a metronome, use 120 = a quarter note as a guide.  that's close enough for Tuesday.

O Sacrum Convivium - Miskinis (performing run through)

Northern Lights - Gjeilo (performing run through)

Totus Tuus - Gorecki (performing run through)

Psalm of Invocation - Rautavaara (review)

Please everyone, let's get most of this program performance ready before concert week. Here's wishing you all speedy recoveries and/or continued good health.

Have a good weekend.