Notes from January 15

It is so good to be back dissecting this repertoire - exploring the various harmonic twists and turns of new music. I remember back in the old days it was rare to find a living composer on the program. Now it is rare to find music of a composer who is not living, and if you want, who you can contact with questions and comments about their work. What a connection to the music - a conduit from the composer straight to the audience. What a responsibility we have as performers!

As I mentioned in the very first rehearsal and again last Tuesday, with this music, you as individuals have a greater responsibility to have a more comprehensive knowledge of the score. With upwards of sixteen vocal parts in some of these scores,  and at times one to a part, you are going to have to really be aware of your function in the chords. When one sections sings a C major chord against a g minor chord (Whitacre m. 25) the inner voices really have to be able to dissect their chord functions and sing with a dynamic sensitive to the over balance of  the entire texture. I know this is old news to most of you but it needs repeating. Please make this your priority this week and have prepared:  

i thank you God - Whitacre
The Spheres - Gjeilo
The In-Between - Allan (basses please know your "beat box" sections!)
The Canticle of the Sun - Oswin
Voices of Earth - Sirett (new this week)
Across the Fields - Barnum
Sure On This Shining Night - Lauridsen

Have a great weekend and see you all  Tuesday. Stay healthy!

Fabulous Fridays!

Thanks for a really great start to the season. It was fun reading through this program and in the process we made some music along the way! Now it is time to get into the scores. I again want to welcome Sarah Slemko and Kallie White.  It is great to have you both singing with Camerata and I hope you both feel welcome and musically invigorated.

I have included some recording links for your listening pleasure. Please prepare the following pieces for next Tuesday's rehearsal:

i thank You God - Whitacre
Earth Teach Me - Lang (remember to let me know if you are interested in auditioning for the solos)
The Spheres - Gjeilo  - http://youtu.be/WbMH9cNZ9uQ
The In-Between - Allan  (there are some corrections in the score I will give you on Tuesday)
Across The Fields - Barnum - http://www.waltonmusic.com/Sound14/AcrossTheFields/
Ice (women) - Sled - http://larrynickel.com/CypressAudio/Ice.html
The Canticle of the Sun - Oswin
Sure on the Shining Night - Lauridsen - two recordings for you to compare

http://youtu.be/JWTVoAgO0j
http://youtu.be/qdRmclDpL2Q (not great quality but please listen to this)

I am so happy to be working with you again after the break. This program is very exciting to me and I hope it will be for you as well. Have a great weekend and see you on Tuesday.

Hi everyone,

Just a few thoughts for the weekend as we prepare for another week together.  The repertoire is well underway for the concert on December 9th. Some thoughts as you prepare for Thursday:

- practice speaking the French in Noel Canadien.  Get the "sound" of the rhythm of the language in your ears.  Pay close attention to Cable's dynamics and know where they are going before you arrive there.  This piece needs to be completely learned on Tuesday as we only have two more rehearsals together before concert week.

-I will email you a really good recording of First Snow.  Please listen to it for the shape of the piece.

- sopranos please know descant for "Once In Royal David's City with the corrections I emailed you earlier in the week.

Everyone please be aware of the short time frame until the concert and take personal responsibility to have everything learned this week.

Have a great weekend.

Good morning

I think I might have to change the title of the Blog from Thursday Thoughts to Friday's Fictional Fantasies but that might garner a whole different set of subscribers!  It might be wiser to try to fit this in on Thursday!

Good rehearsal on Tuesday. I think the effort put in on the nuts and bolts of vocal technique paid off. The rep is learned and I want to run all the pieces for the concert next Tuesday.

As well, I would like you to be prepared to work on Howard Cable's Noel Canadien on Tuesday. This is a 12 minute work made up of French Canadian carols for choir and brass quintet. We will spend time on it on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Bo Holten's "First Snow."

Thank you again for your hard work. I hope the people who were ill Tuesday are feeling better and back on your feet. We missed you!

So to send you on your way to a great weekend, here is a little something completely different (as Monty would say!). Give a listen to these street musicians:

http://www.wimp.com/thatvoice/

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Thoughts but on Friday!

Good rehearsal on Tuesday.

The next time we are all together (to rehearse both the November 11 and December 9th repertoire) will be on Tuesday, October 9th at First Baptist.   With the exception of the Howard Cable piece, you have received most of the December 9th concert rep last Tuesday. Please give special attention to the Bo Holten "First Snow" before our next rehearsal as it is challenging, especially for the women. As I mentioned in rehearsal, we will use three women per part.

For October 9th:

Kyrie - Nickel (complete)
Dvadtsat Vosyem Shtikivikh - Nickel (complete)
In Paradisum - Allan (needs work:  I want to finish the piece, please prepare accordingly)
Tonight Eternity Alone - Clausen (complete)

First Snow - Holten - (please prepare and women, practice singing your parts in rhythm)
Rosa Mystica - Balfour
Noel Canadien - Cable (I will have scores for you)

I will see most of you on for the upcoming Creation rehearsals and performances.

Take care and happy weekend!

Thursday Thoughts

Thank you for a great evening last night. It was so good to hear the sections in the choir coming together - especially with so many new folks in the line up. I hope the new singers feel welcome. In the introductions last night you didn't get the opportunity to welcome back baritone Michael Hodgett. Mike sang with us for a while in the past but his work commitments took him out of the country a lot. Now that this has changed, he is able to sing with us again so we also welcome him back to HCS.

The rep for November 11th is pretty straight forward and not too difficult. I'd like to get most of everything under our collective belts by the end of next Tuesday so I can begin adding in pieces from "A Child's Christmas in Wales."  We will be rehearsing the rep for two concerts simultaneously, and I will alert you which rehearsals that will happen. Right now I want to get the rep from November 11th learned as quickly as possible so please prepare accordingly for next week.

If you would like to listen to a Russian speaking the text of Twenty-Eight Bayonets or listen to a good recording of the piece, click here: http://larrynickel.com/CanuckComposer/Requiem.html

It was also good for me to be able to share with you some of my hopes and dreams for the future. I hope this was also exciting for you too. Organization-wise, the calendar here on the Blog has been updated and all rehearsal info up to Christmas is included.

Thanks again for a great night and see you next Tuesday.

Last rehearsal of the season!

Thank you everyone for a great rehearsal last night and a good, healthy meeting/discussion afterwards. I was glad to have this time with you to just chat - it doesn't happen often.  Our future, the next couple of seasons and Camerata life in general were some of the topics we touched on and I appreciated your comments and will try to help solve scheduling problems for 2012. 

But for now we  have one more concert to sing - at St. John's Anglican 4pm this Sunday in Lunenburg.  The call for the choir is 2:45 pm and we will wear standard concert dress. If you like, bring a change of clothes for the BBQ at Barbara Butler's after the concert.

The church's address is: 58 Townsend St. , Lunenburg and directions to the church can be found by clicking on the link below. Please allow yourselves pleanty of time as I need you there, ready to sing by 2:45pm.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Bayers+Road,+Halifax,+NS&daddr=St.+John%27s+Anglican+Church,+Townsend+Street,+Lunenburg,+NS&hl=en&ll=44.544484,-64.020081&spn=0.482521,1.352692&sll=44.544484,-64.021454&sspn=0.482521,1.352692&geocode=FfVWqQIdOz01_Cm5ciLWoSFaSzGhZI3DraYKVg%3BFbEnpQIdRa8q_CFcdPxzQZ9HQw&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

I also have updated the Camerata Calendar for the 2012 season. As far as I know, all rehearsals and concerts are now up on the calendar, and if you have questions or if there looks like there is an error, please bring it to my attention. Please organize your personal calendars now - I have given you the calendar this early so that there are no surprises for next season.

Thank you again for a great year.  As I said last night,  my passion is making choral music at the highest possible level and I am lucky to have such an instrument to do that each week.

See you in Lunenburg.