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.