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.

Thursday Thoughts

Thank you for a great rehearsal on Thursday. It was a lot of fun!

Next week I will be at Podium but Christina will review the scores with you in preparation for the fundraiser coming up in two weeks.  She will also rewiew portions of the Celtic Mass - take a look at the Second Reading and the Kyrie before coming on Tuesday.

Please remember the Xara concert on Friday nightat the Maratime Museum. The Xara folks have been working really hard on thie project 

I leave you with a wonderful Ted Talks video I recently watched. Michael Tilson Thomas, the celebrated conductor and educator talks about the wonder of music as it evolved through history. Well worth listening especially for the last 6 minutes.

 http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_tilson_thomas_music_and_emotion_through_time.html

Have a great week.

Thursday Thoughts (just a little earlier!)

I wanted to thank you all again for such great work on the Faure Requiem concert. But more importantly thank you for your commitment to Camerata - for all the rehearsals and balancing your time with your work, family and friends. It has been such a busy season and I know you must be getting weary!

I have carefully gone through the blog calendar and made sure all the details are correct - especially rehearsal dates, times and venues. I have done that as of this morning and have found a couple of venues which needed to be corrected. So the blog calendar is correct. In the meantime I have outlined the schedules for both Celtic Mass and the Fundraiser below in a list form:

Celtic Mass Rehearsals: 
Saturday, April 2: 10 am -12:30 pm  (Bethany)
Tuesday, May 1: 7-9:30 pm (Bethany - note venue change)
Saturday, May 5: 10 am -12:30 pm (Bethany)
Tuesday, May 29: 7-9:30 pm (Bethany)
Saturday, June 2: 10 am -12:30 pm (FBC - note venue change)
Tuesday, June 5: 7-9:30 pm (FBC - note venue change)

Fundraiser Rehearsals:
Tuesdays, April 24, May 8, 15, 22 (all at FBC)

Please note that next Tuesday, May 1, we will meet with the selected SNSC singers at Bethany to rehearse the Celtic Mass. We have a great start on the fundraiser rep last night and I want to leave it with you to work on your own for two weeks before looking at it again.

The other thing to note is that it is my intention to take the final 30 minutes of each Tuesday Celtic Mass rehearsal, and work the fundraiser rep so bring all your scores.  Next Tuesday, May 1 we will spend 30 minutes on the Liebeslieder, so for those who struggled last night, please do some work on the score.

Finally to reiterate our chat together last night, Camerata really needs your help to sell out this fundraiser. I am committing to sell tables and I would ask that each of you take this challenge on. this will be a fabulous party complete with champagne, great food, fabulous desserts, wonderful silent auction items not to mention your great singing and the piano stylings of our own Cynthia Davies. Let's contact choir alumnae,  friends, family, our concert patrons...anyone we can think of, and make this a fabulous party. What a way to celebrate our 25th birthday!

See you all next Tuesday at Bethany.

Thursday Thoughts

We are coming down to the wire for this concert. I am pleased at the way we were able to fit things together in the Monteverdi. That was a big improvement. I know we are coming into March break and there will be an absence or three. My concern is that if you miss for any reason, there will be changes given to the choir of which you will not be aware (eg in the Monteverdi bass line this week). Remember it needs to be your responsibility to note the changes from the Blog  (I will post them) and prepare accordingly for the rehearsal.

For this Tuesday
Chichester  Psalms - Mvt I & II - run through. Especially review Mvt. 1
Blazhen muzh (Rachmaninoff) - get used to longer, more sustained phrases. Feel the quarter note. Consonants in text need improvement.
Taaveti Laul (Kreek) - run through w Tristan. Review text w recording and have a real feel for it. 
Laudate Pueri (Monteverdi) - mark in your score  how we changes many phrase endings. Note basses: everyone sings B1 part in solo sections.
Exultate Deo (King) - good sectional work. Please review (men: especially 7/8 section!) - complete run through on Tuesday. 
Second- storey Sun - (Enns) complete run through
Sicut cervus (Palestrina) - complete run through from memory

Please remember to put up your concert posters and let's get active on FB and Twitter and promote this concert.. Have a great weekend!