Practice

Only one full rehearsal to go. If there's anything with which you feel insecure, now is the time to go over it and make it secure.

• Ian felt that today went well but what could be a stunning concert is currently rather nondescript so quite a bit of tightening up needed.

• It would be good next week to hear mostly "we've cracked it" comments from Ian rather than "it's getting there."

• Ian singled out the two weakest pieces for an extra look this week:

  • From Carols for Choirs - As Dew In Aprille

  • Bells Of Christmas Medley especially the links between the tunes.

Carols

• Use the Green book if you have one, especially if you're planning to sing the descants. If you don't have a green book, the carols are all in the red book but some of the alto parts are not the same in the two books. Ian will scan the relevant ones for people to print.

• Please do not sing the descants unless you are sure that you can reach the high notes. All of them go up to top G and some up to top A. If you can't get up there, sing the tune.

Two memory pieces

• Noel, Noel - watch Ian as he could ask any of the three groups to start the round. He won't warn us on concert day so you need to be ready.

• Ring The Bells 

  • We're still a bit dependent on the copies so practice the bits where you come unstuck.

  • Ring is always 'rrrring'. Don't let the rolled rs fizzle out half way through.

  • If a note has a little arrow head above it (>), emphasise the word.

  • Bar 12 ends on a G but the same pattern in bar 13 ends in an E flat. Make sure you differentiate them.

  • In bar 16 the rhythm is 'ri-i-ing the bells'.

• Winter's Tale

  • The doo doos at the beginning and end should sound like a snare drum. Instead of Doo, change the 'd' to a soft 't' so it's more like 'too too'.

  • Altos - on the first page, shorten the dotted minims so there's a short gap between the dotted minims and the following quaver to emphasise the rhythm.

  • Mark tramlines  // after the dotted minims to remind yourself.

  • Altos and seconds both sing the tune from bar 12 to bar 18.

  • Please sing in sentences, not short phrases. e.g. 'and why would the world take notice of one more love that's failed.' Not 'and why would the world take notice (breath) of one more love that's failed.' It may help to draw a straight line between the two syllables where you might be tempted to take a breath. Go through and mark the other places in the piece where there are similar patterns.

  • Bar 39 is marked dim. (diminuendo) so drop the volume right down and mark in the changes of dynamic as it increases up to the f at bar 69 then in bar 77, start to decrescendo until the end.

  • This piece needs to be shaped by using the relevant dynamics or it can get very bland.

  • Don't slow down at the end but watch Ian in case he decides to do a little rit. (ritardando) at some point.

• Stable Carol

  • Words Words Words!! If the audience can't hear the words, they won't know what we're singing about and they'll wonder if the stress of getting the programme ready has made us finally lose it .

  • When we start pecking, cooing and squeaking the altos especially must be very clear because they introduce each new animal (although I do worry about the moth who dances near the candle's warm fire. Not a good place to be if you're a moth. This one obviously didn't listen to it's mum. 😟)

  • 1st sops - when you're flittering and fluttering, you need to sing quietly but you also need to sound confident.

  • 2nd sops - If you can do a slight trill (crrrro-oo) it would sound good.

  • 2nd sops - there's a tricky turn at the bottom of page 9. I'm sure you know the peck, peck croo-oo , squeak squeak sequence by now so turn at bar 67. 

  • The first note over the page is on the lower notes of the top stave and is the same as the first note of Crrr-ooo - both top E.

  • Then at bar 171 sing  'Swooping , swooping, tra- la-la crrrroo', jumping down to the lower stave for the 'croo'. What a good job we're such a versatile lot in the 2nds.🤣

  • If you're a bell on page 11 and 12, emphasise the 'doNNNNg' rather than the 'DOng'.

• The Bells At Christmas Medley

  • The same 'diNNNg' principle applies here as in the Stable Carol. 'Bum' sounds more like 'Boom'.

  • Circle the dynamics as written, otherwise it's just a repetition of the same phrase over and over. It needs shape, so dynamics are critical.

  • 2nds  - at bar 33 seconds sing the lower line but at bar 49, you can choose to go to the top line if you wish.

  • 2nds - Bar 88 sing lower line up to 'night' in bar 103, then jump to the top line.

  • REST at 113! Don't sing in it!!

  • Mark the rests in bar 120, 121, 124. We're all singing quite loudly by then so don't be the only one to sing out too early.

  • It would be a good idea to listen to the youtube version on the website to get those rests glued in.

Ceremony of Carols.

What do you think is going on with the little angels on the front cover? 

The one in red has turned his back on the yellow one and has even turned the book round so little yellow can't see the music. No wonder he's throwing his hands up in despair.

And the brown one seems to be praying that the other two aren't going to start a massive argument and spoil the carol singing.🥴🥴

• Wolcum Yol

  • 'Candelmesse, bliss and lesse' are hissy traps. Be very precise about where you stop the 'ss'. It should be at the very last moment and very quiet and short. If you're not sure, then don't sing it at all - someone else is sure to do it for you.

  • At the bottom of page 8 we are singing pppp before gradually crescendoing to the f at the bottom of page 9 and then to the ff on page 10.

  • Count the last stave - one two, one two, one two, one two three, 'wol cum'. - all equal beats.

Then there is no pause into ... 

• There Is No Rose 

  • This leads immediately on from the last piece but the whole character changes into quiet and smooth.

  • You really need to be confident with the words on page 16 so that you can give one eye to Ian as he conducts us through what looks as if it's quite simple but is actually quite tricky in terms of rhythm.

  • Have you paper clipped pages 17 to 22 together to give you an easy page turn? If not, stop everything and go to find a paperclip right now otherwise you'll get to the concert and be scrabbling around trying to turn loose pages to find the next piece.

  • Ian felt that this was quite weak and we weren't really very slick with the awkward entries. They come in very quickly and it's easy to get left behind!! This is one where we need to put in some solid practice this week. 

Then it's attacca straight into ...

• This Little Babe 

  • It's loud and comes up very fast so be ready.

  • Remember to imagine that the last note is on an upward trajectory so that the pitch remains stable.

• In all pieces, remember clarity of words by spitting them out in the very fast passages and always follow the dynamic markings - unless Ian's changed them, they're instructions not decide-for-yourselves.

Have a lovely week of practising and see you next week at the usual time, all bright eyed and bushy tailed

Ann

I thought we were sounding pretty good today - some tweaking needed but we really seemed to be moving forward on the Ceremony of Carols.

• We began with Ring out the Bells

  • Please learn this from memory.

  • Take note of the accents (>) above the words and make sure you sing them out.

  • Rrrring out the bells. The rolled rrrrrrs sound really good at the beginning but tend to disappear further into the piece. Keep them going.

  • Pronounce 'out' like a posh person from Pangbourne -  'Ahoot' not 'owt'.

  • Watch the rhythm in bar 16  '-  ri - i - ing'.

Ceremony of Carols

NB. Please put a paper clip to separate the pages from 17 to 22 so that you can turn immediately from There Is No Rose to As Dew In Aprille.

• Wolcum Yol

  • The most important words at the beginning are the 'Wolcums'.They are all marked with tenuto marks so need to be emphasised.

  • Where there is just a dotted minim in a bar (e.g.bars 10, 16, 31, 62, 69) they last for just one beat so are very short. They're the same length as the 'cum' in 'wol-cum' so don't let them dribble into the rest of the bar.

  • The dynamic in bar 38 is pp but by bar 56 we need to be down to pppp. This is too quiet to sing so we need to make the preceding pps a bit louder so that we can work our way down to something that can be heard at pppp.

  • Don't forget that the penultimate bar has three beats.

• There Is No Rose

  • This is a huge contrast after the ff on the final stave of Wolcum. Go immediately down to pp and keep it very smooth.

  • I realised today that I don't actually know the meaning of some of the words so: 'Resmiranda' means 'marvellous things'; 'Pares Forma' means 'of equal form'; 'Gaudeamus' means 'Let us rejoice'; 'Transeamus' means 'we travel on'.

  • Now jump to page 23 (have you clipped the pages from 17 to 22 together?) 😂

• As Dew In Aprille

  • The music goes straight on from 'There Is No Rose' so get the page over quickly. 

  • We go from very quiet and slow to loud and fast. 

  • Again there is a huge contrast in the dynamics from f to pppp. Make the p slightly louder so that we have room to decrease the dynamic to something still audible by the time we get to pppp.

  • Pronounce 'moder' as 'mother'.

  • Make a big crescendo in the last bar, leading into  ...

• This Little Babe

  • This is loud and very fast. 

  • Use the tenuto (lean on the note) and little arrows (> = accent the note)

  • The words need to be as clear as possible so you need to be very au fait wIth them.

  • con slancio = with enthusiasm

  • Last 4 bars - imagine the note is on an upward incline - this keeps the pitch steady.

• Two more full rehearsals. Ian wants to keep the improvements we've made to the pieces we did today so keep looking at them but next week, he also wants to look at the other pieces that we didn't cover today.

• Don't forget that next week we will be starting earlier than usual at 1.00. Could chamber group be there ready to sing at 12.45.

Happy practising

See you next Wednesday.

Ann

• We began with Noel Noel

  • It sounded very good but we have a tendency to look as if we're reading from an autocue. Please sing out and engage the audience more.

• Ring the Bells

  • Could we roll the 'r' at the beginning of 'ring' whenever it appears. 

  • In bar 5, remember to leave the semi-quaver rest before 'ring the bells'.

  • In bar 9, 'joy' should be pronounced 'choy'  as 'joy' isn't clear enough to be heard by the audience.

  • 'Joy' is also only 2 beats. Please don't let it dribble over into the next bar.

  • In bar 19 some of the seconds may go to the alto line, but all return to the soprano line at the end of bar 23.

  • Seconds don't sing in bar 26. Start to sing on the middle line in bar 27.

  • Emphasize the notes with the little arrows (>) above as in bar 6, 8, 22, 31 & 34.

  • IAN WOULD LIKE THIS TO BE SUNG FROM MEMORY, PLEASE.

• Bells of Christmas Medley

  • When singing 'ding', put the emphasis on the 'ng' rather than the 'di' to sound more like a bell.

  • 1st sops sing the top part.

  • Seconds join the altos bar 7 but jump to top line at bar 11 . Stay on the top line and sing the lower notes when they occur. 

  • Seconds and altos sing in bar 33 and stay with the altos until the end of 'Ding Dong Merrily', although Ian probably won't notice if some of the seconds sing the top line from 49! I'm sure he'll put us right next week if he feels strongly 😂😂

  • Seconds sing with altos at bar 88 but jump to top line at bar 103.

  • Don't forget the bar rest at 113.

  • From bar 120 draw a circle round the rests on the second halves of the bars to remind you and again in bar 124.

• The Linden Tree

  • The first verse will be sung by all sopranos without harmony. 

  • The second verse will be sung in harmony with all the choir.

  • Verse 3 will be sung by the Chamber Choir only, with Hazel doing the solo. 

  • The 4th verse will not be sung (and frankly, the angel Gabriel doesn't come out of that verse smelling of roses. Talk about love 'em and leave 'em🥴).

  • Verse 5 will be the full choir.

• Stable Carol

  • This went well.

  • In bar 219 (three from the end) please change the minims to crotchets so we have a rest in which to take a breath and give the final three bars some welly.

• A Winter's Tale 

  • This was good.

• Wolcum Yol

  • Watch the  dynamics! If you do what it says on the music, you won't go far wrong!!!

  • Think of it as having one beat in a bar.

  • Mark in the extra beat in the penultimate bar so it doesn't take you by surprise.

  • Ian thought our effort today was encouraging.😄

• There Is No Rose

  • Make sure it's 'there is' not 'theris'.

  • This starts pp so it's a huge contrast to the end of 'Wolcum'. Be ready.

  • Try to use one breath up to 'Jesu'. If you can't, take a sneaky breath.

  • 'Jesu' is pronounced 'Jeesu'.

  • We need to watch Ian for the 'Alleluias' in bars 7 and 8. 

  • Turn after 'Jesu' so you're ready for the next page.

  • In bar 27, add a tick to remind you to breathe. The next few bars are f and we shouldn't breathe again until 'de-o'.

  • No glissandos down please. We are not Harry Belafonte sound-a-likes 😂

  • In bar 37, 'werdly' translates as 'worldly'.

  • Learn the final 'Trenseamuses' from memory so that we can watch Ian.

  • Pronounce the 'mus' as 'moos'.

• As Dew In April

  • This is faster than you think

  • Do a big crescendo on the final bar and be ready for ...

• This Little Babe 

  • If you thought Dew was fast, you ain't heard nothing yet.This goes at breakneck speed but the audience would still like to hear the words.

• Ian is hoping that we won't need to do much work on the shorter pieces as he wants to focus on the Britten next week, so he's relying on us to make sure we're OK with the rest of the programme.

• We have effectively three full weeks of rehearsals left and Ian is generally pleased with the progress we've made but it still needs a bit of tweaking. So it's down to us individually to get the words sorted and the dynamics in place etc so that we can get our heads out of the music and sing to the audience.

Have a lovely week of practising. 

See you next week.

Ann

• We began with Away in a Manger

  • Ian would like us to sing this from memory.

  • Altos and seconds sing 'Ah' for the last verse.

  • Even though you think you know this really well, please could you look at the words and sing in sentences - that also means being aware of when to take an extra deep breath, e.g. 'Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay etc.'

  • In verse 3 - 'I ask thee to stay close by me for ever and love me, I pray.' If the sentence length is too much for you, plan some little top-up breaths and mark them in your part with a tick.

• Ding Dong Merrily on High

  • This is another one that Ian would like us to do from memory.

  • After verses 1 and 2,  we sing the chorus loudly the first time through and quietly the second time.

  • After the third verse, we sing the chorus quietly the first time through and loudly the second time: f/p, f/p, p/f

  • It's quite easy to lose the timing in the 'glooooooooooooooria', so Ian suggests that you try to imagine that each bar starts with 'gl'

• The Linden Tree Carol -  P186 in Carols for Choir 4 

  • All sopranos will sing the tune in the first verse with no harmony.

  • The harmony will begin in verse 2 and continue to the end.In verse, please change 'mates' to 'kin'.

  • Work on the notes and rhythms to get them right. The words will come once these are established.

  • The printer went a bit mad in his bid to save paper. The alto part in the second bar of the third system looks tricky but if you remember that the first altos sing the notes with the sticks pointing up and the second altos sing the notes with the sticks pointing down, you'll be OK.

  • This piece has no accompaniment so we need to get used to singing it without the piano (a cappella).

• Noel, Noel

  • The notes for 'Noel' are short - 'No-el, No-el', rest rest, 'Noel, Noel', rest rest, etc.

• Stable Carol

  • Just to clarify the two staves after 'N': the four bars at the bottom of page 9 - sung by the back line of the first sops plus Rachel , seconds and altos sing the 'flutters'.

  • On page 10 the back row of the 1st sopranos plus Rachel sing the top line, the rest of the first sops and second sops sing the second line and altos sing the lower line.

  • Seconds will have to leave the top stave at the 'A' in 171 to sing 'croo' and the rest of the first sops leave the top stave after the 'F' in bar 17 to squeak.

  • If unsure of any other places where you sing, please refer to last week's rehearsal notes.

  • Pronounce Bethlehem as 'Beth-lu-hem'.

  • 'Child' in bar 24 is one beat. If it's any longer it obliterates the 'croo' from the seconds.

  • In bar 162, please change 'laying' to 'lying'.

  • The first soprano squeaks don't need to be pitched although they need to be high; nor do they have to be quite in time so they sound more like lots of mice. Ian, could you confirm that as there's only one mouse in the song.

  • The clarity of words in this is critical. If the audience can't hear the words we'll sound like a lot of idiots who've just lost the plot.

  • Please practice the words until they're very secure and you can spit them out.

  • The altos are particularly important as they introduce each animal.

So WORDS, WORDS, WORDS!

• There Is No Rose - Ceremony of Carols or Page 181 in CC4

  • Watch the dynamics in this. It's quite gentle for the most part.

  • 'Jesu' is pronounced 'Jeesu'.

  • Notice the small horizontal tenuto marks above 'Al-lellu-ia' at the bottom of page 11: put a sight emphasis on them.

  • Turn early from page 13 to 14. The last bar of 13 is the same as the first bar of 14.

  • On page 16, watch Ian. There is no slowing down on the final stave apart from a pause on the last note.

  • The dynamic drops from ppp with a very sight crescendo in bar 57 to almost nothing by the end.

• As Dew In April

  • We sang through this several times and Ian decided that the whole choir would do this in the concert.

  • We also practised going straight on to This little babe, (No 6 on Ceremony of Carols).

• I've sent the programme separately. Please check that you have everything on the list. If not please Email Ian and let him know. 

• Only four more rehearsals to go, then it's dress rehearsal and concert. Agghhh. Looks like I know what I'll be doing in any spare moments this week🥴🥴🥴

Happy practising

Ann