Info for Sun Sept 15

Hi everyone!

Thank you all SO much for such an excellent retreat weekend. We made tons of progress on Constellations, and had a lot of fun while doing so! :) Thank you for your positive energy, hard work, focus, and enthusiasm! We are off to a great start!!

Thank you to Erin for posting lots of detailed information about the retreat weekend. Make sure to check out her posts on the blog for homework, seating order, and other important details.

Reminder that if you missed any part of the retreat weekend, it is your responsibility to meet with someone in your section to go over all musical and blocking notes to get caught up for Sunday's rehearsal.

We wanted to let you know the By-Call Schedule for the next month. This refers to what will be happening in the first hour and fifteen minutes of each rehearsal (1:15-2:30 pm). Full company rehearsal starts at 2:30 pm sharp, so please be a few minutes early.

Sept 15

• 1:15-2:00 pm   Soprano Sectional
• 2:00-2:25 pm   Auditions: Magnificat (music solo), Andromeda + Cassiopeia (movement + speaking role solos, see details below)

Sept 22

• 1:15-2:00 pm   Alto Sectional
• 2:00-2:25 pm   Auditions: Muses (speaking roles)

Sept 29

• 1:15-2:25 pm   Text workshop - all As (S1a, S2a, A1a, A2a)

Oct 5 OR 6 (see Facebook poll, time to be confirmed based on results of poll)

• 1:15-2:25 pm OR 5:30-6:30 pm   Text workshop - all Bs (S1b, S2b, A1b, A2b)

This Sunday:

Auditions: We will be auditioning for the Magnificat solo this week. If you're interested, please have a look over the music, and listen to the recording of us performing the piece that is posted on our Facebook page. 

We will also be auditioning for the Cassiopeia and Andromeda solos this week. Both of these characters will have very little text, but each role will be very character-driven, involving movement and embodying the character. Andromeda's role will have more dynamic and vigorous movement compared to Cassiopeia's. Here are the preliminary character descriptions for the two roles (also found on your list of characters attached to the Constellations synopsis):

Cassiopeia - The vain Queen. She is beautiful, self-involved, and craves the center of attention.

Andromeda - Cassiopeia’s daughter. Kind, beautiful, with a determined spirit.

For the audition, Claire will give everyone a few basic movement and character activities and we'll do them all together so she can get a sense of who might be a good fit.

To help you prepare for rehearsal this week, here are the pieces we'll be spending some time on: I Himmelan (Swedish text and movement), Ave Maria (music and movement), Warrior (memorized), Revontulet, and Vepsian Pathways. You haven't received a score for Vepsian Pathways yet, but it is now uploaded to Soundcloud, so please listen to it and familiarize yourself with the piece. We will also take the last half hour to look at the music for the Radio Radio collaboration.

Last thing: We will also be doing the contract signing as well this Sunday, so please bring your handbooks with you to rehearsal and we'll sign them all as a group!

Thanks everyone!!! We can't wait for an awesome rehearsal on Sunday!!!

Constellations Placement & Seating Order

Please make note of when you change places (there are some people who need to switch seats when rehearsing in 3 vs 4 parts) I will update and link to this post as needed :-)

Click on each diagram to see a larger (more easily readable) version.

UPDATE : Based on comments, I updated the 4-part seating positions. Also, please take note of your ending positions for I himmelen

Notes from the Retreat Weekend

Hello lovelies! This is my first blog post as your official "Person Who Does The Things" (the name is a bit of a work in progress, as you know!)

This post contains the following information :

- Homework :-)

- Notes on the pieces as they were rehearsed. These are things that Christina said about the pieces (their place in the show, the feeling she wants from them, how to rehearse them etc.)

Memorization / Homework from Sept 8^th

• Memorize Warrior for Sept 15 – do NOT listen to the recording while working on this piece
• Ave Maria – bottom parts, find and look at your patterns so you don’t get lost.
• Listen to Revontulet (Christina will send a link to the recording on SoundCloud) – bear in mind that this is a children’s chorus, so we don’t want to mimic their tone, just their precision!
• Please let us know for sure this week if you are available for the Critical Care Pediatric Nurses’ Conference on September 24^th from 2 – 4pm in the World Trade and Convention Centre. Rep : One Voice, and Farewell to Nova Scotia.
• Listen to Christina pronouncing the Swedish in I himmelen and make notes in your scores. Come ready to sing this in Swedish next week.
• Solo audition next week for Magnificat  - learn the first page up to the word ‘Dominum' There is a recording on Facebook for reference.

If you were absent:

• Be sure to get the emphasis markings for Illumina le tenebre.
• There are some breath markings and accidental in From Ash You Rise to check. Note the meter change at the bottom of page 5.
• Meet with someone from your part to go over the movement in I himmelen

I himmelen

Special standing order for rehearsing this piece – see diagram (soon to come!)

Tutti from the beginning to measure 19, everyone in unison.

From 19-29, regular parts (all on Large Choir line)

Bottom of page 4, Small Choir splits off onto their own lines (in the small choir, Sop 2a takes the top line)

Watch the double accents (e.g. bottom of page 4)

Warrior

Mimic the feeling of the Wyrd Sisters

Sop 2 is the lead voice – warm full sound from the Sop 2s, lighter from the Sop 1s

Swing the “of” and the “hood” – e.g.measure 9 & 16 – each time that figure comes around, regardless of the word that is being sung.

Keep the energy moving through the rests

Verse 1 – quiet and withdrawn, womanhood means not being able to fight, defeated and hurt

Verse 2 – rejecting womanhood, quietly angry, heavier emphasis on the consonants

Verse 3 – sense of resolution, powerful, make a lot of the words that are different in the chorus this time around. At the end (on the repeated text) it becomes soft again, slightly retrospective

Pseudo-Yoik Lite

The melody is the pattern that occurs in the S2 & A1 parts at the start of the piece.  Whenever that pattern comes back, it takes the lead, the other parts are background.

Vowel change over long notes happens the full beat before the end of the held note.

Royals

Practice with the Lorde arrangement on the recording.

Some changes to the score (added & removed notes, some word changes) please make note of these.

Lots of attitude.

Ave Maria

Top two lines are the melody; bottom parts are rhythm and agitation.

Kallie moves to S1b (S2 as written in the score) for this piece

Revontulet

Measures 1-5 all parts should sing the same words as the Soprano line.

Measures 6-8, same words as the Sopranos. Measures 9 & 10 exactly as written.

Vem kan segla forutan vind

The tune for this song gets passed around from part to part. Make sure you know where you have melody, and where you have supporting parts.

Ice

Sop 1 A, Sop 2 A, Alto A – Sing the top three lines (Choir 1)

Sop 1 B, Sop 2 B, Alto B – Sing the bottom three lines (Choir 2)

Illumina le tenebre

Andromeda’s prayer after being chained to the rock.

This will be a regular 4-part split, with Altos all singing the bottom line at the start, and then splitting at the bottom of the second page into Alto 1 & 2.

Translation :

All-highest, glorious God cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility. Lord give me wisdom and perception so that I may do what is your will.

From Ash You Rise

Orpheus’ story of losing his love.

Be sure to lift slightly between ‘ash’ and ‘at’.

Reminders + Driving Directions for Xara Retreat!

Hi everyone! 

We're SOOOOOO excited for our retreat tomorrow!! Reminder to go over the "what to bring" list so you come fully prepared for our weekend together. Especially remember to bring warm sweater/blanket etc for the star gazing on Friday and Saturday. It looks like it will get cold in the evening both nights.

Our rehearsal spot on Friday and Saturday is William Black Memorial Church, at 10515 Peggy's Cove Rd in Glen Margaret. Driving directions:

• Take the 103 to exit 5, turn left at the top of the ramp and drive that road (Hammonds Plains Rd) until it ends at a set of lights facing a Superstore (about 2 mins). 
• Turn right at the lights. 
• The next set of lights (less than 1 minute) is the Peggy's Cove Rd. 
• Turn left onto the Peggy's Cove Rd. 
• Drive along this road approx. 15 minutes to the church.

Don't forget to bring gas money for your driver!!!!!

That's it!! Any questions or concerns tomorrow, feel free to get in touch with Christina or Claire!

Christina: 902-818-8582

Claire: 902-223-7828

SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!!

Personnel/Divisi

Below you'll find a chart indicating who is singing which parts for this year! Please note that the "a" or "b" after your name indicates a further division for when we need to sing in 8 or 6 parts.

You'll also notice two changes in personnel. In addition to our awesome newbies/returnees, Colleen, Paige, Zoe, Mackenzie, Joanna, and Devon, we will also be welcoming Krystal Yorke to the Alto 2 section!!! Krystal is 28, newly married, and a cardiac nurse. Rachel Lutz, who was originally to be joining us this fall, had to withdraw when she accepted an offer to attend Memorial University in Newfoundland. In total, then, we have 6 new, amazing people and 1 fabulous returning singer!! Get ready to give them an overwhelming Xara welcome!! :-)

XARA 2013-14 :: Constellations

PERSONNEL &  DIVISI

2/4/8 Part Split

3/6 Part Split

SOPRANO 1 Shannon Scales (a) Nelle Duinker (a) Kallie White (b) Brianna Coombs (b) Kristin Bunyan (b) SOPRANO 2 Colleen MacIsaac (a) Paige Marvel (a) Hayley Giles (a) Zoe Leger (b) Sarah Sampson (b) Emily Curley (b) ALTO 1 Leah Boulos (a) Jordyn Bochon (a) Mackenzie Hepditch (a) Robin Lauriston (b) Joanna Burris (b) Tenille Goodspeed (b) ALTO 2 Jenny Trites (a) Tejas Madhur (a) Sara Jellicoe (a) Nikki Martin (b) Devon Pennick-Reilly (b) Leanne Hoffman (b) Krystal Yorke (b)

SOPRANO 1 Shannon Scales (a) Nelle Duinker (a) Kallie White (a) Brianna Coombs (b) Kristin Bunyan (b) Colleen MacIsaac (b) SOPRANO 2 Hayley Giles (a) Paige Marvel (a) Emily Curley (a) Zoe Leger (a) Sarah Sampson (b) Leah Boulos (b) Mackenzie Hepditch (b) Tenille Goodspeed (b) ALTO Jordyn Bochon (a) Joanna Burris (a) Tejas Madhur (a) Robin Lauriston (a) Sara Jellicoe (b) Jenny Trites (b) Nikki Martin (b) Devon Pennick-Reilly (b) Leanne Hoffman (b) Krystal Yorke (b)

Xara Retreat 2013!

Hi everyone!

We are creeping closer to the start of our 2013-14 season and we are so excited! We can wait to dive into the prep for our first show, Constellations, and to spend some quality time together at our annual Xara Retreat Weekend, happening this year from Friday, September 6th until Sunday, September 8th. Please make sure you have this time booked off from work and other commitments, as the retreat weekend is mandatory for singers.

The retreat weekend is a time to get to know one another, develop skills in musicianship, theatre, and movement, and start working on our first show of the season. This year, our retreat will be divided between William Black Memorial United Church Hall in Glen Margaret (30-40 minute drive from downtown Halifax), and our new rehearsal venue, St. Matthew’s United Church on Barrington St. You will have Sunday morning off to take care of all your non-Xara life things!

Note that this year we will have three meals together. The first two will be potlucks - Friday night supper will be brought by the altos, and Saturday lunch will be brought by the sopranos. Please keep in mind that we have a variety of dietary needs (some vegetarian, some gluten-free etc), so try to accommodate these as much as possible! Saturday evening dinner will be provided by the XCT board!

Please start organizing drives NOW for this retreat weekend. Our Facebook group is a great place to take care of that!

Here’s a basic schedule for the weekend:

Friday

Location: William Black Memorial United Church (Hall), Glen Margaret

6:00 Arrival, Intro, Potluck Supper (altos)

7:30 Session 1

9:00 Constellations Intro

10:00 Home

Saturday

Location: William Black Memorial United Church (Hall), Glen Margaret

9:30 Warmup

10:15 Session 2

12:30 Potluck Lunch (sopranos)

1:30 Session 3

3:30 Break

3:45 Session 4

5:45 Supper set up

6:15 Supper with XCT Board!

7:30 Session 5

8:30 Bonfire with Guest Astronomer for facilitated star-gazing

Sunday

Location: St. Matthew’s United Church, 1479 Barrington St.

1:15 Warmup

2:00 Session 6

5:00 Closing

5:30 Home

Things to Bring:

Comfortable clothes for sessions - must be able to move freely

Water bottle, pencils (a pencil case full of things is a great idea)

Music folder

Yoga mat or large towel

Warm clothes/layers/blankets for being outside in the evening (it gets REALLY cold and we won’t be moving a lot)

Potluck item, as per schedule

Gas money for your driver

Any questions, please let us know! We can’t wait to dive right into all the amazing things we have planned for this year! Looking forward to seeing you all very very soon!

Love, Claire & Christina

Welcome to the first season of XARA CHORAL THEATRE!

Hi Everyone!

We can hardly believe it’s that time again, but our new season is almost here! We hope you’ve all been having a fun and relaxing summer so far!!! As many of you know, Christina is basking in the joys of being newly married, and Claire has just returned from a whirlwind European vacation. Over the weekend we spent two days at Christina’s cottage, planning many exciting details for our 2013-14 season!!!! There’s lots to share with you all, but here are a few key things to keep in mind for the start of the season:

Fabulous New Singers

We have had an amazing round of auditions! We will be posting more details on our newbies soon but we at least wanted to share their names and encourage you to all start mixing and mingling in Facebook-land! Welcome to Paige Marvel, Devon Pennick-Reilly, Rachel Lutz, Mackenzie Hepditch, Colleen MacIsaac, and Joanna Burris!! Welcome back to Zoe Leger!!

Communication

We have a new Facebook group! Our secret Facebook group is called Xara 2013-2014 and this will be the spot to go for all your up-to-the-minute Xara news! We will continue to use the blog for longer updates, but will always post links to the most recent blog post on the Xara Facebook group.

Retreat

Our annual Xara Retreat weekend will be Friday September 6th (6 p.m.) to Sunday September 8th (finished at 5:30 p.m.) and will take place within HRM so we can take advantage of a special field trip (exciting details to come!!!). You will have Sunday morning off (at home) but the remainder of the weekend is especially for Xara and is mandatory. Please make sure you blocked these dates off in your calendar and are pro-active (now!) about ensuring you don’t have to work, etc. This is a time to get to know one another, take part in skill-building sessions in singing, movement, and theatre, start working on our fall show, and have fun! More details will follow very soon including a schedule and things you need to know about the weekend.

Schedule

We use a Google Calendar to help you stay up to date with important scheduling for Xara. All of the relevant dates (to the best of our knowledge) have now been entered for the Fall 2013 rehearsal period. Please make sure to look through the calendar, taking note of any special dates outside of regular rehearsals. The Google Calendar is accessible on the right side of our blog, or by clicking this link: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=sf61a4mdec3uu1pe2g7l6mhlv0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Halifax

Rehearsals

This year, rehearsals will be held from 1:15-5:30 pm on Sunday afternoons at St. Matthew’s United Church on Barrington St. Typically, from 1:15-2:30 pm we will schedule sectionals, workshops, or rehearsals for specific sections of the show. Every week there will be a full company rehearsal from 2:30-5:30 pm. We will post call lists as far in advance as possible to let you know what dates you are required for the first part of rehearsal.

Team

As we have transitioned to our own independent (AWARD WINNING!!!) organization, Xara Choral Theatre, there are some evolving changes to our structure. Xara Choral Theatre now has two choirs: Xara Choral Theatre Ensemble (you!) and Xara Youth Ensemble. We now have a dedicated and fabulous Board of Directors who are focused on supporting our organization and providing leadership and guidance. This board is currently chaired by our wonderful alto 2 Tejas Madhur, with fabulous alto 1 Tenille Goodspeed in charge of our choir fundraising. You will meet the other lovely members of the board as we get our season started. Another exciting development is that graduated singer Erin Gaudet will join our team in a wonderful new volunteer position. She will continue as choir librarian and attendance maven, and she will also now perform a number of other incredibly helpful functions, including weekly rehearsal note- taking regarding movement, divisi, and homework. These notes will be distributed to you weekly. We think we will all find that Erin’s organizational gifts will enhance our community!!!

That’s it for now ladies! We’ll be in touch soon with further details about the season. Enjoy this lovely summer, and we’re looking forward to seeing all of you in September!

Love, Claire & Christina