Memorization Schedule (Remembrance/Unraveled)

Here is the memorization schedule for the entire term. Bookmark this post and refer to it often! It will help you track toward these goals and focus your home-rehearsal time.

Sept 16	Wanting Memories
Sept 30	Tree of Life
Oct 8	Zai Itxoiten (Thanksgiving Monday rehearsal)
Oct 21	Les Angelus (+ solo auditions for all pieces)
Nov 18	Da Pacem; You Are the New Day
Nov 25	Uraren Besotik; One Voice (new version)
Dec 2	Amfalula Tree; Pen-Pen
Dec 9	In Autumn; Circle
Jan 5	Past Life Melodies; Nada te turbe; Two Strings; Little Birch Tree (Power Weekend & first rehearsal after Christmas break)

Thanks for all your hard work, dedication, and artistic awesomeness!

Sept 23 Notes & Sept 30 Prep

REMEMBRANCE // UNRAVELED NOTES
Sunday's rehearsal (Sept 23) was a bit tougher than our norm ... we're probably at that place in the music-learning cycle when we all realize that it's time to get serious about home-based rehearsal. A few of you had done great prep and were singing confidently from memory but when singers are at drastically different levels of preparation it makes for a frustrating rehearsal. It's nothing to fret over, however, just a wake-up call that it's time to dig in!

Here are Christina's notes about Unravelled/Remembrance Rep:
1. Tree of Life & Les Angelus: as I said in rehearsal, I was really surprised that these pieces weren't more solid on Sunday, considering getting notes and rhythms down was your homework for last week. I know they are challenging pieces and, if you're an inner part, it can be hard to hear your line. This means it's critical that you rehearse with a piano (even a phone-piano!) and with the recording so you can be solid, even once you're reunited with the whole choir. I expect both of these piece to be performance-quality by next Sunday (i.e. no note or rhythm mistakes and all dynamics/articulation observed). Tree of Life is also to be memorized.
2. Zai Itxoiten: Good work on this piece. Please go over it a couple of times this week so we do not slide backwards. We need to move further ahead with it at the next rehearsal because I'll be asking that it be memorized for the following week (Thanksgiving Monday rehearsal).

We will post the memorization schedule for the entire term separately, so you can refer to it often and use it to guide your home-based rehearsing. Thank you all for your hard work, your dedication, and your artistic awesomeness!

Finally, this coming Sunday, we will be singing Circle. It has two wonderful solos (1 for a high soprano, and one for a low alto or a mezzo who can hit 1 really low note). If you're interested in either of these, please take a look at them ahead of time - Christina will be inviting people to give it a try (as a group). Solo auditions for all pieces will be October 21st.

WAIL REMOUNT NOTES
On Sunday we will be working a few key sections and then running the show as much of the show as possible. Alan will be rehearsing with us this Sunday! A few key things:

• You are all making good progress at tightening the repertoire back up! Thank you for your work. The only general thing that is of concern right now is our tempos. As Christina mentioned in rehearsal, it's really important to watch, follow, and embody HER tempos instead of coming to a random group consensus on how fast or slow to go!  :)
• Girls who are singing new parts in Making Waves must have it memorized this week. Don’t underestimate how much time it will take you to memorize it.
• We have little time to review blocking so everyone must watch the Wail video this week to review and clarify the blocking. Even if you feel like you are solid on all the blocking from the last performance, please watch the video anyway to double check. The video can be accessed here: https://vimeo.com/47284795. It will prompt you for a password which is “xaraxingers”.
• The blocking in Transformation needs to be cleaned up as Claire would like it to be more precise than last time. Claire will repost the Transformation blocking video on the Facebook page, so please review that as well and practice the blocking at home with the video. We will reassign the Transformation groups on Sunday to account for new people.
• Read through the script again this week, and make sure any new/changed lines are solid from memory. The link to access the script is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ya0mmcbGxcq3ydv366jew0ZsacqZmKZuul7Z5LbShuk/edit.

Thank you all so much for your hard work on this so far! We know that it is a big task to remount this show, but we also know we can deliver a beautiful performance to two brand new audiences. We can’t wait to share Wail again!

Notes for Sunday Sept 23

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your great work last rehearsal! We are off to an excellent start to the year! We also noticed that most people were present at rehearsal at least 5-10 minutes before rehearsal started which is excellent! Please keep it up as it means that we can start rehearsal right on time and be fully set up.

For this coming Sunday September 23:

• Notes and rhythms must be 100% solid for Les Angelus and Tree of Life
• Fix up anything you need to (including memory work) in Wanting Memories so it is perfect this week!
• We have added Zai Itxoiten to the repertoire list for the Remembrance concert so please spend some time with the piece this week. We have an excellent reference recording of it.

This week we will be ending the main rehearsal at 3:15 pm. Wail remount rehearsal will run 3:15-4:45 pm. 

Notes for Wail Remount rehearsal:

• We will run through all the pieces we didn't sing on Sunday and come back to the others if we have time
• We will be rehearsing movement and blocking for Kirun Tie and Pakkanen
• We will also be working on the new text that has been added. If you have new lines, you must come to rehearsal with them memorized. Everyone must check the script document to note any changes in cue lines etc. People with changes to existing lines are Mackenzie, Tejas, Deirdre, Jordyn, Shannon, Hayley, Kristin, Claire M, Kallie, and Camila.

The link to view the script is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ya0mmcbGxcq3ydv366jew0ZsacqZmKZuul7Z5LbShuk/edit

The video of Wail is here which you can use to refresh (or learn!) the blocking for the show is here:

https://vimeo.com/47284795

It will prompt you for a password which is "xaraxingers".

Thanks so much and we can't wait to see you all on Sunday!

xox Claire & Christina

XARA PERSONNEL & DIVISI (to 16 September, 2012)

2/4/8 Part Split:

SOPRANO 1
Shannon Lawson (a)
Nelle Duinker (a)
Kallie White (b)
Brianna Coombs (b)
Claire MacIsaac (b)
+ Deirdre Kellerman (S1a) for Nov.

SOPRANO 2
Kristin Bunyan (a)
Shila LeBlanc (a)
Hayley Giles (a)
Emily Curley (b)
Sarah Sampson (b)
Suelayka St-Pierre (b)
+ Claire Leger (S2a) for Nov & Apr

ALTO 1
Mackenzie Costron (a)
Camila Das Gupta (a)
Jordyn Bochon (a)
Robin Lauriston (b)
Erin Gaudet (b)
+ Tenille Goodspeed (A1b) for Apr.

ALTO 2
Jenny Trites (a) A2b when SJ sings
Tejas Madhur (a)
Elizabeth Riegert (a)
Nikki Martin (b)
Leeane Hoffman (b)
Mary Moore (b)

+ Sara Jellicoe (A2a) for Jan-May

3/6 Part Split:

SOPRANO 1
Shannon Lawson (a)
Nelle Duinker (a)
Kallie White (b)
Brianna Coombs (b)
Claire MacIsaac (b) S1a for Apr
+ Deirdre Kellerman (S1a) for Nov.
+ Claire Leger (S1b) for Nov & Apr

SOPRANO 2
Kristin Bunyan (a)
Shila LeBlanc (a)
Hayley Giles (a)
Emily Curley (a)
Suelayka St-Pierre (a)
Sarah Sampson (b) - but 2a for ToL
Erin Gaudet (b)
Mackenzie Costron (b)
Camila Das Gupta (b)
+ Tenille Goodspeed (S2a) for Apr.


ALTO
Jenny Trites (a)
Jordyn Bochon (a)
Tejas Madhur (a)
Robin Lauriston (a)
Nikki Martin (b)
Leeane Hoffman (b)
Mary Moore (b)
Elizabeth Riegert (b)

+ Sara Jellicoe (A2b) for Jan-May

Ambassador Workshop

Just some ideas we wrote down over the weekend to help everyone be on the same page when talking about Xara.  I asked you all to take a look at our vision (in italics below) and put it in your own words. I do urge you to think about it because we want this message to get across, but it will be easier for you to communicate if you are able to use your own individual experience with Xara.  Hope it helps!

What/Who is Xara?

• ·      Choral Theater Ensemble
• ·      Women ages 18-30, young women
• ·      Play with music as the script
• ·      Community
• ·      Accepting
• ·      Inclusive
• ·      Sisterhood
• ·      Warm + love
• ·      Explore + Discover
• ·      Challenge the perception of choral music
• ·      New music- changing performance practices
• ·      Contemporary interpratation
• ·      Not JUST singing
• ·      Breaking from boundaries
• ·      Lots of Canadian composers

What is the History of Xara (remember this is also in your handbooks)?

• ·      Group of young women
• ·      Created something new
• ·      Christina
• ·      Halifax Camerata singers
• ·      Xara=blossoming (archaic Arabic)
• ·      Growth
• ·      Mainstage at Festival 500/international festival
• ·      High profile civic events
• ·      Artistic TEAM
• ·      Collaborated with other artists(not just choral)
• ·      FATTY LEGS (if you do not know what this is ask someone!)

“Young women exploring the boundaries of choral performance through voice, body and community”

What does this mean to you?

• ·      Breaking boundaries
• ·      Interdisplinary
• ·      Whole-all in one
• ·      Social
• ·      Voice + body
• ·      Spirit
• ·      Connection
• ·      Being yourself with in a group
• ·      Communal passion
• ·      Want to be here
• ·      Learning
• ·      (nerds!) 

Fundraising Breakdown

Fundraising Breakdown

Here are the discussion points from our fundraising workshop at camp this past weekend. You already have some of this in the hand-out received on the first night but it doesn't hurt to see the whole picture! As each fundraiser progresses I will update/remind you, with the exception of the small group fundraisers :)

I want to thank you all again for being so understanding and involved in this discussion. I know it can be stressful but I also know what you are all capable of so I am not worried! 

Yearly Fundraising 

1)Subscriptions, September- November 11^th

• ·     3 tickets to years concert
• ·      VIP seating
• ·      $40 tax-deductable receipt

Target- $1000.00 (25 Sold)

2) Wreaths, October 28^th- December 1^st

• ·      18” fresh wreath
• ·      decorated by us

Target- $2000.00 (200 at $20 each)

3) Cook Book, Fall to Spring

• ·      submit recipes by December 1^st
• ·      launched in conjunction with B-day event

Target- $500.00 revenue

4)Small Group Fundraising, All Year

• ·      Self managed, with support from Tenille
• ·      Groups finalized on Sunday September 16^th

Target- $1000.00 between all groups

Nest Egg Plans (not all up to Xara singers)

1) Indie-go-go

·      Xara’s role = video/recording of One Voice

Target- $1000.00

2) Xara Merch

·      Xara’s role= promote and sell

Target - $250.00

3)Donation Campaign (mail out)

·      Xara’s role = submit names and contact info of people who might be receptive

·      **one time gift**

Target - $3000.00

4) Carolling

·      Xara’s role = sing

·      Smal groupd at instituations arranged by Tenille

·      A part of the wreath sales, ie/ for $5 extra the wreath can be delivered at your door with a carol or two!

Target - $1450.00

5) BIRTHDAY PARTY

·      Discussed at length at camp and will be solidified over the fall. Here are some of the ideas talked about

o   Frenchy’s fashion show

o   Live or silent auction

o   Games (like a carnival), with an adult atmosphere

§  50/50

§  pie toss

§  cake walk

§  pin the tail on the donkey

§  pinata

§  keep it birthday themed, go with number of tickets for game, maybe $5 cover

o   Theme/costumes

o   Jars for singing, ie/ this many tickets in Deirdre’s Jar and she will rap J

o   Cotton candy

o   Advertise early!!!

Target $2200.00

September 15th, Online Xara Season Launch!!!

Hey Ladies,

 A little more information for you regarding this Saturdays season launch. While Christina, Claire and I take care of Xara's facebook page, and twitter, I am looking for everyone else to make some mark online with your own thoughts, or by reposting our posts.

Our clear angle here is working the 5th season. So post 5 things, tweet 5 times, get 5 friends involved, send 5 emails....you get the point. Of course more then 5 and multiples of 5 are welcome but I ask for a min of 5 :)

Also ALWAYS give the link to our concert page with anything you put out online. I have provided the links at the bottom of this post.

Suggestions of some things to do...

• What do you love about Xara?
• Something you've been taught through your experience at Xara (Life, music or otherwise)
• Your favorite concert past, present or the concert you are most excited for this season.
• I would suggest, if you still have the poster, to post that with this one. Obviously with the future concerts you can't do that but you can post the link to the new season!

• Your favorite song we've sung/are singing.
• Again, if you have the song post that with it and even better if we have sung it check to see if its on the youtube page!
• Post your favourite picture of Xara.
• Get your friends to post about what their favourite concert was.
• Maybe even go further and have them post about their first experience going to a xara concert.
• Write a note on Facebook about all of these things.
• How you first came to Xara, the process from audition to first rehearsal to end of year.
• Favourite recipe learned from Xara.
• make sure to not just make this about the recipe but more about how social bonding and food are an integral part of who we are.
• Take pictures of yourself in your Xara t-shirt around Hfx.
• If you are willing ask other people to wear the shirt 
• take pictures of places that remind you of Xara

Of course these are just suggestions and you have free reign on creativity for this. The only thing I ask is that you give it some thought. The most effective way for this to be successful is quantity AND quality. We plan on bombarding our social media pages with stuff about Xara but we want it to be fun, interesting and inviting. If we just post "I love Xara" x 1093581634058173460843712 it will most like just annoy people.

Later this week I will be posting the fundraising stuff from this weekend. It will include all of your wonderful thoughts about how to talk about Xara and I hope that will be helpful. 

I am really excited to see what happens with this campaign. It is something we are trying out for the first time so who knows but we have to give it our all! Remember, the # of people who are friends of the people who like our page is upwards of 200, 000 people!!

http://xara.ca/content/concerts

http://www.youtube.com/user/CamerataXara

https://twitter.com/CamerataXara

http://www.facebook.com/XaraChoralTheatre

Xara Camp & Sun Sept 16 Notes

Thank you all so much for a wonderful Xara Camp! Your energy, passion, and dedication to Xara is so inspiring to the three of us!

Here is a brief rundown of what we worked on this weekend, as well as what you need to prepare for this Sunday:

Music

• we did some detailed work on One Voice, Les Angelus, Tree of Life, Wanting Memories, and Pen-pen sarapen (from Tatlo sa Buhay)
• we had a look at In Autumn, Zai Itxoiten, Two Strings One Voice

Movement

• awareness (blue paint on the bottoms of your feet)
• suspension & lightness (used nearly always when performing, especially in work like the plastiques where you are moving with a partner)
• balancing the space (glass plate balanced on a straw)

Theatre

• working with Shakespeare text to find the shape and meaning of the line
• slowing down the text to become familiar with the shape and sound of the line
• carrying the line forward and up (throwing the net & throwing the ball)
• recalling a personal memory to communicate the emotion carried in the text

Thank you all so much for your hard work on the One Voice video this weekend. Unfortunately, due to the quality of the piano at Ross Creek, we will have to re-record the audio track this coming Sunday at rehearsal. If you were not present at Xara Camp, please come to rehearsal with this piece at performance standard. 

Preparation for Sunday Sept 16:

• Wanting Memories - must be memorized for Sunday
• Les Angelus & Tree of Life - spend time with these pieces and get familiar with your line and how it fits in harmonically with the other parts. Listening to the reference recordings is very important for these pieces.

To that end, audio files for "We Remember" and "Unraveled" have been uploaded to our Soundcloud page. These recordings are downloadable as well. Please remember these recordings are for reference only to help you learn notes and rhythms. We will be performing them with different articulation and expression. To access:

• Go to www.soundcloud.com
• Log in with email address "xaraxingers@gmail.com" and password "xaraxingers"
• Click on "You" > "Sets" and you will see sets for both We Remember and Unraveled.

We will be rehearsing for the Wail remount during the last hour of rehearsal on Sunday. Singers who are not doing the remount will be able to leave at 3:45 pm. A couple of notes for the Wail remount:

• Making Waves: The following people will be singing alto to put more voices on that line - Kristin (top alto), Claire M (middle alto), Camila (bottom alto)
• ALONE DIVISI:
  
  CHOIR 1: SOPRANO 1
  Shannon Lawson (a)
  Deirdre Kellerman (b)
  Brianna Coombs (b)
  
  CHOIR 1: SOPRANO 2
  Kallie White (b)
  Claire MacIsaac (a)
  Kristin Bunyan (b)
  Sarah Sampson (b)
  
  CHOIR 1: ALTO 1
  Suelayka St-Pierre (a)
  Camila Das Gupta (a)
  Erin Gaudet (b)
  Jordyn Bochon (b)
  
  CHOIR 1: ALTO 2
  Tejas Madhur (a)
  Mary Moore (b)
  Robin Lauriston (b)
  
  CHOIR 2:
  Nelle : S1 (except S2 in mm. 41-49 + sing mm. 31-35 octave down)
  Hayley & Mackenzie: S2 (except S1 - octave down - in mm. 41-49
  Tenille & Jenny: A1
  Elizabeth & Nikki: A2

Thanks so much for all your hard work this weekend and we look forward to an awesome rehearsal on Sunday!

Medical/Registration Form

Hi all,

I suspect there are a few of you who are just getting back into the swing of using Facebook in order to keep current with Xara things. Please remember that if you have a facebook account purely to keep connected with Xara that you need to check it at least 2-3 tiimes a week!

In the mean time, here is the link to the registration/medical form that we need you to fill out prior to Camp this weekend. We actually need it today (Thursday) because the grocery shopping is happening today at around 5 p.m. Here is the link to the form:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFU5SWVxTV94ZnhKSEx4Y1pPOWxxR3c6MA#gid=0

Please fill this out ASAP!!!!

Thanks!

Christina

Important Dates (non-music) as of Sept 1st, 2012

Choir Fees

**Must be handed in by September 16^th**

New members - $290 ($250 choir fee +$40 gown fee)

Returning Members - $250

Payable in the follow two ways:

1) Full Amount  

2) 4 post-dated cheques for:

            -September 16^th/2012, $100.00

            -November 25^th/2012, $50.00

            -January 27^th/2013, $50.00

            -March 24^th/2013, $50.00

**All cheques payable to

Halifax Camerata Singers. **

Fundraising Dates/Goals

Fundraiser	Date	Goal
Christmas Wreaths	Oct 28th-Dec 1st, 2012	$2000.00 (>10 wreaths/member)
Cookbook (to be sold at event in May)	Ongoing	$500.00
Subscriptions ($100.00, 3 tickets plus tax-receipted donation of $40.00)	Sept 1st – Nov 1st, 2012	$1000 (25 Subscriptions)**note change**
Small Groups Fundraisers (4-5 groups)	Ongoing	1000 (min $200-$250/group)

5^th Season Launch, September 15^th/ 2012

**Online Social Media Blitz**

Try and do at least one of the following, or something brilliant that you come up with, throughout the day:

-Mention Xara five times on your social media sites

-Get 5 friends to mention Xara on social media sites

-Email five people about Xara

-Post five interesting facts about why you love Xara online

When doing this always link back to Xara’s website, Facebook page, or Twitter( #xaraseason5). The purpose is to get as many people to click on Xara related things as possible.