Notes for Sun Oct 26 (4th last rehearsal until Recording Weekend)

Hi everyone!

Here are my (Christina's) very specific notes about each piece following our rehearsal on Sunday.
It was a tough rehearsal with lots of factors working against us .... but we will not be beaten!!! Just a reminder that having your music "solid" doesn't just mean that you can get by in rehearsal without making a loud blunder. It means that every piece is close to memorized and if you had to sing it by yourself, you would do so without mistakes. In Bring It Week - Round 2, let's commit to one another and to Xara as a whole that we'll each be "solid" on all of our music by this Sunday.

There are a lot of notes here but they are, generally, little things. PLEASE take the time to go through this with your scores and a pencil in hand. A half hour of doing so followed by a couple of good practice sessions will make a HUGE difference for us next week!!!

Songbird

• Knowing the text cold is the next step for this one
• Stronger, more articulated diction is needed
• m. 85 - the rhythm isn't correct ... please double check (S1, let's cut the breath at the end of that phrase for you and carry right into m. 86)

Northern Lights

• Basic note/rhythm/text facility just needs to happen! It's such a beautiful piece and you have a reference recording to work with so dig in and let's make it soar! (PS - even though the reference recording is SATB, it would be great practice to sing along with it ... it will solidify your independence with your part since you won't hear your exact line but what you sing will fit in perfectly.)

Day Dawn

• S1 on m.11 - do some work on this by yourselves week to try to get the high B as clean and free as possible. We'll work on it in sectional too but the work we do can't replace your own personal work on vocal technique.
• m. 20 - crescendo: keep building through "eyes" ... we're losing momentum here
• m. 30 - "the passing of the shadows" ... it is not meant to be nearly as detached as you are singing it ... it's just supposed to be lilting ... not actual spaces after the dots.
• m. 36 - learn the A1 line that precedes this measure so that your starting E is the same as their ending E and your line flows out of theirs seamlessly.
• m. 49 - this should still be p ... we are tending to get considerably louder right here.

Here on These Branches

• When you practice, set the meter in 3 before you sing the opening measures. We aren't really capturing the syncopation (the groups of two against the groups of three). Look at the percussion parts below the vocal parts. We aren't including those but you have to feel that kind of beat. I would clap several measures of 1-2-3 and then add on the doon-do figure over top.
• S1 section, in particular - ensure that your notes/rhythms/words are solid as a rock since you are the lead voice for most of this piece.

Pakkanen

• Overall note for this piece - we need to feel the beat on 2 and 4 of every measure instead of 1 and 3. I obviously conduct 1 and 3 but practice it while clapping on 2 and 4 to get into this feeling. It will really help with our rhythmic unison and the overall feel.
• Callers (opening trio and this figure on p. 1-2) are going to be Kallie, Tenille, Cat. Back up will be Shila, Sydney, and Mackenzie. Back up girls - you need to be totally ready just in case someone is sick!!
• Kristen will be the lead solo at C1 with Kallie as the back up.
• Ha-Ha section on p. 2 is not well balanced: we need much more from the S2s to balance the MS1s.
• D2 section - I've decided to rebalance this - I'd like the MS parts (i.e. all the words) to serve as the motor for the crescendo happening in the other voice - so this becomes an "underneath" figure. Therefore, MS 1 and MS 2 should be slightly less loud than the rest of the parts (not too quiet though! This section should sound really strong from everyone!)

Snow

• I will scan my score and post it on the FB page so you can see where the groups of 3 are in each verse. Please copy these into your score.
• At letter B (last verse), we need more A2 to add richness and depth to what has happened previously in the song.

Winter

• Much better note/rhythm/text facility is required for this piece. Please practice hard on this one!
• S1 - last note of the first page should be f - a dramatic change from what has come before.
• p. 8 and 10 where the eighth note = 100 ... I have been taking this far too fast. We will go over tempi in detail this coming Sunday but in the mean time, please go through your score and just circle all the tempo changes and write beside them "FASTER" or "SLOWER" in comparison to whatever has come before so you at least have an idea that you're looking at me in order to slow down or speed up.

Snowforms

• This is going really well. A few of you are much less prepared on this piece than the rest of the group. If you think that may apply to you, then practice with the recording on Soundcloud lots!
• In general, we need more portamento (sliding) between notes. We'll experiment with this on Nov 2 when we will rehearse it next.

Apple

• Accompaniment figure (doo doo's): make sure you have a good hold on the phrasing and articulation we have added here. Make sure it stays consistent throughout the piece. 
• m. 52 - we are singing palACE (emphasis on the last syllable) right now. It needs to be PALace.

Pseudo-Yoik Lite

• What a joy this was!!! A fantastic transformation!!!
• m. 46 we are singing almost p but it's supposed to be f.
• m. 72 we need a true p dynamic and then right on m. 76 a true f in order to get the contrast that's intended here.

Lullaby

• Much better note/rhythm/text facility is required for this piece. Please practice hard on this one!
• Group 5 - counting is the ONLY way to succeed here. Please write the counts in throughout your score. When you practice, consider using a metronome that will "ding" on every downbeat (these are available on the internet, including here). Also consider saying the beat numbers out loud when there are rests. Ex. for m. 4: "1, Dors, 3, 4 "Dors". - Here's me doing it out loud for the first page: Pt. 5, pg 1 with counts.

Heaven

• This is sounding really awesome! Review key changes, etc. and make sure you are 100% solid and could carry your part on your own if you had to.
• m. 49 - stay f to the end of the measure ... we're anticipating the subito p right now and we're tending to decrescendo at the end of that measure.

Tabula Rasa

• m. 12-13: NO BREATH!!! Just a tiny lift to indicate the change in text. We need to build momentum over the page turn so we hit f at the top of p.2
• Letter C - Sopranos need to begin much quieter (it's indicated mp) ... the cresc. is VERY slow (only mf by the second system!). Altos - we need more from you throughout this section.
• We need much more dynamic contrast in this piece. At every dynamic marking, try adding the words "Less" and "More" (in comparison to the dynamic marking preceding it). 

Kiurun Tie

• "Di-ri-di-ri" sections - flipped "r" only. Remember S2s, A1s, and A2s, that "ri" is not the downbeat ... the S1s always have the downbeat so you entry has to be very light. The emphasis for you is on the "di" ... so, "ri-DI-ri".
• m.91-92 we are going to change to a 2/4 measure + a 3/4 measure to solve the weird rhythmic stuff happening there. It will feel MUCH easier that way! (I'll be conducting ON your beats!).
• We need much more dynamic contrast in this piece. Please do the same thing I suggested in the last bullet point for Tabula Rasa here. It will really help!!!

Here's the plan for this Sunday:

1:15 Soprano 1 Sectional
1:45 Full Ensemble rehearsal

• Northern Lights (2:05)
• Winter (2:30)
• Tabula Rasa (2:45)
• Kiurun Tie (3:05)
• Break (3:30)
• Fund Raising Info (3:40)
• Day Dawn (3:50)
• Lullaby (4:05)
• Pakkanen (4:20)

4:30 Xara Choral Theatre Society Annual General Meeting
(if time remains after the meeting, we'll go back to singing until 5:30)

Sop 2s are on snack duty!!!

We're looking forward to having the XCT Board with us on Sunday for the AGM! We will be sending out the Annual Report via email this week - please read it thoroughly before Sunday. :)

And y'all better get ready for the holiday spirit because Tenille will be filling us in on Christmas wreath sales this week!!! Can't wait!!!!!

Also, just a little reminder about your ScotianAires tickets. You can bring in money and unsold tickets to Erin up until Nov 2. Please do your best to sell your two tickets!!

The recording session times for the CD weekend are now specified on the Google Calendar so please make sure you have these times blocked off in your schedule, and leave an hour's travel time each way to get there and back. Also make sure you've taken note of meal/snack duty as posted in our facebook group!!