Notes For Sun Feb 1

Hi everyone!

Great rehearsal on Sunday, and we are excited to move further ahead with this amazing show. Here's the plan for this Sunday:

Sunday Feb 1

1:15 Physical Warm-up
1:25 Vocal Warm-up
1:35 Music: MNIOP + Snowforms
2:30 Music + Text (with Lisa Nasson)
3:30 Break
3:45 Choreography: MNIOP
5:00 Noviori Ani + Womanly Song of God

Your big focus this week needs to be My Name is Olemaun Pokiak, as this is the one that we are starting choreography on this week. It needs to be SUPER solid so that we can continue moving forward at a steady pace. As you can see, Lisa will be with us this weekend so we want to make the most of the hour that we have with her. 

Alto 2s are on snack this week! (Great job last week alto 1s though I still think the sop 2s had you beat from the week before... ;) 

And reminder to fill out the Fatty Legs Tour Availability poll that Christina posted on the Facebook. Deadline to respond is Sunday Feb 1, and you can specify if you are unsure of your availability at this point.  

Erin’s Notes from January 25

My Name is Olemaun Pokiak - Memorization date: February 22

We will be adding movement to this piece very quickly, so it is important that you try to get it off book ASAP.

Snowforms - Memorization date: February 22

1’00” – 1’05” – Only allow the unison on the G to last for a brief moment, then Altos begin to slide down to the F while the Sopranos go immediately to the A-flat

2’00” – Sopranos put your “yuk” immediately when you hear the high D

2’30” – Sopranos cut off when Altos begin

Womanly Song of God – Memorization date: March 8

**Remember that you are responsible for revising everything we did last week, in addition to what we worked on this week. It is useful to work on your own part until it sounds like its own melody, and then sing along with the recording.**

Please deliberately plan to take bars off in order to get proper breaths before the big moments, and communicate with your section about where those places are.

Focus of today’s rehearsal:

a)    Measure 1 – 16. THESE MEASURES SHOULD BE MEMORIZED FOR NEXT REHEARSAL.

b)   Measure 17 – 36.

c)    Measure 37 – 54. If you were absent, please get the 3 + 2 pattern markings form someone to assist in your rehearsal of this section.

CD REPERTOIRE FOR THE RELEASE

Everything for the release will be sung from memory.

Date is still TBA. Stay tuned!

Northern Lights

Stagger breathe to get the powerful parts to soar.

Here on These Branches

Please revise where there are to be no breaths.

Sop 1s – on page 15, the word is “auburn-haired” (no “d” at the end of auburn) J

Pakkanen

Woo!

I’ll Give My Love An Apple

Review the work we did on phrasing.

Songbird

Remember that we are not breathing at all during this piece ;-)

Notes for Sun Jan 25 + Memorization Schedule

Hi everyone!

Thanks for a great rehearsal on Sunday, and welcome back Christina! We are looking forward to making lots of progress on Fatty Legs in the coming weeks, including working on Edward's piece this Sunday.

This Sunday

We are going to also include some rehearsal time over the next few weeks on music from the CD to help introduce our new singers to the music. It will be performed at our CD launch party and various other events. Newbies, please make sure to be listening to this selection of pieces on the Soundcloud to help prepare yourselves.

Here's the plan for rehearsal:

1:15-4:30 pm  Fatty Legs rehearsal
4:30-5:30 pm  CD music rehearsal (Northern Lights, Here on these Branches, Pakkanen, I'll Give My Love an Apple, Songbird)

The full set list is the above pieces plus Pseudo Yoik Lite, Tabula Rasa, Kiurun Tie, and Snow.

Alto 1's are on snack this week!! (excellent work last week Sop 2s!!)

Reminder that all planned absences for this show preparation period should already have been submitted to myself, Christina, and Erin via email.

Music Memorization

As you know, there are only five pieces of music in Fatty Legs. Because there are so many other elements of this show (text, narration, dancer, choreography) it means that we need to work hard to get these pieces totally solid and memorized ASAP. It will mean that we can be much more productive in rehearsals when working with Lisa and Sarain. With that in mind, here's the memorization schedule for this show.

February 22
My Name is Olemaun Pokiak (Edward's piece) AND Snowforms must be memorized
By the end of this rehearsal, all five pieces must be recording quality (aka the other three pieces don't need to be memorized but they must be absolutely SOLID with no issues)

March 1
Noviori Ani memorized

March 8
Womanly Song of God memorized

March 15
Nukapianguaq memorized

Tour
As we have mentioned in previous rehearsals, we will be undertaking a tour throughout the Maritimes of Fatty Legs from May 3-13, 2015. We need to get a sense now of who is available and interested in doing the tour. Christina will be creating a poll that she will post on the Facebook group. Please respond to this poll no later than Sunday February 1st.

Erin’s Notes January 18

Nukapianguaq

Homework: Work on what we have done so far so that you are confident with notes and rhythms for next week.

Page 4 & 5

§  Pod 1 – Spoken

§  Sop 1 & Sop 2

§  Pod 2 – Sung

§  Alto 1 & 2

§  Pod 3 – Sung, different tempo, over Pod 2

§  Go through this once as a full section (first & second endings included)

o   Second time though:

§  All Sop 1 & 2 (to the first ending)

§  Sop 1A & 2A (on the repeat)

§  Pod 4 – Sung & clapping, different tempo, over Pod 2 & 3

§  Sop 1B & 2B (after the first ending of Pod 3)

§  Stop before the Goose Chant. The idea is for all parts to arrive at the measure right before the Goose Chant.

Skip to Page 8

§  Treble I Solo – All Sopranos

§  Treble III Solo – All Altos

§  Tutti Treble I & II – Full Choir in a 2-part split

§  Remove Solo Treble III and go right on to Tutti at the bottom of the page – everyone sings those two bars

Noviori Ani

Pronunciation is Latin, except when there is an H at the end of a syllable. The H will be voiced.

This piece takes us from the moment when Margaret arrives at the school until the moment when she burns the socks. It contains the cutting of her braids, the mockery of her classmates, bullying by the Raven, Margaret’s frustration at doing manual labour instead of learning to read, and the eventual burning of the socks at the very end.

Homework : Learn the interval for your first chord based on a high D.

Opening Chord, from top to bottom:

The aim is for you to be able to find your note based on a high D.

E Carolyn & Kallie

D Shila & Georgia

C Rachael & Maria

B Brianna & Colleen

A Zoe & Hayley

G Leah B & Paige

F Sydney & Mackenzie

E Camila & Tenille

D Robin & Joanna

Alto : Jenny, Sara, Jess, Cat, Leah P, Talisa & Nikki

Second & Third Chord, from top to bottom:

D Carolyn, Kallie, Shila & Georgia

C Maria, Rachael & Colleen

B Brianna, Hayley, Zoe & Paige

A Leah B, Sydney & Mackenzie

G Camila, Tenille, Joanna & Robin

Measure 30 & 32 – Soprano 1s take the top note, Soprano 2s split (A & B) on the bottom two notes (4-part divisi)

Measures 37 – 39 – Slight separation between the accented notes

Measures 46 – 47 – No breath in between. Ahahaha – should be like laughter

Measures 48 – 53 – All one phrase (stagger breathe). Emphasize the N in “no no no”.

Measures 54 – 57 – All one phrase (stagger breathe)

Measure 97 – 101 – Sopranos: Slightly sneering tone, soloist production, keep the intensity up on the bottom notes

Measure 109 – Fermata over the second note

Womanly Song of God

Homework: Revise the work we did today before next week.

Focus today was on pages 8 – 13.  There was lots of work done on tone quality throughout. If you were absent, please speak with someone from your section to get the notes.

In particular, page 11 measure 92 – 25 need to soar.

Snowforms

Akelrorak on page 5 is an 8 part split

Sing the full word, but stop on the note that applies to your part.

Fatty Legs Divisi

2/4/8 Part Split

SOPRANO 1

Carolyn Curry (a)

Kallie White (a)

Shila LeBlanc (b)

Maria Casey (b)

Georgia Edwards (b)

SOPRANO 2

Rachael Gay (a)

Colleen MacIsaac (a)

Brianna Coombs (a)

Hayley Giles (b)

Paige Marvel (b)

Zoe Leger (b)

ALTO 1

Mackenzie Hepditch (a)

Camila das Gupta (a)

Sydney MacLennan (a)

Leah Boulos (a)

Joanna Burris (b)

Robin Lauriston (b)

Tenille Goodspeed (b)

ALTO 2

Jenny Trites (a)

Sara Jellicoe (a)

Jess Sharpe (a)

Cat McClouskey (b)

Nikki Martin (b)

Leah Pritchard (b)

Talisa Edmunds (b)

3/6 Part Split

SOPRANO 1

Carolyn Curry (a)

Kallie White (a)

Georgia Edwards (a)
Shila LeBlanc (b)

Maria Casey (b)

Rachael Gay (b)

Colleen MacIsaac (b)

SOPRANO 2
Brianna Coombs (a)

Hayley Giles (a)

Paige Marvel (a)

Zoe Leger (a)

Mackenzie Hepditch (b)

Camila das Gupta (b)

Sydney MacLennan (b)

Leah Boulos (b)

Tenille Goodspeed (b)

ALTO 2

Joanna Burris (a)
Robin Lauriston (a)
Jenny Trites (a)
Sara Jellicoe (a)
Jess Sharpe (b)
Cat McClouskey (b)
Nikki Martin (b)
Leah Pritchard (b)
Talisa Edmunds (b)

Notes for Sun Jan 18!

Hi everyone!

Thank you for a beautiful, supportive, open-hearted rehearsal last week. I have been continually moved as I reflected on it this week. We are so lucky to be making art together in this incredible community. Thank you especially to Leah for her brilliant debut as rehearsal accompanist, and to Erin for helping all the start-of-show business get taken care of like a rockstar.

I'm so happy to report that Christina will be back with us on Sunday! We've scheduled the rehearsal with several shorter chunks of time for music, broken up by movement and other activities. This should allow Christina to lead for awhile and then take some time to sit down and rest. Let's all be super kind to her this weekend as she eases back into the flow of rehearsals :)

Not too much to report for this weekend's rehearsal:

• Full company 1:15-5:30 pm
• Soprano 2s are on snack!!!!
• Please again wear comfy clothing/shoes that you can move in (this is basically the new standard for every rehearsal for this show)
• Take a look over your music we worked on last week and use the Soundcloud recordings to help you familiarize yourself.
• I've added Nukapianguaq to the Soundcloud. Remember that we are only including certain sections of this piece. Christina will fill us in on Sunday.
• Remember that all scheduled absences this term must be communicated to myself, Christina, and Erin by this Sunday Jan 18th.

Here on These Branches Abridged Choreo

Hi everyone!

In an effort to make things go smoothly tomorrow, here are some choreography notes from the abridged version of Here on These Branches. There will be a number of times when the director will just ask us to run the piece from start to finish and this is what we will do for choreography unless instructed otherwise:

mm 13 - 32: choreo as in original version

• dragonfly #1 all three groups from mm 13-23
• transition to dragonfly #2 for S2s & As from mm 29-32

mm 49-65: choreo as in original version

• dragonfly #2 for S2s and As from mm 49-56
• dragonfly #1 for all three groups from mm 57-65

mm 117-180: slightly modified choreo

• sing from 3 group formation from mm 117-132
• move to V formation at mm 133-177 (note that bars 171-174 are cut)

mm 181-end: choreo as in original version

We will likely be tweaking some things on Saturday (particularly in mm181-end) so they look good on film, so just be prepared to start with this outline and then change/add things in! :)

Details for Promotional Video Shoot!

Hi everyone,

I had a meeting this morning with our director, Luckas, and I can now provide you with more concrete details for Saturday’s video shoot.

As I mentioned in a Facebook post today, we need 15 extra people to come on Saturday morning to play audience members as part of the video. If you know anyone who can attend (preferably someone who is not an 18-30 year old woman for diversity’s sake), please comment on my Facebook post to let me know.

Because the film crew has to get in and set up first, your call has been pushed back a little bit later in the morning, and extended slightly later in the afternoon. See the schedule below - NOTE that this is our “best case scenario” schedule. If we are all focused and on point throughout the day, we should stay on track for y’all to finish at the stated time. 

9:45 am - Full Company + “Xara Audience” Call 

10 am-1pm - Filming with Full Company + "Xara Audience"

1pm - Lunch break/change

1:30-5pm - Filming with Full Company

5-7pm - Filming with “Dream Chorus” + Kristin Only

(Dream Chorus = Kallie, Paige, Camila, Colleen, Maria)

Clothing/Hair/Makeup

All Xara singers need to arrive on Saturday morning wearing street clothing that will appear on camera (no white shirts, stripes, or visible logos). You also need to bring your black Xara tunic, leggings, and boots to change into later in the day.

Please come with makeup “film ready” - foundation, a bit of blush, eyeliner/mascara - NOT as extreme as stage makeup. At the lunch break, everyone will be putting on the same eye makeup that we used for the Huldras. I’ll bring the Xara supplies for this but if anyone has their own personal stuff that can be used, please bring it as we don’t have a lot of time and need to share the makeup.

Hair should be worn down if long, and pulled back off your face. Look fabulous, of course.

Please bring a bagged lunch as we only have a half an hour break to eat and you have to get changed and do makeup in that time period also.

***VERY IMPORTANT***

I cannot stress how important it is that we are professional and efficient on Saturday. Every hour in the space is very costly for us, so we really cannot waste any time. Luckas is in charge on Saturday. He will ask you to try a bunch of different formations and he and I will fiddle with the choreography while shooting, and we need you to just do it without asking questions. We will likely have to shoot the same scenes a dozen or more times, so please just be patient and flexible. I have noticed in the past that it is talking between takes that breaks the focus of the room and slows us down. When he calls cut, please just stay in place without talking and await further instructions for the next take. We want this video to look AMAZING, and we want everyone to get out of there on time :) The more we all work together, the better the whole experience will be for everyone.

Bring out your inner Beyonce y’all - professional and fierce!

CHANGES for this weekend

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your patience as we have been sorting out venue issues for the promotional video shoot. We have had to make some changes to this weekend's schedule, so please make sure to mark your calendars accordingly:

The promotional video shoot will now happen SATURDAY JAN 10 from 9am-6pm. The location will be the Spatz Theatre at Citadel High School. Please enter from the Ahern St. doors. We will start with group shots at 9am and then once those are completed, we will be letting people go and continuing on with small group/solo shots. Obviously at this point I cannot confirm when we will be finished with full group shots, so though it is VERY likely the majority of you will be done before 6pm, please block off the whole time period JUST IN CASE. We will take a lunch break in the middle of the day.

More details will follow later this week regarding clothing and makeup for the promo video shoot once I have had a meeting with our director on Wednesday. Please have a listen to the abridged version of Here on These Branches that we will be using as the backing track for the video. Take notes as there are many changes from the original. The abridged version is posted on our Soundcloud.

We will have a regular rehearsal on Sunday, Jan 11 from 1:15-5:30 pm at St. Matthew's United Church. We'll still do retreat-type activities :) Please wear comfortable clothes that you can move in and bring sneakers or dance shoes that are not slippery. Sop 1s you are on snack duty!

As many of you may have seen on Facebook, Christina had emergency gallbladder surgery this week. Please send her your warm and healing thoughts this week!!!!!! Lots of Xaralove is so helpful in times like this! :)

First Post of 2015!

Happy New Year to all our wonderful Xara Loves!!

Hoping that you had a restful and fun break over the holidays and are feeling excited for new projects and being back together very soon!

Our next big project of the year, Fatty Legs, is about to begin. This is a powerful and moving show that we are really excited to be revisiting after first performing it in 2011. We'd like to kick off this exciting show process with a "Power Weekend" - aka a full of weekend of lots of singing, moving, bonding, and eating!

The schedule is currently in flux because of some venue-booking issues so please bear with us and we will be able to 100% confirm these dates and times shortly. But tentatively here's the plan:

Fatty Legs Retreat Day
Date: Saturday January 10
Time: 10:00am-4:00pm
Location: TBA
Further logistics re: meals to come, depending on venue

Promo Video Shoot Day
Date: Sunday January 11
Time: 1 pm-9pm (not everyone will be needed the entire time)
Location: TBA, in HRM

If for some reason we are not able to secure the desired venue for the promotional video shoot on January 11, we will have to reschedule the video shoot and we will just have a regular rehearsal that day from 1:15-5:30pm at St. Matthew's United Church.

Thanks so much for your patience as we sort this out, everyone. For your convenience, all other known dates for winter/spring 2015 are on the Google Calendar. Please look ahead in your calendars and make sure you are able to be present for rehearsals and performances. Note that dates still to be added include our CD launch party and all spring fundraising events. If you know that you have any unavoidable conflicts this term for the dates already listed on the calendar, please let Claire, Christina, and Erin know via email by Sunday January 18th.

We are so excited to get started on this amazing project! More info to come as soon as it's available with final details, so stay connected to the Facebook group!