Notes for Sun Nov 2 (3rd last rehearsal until Recording Weekend)

Hi everyone!

Thank you all for all the effort you put in last week to help us push forward in our preparation for the CD. The love, positivity, and energy was so palpable and so vibrant in the room. We certainly felt it and we know that if we keep working away on this project with the same levels of dedication, enthusiasm, and care for one another, we are going to make something magical together.

This week's notes from Christina:

• The level of musical readiness now expected for every piece is "one step from memorized". This means that you know the music so well that you should be able to go a full page or two without looking down. Your scores are for reference only and to help you with particularly trick sections. Right now, many singers still have their eyes predominantly on the music with brief glances up at me. This ratio needs to be inverted. We need maximum communication from this week forward!!

• Go [back] over the detailed blog notes for each piece from last week. ALL of these notes are to be integrated by this Sunday.

• Remember to rehearse your vocal technique, not just your notes and rhythms. You need to be reinforcing your muscle memory when it comes to vowels, your breath control, your stagger breathing, etc. 

• A tip for practicing tricky pieces (ex. Lullaby): listen to the reference recording with one earbud in and the volume relatively high. This way, you feel like you're singing with a choir but you can also hear yourself really well, enabling you to check your own vowels, pitch, etc.

• Even if you aren't inclined toward using the reference recordings, I STRONGLY suggest that you do for Lullaby, Winter, Day Dawn, and Kiurun Tie (only if you have sung the latter two with Xara in the past, are those not necessary).

Here's the rehearsal plan for this Sunday:

1:15  Yoga (bring your mats or a towel!)

1:35  Vocal Warmup

1:45  Music:

• Snowforms
• Songbird
• I'll Give My Love an Apple
• Pseudo-Yoik Lite
• Snow

3:30  Break
3:40  Fundraising Check-In

3:45  Music:

• Here On These Branches
• Heaven Will Rise
• Lullaby

4:30  ScotianAires Prep:

• Stage formations walk-through
• Our set (run-through):
• Songbird
• I'll Give My Love an Apple
• Pakkanen
• Choreography for Be Like the Bird
• One Voice

Alto 1s are on snack duty!!

This Sunday, you must bring all your ScotianAires ticket money and any unsold tickets and return them to Erin.

Christina has posted on the Facebook group regarding an additional "dress rehearsal" for the CD weekend on November 20th. Please respond to the poll ASAP so we know whether this will be viable.

Thank you Tenille for organizing our Christmas wreath fundraiser!! Remember that NOW is the time to start selling wreaths before other groups get the jump on us! Let the good-hearted competition grow and become fierce this year! 400 wreaths is the goal! We'll be doing a check in each week at rehearsal to see how sales are going.

Erin's Notes - Oct 26th

Hello beautiful ladies! I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how WONDERFUL you are sounding as an ensemble. I feel so lucky that I get to listen to your growth each week (parts of Northern Lights gave me chills this week, of the good kind!) and that I can contribute to the process of making this group AMAZING. I love you all!! xoxox

Winter

Really look at the tempo changes in this piece so that you are prepared for each one as it comes. Christina will make a “click track” for this piece this week! Whee!

One Voice

We are singing verses 4 & 5. Christina will post a reference recording. If you end up mouthing the words to this, that will be alright (we will be part of a group of 80) – we will go over this piece during next rehearsal, but it is not a high priority for learning.

Nov. 7^th Rep

On our own : (memorized if possible, but no pressure to do so)

Songbird

I’ll Give My Love An Apple

Pakkanen

With others : 

One Voice

Fundraising

Pacifico did not go as planned in terms of fundraising this time around. Are there issues with this type of fundraiser? If you have ideas about fundraising in the future, please be in touch with Tenille over the next little while. We need your support for these ventures!

Christmas Wreaths! Our wreaths cost $20 apiece (plain for $15), we decorate them ourselves, and we retain approximately $10 per wreath. Our wreath decorating day is Saturday Nov. 29^th – wreaths are available to be picked up that afternoon only. You are responsible for any deliveries of wreaths that you have sold that cannot be picked up the day of. Our goal is to sell 400 wreaths overall between Xara & XYE this year! Start selling now! Tenille will make a letter and order form available for your use.

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!!

Notes for Sun Oct 19 at St. Anselm's!

Hi everyone!

Great work last night at our Thanksgiving Monday rehearsal - it's exciting to hear things starting to come together and we are looking forward to being in our recording venue this weekend!

To that end, here's what's on the go for Sunday:

Time: 1:15-5:30 pm, full ensemble
Location: Church of St Anselm, 7037 - 7 Highway, West Chezzetcook
Snack: Sop 1s are gonna bring it hard this week, right?

Please make sure you sign up for a drive or let us know if you have a separate ride taken care of for rehearsal on Sunday. Please leave an hour travel's time to get there and get settled in the space.

Christina's Homework Notes

THIS WEEK IS BRING IT WEEK!!! This means that this week is the big push to have all your music SUPER SOLID before we sing in front of the producer and recording technician for the CD. As I said on Sunday, ALL NOTES AND RHYTHMS MUST BE SOLID by Sunday's rehearsal. We can't lose any time going over those things when we are in the space. Even though we didn't get to Day Dawn, Northern Lights, or Here on these Branches, I am expecting those to be awesome anyway!

Know that as rehearsals progress, they will get more and more rewarding as we begin working exclusively with musicality rather than note-bashing. This is the juicy fun stuff!!!

Check the Facebook for the Doodle Poll to coordinate the extra practice at Leah's house - this is a great opportunity to work through some of these note and rhythm issues in advance of Sunday!

Other Reminders

Friday October 17 is Pacifico night!!!!!! Wheee! Make sure to sell your tickets and to contact Tenille if you need more. Remember that you must arrive before midnight in order for your tickets to be valid so make sure to spread the word.

Head's up to Sop 1s that you will be having a sectional on Sunday, October 26th from 1:15-2:00 pm at St Matt's.

Keep spreading the word about the ScotianAires concert. This is going to be a lovely night full of great music, so invite your people! Erin is handling the ticketing so make sure to let her know if you need any more tickets or want to submit your ticket money.

Erin's Notes - Oct 13th

Notes from October 13^th

Next week

We will be in the recording venue. It is VITALLY important that notes, rhythms and dynamics are in place for all pieces of music.

Review in particular : Day Dawn & Here on These Branches

Tabula Rasa

Letter A & B are a regular 4-part split

Letter C is a regular 6-part split

Letter D is a regular 4-part split

I’ll Give My Love An Apple

Lots of detail work – make sure you are practicing with these details in place.

Heaven Will Rise

Because the notes change at different times in the word “Heaven”, sometimes the consonants get out of sync with the rest of the choir. Be really listening for rhythmic unison.

Songbird

Review for next week. It has been a while since we looked at this as a group.

Notes for Monday Oct 13!

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your great work on Sunday - our "secret" performance on Friday is going to be great, the CD rep is coming along very well, and Mike said the 360 degree recording was fantastic!!

Secret Performance

For those of you taking part in our secret performance/flash mob on Friday evening, here are the details:

The performance will be in English and French, but likely the section where he is giving instructions to the audience will be in English.

It's general seating in the theatre, so we are all going to have to arrive a little early in order to claim our block of 13 seats (they are trying not to give anything away by having reserved signs etc). Christina and I will have tickets to distribute to you.

Location: Dunn Theatre, Dalhousie Arts Centre (same building as the Rebecca Cohn auditorium); go to the entrance on the 4th floor (slightly misleading numbering - it's actually just one flight of stairs up from the main floor entrance). We will meet in the lobby on the 4th floor outside the theatre doors.
Time: Please arrive no later than 7:30 pm

Reminder that this week's rehearsal is on Monday, October 13th from 5:30-9:00 pm at St. Matthew's (our regular location). Thank you Alto 1s for a glorious snack on Sunday...Alto 2s, you're up!!!! (Let the snack competition begin!)

Christina's Musical Notes / Homework / Solo Auditions
Well, y'all, we've got FIVE rehearsals left until we record this thing. And, on Sunday, Oct 19 we will be singing all of the rep at our recording venue in front of Jeff Reilly and Rod Sneddon (our producer and engineer). Don't worry - they know that we've still got a month to go but, nevertheless, we want to impress them! As I said on Sunday, I want ALL NOTES, RHYTHMS, WORDS, DYNAMICS correct and dependable by OCTOBER 19.

With that in mind, there are some big changes I need to announce:
1. I am cutting Satakieli and Ice from the CD rep list. Not kidding.

2. I am adding a piece called Tabula Rasa. You can hear an SATB version of it here. I will have scores on Thanksgiving Monday and we will work it until it's good that day. It's not hard but you need to listen to it at least a few times before Monday. That will make the learning process faster.

3. Remember that your work between rehearsals will be what makes this CD a success. You need to treat the next six weeks as the lead up to a show. You may not need to memorize things, but you need to work at a level of detail you may never have worked at before. It's really important that the things I say about vocal colour, tone, intonation, and other nuances be the things you practice at home. Those are the things that will make this CD good. Just having notes and rhythms correct plus general "expression" is not enough. Think of all of those nuances as the "choreography" for the CD. They are what will set apart our work from a mediocre recording. I can't stress enough how important this is. I also can't stress enough that you need to be practicing a few times a week at home.

Here is the schedule for Monday's rehearsal:
5:30-6:15  Alto 2 sectional
6:15-8:30  Full rehearsal
8:30-9:00  Solo Auditions

I will post details about auditions on the Facebook group.

Reminders

Reminder of Pacifico Night on Friday October 17th - sell your tickets and Tenille will have additional tickets if you need them on Monday!

Reminder to start spreading the word about the ScotianAires concert on November 7th and start to sell your tickets!

Notes from Oct 5th

Homework

Today we rehearsed the following songs, please make sure they are in great shape by next week's rehearsal :

• Snow (from Voices of Earth)
• Pakkanen (Alto 2s, remember to be robots!)
• Winter
• Lullaby
• Pseudo Yoik Lite (we worked a lot on achieving a very nasal tone in this piece, be sure to practice in that manner)
• Kiurun Tie
• Satakieli

Next week at Monday’s rehearsal, we will be holding auditions for all of the solos that need to be auditioned for. Christina will post a list on the blog this week of pieces that need soloists.

Pakkanen

Anyone with words please listen to the Rajaton recording multiple times this week to confirm pronunciation

Alto 1s : Please practice your rhythmic sections so that you are fully confident on them

Pakkanen order for Sopranos:

Nelle

Georgia

Shannon

Maria

Claire

Colleen

Brianna

Paige

Kristin

Zoe

Kallie

Rachael

Hayley

Shila

Pakkanen order for Alto 1s:

Mackenzie

Robin

Sydney?

Tenille

Leah B

Camila

Joanna