Notes from Saturday Sept 5th

Divisi and rehearsal seating order

4 or 8-part  split
Sarah	S1a
Kallie	S1a
Rachael D	S1a
Rachael G	S1b
Carolyn	S1b
Maria	S1b
Georgia	S1b
Leah B	S2a
Colleen	S2a
Brianna	S2a
Hayley	S2b
Paige	S2b
Sarah-Jean	S2b
Meghan	S2b
Mackenzie	A1a
Grace	A1a
Jordyn	A1a
Sydney	A1b
Joanna	A1b
Tenille	A1b
Nikki	A1b
Talisa	A2a
Jess	A2a
Sara	A2a
Krystal	A2b
Cat	A2b
Julia	A2b
Leah P	A2b

3 or 6-part split
Sarah	SopA
Kallie	SopA
Rachael D	SopA
Maria	SopA
Carolyn	SopA
Rachael G	SopB
Georgia	SopB
Colleen	SopB
Brianna	SopB
Leah B	MSA
Hayley	MSA
Paige	MSA
Sarah-Jean	MSA
Meghan	MSA
Mackenzie	MSB
Grace	MSB
Sydney	MSB
Joanna	MSB
Nikki	MSB
Tenille	AA
Jordyn	AA
Jess	AA
Sara	AA
Talisa	AB
Krystal	AB
Cat	AB
Julia	AB
Leah P	AB

MOUNTAIN NIGHTS

Divisi notes:

·      Pages 1, 2 & 5 – 3-part (6-part) split

·      Pages 3 & 4 – 4-part (8-part) split as follows :

-       top line : Sop 1a

-       second line : Sop 1b

-       third line : All Sop 2s

-       fourth line : All Alto 1s

-       fifth line : All Alto 2s

Music notes:

·      Pay close attention to the [a] vowel throughout this piece

·      Dynamics should be exactly as written (take note of places where crescendos/decrescendos exist and where they don’t)

·      Page 3 : Middle voices should create a sense of mystic fog

Context Notes

Page 1 & 2 – Cold mysterious night

Page 3 & 4 – Building danger of bear’s presence

Page 5 – The bear is actually a friend

Movement Notes

Page 1 & 2 (see photo for approximate positions)

Page 3 & 4 (see video)

Begin forming the triangle clump following Ariana.

Step forward on the right foot first, when the Sop 2 line begins.

Forward movement stops in the second measure of the second system.

On the decrescendo at the bottom of page 4, melt back into opening positions (slightly faster than the movement forward)

TABULA RASA

Divisi notes:

Note : A change has been made to the original A1-A2-A3 on page 3 and at measure 75. This should mean that no Alto has to jump between lines. Please make note of this change if it affects you.

·      Page 2 – Normal 4-part divisi

·      M. 13 - 19 Divisi :

o   Sop 1 & 2 as normal in a 4-part split

o   A1 – Mackenzie, Grace, Jordyn, Sydney Mackenzie, Grace, Sydney, Joanna, Nikki

o   A2 – Joanna, Nikki, Tenille, Talisa, Jess Tenille, Jordyn, Jess, Sara

o   A3 – Sara, Krystal, Julia, Cat, Leah P Talisa, Krystal, Cat, Julia, Leah P

·      Letter A – Normal 4-part divisi

·      Page 5 – is in a 6-part split

o   S1 – Sop A

o   S2 – Sop B

o   S3 – MS A

o   A1 – MS B (top: Meghan, Mackenzie, Grace, Jordyn; bottom: Sydney, Joanna, Nikki)  when this part splits, make sure to increase your volume to carry forward to the forte on the next page

o   A2 – Alto A

o   A3 – Alto B

·      Letter D – 4-part split

·      Measure 67 – 74 There will be a soloist, the other divisi are as written

·      Measure 75

o   Solo – Sop 1A (in a 4-part)

o   Sop 1 – Sop 1B (in a 4-part)

o   Sop 2 – Sop 2A

o   Sop 3 – Sop 2B

o   A1 – Mackenzie, Grace, Jordyn, Sydney Mackenzie, Grace, Sydney, Joanna, Nikki

o   A2 – Joanna, Nikki, Tenille, Talisa, Jess Tenille, Jordyn, Jess, Sara

o   A3 – Sara, Krystal, Julia, Cat, Leah P Talisa, Krystal, Cat, Julia, Leah P

Xara Camp 2015 Details!

Hi everyone!

Only four more sleeps until Xara Camp! We are so excited to see you all this weekend!!! Here are some important details you'll need to know for our time together!

Schedule

Friday
Location: Women's Council House, 989 Young Avenue, Halifax

6:00  Welcome
6:30  Dinner
8:00  Group Bonding
9:30  Home

Saturday
Location: St. Anselm's Church, 7037, Highway 7, West Chezzetcook

9:30 Yoga

10:30 Break

10:40 Show Introduction

11:15 Music Session

12:15 Lunch Prep (altos)

12:30 Lunch (altos)

1:30 Music Session

3:30 Break

3:45 Movement Session

4:45 Show Rehearsal

5:30 Dinner Prep (sopranos)

5:45 Dinner (sopranos)

7:00 Show Rehearsal

8:00 Home

Sunday
Location: St. Matthew's United Church, 1479 Barrington St., Halifax

1:15 Physical Warm up

1:25 Vocal Warm up

1:35 Music

3:00 Break

3:15 Vocal/Movement Clinics

5:15 Closing

5:30 Home

Food

We will have three meals together. Friday evening's dinner is very graciously being provided by the Xara Board of Directors (thank you!!!!). The second two will be potlucks - Saturday lunch will be brought by the altos, and Saturday dinner will be brought by the sopranos. From past experience, this works best if you coordinate beforehand what everyone will bring - so use the Facebook group to your advantage! Please keep in mind that we have a variety of dietary needs (some vegetarian, one vegan, one peanut allergy, some gluten-free, some minimal/no dairy etc), so try to accommodate these as much as possible. There is a thread on the Facebook group for dietary considerations.

Drives

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

To Bring:

Comfortable clothes for sessions - must be able to move freely

Sensible footwear - sneakers or shoes you can move in

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

Music folder

Sunscreen for any outdoor activities

Yoga mat or large towel (for Saturday only)

Potluck item, as per schedule

Gas money for your driver

Any questions for this weekend, please let us know via email! We can't wait to be back together again and getting ready for what is going to be an amazing season!!!

Singer Schedule Now Posted!

Hi team,

Hope you are all having magical summers! We miss you all but are super excited to be back together in less than a month!

We wanted to help you get a jump start on your calendars for the fall. The Google Calendar is now updated with all known commitments for the fall (note that some events may be added or timeframes tweaked over the next couple months). You can find the Google Calendar just to the right of this post in the sidebar.

A couple of things to note:

• Xara Camp is the first weekend of September! Please do everything possible to book off these dates/times in your calendars. As previously mentioned, we will be in the city on Friday night, out of the city on Saturday, and then back in the city for Sunday's rehearsal. A more detailed blog post with a to bring list and potluck schedule will be up in a couple of weeks!
• Note that there is no rehearsal Thanksgiving Sunday, but the rehearsal has been pushed to the evening of Thanksgiving Monday.
• November 21-22 Weekend: This is a bit of an abnormality for us. We are going to have a long "power weekend" type rehearsal on Saturday November 21. This rehearsal is MANDATORY. The next morning (very early, I'm sorry!) we have secured a lucrative sold service singing at Maritime Travel's annual conference. As a result, we haven't scheduled a rehearsal that Sunday afternoon.
• November 25-28:  The tech week schedule for Tales of the Old North is now up in detail. These dates are, of course, completely mandatory.
• November 29: We have tentatively booked a three hour photo/video call for Tales of the Old North that afternoon. This date is to be confirmed by early September.
• December 5-6: We are in the process of negotiating a run-out of Tales of the Old North to the Astor Theatre in Liverpool this weekend. The performance could be either the Saturday evening or the Sunday afternoon. I blocked both days off in the calendar to be safe but it will either be one or the other. We will let you know as soon as we know once something is confirmed.

Thanks so much everyone! We are so excited about this fall and can't wait to start working on our amazing show together!

Keep an eye on the new Xara Facebook group as the updates will become more frequent as the summer goes on!

Love y'all!

June 26th Performance Details

Hi everyone!

Thanks to those of you who made it to the rehearsal last evening for the US Consulate Gig on Friday.  I wanted to post some notes here for those who couldn't make it + some details regarding logistics for the evening.

Music

The arrangement of "Star Spangled Banner" is already uploaded to the Facebook group (click "Files" at the top to see it). I will upload the version of "O Canada" as well. If you were not at rehearsal last night, you MUST go over the music before Friday. If you are singing a harmony part, it is not the kind of thing you can just sightread - the parts are a little tricky so PLEASE review.

Here's the divisi:

O Canada

• Descant - Hayley, Brianna, Kallie
• Melody - Claire, Leah, Sydney, Mackenzie, Shila, Zoe
• Alto - Sara, Robin, Jess

Star Spangled Banner

• Alto 1 (melody) - Hayley, Brianna, Kallie, Claire, Leah, Mackenzie, Shila, Zoe
• Alto 2 (harmony) - Sara, Robin, Jess, Sydney

Notes:

• In O Canada, we will observe all breath marks and carrys as marked
• In the Star Spangled Banner, we are cutting the following breath marks and performing them as carrys:
• mm 2
• mm 10
• mm 21
• mm 26
• In the Star Spangled Banner we are adding breath marks in the following places:
• mm 18 (after glare)
• mm 20 (after air)

Logistics for Friday

• Location: Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
• Call Time: 7:15 pm
• Performance Time: 8:00 pm, we should be all done by 8:15 or 8:20 pm
• Outfit: black Xara tunic, black leggings, black flats
• Hair/Makeup: A little bit of makeup, simple hair off the face
• Your name will be on a list at the door and you will be directed toward our green room
• We'll do a warmup and run through the pieces in the green room, then go to the main gallery for the ceremony

Next Season Update!

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and are looking forward to InstaChoir next Thursday night at the Company House! Keep spreading the word and inviting your friends!!!

Also a quick reminder to please fill out the Fatty Legs debrief form: http://goo.gl/forms/wIzwPaeOAu

Next Season!

We know that September feels far away, and we are certainly looking forward to a good rest after a busy and productive season! However as usual we are always planning ahead and with a second round of auditions coming up this month, we need to get a sense of who will be returning to Xara in the fall. We thought we'd fill you in on our upcoming projects to help you get a better sense of what to expect!

Tales of the Old North

This is the first production in what we are hoping will become our annual, hallmark, early winter show. Every year we hope to tell a spectacular, beautiful story that also connects to important themes of kindness and community. We are drawing from a beautiful collection of stories by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, illustrated by Kay Nielsen (you can read all the amazing stories and look at the gorgeous illustrations here). We are hoping to adapt a new story each year under the general title "Tales of the Old North." Next year's show is an adaptation of "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." We are adapting it to tell the story of a young girl who goes adventuring with a giant white bear. The bear reveals that she is actually a princess from a far away land, who has been sentenced by the evil Queen to live in a different body. The bear disappears, and the little girl sets out on a journey to save her friend, encountering many magical beings along the way. This story is a beautiful and simple way to celebrate being accepted for who you are. This show will be a collaboration with XYE and VOX: A Choir for Social Change. The show dates are November 27-29, 2015 with a potential run out the following weekend. This show is going to have next-level visuals including costume design, sets, and as always, gorgeous lighting.

Development Term

Next spring we are embarking on the first "development term" in Xara's history. This term will include more time devoted to increased vocal development, music literacy, movement facility, and text work. It's exciting for us because it is a time to really gel as an ensemble and take our rehearsal and performance skills even further beyond what we've already been able to accomplish. During this time, we are also intending to increase our sold services so that rehearsals will be divided between development work, and preparing for high visibility gigs that will promote us as well as our album, Here on these Branches.

Fatty Legs

The success of the 2015 version of Fatty Legs was really remarkable, and we are so grateful for your incredible hard work and devotion to this project. We are now actively pursuing a national touring component for this show that we hope to be realized within the next 12-24 months. The exact scheduling will be dependent on funding sources (we are applying for major federal government funding as well as corporate and foundation revenue). The first phase of a national tour could happen as early as the end of next spring - we will know more by September in terms of exact time frames and will of course keep you updated.

SO! We need to know whether you will be returning to Xara next season. Please fill out our brief form and let us know no later than June 15, 2015. If you have any questions about the above projects, please feel free to get in touch with us at anytime. Here's the link to the form: http://goo.gl/forms/wkHfYvuxzM 

We love you all and are so excited for even more adventures together next season!!