Rehearsal Notes - October 1

Sure on This Shining Night

Video

Begin in a clump, in the following lines.

From stage right to stage left, row 1 in the front then rows 2, 3 & 4

Row 1 - Rachael, Rowan, Hayley, Anna S, Katelyn, Charlotte

Row 2 - Talisa, Maiti, Laycie, Morgandy, Mackenzie C, Raquel

Row 3 - Molly, Georgia, Morgan, Leah, Katie, Kate

Row 4 - Theresa, Gabrielle, Mack H, Anna C, Sarah

Measure 1

“Kelp” movement on the downbeat (drift out from the clump, then return)

Measure 2 - 4

Expand to four-line formation, make sure to be in between the two people in front of you

Measures 5 - 9 (when you start singing)

Rows trade places (rows 2 & 4 move forward, rows 1 & 3 move back)

Measures 10 - 12 (when you start singing)

Pivot 45˚on left foot to face downstage right

Measures 13 - 14

Two steps back (right foot, then left foot - leave the right foot forward)  - Think about the wind pulling you back and then pushing you forward (but gently and kindly!)

Measures 15 - 16

Then two steps forward (onto right foot, then left foot forward, then feet together)

Measures 17 - 18

Pivot to face forward

Measures 19 - 20

Drift to a clump in the middle of the stage, maintaining your lines

Measure 21

Kelp movement

Measure 22 - 25

Drift to four-line formation (where you just came from)

Measure 26 - 27

Rows trade places (to return to original locations, from measure 2)

Winter’s Night

NOTE - THIS PIECE IS TO BE MEMORIZED FOR NEXT WEEK

Two-bar phrases on page 2

Four-bar phrases when you are singing text “Vai-ja na”

Altos, when you have sustained notes please stagger-breathe

**Every time you see a “la” it is a TYPO and should be “ja” - in fact the only words are “Vai-ja na & no” Anything else is wrong!**

Stig In Lucia, Stig In

NOTE - THIS PIECE IS TO BE MEMORIZED FOR NEXT WEEK

Christina will provide a recording of herself speaking the Swedish text.

Link to running blocking notes - these will always be the most up-to-date version of blocking.

Link to snack schedule!

** Note: Christina has created a Spotify playlist called "The Girl Who Stole the Sun" which contains recordings for all of the songs in the middle section of the show for your reference. Search and enjoy! **

Memorization Schedule & Program Order - The Girl Who Stole the Sun

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Date	Memorized
Oct 1	Sure On This Shining Night
Oct 9	Stig In, Winter's Night
Oct 15	Here On these Branches
Oct 22	Lanterns, Say Something
Nov 12	Vuelie, Gloria Kajoniensis
Nov 19	Winter Sun
Nov 26	Good Night, Night Yoik
Dec 3	Song for a Winter's Night, Let In the Sun

Please note that this schedule may change if we end up needing extra music for our Neptune Theatre collaboration (the options are Sancta Lucia, Jul, Jul Stralande Jul, and Det ar en Ros utsprungen - these were all in your music packages.)

PROGRAM ORDER:

Act I: From Out of Dark (with readings by Jennette in between pieces)

Stig In, Lucia, Stig In (trad. Swedish)

Sure On This Shining Night (Barber)

Here on These Branches (Quartel)

Lanterns (Birds of Tokyo, arr. Z. Leger)  

Act II The Girl Who Stole the Sun (SSAA with actors/dancers)

Winter’s Night (Frode Fjellheim)

Gloria Kajoniensis (Levente Gyöngyösi)

Say Something (Pentatonix, arr. J. Landig)

Night Yoik (Frode Fjellheim)

Let In the Sun (Take That, arr. Zoe Leger)

Act III: The beauty of North

Vuelie (Frode Fjellheim)

Winter Sun (Don Macdonald)

Good Night (Matthew Emery)

Song for a Winter’s Night (Gordon Lightfoot, arr. Robin Salkeld)

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Homework for Sectionals & Prep for October 1

Hi all!

I hope you've had a great week so far and that you are looking forward to sectional work (or NSYC) this weekend! Here is what I would like you to have accomplished by the time we reconvene for our first full-length vocal rehearsal on October 1st.

MUSIC
Sure On This Shining Night - memorized, including dynamics and vowel placement as we discussed
Stig in, Lucia, Stig in - memorize the English verse
Gloria Kajoniensis - Know the first section (up to letter D) perfectly but doesn't need to be memorized yet
Winter's Night - Know the whole piece perfectly but doesn't need to be memorized yet.
Say Something - Work on this so you are solid at it and can identify any scary places.

I'll be posting the Memorization Schedule for the whole term this weekend so you are able to gage what else you need to be working on so it doesn't feel totally unfamiliar when we get to rehearsal together.

FEES
Your choir fees are due on October 1 and Jess, our new General Manager, will be at rehearsal 20 mins early and at break to collect them. As a reminder, choir fees are $150 for the year and new members also need to pay a one time fee of $40 toward our two "standing" uniforms (they are worth about $250).

GREASE SING-A-LONG FUNDRAISER
Please share share share the Facebook event for this fun evening on October 6 and make a point to make direct contact with a bunch of friends who you think would be interested in coming to give them a one-on-one, personalized invitation to join you.

Soprano 2s (4 part split), let's start with you as the snack coordinators for this one!!

Next rehearsal is Sunday, October 1 from 1:15-5:30 at St. Matthew's United Church. See you then!!

Rehearsal Notes - Sept 17

Rehearsal Notes - September 17 2017

SURE ON THIS SHINING NIGHT

To be memorized for Oct 1st.

NIGHT YOIK

Divisi details, please make sure you have marked in your scores which line to sing as it is not always intuitive. This piece is to be pretty much memorized for Oct 1st. Be very comfortable with this piece :-)

Measure 1 - 16

Alto 1 & 2 in a 4-part split take the Choir II line

Measure 17 - 32

Alto 1 & 2 in a 4-part split remain on the Choir II line, Sop 1 in a 4-part split take the Choir I line (Sop 2 tacet)

Measure 33 - 48

Alto 1 & 2 in a 4-part split remain on the Choir II line, Sop 1 in a 4-part split remain on the Choir I line, Sop 2 in a 4-part split take the Solo line

Measure 49 - 64

Regular 3-part split (Sop 1, Sop 2, Alto)

Measure 65 - 80

Regular 3-part split with auditioned solo group

Measure 81 - End

Regular 2-part split (Sop 1 & 2, Alto 1 & 2)

Gloria Kajoniensis

6-part split throughout

In Latin, “i” is always pronounced “ee”

Say Something

We did an overall sing of this piece. Pay particular attention to the rhythms because this is a pop song.

Vuelie

PS This is pronounced Voo-eh-lee-eh ;-)

“J” is pronounced as a “y”

Vowels are mainly Latin-esque

Lanterns

3-part split when there are only two parts written (Sop 2s sing the Alto line)

3-part split when there are three parts written (this means that Sop 2s in a 2-part split will sometimes sing the bottom of the Sop line, and sometimes the top of the Alto line - let me know if this is confusing!)

Stig In, Lucia, Stig In

6-part split

Straight tone with intention (not breathy, but not loud)

Season Start Up + New Dates and Info!

I hope the "new year" is going well for everyone so far! September is always exciting and always busy!

Since our retreat is only a week away, it's time to get the blog posts up and rolling again for the year. Here are some important details about the next few weeks:

Scheduling
First of all, it's imperative that you take a close look at this list of dates and sync it with your personal calendar. Being a member of Xara means being on top of scheduling!

If you looked at the dates and synced them previously, they have been updated today! So, you'll all need to check/re-check it and note some new additions/changes (wreath day on Nov 25), firm dates for our Neptune collaboration and firm dates for our January show!).

The ongoing saga of our Neptune Collaboration
Speaking of our Neptune collaboration, it has changed shape for this year for a whole set of reasons that I'll explain to you in person next weekend. What it has been changed to will actually be better for us as an ensemble and likely better for many of you as individuals (especially those who have to contend with university exams in December). Due to the change in nature of our partnership with Neptune, we are going to be able to keep our original plan of our own full-scale show at the end of January. At next weekend's retreat, you'll get lots more details about the production and we'll start digging into the music!

Retreat Details
Here is the schedule for our retreat weekend if you'd like to have a detailed idea of what will be happening. These are the broad strokes:

• Friday, Sept 15: Ice-breakers and dinner (provided) from 6-9:30 PM at the Local Women's Council House in Halifax - 989 Young Ave
• Sunday, Sept 17: Music and Movement training and rehearsals + Xara's Annual General Meeting (pot luck snacks - have fun with this!!) at Saraguay House - 360 Purcell's Cove Rd

On Friday, you don't need to bring anything. On Sunday, you will need to wear comfortable clothes you can move in and you'll need to bring a folder to put your music in, a water bottle, a pencil, and a yummy snack to share!

If you have any questions in the mean time, just ask in our facebook group! And if you haven't yet introduced yourself in the Aug 23 thread where we're doing that, take a few minutes to say hello and tell us a bit about you!

HTTN Fall Tour Musical Details

Hi all,

I just wanted to clarify several things regarding your music prep for Indian River, Amherst, and Truro.

First of all, there have been some ongoing shifts in personnel for this tour so I haven't posted the roster yet but here it is to date (and I'm hoping this is it!):

Kallie, Caitlin, Shila, Rowan
Georgia, Katelyn, Gabrielle
Leah, Raquel, Morgan, Jordyn
Talisa (tentatively replaced by Emma in Sept), Natasha, Julia

Unless I have asked you directly to learn a new part (tentatively Emma in 8 part rep), everyone should sing exactly what they sang for the shows in the Spring.

SOLOS (changes from the Spring are in red)

• Winter Sky: no change - Leah and Shila/Georgia
• Psalm 69: Gabrielle sing both your solo and Colleen's; Talisa/Emma sing the alto solo
• V'la l'bon vent: Quartet will function as a trio just like when Nikki was ill (so Shila, Katelyn, Natasha and omit the A1 line)
• Pacem: Kallie takes Rhian's solo
• Kyrie: no change - Caitlin and Kallie

If you have any further questions as you prepare for next Saturday's rehearsal, please be in touch ASAP!

HTTN Fall Tour Blocking Changes

Hi everyone,

I have done some tweaking of the blocking to the show that will hopefully help us move quickly in rehearsal on August 26. There are a couple of things we will have to sort out in rehearsal but hopefully not too many! :) Please carefully read through this blog post, and then please click on the link to Erin's tour script (which I have edited with the blocking changes). Read through the entire script and make your own personal notes regarding changes that affect you. This is also a super helpful way to refresh your memory by doing a mental walk through! :)

**Note: we are still determining one person in the Alto2A section. Her blocking directions have been notated as "ALTO2A" in this document and in the script until we have a name to attach to that part! :)

Here is the link to the script document!

Stage I

Winter Sky

-as before, we will tweak the V formation in rehearsal

Bandage groups - we will solidify new groups in rehearsal

Nurses Group A/B - stay where you are in between your two lines

Psalm 69

-survivors turn around on Gabrielle’s solo line (the first solo line)

-front row/back row for the kneeling section has been tweaked in the script, please check to see where you are

Stage IIa

Transition at beginning of scene: please check script for window movers

Kallie, Leah, Katelyn, Morgan come in front of the stage left windows at the beginning of the stage. All else behind the windows.

Julia, Georgia, ALTO2A walk through the stage right windows at Kallie’s line “Truro, Falmouth, Windsor, Aldershot”

Soundscape 2 - all in front of the windows walk downstage, new groups have been made within the script document for those behind the windows (women in labour + midwives helping them)

V’la l’bon vent

-opening positions have been tweaked

Transition in Soundscape 3: please check script for window movers

Stage IIb

Pacem

-Letter A - Natasha, Georgia, Gabrielle walk through the doorframes

-B/D movement: Sopranos 1&2: need to tweak formation in rehearsal; Soprano 3s: Gabrielle & Georgia stay on ground, only Katelyn will move through windows; Altos - downstage group (Natasha, Julia, Jordyn, ALTO2A = form circle); upstage group - (Leah, Raquel, Morgan = form triangle) 

-Letter E - Morgan, Katelyn, Raquel walk through the doorframes

Transition before Soundscape 4: please check script for window movers 

-Leah/Raquel/Morgan go to help Jordyn, Natasha, and Georgia

Stage III

Transition: please check script for window movers 

-walking through the windows during the text (the processional) - we will fix this in rehearsal for timing

Snow 

-we will check formation in rehearsal to make sure there is a balance of those standing & kneeling, Rowan in the furthest downstage right corner and will be the first person to kneel