Prep for October 15 Rehearsal

Hi all,

I miss you!!!!! I hope you each had a relaxing and/or productive Thanksgiving Weekend and that you are looking forward to digging back in to our music making this Sunday!

We are back to our regular location at St. Matthew's United Church and this week our rehearsal will be from 2-5:30 PM (please note the later start time).

Please have Stig In, Lucia, Stig In memorized for this Sunday (as you were meant to for last Monday) and review the blocking/music for Sure On This Shining Night.

In addition to some regular rehearsing we have a couple of exciting announcements to make as well as some new information about something we'll be working on over the next two months!

Please come wearing comfortable clothes that are easy to move and that won't cause you embarrassment if you need to do a forward fold or some floor work in (i.e. short skirts with no cautionary leggings underneath!) since Claire will be doing some movement training work with you.

Soprano 2s you are on snack!

Prep for Grease FR & Oct 9 Rehearsal

I hope you've all been coming up with creative costume ideas for our Grease Fund Raiser on Friday evening!  Here are important reminders about upcoming events and rehearsals.

Movie Musical Fundraiser - Grease - Friday, Oct 6

Please, please, please invite as many people as you can to this event! It's not an expensive evening to attend but if we get lots of people it has the potential to make a real difference for our organization! 

Please arrive at St. Matthew's United Church no later than 6:30 PM. The doors will open for the public at that time. Our job is to create an atmosphere of fun, warmth, and friendliness. We want people to feel like they are at a happy-making event, not just a movie! Soprano 2s are on concession this time and they've come up with some awesome ideas for snacks so you should bring some cash along! It won't be expensive but it will be yummy!! 

Thanksgiving MONDAY Rehearsal - Oct 9 - Room 121 in the Dal Arts Centre

Our rehearsal this weekend is on Monday evening from 6-9 PM in order to give you a long weekend.  Please note that we are in an alternate location - the basement of the Dal Arts Centre on University Ave. in Room 121. I will post some instructions about how to find that room on our facebook group in case you've never been there before. You were asked to have two pieces memorized for this rehearsal but I am going CHANGE that based on some developments in our season that have happened this week. I will explain in much more detail on Monday but you only need to have Stig In, Lucia, Stig In memorized now.

Fees & Scheduled Absences

Just a reminder that if you haven't already paid your fees you need to make arrangements with Jess about doing so (email her at manager@xara.ca). As well, please email both Erin (eringaudet06@gmail.com) and me (conductor@xara.ca) as soon as possible with any scheduled absences you have this term. Just in case you haven't read the document yet, Xara's list of committed dates for the year can be found here. This is a live document and will be updated regularly so that it is always correct.

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

-->

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)

-->

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!