Plan for Sunday, Jan 29

Hi everyone!

I missed you SO much and can't wait to see and hear you!!

As you prepare for rehearsal this week, you will want to look specifically at these pieces, which will be our focus:

• Kiurun Tie
• Bringers
• Sea-Wash
• Nocturne
• Alone
• Maiden and the Sea
• Woods

We will also spend some more time in our Creative Teams (I've been hearing AWESOME things about the work you've done!).

Finally, this week I will be auditioning for all of the various solos/small group singing opportunities in the show.  At the beginning of rehearsal I will circulate a list of these opportunities.  Please sign up for any that interest you!!  Have a look at them before this Sunday.  They don't have to be perfectly performance-ready ... I just need to hear your approach and vocal colour.  Please don't be nervous!!  Here is the list of solos:

• Making Waves: 2 soprano solos (mm.41 and mm.52)
• Pakkanen: Sop 1 and Sop 2 for the Intro section
• Maiden and the Sea: p. 6 middle system, S1 line
• Raising the Wind: opening 3 systems (may be split between 2 singers) and p.2 (m.40) + p.4 (m.92)
• Alone: Choir 2 vocal percussion parts (likely 2 singers/part)

If there are remaining solos that require auditions, I will let you know when they're coming up!

Snowforms - Movement & Text Notes

Thanks to Erin for taking these excellent notes!!!

Sheet should generally be about 6 inches from the ground, held 6 inches out from the body.

When held with two hands, hands should be slightly more than shoulder width apart.

When held with one hand, hand should be in the centre of the body – except for the people on the ends.

1. Start in very spread out U (two giant steps back)
2. During the first two pages, step forward to take the sheet at the same time as your partner (try to stay in sync) Make eye contact with the person you are taking the sheet from
3. In the second system of page 3 (where the altos have a fast moving pattern g – bflat – g – c – eflat – f) sheet will be dropped in FRONT, starting with the farthest Sop 1 and proceeding quickly around the U (drop right hand then left hand as soon as the person next to you has done so)
4. On “Apingaut” (altos) when the text says “In the well-lit toasty warmth...” begin slightly shaking the sheet to make it shimmer like the aurora borealis. STOP SHAKING ON “FREEZE BARE SKIN IN SECONDS”
5. Text cue : “unanswered questions” will happen right before “Mauyak” – during the singing of “Mauyak”, move to zig-zag line, holding the sheet with one hand
6. “They take everything” is a text cue for “Qanit” (sops). When the Qanit begins, step back into a wide U, holding the sheet with two hands
7. On the building chord of “Akelrorak” we are in a U. When the sliding half tones happen, sweep the sheet out and back (without it flying up over the head) Size goes with dynamics.
8. On sustained unison G, just hold sheet with two hands
9. On “Til-tok-tor”, bunch the bunch the sheet up. Use peripheral vision to be in time with the rest of the U. There will be MORE reps of this. We will continue to decrescendo until Christina cuts us off. There will then be silence during a bit of narration.
10. Text cue : “I suppose that is the only way I will hear the end of it.” When we come back in at the bottom of page 6, we are creating a ship’s sails – a triangle leading to the people in the middle of each side and the two people in the centre of the U. Hands move on the scoop up in the first pattern. Hold there until the text cue below.
11. We bring our hands down with text cue : “Later that day my mother came to find me...” Move forward into a very tight U.
12. Text cue : “She took one of my long braids in her hand...” Then, bring sheet to chest, allowing a small drape between people. Use one hand to pull the sheet in, and place the other hand over top of it. Stay like that until the end of the piece.

POWER WEEKEND WITH ELISE BRADLEY!!

Hey all!

Claire, Tenille, and I are SO SO excited to be heading into this first Power Weekend of the season!  It's going to be super productive but also really exciting and interesting.  Elise Bradley is one of the WORLD'S most recognized pedagogues whose speciality is treble voices.  We are very lucky to have her here.

Our goals for the weekend are:
- learn about vocal production, resonance, and vowels and the role they play in amazing performances
- lock in more of our repertoire and gain new skills for singing it to our best ability
- start locking down some of our movement (especially for Snowforms)
- get an expert's take on the things we can do to develop further as an ensemble

The times are as follows:
Saturday: 9:15 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at Bethany United Church
Sunday: 1:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at Fairview United Church (our regular rehearsal venue)

On Saturday, lunch is provided but please bring snacks as per Mackenzie's awesome snack schedule.  Same goes for snacks on Sunday.

Dress Code:
On Saturday, please wear your Xara t-shirts and any form of black bottoms (yoga pants are fine, skirts and dress pants are also fine).  On Sunday, please wear any other Xara "swag" you own (if you do) or, alternately, wear your Xara t-shirts again.  We want to look professional and together for Elise Bradley!

SATURDAY SCHEDULE
9:30 - 11 a.m. 
Workshop with the Halifax Camerata Singers (our sister choir) and Elise on vocal production and vowels
11 - 12:30
Xara alone on Snowforms (first 30 mins locking in your memory work and refining the singing, remaining hour on movement)
12:30 - 1:30
Lunch (provided)
1:30 - 4:00
Xara rehearsal (alone) kicking Womanly Song of God's BUTT (!!) and getting Noviori Ani polished.  There will be one session of sectional time for Womanly Song of God during this period.

SUNDAY will be all focused on singing and will be lead mostly by Elise as she works the repertoire.

Remember that you are expected to have Snowforms by memory on Saturday.  We have 30 minutes (only!!) dedicated to polishing it up without your scores in hand so you really must have your entire line ready before you come, including knowing when you move in relation to the other part.

This weekend is going to be really exciting and will really give us a sense of the heights that we are going to achieve this year!!  I will also have some more details about our performances of Fatty Legs to share since we are finally getting some real information from the TRC!!

See you soon!
Christina

PS - Here's a map showing where Bethany United Church is in case you need it:

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Notes from Sept 18 and Prep for Sept 25

GREAT rehearsal last Sunday (even though it started off a little sleepy!).  Make sure you get lots of sleep on Saturdays (I know that occasionally fun Saturday plans can interfere but do your best!).

I was really pleased that we made it all the way through Womanly Song of God.  The best way to keep moving ahead with this piece is to listen to the recording OFTEN (to help understand the harmonic workings of the piece and to get used to the interplay of rhythms between sections) and ensure that some of those times are with the score in front of you.  And of course, individual practice of your own line is also important!  By next Sunday, please be ready to go with the notes and rhythms of your line.  If there are sections that you are struggling with, circle them and be ready to ask about them in rehearsal and sectional.

Claire would like to strongly encourage you to walk around your house (or around town!) to a 5/8 rhythm!!  5/8 is a funny time signature!  Because there are an uneven number of pulses (eighth notes) in the bar, the strong beats can either be on 1 and 4 (1-2-3-4-5) or 1 and 3 (1-2-3-4-5).  Each of these has a different feel (as we discovered through Claire's walking exercise).  When they are juxtaposed against one another, they create an interesting effect but it is challenging for the singers to maintain the differentiation, especially because the conductor can only show one at a time.  M. 47 (p.7) is an example of this.  The S2s have a group of 2 (two 16ths + one 8th = two 8th pulses) followed by a group of three (1 quarter + one 8th note = three 8th pulses).  Simultaneously, the A2s have a group of 3 (1 dotted quarter = three 8th pulses) followed by a group of 2 (two 8th notes = two 8th pulses).

Womanly Song of God will need to be memorized by October 16th (just some advanced notice!).  Plan accordingly because we will need to be pretty fierce about no scores in hand for those last two rehearsals.

Snowforms is really coming along well!  Please begin to integrate your memorization of this piece with an understanding of how your line relates to the other line(s) being sung at the same time.  Know what you need to hear before your part moves.  I would like this piece to be memorized by October 1st (Saturday).  This is our power weekend and Claire will have lots of exciting work for us that weekend.  Work toward this goal progressively between now and then so you aren't trying to cram it all in on the Friday night before!

I was also very happy with the work we did on Noviori Ani on Sunday.  This is not a complicated piece but will require a lot of attention to detail when it comes to dynamics, etc.  This piece needs to be memorized by October 10th (Thanksgiving Monday).  As with Snowforms, begin building your memorization of the piece into your personal rehearsal.

For Christmas repertoire, we will be looking at Hanget Soi.  By later this week I will send out an mp3 of the pronunciation to help you along but at-home work on this piece is not yet needed.

Prep List - for Sunday, September 18th

Here's what you should be working on for our rehearsal this Sunday:

• Ensure that all notes and rhythms from the work we did at camp are secure (i.e. all of Snowforms, Noviori Ani to end of p. 4,  the beginning and end of Womanly Song of God
• Listen to the recording of Womanly Song of God with your score several times and begin work on the parts so our work on them this Sunday isn't "from cold".
• Watch this video of Mi'kmaq women drumming to get a feel for the way the mallet bounces off the drum.  This is the feeling we need to get into our bodies for this song - we are the drum (especially in the opening and closing of the piece), so our sound needs to move as steadily and fluidly as a drum mallet.

Finally, remember that the time to start memorizing these pieces is now!  Try to integrate your memory work with your music-learning time so that you are able to achieve your goal of feeling confident in performances and being well prepared in plenty of time.  This will make our concerts less stressful and our rehearsals way more fun!  

Xara Camp Notes

Congratulations on an AWESOME XaraCamp!!  It was the best one yet, by a long shot!

Obviously, we can't summarize here the many hours of workshops and activities we took part in but there are some key items.  These notes will also help Xarites who were at camp to ensure that the work they did is still nice and locked in by next Sunday.

Repertoire Work

• Snowforms: We have now nailed down the whole piece (notes and rhythms are finished) and have the first 3 pages memorized.  
• Womanly Song of God: This is our hardest piece and we did really good work on mm. 1-51 (beginning to middle of p.7) and m.237 to the end.  These parts should now be solid, including the body percussion at the end!
• Noviori Ani: We worked on balance and being able to hear your part in cluster chords.  We got to the bottom of p.4 with notes and rhythms solid.

If you were not at camp, it's your responsibility to make sure that you are caught up on this repertoire work.

Key Movement Concepts We Explored

• sensitivity and awareness (balancing stick formations, watching your walk, leading your partner)
• moving as a group (flocking like birds, and "The Watching")
• moving lightly on the floor (like birds landing!)
• tension and release

Xara Ambassadors & Administration

• 1 minute pitch: how to talk about Xara to a co-worker, an artist, a politician, or a business person (please see the link Tenille posted on our facebook page)
• You can fund raise your fees away by selling advertisements for our programs!  
• The importance of talking about Xara in your non-Xara life
• How to sell tickets
• Many hands make light work: get involved!  There are many roles Xarites can take on to share in the leadership of the choir!

This can only scratch the surface of an amaaaaazing weekend but hopefully it will help keep the memories fresh and assist those who couldn't be there in preparing for Sunday the 18th.

We were so proud of your commitment, your enthusiasm, your relationship building, and your hard work last weekend.  Thank you SO much!

Love from,
Christina, Claire, Tenille, and Deirdre

Xara Camp - location

Hi all! Just in case you want to see some pictures of the beautiful place we are going to spend the weekend, I thought I'd pass on their web address:
 http://www.artscentre.ca/

 It's a GORGEOUS location on over 100 acres of property that includes waterfront on the Bay of Fundy! They've also got a huge garden of fresh foods that we are free to cook with all weekend. Weeee!