Good morning friends, I hope you’re all well and had a great weekend. We had our second Theory Workshop on Saturday (more below) which went really well. I always think there’s a moment in a term where things start to click, and last week really felt like that moment, so let’s keep up this amazing energy!
What We Did – Wednesday 14th February
- We started by refreshing the ending of the Kyrie locking in what we did on the 7th. This felt a lot more confident.
- Then we worked on the Credo, both the faster sections and the joins between them and the heavy blues sections.
- We split into sectionals to do some work on the Credo and It was a lover and his lass, firming up some of the more challenging chords.
- Then we came back together to run the Sanctus, and to put It was a lover together as full tutti.
To catch up: If you missed this rehearsal, please look through the Credo, as well as work on your notes in It was a lover, and sing through the Sanctus.
What We’ll Do – Wednesday 21st February
- We’ll start by refreshing the themes of the Credo, in preparation for our run of the Todd next week.
- Then we’ll sing through the Sanctus and Benedictus.
- After this we’ll split into sectionals to go through the Gloria, and Hey, ho, the wind and the rain.
- Finally, we’ll come together to sing the first two movements of the Songs and Sonnets, and if time Hey, ho.
As I said last week, a lot to get through, but we’re making great progress. As all the music is so different, it’s really work reminding yourselves of the movements, and what the themes are... keep listening to the pieces!
Theory Workshops
Both workshops went really well – the 2nd was definitely more intense than the 1st as we had to cover some difficult concepts to understand our harmony and score reading a little better, but I was so pleased to have introduced this all to you, even if it’s not perfect yet – remember, people spend YEARS doing this, not just 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon. Well done all!
If you’d like to test your knowledge, you can see the booklet below (answers at the end). We’ll also be selling the remaining booklets if you’d like one – see Susannah and Mark at the rehearsal.
Marked Scores
These markings should all be in by now please!
For copyright reasons (as these posts are viewable by the public) we’ve had to password-protect the scores. Please feel free to email me or Annabel if you’ve forgotten it and we can share it with you.
Recommended recordings & learning guides
People have mentioned they would like more help with the Todd – as I’ve shared on previous Conductor’s Notes, there are learning guides for the Todd below:
This Week’s listening...
Something from the theory workshop – we were talking about musical structures (forms), and the ternary form (A,B,A). Here’s the example I shared... Dvorak’s gorgeous Largo from his Symphony No. 9: The New World.
You can check it out HERE.
I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday.
–Ben