Hello everyone, I hope you’re all well and have been enjoying the lovely weather this weekend. As the concert is less than a week away, please make sure you’re putting in some extra practice at home, just to make sure you’re really confident with everything.
What we did on Wednesday 7th June
We ran Greensleeves... well, got as far through as possible before it fell apart. The notes seemed a lot more confident, it was just the geography of it all. We’ll keep reminding ourselves of this. We then split into sectionals – Tenors and Basses with me sounded great, just remember to convey the words to the audience. Sops and Altos did some great work with Rowena, ensuring notes were confident and phrasing was elegant – I look forward to doing this with you in-situ, Sops and Altos. After this we quickly ran through Sumer is icumen in, practicing our entrances and touching up a couple of moments in the melody; confidence with your entrances – once we get going with the round it becomes simple.
After the break we looked at Fine Knacks for Ladies, again reminding ourselves of the notes, and becoming more familiar with the 2nd and 3rd verses. It’s really worth the 5 minutes it takes at home to look through the words! This was followed by It was a Lover, which went really well on the whole – again, we had to isolate a couple of parts to tidy some notes up, but I’m hoping everyone is more familiar with it now. Finally, we ended with Sing we and chant it – again, it’s more about the quality of the text than the notes. Please do check the words at home, so we can perform it with a smile on Saturday!
What we will do on Wednesday 14th June
Our final Wednesday rehearsal before the concert! We’ll be doing the joins of each section, in order. So it’ll be:
Cantique de Jean Racine
If ye love me
Farewell dear Love
It was a Lover
Drop, Drop slow tears
Ave Verum
As Torrents
The Lily and the Rose
The Sally Gardens
Danny Boy
Pastime
Sumer is icumen in
We’ll also look at Greensleeves again for the geography.
Learning Resources
As well as the learning resources I’ve shared for the term below, I’ve now created audio files of Greensleeves, It was a Lover, and To Music to help you solidify your parts. Please use these resources to make sure you’re really happy with your parts! Link to them is HERE.
And as always, here are the other learning resources:
Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine
Bruckner – Locus Iste
Tallis – If ye love me
Jones – Farewell, Dear Love
Morley – Sing we and chant it
Dowland – Fine knacks for ladies
Gibbons – Drop, drop slow tears
Gibbons – The Silver Swan
Mozart – Ave Verum
Elgar – As Torrents in Summer
Sullivan – The Long Day Closes
Chilcott – The Lily and the Rose (paid subscription only, sorry!)
Chilcott – O Danny Boy (paid subscription only, sorry!)
Isaac – Innsbruck
Recommended Recordings
The playlist below is just a guide, but please do listen to Sumer is icumen in HERE.
The whole playlist is HERE.
Friday rehearsal
A reminder that there’s the pre-concert rehearsal on Friday evening, 19:30-21:30 in St Mary’s Church, Chipping Norton. Please arrive early so we can get seats out and sorted.
Concert Day
And, a reminder about concert day:
13:45 arrive and get seated.
14:00 rehearsal starts, and we’ll top-and-tail the pieces.
17:00 rehearsal ends.
18:00 we’ll begin picnicking in the church grounds.
19:20 changed and ready for a gentle warm up in the church rooms opposite the church.
19:30 concert begins.
The dress is normal concert dress, so either Dinner Jackets (black jacket, white shirt, black bowtie, black trousers, black socks and black shoes), or All Black.
Social
We’re planning an end-of-term social – Charlotte will be sending an email out just before Wednesday’s rehearsal so it’ll be fresh in your minds. It’ll be Wednesday 12th July, at the normal time of 19:30-21:30. All details on the email, so stay tuned.
This Week’s listening
At this stage... just make sure you’re really confident with the music for the concert! Thanks all.
Thank you for your hard work this term, it’s a lot of great music to get through.
See you on Wednesday 14th.
– Ben