Hello everyone! The final Notes before the concert! This term has been so much fun, but certainly really hard work, so I wanted to thank you all for your commitment and dedication to making it sound amazing! Wednesday was sounding fab (more on this below), but there’s still time for any last-minute practice in order to feel really confident for Sunday. Please do check out the information below.
What We Did – Wednesday 20th March
- It was good to start with the Shearing in order to get used to the space. We began with the last section of Who is Sylvia, listening carefully to each other for the blend and ensemble.
- Then we worked on the text of Fie on Sinful fantasy, projecting the consonants down the church, and on watching for the rit. at the end.
- We then did a bit of work on Hey, ho, the wind, focusing mainly on the chorus and some of the tenor/bass sections. Please make sure there’s no “with A” – the text is just “with”. Tenors and Basses, please look over your entries as we’ll spend a bit of time on this on Sunday.
- After this we went back to the start and did the odd bit of Live with me and be my love. These included the tuning of S/A chords and the projection of the text at Letter E and F, and then a spot of note checking at Letter I. Please make sure you feel comfortable with this for Sunday as it’ll need to be confident by then!
- We started When Daffodils, with nothing much needed here, other than balancing the lower voices a little less loudly than the melody. Careful Sopranos with the tuning on the b-e leaps in bar 23.
- Then we did a spot check of It was a lover – please make sure you sing the correct verses at the beginning!!! I think I’ll cry if anyone gets that wrong... Careful of the rhythm on page 20.
- After this we worked a lot on the Kyrie, ensuring the pulse was solid throughout and the entries were confident, especially in the Basses! Basses, please ensure you have a double espresso before the second half so pages 6 and 7 are full of energy!!! We also worked on the ending of the Kyrie, making sure the text was right on page 16, and the sop/alto line on page 17 was right and confident.
- We sang through the Gloria, then went into some good detail for the final entry, and some of the T/B notes beforehand. We spent some good time solidifying the “cum Sancto” entrance on the top of page 26, and we also went through the T/B notes on page 19 (which are the same on page 25).
- We ended with a bit of work on the Credo, working on the fast sections, filling them with energy, especially with the Tenor and Bass entrances. We also went through the key changes from page 45 to the end, and noted that they are almost identical to the end of the Agnus Dei, just down a semitone.
To catch up: If you missed this rehearsal, please look through the above sections.
Concert Details
All the details for the concert are below. If there are any questions, please email myself or Annabel.
General Timings
Rehearsal: 14:00-17:00.
Concert: 19:30.
Rehearsal Schedule
13:30 – Set up chairs
13:45 – Choir arrive and get seated.
14:00-14:10 – Gentle but thorough warm up.
14:10-14:50 – Shearing rehearsal in order.
14:50-15:05 – Short Break
15:05-16:15 – Todd, in order.*
16:15-16:30 – Safety time.
16:30-17:00 – Quartet rehearse, choir to depart.
* NB: there will be some moments where the choir won’t be singing so can rest silently as soloist and band rehearse.
Concert
19:10 – Choir arrive and warm up.
19:25 – Ready to go on.
19:30 – Concert begins.
21:30 – Concert ends.
Running Order
Shearing Songs and Sonnets (omitting Number 4: As Daisies Pied).
Karen Sharp Quartet jazz set – choir remain seated on stage.
Interval, during which refreshments will be provided.
Todd Mass in Blue.
Venue
St Peter and Paul’s Church, Deddington, OX15 0TG.
Concert Dress
All black with a splash of colour (tie, bow tie, brooch, scarf, etc.)
Scores
As we’ve mentioned many times now, we have a very short turn around for getting the scores back to the hirer, so please DO NOT LEAVE WITH YOUR SCORES! Thank you.
Poster and Tickets
We’re almost there but it’s not too late to promote the concert, so please do one final share of the link to tickets and the poster with friends, family, etc.. So far we’ve sold 73 tickets, so it would be great to sell more! Tickets are HERE.
Todd Learning Guides
This is your last chance to use these Learning Guides to aid your work at home on the Todd. I know it’s a tricky piece, but it’ll be a performance to remember, so please make sure you’re happy with your parts at home!
Oxford University Press put together free learning guides for each part! Find them HERE.
You can find learning guides for the Shearing on previous Conductor’s Notes.
Forthcoming Events
Two events other than ours this weekend, both on the same day... but I think I know which one I’d rather go to...
- My chamber choir, newCHOIR, have our concert on Saturday 23rd March, singing some wonderful music, including the incredible Serenade to Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, alongside a host of old and new music. You’ll see some familiar faces there too, as 2 of our current members sing in the choir!
- The Brackley Jubilee Choir also have their concert that day. Great repertoire accompanied by one of our old university lecturers!
This Week’s Listening...
... is just a plea for you to listen to the Todd, so it’s fresh in your minds for Sunday! Thanks all.
See you all on Sunday!
–Ben