Welcome back sopranos! And welcome to our new additions -- Erin M., 
Erin G., and Katie.

I have a bunch of business to attend to before I get to notes:

(1) SECTIONAL -- if anyone is willing to volunteer their house for a 
sectional in the upcoming weeks, that would be fantastic. Otherwise, I'll 
work with Ginny to see if we can get space at Lutheran on a weekend 
sometime. I'd really like to get something going the first or second week 
of February, if possible.  Unless, of course, everyone just happens to 
be available on the 13th or 14th. Furthermore, I want to gauge interest 
in me coming to rehearsals a half hour early to work on music with 
people. I'm feeling like it will only be worth it if we can get at least 
three people each time. What I'm considering doing is asking people to 
request the half-hour early get-together, and if I get a threshhold of 
people, I will hold it. If not, I will cancel it. I'd appreciate your 
feedback on this. I know weekdays are tough, but I also know it's equallly 
hard to get people's weekend schedules to match. This is going to be a 
tough concert, and I can guarantee we're all going to need some work 
with the three-part divisis, among other things.

(2) DIVISIS -- Since virtually no one volunteered to sing Soprano III 
for the three-part divisis, Fred and I worked out a break-out. If anyone 
has a real heartache with the part they've been assigned, let me know. 
I can maybe do a little shiftin'. NOTE: this is ONLY the division for 
three parts. In all other sections of the music, stick to the two-part 
voice you've been assigned.

Soprano I
Jess Chaiken, Holly Degn, Helena Kosavic, Susan Leidich, Katie Noe, 
Diane Waggoner, Ariele Yaffee, Jessica Lundberg

Soprano II
Lucy Ament, Thea Austen, Christine Boyer, Ellen Lee, Margaret Neilly, 
Peggy Rainwater, Lara Ramsey, Erin Williams, Kathy Wood, Sarah Wilson

Soprano III
Cathy Fiorillo, Ginny Gano, Kristin Henrikson, Julie Meyer, Sharon 
Thompson

I'm not sure yet what parts our new Sopranos are singing in the 
three-part divisi. If we need another volunteer or two for Soprano III, I'll 
let you know.

(3) RACHMANINOFF CDs -- I made four copies of the Vespers and asked 
four of our sopranos to make three or four copies. So, if you would like a 
copy of the music for this concert, please contact one of the following 
ladies. (if they are out of CDs, they will let you know and you can ask 
one of the other sopranos).

Ariele Yaffee -- arieleyafee@yahoo.com
Susan Leidich -- susul@comcast.net
Jess Chaiken --jchaiken@earthlink.net (I think Jess has a couple of 
email addresses, so if that's not right, I'm sure she'll let us know)
Katie Owen (one of our new sopranos!) -- kton84@gmail.com

Thanks so much, ladies!

Hmmm...I think that's all the pressing business for now. On to Notes!

No. 15:
circle the dynamics throughout this movement if you didn't do so at 
rehearsal
m.2 - start at mp and decresc
m.2 - don't be thrown by the tenors' forte, we're still singing softly
m.10-11 - tricky eighth notes, will need extra study
m.36 - starts ff, then pull away
m.34-35 - accent the first note of each measure
m.30 - Soprano Is tune with the altos
m.30 - I heard some trouble with the rhythms in this measure; remember 
the second half is moving on the off-beat for SIs; don't hold the A too 
long
accents at the end of the piece should be thought of as quick 
crescendos out rather than heavy hits on the note
m.12 - we had some trouble hearing that F to D interval

No. 14:
m.18-19 - descresc to pp; SIs and TIs in unison
bottom p.104 - go ahead and do romantic < >
m.17-19: some measures to work on notes here

No. 13:
end: note the ritenuto, a tempo, ritenuto
last measure - C was under pitch (frankly, I think it's because we were 
absolutely beat at this point)

No. 12:
Fred suggested marking in groupings of 2 from m119 to the end, but go 
ahead and make whatever notations will be helpful to you to keep a feel 
for the beat here

This rehearsal had me vocally worn out, I don't know about the rest of 
you. Maybe it was the two weeks off, or maybe it's because it's just 
really, really high for a really, really long time. I have a plan to 
count the number of As we have to sing (because I'm nerdy like that). If 
someone beats me to the punch, please feel free to send the info on to 
the group. :o)

Again, welcome back, and I hope you all had a great holiday (and 
hopefully some vacation time), because now it's time to bust our humps!

Jessica