REMEMBER: Retreat THIS Saturday from 12-5 at Church of the Reformation. Parking may be tough to come by so arrive as early as you can manage.

 

Thanks again to Kristin Henrikson for hosting the sectional last Saturday! Many of you showed up and I think we accomplished a lot. We went over the three-part divisis in the Rachmaninoff and we ran through the Howells.

 

A couple of side notes: Second sopranos, we've lost a member or two since rehearsals began, so we might be a little heavy on the first soprano side. Go nuts! Sing out! And first sopranos, we might want to keep in mind that we have the advantage. If you can't hear the soprano II line, you may be singing too loudly (or it might be because they're way in the back ;o) My second side note is that our illustrious director has placed Rachmaninoff at the end of the concert, and Rachmaninoff has insensitively placed the highest soprano parts at the end of his piece. SO, my long-winded point is that we need to save our voices as much as possible during each concert in order to have stamina to hit all the high notes after 2 hours of singing. I agree with the concert order for effect, but boy is it going to do a number on our vocal chords.

 

OK, descending from my podium. On to the notes!

 

Rach. No. 10:

-m3, come in on 2

- m33, Fred will conduct the eighths and quarter notes

- m30, Fred will hold and then give beats 3 and 4

- m30, hold on the short "e" vowel

- m23, quick dim. from ff to p

-m19, brief swell to mf

- m21, minor ritard here

- m5, stress release, in the thought of 3

- m23, keep breath strong underneath the diminuendo

 

No. 9:

- m39, SIs hum

- m11-12, be mindful of the ritenuto

- m42, ritenuto

- pp.59-60, lifts after each Alliluiya

 

Fred would like us to write in the translation for the Rachmaninoff in our scores

 

We will go over movements 5,7,8 at Saturday's retreat, as well as the Howells

 

Requiem Movement V:

- remember to cross out those tied eighths that are effectively telling you to cut off on the next beat; they occur throughout the Requiem

- m18, lift after eis

- p21, m27, SIIs -- getting the G# to B is the trick and may help get you to the rest of the pitches in that line

- m39, lift after eis

- bottom p23, no breath, then lift after eis

 

Psalm 148:

- p13, "height" off on 2

- de-emphasize the "r" in the word "Lord"

 

That's all. See you Saturday!