Hi all, I hope you’ve had a good weekend and a good start to the week. A quick update from me, just to get us sorted for this week. I hope this has come through okay.
What we did – 21st September
We began again with a thorough warm up thinking about space and support for both high and low singing, and then working on intervals though the ‘numbers’ warm up. Then we looked in detail at the notes and text for the first verse of Wachet Auf, locking in our parts, and looking at the shape of the lines. After this we started learning How lovely are the messengers, again learning a few notes as we sang through the opening. We then looked at parts of the Credo in the mass setting, thinking about the layered text and how the voices interact.
After the break we learnt the Kyrie from the mass, practicing the high parts down the octave, and spending time finding our notes and chords. We then sang the end of the Agnus Dei, which is the same as the Kyrie but with different words. Finally, we ended with the opening of the Agnus Dei, again spending time building and tuning the chords.
To Catch Up: If you missed this rehearsal, please have a listen to the Credo, Kyrie and Agnus Dei from Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai, and listen through How lovely are the messengers.
What we’ll do – 28th September
We’ll begin by looking through Creator of the Stars of Night, then learning the rest of How lovely are the messengers, and in the second part of the rehearsal cover the end of the Gloria and the end of the Sanctus.
Marked Score
Attached is the marked score for this term. I ask that you please put in the markings into your parts. Having things like where to breathe already marked in the score will save so much time in rehearsals. Thank you all for your time with this!
Learning Resources
I’ll be sharing some resources to help you all learn the music this term, speeding up our rehearsal process, and giving you help at home. Firstly, please see the Spotify playlist HERE. It’s got most of our pieces on, so you can hear how it all goes, and sing along to it. More will be shared in the following weeks.
That’s it for now, see you all on Thursday!
Ben
Cumnor Choral Society 