Good evening everyone, I hope you’ve all had a good weekend and are keeping safe in this horrible weather! A brief update for you all following our first rehearsal back.
I also want to briefly thank those who sang at George’s funeral on Friday. I’m very sorry I couldn’t be there with you all, but I trust it went well and it was a good send-off for a beloved former member.
What we did – Thursday 19th September
Well, wasn’t it wonderful to be together again?! It was so great to see you all and to start our wonderful term of music-making; oh how we’ve all missed it! It was also great to welcome some new members to the choir! Not much to say here as it was our first rehearsal back, so we bashed through the second half of the programme (the booklet) which went incredibly well. This included learning some new pieces which no one has sung before such as the Cherubini, refreshing firm favourites like Mozart’s Ave Verum, and even managing some good rehearsing on Haydn’s The Heavens are Telling (including taking it at a ridiculously quick tempo for the first rehearsal, haha!)
I can already tell this will be a fab concert, I’m so excited!
To Catch Up: If you missed these rehearsals, please go through the booklet at home and listen to all the pieces. You can find a digital copy of the booklet below.
What we’ll do – Thursday 26th September
As I mentioned on the 19th, I’m afraid I won’t be with you this week as I’m at a schmoozy dinner at Magdalen College School for the group ‘SingOxford’ which brings together choirs from all over Oxford. It’ll be a chance for me to promote the choir, talk about opportunites, and fundraise, so I couldn’t really miss it – I’ll miss you all desperately while I’m drinking nice wine and chatting about music with other conductors…
Malcolm Pearce is kindly taking the rehearsal (as he’s also our organist for the concert) – if you’ve had the pleasure of working with Malcolm before you’ll know what a delightful rehearsal it’ll be. He’ll be going through the Schubert Mass in G with you, and I’ve asked him to get through as much of it as possible. Please look at/listen to this in advance of the session with him so you can come prepared and show him the high standard I expect of you all. Thank you.
I look forward to seeing you on the 3rd October!
Learning Resources
Below are some resources to help you learn the music:
- All the pieces can be listened to on your preferred platform (YouTube, Apple Music, etc.) but as always, I’ve provided a playlist on Spotify of my suggested recordings. You can check it out HERE.
- Please do use these learning guide tracks to help you learn your notes. Other resources are available for the second half, but John Fletcher Music has some good guides for the Schubert HERE.
- My Marked Scores are below. Please don’t share these as they’re for rehearsal purposes only. You’ll be given physical copies at the first rehearsal, with markings in the booklet for the second half (you’ll need to mark up the Schubert yourselves please).
Forthcoming Event
As Fiona mentioned on Thursday, she’ll be taking part in an excellent concert on the 2nd October. Unfortunately I can’t go owing to conducting another rehearsal, but do go along and support Fiona! Incidentally, Julian Faultless was my horn teacher for many years… go and say hi to him too!!
That’s it for now! Enjoy your rehearsal with Malcolm on the 26th September, and I’ll see you on the 3rd October!
Ben
Cumnor Choral Society 
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